Dispelling the Myths That Hold Back Seniors
Older workers are easy to typecast because the myths persevere:
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,
How to Gain Control Of Your Job Search
Only 25% of all positions are found through published and defined markets, such as employment ads, placement agencies and recruiting firms. Unfortunately, job seekers favor these markets even though they face less competition for the remaining 75% of jobs found through networking and direct unsolicited contact with employers.
The Best Managers Balance Just Two Needed Skill Sets
During the 23 years that I was the chief executive officer of Hewitt Associates, an international human-resources consulting firm, one of my favorite subjects was how to best develop managers. When I promoted or hired managers, I looked for two skills (after first reviewing their general intelligence and experience qualifications). I knew that if they
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?
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
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
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
Networking
Any job-hunter can develop a network of useful career contacts without a company director in the family. Networking is easy if you know how, and job-hunters who develop their own employment contacts need never be short of career advice and job offers. Here are five networking opportunities which everyone can take advantage of:
Inside information
Come on, let’s be honest, most of us love to have a good goss. There is something deeply satisfying about getting the latest lowdown on so-and-so or such-and-such. Much of this tantalising tittle-tattle tends to centre on family, friends and so-called celebs.
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?
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
The different types of tests you might encounter during job search
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
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
Job search strategies (Full info)
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.
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
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.
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
Handling rejection
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.
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.