July 2005

in this issue

* Cheating CV's

* Win-Win or no Deal

* Handling Redundancy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheating CV's

Although most employers still fail to check CV's more and more

are doing so. Have you ever been tempted to be "economical

with the truth"?

Some years ago when I worked in recruitment I saw a

candidate who had sent me his CV. He had attained a

respectable degree at university. two years later he returned

looking for his next move. Mysteriously, his class of degree

had improved. I decided to check with his university and found

that he had deliberately lied. When I challenged the candidate

he said

that he had been advised to do it because it would help him get

interviews. "Not through me", I told him. "I'm not going to put

you forward to any of my clients knowing that you would lie on

your CV because I can't risk my reputation if you are found to

be dishonest in employment". The unfortunate thing was that

he

was a good candidate and didn't need to "improve" his degree

class.

Be truthful at all times on your CV. It's not difficult to find out

the truth about somebody. Specialist investigators are

springing up all the time because this is a growing business

need. The chances of being found out are increasing every day

and the risk to your reputation is too great if your lies are

discovered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Win-Win or no Deal

When negotiating with your next employer over the job offer,

try to avoid an adversarial approach. You are much more

likely to reach a mutually acceptable solution by seeing it as a

series of small

problems to be solved rather than a battle to be won.

Confrontation is difficult for many people and usually leaves a

bitter taste on all sides. Even if you succeed in reaching an

agreement with this method your relationship will get off to a

rather uncomfortable start.

The best starting point is to know you "walk away point". That

is, the absolute minimum you will accept, below which you

simply will not agree to join.

Another important part of "win-win" negotiating is to focus on

the areas of agreement at all times and to move on to a new

item for negotiation if the conversation looks like it will reach a

stalemate. It's amazing how trivial some matters turn out to

be when everything else is resolved!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Handling Redundancy

Many people fear that redundancy suggests failure. In fact,

Redundancy does not visit the untalented. Indeed, it is often

the more able who find themselves in this position, many times

by design.

Redundancy is just one way by which people leave an

employer. The world of work is changing rapidly and the

human resource requirement is changing equally fast. The

capabilities required by an organisation last year may differ

significantly this year. There's no need to be ashamed if your

employer can no longer use the skills you offer. The answer is

to move on to an organisation where you can add value and to

keep your skills up to date so that you are never caught with

skills that are no longer required at all.

The first wave of redundancy may be voluntary. Who would

volunteer for redundancy? It's usually the more talented and

confident people. Those who are not happy at work and

believe they can find a better job outside. Many people in this

category were going to leave anyway. Here's a chance to leave

with a pay-off as well! Did you consider, while worrying about

how you were to explain redundancy, that you might be

amongst a group who consider themselves to be more capable

than most?

Not everyone can volunteer for redundancy. However, it's

rarely the case that individuals are singled out on the basis that

they are performing poorly. For those that are made

compulsorily redundant, it is important to remember that it's

nothing personal and it's not about performance. If a whole

department shuts down in order to cut costs, there is no

consideration of the talent that will be lost. It's possible that

some people will be re-deployed elsewhere, but not finding an

alternative role does not equate to being unwanted. It all

comes down to whether or not your capabilities are required by

the re-designed organisation.

Note the important point there: it's your capabilities that are

under scrutiny, not your talent. You may be the best PR

manager the organisation has ever employed. You may have

helped raise the profile of the organisation so that rarely does

a week go by when your company is not mentioned on TV or in

the national press. However, that won't guarantee that you

keep your job if the decision has been made to outsource all PR

activity to an agency.

This is an extract from a longer article which can be found on our website