Clocking Off with Clouds
Common Application Mistakes to Avoid! Questions to ask, CV format, and quick wins (ep 11)
30 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What common mistakes should you avoid in job applications?
You're listening to Clocking Off of Clouds, your cozy corner of the internet where we talk careers, personal growth, and real life. Hello guys and welcome back to another episode of Clocking Off with Clouds.
I am CloudsJu and I'm your internet big sis on anything related to careers, money, personal development, and today we are talking about job applications and all the mistakes you should avoid making. If you enjoy soft and cozy chats about hard and complicated topics, then you've come to the right podcast.
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For those who didn't know, I actually worked in graduate recruitment at an investment bank for two years, which means that every student who was applying for graduate positions, summer internships, and even spring weeks was going through me before getting that job offer. And I learned so much throughout those two years and I want to spill everything. I want to share everything I learned.
So you have the knowledge and don't make the common application mistakes that I saw sitting behind the screen, reviewing those CVS and watching those video interviews. During my time working in graduate recruitment, I actually realized how much there was that I personally didn't even know and all the mistakes that I was making in my own applications.
So obviously I took all my learnings and improved my applications. And I gotta say guys, from then onwards, I've been pretty successful with most of the applications I've made.
I feel pretty confident going into interviews for example because I have so much exposure and have seen how they work behind the scenes and as someone who grew up without a lot of corporate knowledge and someone who is a first generation university student and a first generation corporate girlie,
These are all the things that I wish I learned sooner and I'm just so grateful I got this experience in graduate recruitment because if it wasn't for that, I don't know when I would have learned these things and it probably would have cost me a lot of potential jobs. I don't know if I would have even gotten into consulting without knowing these tips.
So it's really important for me to democratize the things that I've learned. And that's exactly what I'm here to do in this episode. So strap in, grab a little beverage, let's get cozy and have a little chat about mistakes you want to avoid making in your applications. Okay, so let's start with the first part of the job application process, which is sending in your CV.
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Chapter 2: How can you optimize your CV for job applications?
Now, what are some examples of these questions? One thing to avoid is asking anything related to salary or timelines. Those are all questions that you could reserve for HR. If you're having a case interview or a fit interview with someone who's going to be in your team, say your hiring manager or other associates, analysts, managers, etc., you don't want to ask those kinds of HR questions.
So now you're asking, okay, clouds, what are good questions to ask at the end of the interview? One thing that is very safe to go with is questions about culture. So what is it like to work here? Is it a flat structure? Is it a little bit more hierarchical? Uh, what do socials look like? What is the overall culture that is embodied at this company?
And that is not only a good and safe question, but it's also great information for you to know to validate whether or not you would fit the company. Another great question to ask is what does progression look like in this role? It's easier to understand what the role itself looks like from the job description.
But one thing that might be very invisible to you is what the role will look like in two, three, four years from now. So asking that from someone who's going to be your manager is a great question related to progression. Another great question to ask at the end of the interview, is what does success look like in this role? What are going to be my KPIs or my OKRs? Let's break down this jargon.
So KPI stands for key performance indicator and OKR stands for objective and key results. Basically a fancy way of saying what are the things you expect from me from this role? Not just from me, but from people who are in this role. So what does good look like? For a business who's trying to make money, success looks like money. For an Olympian who's trying to make it to the Olympics, success.
success looks like medals. What does success look for you in this role? Ask that. You can even give some timelines. So at the end of six months or at the end of one year, what does good look like for someone who is in this role? Not only a great question to ask, but also great knowledge for you to take in case you get the role and you want to do very, very well.
Another question you might want to ask is what kind of exposure do you get to senior leaders or clients in this role? Do you get to liaise directly with clients or present to directors and partners in this role? Is that something that is made available to you? And that will be an indicator of how flat or how hierarchical the org structure is.
But it's great knowledge to have and it also shows the interviewer that that's something that you're interested in. It's something that you care about. It's something that you want to
do like that exposure and that visibility to senior leaders is something that is important to you which is a great reflection of how ambitious you are so another great question to add to your arsenal of questions because i was personally applying to consulting another question i asked all the time is what does travel look like in this role because obviously management consultants are known to travel a lot some travel more than others so i wanted to figure out for myself what that looked like in the companies i was applying for
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