To Be Successful, Return to Basics

When the economy took a downturn at the start of the 1990s, my career — ironically, it’s headhunting — took a downturn, too. I have to admit I wasn’t ready for difficult times. But that rough patch was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Today, amid another downturn, I’m sharing the

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Resist the Urge to Take Employees for Granted

We’ve been here before, the point in an economic cycle when managers need to take special care. The job market is awash with candidates and the competition for available jobs is intense; it’s a recruiter’s dream. This type of situation always encourages managers to become lazy about how they treat their employees. As business psychologists,

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Jumping Through Hoops: A New Job Requirement

Memo to Human Resources: I am following up on the job candidate I sent you several weeks ago. I wanted to review his status after his most recent interview. You’ll recall I met this young man through one of my professional groups. He has excellent credentials and just earned his M.B.A. He was doing some

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Relocation packages

If your skills and talents are much in demand, some of the biggest employers from around the country will be tripping over themselves to snap you up – and they may offer you more than a generous starting salary.

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Perks

To truly assess a job offer, you need to look at the whole package rather than just the size of the first pay cheque. Are you being offered the following perks?

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Multiple job offers

The good news is you’ve got a job offer. The bad news is you’re not sure if you should accept. There are interviews you are still waiting to hear back from. There are still more interviews at which you fancy your chances. What should you do? Take the bird in the hand? Wait to see

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Verbal CV

Before approaching potential employers direct, take time to brush up your ‘verbal CV’.Consider the time and effort that you’ve put into your written CV, detailing your skills and experience. Yet this could all go to waste if you’re asked to say something about yourself when you call a recruiter or meet them socially or at

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Speculative letters

If, as is claimed, only 30% of the total number of job vacancies are advertised, your best bet could be to job-hunt more creatively. Many job-hunters resort to sending off speculative letters to relevant companies. And many employers would rather turn to their pile of speculative letters than spend thousands of pounds on advertising. The

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Interviews (Full info)

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

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Covering letters

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.

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CV and resume lies

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

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The basics of CV (Resume)

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

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