As a candidate; whether seeking your next permanent role or contract role it’s important for you to not only be proactive in searching for your next role but to be proactive in making sure people find you.

If people can find you easily then you might find more opportunities coming your way.  Depending on your industry or speciality there are numerous job boards where you can post your updated CV so recruiters or employees can find you.  Below is a number of job boards that candidates I’ve spoken to over the years use in the UK & Europe including:

IT & Telecoms

www.monster.co.uk *

www.jobserve.com

www.jobsite.co.uk

www.cwjobs.co.uk

Banking Technology

www.jobserve.com

http://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/

www.cwjobs.co.uk

Pharmaceuticals

www.monster.co.uk*

http://www.emedcareers.com/

http://jobs.newscientist.com/

http://www.pharmiweb.com/

* plus all their local country sites

There are plenty of others out there of course and more continuing to pop up all the time.  I spoke to some seasoned contractors this week who told me they hadn’t posted their CV on one of the above websites for years but thought they would give it another try and was impressed by the amount of contact he had from people about his CV.

Another useful website is www.indeed.com which is basically a meta search engine for job listings where you can search for the types of roles you are looking for and get a daily or weekly feed from wherever these roles may be displayed on the web.

Linkedin

There are plenty of social networking sites out there but without doubt the leader is Linkedin and if you’ve not got a profile here or not keeping it up to date it’s something you should address immediately.   It can double up as your online CV and in the edit profile section you can add up to 3 website links as well as your twitter profile if you’re using it.  You could use the website links to direct people to a personal blog where they can download the latest word copy of your CV with contact details. If open to work in Europe you should also have a profile on www.xing.com as well as www.viadeo.com

Hopefully the above will give you some new ideas or act as a refresher to spruce up your digital profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is lots of advice on the internet about how best to ace the job interview but I thought it was a timely reminder on just a few of the basics which may help you. I’ve compiled a short 10 point which if followed may increase your chances of success

1. Make sure you review and fully qualify the job spec in advance. I’ve spoken to hundreds of candidates who have wasted their and the clients time but turning up and finding out in 5 mins they are not suitable at all for the role, salary/rate or location or all of the aforementioned
2. Do your research on the company prior to the interview no matter how experienced you are. It’s not difficult to spend 20 mins going through the entire company website.
3. If you can do some additional research on the person who will interview you. You may find some mutual interests, experience or background
4. Prepare some questions to ask them about the company based on the information you have already gleamed in your research; this will show you have interest and understanding about the business and want to know more
5. Dress smart, be clean and presentable – there is plenty of advice on this and depending on what job you are going for you could always check in advance what would be required.
6. Know where you are going in advance and get there early if it’s a face to face interview. Find a place nearby to have a coffee but do not be late; there really is no excuse and sets a bad precedent for how you may behave in future.
7. Recognise what your weakness are in advance (we all have them!) and look at what you would do to overcome them

8. When giving examples of why you are successful, driven, trustworthy, proactive, motivated etc… be ready to have some factual examples. So many people I’ve met have said these words but can never back it up.

1. Answer the question the interviewer is asking you rather than answering in another if you don’t know. If you don’t know something or not sure just say; it’s better to be honest and the interviewer will appreciate this more
2. Have some references available and let the client call them if required. Tell them they should ask the references about your weakness as much as your strengths and an honest opinion of how you are in the work place. Do not cover up anything as it will only come back to bite you.

Remember the majority of companies would high attitude of skill any day. You can train skills but you can’t train attitude so make sure your attitude is in the right place.

There are also some companies out there offering interview coaching services and if it helps you to get the job you want with the package you want it may well be money well spent. Prices seem to range from just over £100 to around £300 depending on the service required. Below are some example websites you may wish to check out:

http://www.mycvandme.co.uk/interview-coaching.html

http://www.interview-coach.co.uk/

http://www.ansonreed.com/interview-coaching.php

 

 

 

I wanted to start 2012 by sharing some of my ways that may help you have a successful year in your recruitment role:

You may have ended last year on a high or it may have been a challenging end to the year.  Either way, that’s now in the past and you need to focus on the present moment and where you would like your success to be in the future.  Here are some of my tips that may help you:

1. Research:  Research your market and your potential customers before making a call to them.  You can find a lot of information about the company on their website, Linkedin company page as well as from candidates who have worked for them in the past.  Information really is power and will show you have some understanding of the company in advance.
2. Features and Benefits:  Do you know your key features of using your company and how it benefits the client?  If you don’t make your own list or get together with your team mates and create one that you can say easily.
3. Client meetings:  Make sure you meet all your clients face.  I’m surprised at the number of recruiters I have interviewed who have told me they have not met most of their clients.  You can’t build a long term relationship with someone just on the telephone and you need to see the environment they work in to really be able to sell the company to your candidate network.
4. Qualification:  It’s key to qualify your client properly before engaging and also the jobs you work.  If you have a properly qualified job spec right from the start it will save you and your client a lot of time in the long run in ensuring you identify the right candidates.
5. Looking after your candidates as much as your clients: This may sound obvious but plenty of recruiters don’t pay as much attention to their candidate network as they should.  Keep close to your candidates; give them as much market information as you can even if you haven’t got a current role for them.  You’ll find over time they will help you out for helping them out.
6. Plan your day:  Before you go home at night or first thing in the morning before th day starts plan what you want to achieve and if necessary split tasks in certain parts of the day e.g. checking email, sales calls, following up candidates, meetings etc…
7. Plan your year: What did you achieve in 2011 and what do you want to achieve in 2012?  Can you break it down into the 4 quarters and then make a short business plan on what activities you will need to do to achieve those goals on a monthly basis.
8. Rejection: Don’t take rejection personally.  Most people aren’t rejecting you but the service or company you are promoting.  Life your head up high and start again.

There are plenty of other things and I welcome any comments that you think would be useful to share with others.

Although not related to just recruitment I started off the new year by sharing this with my team; why not use it to write your own plan?

Pick a point in the future (e.g. this time next year). What would greater success feel like? What would it look like? And what would people be saying about your success? In the following five areas:

1. Work – what you do, what you cause, the impact of your commercial activity
2. Personal Growth – who will you become, what will have changed about the person you are and how you go about everyday
3. Wealth – you relationship to money and financial freedom, you broader wealth (beyond possessions)
4. Health – your body, your physical and mental capabilities
5. Friends & Family – your relationships that matter