A comment on some less obvious issues relating to jobs and career change activity.
Any job search ‘watcher’ over 2015 and especially the second half will have seen a big increase in the number of opportunities coming on the market. There were a lot of happy people securing great positions but at the same time there were disappointments. Lots of opportunities bring lots of applicants and so if you missed out on a few good positions then it’s time to review your strategy now in readiness for 2016.
And I do strongly suggest you do it now. The job market slows over the Christmas holiday period but traditionally comes back with a surge of opportunities early in the New Year. That just leaves you a few weeks to review your CV, letters/e-mail of introduction and everything else you need for your initial presentation.
Again and again I remind people that a successful recruitment exercise starts with an image building exercise.
1 – Your initial response to an advert on the web or other usually starts with an e-mail attaching a CV. Is your mail a long drawn out, boring re-writing of your whole CV? If yes kill it. Keep you mail short direct and to the point with a few (yes just a few) pertinent snippets if your experience or skill sets that are of direct relevance to the job offer. While viewing your e-mail an image will begin to be formed in the mind of the reader. This is the first stage of building your image.
2 – This image building begins with maybe a phone call to or from an employer. Regardless of how you get to talk to the employer/recruiter you need a short, factual and interesting account of your career prepared; a quick presentation that might take only 30/40 seconds to deliver. On the phone you need to be factual and cheerful and get yourself invited for an interview. All being well your image should be getting better. ‘This person sounds good’ they might think. ‘I’ll have them in for a chat’. That’s all you want
Lets presume you get over the first two hurdles the next one is of course; your CV
3 – I don’t think there is any topic more talked about in the whole career change process, than the CV. Your CV is your brochure – yes your brochure. It’s nothing less than a selling document. It must sell you at a glance and like any brochure it should be short, concise, interesting, relevant and nicely laid out.
Remember your CV may be just one of hundreds applying for a position and someone has to review them all. They do not need nor want to know irrelevant information. Keep the content as short and concise as possible. Go over every line and clip it down.
A past client of mine once wrote on their CV:
‘I take over the running of the company when the Managing Director is away on business or on holidays’.
I suggested they wrote: I deputise for the M.D. in his absence. – Same message but just half a line.
So go over your CV, slash and burn, clip, prune shave it down again and again and you will surprise yourself with the amount of uninteresting rubbish you can take out of it. When you have done that, then go over it again and take out another line or two.
How’s the image going now? Has your CV let you down with a bang? If there is a possibility that it will, re-write the whole thing without reference to your old one. One way or the other, get your ‘Brochure’ (CV) working for you.
4 – You get an interview, the day arrives and this is where many things can go wrong and ruin the good image you have worked so hard to create.
First and foremost, do you know your CV? Do you have instant and total recall of every single detail of every line you wrote? If you wrote it, you’re expected to know it and be able to relate every event without hesitation and in detail.
This is probably the biggest fault with applicants. They have a quick read over their CV after writing it and never look at it again until they are in front of the interviewer. Interviews are tense situations and you are likely to forget lots of detail when under pressure so learn it like thoroughly. Your responses to questions must be prompt and accurate, delivered with a smile.
Dress the part for interview. If in doubt, err on the side of caution. You will never be criticised for wearing a nice tailored outfit but you may well be if wearing jeans and a tee shirt.
Squeaky clean. It sounds silly to even mention it but some just don’t do clean and smart. After you get the job then you can experiment with your attire.
Don’t smoke for several hours before an interview and remember, mints on top of tobacco, only make it worse. Non smokers will detect the smell of stale cigarette smoke for hours. Smokers don’t mind it but non smokers mostly find it repugnant
Know where you’re going and arrive on time. There is no excuse for being late. Also remember some large companies may have several offices around town. Be sure you know which one is the correct one, for the interview
Now, how’s the image going? Hopefully onward and upwards to a good job offer
Further information about the author, Colm Cavey can be seen below and at: www.iobdoctor.ie
Good Luck
Top Tips are provided by PCC, who provides professionally delivered, supportive and most importantly, successful career change and redeployment assistance to private clients from all sectors of Industry. While based in Ireland our on-line service extends to those overseas throughout the world. Inquiries are welcome and treated in the strictest confidence. Tel: +353-86-3017207 & +353-1-2819056.
The post Need to Review your 2016 Job Search Strategy? appeared first on Career Energy.