IT jobs board?

Chris, a systems analyst, asks: Do you know an IT job website that doesn’t involve going through employment or recruitment agencies? I am fed up of having to convince every agent I speak to that I can do the job – just want them to send off my Professional CV!

In answer:
I am a recruiter and operate an IT recruitment agency, but I do know what you mean.

IT Career options

Firstly, what type of IT career do you want next? Do you have the experience to do that job now at a competent level, or do you need further training or experience?

If you want a contract career, then agencies are your way forward. If you want a permanent career, but don’t yet have the experience, then you need to built that competency through contract positions, and hence – agencies are your way forward!

IT Recruitment agencies

All recruitment agencies are – mostly – very annoying. But to understand why you need to understand their commercial drivers.

They only take on new people to their books who fulfil roles they have right now. If you see a new role in four weeks, time, then you need to apply again. Once an agency takes you on, then they accept two things:

1. You can do the job advertised
2. You won’t let their brand down in front of their customer

Recruitment agencies have tighter sets of criteria for taking people on as opposed to employers, as if you let the customer down, then you jeopardise the agencies future income from that customer

IT Jobs

The only way an employer will take you on as a permanent employee at present is through being already experienced, and willing to accept a lower wage than that which you were earning 12months ago. There are enough good and capable people on the market right now who are seeking work, that employers have too much choice. Employers do advertise on job boards, and you can spot them over agencies – its just that at present there are five agency adverts for each employers advert.

I would suggest you keep spotting the job boards, and look out for a helpful contact at an agency. I always tell our CV clients to build a relationship with a few select agencies/recruiters, and not make yourself look like you are available to anyone at the right price. Also, sit down and create a list of 50 employers you might like to work for, then keep an eye on their website for jobs, or make an approach via an informational interview to see what they are like/have any opportunities.

Keep plugging away, you will get there, but it sounds like at present you are sounding to the agencies as too desperate and hence too much of a risk to put in front of their customers.

Good Luck!

===================================================================

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

===================================================================

Why recruiters reject you

As a recruiter, it some times surprises me when job applicants and job seekers complain about being rejected by recruiters.

They some how think that we are a personal service, and therefore should always care about them, by:

• Acknowledging their communication
• Always calling them on the telephone, no matter how they applied for our advertised job
• Giving them full and frank reasons for rejection, and hence….
• Another opportunity at another job

Having not been a recruiter all of my life, I have some sympathy with this position. As a job seeker, you will be applying for positions advertised by both employers and recruiters, and you will be wondering why some treat you one way, and others another way. In fact, the long term job seekers will know that the difference between the best employers and the best recruiters is quite small but distinct, while the worst are just – the worst!

So, why would a recruiter reject you?

Recruiter motivations

The first insight into recruiting is not that recruiters are driven by people, but by money. The average placement fee in the UK market is around 15% of basic salary at the present time, while management and executive recruiters drift upwards from that level to around 30%. Head hunters fees start from 30% of total package, to two times total package for a FTSE CEO. Yes, the head hunter could get paid more than the CEO of a FTSE company in his first two years of employment!

Once you understand money is the prime driver, then everything else becomes clearer.

Hence the second insight into recruiting is the tightness of interpretation of the client brief. If I send a job applicant that I have chosen in front of a client, I am not just sending a job applicant in front of my client, but also my reputation and hence my future income stream. With this in mind, and being driven by money, do I want: good, great or excellent candidates in front of my client? Right, I want the best. So if I want the best, I am going to interpret any job applicants for both suitability to do the job and their ability to represent and develop my brand reputation in front of my client. Hence, all recruiters but particularly head hunters at a managerial and executive level will have tighter criteria for candidate selection than employers

Thirdly, recruiters live in the NOW. Driven by money with open client briefs on one side, the quicker those briefs are fulfilled, the quicker the recruiter gets paid. Hence, you see a job advert, you think – not know, just think – you could do that job, and apply. The recruiter applies their (tighter) brief, and rejects you. Do they save your CV for later, or give you a call to say “Hey, thanks for your application, but on this occasion…” No, most do not. We do save the CV’s of all job applicants, but most recruiters do not because they live wholly in the now. You are suitable now for that brief, you get engaged in the process; you are not suitable, and you get rejected, and never hear from the recruiter again

Three recruiters and out rule

The fourth reason for rejection is a little more subtle, but well worth understanding. For those recruiters and mainly head hunters who retain CV’s of all job applicants, the key they will want to know is your availability on a regular basis moving forward. These recruiters will call you, but it won’t be the recruiter who fronts the client, but a person called a researcher. These are important people in your future relationship with that recruitment or head hunting company.

Researchers have multiple briefs to find candidates, and are not wholly driven by money. But, researchers want job seekers who are new, fresh and communicative. Researchers make their money by providing lists of vetted job applicants to recruiters, who are then further vetted before being passed onto the client. If the recruitment company has taken a specific brief in a competitive situation against another recruiter, the key question the researcher will ask you is:
How many other jobs have you applied for, or sent you CV to recruitment companies?

If you answer three or more, then however suitable for the job you applied for you are, you will be rejected. Why? Because it is likely you have sprayed your CV around much like water, and now it has the same value to a recruiter. Only job applicants who are: clear about what they want to do; are communicative; and don’t show signs of desperation, which would include spraying your CV around; will get engaged by recruiters. The fourth recruiter you send you CV to, will go through the motions, but most likely reject you.

How to handle recruiters

You may be asking yourself after reading this far: is it worth dealing with recruiters?

Yes, because often they will take more difficult to fulfil or sensitive jobs that a companies HR or managerial teams just don’t want the companies logo spread all over. Hence, they tend to be higher paying jobs.

Now that you know how recruiters work, and why you will be rejected, how can you handle recruiters to make sure you don’t get rejected?

Firstly, be clear and focused about what you want to do next. Any Job Will Do syndrome will get you into a longer and longer employment cycle

Secondly, don’t spray your CV around like water. Be cautious of posting it.

Thirdly, don’t engage with any old person who calls you/networks and calls themselves a recruiter. Test them out, and ask a few questions: how long has this organisation been a client of theirs; how many briefs have they had from this client before/how many people placed; what is their brief for this job; how many job applicants/CV’s will they put forward; when does the client want a person in place; how/when will they get paid. Some feel that last question is too arrogant, but if they are asking your pay or package requirements, and you know they live in the now, then knowing what and when they get paid equates to motivation.

Fourthly, when they ask for your CV, offer them your LinkedIn profile. If they press, offer them a coffee. Remember the three CV’s and out rule! This tactic also means you appear cautious, and hence a sought after “passive” job seeker.

Recruiters are a great asset to the jobs and employment market place, adding value in a specialist area that is based on human relationships and business results. But fail to engage properly and you will get rejected, quickly.

Good Luck!

===================================================================

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

===================================================================

Best CV = Lying?

When we are answering Job Application questions, either for clients or on forums, a significant number of them deal with what is the Best CV; and a second category deals with what is acceptable CV lying?

A thought therefore occurred to me: are the Best CV’s written by Liars?

Before we explore this thought, let me be very, very clear: the Number1 rule of CV Writing is never, ever lie on your CV. Much as though it is not illegal to lie on your CV, it is illegal and possibly subject to later criminal prosecution to lie on the employers Job Application form. Hence when you transfer the information from your CV to the Application Form, or simply sign a statement verifying it, you are then breaking the law.

So, why is it worth exploring if CV Lying actually creates the Best CV?

Best CV?

Much as though it may technically – in terms of answering the Job Advert – be the Best CV, it is also the worse. As so many job applicants choose to lie on a cv, it is hence why recruiters and employers put in place rigorous employment checks: another survey appeared this week, showing that 40% of Job Applicants lie on their CV. If you think we don’t do background checks these days, then know that the cost of background checking a job applicant is as low as £25/candidate. Compare this to the cost of hire to the first month of employment at around half the annual wage, it is the equivalent to less than one days pay: excellent payback! While employee background checks will find large misdemeanour’s, references checks find smaller discrepancies.

The issue I want to deal with here, is that looking at CV Lying from my perspective as a recruiter and CV Writer, I suspect that CV liars actually do some things that honest job applicants could learn from. Firstly, they read job adverts; and secondly they assume that employers are readers as well – and fairly lazy ones at that. Unfortunately, they are right!

When 1/3 of all CV’s are rejected because the job applicants does not have the required combination of Skills, Qualifications and Experiences, CV Liars recognise that if they can mimic the required combination of SQE they improve their chances of getting an interview. As Lying on a CV is such an illegal gamble, most CV Liars think that once in the interview room, they can persuade the employer that they are right for the job – irrespective of the SQE combination, or the needs of the employer.

Effectively, CV Liars are Job Application chameleons, or the Martini answer for any employer!

Best CV lessons

What are the lessons that the good and honest Job Applicants can learn from the CV liars?

Firstly, read the job advert – if you don’t have the required SQE combination stated in the advert, then don’t make it up like a CV liar would – just don’t apply!

Secondly, if you have the required SQE combination, then mimic some of the words and phrases that the employer uses in the advert, in your Cover Letter and CV. There is nothing wrong in re-orientating the skills in your CV – changing the emphasis and weight of importance is lying – but the best place to show your functional fit for a job is always in your Cover Letter. Good job applicants do more research than unsuccessful job applicants, or CV liars who just make it all up.

Thirdly, once in the interview room, be yourself and be honest, don’t try and overtly sell yourself. It is a match of you and the employer that will get you the job, not a great piece of false and illegal sales man ship.

Good Luck!

===================================================================

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

===================================================================

Why PDF will get you employed over MSWord

Many job application systems these days are based online, and in the recruiter side of the employment business, technology has huge gains in efficiency and cost of operations.

But there is one simple technology choice you can make in your job application which will mean you get employed quicker.

That one choice is in choosing to send in your job application using Adobe PDF over Microsoft Word. Simply, it really is just using a proverbial spanner in the works to create a human conversation and interaction, but it creates quicker results – if you understand how the recruiter side of the business works

Recruitment Business

Recruiters make money when they place people with employers – it really is that simple a business. Some recruiters make money when they send a pile of CV/resumes to the employer, and submit further invoices when the employer tells them who they wish to interview. I hence keep saying to Job Seekers, that it is important to know how the recruiter you engage with is paid before you send them your CV/resume. Because if you don’t, you could just be a met target in terms of filling their database with a targeted set of skills, or you could just be one of those candidates making up the pile so that the preferred candidate gets a job.

However, it is what happens next to your CV/resume that makes PDF a better choice for employment over MSWord. What the recruiter wants to do is send a pile of CV/resumes – hopefully vetted, on the High Street probably not – to their client. As the recruiter gets paid on making a placement, the last thing they want is their client to do is make direct contact with you or any of the other people they send to them. So they want to remove your contact details: at minimum your address and telephone number/eMail address, possibly also your name. They might also want to adjust your CV, so that the skills the client seeks are more prominent.

The easiest way to achieve this “contact details removed” result is for the recruiter to adjust your CV/resume is an easy to edit format, the most common of which is Microsoft Word. They then want to send the CV is a “fixed” format to their client, and so will use Adobe PDF themselves. Hence, if you ever ask a recruiter which electronic format they want your CV/resume in, they will choose MSWord: because they can edit it, remove your contact details, and get paid for a placement

Submitting your Job Application CV/resume in PDF gives the recruiter a problem: it is difficult to adjust. As time is money in the recruitment world, if you are of interest they will pick up the phone to ask you for an MS Word version of your CV/resume.

Now, how many times have I seen in Job Discussion forums and business groups, that getting hold of a recruiter to chat about a particular job or position, that job applicants found it impossible to get hold of the recruiter, and continually got diverted to voice mail? Well, how about making a technology choice to get the recruiter to call you, and want to speak to you, because they not only find you interesting – but their next pay check depends on speaking to you?

The simple answer therefore to getting employed quicker, is that PDF creates human interaction over MSWord. The recruiter therefore, if your CV/resume is interesting, needs to talk to you. This creates a conversation they make to you, giving interaction with the recruiter and more choice for you over which jobs your details are put forward for. Easy really when you know how.

Good Luck!

===================================================================

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

===================================================================

How to hire a recruiter

I was talking to a friend this morning, who asked if I would speak to 200 SME business people next year about how to hire a recruiter.

I thought this a quite simple and easy task which could be completed in around 30seconds, and not need a 30min slot accompanied by a projector and a customised power point presentation. Still, he does want to charge for this event, so perhaps better think about 15slides over 30seconds!

However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought: Well, actually, that’s just because you are in the business. What if you were outside the business?

So, here’s the insiders guide to how to hire a recruiter, for both the employer and the candidate

Employer recruitment

When I worked in corporate cost reduction finance, we always knew our core customer employed between 30 and 200 people. The reason was, above this point they probably had a purchasing team who thought they could do better than we could, at a lower price, or at least would have a go at the low hanging fruit before employing us.

As a recruiter, I know that any business below 50 people probably won’t have a full-time HR person, let alone “department.” Above that point, they may have, and I now know why they like doing recruitment over all their other tasks.

In the last decade, you will have noticed two things: the proliferation of SkyTV, and secondly the no-win, no-fee solicitor who after you have fallen over in your companies reception will sue them and make sure you gain all of your compensation. The two chnages comes together after 21:00 every evening, the result of which was as a cost reduction consultant, I had a client who’s employee liability insurance bill went from £50,000 to £250,000 in 18months, thanks to his employees suing him. This wasn’t a negligent employer or a poor employer, just an efficient manufacturer who hence told his HR department to sort the problem out. Today’s HR professional who has to be budget-proficient, has both hands around the throttle of the Health & Safety manual on a daily basis. Recruitment is hence a bit of light relief to the day job, and reminds them what they thought they joined the HR profession for!

Most HR professionals can do the bread and butter jobs – cleaners, secretaries, sales people, microwave engineers, SAP consultants who speak patagonian, etc. Its just that occasionally after ploughing through what looks like an interesting brief, they find they can’t find enough candidates where ever they look.

Here again, a thirds rule exists: one third of the candidates you seek don’t want to move; one third would move with the right job offer; and one third are known and can be found on a jobs board. What HR professional need to know is the size and scale of the market, and then find a recruiter who knows that market.

Scaling market size is fairly easy in the internet age:

1. Create an account at LinkedIn
2. Tap in the top two core skills you require and a reasonable commute distance
3. See how many people appear

Applying a new thirds rule, you probably will find familiar faces from the jobs board, plus another group who have good jobs already. Before you approach any of these additional people and get accused of poaching, one last thought: unless its an IT technical field you are seeking to fulfil, then a majority of the candidates in the main two sectors won’t be there. But at least it gives you an idea of the scale of the market

Modern Recruiters

Modern recruiters are not generalists, but specialists – they know the known and the unknown/those that would move given the right offer candidates. This specialisation is a normal niching market reaction to the drive by jobs boards, which allow job seekers and employers direct connection without the need for a middle man.

Hence trying to be all things to everyone is out of the door for recuitment, and what you should look to buy is a specialist in that skills market. Think of it this way: if all they are going to do is use the same tools and techniques you are, what’s the value except time in getting the list? Hire a temp, and let them do the work if that is your alternative.

Want to test if they are a generalist or a specialist recruiter? Try these tests:

1. Three candidates they have placed in the last six months in this field, who will reference them? Job seekers, replace this with three employers
2. Are they members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, known as REC, the largest recruitment professional body in the UK? Established recruitment firms will be members of one of the specialist boards, while individual recruiters themselves should be members of REC (REC/CP, the basic qualification, costs less than £1000 and takes a week to complete)
3. Have they spoken at a conference on the subject in the last 18months?
4. Will they negotiate their fee below 15%? A good specialist recruiter will do the job twice as quickly with more candidates, but that will cost – at least 20%+

Tips for job seekers

If you apply the above tests, then you should find you engage with a good and reliable recruiter. However, always be cautious about handing your details over. Before you do, ask three further questions:

1. Ask how marketable your skills are, and what are the key skills you have that the market presently wants?
2. What your salary level expectation should be? Specialist recruiters know the market, and what required, so use their knowledge and hold them to it
3. Finally, ask for a copy of both their standard candidate and employer terms and conditions, and how they will be paid under them if they place you at the defined fee level. Upfront fee’s tend to drive recruiters to send in large piles of CV’s, while later payments tend to drive a more client focused service

So there we are: how to hire a recruiter. Simple when you know how

Good Luck!

===================================================================

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

If you want to check the suitability of your existing CV, then get a FREE CV review

===================================================================

Twitter Jobs Board?

Twitter, the new mico-blogging service, seems to have developed a new breed of mini Jobs Boards. There are more and more of these services developing, and as a recruiter/CV writer, I thought it worth a short article on the experiences so far, and where I see this going.

Twitter

Twitter was developed as a micro-blogging service. You have 140 characters to say almost anything you want, and broadcast cast it into the Twitter community. Those who find your twet’s as these microblogs are called interesting, can follow your stream of tweets – you hence develop a micro-community of your own. Ashton Kutcher currently is the most followed person on Twitter with over 2.6million followers, but that’s partly because he’s a celebrity and also being married to Demi Moore means he can micro-blog about her and her body: voyeuristic or what?

If you are not a celebrity, you can also be found via a service called hash tags, where to the key words you attach a # key, eg: #jobs or #ukjobs. As a Brit, I suggest if you are new to Twitter, you follow/listen to the excellent Stephen Fry – witty and twitter aware. I suggest that to learn about twitter you also might follow NikkiPilkington who runs TwetMentor for newbies and BusinessonTwitter, and MarkShaw who’s entire business is focused on Twitter. If you are looking for people in UK Employment – eg: recruiters, HR people etc, – then have a look at my Employment UK twitter league, where presently JamesCaan of DragonsDen fame leads the community with 2685 followers.

Twitter as a Jobs Boards?

If you are following the idea of Twitter so far, then as a broadcast medium you may have got the idea that it sounds much like a jobs board: which itself is a development of a newspaper, which is a development of a village noticeboard, eg – post a notice, and let people apply to you via published contact details. This has resulted in the development of some twitter-based and mainly reliant jobs boards.

TwitJobs.co.uk
TwitJobs.co.uk was developed by Social Media “guru” Jason Barrett of Smuvrd, whose core offering is Social Media management packages to companies, starting at £175/month for a blog management package (eg: they blog and distribute via social media for you). At TwitJobs.co.uk you can list your job for £49/month, and it gets regularly tweted out into the Twitter community. As of today – July 10th, 2009 – there are 21 jobs listed on TwetJobs.co.uk. TwitJobs claims to have 30,000+ followers, but on its TwitJobsUK account it only lists 13,588. TwitJobs twets its own jobs plus anything it would appear that is hash-tagged with jobs or ukjobs

TweetmyJobs.com
TweetmyJobs.com was developed by Gary Zukowski, owner of EasySoft Solutions, Inc., an IT Staffing and Consulting firm in Charlotte, NC. Yes, that makes it United States based, but it claims to have developed it services beyond North America. This is hence why its Director of Business Partnerships Lauriana Zukowsk is presently direct messaging recruiters and people in UK/European employment business like myself: some might not appreciate this, but as I like learning so I will take that as the “gain” over the downside of the aggressive DM! TweetmyJobs.com charges from $.99c/day for a job listing/tweting. TweetmyJobs claims 65,000 followers on its main website, but its main Twitter account had 4,245 as of today – I also couldn’t seem to access some of the pdf business model explanations from my MacBook

Jobs Boards
Having reviewed two of the new comers, I thought it might be interesting to see how some of the old-hand jobs boards are addressing Twitter. MonsterUK have protected their updates – I have sent a request, still waiting….. – but their main US account at MonsterCareers twet’s everything from both Monster.com and hash tagged with jobs.

If you follow NikkiP and Mark Shaws best practise advice on how to address Twitter, then at present I’d say that on a “good to the Twitter community” scale that Monster gets it, and the two new comers come lagging in a measured distance behind. Plus, their volumes of advertised jobs are far, far lower

Twitter for Employment?

I am struggling at present to see Twitter as an effective channel to a position for job seekers -or at least I would be. Let me explain

I struggle partly because Twitter as a system and as a culture is still developing – admittedly rapidly. Secondly, as the Twitter community expands,the volume of flow of message through these communities will exponentially expand, and results in an man-machine interface collapse : TweetmyJobs sees this coming, trying to comb and split its data by sector/region using hastags

But mainly because at present, in the real world economy there are more job seekers than there are jobs. If the situation was reversed – which I am convinced it will be in three years or less, with probably a mini-spike between September 2009 and April 2010 – then it will be the employers rushing to the micro-blogging site to find great employees. The present 21 jobs on TwitJobs, and the diversity of pricing – 99cents a day versus $2.50, or nothing if you list via Monster – suggests that the business model is still at best “developing.”

The only Twitter focused job seeking tool I see working at present is TwitterjobSearch.com, which is a Google-like search tool for twitter job seekers. It is hence not reliant (presently) on employer paid fee submission, meaning it has – if you the recruiter/employer twet in the right way – every job that passes through Twitter listed in its dBase. Therefore, it has a jobs dBase as big as an existing jobs board like Monster. It also overcomes the man/machine interface problem of needing to comb data streams, as its internal search-intelligence does this for you: it seems to consistently know the difference between London, Ontario and London, England. By being free at present, and conforming to an existing business model like Google, it should also conform to peoples expectations and be accepted quickly.

Twitter thoughts

At the moment, Twitter as I see it is a good platform for the presently unemployed/between opportunities to find both moral support and good advice on how to get a job quicker, and as a side benefit who is hiring. Secondly, it is good for employers – and hence recruiters – both looking for general talent as well as individuals that can engage the social media driven world.

Thirdly, it is a wonderful platform on which to find great people in your own market, and spot what your competition is doing – or actually co-operate with them! For instance, tools such at the RecruitingBlogs.com powered Splits.org is a micro community for split-fee recruiters, allowing them to post and find split fee’s projects

Personally I enjoy Twitter, and I wouldn’t have met great people in the global world of recruitment like: Animal in Canada; or CincyRecruiter and BillVick in the United States; or been even more impressed with the team at UKRecruiter lead by LouiseTriance were it not for Twitter. UKRecruiter provide a Twitter Guide for Recruiters, which at £4.99 seems great value for a recruiter or employment professional who is new to Twitter

In summary: twitter is fun, but I don’t think its a basis technology on which to found a jobs board – yet, if at all?

Good Luck!

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

Job Search

photo credit: emme-dk

As a job seeker, do you measure the progress of your Job Search?

Measured over a fifty year period in many different economies and countries, the average job applicant will apply for between eight and ten jobs using their own self created CV/resume, in return for one physical interview. In this present down turn economy, I have seen job seekers with ratios as low as 1 interview in 1000 job applications. But by playing the odd’s of what the reader of their job application will do on receiving it, and measuring their progress, should enable every job seeker to increase this ratio simply, quickly, and easily – and to great effect by getting employed.

I have seen as both a Recruiter and Professional CV Writer, fellow professionals try to justify the current situation in many forums, telling job seekers that 1 interview in 20 applications is great. In my experience, those of my clients, and backed by present national and international employment statistics: it is not. Effectively, for every job out there at present, there are between 2 and 3 job seekers – in the UK it is 1 to 1.5 presently. So just playing the statistics, the average application to interview ratio should be around 1 in 3.

When ever anyone asks “what is the ratio of applications to interviews I should receive,” I have two answers:

1. Using a professional CV/resume writer or Job Coach – two out of three, if the service combines more than CV Writing and coaches you
2. Doing it Yourself, or DIY – if you are doing worse than 1 in 10, there is something very wrong!

If you are measuring your job search, then a ratio of less than 1 in 10 is telling you that either:

• You are in the wrong industry
• The wrong geography
• Have something wrong in your CV/resume
• Applying for the wrong jobs

The former two issues are an indication that presently, strategically you are in the wrong industry, or the wrong geography: but either is an indication that you are trying to swim against the current tide. This is a common basic job search mistake of many new job seekers at present, most of whom have often been employed with the same employer for a period of over 10 years. To find out if your job search is strategically difficult, use one of the large job boards to provide an excellent litmus test. If you don’t find the jobs you seek there, then you may have to reconsider either the type of work or the geography which is defining your current job search.

The later two problems are tactical job search issues, and are best addressed by seeking the advice of a professional – using our own Free CV Review service for instance – and gaining feedback from every job you apply for. Make sure you are applying for the right jobs by using a highlighter pen to find the key skills the job seeks in your own CV/resume: can’t find those skills, then simply don’t apply! If you are rejected at either CV/resume sifting stage or interview stage, then always seek feedback: why were you rejected; what did the others candidates have; how could you improve your application next time? Thank them for their time – plus you will often find that candidates who ask for feedback are those employers call first when suitable jobs appear

By using measurement and feedback to monitor your job search, you will make more and quicker progress towards employment. Once you are aware of the situation from information around you, taking and applying feedback in improving your job applications – and most importantly knowing you have the support and love of your friends and family; you will never feel down in a job search ever again.

If you think I or any of the team could help you, please – just ask.

Good Luck!

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service

Job Search

If you are a Job Seeker or a student of modern media, then by now you – or may not have – heard of Neville Keithley. Oh, you haven’t heard of him? You are probably not the only one, but his story has a series of lessons for the modern job seeker.

The job search of Neville Keithley:
Newspaper executive Mr Neville Keithley, 47, who lives in Hastings, was managing director at Glasgow-based publishers Archant Scotland which publishes local and regional papers such as The Extra, The Advertiser and The Gazette titles, until he was made redundant in June 2007 after it had been bought out by Johnston Press in January of the same year.

Having tried recruitment consultants, head hunting firms and offered to work for free; without the offer of a job, he came to national attention after taking out a quarter page advert in The Telegraph:

The resulting media mele, which resulted in the Telegraph itself running a piece under the headline “Gissa Job’ returns to haunt middle classes, resuled in the BBC featuring Neville Keithley in a short video piece, where he says:

• 1000′s of people read the Telegraph every day
• I could not have eMailed or mailshotted them
• I couldn’t get them to pay attention
• I don’t think its desperation, I think it’s innovation

Geoff Newman of Welsh head quartered Acorn Recruitment features as the expert commentator, and after a short piece to camera about the relevance of these publicity pieces to the majority of job seekers, he closes on:

Importantly, sell the value that they have to the businesses. If they don’t have any value to a company, they won’t get employed.

Neville Keithley’s advert finishes with the line: I hope my gamble has intrigued you, enough to want to contact me and find out more. The result of all this publicity: 6 enquiries, and one post-Easter interview.

I wish Mr Keithley good luck in his job search!

Modern Job Searching:
Up until the mass acceptance of the internet, job searching was about push-marketing by the candidate against either job adverts or on their professional network. The modern job search is about both push marketing, and pull marketing: more and more, employers and recruiters are going out and finding candidates with the right or desired skills.

The changed approach this needs from candidates is probably best summarised by Dan Schwabel‘s new book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, which is about having a consistent and findable personal brand, both on and offline.

Visibility of the modern job seeker – returning to Neville Keithley
Neville Keithley’s visibility online was poor. I undertook a Google Search on Neville Keithley, and apart from noticing that Mr Keithley has no listing at LinkedIn (the worlds biggest business networking site, with some 37million members), here are the additional highlights of what I found:

• Endorsement of Falconbury Business Seminars “Mini MBA” course
• Sponsorship of “Citizen of the Year” Award at the Rotary Club of Fraserburgh – 12/12/2006

The following are screen captures of the various exact match results I found for Mr Keithley:

Just in case you were wondering perhaps what a set of results could look like, here are my broad match results:


Note that my LinkedIn profile comes first in my results, followed closely by a series of other Social Networking results; while my infamous pink shirt image appears consistently in the photo search.

Summary:
In summary, I wish Mr Keithley the best of luck in his job search, and very much hope that he finds work soon.

But a modern job search needs – as in the old days – focus and persistence; plus visibility and ownership of both the push and pull cycles of personal branding.

As Andy Headworth of consultants Sirona said this morning on Twitter: Who are these guys going to for advice in finding a job ???

Good Luck!

Professional CV

Bob asks: I’ve been in staffing and recruitment for almost 19 years (both contingency search and corporate) and am puzzled at the logic behind sending your resume to the CEO of a company. Unless the company is relatively small (say less than 20 people) and the CEO is, in title only, the Chief Executive Officer, the likelihood of your resume ever getting to their desk is virtually nil, and rightfully so. The typical CEO is a strategic executive whose function rarely, if ever, is to open or read unsolicited mail that’s addressed to them, let alone to screen resumes for their relevance to any position within their company. Even executive level searches that involve the CEO (from the perspective of interviewing, at least) typically involve a member of human resources, or some designated gatekeeper to receive the resumes submitted, and often, to do the initial candidate screening. So….why do applicants send their CV to the CEO?

In answer:

You have given some great reasons for not sending a CV direct to a CEO Bob, but the reverse side question is – why not?

There are many candidates who complain vehemently about recruiters and HR types who don’t engage, or don’t return phone calls, etc. The CEO is the top of the company, so if you have been rejected elsewhere by other organisations, then what have you got to lose?

The advantage from the applicants view point is that if you write to the CEO, much as though you may not get to the CEO, the system around them will ensure you do get to the right place in the organisation – if your skills are considered good enough. So rather than being at the bottom of a cue in HR, you have the note attached “The CEO thought you might be better to handle this.”

The problem is, not one solution will fit all organisations. For instance, it would almost be pointless writing to the CEO of Cisco, knowing there is a seven interview/eleven step process to go through before anyone can be hired: you might get a better reception on the first step! However, if the CEO of an organisation was known to you, why write to the very nice lady in HR or the recruiter in the flashy suit asking if they have any jobs?

The problem with modern candidates is that they are lazy. Used to a culture which exists mainly online, if they can send 200 eMails in one hit, and get five jobs interviews then they are happy – they got a job. To them that is five successes – where as to you and I Bob, that’s 195 failures! A bit of research into company using the same internet, would tell them what the key focuses and projects of that company were, what they are seeking, and what the hiring process to get in is. But in their mind it is far easier to send out 200 CEO addressed eMails, than do less work doing more research on the companies that they would really like to work for – when still less than 60% of applications sent have a Cover Letter, do we need more evidence than this lack of care and culture of ease?

It’s that human element Bob that means that there will be, despite the internet and the jobs boards, a recruitment industry going in 100 years – people buy from people. The tools may change, but the power of a warm handshake, a conversation and a resultantly trusted relationship to “keep the wood good” will never change. And while average candidates keep pushing the send button, the CEO’s will keep talking to recruiters like you and I.

Good Luck Bob!

If you need an interview winning solution, signup for our Professional CV service

Recruitment

Emrah asks: Do employers really think recruiters know better who is the best choice for them, or are they actually looking for someone to blame when choices go wrong?

In Answer:
Employers who use recruiters for every recruitment exercise are probably those you don’t want to work for – low wages, high turnover, poor staff relations: they need a PR company more than a recruiter!

Employers who use recruiters for specialist staff and positions, use them for developing new divisions and as part of a development strategy which includes both internal and externally sourced new blood are those to work for.

The continual tension will always be there between recruiters and HR departments – after dealing with months of sick leave, absent employees and accidents, the odd bit of proving your worth and having some fun on a recruitment exercise must be great for most modern HR professionals. The modern internet tools also mean that’s a real value add for them over a recruiter on the average position.

The best chance of finding out which type of employer you are looking at is to ask the recruiter how many similar positions they have recruited for before, and why? Unless its a new division or new blood development, and if its in the hundreds per annum – avoid!

Good recruiters use their understanding of a company, department, and/or Team to make matches for the company. Their business development, interviewing skills, and their hard work make the difference.

Here are a couple of questions that any great recruiter should be able to speak to:

1. How do you adopt your recuiting style to fit my company’s needs?
2. Describe my company’s culture?
3. Tell me what candidates succeed most often at my company?
4. What interviewing strategy will you employ for this position?

A great recruiter has thought about and can answers these questions without skipping a beat.

Good Luck!

If you need an interview winning solution, sign-up for our Professional CV service