Archive for Job and Interview
A Guide to Job Adverts
Posted by: | CommentsLook at the following job advertisements. The technique you’ll use is one you can apply to all advertised vacancies, so if s worth trying it out a couple of times.
The Fabulous Group
Come and join one of Birmingham’s fastest growing companies. We are dynamic and innovative, and based in brand-new, high-tech offices in the heart of Birmingham. We are currently wanting to recruit a part-time receptionist (hours 9.30 – 12.00).
We want a well-presented, enthusiastic and experienced person to help in the busy atmosphere of our front-of-house reception. You need top-class communication skills and to be super confident in liaising with clients. You will need to show a flexible approach and be able to work without supervision.
Please write in confidence, enclosing your current CV with a daytime telephone number to:
Mr Scottish Claymore, The Fabulous Group, Pinkerston House, 1 Victoria Square, Birmingham.
The Fabulous Group employs over 1,000 staff.
Search for clues
What does this job ad really tell us about the company? For a start, what kind of qualifications are they looking for? What kind of skills do they want?
When you have done this kind of exercise you can start to decide whether you actually have the skills and mapping them out in your CV. Apart from the obvious things like excellent communication skills which the advert asks for, what else is there behind the ad?
Something to do
Write down what you think the company will be like, and what you think the job will be like.
What do you think they will be looking for from a CV?
There are lot of interesting things about this advert, including the words dynamic and innovative early on. It’s probably a lively and rapidly changing company, unlikely to be particularly bureaucratic. You need to ask yourself if you would like to work in this kind of environment, where companies can grow rapidly and decline just as fast, or whether you would be happier in a settled place. The choice depends on you.
The advert also asks for a well-presented person, so you need to be smart, clean and tidy. It may also mean that the company is obsessed with image, and if you aren’t this kind of person the job could be wrong for you.
The job is part-time, and you need to ask if you would be happy with this, especially as it seems they are looking for a high level of responsibility. Some people want part-time jobs because they aren’t highly responsible, and you need to make a decision here.
The company is a large local employer – this is useful because you might start to do some research to find out more about the company.
The whole advert stresses the importance of confidence and enthusiasm. It’s a front-line post dealing with lots of enquiries and people. It may well involve dealing with irate clients and problems. Again, you need to ask yourself whether this is the kind of place you want to work.
Finally, you need to work without supervision, so you might have to solve most problems yourself. You need to ask yourself whether you could cope with this kind of job, or whether you would thrive in this kind of atmosphere.
So, if you decided to go for it, your CV would need to stress your:
- Self-reliance
- Ability to manage yourself
- Dynamic and independent nature
- Ability to get things done and to deal with people.
Senior Youth Worker
Coronation Youth Centre, The Borough of Swaffham
£20,000 – £23,000
We need a person who will be at the forefront of developing a new style of youth work at our centre. We are located within the northern wards which are part of a council-wide development. You will need to be adept at following council policy and developing the Council Equal Opportunities Policy too. You must have a recognised JNC qualification plus two years’ full-time experience, or four years’ experience as a full-time youth worker.
You must have the ability to plan and deliver a programme of youth work and work with council officers to make sure the council policies are delivered effectively.
We offer a casual car allowance and car loan facilities.
We are an Equal Opportunities employer and we welcome applicants from all sectors of the community. Disabled people meeting the job requirements are guaranteed an interview. Employees are not permitted to smoke at work. We have a work-based nursery.
A question
What does this tell you about the job and the organization
This advert tells you masses about the job. For a start, you need a range of experiences and qualifications to get past the first hurdle, and qualifications and experience come pretty near the top, so the employer obviously thinks they are important. You would need to stress these areas early in your CV, to stand a good chance of getting an interview. However, there are lots more clues to pick up in this advert.
There are two references to council policy. The chances are if s a relatively bureaucratic organization and it’s likely you will be quite closely supervised by your political masters. There is more than one reference to equal opportunities, and you need to decide how much this reflects the ideology of this particular council. You need to be in sympathy with this approach, or at least accept it, to apply for this job. If you are very anti-equal opportunities or like getting on with the job on your own, this is not the job for you.
What Interests Should You Include On Your CV?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat you need to tackle in the section is your interests. All too often these are a lost opportunity for people. For instance, if you just put down that you like reading and walking the dog, you won’t look like a very interesting person. You are likely to rank somewhere below Steve Davis in the ‘interesting’ stakes. So, make a list of all the different things you might list as interests. This could include being involved in sport, the arts, or running clubs. The trick is to give a balanced, portfolio approach to your interests. Flitting down that you like playing cricket, rugby and football may make you look a bit light on the old grey matter.
One of the tricks with ‘interests’ is that you must be honest. Don’t put down that you have a lifelong fascination with pop music if you wouldn’t know your David Bowie from your George Michael.
As you write down your interests, think through what the employer is looking for as well. Try and work out why what you write could matter to them. If it’s a job that involves lots of management you might decide to highlight an interest that reinforces this, for instance putting on a production at the local amateur dramatics society, rather than just acting in it.
The key is to make yourself look like a lively and well-balanced person. You need to show you have a life outside work and how you believe your interests will actually help you do the job you are applying for.
Getting Your CV across to the Employer
Posted by: | CommentsIn this article we will look at presenting your CV and completing the task of getting it to the employer. Remember that first impressions count and if your CV looks messy, cramped, confused, complicated or massive then you won’t get very far with it.
There are some pretty simple dos and don’ts when it comes to layout.
- Do make your CV look professional (try to produce it on a PC and print it out on a laser printer).
- Do keep it simple (avoid using lots of typefaces or too much underlining or emboldened text).
- Do keep the layout easy to follow and understand (keep a reasonable margin down the left-hand side of the page, use simple blocks of text and make sure the columns are justified – this means that the text lines up in one block).
- Do have plenty of white space (plenty of space makes a CV easy to read and an appealing prospect too).
- Don’t get overcomplicated and try to prepare a masterpiece of modern design with your CV, unless, of course, you are a designer.
- Don’t cram everything on to one page if it doesn’t fit easily (go onto a second page rather than cram everything onto one page).
- Do use clear headings on your CV. If you opt for a functional CV then choose your headings with care. They should be short and clear and punchy.
- Do use bullet points (this list is an example of bullet points). Bullet points allow you to pull out the punchy bits and separate your ideas clearly. They look good and professional on the page and they help people to pick out what is important.
Writing that letter
When you send your CV in, the chances are you are going to write a letter in with it as well. The important thing is to keep the letter simple and professional while still giving a flavour of your unique personality.
In the letter be clear about what you want to achieve from it. Your letter should:
- include a reference to the job you are applying for
- be brief. The person already knows quite a lot from your CV – if you ramble on in the letter, you will detract from your CV and may create a negative image
- be polite and courteous
- be positive but not too cocky. Avoid sign off phrases like:
You might also use your letter to pull out one or two interesting points that relate to you and the job. It’s also here that you might be able to show some of the research. For instance, you might be able to make reference to a new factory the company has opened or an exciting new opportunity you have read about.
Here is an example of a letter. Notice that if s written in a personal and informative style and does enough to whet the employer’s appetite without throwing in lots of unnecessary detail.
Job Searching Techniques – Retrieval Mapping
Posted by: | CommentsA useful technique for getting a clear picture about yourself is called retrieval mapping.
The idea behind retrieval mapping is actually quite simple. Retrieval mapping is a technique for pulling out or retrieving key experiences you have had and skills you have built up, that you can then use to help develop your CV. Follow the simple, step-by-step guide below to your own retrieval mapping process.
Step 1: division
Divide your life up into significant blocks that you can concentrate on. This will allow you to focus on different parts of your life rather than see the whole thing as a jumble. It is an organising tool.
The kind of divisions you might come up with are things like: school days, late teens, twenty to thirty, thirty to forty, forty to fifty, fifty plus; or school, university, early jobs, management jobs, senior management jobs; or school, and outside school. If s up to you to divide the cake in whatever way you think would be most helpful.
The key is to give yourself manageable chunks that you can actually focus on, and then think about what you did, what you learned, and what skills you developed during that period.
Step 2: blocks
Write on a large piece of paper one block that you have identified above. You may want to have different pieces of paper for each of the different blocks you have identified.
Step 3: arrows and bubbles and things
Now place the block in the middle of the page and draw lines or bubbles or arrows from it, linking everything you did that you thought was interesting or you learned something from.
Step 4: patterns and shapes
When you have done this for each of the blocks put them all on the table in front of you. You can now start looking for patterns and common areas between the blocks. As you look through you might want to use a highlighter pen and highlight every time when similar responsibilities came your way.
You may start seeing a pattern in things like:
- You’ve often worked with teams
- You’ve often led teams
- You have a consistent pattern of doing administrative jobs and enjoying them.
The choice is yours, but what this activity will show you is where there has been a repeatable pattern of events throughout your working and other life.
So you should be able to highlight:
- Your skills
- Your experiences
- Your achievements.
You can use these in your CV. You may also start identifying highlights that you definitely want to talk about. Flag these up using a different coloured pen.
Drawing the picture
This is a simple example of what we mean, done by a woman who has a wide range of experience in each of the blocks she picked out. The one shown here is for the school block.
Drawing the conclusions
The following shows the results of this individual’s retrieval mapping, putting the blocks together. She has condensed the information into what she feels are the key points to make it manageable.
So, now you know what the company wants and what you have to offer, it’s a question of sorting out the best format for the specific circumstances.
The Basics of Functional CV
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the alternative to the chronological CV and gives you the option of presenting a view of your main skills areas. The following is an example of a functional CV for a restaurant supervisor.
The benefits – Looking at the CV you can see the real benefits of this approach. For a start it allows you to be clear about the skills you are able to offer and the areas in which you have worked. The actual titles of your jobs and your work history are in a more secondary position. This approach adds focus.
The advantages of this are that it can give you great flexibility and allow you to avoid repeating yourself as often happens in a chronological CV with many similar jobs.
This kind of CV also overcomes the fact that you have not had a lot of experience at work. The emphasis on your functional skills and experience allows you to blur some boundaries and smooth over some of the gaps – after all in this kind of CV you are not emphasising progression.
You may also want to use this approach if you are looking to make a career change because it allows you to emphasise transferable skills that will help you make the transition. By the same token you can use the functional approach if you are retxirning to the job market after a gap. You just present what you learned during the gap.
The problems – This kind of CV isn’t useful if you want to emphasise continuity and growth, and it may not be right for more traditional jobs. Many jobs want to see a progression up the career ladder.
If you take this approach it might also mean you lose the impact of any prestigious companies you may have worked for.
Getting your CV Right – Read the Ad
Posted by: | CommentsAll too often people don’t read the ad properly. They spend about one minute reading the ad and then two days putting the CV together. Their CV may be great, but because they haven’t read the advert properly they miss the main points.
I advertised a job for communications officer at the place where I work. You would be surprised how many people just didn’t read the advert and what we were looking for. We actually got one CV in from someone who was a telecommunications worker. He was an ex-BT person and had seen the word ‘communications’ in the title and thought the job was for a telephone engineer!
Another trap people fall into is sending a CV whenever they see a job they are interested in, even if the advert doesn’t ask for one. This may make you feel better but it won’t get you a job.
Often people just have a scatter-gun approach, sending CVs to any jobs they like the look of and not bothering to fill in application forms. If you do this, you will not get an interview, and if s just a waste of another first class stamp. It looks lazy and companies will not take any notice of you.
The Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Great CV
Posted by: | CommentsThe following is a checklist for getting the nuts and bolts right:
- The CV must be clean and tidy. It shouldn’t be creased or have ink blots. Above all, avoid the dreaded white correction fluid. If you are still using a typewriter make sure you type absolutely perfectly. The mere sign of a white patch covering a mistake will probably guarantee your CV a future in a rubbish bin. Organizations produce quality paperwork these days, so yours has to match their standard or they’ll almost certainly reject it.
The real advice here is to get hold of a personal computer (PC), even if you have to go to someone’s house to use it. You really should be using a PC these days. PCs allow you to store standard paragraphs, move things around, change them, print them out, and generally rework and develop your CV.
If you have got a PC you can store things and develop your CV over time. So try and find a way to bin your typewriter and join the 20th century.
- The layout must be clear and neat. There are varying opinions about how much margin to leave, but avoid cramped or crowded pages. It’s important not to suddenly reinvent yourself as an ace designer and use 15 typefaces and various avant-garde type designs. Keep it simple, keep it professional. Remember that headings are important but don’t go overboard. Above all, don’t try to do anything too fancy, especially with typefaces.
- Spelling and grammar are crucial. We know of people who have won jobs on the basis that they knew how to spell, and could tell the difference between principal and principle. It’s absolutely essential that you avoid spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. If necessary, get someone else to check it before you send it.
If you are not good at spelling, use the spell check on your PC, but don’t rely on it. You may type a word wrongly but still not be alerted to it by the spell check -for instance you may type ‘spell’ as ‘sell’ and because both are correct the computer will let it go.
- Only handwrite the CV if the company insists on it, and then use black ink rather than blue. It photocopies better and makes their life easier. If you are going to use handwriting, be aware that some employers use handwriting analysts. If you send a handwritten covering letter or envelope, take time with your writing, and make sure it’s neat.
- Politically correct terminology can matter. Some organizations have moved into the realms of political correctness, and, if it’s important for the employer, you need to make sure that this is reflected in your CV.
- Keep something back. CVs often fail because of sheer overload. People become so exuberant and carried away with themselves that they put every possible fact and detail on their CV. It’s very important to keep something back, so that you can talk about it at the interview and possibly surprise your interviewers. In the CV world less definitely more.
Job Searching Tips – Understanding Competition and How It Arises
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you apply for a job, you have to first of all assess how much competition you will be up against. How do you do this? A useful measure of competition is to think about how you sourced the job. Did you see it advertised in a national newspaper, for example? If this is the case, you can safely assume that many other people will apply. On the other hand, did you source the job by putting out a few feelers in the trade in which you work? Here, the competition could be negligible or non-existent. You could even find yourself the only runner in a one-horse race.
Moving your applications from one stage to the next has different connotations, depending on which sector of the job market you happen to be operating in. Visible market applications need to be focused on the task of engaging and overcoming competition, whereas the challenge you face with the invisible or unadvertised market is to keep the process you have started flowing.
Searching Your Ideal Job Based on Your Needs
Posted by: | CommentsUnless you identify your needs when establishing a career direction, there is a real danger of accepting a job which is wrong for you. If you are already in a job which dissatisfies you, you must avoid jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Unless you know exactly what to look for, the new role could turn out to be just as inadequate as the old one, but in a different way.
So, it is important to take time out to clarify the things which will satisfy you in your future career. Think about the aspects you like and the reasons for your current frustration. You will end up with a profile of your job needs.
Use these questions to analyse your needs:
- Where do you want to work?
- Which skills do you want to use?
- What sort of atmosphere or environment do you like to work in?
- What salary do you require? Who do you want to work with?
Jobs which do not match all of your needs may not be completely unsuitable. There may be other factors which compensate for the missing items. It is still important to set your criteria as a starting point for making your selection.
Unless you make a conscious decision to get into the driving seat, you run the risk of letting your life just drift, or of allowing other people to control the important decisions you should be making for yourself. By identifying the kind of work you would love to do, you will invest more passionately in your job and become a more valuable employee.