It’s reckoned that four-fifths of the job market is ‘closed’, meaning you can’t find out about available job openings unless you dig for them. So what do you do? Pick up the phone and dig. Cold calling, or uninvited job-hunting, is a proven method of finding employment. Find out for yourself by following these
Preparation is the key to success at careers fairs as many employers interview on the spot. · Make sure your CV is ‘hard copy ready’. Many CVs are created for email use and don’t always transfer well to paper. Also, ensure your CV is appropriate for general distribution and not job specific.
Assessment days Preparing for the tests you’re likely to face. Personality tests What does the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator say about you? IQ tests Tips for communicating your intelligence. Psychometric tests Feedback from employers is crucial if you want to understand your score. Faking it There’s no point in trying to outwit psychometric tests. Group tests
If you had a machine in your living room that was capable of printing £50,000 or £1000,000 a year in used notes, you’d take pretty good care of it, wouldn’t you? If it needed repairing, you’d take it to a qualified, professional repairer. If you thought it could print even more money, you’d seek the
Nine-point plan Most job hunters instinctively begin their search by flooding employers with carefully crafted, but often ineffective, CVs. But since many openings go unadvertised, successful job seekers require more thoughtful approaches.
Be prepared Interviews can be scary experiences and the only way to quell your fears is to follow the advice of the girl guide movement and ‘be prepared’. The best place to start is by finding out as much about the company as possible. Ring the company’s marketing department and get them to send you
The basics When it comes to writing a covering letter, you can probably learn more from the personal columns than you can from the jobs pages. Get it wrong and at best you’ll condemn yourself to a miserable, unfulfilling 40-year relationship; at worst you’ll end up, alone and unwanted, on the job scrap heap.
Nick is a teacher at an English language school in Tokyo. Nick is also deceiving his employers. On his arrival in Japan eight years ago he obtained what he expected to be a temporary job teaching English by claiming he had a degree from Oxford University. He backed up the claim with a false degree
In today’s multimedia age, choosing the perfect format for your CV is no longer as simple as deciding between Helvetica or Palatino, double or single space type, or remembering to buy a stamp for the envelope.
Are you allowing the value of your CV to leak away? Take the following advice and you might be able to plug a few gaps.
It’s time to rewrite your CV. What may feel like the world’s most tedious task – puffing yourself up and bragging about your accomplishments on paper – doesn’t have to be so painful. Just remember one thing: your CV needs to stand out. Employers, especially those who have posted openings on large websites, may receive
Employees are increasingly taking ethical considerations into account when deciding where to work. The expansion of the non-profit-making, environmental and charitable sectors means there are plenty of options for those who want to make a difference
You went as far as you could – all the way to final interview. You researched the organisation, showed your respect by arriving on time and in the right clothes, struck up a rapport with the interviewer, and felt you had given the best impression of yourself you could.
It took JK Rowling a whole year to find a publisher willing to print her first Harry Potter book. Some of the rejection letters barely bothered to address her personally. It was, she admits, a very difficult time.
Potential, experience, talent and enthusiasm are meaningless if you can’t fill in an application form properly, or submit a decent CV and covering letter. Read this guide to avoiding job application crimes and, with luck, you should stay out of trouble for the rest of your career.
According to some surveys, nearly two-thirds of companies now accept online applications alongside paper forms. Email is fast and informal, qualities not normally associated with the filling out of application forms. But recruiters report that job-hunters can easily slip into the sort of bad email habits that do not impress. These include rambling (because space
You’ve seen your ideal job and sent off for the application form only to find it leaves a big dent on your doorstep when it arrives. It’s huge and you’re having second thoughts about applying. Don’t be daunted. Read it through slowly and carefully. Chances are it’s not as horrendous as it looks at first
Employees are increasingly taking ethical considerations into account when deciding where to work. The expansion of the non-profit-making, environmental and charitable sectors means there are plenty of options for those who want to make a difference
Wealth, power and influence – the allure of a senior business role is undeniable. If you have innovative ideas, the capacity to inspire others, boundless self-belief and plenty of raw ambition, you could become the next Richard Branson
Are you stuck in a job that really doesn’t suit you? Do you long to reinvent yourself professionally? A career overhaul can seem a daunting step but, with careful planning, you can achieve those unfulfilled ambitions
