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Great tips for Jobseekers - Issue 2
Dear Subscriber
Welcome to "Great Tips for Jobseekers!" Issue two
We hope you found the first edition useful and entertaining. If you know someone who might find this newsletter interesting please send it on to them so they can subscribe also!
In this issue
• The CV Profile or Summary statement
• Routes to the Job Market
• 5 Quick Tips for Before the Interview
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The CV Profile or Summary
Everyone talks about the elevator pitch, your verbal marketing message that ensures that you are not lost for words when you meet someone you wish to connect with. Well, when you send someone a CV the Profile statement serves the same purpose. It’s to raise interest in you.
Remember, you have 30 – 60 seconds to gain someone’s interest. If you fail to achieve this, your CV will probably end up on the reject pile even if you’re the ideal candidate. So in that first 30 – 60 seconds they must read some clear, relevant messages about you. Then they’ll read on and hopefully you’ll be invited for interview.
I see profile statements everyday that completely miss the opportunity. Why? Because they are full of unhelpful, even meaningless information.
Keep clear of opinions in the profile, please. If you tell me you are enthusiastic team player it won’t mean anything unless you can prove it, and you can’t in a profile statement.
What I’m looking for is facts, facts, facts! The profile has two components:
1 Define yourself
2 Set yourself apart
Define Yourself
In other words, Describe exactly what you are. For example:
A call centre manager with 8 years experience leading teams of up to 120 operators.
If the employer is looking for a call centre manager you have probably already done enough to put you into the ball park. They’re bound to read on with attention.
Set Yourself Apart
They’ll be plenty of call centre managers applying, so why should the employer take you on? Tell them something that separates you from the others. This is likely to demonstrate experience of particular interest to the audience. If you’ve worked in the same or a similar industry sector, make the point. By reading the ad or job description you’ll get some clues about what they are looking for. The profile is a good place to point out that you have this expertise.
Do you have any additional relevant skills such as languages? The following might be suitable if the call centre position was in the fund raising section of a charity taking inbound pledges from across Europe
Worked the charity and retail sectors and previously worked as a sales consultant for a major retail chain. Currently a volunteer fundraiser for a children’s charity. Fluent French speaker.
Notice – no opinions, just facts. Plain and simple. From here I’m going to want to read some evidence that the person is good at their job. That comes under achievements and we’ll look at it in a later edition of “Great Tips for Jobseekers!”
Routes to the Jobmarket
There are four main ways of finding a job: Advertisements, recruiters, direct approach to employers and using your network.
Advertising and recruiters are reactive methods. The job is out there already, and you are reacting to it. If you know about the opportunity so do many other people, and that means you’re in competition. What’s more, there’s not much you can do, except apply and wait for the next stage. So you shouldn’t need to spend too much time looking at ads or talking to recruiters.
Direct approaches to organisations you think you have something to offer, and networking, are proactive. You must go out and find the opportunities. You need to build your knowledge and awareness of organisations to discover where the need is. You are the solution to a problem, so you must find the problem.
It’s highly de-motivating for people in the job market to be relying on others to come back to them with good news. Furthermore, there’s a lot more bad news than good when you are focussing on the reactive strategies, so get proactive! Seek out the interesting people to talk to, to ask questions and find out where the opportunities are.
Sure, you can still apply for advertised positions and register with recruiters, but don’t rely on them. Let them do their thing and hopefully something good will happen, but if it doesn’t there’s no need to get worried because you’ll still be busy with your own proactive activity – researching organisations and people, and writing to them!
5 Quick Tips for Before the Interview
1 Read the job description or advertisement carefully. It is full of clues about what the employer is looking for and this will indicate to you what experience they will be interested in. If you know this you can prepare answers to the questions they are likely to ask. Remember, it’s your past experience they are interested in, so prepare to tell them your success stories!
2 Know where you are going and make sure you arrive 5 – 10 minutes before the stated time of interview. If you’ve never been to the location before, do a practice run of the journey before the actual day if you can. Try to make it the same time of day; local areas have particular traffic patterns and if you’re going to a residential area, for example, you might get caught in school traffic. If you’re using public transport, make sure you leave plenty of time for delays. If you’re very early, take a walk around the neighbourhood.
3 Nervous? Just before the meeting wash your hands in luke warm water and dry them thoroughly. There’s nothing more likely to leave a bad first impression than a sweaty palm!
4 While we’re on the subject of handshakes, make it firm but not a bone cruncher – take hold of the other persons hand in your full hand and give it a slight squeeze so you just feel it give, nothing more. One or two up-down motions and let go. The person has just introduced themselves as Emily Jones. As you shake her hand, make eye contact and say something like: “Very nice to meet you, Emily”.
5 Sometimes you can be hanging around a reception area for a long time. It’s very tempting to allow yourself to sink into one of those soft, low chairs that furnish reception areas to make people feel c at ease. DON’T! When your host arrives to collect you they may have to wait hours with their hand outstretched while you fight your way out of the chair! It could be even worse if you’re trying to fold up a big newspaper that’s been strategically placed to distract you so you don’t realise how late the host is! Instead, put your case down, and look around the reception area. What the place like? How friendly is the receptionist? Is there a company brochure you can glance through? This will help you to evaluate the organisation much more than reading a newspaper. It shows you are interested in the organisation and you are ready for action!
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©Nick Gendler, Workjoy Ltd, 2004
Feel free to use this material and pass it on to others as long as you acknowledge the source. Failure to do so will constitute a breach of copyright.
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