Company presentations

Company presentations are rarely a formal part of the employer selection process, but they are your crucial chance to add a face and personality to a paper CV.So what are the golden rules for impressing employers over a vol-au-vent or two?

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Cold calling

  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

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Seeking advice

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

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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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Do the right thing

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

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Interpreting rejections

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.

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Application no-nos

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.

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Online applications

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

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Successful applications

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

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Do the right thing

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

Continue Reading

How to join the rich list

Is money your main motivation? If so, the obvious place to make big bucks is in the City. You’ll have to sacrifice your work-life balance for a while but, if you like to work hard and play hard, the financial rewards will be worth it

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Creative urges

The arts and media are notoriously difficult to break into – no wonder as they offer some of the most glamorous and exciting jobs around. To get ahead you’ll need talent, contacts, determination and the ability to work for nothing Could you cut it as a creative? Find out with our quiz

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A new you

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

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Outward bound

Does the thought of being cooped up in an office all day fill you with dread? If so, a career relating to either the built or natural enviromnent could be your ticket to a life in the great outdoors

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