Ian R McAllister

Last post here, as we open up CV4.biz!

2008-12-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

OK, after much anticipation - and a fair amount of blood and sweat, but no tears - the website and blog is up and running at CV4.biz!

We transferred over the blog entries from here on Saturday, and I have been running through editing them up into a "standard" format - still a fair way to go.

This blog will stand for a while, as the entries here and over at CV4.biz will form the basis of other online services from Ajiri - plus the SEOing of the entries is good as well... ;)

So please follow along over at CV4.biz......

Mid-career switch ... advisable or not?

2008-12-01T02:45:00.000-08:00

Roy asks: What advice would you give for someone in his thirties, with 7-8 years of experience in marcomm and HR, and a first degree in Economics, thinking of doing a law degree and trying to switch to a legal career? I'm actually trying to decide if I should give up on my ongoing MBA course to do a LLB, and I'm solely looking at in-house counsel or corporate lawyer positions only, not planning to take the Bar examinations and become a practising solicitor or barrister. Could someone give some advise? Go for it, or not?

In answer:
You can generally successfully make any such career changes or leaps into the unknown, as long as you are fully qualified by the age of 45. At that point you still have 20 years of career left until retirement to be able to reach a good standard, and pay back the inevitable loans you will have taken out to pay for that change of career path.

After that point it becomes a risk, as the payback period even for you - let alone an employer who may train you - becomes too short. There are also clear physical careers that you could not enter after the age of 35 - the forces, deep sea commercial diving, and even commercial airline pilot would be difficult.

I would hence conclude if advising anyone in taking such a leap to:
(a) really asses that this is what you want to do, may be looking at taking some aptitude tests
(b) speak to someone who has undertaken such a leap, for their advice
(c) solidify any existing experiences or qualifications to the point of conclusion. Hence in your case I would suggest you complete the MBA
(d) put a plan in place which includes realistic finances. Assume you won't be doing much more than burger flipping two nights a week at max!
(e) get your friends and family to sign-in
(f) have a fall back plan. You might not get there, and your health issues and risks will rise with age

If this is what you really want to do, then you can do it. But figure out a plan, get sign-in from those you care about, and have a fall back position.

Good Luck!

Career change from mortgage sales to technology sales

2008-11-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Matt Youngquist, an Executive Career Coach & Outplacement Consultant from Seattle, WA asks: As a career coach, I'm currently in the process of working with a mortgage sales professional who is intending to make a career shift into the field of technology sales. I'm therefore wondering whether anybody out there has any tips, advice, or insights on the specific skills or courses of study that a highly motivated individual might acquire to make himself as marketable as possible to technology product/service companies - or whether there are certain technology sectors that would be easier to penetrate for an individual with a proven sales background, but no direct high-tech experience. Any great ideas?

In answer:
Most people who work in the technology industry have a technology background – most often a degree - or at least proven enthusiasm for it, such as a successful website. Technology and particularly IT is the highest trained sector and most degree orientated measured on a global basis. It is hence easy to tell a non-tech in an interview, as you either love it and will hence understand all the TLA’s, or just don’t get the sector.

The reason for this is that most technology sales are complex sales – long time scales, brought about by much customer customization of the solution at both the product (most likely system integration), financial and program/rollout level. This hence most often results in team working, which is a core competence most technology people don’t recognise they have.

Your client comes from a financial services background, so why is he choosing technology? Most look simply at the money and think “it’s just a sale” – but it is the training and long sales timescales which define the rewards, not simply sales ability. The good news is that like IT and technology, particularly in the telecom sector, financial services is heavily regulated. This knowledge of regulation is a transferable skill which some who may attempt the leap in won’t have.

Unless your client has base degree level training in a technology or science orientated subject, I would look at in-company training versus a return to college – both would take around the same time scale, with one an income and training opportunity, while the other is pure cost. Pick a consumer end or SME level sales position where the need for technological training is minimized, and a successful sales background is more appreciated in the job description. We have recruited for SME business cellphone sales people before, and a couple of well referenced good years in the UK version of Circuit City was good enough to get you a position with most of the major cellphone telecoms companies, or IT and technology business solutions companies. If he is successful there, then he will rise quickly and be given appropriate training.

The bad news at present is that, much as though the IT and technology sector works behind the rest of the economy – it’s those long sales and integration time scales again – the whole sector is heading fast into recession at present, with most companies globally announcing lay off’s and redundancies. No where is now safe from those sub-prime mortgage sales of the past, including IT and technology.

Good Luck!

Redundancy rates rise, Pyramid schemes return

2008-11-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

It has been reported by many media and investigative journalism programmes that the number of illegal pyramid schemes is on the rise.

This fresh outcrop seems to be particularly prevalent in South Wales (our back garden, so hence why I am writing about it), and to be on the rise thanks in part to the credit crunch. Many of these new schemes also try to add legitimacy through charity donation, and as one of my interests is in raising money for charity through old mobile phone donation through schemes run by SimuSimu in partnership with local councils, it is personally disturbing that both individuals and charities are being wholly mislead.

Since the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005, pyramid schemes are wholly illegal in the United Kingdom. If you want to know in detail about how these schemes work then please read the guidance at consumerdirect.gov.uk. Pyramid or sometimes called gift giving schemes work by a layered pot of money creation:
- one member donates an amount, and then recruits two or more additional members who form the second layer
- these people in turn donate the same amount each, and recruit two or more additional members to create a third layer

Most of these schemes then pay out to the first member, once the entire fourth+ layer is full. Now, if the scheme is based on just recruiting two additional members, and pays out on layer four being full, and each member puts in £1000 (typical investments are around £3000 per member at present - a decent Christmas budget), then the first member would get a sum of £15,000 on payout: Wow!

This return on investment is why people join - but here's the problem. To get that sum you need to find 14 other people to join, and then keep joining for the scheme to pay out. A scheme in the Isle of Wight in 2001 collapsed in six months because it ran out of people, and almost made the local NatWest branch network run out of cash. In 1998, the newly liberalised country of Albania almost collapsed due to imploding pyramid schemes. Pyramid schemes need to suck in new members at such rates, that the Isle of Wight trading standards office used the illustration that if membership was only drawn from new members, then the entire world's population would be needed with 18months to fulfil the Isle of Wight scheme.

So how come people are getting money out of the scheme? Well often, the first member is the scheme runner - all they have to do is find 14 more people and they have at last £15,000 in their pocket. May be a few more lucky early people do as well, but by layer 10 there is a need for at least 1,000 people. To keep people being drawn in, much like bingo their are prises for turning up or reaching specific layers, which are withdrawn from the prize fund - and these "cost" fee's go to the originator, the only person who makes a guaranteed return.

These are the reasons why since the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005, pyramid schemes are wholly illegal in the United Kingdom. If you want to know in detail about how these schemes work then please read the guidance at consumerdirect.gov.uk.

In 2001, new schemes appeared which targeted their audiences and tried to get around the then bad publicity. They used names like Hearts, or the classical Women empowering Women. The new scheme which has appeared in South Wales and Bristol areas uses the name Take and Gift or Gift and Take, which increase "costs" by adding a legitimising charity gift - but they are all illegal pyramid schemes.

Be very aware with your money. As a first step with your redundancy cheque, however big or small, take some free advice from either the local citizen's advice bureau or your local bank manager. And if you think you have been approached to join a pyramid scheme, please remember that they are illegal and that you are highly unlikely to get your money back.

Look after yourself, and Good Luck!

If you can't afford a coach, what are professionals doing to support their professional growth?

2008-11-27T02:35:00.000-08:00

Francine Allaire, Chief Life Strategist at The Daring, LLC asks: If you can't afford a coach, what are professionals doing to support their professional growth?

In answer:
I love (?) the assumptive nature of this question: that everyone needs a coach; and that those who don't clearly can't afford one.

A better question personally would have been "how are you ensuring your professional growth" - something which everyone has to do, but which most don't.

Specificly "hired for results coaches" are a relatively recent development, the rise of which has been heavily tied to the wider awareness of NLP. Before this, and to way back in time, business people talked to their friends and other business people - yes, even their commercial rivals - about the state of the market, the problems they saw and how they addressed them, and what they were doing to develop commercially and personally. These relationships often ended up in what could be seen as bitter rival companies employing the others former executives to create the same results, but through the new and upcoming managers of the company.

Do professionals need coaches? No, certainly not. But they do need to manage their own careers and development, and there are many proven strategies and tactics with proven longer term success records than that of picking a coach with a single NLP certificate: that is far riskier than doing nothing.

Good Luck!

Facebook – a cyber cool website that is the employee’s liability

2008-11-26T02:53:00.000-08:00

I’m on Facebook, the social network: you can find me here: http://profile.to/recruit/

A very socially cool website valued at over $1Bn US dollars, on Facebook you can: see comments from your friends and new people; play scrabble or poker with them during work hours; find out where right now; what they think of many, including you; what’s in their social diary; and who they are dating/going further with. And you know that in a few hours time, thanks to a 2MegPixel camera in their mobile phone the resulting evidence of the pub crawl will be online and in their Facebook page. I mean, how really cool of an inside look in any friends life is that – possibly too close?

But on a work basis, Facebook is both a godsend and a nightmare. Do you really want everyone from the North Pole to the South Pole, and any potential employer to see the photographic evidence of your weekend away?

I am hence very careful on who I am connected to on Facebook; and I don’t put stuff on my Facebook profile which could harm my personal or business reputation.

Two stories have recently hit the headlines about employee’s being disciplined from entries they made themselves on Facebook:

• Australian call centre worker Kyle Doyle, who after a grand night out and resultant hangover, pulled a sickie. His HR manager alerted by his manger asked for the certificated evidence, which then was responded to by an reference to his Facebook entry
• Virgin Atlantic sacked 13 staff at their Gatwick hub who criticised the company for lack of cleaning, and rated customers as “chav’s.” I think they could have got away with the former with a caution, but not with the later which potentially brought the company into disrepute

Much as though employers have to be more aware of the use of social networks and make allowances in employment contracts, that doesn’t mean it is all flowing in the employee’s direction. Hence when I am searching for people for clients, half the reason I have a Facebook page is that I can both find new and check on recommended potential employee’s – it is constantly amazing what you can find out, and how daft many are with their personal reputation.

Please, please, please – be aware of what information you place in public. Social networking and Facebook can be fun - but it can also get you sacked, or rejected from a job search.

Good Luck!

How to undertake a secret “new job” search – much like an affair, take precautions and turn the heat up slowly

2008-11-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages for the casual job seeker of the internet is to be contactable, but also to appear to your current employer that you are happy where you are. The number of business orientated social networking sites – including LinkedIn and VisualCV – means that you can say to your existing employer that you are “just” networking, while you know that your details are out there being found by recruiters and HR people.

However, suppose you need to escalate that job search to reach a quicker conclusion, to get you out of your existing hole: what tactics can you use?

The first problem and key tactic is that, much like having an illicit affair, you have to be discrete and appear to carry on in the same old routine or path. Appearing to look like a job seeker sends out all the wrong messages to both your existing employer (untrustworthy), and any potential employer (desperate), and is likely to end in an extended period of unemployment over gardening leave.

Hence, the first and only rule is to leave no evidence of your job searching in your work place. Hence while searching for work, do not use your employers infrastructure, including computers or phones. A majority of employers monitor systems usage through a clause in your contract called “bringing the company into disrepute,” they can hence keep details of websites visited by computers and calls made from phones. I have heard of people being sacked after expense accounts included the receipt for purchase of heavy weight paper, or cardboard-backed envelopes which showed up on the accompanying paperwork as “12 x CV/Resume no-bend envelopes!” All expenditure goes to a personal account, and choose to take a preference for paying cash for items and services – particularly including stationary. And don’t go using the company photocopier – a personal printer which includes a copy function can be bought for under £100/$100

Your first task is to separate your existing personal and current job contact details from your new job search self. You must keep your CV/Resume, eMail correspondence, and anything and everything related to your job search on your home computer. This may mean obtaining:

• a new free web-based eMail account specifically for job searching. For instance, if you have AOL and Hotmail accounts, get a gMail account
• a new PAYG cellphone. You could use your home phone answering machine, but it is often difficult to access and always comes with the “I have to tell the other people who I live with” secrecy consequence compromises of your job search. As it is initially for incoming calls, no need for more than the standard starter credit which can cost you from £30/$50 upwards. Please make sure that you record a voice mail message, that clearly states your availability and eMail address
• I would also recommend optionally a PO Box for mail. At around £15/$20/month, a relative bargain

Security of these details is sacrosanct – any leak and unemployment is almost inevitable, so don’t leak them to anyone outside those who need to know. For instance, if you have a Plaxo account, or similar MSOutlook back-up service, don’t put these in your own Plaxo details. They will replicate to all of your contacts, which probably includes your boss! Only once in the job search do you get the excuse in this entire exercise to create a new person identity, so call it something different to your normal choice, which could be for instance: a holiday destination; a name from your year of birth in the phone book; or a name from the newspaper. At NO point will you be using this “identity name,” it is just a point to store your new job search contact details.

Secondly, create a new CV/Resume, or polish up the old one. Make sure it reflects your new career goals and requirements – and include your new job search contact details. But you must be very careful where you post, so only post on job sites where you can keep your employer history and contact information confidential. Monster for instance provides such a facility, which means you can still be found by recruiters and HR people, but your details are confidential and they can only post to you – it is then your choice whether you respond. Store the final document at an easy-access secure document location, such as Google Docs, which allows you quickly to send it out to any CV/Resume requests – but clearly don’t publish it in public!

Thirdly, you can now polish up your existing online profiles. Make sure these are aligned with your new skills and new CV/Resume. On LinkedIn, you can tick a box from an options list which states whether or not you wish to be contacted, while an other option asks if you are interested in new job or contracting opportunities. Most professionals do tick these boxes, and they are just options – but it is not as blatant as posting your CV/Resume across an open jobs site.

During your search, you may find it difficult to make contact with potential employers during work hours – and hence although you may get some contact, following this up will prove difficult. Everyone should take a lunch hour, so use yours to find:

• a place or location where you can go which is away from the work place, and quiet enough in which to conduct a 15min conversation. Your car could be a good option, but make sure the location you park has great cellphone coverage
• a public library or alternately an internet café which gives access to computer terminals. Libraries are good as they provide “cover story” opportunities as to why you are going to the library. Alternately, find a public access Wifi location, such as Starbucks

You now have locations in which to take lunch, and follow up on job search eMails and detail requests.

When you get to the interview stage, try scheduling them at points of the day when it is easier and causes less suspicion. This could either be in the morning or late afternoon, and away from normal office “busy” periods such as monthly or quarterly target or finance period closes. On the day of the interview, if you don’t wear a suit in to work normally, then don’t on the interview day – use a suitcase, or leave your clothes in the car and allow time to change on the way. Men, at the start of your job search, start shaving in a presentable to interview fashion every day – if you want to keep your beard, then trim it. If you suddenly turn up on one day well shaven, then you either have a hot date or are going for an interview!

During your job search, keep a diary and plan of progress – monitoring will tell you what channels are working, to put more effort into them.

Most importantly, always be discrete and try to keep the number of people you tell below four. Only tell those you can trust, which I suggest is family only and no co-workers – it will some how inevitably always get back to your boss!

Job searching can be fun, but you always need to take some sensible cautions just to make sure your existing job is not lost before you have a signed contract for the new job: until that point, it is never secured and assured.

Good Luck!

Sunday Thoughts: old Labour solution, but will the consumers spend?

2008-11-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday Thoughts on a Monday? What is going on? I was going to write something a bit different, but this on reflection now seems more appropriate.......

In an inevitable “new Labour” way, Gordon Brown has made good on his “it’s just Labour” comment at takeover. In a series of weekend leaks to the press (one wonders what the job description for a New Labour PR guru is? Talk as loudly and openly as Vera Duckworth would seem high from what has been seen), it is fairly easy even for my three year old niece who can write her name what the main emphasis will be in Alastair Darling’s budget – tax and spend.

The tax element is that VAT gets cut, while the rich get taxed more – over £150k, expect to pay 45% from the next election. The spend element is – well, as you were, with more going out on unemployment benefit and Job Seekers allowance.

The interesting thing that has struck me watching some of the street level interviews undertaken today (Monday) by various media outlets with us ordinary folk, is that the message is pretty clear: “It is not a lot of money, and as my job is not secure, after paying my higher energy bills I will save just in case I am made redundant.”

Are the government the only institute in this recession who is not cutting their cloth to match their lowered income, higher risk to it through potential redundancy and higher energy bills? Everyone else is, so why not the government?

I think most economists would argue that in a recession there is much a spending Government can do to soften the bottom and define the likely hood of an up turn. But could the Government cut their cloth, like the rest of us are now doing?

The bastion of the blue collar right, The Sun, today created an article from a Westminster financial oversight committee report, which lists civil servants who all earn over the new proposed 45% tax cut rate, and yet have failed in their jobs. Of the five highlighted, four have lost their jobs: Paul Gray (paid £257,891, resigned over Revenue and Customs lost child benefit data scandal); Dr Ken Boston (paid £330,000, who oversaw the SAT’s); John Tanner (paid £445,621, ex-CEO of the FSA who resigned over the Northern Rock crisis); Sir Callum McCarthy (paid £480,553 at the FSA); and Clive Briault (paid £883,711, including a £500,000 pay-off, when he resigned over the Northern Rock debacle). The report finds some The report also revealed that 387 civil servants earn more than £150,000 a year, of which 200 are paid more than Gordon Brown — who gets £187,000 for being PM.

Much of New Labour’s spending is good. The Thatcher government had cut too much, and the huge amount of money required to be invested in school, hospital and transport infrastructure is evidence of that. But I think some of the spending has become too proliferagate, through lack of simple value measurement and common sence. Gordon Brown talks about record spending levels, but it is not necessarily therefore record value to the tax payer. When the Westminster committee of MP’s describes John Tanner, then CEO of the FSA as “not asleep, but comatose” during the Northern Rock crisis, one has to wonder how far in reality New Labour spin versus reality actually places Downing Street from the British recession?

I hence hope that the cold seasonal wind being now felt in the weather, on the high street and in people’s expectations of their employment prospects; is met with a renewed view for taxation value at 10 Downing Street, and not more leaky PR press releases of recording spending.

Good Luck!

Should I mention my personal blog in my Resume?

2008-11-24T02:15:00.000-08:00

Shrinidhi Hande asks: How good do you think it is to mention about your personal blog in a professional resume?

In answer:
My standard answer Shrinidhi would be "no" with an aside of "it depends."

The key here is relevance to the job you are applying for, and as a business analyst as opposed to a journalist unless the blog was wholly business analyst orientated and the job advert asked for such evidence, then the answer is no.

However, having read your blog, I would definately say no. Firstly, the first words any reader comes across are "A professional amateur" - what impression does that give? And secondly, one of the top five commented subjects is "Public toilets can be made free." It would be a good blog for someone who wanted to be a local political representative, although at present it reads more like a personal diary.

The other opportunity you have with a blog, is that it appears in your GoogleCV. If you undertake a Google search on your own name, then it appears high in the results. Any recruiter, HR professional or employer who found this could conclude that your main focus may not be on the job - something to think about.

Good Luck!

When not to look for a new job

2008-11-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

There are times when, looking for a new job is not a wise idea or a good risk. Such times could include, for instance, a credit crunch – anyone seen one recently?

However, if you are feeling frustrated in your current job or with your existing employer, there is much you can do to freshen up your outlook and future job prospects when the outlook does look better, and improve existing skills or create new one’s which recruiters are looking for employers seek.

Firstly, let’s take attitude – is the existing job really that bad? Yes, you may have found that you are paid 10% less than a work colleague, or 20% less than a friend doing a lesser job at a rival firm: but are they really being paid that much more? If you think yes, then why not ask for an out of cycle review with your boss to asses performance. Even if the outcome is good, are you likely to get more money doing the same job? No, but if the review is good you should be offered more responsibility, and that should equal more pay – plus as a well assessed employee, you have just reduced your chances of redundancy in that employer by at least three fold

The other in-house problem may be work colleagues, or even the boss. If that is the problem, then chat to a trusted third party in a casual conversation, to see if they feel that the other person has a reason to have something against you, or whether its just them. If you find a reason, then change your self first and then change them. Talk the other person about how you feel, and what you are willing to do to solve the issue and what you would appreciate them doing. May be it is as simple as saying hello in the mornings, or occasionally making the coffee/tea – problems can be quite small but harmful. But honestly, no one wants to work in an unhappy atmosphere, and you will probably be amazed that they also don’t feel happy and would be happy to find a better way forward.

May be the problem is your home life. Have you in the past six months moved, changed partners, had a new addition to the family – pets can be as troublesome as babies – or is a family member going through some tough times, and it’s reflecting through you? Changing everything at the same time adds a lot of stress to anyone’s life, and much as though the job may be boring or not want you want right now, getting stability in your home life would improve your view of it. Plus it can be a sanctuary of normality and stability away from the stress of the home. When ever I see people in Ajiri not feeling happy, I always ask them to sit down and chat, and make a point of asking about how home life is. My rule is always: home first, work second - if your home life is stable, then your work life is a lot easier.

May be none of the above are the reason, and you are just bored and in need of a change. That can always happen, but always remember not all job changes work out – with some employers, as low as 20% will be there one year later. Plus if you are last in, and redundancies are required, you WILL be first out – under most law, you have few retention rights or redundancy package rights for at least the first 6monts, and possibly as long as a year – all career change is a risk.
OK, so you think you want a change. Firstly, before you look at any adverts or jobs boards, have a look around your work world. What is it that is so boring, under whelming, and not fulfilling in your current job? Is there anything you could add to it which would make it better, by doing something else – or even gaining promotion?

Secondly, before you start looking at job adverts, get a plan and a goal together – what you are looking for may well be right where you are, plus a little bit.

Thirdly, once you have the plan you can have a look at the jobs boards and adverts in local media. If your ideal next job exists, then you will see it advertised – no adverts for it, then it might not exist, or be in demand right now: this is a sign of increased unemployment risk. If you do see jobs like the one you want, are they asking for more qualifications than you have, or wider experience? Note these down, and place them in your plan.

Now go back to your boss, and chat about your job. Bring up that you want job enhancement and development, and suggest the areas you noted. Ask for the training you spotted in the adverts as a development exercise – you may not presently get sponsorship for training, but you may get released for college on agreed hours. All of these steps means that you increase your value to your existing employer, and your desirability to your future employer; both of which add up to a lower chance of a period of unemployment.

It is natural that people will from time to time get bored with their jobs, and look for change – most outside their existing employers. If they looked at the reasons why, made a plan and asked for a few inputs from the boss and changes from co-workers, life may well look a whole lot better where they are – and they would be in a far, far more secure position in these dangerous economic times.

Good Luck!

Is there employer discrimination if applicants state knowledge of Arabic and/or Russian?

2008-11-21T00:55:00.000-08:00

Rick asks: Is there employer level discrimination if applicants state a knowledge of Arabic and/or Russian on a resume. Is this a taboo subject? If someone's resume states that they know Arabic and/or Russian language, how likely will they be discriminated against by potential employer/recruiter? Job market: U.S. and Western Europe. Should people who know those languages not mention them on their resumes, unless the job description specifically asks for them? Assumption: Although it is possible to tell that the applicant has a foreign-born name, their native country/language is not recognizable just by their full name.

In answer:
The first thing to say here is that for the markets you are targeting, there are clear discrimination rules protecting citizens and residents from employer level discrimination on many levels, including racial which this would be classed as.

Is it possible that candidates will stand a lesser chance of being employed, as opposed to being discriminated against, if it is stated or clearly obvious that the local language is not their first language? Yes, because that often means they are immigrants, and there is a clear paperwork burden on the employer to engage such people - ie: even if they are EU citizens moving within the EU. Employers want easy and quick employment decisions, and so diverting from that means your chances of employment are lowered. One piece of advice I offer all non-local nationals, is to always get at least two well educated locals to check their application through - even my Aunt who has spent 50 years in the Netherlands can be spotted by a native as English from her writing.

Should you mention your language ability on your application? It is your application, so its your choice, but as you conclude the default advice would be not be mention it if the job description doesn't require a second or third language capability.

There are still premiums paid for certain language capabilities in certain markets/posts, with Arabic and Russian being two clear requirements in the banking industry of two years ago. Clearly that has changed as banks have down sized; but I wouldn't totally dismiss this valuable asset in some markets.

Good Luck!

How do executive resumes differ from those of non-executives?

2008-11-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

Jill asks: What makes an executive's resume stand out and how are executives' resumes differ from the resumes of non-executives? I'm writing an article for a national publication on executive resumes. My article will provide some practical tips for creating a stellar resume and will offer advice about collaborating successfully with a professional writer to write the perfect resume.

In answer:
An executive CV or Resume is about focus, layers and preparation which show the reader the resultant delivery; as opposed to pages.

Simply, most executives are older or will at least have progressed through more positions. This should relate to a greater volume and hence more pages. However, the same old CV/Resume rules of focusing on the position being applied for and the last five years of work means that many early career positions can be cut down through focused summary. This enables the resume to focus most of the words on the what was the problem and how you approached it to gain the eventual result of delivery.

Most jobs are defined around the hole in which the employee fits - there is some creativity, development and management opportunity; but the main focus is around skills/competencies of the applicant and social fit within the wider company/customer team. Executive positions are defined around either problem solving or business growth, and all include team leadership and financial control. Some executive positions also encompass public reputation and management in the case of plc and national/global corporates.

It is hence important to show in the CV/Resume those softer skills and the associated hard results, through an almost project like manner: defining the problem/target required; strategic choice and selection; getting the team built and working together; the financial control; and the successful outcome in business measured terms.

With an executive, my normal approach is to create two outputs:

- A portfolio which addresses wider issues around the CV/Resume, giving greater details on key accomplishments and projects, includes personal and professional references, an elongated CV/Resume and a personal statement
- A 2page CV/Resume, which focuses on that job application. When you take into account all applications must have a Cover Letter, by adding more pages you look less focused and hence less like an executive

If you think about the differentiation in the skills/requirements of a job hunter, as opposed to the problem solving soft and hard skills of an executive; then the main differences come down to skills breadth and combination to create assured delivery. With that in mind when writing, those are the main differences that should be seen in any executive resume when it is read.

Good Luck!

Beyond the Resume and CV: is recruiting via web 2.0 that different?

2008-11-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

BMany people in the recruiting and HR world are talking about recruitment 2.0. These people are those in that world who are totally web aware, and probably have a blog – so no wonder why I am writing about this phenomenon!

But, is recruitment web 2.0 style really any different to recruiting properly? In my personal opinion – NO!

Recruiting web 2.0 style is seen as a free flow of information between candidates and employers – there by cutting out the recruiters – where by employers find passive candidates through use of amazing tools and online social networking; while candidates find hidden opportunities in amazing employers.

Well, here’s a shock. Great companies have always hired for talent – they may not have had a position, but they do have systems which recognise talent, and they have captured it. For example, until 1998, who had ever heard of the UK Secret Service MI5 recruiting? Why did they have to do this – because the European Union in effect forced them to do it through legislation, plus not all situations required a while male Oxbridge graduate: in fact in certain situations, it was a hindrance to your future prospects of breathing. The UK Secret Service had to diversify their recruiting channels, and advertising when you are perceived as a wholly white male Oxbridge bastion can help to change potential recruit’s perceptions – they could widen the net, and get better quality candidates for new situations

What still shocks me today, is that much as though web 2.0 proponents suggest it brings freedom and a far lower cost process of recruiting to the employer, most employers still don’t use their own two greatest tools of cheapest cost recruiting and retention: their own brand, and their own workforce. The issue any recruiter has to deal with is not just skill competency of any candidate, but also social fit within an employer. Most honest recruiters will accept that even the best at this only get around 50% of placement right on the social fit measure: it is hence why the head hunters always put more than one candidate forward; while the bottom end and high street will put more than 10 forward because there’s bound to be one that fits in there somewhere! If you were employer, and were looking to expand your team of nuclear fission research scientists, where would you go to find more of them? Most employers send out an advert or pay a recruiter, where as less than 1 in 10 employers speaks to and incentives their existing people – who know the social fit of the company better than any external resource could ever – and who probably just flick through their own diary to earn a fee of less than 10% a half competent recruiter would charge. Who needs Facebook or LinkedIn when you have a workforce?

One thing web 2.0 can do is reduce the time to recruit, and the efficiency of that process. Aaron Strout, Vice President of New Media at Mzinga.com correctly points out that web 2.0 recruiting means that an employer can get a far, far better rounded view of any employee. Web 2.0 cuts out the need to contact them, bring them in and interview, and then ask for references: they have already given you the references thanks to their open social networks profiles. In fact, one of the things I have suggested to many candidates when they decide that they want to find a new job, is to firstly clean up their social networking profile, and then secondly increase that profile by changing a few key words and taking some simple actions. Hence, any candidates you do invite in for interview via a web 2.0 process search are hence more likely to have social fit, and be able to be offered a job – but I still think, that process still won’t be perfect, just better.

One thing Strout has asked his candidates to undertake for the companies new Citizen Marketer post is not to send him a CV or Resume, but to blog and socially network with him and others to get an interview. Is this a web 2.0 tactic or strategy? In this case it is not, it is a test posing as a web 2.0 cutting edge development. Simply, if you want to hire an X, you need to test during interview and assessment for the core competencies that an X would need. A Citizen Marketer apparently needs to be able to use web 2.0 tools such as social networking and blogging to satisfy Mzinga’s client’s requirements – this application process merely tests for those skills. A business acquaintance who runs a private dining catering company asks all new potential employee’s to peel a potato (its not a test about peeling potato’s, it is a test about cleanliness); while in BT and many other telecoms companies, field workers are asked to pick out certain copper cable colours from a piece of cable (it is a test of eye sight and colour blindness). They, like the blogging test set by Strout, are all just tests to test core competencies of the potential employees against a defined role.

Web 2.0 as a technology does offer more – its offers both candidates and employers the opportunity to access a wider network of opportunity: and that’s good for all, as long as you make sure your online reputation is in order first, and continually updated. Is it the answer to every HR teams recruiting question – no, probably not. For employers, using a better employment process and focusing on improvement of a talent management system will still bring the best results, which web 2.0 can bring new tools to – and that’s all folks!

Good Luck!

Political discrimination in employment law

2008-11-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

In light of the news tonight that a former Welsh employee of the British National Party has published the entire 2007 membership database of 10,000 people on the internet - some current members, some past members - I think it is worth a quick review of discrimination law and how it effects employment in the UK.

However, firstly a quick legal statement. As both employment law and internet law is covered by certain legislation in the UK, and as the list contains individuals personal information which is covered under the Data Protection Act, there is a potential breach of UK law, and as the publication of this list is subject to a complaint by the BNP party leader Nick Griffin to Dyfed Powys Police who are presently investigating, I will not be making a link to the source or any duplications of the list from this blog. If you find such a link, this has been placed here in error, and I request that you inform me immediately of this link which will be removed as quickly as possible. If any comments are inserted which include links to the source list or copies therefore, they will also be removed as quickly as possible. It is therefore requested that you do not place links in comments which link to such sources. I will also freely state that I am not nor have never been a member or sympathiser of the BNP, and have only ever been a member of the UK Labour Party by default when a member of the Post Office Telecoms Union between 1979 and 1982, when I opted out of paying the political levy.

There are clear laws and excellent legal precedents on many potential issues of employment discrimination on many issues, including sex, age, race, disability and religeon. You may not agree with some of these, but personally I think these are good laws for the entire UK population and its long term harmony, and employment. From a business view point as well, these laws are excellent - your market probably has many different people represented, and addressing the needs contained within these laws means you should resultantly be able to address your market in a better manner.

However, one potential area of discrimination not addressed in these specific laws, or the generic law of the UK or the EU, is political discrimination.

Employees have the enshrined legal right to join a trade union, thanks to the Labour government of Tony Blair which repealed the majority of the Trade Union law installed by Margaret Thatchers Conservatives. However, there is no direct legislation in England, Wales or Scotland which protects a person from political discrimination in the work place, but there is such legislation in Northern Ireland.

An employee has the right to join a trade union, and should not be refused a job, dismissed, harassed or selected for redundancy because they are a member of or want to join a trade union. A member of a trade union has the right to take part in its activities, whether it is recruiting members or attending meetings.

Some employees face dismissal in certain defined jobs on the grounds of evidence of membership of some political activities, including the BNP. This includes certain government jobs, which for the BNP members since 2004 includes not being able to be a police officer: "This is because such membership would be incompatible with our duty to promote equality under the Race Relations Amendment Act and would damage the confidence of minority communities" has commented Peter Fahy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Northern Ireland:
Inequality between Catholics and Protestants in employment was a key issue at the heart of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Over a long period, successive administrations introduced fair employment legislation, outlawing discrimination in employment on the grounds of religion or political opinion.

The Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 introduced far-reaching provisions on equality. It imposed duties on public authorities to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity across diverse situations and identities, and regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

In the whole of Northern Ireland, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone, including a child or young person, on the grounds of religious or political belief. If a person has suffered religious discrimination they may be able to take action against the organisation or individual responsible.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has more information on political discrimination, and publishes an excellent booklet.

European legislation:
The only piece of legislation where discrimination against individual's political belief may be protected is under the European Union Human Rights Act, which became part of British law in 1998, although there is no specific legislation regarding political discrimination under the act. Examples where part of the act could work are:

- Article 10: Freedom of expression
- Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association

How these are interpreted by the courts remains unclear, but an example where a person may not be discriminated against, using Article 10 or 11, could be when taking part in any demonstrations.

Suggested actions:
On all occasions where you feel you may have been discriminated against, your first point of call should be to a employment law specialist solicitor. If you can't find one, then use the Law Society website "Find a Solicitor" service using Employment Law as a pre selection. Often, initial consultations are free (always check first), and it is quick to discover if you have a case. If discrimination is suggested, then in many cases there are multiple grounds of discrimination - ie: disability and sexual. Always follow your solicitors advice in such cases, and do nothing without prior consultation or their agreement - you are paying them, so take their advice.

If your name is on this published list, them I recommended that you complain in writing to the website where you found the listing as well as their listed ISP service provider/hosting company.

If you are no longer a member of the BNP, but your name appears on the list, then when you next go to work ask for a meeting with your manager and/or the HR manager. Explain that you are no longer a member, which they may request to be followed up in writing - don't do this until asked to do so. The reason for this is that if you are dismissed after the date of your resignation from the BNP, then the reason for your dismissal can not be political - discrimination can not be applied retrospectively.

Good Luck!

Unemployment: temp or part time job opportunity into fulltime career

2008-11-18T02:15:00.000-08:00

As the unemployment circle bites, many are now looking at the prospect of job hunting for the first time in many years, if not decades. On that note, I have sympathy with Harry Blackwood, the journalist turned college lecturer who now finds himself unemployed after 35years.

However, much as though sympathy and understanding is fine, it is finding work quickly which is the key; and from some, only in the right sector.

I have written here before about changing sectors, but how about if you can’t get the dream job, but just want a job in your dream company or ideal sector? The reason you probably can’t get in to your ideal job if you have tried every tactic and lesson possible, and had your CV checked over, is then based on:

- Your skills
- Your experience
- The competition is better qualified

If you still really want that job, how about getting it from the inside rather than the outside? How about a contract or part time job then? And in the credit crunch, this tactic works even better.

Most employers today want flexible workforces. People unlike chocolate bars don’t come in half size pay scales, but there is the option to take on half a wage or less than a 28day notice period, either through part-time workers or agency staff/contractors. The immediate advantage to the employer is that they get a flexible workforce, and their pay costs better match their income profile.

However, there is a distinct advantage to the job seeker. This choice by an employer means you have a far better chance of becoming an insider when a new job post comes up. The advantages to the employer of this tactic is that they know you and your capabilities. Should a suitable job come up, any issues you may fall short on with regards skills, qualifications or experience are made up for by the taking the risk of hiring out – if they are considering letting you on to the applicant list, its says: “we think we can bridge that gap with training.”

If you know your ideal sector or employer, check the local newspapers for adverts. These may not always have the employers logo or details stamped on them, so if in doubt ring the employer/s HR department and ask for a list of the recruitment agencies on their Preferred Supplier List (PSL). Then call these agencies, and register ONLY for this employer or sector.

Be flexible in terms of the types of work you will do when an opportunity comes up. It doesn’t have to be your ideal job in your ideal employer, as my sister found out when temping as a typist having just finished her degree, and being offered graduate training posts for HR and finance work: it just has to be in your target sector or employer.

Once on the inside, be clear on communication and the targets expected of you. One thing you need to discover are the high performer targets, and to make sure that within your first 20 days of working there you hit them at least once. Yes, it might mean long hours and not a lot of social life, but it will be worth it.

After 28days or at the end of your period of employment if less than that, ask for a meeting with HR. Get them to review your work and agree you have done a great job while working with them. To confirm this, ask for a written reference – say it is for your portfolio if asked. Now you have that check knowing that they think you are great, ask if there are any job opportunities? They may say no, but having just handed you a fresh hand written reference they are more likely to say yes or at the very least say “stay in touch.” Make sure you do that, and in either case make it clear you don’t expect a job on a plate – you are happy to compete, and prove you are the right person.

Job hunting need not be hard, and getting your ideal job may not be difficult. But it may require the job seeker to deploy some thought and tactics to get what they want from the inside.

Good Luck!

How to explain a period of unemployment on your CV/Resume

2008-11-17T12:21:00.001-08:00

Kim asks: I retired from the military in 2005, having served honourably for 25 years. Since that time I have been going through a very expense divorce that just finalized. The legal fees drained my nest egg so I now find myself having to dust off my resume and get back in the work force. Will the 3 years break in employment be a turn off to potential employers? And how do I acknowledge/explain the break in my resume (and job interviews) in the most positive manner?

In answer:
Simply Kim, as long as you have a fair and clear explanation as to why you want to work, and why you didn’t work for that period; then as long as you pick the right jobs that match your skills, no employers will not see the break as a turn off.

One thing many ex-service people think is that the fact that they did serve will be a deterrent to future employers. It is not, as it shows a commitment beyond the call which all employers want – the problem at present is with those who are signed up to the Territorial Army or the Ranger units. The real problem for many ex-service people is showing that their military skills can be deployed into high street employer requirements; and secondly showing they have made the transition to civilian life – around one in five don’t, and many HR managers are aware of this statistic.

The key here in explanation is to be honest, but – don’t get to close to the emotions, and be clear in your statement that the period is over and behind you, and that you want a new challenge. For instance:

“I spent the time dealing with some personal business, and now that it’s resolved, I’m looking to re-enter the workforce.”

You don’t need to go into too much detail, but it’s important that what you do say is honest. However, does this statement close the issue, and explan the why back to work question? If you have some bad news or a situation to deal with in a CV/Resume, try to package it between positives, such as:

“I served in the military for 25 years. Since that time, my spouse and I have divorced and having spent some time travelling, I am now eager for the opportunity to reenter the workforce into a job which will engage my X skills.”

This sandwiches the negative (time out), between two positives (25 years service, wanting to work), and leaves the reader with a reason as to why you want to work now.

Good Luck!

Sunday Thoughts: When will the economy recover? When both a family in Florida and you know what your house will sell for

2008-11-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

There is much talk in the Sunday newspapers about the economy, and the comments of UK Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne. The question is – how long will the recession be?

Simply, at present I don’t know anyone who knows the answer to that question. The answer to part of that question is: do you know what value your house would sell for tomorrow? OK, November is not a great time to be selling a house, so what would it sell for say next April, as Easter is traditionally a high spot for the home sales market?

You may think “well its worth X,” and there are many people still believing that – just take a quick look at UK house marketing website RightMove, and see how many properties have the words “Offers in Excess of” tagged before the price. But really, all that is a view of hope over economic reality.

When I was in college, there was an argument between the electronics lecturers and the business lecturers over a project they lead us through, to design and market a product. The electronics lecturers said that the price of the product was cost plus fair margin; the business lecturers said it was whatever the market was prepared to pay. Siding with the business lecturers was what eventually made me end up going into business – its economic and market reality, as in theory the value could go to zero.

My view is that those who put “Offers in excess of” would have sided with the business lecturers – but then, watching those properties, they have now been on the market on average in excess of six months; and those that don’t have those words are starting to – slowly – turnover and sell. These are either fire sales by mainly what seems like buy-2-let owners, or repossession resales by mortgage companies – of buy-2let flats. I have said to friends now for a while, that this recession could well be a middle-class one, where by the buy-2-let dream becomes a reality of “prices can go up as well as down.”

But fire sales always happen in markets, as do repossessions – it’s the growing volume which is concerning, and those growths are not signs of a stable market. It’s the sales price of the average family home which is where the problem of valuing assets is currently the part answer to the recession question.

On Friday, various mortgage lenders re-entered the tracker-mortgage market. The products though, as economists had predicted were changed. The changes were in the form of: a larger “gap” between the Bank of England base rate and the mortgage rate – with some predicting new products may well be based soon on LIBOR as opposed to BoE rates; and the amount of deposit required – there are now less than 50 mortgage products on the entire UK market which require a 10% deposit, and nothing below this level.

What does this data say? It says that most mortgage lenders, already short of cash, can’t take a bet at present on house prices dipping by a further 10% in the next two years. In fact what it is saying, is that that is what is going to at least happen. In most stable markets, a 10% deposit would be enough to take care of most economic changes - at present it is not, and until it is this recession will not find a bottom.

The hailed for and resultant stock market rallying – possibly Gordon Brown lead, I think so – injection of capital into the banks together with buying of so called “toxic” debts has still not occurred. In the United States, Henry Paulson stated that the US Treasury had so far with its $700Bn cash pile only bought shares in banks, not the toxic debt – which resulted in more turmoil on the global stock markets; while new RBoS CEO Stephen Hestor still debates the how and when of the proposed BoE cash injections. All this means that the lack of trust between banks continues, resulting in the continuing instability of the interbank markets reflected in LIBOR, resulting in less lending, and hence to the stock markets falling and climb like the Red Arrows – the whole problem that the Gordon Brown solution was supposed to solve.

The economic storm was started by: over lending in the United States mortgage market; and packaging of these debts in to the world finance market, and purchase by global bankers who didn’t know what they were holding. This storm will continue until the banks can trust each other, and know that either they have sufficient cash to pay back debts, or can sell assets to pay these debts, and know the value of those assets. While the lack of cash-injection continues, and a resultant lack of lending, the value of those assets will fall, and hence the cycle will continue downwards.

What about specifically the UK? Downturns are when Governments should spend, and that what Gordon Brown is proposing – from listening to the media, a tax cut in a pre-Christmas budget. However, as one commentator said yesterday, even a 10% tax cut putting in £30 a week in the average pay packet will be swallowed up by rising fuel prices rather than high street spending – so I don’t like that idea.

My view is – if you don’t have any savings in the cupboard (which the UK doesn’t), and you need to spend (which we ought to), then spend on long term projects, which you would have had to have borrowed for anyway. Transport is a good sector for such projects – which creates many jobs in the construction and operations phase - so why not revive plans for a high-speed link in the UK? Virgin had plans in their bid for the East Coast mainline a few years back, and there is always the old “rebuild the Great Central Railway” which is still relatively untouched post-Beeching; and I can’t see why electrification of the old GWR can’t be undertaken, or a review of the long term location of London’s main airport can’t be undertaken – there are far fewer homes in the Thames than the M4 corridor.

So, when will the recession end? It will bottom after Mr Paulson and Mr Dowling get on and inject their cash into the banks; after Barack Obama gets into the White House; and once you know the price of what your house will sell at next Easter, and the banks will give the buyer of your house a mortgage on a 10% deposit from a choice of more than 250 products, knowing that it provides a fair risk/return. Until that point, and no matter what Gordon Brown spends on or George Osbourne says will make little or no long term difference – it will only add to the peaks and troughs which say: neither I, nor you, nor the bank know what your house is worth.

Good Luck!

Thinking of changing roles or market sectors for employment? Pick one with a future that you enjoy

2008-11-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

The down turn is bringing forward many individual’s plans to change employment sectors. Having seen many jobs disappear in their sector, they suddenly seem to be bringing forward long held plans to do something else, which they have never yet put into action.

Is this a time when you should put long term held dreams into action? Possibly, but probably not if you are in secure employment with a great employer – that would be just daft at present. Jumping in this case means a change of employer, skills and sector and resultantly higher financial insecurity. This kind of change only makes sense if you are looking on a daily basis for a new job, and everything you look at reminds you of what you unhappily previously did.

To undertake this task, start with four blank A4 sheets of paper:

• Sheet1: what I have done/this skills I have
• Sheet2: my life, my family, and where I would like to be with both
• Sheet3: where I would like to be in work in 10years

Sheet 1 tells you what you have got to work with now – this could form the basis of a CV or Resume. Sheet 2 defines your personal priorities – you and your family, and what you want. Sheet 3 fits effectively inside Sheets 1 and 2 – you have (Sheet 1), you want (Sheet 2) and you expand on part of the want in Sheet 3. Clearly there is a compromise here, for instance: you want more children, and yet travelling far away from home for your dream job means you need a very supportive partner, and need to let them have some form of support system when you are away; which probably means that the family home is located close to the mother-in-law, and that means you need to get on with her.

You can play these scenarios and go back and re-write the pieces of paper as often as you want, and I would encourage you to do so on a six-monthly basis. But eventually you will get down to a mix where by you have played out everything you can think of, and the amount of change/addition is minimal. The result should be that you have a clear plan, which you have talked through and agreed with your partner, and which as a result you are more enthused – and will resultantly be loved by any future recruiter you meet or employer who engages you.

This blog entry is focused on Sheet 3, and picking a sector of employment that means you (hopefully) won’t end up in the same situation again – ie: thinking what you were doing was useless/boring, and wanting to change sectors. It may be the case that you enjoy the sector, but just want to move roles within that sector – that’s fine, and there are former shop floor workers in the coal, ship building, motor and pottery industries who are still enjoying work in the UK, just not on the shop floor.

If you want to pick a new sector, then look for signs that include:

• Technology change – IT, or applications of are good signs
• Market liberalisation – often seen at a government level, such as the entry of the low-cost carriers into the airline market
• Legislation improvement – this often means more paperwork, such as in the case of recycling or employment law
• Social trends – such as the divorce rating is rising, so more divorce lawyers and support staff are required; more women want to return to work, so there is a shortage of child care workers

In cases where you want to stay in the sector, but can see the sector is on decline, then look towards:

• Creativity – much as though production may move, design teams most often stay and expand
• Customer orientation – sales and marketing still need to be in-country, even if a product is produced internationally
• Consultancy – new market entrants and competitors to your old employer have probably come along as a result of cost efficiencies in developed markets. All of these companies need help in launching and developing their products

But above all, in all cases – PICK A SECTOR YOU WILL ENJOY! There is no point in spotting a trend or a gap, and not having your heart go quicker and your face smile. If it will not, then recruiters and employers will pick up on that.

Changing sectors need not, if you follow some simple rules and looks at the long term trends, be such a daft or wholly risky choice – as long as you make a better choice.

Good Luck!

PS: On a personal note……. I know this system works, because I apply it every three months! This is the system I used to move from call centre design to the internet market in the late 1990’s, through joining the team in my company involved in Data Centres. I saw the long term trend was towards mobile and the internet, and hence knew I had to get a job in either one or the other sector. Five years later, I choose self employment as I could see the long term staff reduction trends in BT – there is far more staff reduction to come there. The reason I became involved in the mobile phone recycler SimuSimu (Simu is Swahili for telephone…), was because I enjoyed telecoms, and could see the legislation on reuse and recycling increasing. I got involved in the recruitment market place because of effectively a consultancy engagement – there are staff shortages in certain telecoms sectors. I had the contacts and abilities to find gaps and fulfil them. I stayed because I could see the challenge for career management for the average person would be more difficult in a more liquid employment market, and if a good recruiter existed we could help candidates long term – hence the creation of Ajiri Ltd

What is the difference between a CV/Resume and a Job Application form?

2008-11-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

A decision to move jobs or apply for employment takes a number of steps:

• You desire/fancy/need a new job
• Dust down old CV, realise its out of date, and create new one
• Start sending it to various online job boards
• Buy newspapers, and start responding to adverts
• Get a response – if this is less than 1 response per three applications sent, you are doing something VERY wrong. It is either your CV or what/where you are applying
• Have a telephone interview
• Have a physical interview
• Wait – and wait some more!
• Get a response, which means the whole process starts again OR you need to write a resignation letter
• Wait for notice period to expire while you are sent to work place hell for its duration OR get round to doing that long term gardening/painting honey-due that you have always promised
• Start work at new job

During this process, there will be four key pieces of paperwork you will need:

• A CV or Resume
• A Cover Letter for each application
• A completed Job Application form
• A Resignation Letter

One of these pieces of paper is not like the other three, which one is it? You probably guessed that it’s the Job Application form, and apart from the fact that it is not written by you, there is one key difference: the Job Application form can be legally sued on if your responses on it are false or lies.

The other difference is that a Job Application form can pretty much ask whatever question it likes. Yes, some of these questions may seem at first glance discriminatory – your age, or ethnicity for instance: but they can be included as both essential for candidate checking (age), and workforce balancing (ethnicity).

Let’s take this current Job Application form’s set of questions:

• If you use a nanny for child care, have they been fully legally checked and certified? What are their names?
• What clubs are you a member of, or have been in the last 10 years? List all, including dates of joining and current membership status
• Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.)
• Have you ever been investigated, arrested for, charged with, convicted of violating any law, regulation or ordinance? How about your spouse? Your child? (You may exclude traffic offenses for which the fine was less than $50)
• Have you, your spouse, or any member of your immediate family ever worked with a financial, banking, insurance or mortgage institution currently the subject of federal government intervention as part of the financial meltdown? (This question includes but is not limited to, the following: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and Washington Mutual.)
• Other than from relatives, or from close and longstanding personal friends on occasions such as birthdays or seasonal holidays, have you or your spouse ever received a gift exceeding $50.00 in value? Please identify the donor, the value of the gift, the date received and the circumstances in which the gift was received
• Provide a copy of every book, article, column or publication you have authored, any speeches you have given, any testimony delivered, any resume you've issued

Question 13 is:

• If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an email, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-elect if it were made public, please describe

Are these questions being asked by President-elect Barrack Obama’s transition team - and obtained by the New York Times - legal? Yes, as the key question for any judge in most jurisdictions (UK, EU or USA), if a case was brought by an applicant on the grounds of discrimination, is a test of reasonableness – ie: is the question reasonable and related to fair employment in that position, or is it discriminatory?

In example, one of the questions being asked in the same Job Application form is: "Please list all aliases or 'handles' you have used to communicate on the internet." If you were applying for a job on the checkout at a local Grocery Store, then no it would not be legal; but on the grounds of national security, or for a bank worker for instance, both areas where security checking and vetting of staff is legally required for regulatory licensing, then yes it is legal.

You can gain a view on the length of any possible Job Application form a job will require you to complete, by looking at the last paragraph of any job advert. This is where the legal counsel of any employer has won the “yes, but we want great employees, and to do that we need to sell the job” argument from the CEO and HR director, and all the legal pieces will be stuffed into as few words as possible. Here they will need to state any set criteria for candidates (must have qualifications/experiences), age or ethnic criteria (look at Government social worker adverts for jobs where legally allowed discrimination can be justified), and any checks or tests to be passed. What this paragraph should remind you is that any lies are illegal, and will be found out.

So, please never lie on your CV or Resume – but if you do, just remember that you can be sued on anything you write in a Job Application form, however long ago you wrote it: so don’t ever lie!

Good Luck!

People Competency Improvement versus People Capability Improvement

2008-11-13T03:02:00.000-08:00

Robert asks: What is the difference between People Competency Improvement & People Capability Improvement, and how it is related?

In answer:
If you understand the difference, then as a business owner or director you can ask your HR team to build your companies HR strategy and business decisions around these two key areas:

Competency = Skills: the skills that are required for an individual to perform the job. Managers can deliver solid impact by hiring people that have demonstrated the competencies key to fulfilling the job. For instance, it is logical to assume that an artist will be less capable to work as accountant than a mathematician: an artist has different type of competency. If your organization is not capable to do something, look for misplaced talents and perform HR assessment. Ongoing coaching and performance management/evaluation can help sustain and improve those results (motivation is also a layer here).

Capability = Capacity: look at this as the process in your organization, resulting in efficiency and effectiveness. For instance, if an engineer is competent, they will find and fix a problem quickly; where as if a painter is competent they will use the right brushes to paint. If an individual is not capable of painting, you could invest a lot in brushes, but will never get a painting in return. By continually assessing and working to improve your processes a function of people, tools and approach/process), the overall capacity of work done by your teams will rise, as will the quality. You will also end up driving out unnecessary cost and waste.

Good Luck!

Why has Wales suffered so much in the credit crunch – and why it should not have

2008-11-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

There are many pieces of news hitting the headlines over various layoffs and redundancies at present. It is unfortunately inevitable that companies will cut expenditure in light of falling revenues – because if they didn’t survive, where would the jobs come from in a revival?

However, from various pieces of government funded analysis, the Welsh economy is presently suffering more in the down turn than most economies, with redundancies around one quarter higher than the average in the UK. The excellent Jamie Owen asked a commentator last night on Wales Today why, and the answer was at best fudged: so here is a personal view.

The Welsh boom time lasted 100 years, from about the 1820’s when the first pits were sunk, to the post war 1920’s when the great depression hit. Since then it has been a slow bleed from employment to unemployment, investment to decay; with around two thirds of the pit jobs lost by the start of World War Two, and Maggie Thatcher just finishing the inevitable in the 1980’s.

At that point, Wales had a clean slate and was offered investment – according to a talk I heard from Ieuan Wyn Jones, from 1973 to 2003 it had some £930million pounds of grant investment made into it, and it’s in how that money was spent as to why Wales is now suffering.

Firstly, 60% of it was invested within 12mile radius of Cardiff Bay. Now partly that should not come as a surprise – that’s about equivalent to the amount of Welsh GDP generation – but that doesn’t reflect the distribution of the Welsh population. Merthyr Tydfil sits at a radius of 18miles from the bay, and has the highest unemployment rate of most towns and cities in the UK.

Secondly, the way the money was invested. Most of the money was given to large incoming investment projects by non-EU head quartered companies. Sony is probably the best example at Bridgend, which was held up as a world class centre by even Sony themselves; the same can be said of the GE engine facility at Caerphilly, or the BAe facility at Wharton. But some of those projects didn’t come off – the LG Philips plant at Newport being the highest profile example, and the film studio at Valleywood presently looks like a missed opportunity. Most of the money was placed in singular large profile projects, around a strategy of “hub and spoke” with the WDA investing in hubs and the companies themselves creating spokes in the local economy. They even created a series of large industrial estates for the developments of these spokes, many of which are still empty rows of large steel sheds. However, unlike the Scot’s the Welsh picked no core hubs, and so there were no world class spokes – which would have led to more hubs.

Thirdly, the local grants were handed out at a local business initiative level in an adhoc and splash the cash manner. A conversation I had 18months ago with a council based business development unit went:
• Me: how many of the following skilled people do you have? (I knew they had the answer, as they would come up with such stat’s when we were looking to place call centres in the UK)
• Council: well, we offer a grant to find out such answers in developing your business. We pay £X for such investigations and reports, and it will cost you £Y (about twice X) to buy the report from one of our approved consultants
• Me: how often do you get asked this question?
• Council: about twice a week at minimum
• Me: so to answer a common question, I have to get a grant to pay someone to answer it for me?
• Council: yes!

The problem this generated was a grant-dependent culture, in local small businesses, and also a series of weak SME businesses. Grants should be from a business level seen as a bonus guarantee, not an essential of business as they have become here. Every time I hear a new business proposal in Wales from a local person, the second issue on the table after the concept is the detailed list of grants available!

The result of the grant expenditure from 1972 to 2003 is that 97% of the jobs created have gone. They came to Wales, were created, and have now left. There were insufficient local roots placed down by the hub investors, so they could leave easily when technology changed – or a downturn came. And the spokes were not strong enough to survive alone.

Have there been successes in the Welsh economy? Yes – and the thing they have in common is that they were in general created by people who are or have strong ties to Wales. Such enterprises include insurance group Admiral, the only Welsh headquartered business listed in the FTSE100 – they are about to take on 500 people into a new centre in Newport; or the Lanelli based TV production company Tinopolis, without which Dr Who could never have been attempted in Cardiff.

Wales will now suffer as a result of poor central strategy – and one which missed its greatest strength: the Welsh people. On any measure, compared to an average UK worker they are three times as loyal, and as a whole are as well educated as any part of the UK thanks to large investment in the educational sector. They are also quite creative and adaptable, in part because of this love and existence of an old Celtic language. What I am trying to say here is that the Welsh people could be horribly entrepreneurial if given the right infrastructure around them, but what appears to have happened is the creation of a grant-dependent business focus. Thankfully most of the new businesses coming through from the sub-25 year old bracket can stand on their own two feet.

I think Wales will go through some tough times, probably even longer than the rest of the UK: we might just as well be in Bejing in 2012, such is the amount of Olympic money that will at presently planned flow down here. But I am convinced by the Welsh people, and that the central government – thankfully because it won’t have the cash – will change it strategy to local entrepreneurial investment focus, over one of buying in multi-national hubs. Modern businesses need to be adaptable, and such choices even by the companies themselves will need to come with far quicker payback timescales.

When faced with that unknown choice, versus a bet on your own people, I hope it is even obvious to central government where the financial investment bet needs to be placed – your own people offer a far, far better set of long term employment odd’s.

Good Luck!

Have you fallen foul of “Denis Atlas” and his CV/Resume security scams?

2008-11-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

In times of reducing employment, the temptation to send your CV winging off to any old online jobs board or career related website is compelling. You need a job, you are not sending them any cash, so what’s the problem?

In a controlled experiment, supported by the Metropolitan Police and the Information Assurance Advisory Council, online CV filing organisation iProfile.org placed a job advert for a fictional company in a UK national newspaper, inviting people to apply by emailing their CV. The advert was run during the National Identity Fraud Prevention week. Anyone carrying out a simple web search for the company – ‘Denis Atlas’, an anagram of ‘steal an id’ - would have found a website telling them the company was fake. In just one week, 107 CVs were received in response to the job advert. iProfile enlisted the help of reformed identity thief, Bob Turney, to analyse the CVs and discovered that the vast majority contained enough information for an identity theft to occur.

As security expert Frank Abagnale said in a recent interview: "It's all publicly available on the internet. But actually I only need three pieces of information to get credit in someone's name: their full name, date of birth and national insurance number."

But during the iProfile experiment, the average CV received contained eight pieces of information. 61 CVs (57%) included a date of birth, despite this no longer being a UK legislative requirement due to age discrimination laws, and 98 (91.5%) included a full address. A further 20 (19%) put others at risk by providing full details of references. One even included the applicant’s passport number and national insurance details.

Protecting yourself from CV ID Fraud
Think about the information a potential employer needs to find your details inserting enough to be able to contact you. You can share your full CV and details at a later stage when you are comfortable with the identity of the company or person you are sharing the information with.

Follow the following tips to ensure you are not a victim of CV/Resume ID fraud:

BEFORE you apply:
1.Ensure your contact details are focused on you and neutral. If in doubt or if you live in temporary accommodation, get a mail box – at around £20/$30 a month, it’s a security bargain
2.Your eMail address should be adult and focused around you, and not a childish online character – Jennie69 may be fun online but is a no-employment sign on a CV/Resume. If your name is Jim Smith, then Jsmith@aol.com is fine unless you happen to be a web designer, in which case get a domain and create a portfolio
3.Get yourself a nice new Pay As You Go cellphone. You won’t be making many outbound calls on it initially, so no need for anything more than the starter £10/$10 credit. Record the message greeting in your own voice – write down the salutation before recording it in a nice quiet room: “Hello, this is X. I am sorry I can’t take your call right now, but please leave your name and contact details, and I will call you back as soon as I can.”
4.Do a Google CV check, and clean-up your online profiles

Check the organisation:
5. Be wary if the email address does not contain the name of the company but just the name of an internet service provider such as @AOL.com. It’s OK for you, but not for the organisation your are sending your details to
6. All websites globally MUST legally include: the trading organisations name (ie – Mr Smith or XYZ Company Ltd), a contact address and a contact telephone number. If you can not find these details then don’t use the website, and before submitting your details online, always call them first

In your CV/Resume:
7.NEVER state your full name, and leave out middle names. James Robert Smith comes down to James Smith, or if you use your middle name in preference Robert Smith. Never use Jim, Rob, or J Rob – this is a formal and professional application, plus middle names are often used by banks as security checks
8.Mainly for women, but also for men, never state Miss, Ms or Mrs. Never state your marital status – an ongoing messy divorce is a no-employment warning, a former marriage best left in the past
9.In your CV/Resume, state the contact details you have already lined up before. If using your home address, then just include district and city, nothing more: Manhattan, New York or Hammersmith, London is legally sufficient. No need for street, and certainly no need for apartment/house number
10.There is no legal requirement to state your Date of Birth, but NEVER state your full date of birth. “Aged 32” at maximum
11.There is a lot of debate in the CV/Resume writing community about stating certain employment dates: if you do you could look old, if you don’t it is difficult to show the level of experience. The area to pay attention to are your educational dates, often used as security checks. If you are past 20, then no need for school (I can age you from that), and probably leave out your base degree graduation date – again often a security check used by banks
12.NEVER included any government issued numbers or related personal information. This covers everything from National Insurance/Social Security numbers, Passport numbers, and Tax code references. Even if you are a migrant worker, just state “Fully able and certified to be able to work in X country, full documentation available on request at interview stage.”
13.NEVER provide personal financial details, such as bank and credit card details. Avoid any employer who asks for a process fee or application deposit – it’s a sure sign it’s a scam
14.NEVER include the names and contact details of your references, even if asked for – the same goes for them as much as you

When applying:
15. Take extra care when accessing and sending personal information when using public computers, such as those in internet cafes, or when using a laptop in a WiFi hotspot.

Please, think about what information you include on your CV/Resume. Often when candidates ask how they get their four page leviathans down to two pages, just applying the above rules would reduce it by at least a page.

If you think you may be a victim then send off for your credit-reference files from a recognised organisation like Experian or Equifax - it only costs £2/$5. They will show any fraudulent applications for credit. Inform CIFAS, the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System, which will put your name on an alert file.

For more information on this subject, you may like to read the following websites and articles:

- UK Government online ID website identitytheft.org.uk
- CIFAS
- Wikipedia article on Identity Theft
- Daily Mirror article on ID theft

The 100 day old CV or Resume is out of date

2008-11-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

As a recruitment professional, it is always satisfying to find great candidates. However, often when you find these great candidates, the answer to “and when can I have your CV/Resume?” is most often always met with: “Well, I have an old one somewhere…”

As a professional recruiter, you also know that if you find great candidates via networking and outside the IT orientated/aware professions, that "old" will mean at least as long as they have been with their current employer; and the time scale for producing it will be never. It is hence why we accept in-house that we will write it for them from initial telephone interview notes, which when sent out to the candidate via eMail is met with a relieved eMail message, and an CV/Resume attachment with some old text insertions - because they were trying to convert the only paper copy they had into a nice MSWord version, let alone an online option!

Well, here’s a credit crunch career planning thought. The Financial Director of the company you work for probably plans his budget on quarter cycles – ie: 90days. Large publicly listed companies have to announce major changes at their quarterly reporting dates that effect balance sheets and earnings, and that includes staff issues. The FD knows the company can survive the next 90days, but beyond that could be another call. Now, if your FD and company board are making decisions on your job every 90days, shouldn’t you be?

Let us say that the FD gets to the end of the quarter, and like the good FD that he is he has some reserves. But unfortunately, there is only enough of a reserve for the company to last 180 days. If he calls in the HR director and they agree with the MD to reduce staff, that whole discussion will probably take 30days; the results of the HR directors project will be delivered in another 30days; and the planning for the announcement will take another 30days. The results can be implemented pretty quickly after that.

Good career planning is about looking forward, and writing a CV is about showing applied competencies. To make sure you note down all of your competencies, the applications of them and their and successes, keep at least a weekly diary. Note down what you did, the skills you used and the results/outcomes. What you can then do every quarter is apply these to your CV/Resume. Yes, it may look long and wordy, but chopping back and focusing is far easier and quicker that creating.

Never, ever again let your CV/Resume become more than 100days old.

Good Luck!

The pound and employment – why a falling currency should be good

2008-11-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

In light of poor and fast declining economic data, and media comments by both the Bank of England and the Prime Minister that the UK was in a recession, the pound has dropped to low levels against the US dollar. Since July, it has fallen by 25% in value, from $2.00 to $1.50 to the UK pound.

If you look at this further, it gets to be a consistent pattern of the pound dropping in value against numerous currencies:
- 220 to 160 against the Japanese Yen (27%)
- 86 to 74 against the Indian Rupee (14%)
- 1.40 to 1.25 against the Euro, although in the past three months it has been quite stable (10%)

However, all this bad currency data could be good for UK employment: that holiday in Florida, the most popular location for Brit’s abroad, is now 25% more expensive. It makes Margate look a lot more attractive, and a lesser drop against the Eurozone makes the Mediterranean interesting for guaranteed sunshine

But that’s consumer spending – what has it got to down with your job?

When I ran a large UK Call Centre design team – we turnover £127million in the last year I ran the team – we were faced with the onslaught on the overseas location. The main reason was, it was cheaper to run. We were at a disadvantage any way, as we worked for the most expensive telecoms company in the market by around 15% to 25% - so just selling in the UK was a chore, let alone against Phuket or Mumbai!

One of the most powerful statement’s I have ever been taught was as an engineer in Bournemouth, being taught how to sell modems. The trainer taught us that learning lists of features was fine, but what was the business benefit? To find them, he taught us the statement “Which means that…..” So for instance, a dual processor design meant better up time, which means that you don’t need to design in as much redundancy to ensure critical delivery – that actual line won us a £15million contract with Chase Manhattan, and meant we also won a contract into just post communist Russia!

So, for UK businesses exporting, what does a quickly falling pound mean? Take Jaguar cars for instance – the £35,000 XJ top line saloon is now 25% cheaper at the dock in New York. That is also true of the 50mpg BMW Mini, and in a country which is running scared of their beloved SUV’s and not having enough for a deposit for one anyway, a cheap and economical branded car should sell well.

What about call centres? I always felt the flight to India was short termed in sight. The way we overcame selling at a premium UK price was to train engineers who designed whole customer service solutions, over just the flashing light telephone bit in the middle. We hence thought about market position, registration, time to answer, environment (yes, we had colour awareness training!), and follow-up. It meant when you engaged us, you engaged a whole solution over an engineer – hence why we did £127million, or 53% of then BT Solutions group turnover. Hence from my point of view as a whole solution, the mass flight of call centres to India was illogical and daft, when the majority of the customers were over 50, and couldn’t understand many UK call centre operators, let alone someone who had never been to the UK apart from watching an episode of Eastenders. The clear result would be greater market switching, which those who either choose to stay in the UK or were to slow to react would suddenly find the results of – Nationwide made a conscious decision to leave their call centres in the UK, and took a 20% boost in business.

We have in the past two years seen a flight back to the UK as annual market switching rates in financial services rose from 10% to 35% , but the back offices – rightly – have stayed in the cheaper economies of India. However, many organisations which don’t benefit from scale economies are finding the communication lines stretched, and hence projects delivered late: its why there is a boom in need for qualified project managers, but the problem is communication.

So, what will be the effect of a falling currency? We are in a recession in the UK, and reduced consumer spending (probably agitated further by higher high street prices) will result in increased unemployment: but to stay employed, you just have to get focused, there are many opportunities. However, with a quickly falling currency, the rates of UK export will quickly rise – plus financial services will recover, as UK law is open, stable and friendly: thank you Sarbanes Oxley! I expect to see the result in the UK balance of payments by mid-2009, and it’s why BMW are choosing to lay-off over redundancy until Easter: because they know what the reaction could be, and there is still a skills shortage in the UK labour market of engineers. Any decision announced to outsource offshore in the past 12months that has not yet been implemented I am sure is being looked at by every Finance Director right now – it not only requires an often capital sum to achieve, it also now is looking around 20% less cost effective.

Clearly there will be redundancies, as UK companies can’t bleed to death through lack of cash when they can’t borrow. But the depth of the redundancies may not be as high as suspected – such a sharp fall in the UK sterling is like installing a rubber floor as a safety precaution, and make FD’s listen to HR directors about long term skills shortages as there is a tightening of the pull of export sales.

Good Luck!

The problem of being low paid and self employed – but the universal lesson that doesn’t mean anyone has to be unemployed in the economic down turn

2008-11-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

I recently gave advice to a husband of a friend’s friend, who as a Polish economic migrant to the UK had found himself unemployed.

The gentleman was an eminently hard worker, who for the past five years had worked as a self-employed body repair technician at an East London garage, specialised in repairs to that superb Eastern European brand – and probably better to drive in an economic downturn than the Bentley’s they derive many of their parts from – Skoda. In fact, so impressed was his boss with his work, when his brother decided to come to the UK the boss employed him as well. Last summer, the boss took on an a 16year old English apprentice, and my friends husband has been training him up.

When the downturn came, my friends husband was the most skilled worker, so you would have thought he would have survived any downturn. No, he was first out of the door with 2weeks notice: the apprentice he trained is half as good but cheaper on minimum wage due to his age. The concern of my friend was that her friend is pregnant, and due to give birth in December, so could I help find him a job?

Firstly can I state up front, I don’t let Ajiri deal with minimum wage work as I find that many employers don’t treat their workers well at that wage level. A low wage level tends to translate into a low respect for their employees, and you hence also see low levels of work place environment, poor health and safety and many other problems. Often the employers will tell you that the reason that it all looks so grotty is because of the way the workers treat the place, but personally I think standards come from the management and flow down to the employees, and not visa versa. However, I got into recruitment because I like people, and getting people to find their feet in the work place and reach their goals is satisfying whatever the wage level, so I agreed to a phone call.

Firstly, the guy was bright and enthusiastic – employers love that, and he had an easy to get along with personality: they adore that. Secondly, he loved what he did, but had a long term goal to get into truck/HGV driving – I translated that as liking the transport sector. And thirdly, he wanted to stay in the UK for a period. However, on the downside, although he is legal (Poland is an EU state, so there are no need for entry/employment visa’s etc), and he is paying his UK taxes, he still had no UK driving license. Also, on checking his National Insurance (health and unemployment insurance), although it was all up to date, as he had worked for his employer full time for three years, the employer had not when the legislation changed added his contributions. Further, the employer was now giving him two weeks notice, when he needed to give him at least 30days.

My friend’s husband didn’t want to hassle his employer on the NI contributions or notice period, as his own brother was still working at the establishment. So we just focused on the “what next” question.

What all people need to look at when faced with such a situation, is to answer the question: What are my transportable skills? This question is easier answered if you have a certificate for some training, which as most self-employed people need to fund themselves they don’t. Hence although my friends husband was an excellent body repair technician, he didn’t have a certificate or qualification or registration with a professional body to verify any of this. Secondly, the lack of a UK driving license restricted his UK employment prospects – most employers want a photo ID for identity, and if you are a foreign national some UK paperwork to prove you are resident and won’t walk out next week.

After our first phone call, I did some checking at jobsites for work (note – I always love the online jobsite stat’s for hits, but many in my experience are just browsing: employers, recruiters and employees to check markets. The question is conversion ratio); and found without surprise that no qualifications and no UK driving license meant he was looking at minimum wage again at best, possibly as a drivers mate (ie – a health and safety load lugger). I immediately texted him back, and gave him the address of the nearest DVLA centre in London, and told him to get down their ASAP and get a UK driving license. Apparently this was quite easy for a Polish national, but ring them if in doubt – always very helpful people, but then most of them are Welsh!

In our second telephone conversation, we talked about why driving? In my view, he still seemed very committed to the sector, which was both good (employers love enthusiasm), and bad (so I had to find him a role in transport). I had done some research, and suggested a role in bus driving:

• It's like trucking, but in often prettier looking but just as macho vehicles
• It doesn’t involve long distances away from home
• The working environment is much cleaner, and involves people over constant listening to cheese radio stations
• As the employers are subject to a higher level of regulation, they are generally more respectful of their employees
• And if you don’t like it, as a formal qualification it is fairly easy to convert from a bus/PSV to a truck/HGV license

Best of all, because of the credit crunch, there is a so great a shortage of bus drivers out in the work place at present – people can’t afford to run cars, so take the bus instead – the employers are paying people to take the qualification, as long as you stay in employment for three years: you would have to pay for your won HGV training in full. Transport for London even at present have a scheme which focuses on finding and training more women bus drivers.

So, we are now two weeks later, and my friend’s husband just rang me to tell me about his first day of training to be a bus driver – and he’s over the moon with happiness!

All people are responsible for their own career management, and particularly the self-employed. Always think about what you are putting on your CV whatever work you do, and how transportable those skills are – qualifications make them more transportable to other employers. Secondly, if you do find yourself unemployed, think about how those transportable skills could be deployed in other markets – sales in real estate is a transportable skill for sales in many other sectors.

Good Luck!

What is your view on the video resume?

2008-11-10T04:28:00.000-08:00

Michael, a recruiter asks: What is your view on video resumes? We might implement this on our site in the near future. Seems to be a nifty way to get a feel for a candidate. Also a way for candidates to showcase their people skills in a relaxed environment.

In answer:
Putting aside the legal exclusion issues, I think a simple focus on the human and process element is a better focus to answer this question. For instance:

- Do all your candidates look like super models, or Brad Pitt replica's?
- Do they all look good on a camera lens? There is a difference....
- Do they know how to perform on video, which picks up and magnifies the smallest issues? You may not have noticed that twitch until now...
- Are they being interviewed by Katie Curic/David Frost, and can your chosen interviewer build up on screen rapport with all candidates? Even Sir David can't do that...
- Are they being shot by "the next Steven Speilberg?"
- Are you using edited or unedited versions?

All of this, even if the boxes are ticked, means that the candidates generally become more nervous (what "relaxed environment" - ?), and doing a video resume takes some pre-planning: its not just turn up and go.

If you also think about the process, then I think the video resume as the first stop/replacement of the traditional piece of paper falls down in non-entertainment/arts based vocations. The first question any client has is: does the candidate have the basic skills? That can be answered in less than a page of A4 and hence read twice in 1min or less; where as dragging through a 20min video resume multiplies the process by at least 20fold - time is money.

Is there a role for the video resume? Yes, in entertainment and arts fields, as it has always been. Is there a role for the video resume in the wider recruitment world? Possibly in some fields, where the pre-planning costs and training of the candidate can be consumed in the eventual recruitment fee's generated. It can become a second-check savings tool where the basic skills check on paper can be further developed into a character-fit check on video, before the candidate is physically met and interviewed.

But as a generic recruitment tool? I have always thought of YouTube as an alternate entertainment channel, not really a recruiting world benchmark - as this example by Aleksey Vayner shows. If you watch most of the so called video resumes over there, I am not sure much as though there are some great candidates that you would because of their performances employ many of them.

Good Luck!

Remember, even in the credit crunch, there are still Births, Deaths, Marriages – and SEX!

2008-11-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

It’s tough times now, and it is going to be even tougher times ahead in 2009 – I think we are close enough now for me to be able to write that. Many people are losing their jobs, and those who are unemployed can’t find jobs – so what hope is there?

Last week, there was a lot of bad economic data either side of the Atlantic, even after Barack Obama became President elect:

• Car sales down a record 26% to a 20 year low. The big three are hurting, and GM has said it will run out of cash in early 2009
• House sales down a further 20%, effectively now down 48% in the UK from just two years ago
• Retail sales down 12%
• Unemployment at five year highs, and heading higher

But please note – although the figures are DOWN, they are not ZERO. Why is this? Let’s take a simple scenario:

Young man on a rare night out that he can afford meets a young lady, takes her back to his place and ….. nine months later, after getting married and buying a family car, they welcome a child. His apartment now won’t suit their needs, and nor will hers, so they need a house. Houses require mortgages, and after doing a deal with both fathers on a 20% deposit, he needs a better job to pay for it while she will do some part-time work from home for the next 12months – or perhaps she employs a nanny? The house needs decorating…

One thing that is always constant, whether we like it or not, is the fact we are time-limited biological life forms on this earth. You can check this out by reading your local BDM column – it might be shrinking a bit now in the M section, but B and D are still at pretty much the same level they were last year.

These life forms are also emotional, made up of complex calculations and mixtures of chemicals which play a huge part in the micro-second calculations we each make to stay alive on this planet – including the answer to the immortal question of time, life and the universe of “do you want fries with that?”

This is because every one of them needs energy, and hence has to eat, drink, sleep – you can check this one out at the local supermarket: I still see people buying food. And every so often, because no man can be an island from his fellow man – and certainly no lady can resist the odd bit of male company, accepting that shirt doesn’t match his trousers – we all need to get merry with a few other people out there.

And every so often, when people on the odd occasion make a single mistake, they need new cars. And even if they don’t know they need a new one, the old one is also time limited through a form chemical interaction between iron and oxygen which is as old as the earth itself.

So, why are the economic figures not zero? Because life carries on – check BDM, check the supermarket, check that the sun goes up and down, and the moon comes out: life carries on.

So if life carries on, are people still being hired – Ah, YES! Why – do I have to explain BDM again? And now your question is – and how do I make myself one of those people?

Honestly, its simple – and here’s the answer: realise who you are, what your skills are, what you like and could do even if it means doing something different from what you are doing now; and then get a PLAN and IMPLENT IT.

If you have a plan and a goal, and the gumption to stick to it, something inside you picks up and wham – you ace the interview. If you don’t have a plan or know what you want to do, then you need the world’s largest economic boom to stand a chance of being employed at all.

And the amazing thing is – you don’t need to be great to get employed right now, just focused and resultantly enthusiastic; about the job, and the employer:

• If you just did 15minutes of investigation of the employer you are about to apply for a job to, your chances of getting the job would rise by 25%
• If you rang to enquire about the job before applying, your chances would rise by 50%
• And if you re-read the night before just the stuff you printed off of the computer before the day of the interview, and prepared six questions about the employer and the job, your chances of getting the job would rise by 100%.

You have just trebled your chance of getting employed, and all it took was an economic down turn to learn how to do.

Still, even now that I have told you that, I bet there’s a 66% chance you won’t change and hence do it. I know that, because I do read the BDM column and I am still interviewing candidates on a weekly basis – and both tell me that probable outcome.

So, stop reading and take some action – life is still going on, people are still getting hired.

Good Luck!

Sunday Thoughts: "English is widely spoken, but not widely understood"

2008-11-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

I saw this quote recently, and smiled!

When I ran the largest call centre design team for a large UK based TelCo, we always trained our guys to design systems around the customer experience, and data collection for the client (it amuses me when I think about it, that nominally those are two great principles around which to design a website). In designing customer experience, we always insisted on a lot of input to the agent selection process - my best client took this to another step, and really challenged the team asking us to design the building: he went on to start what is now the UK's second largest outsource call handling service on the same principles. When we designed solutions, we always thought about customer flow and volumes - and always thought about language. It meant when we designed in country A for a flow of customers in region B, the agents were mainly from that region.

I thought the late 1990's flow of call centres to India was interesting, and shortermist. Basically, it was Exec's more worried about bottom line economics of running their businesses, than thinking about customer relationships. My most annoying experience was cashing in the endowment policies associated with a mortgage. The original policies were issued by two separate companies, which some 15years later had merged - one had outsourced to India, and it took 3months and 20 phone calls to get cashed; the other presently still handled the calls in the UK, it took 28days and one phone call to cash. I had a life insurance policy with that company, which I also decided resultantly to cash and move elsewhere, and after doing so wrote to the Chief Executive to explain my experiences and reasoning - he still moved the call centre handling completely to India! I think there are excellent Indian based call centres - but the good agents were the one's who had travelled, and returned home - and they were picked up years ago.

Some 12months later, the new CEO of the insurance company announced he would be moving front office handling back to the UK - a short hand way of saying what other banking CEO's admitted later, that customer turnover was escalating out of the roof when calls were handled overseas from the customer, while locally based solutions showed more stable relationships. About two years later, I was interviewing an experienced Call Centre business development manager for a job, who had handled the review of the a large UK car breakdown companies thoughts about off-shoring. He took a brief on a Thursday, wrote a business case through the weekend which he presented to their telecoms team on the following Tuesday; and had a commendation by Friday from the CEO, together with a two year deal to retain all telecoms services for his company. Why? Because he had taken their own data of each customer being worth an average of £480pa in revenue, with an average life relationship of 47years, and calculated the point at which increased client turnover (and hence lost revenue) outstripped the cost saving of off-shoring - the answer: 0.01%, or 23days!

I think there is a role for off-shoring, but in customer relationships there are other factors. I always thought these would show through, and eventually the effective off-shoring would be "back office" mainly non-client interaction and processing, not customer handling. Many of the biggest and best Asian IT outsourcing firms now employ "localised" front offices, with the back office where it is most cost effective - but the article questions: is it really, even at that level? I know of contractors in a large Swindon based organisation now complaining of continual delays in implementing a new IT solution, because the solution is being written some 6,000miles remotely, and communication issues mean wrong deliveries which are continually late.

I don't think this is a language issue - and I don't think its a cultural issue. I do think its an issue where we ought to accept each other as human beings, and that we truly are unique and different in many, many ways.

I think the question for us in business, is how do we manage these human scale differences to ensure delivery and team harmony? I have seen what are in the majority simple communication differences, translate into become highly disruptive racial problems - and that's just daft.

What Percentage of Job Opportunities Are Listed Online?

2008-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Steve asks: What Percentage of Job Opportunities Are Listed Online? I was asked this question in a session recently in my role as the President of PerfectJob Software, "What percentage of jobs are listed on the online job boards." I gave an answer, but wasn't comfortable that I really knew. So I went and did a little research, and I'm actually now less sure I really know. What do you think?

In answer:
I will answer from a UK perspective, as that is the data I know best.

It is difficult to get whole of market data. You can count vacancies at online job boards and newspapers, but little data exists for internal hires outside that issued by a publicly listed company when it makes a required financial announcement.

From the 2005 Office of National Statistics triennial employment survey, there were 650,000 vacancies in a workforce of 28million, with 30million possible active posts - ie: the UK was under resourced, and resultantly wage rates were rising. This would suggest an average job turnover rate of 46 years!

A more likely level for employee job turnover is around 5years in the average job, making 6million vacancies per annum. Of those, at the time around 1million were posted online (including companies own job board), while 1.5million were in newpapers and print media: today local newspaper advertising is still equal or greater in volume than online, purely from the fact that not every company has a website. The other 3.5million could be split at around 3million internally filled vacancies; and around 500,000 are never posted - about the scale of the head hunter market.

The old recruiters theory was that about one third of vacancies were known (ie - advertisied), one third could be spotted (ie - internal); and one third were secret. This data seems to support that old adage to an extent, accepting the volume of data one has access to these days thanks to the internet.

I think as the market develops further, we will see a greater volume in online jobs boards - its cheaper and it widens the net from a geographic and skill view point. But not every vacancy will ever be online. It doesn't need to be, when at least one of your potential successors should already be sat in your own team if you are doing - if you are doing your own job correctly.

The more interesting question for the online jobs sector is - how many employees are now online, and can be given a quiet tap on a shoulder to increase the size of the passive candidate market? I don't think advertising of the vacancy then is the question, but finding of the talent. Any increase in employee turnover/resultant reduction in average time in job will be far more fiscally damaging to employers than the potential gains of cheaper costs of hiring.

The video resume - and how it can be used for a resignation!

2008-11-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of debate at present about both the Online Resume and Video Resume at present. But one thing that should be remembered about all CV's and resumes is that - evidence follows you everywhere in the new online world.

For instance, how about using the media of video to resign?

Birmingham Mail journalist Adam Smith - aka Steve Zacharanda - decided he wanted to support the campaign of Barack Obama: but how would he persuade his editor that he could go to America? He decided to choose a swing-state, and as he couldn't pronounce Ohio, decided to go to - Miami, Florida (wonder why a UK journalist would want to go to sunny Florida in the damp, cold UK autumn?).

After Obama won, Smith had to deliver the promised article to his editor, so dutifully logged in to the Birmingham Mail web system from Miami in the after-win party, to record his copy. However, he got caught on video somewhat worse for drink by one of his Dutch colleagues.......

Videoed in a drunken stupor, Smith admits that he has had lots of fun with local ladies, and is now plagiarising the BBC for his filed copy: oh, and decides to hand in his notice while being interviewed.

This resultant video has been much viewed and resultantly reported and blogged about, in both the Birmingham Mail and many of the Fleet Street and US National Newspapers.

A few thoughts:
- The speed at which anything can be distributed today is amazing. For example, just see the Vodafone advert where the child watches Manchester Untied on a South East Asian Beach. But even quicker is the speed at which any potential employer can also find such stuff on the web. As I have suggested, why not checkout your own Google-resume?
- I wonder if Adam Smith still has a job at the Birmingham Mail, and if so is he covering anything more now than the local council meetings while he works his notice?
- How will he write this down on his next CV: bring enough to collect 50,000 hits on YouTube, or daft enough to get drunk and resign on video?

And PS: Adam, if you are reading this - NO, I don't want the job of how to write your next CV!!!

But still, as always - Good Luck!

How to Write a Cover Letter?

2008-11-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

Karen asks: I am wondering how best to write a Cover Letter for Banking/ Management Consulting jobs. I am hold a bachelor's degree from a UK business school and am looking for jobs in these fields. Most will ask for a cover letter to join their graduate programs however I always dread writing them. I hear that sometimes they are rarely looked at; can those of you in the recruitment business comment on that? My previous Careers Service (as I have already graduated) gives the usual generic advice like "expand on your skills highlighted in your CV." I think I have a great CV, a good degree from a great UK business school and feel that perhaps it is my cover letters that is letting me down. Would you please give your comments and advice? Thank You!

In answer:
The simple answer is, if you don't include a Cover Letter in your application, you will be rejected - fact. Most research suggests that if you don't include a Cover Letter, then your chances of gaining a post even where it is not specifically asked for are around eight times less than those applicants who do include one.

As a recruiter, let me step you through how the process works in most recruiting and HR organisations that handle job applications. Most application correspondence will be handled initially by a junior member of staff, who will have been given a brief to reject any candidate against certain criteria. What are these? Simply, answering the job advert in a way in which the core skills and experiences are shown in the application. This member of staff is there to (a) learn the job, and (b) find reasons to reject your application as not relevant - they are saving time for the senior person, who then only has to review the relevant applications. This first stage process will remove around two thirds of applicants, who will only avoid the rejection letter should the senior staff member find there are just not enough applications.

So, the need for the Cover Letter is to make sure that you get past the first stage process and into the senior persons hands; and then to get them to call you - no more, no less. You hence don't restate you CV/Resume in your Cover Letter, but engage with the reader to show you have the relevant skills and experiences, and have applied them in real projects with actual referenced results.

You can read more about Cover Letters on my blog How To Write A Cover Letter - honestly, the skills of how to write a great Cover Letter are quickly learnt in less than 30minutes.

If you are still full of dread after reading the website, then just drop me a message and I will happily help you out - I love writing Cover Letters, they are so much fun!

Good Luck!

What is the best, most ethical, and most professional way to present company financial achievements in your CV/Resume?

2008-11-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

Mohammed asks: What is the best, most ethical, and most professional way to present certain company financial achievements that you were part of in your CV/Resume? In presenting certain financial achievements in your resume, What is more professional to use : Actual financial numbers ( For ex, increased A from 5 Millions Euro in last fiscal to 2 Millions Euro this fiscal ) or using percentages instead ( For ex, increased A by 60% at start of Fiscal compared to last Fiscal). Is it unethical to use any kind of numbers? If yes, then how can you present good financial achievements in your resume?

In answer:
The first rule of writing any CV/Resume is to NEVER lie. Most organisations use very efficient candidate checking services, and even if you are not found out it adds stress to you in interview thinking about continually concealing the lie.

There are no right and wrong guidelines on stating such figures, but personally I would state both where relevant; or state the lower view of the achievement where you choose to use only one option. It would be easy to over state your achievements if you used the right option - a 50% saving of a $10 spend is $5: 50% sounds more impressive, and could be read by the recruiter or HR professional as a lie, or at least an overstatement. Hence I would state that as a "$5 savings on a $10 projected unit cost."

All professions have the same challenge when stating achievements. But if any employer doesn't think they can trust you, then - particularly in the case of the professions, including accountants and lawyers - the speed at which they will reject you is far greater. If you choose to just the state the greater looking achievement, then if it is probed in interview, it will create a horrible situation, and result in more probing on other issues and stated "achievements" - and a probable rejection.

Hence, when in doubt, always be conservative and openly truthful in your CV/Resume, so no gap of misunderstanding is created when stating facts and figures.

Good Luck!

What are the key buzz terms IT recruiters are looking out for?

2008-11-05T16:15:00.000-08:00

Sarah asks: I am interested to understand how recruiters are scanning CV for candidates that have applied for an IT position. What 'key buzz terms' are you looking out for? I work for online recruitment website The IT Job Board and we send out a weekly newsletter to our candidates. I am looking for information about how a candidate can best present their CV and what are most important factors to recruiters when scanning a CV. Thank You!

In answer:
Simple - the "key buzz terms" to use are the ones that I or any other recruiter or HR professional put in the advert that you are looking at, that took us on average 100+hrs to get a position signed off against a job description, which is now summarised in fifty words or less in the advert.

Simply, there are no generic "key buzz terms" - there is focusing your application on the given advert, and showing you have the relevant skills+.

Around 35% of applicants won't write a Cover Letter - Rejected! And another 35% won't focus their skills in their CV on the advert, using something highly generic - Rejected! That leaves me at best with one third who make it to the "could call" pile, of which about another half will be - Rejected! That will be for a combination of reasons, either not enough of the right skills, or too much experience, or just as simple as a difficult to read CV. And yes, there are that many applicants generically that I don't have to worry about the fact that you can't present yourself correctly, unless you are in a new technology niche.

I find with most IT people that they love talking about the skills they have or the projects they have been involved with; but not enough about the role they played, the part they delivered or the business result gained. I realise as an engineer myself this may be irrelevant to the applicant while in the project, but the right business result in the the given time scale is what will get you your next position.

I always suggest to anyone looking for their next position, to think what the last one allows them to add to their CV? If you can't answer that, then you are simply job hopping and not managing your career - and at some point, you will be unemployed: employers like people who can manage themselves as much as the work they are undertaking.

If I can help you further, please - just ask!

Credit crunch to real economy – 1million migrant workers going home: job seekers need to look at their core competencies

2008-10-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

The credit crunch is now leading to a severe downturn in the real economy, and creating severe problems for job seekers.

Firstly, we had the credit crunch. As a result of various bans not lending to each other, and a 40% drop in stock and equity values, Oxford Economics estimates that 194,000 jobs will go from the London markets in the next two years. The London borough of Tower Hamlets it estimates will be highly effected, with half of its 18,000 financial services employee residents made redundant out of a total workforce of 38,000

Secondly, we had the downturn in the housing market. Effectively recruitment in the construction industry is non-existent, while the estate agent sector is now suffering.

And now we have the result on the high street, resulting in spending on the service food and clothes sectors down turning, and UK plc heading for an inevitable recession.

Where will this end, where will this turn – and is there any hope of employment?

The answer for the job seeker is to follow the Boy Scout’s motto, and BE PREPARED, and hence be flexible.

The first up turn has been in HR services. With so many people being reviewed, there is a UK national shortage of HR specialists. This in turn has led to growth in the insolvency and financial restructuring sectors. And all this pressure, plus the rise of 50% alone in the Polish Zloty in the past 18months, has led to many Eastern Europeans going home – an estimate of 1,000,000 over the next two years, with 250,000 already gone. This leaves spaces in the service sector unfilled

What does this mean for the unemployed or the job seeker? If for instance you are a financial services professional, the conclusion of all the data is that financial services jobs will not becoming back soon in the same volumes. To find new employment quickly and at a higher ratio, you need to think about your transferable competencies which could be transferred to another sector. Sales, HR and finance skills are the same sales, HR and finance competencies in any sector, not just financial services.

Please, in this financial downturn, and if faced with unemployment, think about your transferable skills. Your chances of employment just by doing so will have risen by three fold.

Good Luck!

The CV/Resume, and personal security - guidelines on protecting yourself

2008-10-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about how much information you put about you on your CV/Resume? Not just about your career history and skills, but about you?

In a series of recent national surveys covering the UK, Europe and North America, each found that on average that 7 out of 10 CV/Resumes included enough information about the applicant to be able to successfully apply for a credit card in the candidate’s name.

As security expert Frank Abagnale said in a recent interview: "It's all publicly available on the internet. But actually I only need three pieces of information to get credit in someone's name: their full name, date of birth and national insurance number."

The Federal Trade Commission reported that nearly 15 million Americans have been victims of identity theft, costing consumers $5billion and banks and businesses $56 billion every year. In the UK, there were 28,500 victims of ID theft recorded between January and June 2008 by CIFAS members.

With recent legislation introduced in many countries, particularly related to age discrimination, there is a resultant shift in what level of information detail needs to be placed in a CV/Resume by a candidate.

For instance, as a result of legislation, there is no need even if the potential employer asks for it to include your date of birth in your CV/Resume. The only time an employer has a right to this information, is when they ask you to complete a separate job application form, the data entered into which is covered by Data Protection legislation.

So, what are the best personal security practices when creating your CV/Resume:

BEFORE you apply:
1.Ensure your contact details are focused on you and neutral. If in doubt or if you live in temporary accommodation, get a mail box – at around £20/$30 a month, it’s a security bargain
2.Your eMail address should be adult and focused around you, and not a childish online character – Jennie69 may be fun online but is a no-employment sign on a CV/Resume. If your name is Jim Smith, then Jsmith@aol.com is fine unless you happen to be a web designer, in which case get a domain and create a portfolio
3.Get yourself a nice new Pay As You Go cellphone. You won’t be making many outbound calls on it initially, so no need for anything more than the starter £10/$10 credit. Record the message greeting in your own voice – write down the salutation before recording it in a nice quiet room: “Hello, this is X. I am sorry I can’t take your call right now, but please leave your name and contact details, and I will call you back as soon as I can.”
4.Do a Google CV check, and clean-up your online profiles

In your CV/Resume:
5.NEVER state your full name, and leave out middle names. James Robert Smith comes down to James Smith, or if you use your middle name in preference Robert Smith. Never use Jim, Rob, or J Rob – this is a formal and professional application, plus middle names are often used by banks as security checks
6.Mainly for women, but also for men, never state Miss, Ms or Mrs. Never state your marital status – an ongoing messy divorce is a no-employment warning, a former marriage best left in the past
7.In your CV/Resume, state the contact details you have already lined up before. If using your home address, then just include district and city, nothing more: Manhattan, New York or Hammersmith, London is sufficent. No need for street, and certainly no need for apartment/house number
8.NEVER state your full date of birth. “Aged 32” at maximum
9.There is a lot of debate in the CV/Resume writing community about stating certain employment dates: if you do you could look old, if you don’t it is difficult to show the level of experience. The area to pay attention to are your educational dates, often used as security checks. If you are past 20, then no need for school (I can age you from that), and probably leave out your base degree graduation date – again often a security check used by banks
10.NEVER included any government issued numbers or related personal information. This covers everything from National Insurance/Social Security numbers, Passport numbers, and Tax code references. Even if you are a migrant worker, just state “Fully able and certified to be able to work in X country, full documentation available on request at interview stage.”
11.NEVER provide personal financial details, such as bank and credit card details. Avoid any employer who asks for a process fee or application deposit – it’s a sure sign it’s a scam
12.NEVER include the names and contact details of your references, even if asked for – the same goes for them as much as you

Please, think about what information you include on your CV/Resume. Often when candidates ask how they get their four page leviathans down to two pages, just applying the above rules would reduce it by at least a page.

If you think you may be a victim then send off for your credit-reference files from a recognised organisation like Experian or Equifax - it only costs £2/$5. They will show any fraudulent applications for credit. Inform CIFAS, the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System, which will put your name on an alert file.

For more information on this subject, you may like to read the following websites and articles:

- UK Government online ID website identitytheft.org.uk
- CIFAS
- Wikipedia article on Identity Theft
- Daily Mirror article on ID theft

How to present "MBA-equivalent training and experience" on a CV/Resume?

2008-10-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Russell asks: How do you present "MBA-equivalent training and experience" on a resume? I don't have an MBA or graduate degree, but I do have formal and informal education plus work experience that compares very favorably to MBAs from top schools and even PhD (so I have been told by past managers, performance reviews, and academic conference reviewers). What is the best way to present this on a resume? Challenge: It appears that automated and/or outsourced hiring processes screen for key words and simply matching algorithms for work history and training. Thus, people who do not "fit the mold" never get considered by the hiring manager, or even get on the short list for phone interviews or first-stage interviews. Possible Solutions:

1) Just the Facts -- just list work experience, education, skills, and accomplishments on the resume as though a knowledgeable human were reading it top to bottom. This assumes that the resume reader will be using "imaginative understanding" rather than simplistic screening based on criteria.

2) Add an entry under "Education" for "MBA (equivalent)" -- with "institution" listed as "Various" or naming one or more companies where the training and experience were gained. If space is available, add the specific skills and subjects mastered. This assumes that the resume reader won't barf over this non-traditional entry.

3) Fake It -- List an MBA degree. (You'd have to put a gun to my head for me to do this, some famous people have done it. Is this ever justified?)

I have only tried Solution 1), which works fine for consulting team selection. I have had no luck with this solution in the regular employment recruiting process. To be clear, I am not talking about ordinary management or consulting experience as being equivalent to an MBA. That general experience is very valuable but not the same. If you are curious, you can look at my profile where I have listed some of the subject areas where I have developed by theoretical and practical expertise.

In answer:
I think Russell, the problem is solved through focusing on your delivery results, and not through qualifications. Unfortunately, you choose to work in an industry where in the last ten years the number of degrees and Phd’s people have is seen as the basic floor of entry/operations, and any delivery is resultantly not devalued but only assessed after you have the right number/type of degrees/Phd’s.

So, let’s take the obvious first – option (3) is out: never ever lie on a CV/Resume, period. I think your learning point out of the exercise should be to formalize all that experience and delivery in some form of recognized qualification. If you walked into most colleges with the amount of claimed delivery and published work on your profile, then I can’t imagine you would need too many more credits for an MBA.

I would hence write your CV/Resume up personally as I wrote one up in similar circumstances a month ago, focusing each part on: situation, customer requirement, approach, result, follow-up. Simply this shows a potential employer about which situations you have addressed, how you went about tackling them, and the result – each with an extended re-engagement because of the superb result. The client candidate and I produced a two part CV/Resume, with an extended executive portfolio of such works each with individual customer recommendations, and then a focused CV/Resume for each job application – and the answer is that using this formula, he is now employed.

If you follow though on the formula to your online presence, you will see that your existing LinkedIn profile is potentially over written. Your opening paragraph sounds more “functional element” written and less “evidence of delivery” orientated, which is where you have to focus any application. For instance, what is a “skilled public speaker” – do you have a simultaneous fire eating act? A better way would be to say “Have presented at numerous national conferences and as guest speaker at (insert up to three well known organisations), on subjects including strategy and IT risk modelling.” On the same level, just lose the Microsoft office – be clear on communicating to the reader you are an executive strategist, not a PC jockey.

In your application process, pick out up to ten organisations you would like to work for, and write a direct letter to the President, CEO or COO. Explain why you have written , and an evidenced mini-scenario of what you could do for them. I doubt there are more than 50 recruiters in the world who would understand your niche, or who would understand who wants that skill set you possess. You know that niche far better than they do, and well enough to know who the players are. Even if those employers use external recruiters they will know of you - so just write to them directly, and effectively ask for a job.

I see this scenario regularly in people who have had highly successful careers, and suddenly for one reason or another find it difficult when seeking employment to adapt to the changed world around them, which needs certificates/degrees on which to jump the initial interview barrier. Don’t worry – just don’t lie, and focus on evidenced delivery for the new position you are aiming for. And take the hint and formalize those extensive experiences into a certificate – you are never too old to learn!

Good Luck, and if I can help you further, please – just ask!

The Google CV/Resume – what an employer may find out about you

2008-10-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Having written your CV/Resume, and having sent it off, are you wondering what a future employer may be thinking about you? Well, why not find out first by typing your name into Google – the result is your Google CV or Google Resume

I have written another article here about the pros/cons of an online CV, and the need to tidy up your online profile before applying for any new positions. But a simple test any employer can undertake is to check your Google reputation.

To check your Google CV/Resume, simply tap your name into Google – it is that easy. What comes up – is there anything that might embarrass you, or deter a potential employer from picking up the phone and calling you?

You won’t reach this stage unless your CV/Resume engages them and you get beyond the “thank you for your application” rejection pile, but the same reasons for rejection thought process occurs here. The second stage this task may be undertaken is literally just before an interview – a last minute thing.

No hire/fire decisions will be made on what is found at your Google CV/Resume. But an interview/don’t interview decision could be made, and a few pointers to some great interview questions can be found.

Good Luck!

Best practices for CV/Resumes?

2008-10-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Gail asks: I am in transition and have recently written a CV/Resume. My transition firm, communications consultant and an expert resume writer all differ wildly on content, format, style and length. What are current best practices for resumes? If you have experience with electronic screens for resumes - please describe how the screens work and what key soft and hard skills should be included on the resume. Your input is much appreciated!

In answer:
I think the fact you have three differing opinions from three different professionals should tell you a lot – there is no standard or best practice in CV/Resume writing!

There are some better options of choice when writing an interview winning CV/Resume, and the basics are: black serif type face in a 10point and upwards scale; on a crisp white heavy paper; no more than 2pages; don’t over do the bolding or bullets; don’t forget to include your name, telephone number and non-childish eMail address; and read it at least thrice before you hand to at least two friends for their opinion, before reading it thrice again!

The problem you have not spotted I think is two fold on these differing opinions: (1) you are writing a general CV/Resume over a job specific application – hence each professional has an opinion on what you should be aiming at, the priorities of presentation of your skills/competencies, and what resultantly you should be applying for; (2) many forget the CV/Resume should be accompanied by a Cover Letter, and hence feel that focusing and scene setting information should be included in the CV/Resume – WRONG! The certified resume writer is probably picking up on this later issue as part of their service, but getting confused as to what you/the others want written down in the CV/Resume.

Having gone through outplacement/transition myself, I think you need do yourself a favour, and pick out three ideal specific jobs you would like to do next – ideally don’t make them company specific, but role/title would be a good start. I found at some point during outplacement service that yes I could be anything from an artist/teacher to a nuclear scientist, but those varying options got me as confused then as I was scared going into the process! Grabbing three that I really wanted to do was the end of the roundabout and the start of progress.

Once you have picked those three target jobs, picking out what needs to go any job application becomes easy, as does hence the writing of your CV/Resume and the resultant companies to address it to.

Online is easy – it’s a portfolio, noting more/nothing less. Don’t think about it as an online CV/Resume replacement, because you can’t make it specific enough for any one post/employer. Think about it as extending your application potentially beyond your Cover Letter and CV/Resume, not an alternative to.

I wish you luck in finding your new job, and if I can help you further please - just ask!

Telecom Jobs

2008-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Mark asks: What are the best sites to find out telecommunication Jobs around the world? I've heard about Jobserve, JobDB, LinkedIn, hotjobs, Monster, nakuri, bayt, bdjobs, craiglist and much more. A great many job sites are available on the net. But Can you suggest the three best websites of your choice for telecommunication/GSM jobs? Please mention the specific location if they are focused to. Thank You!

In answer:
As we recruit for some of these people, how could we list just three? I suggest you start with the carriers/solutions suppliers, then the recruiters, and finally the jobs boards.

Carriers:
- www.att.jobs – AT&T
- www.btplc.com/careercentre - British Telecom
- www.cw.com/careers - Cable & Wireless
- www.ntltelewestbusiness.co.uk/about_us/careers - NTL TeleWest
- www.qwest.com/careers - Qwest
- careers.virginmedia.com – Virgin Media
- www22.verizon.com/jobs - Verizon & MCI

Products & Services:
- www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/Careers - Alcatel-Lucent
- www.cisco.com/careers - Cisco
- www.globalswitch.com/aboutus/careers - Global Switch

Mobile
- www.motorolacareers.com - Motorola
- www.nokia.com - Nokia
- www.o2careers.co.uk – o2
- www.rim.com/careers - Research In Motion
- www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/company/jobsandcareers - SonyEricsson
- www.three.co.uk/careers - Three
- careers.vodafone.co.uk - Vodafone

Jobs Boards:
- telkom.careerjunction.co.za – Career Junction (ZA)
- www.cwjobs.co.uk/Telecoms_IT_Jobs - CWJobs
- www.hays.com/telecoms - Hays
- www.jobsite.co.uk/channels/telecommunications - JobSite UK
- www.totaljobs.com/IndustrySearch/Telecommunications - Total Jobs
- www.wirelessmobile-jobsboard.com – North American Wireless
- www.theitjobboard.com - for European jobs
- www.jobserve.com/Telecom_Jobs - Job Serve
- www.jobrapido.co.uk – Job Rapido
- www.jobs1.co.uk - Jobs1
- recruitment.justengineers.net/telecom-jobs - Just Engineers
- www.loadzajobs.co.uk/telecoms - LoadzAJobs
- targetjobs.co.uk/it-and-telecoms – TargetJobs (graduate)
- www.technojobs.co.uk/jobs/telecoms - TechnoJobs UK
- www.telecomsjobs.co.uk – Telecoms Jobs
- www.telecomsjobboard.com – TelecomJobBoard
- www.telecomsjobsource.co.uk – TelecomsJobsSource
- telecommunications.topjobs.co.uk - Top Jobs
- www.telecommentor.com - Telecommentor
- www.ukjobsnet.co.uk/telecoms - UKJobsNetwork
- www.utilityjobsearch.com/sector/telecom-jobs - Utility Job Search

Media & Publications:
- jobs.guardian.co.uk/jobs/it-and-telecoms - The Guardian
- totaltele.jobsite.co.uk - Total Telecom
- jobs.timesonline.co.uk/jobs/telecoms - The Times

Recruiters:
- www.agencycentral.co.uk/jobsites/telecoms - Listing UK focused telecoms recruiters
- www.ash-associates.com/mobile_telecoms - Ash Associates (UK)
- jobs.cerebra.co.uk – Cerebra (UK, Europe, EMEA)
- www.exec-appointments.com/sector/telecoms-jobs - Exec Appointments
- www.glotel.co.uk – GloTel (UK)
- hays.com/telecoms - Hays (UK)
- www.hunterrecruitment.co.za - Hunter Recruitment (ZA)
- www.idpp.com – IDPP (UK)
- www.matchtech.com/engineering/telecommunications - MatchTech (UK)
- www.robsontaylor.com – Robson Taylor (UK, Europe - Sales)
- www.thecommunicationsjob.com – Synergy Solutions (UK)
- www.technicalresources.co.uk – Technical Resources (UK)
- www.tiptopjob.com/search/telecoms - TipTopJobs (UK)

Other Useful Sites:
- www.itjobswatch.co.uk - IT Job Watch, for information on UK salary levels
- www.theregister.co.uk – The Register, for news and views on the IT and Telco world

NB: if you know of any other useful Telecom Jobs websites or links, please feel free to comment and we will add them to the list

Job application references - can I use my LinkedIn recommendations?

2008-10-23T07:32:00.001-07:00

Eric asks: Is it legal and professionally acceptable to use recommendations from your LinkedIn Profile in your resume/CV?

In answer:
Not necessary, unethical, and not best practise.

Not necessary because it would make your CV/Resume too long. Ideally each reference should be on a separate piece of paper addressed to that potential employer, or a generic "to whom it may concern" on the referencing parties letter headed paper.

Unethical, because you should ask each referee first before each job application in which you propose to use their name before you send the application.

Best practice would be to call each referee first before each job application, and get them on message about this job. Never send a potential employer in on a blind referee: the referee may not work there any more!

Candidates need to recognise the difference between online generic profiles, and CV/Resumes which are focused on a job application. My blog on this article should show you the difference.

Good Luck!

CV/Resume formatting - what works best?

2008-10-23T06:45:00.001-07:00

Charles asks: Has anyone ever heard of anyone doing any research on fonts, type size and other formatting in regards to resume submittals? If so, what was the outcome? If not, what are your thoughts? Is there a preferred font, type size, color or format that you would consider a competitive advantage for resumes? Also interested in thoughts about standard formats and logo headers from agency recruiters - do they help or hurt the value of the resume to the client?

In answer:
The primary issue of any CV/Resume is that it should communicate to the reader that the candidate more than addresses the skill and competency requirements of the specified job.

Part of that communication is met in the form of presentation of the CV/Resume, which primarily should be neat, well organized and easy to read. Only in the creative fields should it vary from black font on white paper with no photograph; while in the educational format a Curriculum Vitae is a formalised presentation of information, which would extends beyond the most effective format of two pages.

What research has been done on font types relates to business letters and communication, where Times New Roman is seen as more professional, while Arial is seen as more creative and personal. Both are forms of serif fonts, which in general have little lines that come off of tops, bottoms and end of each letter, thus making them easier to read.

Which ever your choice, use standard serif fonts (Arial, Times New Roman, Mariandra) and avoid fancy bullets (arrows, stars ...). Most HR/candidate management systems use scanning technology, and resultant font degradation is better coped with by the reader using these standard type fonts. With this in mind, which ever font you choose I wouldn't go below a 10-point font, and don’t over vary font type, scale or use excess bolding/underlining throughout your CV/Resume.

However, this doesn’t mean that every commercial/non-creative candidate CV/Resume looks exactly the same in layout, with clear variances in Skills based versus Chronological, and others in information/skill order - if you have served half you career in one field, and the other half in another, you place the most relevant piece to that job at the top. Things that should be addressed should include: Summary, Skills, Certifications, Professional Experience, Educations& training; and Affiliations - thus giving a step by step approach to your career.

You can't get around an “irrelevant to this post” skill set or poor work history by making a CV/Resume look pretty: you will only help an employer remember a bad work history by calling attention to it with bright colors, fancy fonts and slick graphics – at this early stage it is more of exclusion decision by the employer/recruiter over an inclusion exercise.

Hence, the same candidate for the same position can be presented in multiple ways, and the best layout/format of the resultant CV/Resume is the one that gets the employer to pick up the phone and ask the candidate for an interview.

Good Luck!

I do everything, but I can't find a job. What could be the problem?

2008-10-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

Laura asks: Sincerely.... I'm going down day by day! I've been following all the advices: improve my CV/Resume, make some different models & salary expectations depending on the position, re-build a network, trying to introduce by myself face-to-face my new status, my professional goals, take contacts with new contacts. I have something to bring but it seems nobody (literally) is interested..... more than a 100 applications in 7 months, and less of the 10% percent calls from recruiters. HELP!

In answer:
Firstly Laura, I am sorry to hear about your situation: keep your spirit and your chin up, and you will get a job.

The statistic you give suggests to me one of three causes of your low call back rate:

- The sector you are in is in recession – the most common areas at present are financial services, construction, or banking; manufacturing is suffering from overseas outsourcing, and depends on which sector
- You are targeting the wrong jobs with the wrong skills – you just don’t have the skills, are over qualified, or seeking to high a salary are the most common problems
- You are not engaging with your CV/Resume – you just are not communicating your skills in your job application

The first thing I would do from now on any job application you send, whether you hear from them or not, is to pick up the phone and ask for feedback. Just say: “I applied for your job XYZ, and I am assuming that I didn’t get an interview by now as its past the due date, but could you please give me some feedback on my application?” A good HR department or recruiter won’t say no to that request, and at worst you get some feedback to modify your next application, and at worst you may get an interview: around 10% of jobs which go past due date don’t get filled.

Candidates should always ask for feedback, and if you do Laura then you will soon find out where your applications are presently not fulfilling the requirement to get into the “call back” pile. If you need help in modifying your CV/Resume as a result, please drop me a line and I will happily help.

Good Luck!

Reverting back to an earlier career path, having previously changed jobs for a new market

2008-10-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

John asks: I started my career as an electronics engineer developing products and I loved the work mainly because I am a creative person and a problem-solver. I got sucked into the world of IT mainly because of the money, and even though I have been in many areas of IT, including management, I don't find it the least bit enjoyable. I would love to get back into engineering and product development, but I have been out so long I have no idea what is available to someone with my skills. I feel that I have been floundering in my career over the past several years; that is lack of satisfaction, no motivation, and etc. I have spent the most part of the last four years, while at my current job, doing a lot of soul searching and I really need to make a change. If anyone has any ideas on how I could go back, what someone with my background could do in product development, or even if I am too old to go back, I would greatly appreciate any advice you could offer.

In answer:
This is a not uncommon question for many who seek a new job path, but I think you are missing something here in this specific sector which may provide at least a third if not more choices

Let’s take you first. You changed paths logically from one thing to another, you say for money, and you now find that an unenjoyable career. Just using your own thought path here, but reverting back to what you did previously John you are therefore accepting a lower paid but happier (I would question that part of the choice) job – yes? Add in that you accept the knowledge path/skills gap, and you would need to go back in at a lower level than you had before, on even lower pay – yes? This personally seems a large compromise for what on the surface could just be as simple as a “looking for happiness in what I do” driver.

Now let’s take the area of design. A decade plus back, things were designed were they were made. Then along came outsourcing and low cost economies like China, and the production and inline development moved overseas – original design was still held in country. In the last few years, design has moved in two directions – high level design think tanks exist in country, to create successful product concepts: “designers” here are drawn form artistic and psychological backgrounds, with the product line concepts given over to out of country/outsourced design teams; most design is now outsourced to small conceptual teams, who are tasked on fast turnaround and low cost – this means many are heading towards low cost economies. What I am trying to say here is that, the concept you have of in-country product design may not exist, and if it does more and more of it is getting dragged overseas. What does exist draws mainly from non-engineering fields, or exists in bespoke design houses which will take concepts into trial runs, and then hand over to overseas factories. In my mind, your dream old job may either now not exist for your skill set, or now be sat somewhere in Asia.

I think you are missing a trick here though. Singular products in most markets now don’t exist – but systems do, and the hardware is tied together with IT systems solutions and software. Secondly, even if a product exists, there is far more customization of that product both in-life, in-country and well as in-deployment to customer that involves the collection of market/client data, and the customization of product system through use of IT and software to the developing market or specific client requirement. You are a designer with IT skills, right?

I really think you should get yourself in front quickly of a good certified career coach, who has taken someone before through a similar situation. Chat to at least three, check the level of certification (one NLP certificate does not make a career coach), and don’t engage until you have spoken to the reference client they took through the similar transition. You may also want to check what career management services your former colleges/universities have for alumni, while ex-military personnel also have access to great career counseling services. I would also chat to a recruitment company that specializes in design work, and ask for their advice – if they think they can help, then they are accepting you have the skills that their clients want.

It is great that you are asking questions John, and the final answer to the fulfilling career you seek may not be the one you are focused on at present – there may be an even better one that you don’t yet know about, let alone can’t yet see. Keeping asking the questions, writing down what you like/don’t like, and quickly you will find a great and fulfilling answer.

Good Luck, and if I can help you further, please – just ask!

How do you retain focus in your CV/Resume with a broad experience level?

2008-10-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Barry asks: How do you retain focus in you CV/Resume with a broad experience level? Does demonstrating experience in other realms provide an accelerated path for promotion? How often should you tailor your CV/Resume - per position or per company? How important is it to take risks to stand out from the crowd, i.e., even stooping to what seem like obvious, gimmicky advertising ploys?

In answer:
Demonstrating that you do things well is always a positive on a CV/Resume. The final answer is in this case is always post specific, and would depend on the job position.

Most of the time varied experience would be beneficial, but having a lack of direction can backfire, even for the most qualified candidates. This problem is most often faced in career change candidates. I have hence counselled clients to downplay or exclude certain accomplishments from a CV/Resume, when their inclusion may cause an employer to doubt your focus or commitment.

In terms of tailoring a CV/Resume to a particular position, the answer is yes. If done correctly, reiterating key words from a job posting or perhaps rearranging your accomplishment-based bullets so they tie back to requirements listed for a position is just one more thing that you can do to try to get your resume into the 'call' pile.

And one last point: forget the gimmicks! Just apply the age of old lesson of matching the job specification with the words in your CV/Resume. Stand out for the right reasons, not ones which could easily backfire on you: would you employ a joker who didn't know when to be an adult?

Good Luck!

If a company gives both an email address and a mailing address to send job applications to, which one is best to use?

2008-10-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Malorie asks: If a company gives both an email address and a mailing address to send resumes to, which one is best to use? I am applying for a job and the company provided an e-mail address and a mailing address for resumes. I was wondering which one would be a better method, aside from the obvious benefit that an e-mail arrives much quicker. Also the ad asks for work samples with your resume, and I was wondering if I should send a short explanation of why each sample I am sending is relevant to the job. They are looking for someone with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign experience, so I was thinking of sending a short description of each project along with the work that says what programs were used in each, but I was told once that you shouldn't put too much of a detailed description in a portfolio because A) they probably won't read it and B) if they do read it, you will have less to talk about in an interview or portfolio review. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank You - Malorie

In answer:
Simple - look at the job: technology orientated, so technology orientated employer who gives you the option (its probably a mini hurdle/test); so your application should use the technology. It is one of the clearest cases of using technology over paper for a job application I have seen: the normal case is that paper still gives more effect/weight, but not in this case

With regards the samples - I wouldn't send them. I would create an online portfolio showing off your work in the defined areas, and my even create a specific online section for that potential employer with the samples outlined with the explanations you suggest. The article here on the blog which refers to online CV/Resumes will show you some great examples of online designer portfolios, which is the way to address this requirement and stand out from the crowd

Good Luck!

Online Job Boards - is this happening to you?

2008-10-21T07:42:00.001-07:00

Jan asks: A few months, one of my friends suggested that I join a few of the online job boards, The Ladders, Netshare etc. They had a great response and was offered a few positions. So, I did and I had horrible results which was fine - however not one of my first, second nor third follow-up was ever answered by anyone - the poster. Then I heard that most of the recruiters posting on these online job boards were bogus positions and even the recruiters calling were calling about bogus positions. So, I decided to test the waters and applied to over 100 positions in one day - no response. The recruiters calling would tell me the company and I would have my network find out if it were true - no positions open. Then another question was posted about the same thing and I responded as to my experiences. Over the past two days, I have received some from companies stating that my qualifications were inadequate and they thanked me. However, the e-mails are to "recepients" and are canned messages. Now some of you will say - they have so many applicants that is acceptable, but in today's age of technology - I beg to differ - they do have to do business - and they want people to have good will about them - no matter if it is employment, customers or partners. Are you getting the same messages and do you feel this is just a way for the recruiters and the online job boards to continue to bring in much needed revenues for them to stay afloat? I cancelled my memberships - and will not join again - I am starting my own consulting company as I feel my background is needed for a lot of companies.

In answer:
I am sorry to hear about your experiences Jan, and wish you luck in your new businesses and career path.

But truthfully from a recruiters view point, I am not surprised. There is much debate amongst the recruiter and HR professionals of the use of job boards, particularly with regards the quality of both jobs and candidates:

- which company would post their vacancy on a job board, when the branding is the job boards and not theirs? Many of the more established job boards recognise the topline corporates need this branding feel, and create special co-brand pages for large NYSE and FTSE companies
- which candidates would post their CV/Resume to a jobs board? Unless you are unemployed, it can be found as easily by your existing employer, and would hence been seen as an "I'm leaving" sign. Why not use a business focused social network like LinkedIn where you can post all your details and be passively found, but don't have to hoist up the "I'm looking" flag of desperation

For medium scale employers, I think job boards can offer a lot: it is certainly offers more effective coverage than posting your vacancy in the local newspaper, and cheaper than posting in one of the specialist sector magazines. For candidates who are on the open market, then I think it can offer much in raising the flag of availability higher: what have you got to lose?

To find a good jobs board, then look for people like you/from your sector, and employers you want to work for/good recruiters posting jobs you could apply for, in a decent volume: at least 10 opportunities you could apply for today. In the recruitment world, certain jobs boards have better reputations for certain sectors than others. Hence, why post your new vacancy everywhere when one posting at one cost will cover 80% of the market of ideal candidates? Candidates need to pick up on these subtleties.

However, that doesn't stop the old recruitment games going on. Not that I agree with it or allow it at my company, but it has to be accepted by anyone who posts either a vacancy or a CV/Resume on a jobs board that still there will be recruiters building their dBases through calling such employers (and offering secret/inside candidates), or candidates (and offering secret/inside vacancies). Most of the large national recruiters will train and pay their own new trainees to get used to a telephone by undertaking such dBase building exercises, and paying them on collecting CV/Resumes/vacancies.

Jobs boards are a good development in the market, but for these reasons and cautions they don't offer a whole solution for either candidates or employers, and in some cases not ideal for either.

Good Luck in your new venture!

Fight, Accomodate or Leave?

2008-10-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

Ritu asks: A person joins a new company, and within some time say, 6-9 months, If he feels, the company is not justifying the roles and responsibilities provided to that candidate, in spite of being his capabilities, What would be your views:

- to leave the organisation, search for some other job?
- fight for the rights?
- should he accommodate, himself as per the organisation environment ?

While answering please think for the following points as well:
- it is very frustrating, that only because of the office politics that is being going on, suitable candidate is not being provided the role
- if the candidate tries to accommodate in such a situation, he is not left with any kind of enthusiasm towards the work

In answer:
I think you have answered your own question - LEAVE.

A friend who is a coach has a very good view on the first six months strategy for a candidate in a company:

- Months 1 thru 3: fit in
- Months 4 thru 6: do more than they hired you for
- Month 7+: you are indispensable!

Always, new recruits find the job they thought they were hired for is not the one they actually do. That is either because the company was over sold and under delivers; or the candidates either over or under performs. To avoid this in future, and avoid the "got the job I want, just hate the colleagues" social-fit problem, insist on at least half a day working in the environment where the proposed post actually is, meeting the people you would be working with. People fit is as important as job fit.

What next? I think your two supplementary points show that you are unhappy in both the job and the company, so cut your losses now - keep your head down, and start looking: fast. If you are not happy, you will never be happy in what ever ideal job you are working in.

Good Luck!

Making long term career choices

2008-10-21T03:26:00.000-07:00

Saba asks: Which one, Business Analyst or a Product Manager is a better job role from long term career perspective ? I am about to change my current job but am a little confused. I have two different offers with me right now and I wanted to make a decision based on what field will take me more further up to reach top management roles. One position is of a Business Analyst and the other one is of a Product Manager. I am very much aware of the fact that many small companies have one person working as both. So that adds up more to my confusion. I want to work in a position that offers more learning and there are plenty offers out there in the market when I decide to switch and leave this job and off course also the one which will lead me to join my dream companies like Microsoft or Google. Also please guide me if I join the business analyst role, would this mean that I cant get a Product Manager job role in future? Thank you so much.

In answer:
I don't think this is a question of which is better, but more which is ideal for you and your career.

Generally, Business Analysts take customer problems and convert them into company focused and based product/solutions: they work from a customer view point. Product Managers are marketers with a fixed solution - the answer is the product, now what's the problem? They fund product development and market position from purchase revenues: they work from a product and hence company view point

As a general rule, its better to get closer to the customer and revenue stream early in your career to enhance career longevity: successful sales people can always move to marketing or management, where as its difficult for product people to move forward or across a company.

The questions always to answer to yourself when thinking about a career move are:

(a) What floats your boat? What gets you going in the morning, and would make you get out of bed with enthusiasm at least 4 days out of five to do that job?
(b) What will the choice of change look like on your CV/Resume? How will you explain it to the HR manager who interviews you for the job after this one?

A good career plan should make the choice for you, and if you think about your long term goals the fripperies of the enhancement of one post versus the long term skill and competencies gains of the other towards those ultimate aims should prove decisive.

One final thought: as a 22year veteran of the telecommunications world myself, I have seen many well paid and enthusiastic Business Analysts, but few happy Product Managers after their product is more than 18months old: your career opportunity as a product manager is defined by the life cycle of your product. This often means you go from being the cream of the crop to an also ran quickly, and then trying to find a new opportunity with an old and commodity product on your CV/Resume often becomes difficult

Good Luck!

Thinking you might be laid off/be made redundant?

2008-10-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

If you listen to the media at present, we are probably heading right now into the worst recession since the 1929 crash. Looking what goes on a round us in our daily lives, that could be true – the only construction going on right now is that associated with either long term projects (ie – shopping centres, which on average take seven years to plan and come to fruition), or government projects like roads or schools.

The question therefore is – who is going to take the brunt of this recession, in the form of unemployment?

If we look back at classical recessions, then

- The young will still be employed, particularly post-school leavers. Simply, it is an economics calculation: young people are cheap, energetic and lacking work place experience easily lead
- The foreign economic migrants will leave, whether they be legal or illegal, will go home. Why be low paid or redundant here in a high cost western economy, why not go home to a low cost economy?
- The old will retire. If you are three years or less from retirement, one year+ of tax free salary in the form of a redundancy is two years income in reality. Is three years worth of hassle really worth one years pay? Add to this the fact that you can now pick up some part time work and do some of things you always promised yourself you would do

That leaves the rest of us, or about 90% of the average work force:

65-16 = 49 years of potential employment, minus 3 = 46

If you are an HR Director, tasked with cutting 20% of a workforce, and you successfully released your close to retirees, what are you going to do next? There are two common strategies which are employed:

An open redundancy program: the company initially announces a consultation period – effectively a non-contractual on either side, open discussion on the scale of the package and who is interested. From the employees view point, it is an opportunity to explore options; from the employers view point it is a question like a fisherman of seeing who bites. If the employer arranges a meeting for interested employees, then it is not a tacit agreement on behalf of the employee to be made redundant: legally that’s against the law in a majority of countries. Most HR law requires a stepped redundancy process of: meeting followed by interview; confirmation of package; and finally a period of consideration by both parties before the final agreement is signed. The advantages form the employers view point of this method is that: it is relatively cheap in administration costs; you only address the willing; and it leaves the rest of the work force motivated knowing that you are a caring employer. The disadvantages from the employers view point is that some great employees could leave – hence there is often a selection/agreement on the employers behalf inside the scheme to stop top talent walking

A performance review program: the employer asks each manager to note the performance of their employees over the last period (a month legally would be too short, a year may not produce a sufficient result; last two quarters is legally defensible). Employees in the lowest performance bracket (you don’t need to be low performing against the previously agreed targets; just below any new mark they set at an overall level in the company), are added to a list comprising of two elements:

- those who are already under performing
- those who are below the new targets, who are then given a period to perform at the required level

Most employers will now take both groups through a process of meeting and review, offering the carrot of “redundancy now at these terms, which will reduce if we make it compulsory.” At the end of a period, normally at least three months, the employer may then select compulsory redundancy. The disadvantage to the employer of this option is that it is: higher cost; more open to legal redress by the employees effected; it takes longer to process legally; it leaves a severely reduced morale in the remaining work force. Often, remaining employees think “do I want to hang around for the next round of this” and hence start looking for new opportunities, and there is a long tail of leavers. It is also more difficult for the employer to take on new employees when the economy recovers, due to this residual feeling

What can employees do to make sure they get the choice of employment they want?

1. If you have not had one in a while (ie - over six months ago), ask for a performance review. Make sure any issues of under performance are addressed immediately, and that it is confirmed that you are ideally in the top quartile of performers, or have an agreed and written down step program to achieve this in liaison with your manager
2. Work a bit extra. You don’t need to do all the hours possible, just 10% more than the average employee is often sufficient – 1hr a day
3. Take on opportunities inside the company. Join works committees, performance initiatives or optionally groups which do charitable work on behalf of your employer. Do anything which gets you involved in the infrastructure of operations

These simple steps should make sure that you don’t end up on a performance review list, and you now have a choice of where you could be employed. So now make the most of that choice:
4. Review your career plan
5. Review your CV/Resume, and bring it up to date
6. Review you online profiles, and if you don’t have any create them NOW! Start with LinkedIn
7. Check out the local newspapers, trade magazines and online jobs boards for suitable posts in your desired next job
8. Make a note of all the employers and recruiters who list these jobs – they are your target audience

If you are unlucky enough to be made redundant, then know that attitude is the key to getting your next job: be positive, and be prepared to graft – these attitude issues will count as much as your skills to any future employer

Good Luck!

Inclusion of specialist education on new career CV/Resume

2008-10-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Jayson asks: I am a chiropractor, and I am looking to change careers. My educational background: Undergraduate 1989-1993 (graduated), Chiropractic College 1999-2003 (Graduated) with a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) degree. It's the last graduation that's making things difficult in this process. To make a long story short, practicing chiropractic is not for me, and I'd like to capitalize (hopefully) on the management skills I've picked up along the way. I really do not want to draw attention to the fact that I am a chiropractor looking to change careers. This seems to be a nearly insurmountable distraction to potential interviewers, and, quite frankly, it might even hinder my chances at being invited for an interview to begin with. To this end, I have reworked my C.V. into a resume, and I have repositioned myself as having managed the practices in which I have been previously situated (I'm not lying here, either). My question is this: With respect to my chiropractic education, what is the best way to handle indicating that period of time in my life? I have considered various options:

- Eliminating/Omitting it - The drawback to this is that I feel that I would be hiding something, and that I would have 4 years of time unaccounted for.
- Indicating "Selected Courses at Life University, Marietta, GA" (possibly including an indication of a "concentration in healthcare management") - I might be asked about why I didn't "finish"/receive a degree, but, at least, I would be including the experience, and I could account for some, if not most, of that time.
- Including it outright - This would cause the distraction to which I referred earlier in this e-mail, and possibly exclude me from many possibilities.

I have also heard of the inclusion of a "professional development" section on the resume which would account for certain experiences that didn't lead to a degree. Any ideas? They'd be greatly appreciated!!!

In answer:
Here's a thought - at some point in time during a job application, it will come out that you had a 20 year career as a chiropractor, and you don't want to do that any more. Had you thought Jayson about when you were going to handle that in a job application process, because the question then from any potential employer will be why (us)?

The answer to the question (and the best tactic is to answer it BEFORE the HR manager asks it), really revolves about what you want to do next. Because it will be seeing what type of skills that ideal new job requires, and if/where those skills show up in your previous occupation that the then writing of your CV/Resume then becomes much clearer. If you are writing a blind CV/Resume with Cover Letter at a potential employer, then I can see the problem. I would address this under a "healthcare management" title to keep it applicable to management as opposed to the physical work. I would suggest your chances of an interview on blind applications would be low, sub 10%.

However, lets get back to the real nub of the question, which is the why the move from chiropractor. Most well planned careers would take your existing skills (a chiropractor who has managed and run his own business), and transition to say management in a healthcare practice, or something which used multiple areas of your skills and competencies before transitioning into a new industry. But the way your question is posed suggests the move you desire Jayson is a move away from being a chiropractor AND a move away from the healthcare sector.

I hence don't think the problem in any job application is actually in your CV/Resume as a "how I posed my skills and training" issues, but a "why do I want a career change issue away from so many of my core skills." This any employer will be reading as a high-level risk, and its the why as well as showing Jayson that you have transitioned those skills in other instance that will reduce the employers view of that risk, and result in an interview.

This is one of the clear cases where I think a career coach would be of use to you. They could probe that desire, work up a five year strategy, and then a plan with steps below that/answers to the obvious HR questions. I would always employ a certified career coach, and find one who has handled such a situation before and can reference you directly to that transitioned client.

A cheaper option is to approach a good recruiter in the new sector in which you wish employment, and ask for advice. But they make their money on quick placements and many would have similar risk/desire concerns as any potential employer. Any good recruiter who could show you similar career transitions they had placed and then took you on, would have signed-in to the fact they believed you, and could sell the transition desire to their clients.

Good Luck!

How do I get back in the market after several years of illness?

2008-10-16T08:28:00.001-07:00

Paul asks: How do I get back in the market after several years of not working due to illness? I am currently disabled would like to work since my critical thinking skills are still sharp, but physically challenged. I was laid off at previous employer while ill. It took years to get a proper diagnosis for a complicated genetic disease, the literature says 7-11 years is the norm. If you have been through this I would appreciate your feedback. Working from home would be best. Medical benefit coverage is paramount with coverage for pre-existing condition.

In answer:
Paul, you clearly demonstrate the fact that man is made up of mind, body and spirit - and while your body may be challenging you presently, it is your mind and spirit which will both enable you to live a full life and an employed one.

The question now is - what "floats your boat," and makes your spirit really soar in the world of business? Understanding that and your existing skills/competencies will really help you to define what you could do, and in which environment it is best to do it in: either employed or self employed.

I have to be wholly open here, and say that most corporates would want to know that your health issue is at least stabilised. The open minded ones will recognise the benefits of employing disabled staff - they are more loyal, harder working, and often hence more productive. However, unstable conditions are the employers greatest concern - your question therefore has to be how work capable you are, and what could you do. You need to be really honest in this assessment, and agree it with your doctor - any employer will ask to consult them for a reference/report.

Self employment would offer many opportunities for you. There are a number of SME businesses who still to this day can't figure out whether they should be deploying IT systems, and if so how. I would do some research with the help of your local Chamber of Commerce to see what the market locally is like, and what they seek.

If you choose the corporate employment market, then I would choose a solutions based approach. Pick around 10 organisations, and do some research on the key issues for them. Then undertake a bit of scenario planning, and rationalise a solution for them with costs/time scales. Then send that in a report format via recorded delivery to the President's office, with a Cover Letter and including your resume at the back, and see what happens. Any good executive would recognise the sharpness of being able to employ your mind, while accepting the current status of your situation, because they see the opportunity.

I wish you luck in finding a new career, and if ever I can help you, please - just ask.

Good Luck!

UK HSMP Visa or Workpermit visa?

2008-10-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

Mustafa asks: I heard about HSMP visa and visited their on how to apply. If the employer gives sponsorship, than do I need any Visa? Is there any work visa for European Union?

In answer:
The UK, like many countries, is tightening up its immigration conditions for migrant workers. After a period of study of other countries approaches, it implemented a points based system form 2007, where by an application is considered under three categories which each score points:

- Your age, qualifications, sector, experience and existing pay
- Your associations to the UK, including language capability
- Your ability to support yourself financially

If you get the right minimum score in each of the three categories, AND enough points to pass a minimum overall score, then you can be considered for issuing of a migrant worker visa. This gives you the right to come and work in the UK for up to five years in your agreed sector, but not to bring any dependants, even including a wife or children.

The number of points required depends on your skills and sector. Tier1 is for high skilled people and entrepreneur investors; Tier2 is for sponsored employees for UK based companies, and training sports people; Tier3 which is seasonal workers is still to be defined (it comes in in 2009), but would need sponsorship.

As you come down the tiers, the required points go down but the amount of proof required by the employer goes up. Sponsoring employers need to be registered with the UK Border Agency.

The website you listed, which is the actual application process, is not the best one to start with. Go to the UK Border Agency overview first for their guide to working in the UK, which explains the whole system. If you find you fall into Tier2 (most likely), then read the Migration Advisory Committee notes, which lists shortage categories - if you are outside their list, then even sponsored you will not get a visa. After that, go to the UK Border Agency points calculator - not all degrees have the same points ratings.

We deal with chefs, and were happy when MAC advised UKBIA that chefs were inside the short-skills sectors. But I have to say that in light of the global economic downturn, UK BIA are being quite tight presently on any visa issuing - there is a very stringent set of issues around employers being able to prove that a UK worker could not fill the desired position.

Good Luck!

If the CV/Resume is a sales document, then it surely must be OK to lie?

2008-10-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing for any new or returning job applicant (also called a candidate), to recognise, is the strange world we recruitment people live in – that is both recruiters and HR professionals.

Firstly, we talk a strange language – a simple one, but a strange one. We also live in a world of words, but have cold and often formal handshakes – it’s a legislative thing, and we have to be equal in our manner to be neutral in our recommendations to the hiring manager. As a result, we are often the most liberal and open minded types, and horribly PC in our work. On the downside, we are a scheming bunch of so-and-so’s, so that when we talk to you on the phone or meet you for an interview, we regularly throw what to you seem like curved balls to annoy you and get you upset (Note: yep, that is the purpose on some occasions, but certainly not always – we are human being who are just trying to get at the real you and your potential.)

One early aspect all job seekers must pick up on, is that the CV/Resume is a sales document, and NOT a school-like list of everything you have ever done or achieved.

Now, many don’t relate sales with the truth. They think sales means that if they were a character actor, it would mean slipping on a 110% polyester suit, a pair of plastic brogues, and a silk tie; then getting in a far too flash car with chrome wheels, driving to a second hand car lot and lying their heads off.

So, here is why a CV/Resume is a sales document, and the type of sales document it is. Imagine you are a hiring manager, and you need a new member of staff. You approach the HR manager, and they ask you for a description (in the trade, that’s called a Job Description). Much as though you majored in art in college, you can’t draw to save your life – so the only way to describe the job is to create a 3D template in which the ideal candidate will fit.

Please note that I didn’t use the word mould, because moulds are like templates in many aspects but one – you pour liquids in which then set into a mould, while templates judge fit around solid shaped objects.

Hence, think of you and your skills (with evidence of delivery along a track record, we call those Competencies), as a lump of stone. You could carve that stone in many ways to many shapes, but if you just stand back a foot or two (the role of the mentor or coach), there are some clear and obvious things into which you could carve it. Now, it would be great if the employer gave you the applicant the template they were using, but they don’t – they give you an advert, which is like a pour quality paper version of a steel template. The CV/Resume hence takes the basic stone (you), and the basic paper template, and added with a few trade tricks carves the stone to fit the paper template.

In the employers mind, if you can’t fit the paper advert and its wide tolerances, you won’t fit the final steel Job Description – and if they really wanted a granite finish over an alabaster, well forget it!

You may think: well hang on, all I have to do is add a few bits and pieces here, and carve out a bit more there, and I will get an interview. Possibly is the answer. But those attached pieces and the incorrect carving of the stone will stick out like blue-tac added after thoughts to the classic Venus de Milo in interview.

What about the under qualified? Not enough stone in the right places to fill the template shape. And what about over qualified? Well, from the employers view point, they will be questioning the wasted stone lying around the carved result.

So the CV/Resume takes hard facts – the stone – and turns them into a shape which fits the adverts template. You can’t take things and add them because they will stick out; and you can’t understate competencies just to make you look like a better fit – the question will be why?

OK, so now that you know what a CV/Resume is, what is a Cover Letter? Think of the Cover Letter as a set of high lights, which with warmth light up the carved stone. They show the employer that the key issues of their requirements are met, and that they should proceed with the process of trying fit with the template. Hence, if you don’t attach a Cover Letter, then really it’s like turning the lights out on your job application.

Next, we can cover interview technique as a dance – I told you recruitment was a strange world!

How do you improve your leverage when you have been out of work for one year?

2008-10-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

Pat asks: How do you improve your leverage when you have been out of work for one year?

In answer:
As I have explained many times before, when an HR professional looks at a CV/Resume of a job applicant, the first thing they do after confirming you have the required competencies to undertake the job, is to read your career history by concentrating on the progression and dates - ie: the gaps in between the jobs. They are trying to understand your career management - why go from this job to this job? What is the logical track of your career management? What resultantly are your motivations? Did the career track change, and if so why?

Any issue which brings up a question mark in this track brings up an immediate question for you to answer by the HR professional. It may result in you being excluded from the recruitment process, or if not it will result in a question of why?

Your aim in a job application is to explain those gaps logically. OK, we all have a wobbly minute - some more occasionally than others - but we all have them. It's just an issue of explaining why the change in jobs or the employment gap occurred.

The first thing NEVER to do in explaining a gap is to move the dates to remove the gap. There are very comprehensive checking services available these days to employers for not a lot of money, which can pick-up deviations of a day or so: so don't even try.

You may also be uncomfortable with stating the truth about the why, particularly if it was a health issue for you or a friend/family member. However, a period out of a career path is not a bad thing, and a period looking after others may show another competence you have previously not had evidence to write in to your old CV/Resume. Health issues can also be handled, and won't exclude you - some stated up front also mean that you can not be excluded from the recruitment process for that reason after that point.

However, the biggest gap problem to explain is "I just took a year out, and twiddled my thumbs." That to an employer says "Nice for you, but what does that say about your motivation?" It's the most common reason for being excluded these days as people take more and more career breaks, so make sure you did something. Did you rewire the house, build a cabin/boat, go travelling which was always a childhood ambition - just make sure you did something and that they can't question your motivation.

The question about anything - gaps or periods of employment - in your career is always: what can I write on my CV/Resume as a result of this?

Good Luck!

What does "over-qualified" really mean?

2008-10-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Mark asks: I would appreciate your assistance on my research into the executive job market for an upcoming article for CIO Magazine. Most executives, managers and senior functional specialists have heard that reply from a hiring manager, recruiter or HR person at least once in their careers. This response is especially frustrating for a job-seeker when they have actually spent the time verifying that their skills and experience do indeed meet the requirements. So, as a hiring manager, have you ever used the term "over-qualified" when in fact the candidate does meet the position's specifications? And if so, what are some of the reasons why you would do so (eg, candidate's age, price, reputation, prior history, etc)?

In answer:
I am a recruiter not an HR manager, but have been involved in the hiring process for hundreds of people over the years. The reasons most often I have seen for using an “over qualified” statement are:

1. Your compensation requirements exceed the hiring budget
2. You will be under employed, quickly dissatisfied, and we will have to hire someone to replace you in a few months
3. Favouring an internal candidate as a growth promotion, and have resultantly lowered the job standards to qualify them

Most employers feel that if a candidate is not challenged, he/she will soon be on to to a more challenging career opportunity. There is also fear in this current economic environment that people are taking jobs just to get through the financial crisis, and will quit thereafter.

I have never used the term "over qualfied" to remove any one from a hiring process, unless they truly were overqualified. If they are not overqualified but their salary range is out of budget, I am honest and tell them that while they are a strong candidate, our budget cannot support their salary requirement.

There are scenario's where candidates do, and more regularly now, down grade:
- People fed up with dealing with the headaches associated with high positions
- People very willing to start over and just looking for a chance

The risk is lower from the employers point of view with the former of them leaving the company for a better offer, the employer is just concerned that they may lack motivation - these people are normally financially secure. However, they offer great knowledge and experience to advance teams, and it is this aspect they should emphasise in their Cover Letters: I want to work because as well as I want to work for you Mr Employer because.

The second group are normally ambitious and have failed on some level. While there is a possibility they might leave for a better position in six months time, employers can manage the risk by motivating them in their present position and showing them a possibility for advancement. In this case employers should always implement a "non-compete" clause, so you are not preparing your next competitor. Candidates in this scenario should always emphasise in their Cover Letters why they want to work for that employer, and why they will remain loyal/show track of in their CV/Resume.

Good Luck!

Ready, Aim …. and then you can get hired!

2008-10-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

In career management, the simple answer is – you never know where that next opportunity will be coming from, so you can never be too ready to be hired.

Yes, you can over plan a career, and not recognise the next opportunity for what it is – there is never too long or too short in a job, it just makes it more difficult to explain on your CV/Resume! So your first question should always be “how would this look on my CV/Resume” if you are offered a job opportunity.

So, what are the steps you should be taking for successful career management:

1. Life, family and friends first, career second – how ever great, wonderful or fulfilling your career is, your life and your family/friends must always come first. When the chips are down or gone, they will always support you

2. Have a life plan – I know to some it still sounds daft, but have a life plan – yes, even if it is written on the back of a cigarette packet. You can’t think on your death bed “blow, should have done that” so write it down and get out and do it. Have a balance of goals which include a few “everyone does that” experiences and a few “I know I won’t get life insurance for that” adrenaline days. Life is for living

3. Have a career plan – inside your life plan, the balance between work and play, write down a career plan. Yes, it can be as simple as something which fits on a few lines, but I have often found the best career plans that result in action are developed through answering three questions: I like this; I don’t like that; I quite like X’s job (where X is a named person). If you look at how X got to their job, it will give you a good path to gain idea’s from, the questions they answered in their own career, and a potential route to follow

4. Write down your full academic and career history – dates, places, results, managers, major customers, lecturers, contacts, etc. Write a paragraph or two of history on each period. Some develop this into a personal record or diary, while others carve that down to a portfolio

5. Go have a chat – with friends, with family, with almost anyone but your boss and anyone in your management chain (they will see this as an “I’m unsatisfied, I’m off” signal.) See what you friends think of your plan

6. A bit of reflection – take time to reflect on their answers and pointers. Always go back and amend the plan in light of their comments, as they are your friends/family they will know you best. Go round this loop as many times as you want, but if its more than three then perhaps you are just being too unrealistic

7. Words and Image – now you have a plan, your career plan need to be reflected in your public words and image. So amend your public portfolios – like your LinkedIn or Xing profiles for instances, or your VisualCV – to reflect your goals and ambitions. Also, have a CV/Resume written which reflects the new goals you have, and that you could send to almost anyone TODAY if you got approached (of course, you never would send it today, but it makes it easier to amend)

8. Meet with your boss – now you can sit down with your boss at your next quarterly review (you do have one? If you don’t, make sure you are scheduling one) and outline your career goals for the next year, and how you would like to reach them inside his company. Only if you are planning a massive career change, will this step not be necessary – in which case, start the job or university application process. Many employees are totally surprised when they approach employers with new career plans, and the employer turns around and says “We’ll help you.” Why is this? Employers want motivated employees, and the number who just turn up at best 9-5/M-F to do a mediocre job is scary if you are a boss or a manager. Hence, anyone who suddenly goes “I’m taking charge of my life, I have these goals” is suddenly transformed in the employers eyes and mind – how ever bad their previous record/relationship

9. When you get approached – and it will only be a matter of time, as these modern online tools spot not only skills and competencies but also ambition, you now know what you are/are not looking for. Explain to the employer/recruiter what your goals are, and hence how you will judge their opportunity. Just for saying that you will be more attractive to them – see notes in point8 on existing employees – and the ones who conclude you are their person will pursue you harder and be easier to negotiate with

10. Regularly review your plan – a plan is only as good as its depth, its concurrence, and its implementation when required. So regularly, at least twice a year, pull it out and read it/review it.

It is a simple mantra, but being prepared allows you more time to make better decisions that help you reach your gaols and your potential. Just follow these simple steps, and you will never have an unsuccessful career – you will have a fulfilled life.

Good Luck!

Do you enjoy doing performance reviews?

2008-10-13T04:46:00.001-07:00

Gopal asks: Do you enjoy doing performance reviews? Why or why not? If there are key strategies or tactics which could be deployed, what are they?

In answer:
Performance reviews when undertaken correctly are a conformance of achievement from an employees view point, and a communications exercise on competencies, behaviour and development from an employers point of view.

The problems occur when: the goals and targets are poorly set or measured; when the system changes without communication; the notes from the last meeting are lost or not even taken; and when the economic situation takes a turn for the worse. All of these result in a potential occasion for confrontation. It is only when the meeting or what is communicated in it comes as a surprise that there are problems.

All managers should clearly communicate the required performance to their people - goals, targets, sub-markers, etc. If they are not, then why should they not be surprised when employees get upset? Resultantly from experience, managers and employees should have at least monthly one to one meetings, and quarterly performance review meetings. This then results in an annual appraisal.

The role of the manager is to communicate those goals and targets, and the measurement system. They then need to understand how the employee thinks they are doing against the target, and the difference between measured and actual results - a gap. They then need to explore this gap and understand the reason of under or over performance - perhaps the measurement system is wrong and rewarding poor behaviour, or perhaps the employee is doing something which could develop the whole team performance. The process then needs to adjust the set goals and targets in preparation for the next period, and the agreed checks.

The role of the employee is to both schedule these meetings if a manager is laxed in their diary, and make sure the communication of these goals and targats is noted down in a set of agreed notes. That way, incompetent managers can not create under-performance situations which could result in surprise/shock and resultant confrontation.

Performance reviews should not be scared, they should just be a conformation of what is known and has progressed since the last meeting. I have sympathy with employees who dread these meetings, but if your performance is up to scratch - and the notes confirm this - what have you got to fear?

Good Luck!

Is my Mensa membership worth mentioning?

2008-10-13T04:23:00.000-07:00

Richard asks: I was just asked why my Mensa membership appears neither in my resume nor my Linkedin profile. I have always taken the view my qualification for Mensa is about my natural gifts, whereas my resume, etc., are about what I have achieved. Am I wrong? Are you impressed by Mensa membership? Would you take me more seriously as a potential business associate knowing I am a Mensan?

In answer:
In summary, on balance from experience - I would leave it out.

By mentioning it, you communicate that you have those natural gifts, and a potential employer may be impressed. This may distinguish you positively from other candidates by letting a potential employer know that they might get a little more in the bargain with you and your IQ.

On the other hand, there is a section of people that have a knee-jerk response to all such skills being included, and think that intelligence = arrogance. Those people might well be put off by seeing that on your CV/Resume, thinking that you're somehow "flaunting" your skill - in this case intelligence - arrogantly. Intelligent and arrogant are not seen as good team working skills.

I think your decision comes down to what risk you want to take. There will be people that interpret it as advertising your intellectual superiority, while others will find it impressive. Which group is bigger? Will the arrogance crowd reject you for this? (Yes, wholly) Will the impressed crowd rank you significantly higher relative to your competition because of this? (No, not by a lot)

Hence, from my experience, on average/playing the odds you have more to lose than gain. You can always mention it later in interview if you find the employer considers intelligence and benefit, and have not taken the downside risk of bragging.

One last point - there are many, many Mensans that though they have rich and varied lives are not very good business people, otherwise they would all be rich! With that in mind, membership does not necessarily signal business acumen or employable competence.

Good Luck!

What are the key transferrable skills to highlight in a sales CV/Resume?

2008-10-13T04:12:00.000-07:00

Tara asks: After nearly 10 years working in automobile sales, my ex husband was recently laid off, and is looking to move into another industry altogether. What are the key transferable skills for the positions of salesman, closer, fleet manager, & finance manager which he should highlight on his resume when applying for sales positions in other fields?

In answer:
The most successful way of gaining employment is to write a focused job application - generic CV/Resumes and approaches can work, but are less successful.

I recommend that he finds a definite job target and write his CV/Resume around that. Do not try to create a resume around all of those job titles you listed titles, try to narrow it down to an industry. For instance, the reason you can be more succesful in a specific job application is to use the same language used in the advert to describe his skills. You are just reflecting the same key words, and this is a very easy method to make sure that his presentation aligns with his goals.

If he decides to apply himself in multiple sectors, then use multiple CV/Resumes if necessary. It's better to have several focused CV/Resumes than only one that you try to keep generic.

In general, transferable sales skills include the following keywords:

Relationship Development, Solutions Selling, Account Management, Account Retention, Network Development, Consultative Sales & Closing Strategies, Needs Assessment / Analysis, Presentations, Strategic Planning, Negotiations & Deal Structuring...

Some sales management skills/keywords include:

Sales Force Leadership, Team Building, Training, & Motivation, Compensation/Incentive Programs, Turnaround & Startup Leadership, Proactive Sales Planning, Partner Recruiting, ROI Maximization...

The CV/Resume should be highlighting the past achievements, with recommendations from managers and customers (as the sales profile is 100% based upon customer).

Good Luck!

Jobs after Real Estate

2008-10-12T04:24:00.000-07:00

Sonia asks: For someone who has worked in the real estate industry, what are some jobs/careers that could follow this? There are so many valuable skills that come from this experience; do you have suggestions for careers that will make the most of those skills? Thank you!

In answer:
I think you are addressing one side of the career change question at best, in terms of quantified skills; another side is: what is your passion?

The clear skills from a real estate career are:
- sales and marketing
- project management
- people skills
- negotiation
- finance
- administration

But the way in which you have posed your question, it sounds more like a question of where you could next apply those skills in a different sector, as opposed to any possibility of continuing in the real estate industry.

It is in situations like these that a mentor or a certified career coach can help, to help you understand what your skills and passions are and how those align with your long term goals.

To start the process, as a first step, taking three sheets of paper, I would:
- write down a basic career history
- write down your life ambitions
- write down your resultant career aspirations

Then, take that to three good friends and see what they think. Reflect on that feedback, may be rewriting/adjusting the second two pieces of paper, and see how they then feel. Once your friends have given input, then find a certified career coach, or may be approach your old school/college/university and see what career planning options are available to alumni - the armed forces also have some great career programs for ex-members.

Good Luck!

Is hiring a career coach worth the cost?

2008-10-12T04:10:00.000-07:00

Deborah asks: I'm trying to determine what additional assistance a certified career coach provides that one cannot get from going to networking events and taking professional development courses?

In answer:
Possibly, depending on your circumstances. It depends on you, your situation and your views of where you are compared to the market reality.

As a recruiter, as an average of ten candidates we get in front us:
- three know what they want to do, have thought through why they want to do that/recognise their owns skills/limitations (a majority have a career plan), and are realistic in their expectations. We could stick them in front of an employer tomorrow, and they would walk out with a job offer
- three have not got a clue what they want to do, just that they want another job. They don't recognise their skills or motivations, long term goals or aspirations. If we stuck almost any job in front of them, they would want an interview for it - it wouldn't matter if they had the skills, they just want a job. If we stuck them in front of an employer, they would be rejected (and our reputation tarnished), and if they got a job with one of our clients would be out of the job in less than six months (also tarnishing our reputation). They need career counselling of some sort
- there are then four in the middle who could go either way, of which half will pull round within an initial one hour conversation/a days reflection to the first group, and then be clear on their path. They may not get the first job they are interviewed for, but they listen/learn and adapt very quickly

The above assumes you have chosen to seek a new opportunity/are currently unemployed, and clearly at present you are employed Deborah. But I don't know which group of the above three you sit it, and you could also want to switch careers which creates new problems. I hence think that the options you have suggested as possible alternates are not: they are possible tactics inside a career strategy and resultant plan, which is what you need at present

As a first step, taking three sheets of paper, I would:
- write down a basic career history
- write down your life ambitions
- write down your resultant career aspirations

Then, take that to three good friends and see what they think (not your boss unless you really 110% trust them - its a bit like saying "I'm moving on" to them). Reflect on that feedback, may be rewriting/adjusting the second two pieces of paper, and see how they then feel.

If you then want to explore the possibility to move job/careers, approach a well known recruiter in the sector you seek for a career planning conversation: you are not looking for a new job, you are just thinking at present. If they think you need some help, they will tell you - and possibly introduce you to a career coach. Recruiters are driven by successfully placed candidates, and if they think they can place you quickly then they will tell you and start offering interviews; if they don't, most will give honest feedback on your skills/the market and the realistic gap between the two.

My view is, if you approach a career coach, of course they will tell you that you need career coaching. But the output of any need for a period of reflection, thinking and possible resultant change - think of a career coach as a tool/procedure to meet an ends: a better life - is that you may possibly already have the answers, and the way you think and approach problems it may well be that introducing a third party may not presently be the best answer.

If you do decide to engage a career coach, ensure that they are certified - one NLP certificate does not make a career coach. I would also suggest you approach at least three, and find a social/professional fit you are comfortable with - you are the customer after all, and it will be an intimate process. It may also help if you find one who has been through the same opportunity in which you find yourself, and possibly one who has worked in the same industry/market - that insiders view all helps.

Good Luck!

Can I get a job offer generated from my online profile?

2008-10-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

Andrej asks: Would you think about to offer me a job if you look at my profile? And what kind of? I have never heard of a reporter getting a job without showing (written or video) clips. But my question is really only about whether my profile could attract some attention or not. I really do not expect somebody will offer me a job and his decision would be solely based on information from my profile. I would be weird also for me :-)

Profile:
During my journalistic career I’m trying to focus on various security topics, terrorism, US politics and world of intelligence agencies. Because of my job I have had chance to visit places like Kosovo, West Bank, Transnistria, Taiwan or USAF bases. I had also the privilege and luck to make interviews with many distinguished persons. Just mention few: Shirin Ebadi (Peace Nobel Prize winner), Kim Campbell (former Prime Minister of Canada), His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal (uncle of King Abdullah II of Jordan), James Woolsey (former director of CIA), Gen. Wiliam Odom (former director of DIA), Mircea Raceanu (so called last political prisoner of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu), Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle (two of eight Vulcans of GWB). The real special one was the interview with British explorer Fiona Thornewill. I called her when she was exactly on the South Pole after her record-breaking walk. I have many interests :-)
Specialties:

US internal, security and foreign policy and American society, Czech Rep. internal and foreign policy, China security and foreign policy, China-Taiwan relationships, world of intelligence agencies, security policy in general, transatlantic relationships, NATO, history of Cold War...but once again I have many interests :-)

In answer:
Simply put - NO!

Profiles wherever they are are profiles. They are there for peers as well as recruiters and HR Professionals working on behalf of employers to find you, but they are not focused enough to get you a job. Even if they are the best profiles in the world - like a VisualCV for instance - and say specifically I am Job Hunting, I or any other recruiter or HR professional would not offer you or anyone else a job solely on an online profile. A profile is there like an a positioning post at worst, and a bland advertisement at best - for those recruiters/HR professionals looking for those skills, it serves as a sign post to be found, create interest, open communication and possibly lead to a specific job application and hence later to a face-to-face meeting.

A profile is a profile, a CV/Resume is a job application.

Good Luck!

What do you think of a fancy/stylised CV/Resume?

2008-10-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

Teodor asks: How you are going to react if you see a CV which does not follow commonly accepted standards? What if the CV is edited in photoshop and has different structure? What do you think will be the reaction of such approach in different industries?

In answer:
It depends on what position you are apply for, i.e. if knowing photoshop and related programs is a highly required skill (one of the top three competencies), then it could be a good idea to prove your skills.

However, in the majority of cases, most recruiters and HR professionals will conclude before rejecting the application that they are more concerned with showing their ability with photoshop and hoping that we don't notice their lack of experience.

KISS is the best attitude in CV/Resume writing.

Good Luck!

How do I get my foot in the door with Microsoft?

2008-10-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

Joseph asks: Since February of this year I have been trying to get a position within Microsoft and to no avail I have yet to land. I have submitted my resume/profile though the website on over 100 postings and just recently joined with two preferred recruiters of Microsoft. The positions that I am trying to get are in the marketing manager type postings and on most, I have exactly what the posting was asking for. On advice from one of the recruiters, I moved from Phoenix to the Seattle area because they suggested that "Microsoft typically pick candidates that are in the Seattle/surrounding areas.” Is there any advice,comments, ideas or the best way to get my foot into the door at Microsoft? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

In answer:
Two questions:

1. Why do you want to work for Microsoft?
2. Why do you think the skills you have are what they want?

I see above and from your profile lots of tactics, but not a lot of desperate wanton and screaming NEED to work for Microsoft - or much strategic thinking.

You seem like a great to excellent tactical marketer Joseph, but Microsoft in light of severe competition from Google are changing their marketing strategy to become a "one voice to global market" organisation. There was a recent case study I saw in Europe, where the biggest issue they had was extreme localisation of product marketing which created opposed messages for products, resulting in reduced sales to high-level (ie well travelled) customers.

Here's three thoughts:

1. if you are really desperate to work for Microsoft, take any job in their HQ and work your way in - but I don't think you are that desperate or driven to work for Microsoft
2. Take a Microsoft product, and after undertaking a critic of its marketing, write and price a new strategy. Then send it recorded delivery to the President of the division in which its present global product marketer works. If its great, they will give you a meeting, which you ask for in the Cover Letter
3. Or alternately, take those great tactical marketing skills you have, and start your own company. In a recession, all companies need to sell, and good paid on results marketers can earn a fortune

I think that wholly focusing on Microsoft - without a desperate need to work for them - is presently to your own and career detriment. You have great skills and a market crying out for them, so why not use them more entrepreneurially?

Good Luck!

Interview techniques for a security services position - FBI/MI5

2008-10-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

Trish asks: I am looking for advice for a client who is interviewing with the FBI for a surveillance position. We've worked on behavioural interview questions and while we're not looking for "insider" information, we just want to make sure we're accomplishing the right research in preparation for the interview.Your suggestions are welcome!

In answer:
All government departments - but particularly those involved in any level of national security - use staged interview techniques over a period of time (normally at least six stages over 90+ day periods), that create a 360degree view of the candidate with both different interviewers and situations.

These processes aim to find out the true extent of character, their driving forces and loyalties, and their decision making. They also look for detail orientated persons (most surveillance work is frankly boring, but small issues and key patterns take extensive investigation); and they have a specific need presently for less white males to create a more culturally diverse work force - there are situations where not being white and male has it advantages in the current political climate.

The simple answer is - the tests are so extensive and well developed, that you can't prepare fully for this interview technique. Basic interview technique on how to answer a question - interview room etiquette - would clearly assist any candidate. But trying to learn tactics or cover up/hide or focus away from any character issues would ultimately be folly: the whole issue of the selection process construction is to find such flaws. And if the candidate could cover it up, they would be trained in such techniques, and would probably hence be working for an adverse agenda.

If you are looking for some specific details, then read about interview techniques and processes/procedures used by the relevant national government for employing civil servants and national level police forces - and expect something more extensive, with an army level like physical test. The UK government security services offer an overview on their own recruitment website.

In summary - be honest, and be yourself: if they can't trust you or your thinking, you won't get the job.

Good Luck!

What's the optimal CV/Resume length?

2008-10-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

Jeannie asks: What's the optimal CV/Resume length for a long-tenured employee seeking a senior VP position in a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company? I'm not really in the career development field, but many of my clients ask me career related questions. Can you bring me into the loop? I assume recruiters and headhunters want short resumes, but is that true for more seasoned employees at this high level? This person has been approached by a headhunter. Any other tips for this type of job seeker? Thanks!

In answer:
Simply, there is no standard answer to CV/Resume format or length!

There are formula's based on seniority or career length, but those are just guidelines and nothing more.

The key criteria is: what does the advert/application process ask for?

The key issue is: how did the candidate find the opportunity? A job application is a two way process, not a one way communication:

- If the candidate found it in the WSJ/NYT or online, and there are no application instructions, then its likely they are in competition with at least 20 other executives who could have the relevant skills/experience package - probably at present more like 50+. Human Resources departments and retained recruiters won't want much more on a first application that a 2page CV/Resume focused on the key competencies outlined in the advert. Many senior post adverts ask for a portfolio/reduced CV format
- If the applicant was head hunted, then they each have a standard format requirement, and often this can run to 4/6+ pages. This often includes the need for a list of reference points, which a 2page resume wouldn't cover
- If the candidate was approached directly to apply for the post by the board or a senior executive, then why not just ask them?

I have answered a similar question for a senior executive, and suggested to him that he created a portfolio of work history and achievements, which could be as long as he wanted, but focused eventually on what he wanted to do next. Then, when a suitable position came up under any of the above three typical scenarios, he could quickly create a suitable format application whatever the employers need.

I think everyone should have a work portfolio, which gives a full record of career achievements - and everyone forgets something at some time. This can then be used to create the best job application that any potential future employer requires, in what ever required format.

Good Luck!

What major differences are there between a European style CV and an American style Resume?

2008-10-05T04:14:00.000-07:00

Alistair asks: What major differences are there between a European style CV and an American style Resume?

In answer:
Simply - there are not many.

The most complex issue is the terminology used:
- a CV in Europe is 2+page factual career summary, focused on a particular job application. The North Americans would call that a Resume
- a CV or more correctly a Curriculum Vitae in North America is a full career history, most normally used by those in academic or scientific careers
- the term Curriculum Vitae is most universally used, as it normally means the full career and research history to academics and researchers

British CV's tend to be the most American Resume in format - focused on that particular job. Many European CV's tend to be more derived in format from the standard Europass CV, than the American style Resume.

In employment law regulation, Europe tends to be further ahead (ie - restricted) about what needs/what can not be disclosed in a job application, and so European CV's now tend to include less personal data. This trend is often followed legally by the more liberal states law bodies in America, and now being picked up by most Resume writers with the exclusion of key date issues. Much of this is focused around age discrimination law development, but personally accepting that at some point you have to disclose your age to the employer - and quickly reducing birth rates that will force employers to re-evaluate hiring strategies - I think this writing trend as opposed to legal need will receded as quickly as it came in.

In terms of style, Europeans tend to include more personal information and softer issues in first drafts (selling themselves), where as North Americans focus on the results they achieved in post (selling the results). Employers and recruiters love the later, and really couldn't care less if you have a dog or not - they just don't want you to be socially isolated.

Good Luck!

How can a software engineer advance his career?

2008-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sumanth asks: How can a software engineer advance his career?

In answer:
There is a classical 4box MBA model which says there are four options to any companies expansion:

1. Do the same thing in the same market (stand still)
2. Do different things in the same market (market dominance)
3. Do the same thing in a different market (skills transference)
4. Do everything! (global domination)

From you question, I don't know your age or existing skills or ambitions, but we could use the same model for career management:

1. You could do the same job, either with your existing employer or a new employer. The existing employer would be more likely to develop your skills, the new employer employ you for your existing skills
2. You could undertake more responsibility with your existing employer, say taking a project lead over being a base programmer/engineer.
3. You could develop your skills with formalised project management skills, making you both a software engineer and a project manager and hence spreading your career risk
4. For market dominance, read MBA - or post-graduate management/accounting qualification, or starting your own company?

The final choice is made up of your skills and your ambition.

Good Luck!

Bunny Girls laid......... off!

2008-10-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

It's a sad side kick of the credit crunch, but the redundancies made in the financial sector have resulted in a number of companies in subsidiary services and associated market - including Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire laying off Bunny Girls - being forced in light of the down turn to make people redundant.

The downturn in the construction industry - did you know that half of the Rolls Royce and Bentley cars sold in the world are sold to people in the construction and property market - has resulted in UK luxury marque Aston Martin reportedly selling fewer than 20cars in August 2008, compared to over 180 in the run-up to the new 57 reg in September 2007.

What can employee's do about this changed climate? The simple answer is - be prepared. Look at your skills and aspirations, and start to think about what you would do if redundancy came? Don't assume the person who offered you a job even six months ago will still have an opening now, so have at least three options prepared - one up, one sides ways, and one downwards ALL of which for long term corporate employees should be to outside opportunities. Once you have decided on a plan, undertake a quick review of you CV/Resume - we at Ajiru are happy to undertake this for FREE.

Be prepared, and - Good Luck!

What prospect for UK unemployment in 2009?

2008-09-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

The credit crunch, created by the US housing market crisis, has so far not affected either headline UK consumer spending, or UK unemployment - but are the first signs of the rot now beginning to show?

In summary - YES! We might not yet be seeing the scale of unemployment, but it is now revealing itself.

The reasons for this long gestation period are three fold:
- The UK is always at least six to twelve months behind the UK
- The industries effected so far are long cycle: how often do you move, and hence buy a kitchen, carpets or new bedding?
- UK consumers have so far switched spending: now they can't switch any more to lower cost items. The next thing to do is cut

Already, house builders and associated industries have shut down - even the solicitors are laying people off. Construction is highly reliant on finance models, so no loans means no construction. The only thing keeping some sites going were sales, at hugely discounted levels - often up to 35%, the properties industry average Gross Profit Margin, just to keep the cash flowing.

The next industry to fall was finance, with the remortgage and consolidation loans financing products stalling and the collapsing.

In the past few week, we have seen national level banks collapse: Wachovia in the US, HBoS and Bradford and Bingley in the UK; and now Fortis in Belgium. The HBoS Lloyds TSB merge offers 40,000 redundancies at the headline level - gulp!

And now its the turns of the retailers, showing that UK high street spending is being effected: furnishing group Roseby's went into administration, while MFI was bought out by management (both part of the hosuing slow down), and now sports retailer JJB warns that it may not survive - no wonder SportsDirect founder Mike Ashley has put Newcastle FC up for sale!

Are there any good signs? Not yet, with the US House of Representatives rejecting the $700bn (£380bn) rescue deal, global stock markets have fallen an average of 7% in one day. What economists are hoping is that two groups will help out to reduce UK unemployment impact: the elderly retiring in the face of such vast unemployment, while the Eastern Europeans go home in part due to the construction needs of Euro 2012 in Poland.

While some skills and sectors remain solid employment areas - Human Resources for instance, with such high levels of redundancies - others are falling quickly: anyone can be a sales person!

My thought here is that, whatever the fixes of the politicians, this recession will be a middle class one: the low skilled will just move and do anything to survive; the rich can ride out the storm - while the middle class will be too slow to react, worrying about paying their buy-2-let mortgages and honouring their education/tofu suppers to notice the approaching storm.

I predict UK unemployment will rise by at least 1million in 2009 - those jobs left by the elderly and the Eastern Europeans will remain unfilled, until 2010 when they return to fill them.

Watch out middle England!

Rise in UK national minimum wage - 1st October 2008

2008-09-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

From Wednesday 1st October, the UK national minimum wage increases from £5.52 to £5.73 per hour for workers aged 22 and over, £4.77 for 18-21-year-olds and £3.53 for those aged 16 and 17.

As is seen by the pursuit and prosecution of high-profile employers like Loch Fyne restaurants, not only are HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions enforcing the regulation, tough new penalties are set to come into force from April 2009 for employers that flout the rules. An information campaign over the next six months will aim to make sure that every employer is aware of the changes.

Pat McFadden, employment relations minister, said: "Ten years ago, the National Minimum Wage was born, marking the start of a hard-fought campaign to introduce a basic standard of employment rights that every worker could be protected by. The minimum wage has made a lasting and significant difference to the low paid, with around a million workers benefiting from the increase each year.”

Is the national minimum wage a good thing? Much as though there is an argument that jobs are resultantly forced overseas, I don't think its right that employers paying people below what are considered minimum living standards, and hence result in the tax payer then subsidising them, is at all right: employers should pay reasonable wages. And much as though the level of the minimum wage was set at least three months ago, and costs are falling in the credit crunch - it still seems pretty reasonable, if not low. Hence, I don't think holding it back will make any difference to unemployment levels over the next two years - it will still rise: but its introduction will mean that employee's will be fairly paid

Is CV/Resume writing really about opinion?

2008-09-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

David asks: So much of CV/Resume writing is about opinion - what should or should not be on a resume - for IT management, should certain things be or not be on the resume? For example, I have had 9 books published, should I list them? Professional references, should they be listed?

In answer:
So much in CV/Resume writing is about opinion, because its the employing readers opinion IF you have the skills and experiences required to meet the competency requirements of the job/post you are applying for AND could fit into the team and deliver the required results.

Lets start with some basics - your CV/Resume is about your application for a specific job, and hence its a factual sales document. No more, and certainly no less.

Is advice therefore in applying for a new post in actual fact opinion based? No, there are some clear rules as to what does and does not work, and those can be easily learnt - what is more difficult to master are the details of putting that all together into a successful job application - consisting of a Cover Letter and a CV/Resume.

Lets take your case in example:
- No more than 2pages
- Most recruiters/HR people only care about the last five years/three jobs: so summaries only at best before Pitts Consulting Inc. Everything before that is almost irrelevant
- Relevant skills only: so are you actually skilled in all the technologies you list from IMG, at both a management AND an operational/helpdesk level? If yes to the latter, why take the MA in Systems? It certainly wouldn't fit with the book writing

I dare say you could write a CV/Resume from your skills in four paths (listed from most to least skilled):
- IT systems VP/manager: an advance or at same level opportunity
- a technology consultant/director, in either sports or NFP markets
- IT system operations: a retrograde step
- a technical columnist for a publication

Which one you choose is your choice, but a professional CV/Resume writer could write a good application around any of those areas from the skills you list.

Lets assume you want to focus on IT management, the easiest next role for you to transition to. Since you will be applying to management opportunities, think about leadership roles you took on and what positive result came from your leadership; think about problems you solved and how those positively contributed to the company. Your published books hence may or may not be important information: do they show leadership, industry expertise, etc? If so, use them!

References should never be used on your resume as the people reviewing your resume do not need that information immediately upon application. Use that space to sell the value you offer employers!

Good Luck!

Is a two page CV/Resume enough?

2008-09-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

Bruce asks: For years, I've read and heard that your resume should be no more than 2 pages long and I can remember when I had a one page resume. Recently, I've been encouraged to expand my resume beyond two pages. I trust this individual's opinion and his reasoning that I can't do justice to my competencies or accomplishments in two pages certainly makes sense. I'm considering keeping my two page resume for initial contacts, but developing and expanded version to share once a "relationship" is initiated. I would appreciate your input and suggestions.

In answer:
The answer is - make it as long as you want: half a page, 100 pages, its your CV/Resume.

Only thing is: the recruiter/HR professional reading it will have decided if you are the right person for the job in the first half page of your CV/Resume, having already read the one page of your Cover Letter. That might seem cruel, but its the truth.

If you think you need more time to say how great you are, then consider using a 2page CV/Resume as an intro, and then taking along a full Curriculum Vitae or portfolio to the interview, or create one online which you can refer to in your Cover Letter.

Your friend is probably right - but applying for a specific job, is everything in your Curriculum Vitae or portfolio needed against the five specific job competencies you are applying for? One could almost question whether you needed a CV/Resume, if you wrote a good enough Cover Letter.

In summary, I think you do need two products: a Curriculum Vitae or portfolio; and then a focused Cover Letter and CV/Resume against the specific job application.

Good Luck!
...................................................................
Bruce says: Thank you for your response. Your insights have confirmed my conclusions, I really like the idea of building a longer CV to take to the interview or mention in my cover letter. I've just started building an online CV on a site called VisualCV. Thanks again, I appreciate your input

..........................................
Bruce,

No problems! Re a visual CV/Resume, have a look at my blog entry on them. They are often too generic for a specific job application. Your career suggests a portfolio approach would work best

Best Regards,

Ian McA

The visual CV or online Resume

2008-09-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

The visual CV/Resume is a modern internet format of the classical printed on wood pulped paper CV/Resume – but is it necessarily better, or ideal?

In simplicity, a visual CV/Resume is an online version of your paper CV/Resume. So, you might be thinking then that you just upload your existing MSWord version, and life would be complete?

Well, the various online CV/Resume format providers normally add a few features – like adding a photograph; a few links to your websites and blogs; sometimes even your social book marking or networking pages; and an Amazon link to your latest book, etc. Take the impressive Guy Kawasaki’s page for instance at VisualCV – how cool is Guy’s?

OK, hang on a minute:
- You say that you are not photogenic, and are not as good looking as say Jennifer Anniston?
- You don’t yet have any networking links, as you were a corporate employee for 20years and then didn’t need that sort of thing – it was only when you got made redundant that you did; and unlike Guy, you haven’t got a book to promote?
- Much as though you have spent the last 20years in book keeping, you have a keen amateur interest in plumbing, and now want to change career paths – and yet everything on your existing CV/Resume references book keeping?

I think in certain cases, the online CV has some great advantages……

- You are a visual or arts career based person, and you need a portfolio
- You are a design or creative career based person, and need to show off your capabilities. In this case, I don’t think the standard format visual CV/Resumes will ever adequately show off your talents, so design your own visual portfolio
- You were born a project manager, you trained in project management from kindergarten/primary school through university, and all you have ever done so far in your career is project management, and that’s what you want to do until you leave this earth/retire. That is the only way you will not need to take a generic approach, and everything will always be applicable to every job you apply for

And then it has some distinct disadvantages - when was the last time you updated your visual CV/Resume? OK, that’s true of the paper CV, but you don’t publish that one to the world do you?

Ever thought about why most online CV/Resume services are free? Because they don’t make their money out of candidates, they make their money out of recruiters like me paying to find people to fill jobs. And the more people they have, the more they can charge us recruiters to find people with the right skills. They don’t care whether it’s the right format for you – they just care about volume of candidates, which is their payline.

It is well known in the recruitment industry that certain jobs board dBases are better for certain types of candidates than others – Monster is good for one thing, JobSite for another, etc. So much as though the online CV providers suggest that its better to be posted in more places/off the jobs boards – a majority of recruiters just don’t look around, because the more dBases you are a member of the more it costs you: and you know that certain places don’t house the candidates you want.

So, a visual CV/Resume is good for the artistic photogenic type, who’s always wanted to do what they are doing and who can maintain it regularly. What does that sound like to you – sounds like a career portfolio to me. And that’s where I think the online CV/Resume falls down. Many of the business networking sites ask you to add a few details of your business, and your career. Here are mine at:

- Ecademy
- LinkedIn
- Xing

These are all portfolio career summaries – but are they online CV/Resumes? No, because they focus primarily on business sales pitches, and historic generic career histories. To be a CV/Resume of good enough quality to get you a telephone call and a date for a job interview, they would need to be focused on a specific job application. One of the generic and inbuilt problems of the online CV/Resume, particularly when you are applying for multiple jobs, is that it has to stay generic – most open denominator, applicable to all possible jobs and career paths.

To my mind, most of the visual CV products are at best generic portfolio’s or extended calling cards – they are not CV/Resumes of a focus quality which will get you a job.

So, is there a role for the visual CV? Most undoubtedly – yes! Here’s a thought – if you have an online visual CV/Resume, why direct someone there if all you are going to give them is online access to your CV/Resume? While you have them there, why not show them what you can do – make it a portfolio! Here are three that to my mind make sense:

- The BBC News Presenter Kate Silverton – a modern interpretation of the artistes portfolio. Love those black and silver colours, and inclusion of video
- America web designer Jake Strawn – if I had a job Jake could fill, I would employ him: tomorrow
- American Lecturer on Technology, Jim Groom – great use of space, and old (hence free) graphics

In summary:
- Online CV/Resumes are fine if you accept the restrictions of the visual format, and the generic nature of the written content
- Most of the products are at best generic calling cards/extended portfolio’s – they will not be focused enough to get you an interview
- The reason you don’t pay is because the Recruiters do – make sure your target audience recruiter or HR department have used that product: look for jobs like the one you are looking for, even the employers
- Where visual CV/Resumes do make sense in your career, give people a reason to go there – make it a portfolio!

Good Luck!

Interview Techniques: check the basics of the applicant with testing

2008-09-23T03:42:00.000-07:00

One of the elements that is most asked about in recruitment is, how do I find out if an interviewee will perform and fit into my organisation? Of course as a recruiter, I would say employ a recruitment organisation – the simple reason being that a third party perspective gives a better angle from which to asses fit

But there are two areas where, employers can check fit of candidates at low cost, and resultantly reduce employment risk

Interview tasks:
Away from psychological tests, interview tasks can vary from the physical or mental test to the simplistic in environment. The best tests are simple because what the test should prove is an aptitude of both ability and application.

Letter writing tests are a quick and easy task to check an applicants ability to both read and write, as well as compose – under a bit of pressure. Often these types of tests are addressed as customer complaint issues, with a typical scenario drafted for the candidate and the associated complaint letter supplied, plus a single sheet copy of the companies policy on how to answer customer complaints containing the top three/five issues. Doing this sort of test first also gives the interviewers the opportunity to ask the candidate on why they addressed the scenario in the manner chosen.

Physical ability tasks can also be undertaken. When I worked in the telecoms world, there was a need for applicants to have good eye site and not be colour blind. The later training will mean that blue-orange-green-brown-slate will for ever be a little part of my instant recall memory, but in my interview a piece of cable was held up in front of me and I was asked to find six different coloured pieces of wire. Amusingly, later as part of my apprenticeship I had to refine this test to produce a piece of white wood 12inches in width and 6inches in depth, with eight chosen wire colours applied to a white background, and a selection of 36 other pieces of wire which the applicants had to match in the interview

There is also the opportunity in some cases to check basic industry training awareness, and the two I will pick out here come from the catering industry. Dave Thomas of Wendy’s fame describes a scenario in his business biography “Dave’s Way” where he was interviewing an area manager in a restaurant, who suddenly got up in the middle of the interview and walked over behind the serving counter. On the interviewee’s return Thomas asked him why he got up, and the interviewee said: “because, from the sound of the fries in your fryer, they were not left out to defrost for long enough, and were at too high a fat temperature.” Thomas states that he hired the guy on the spot, and he later became one of Wendy’s key directors – the test also became part of Thomas’s technique in later interviews! That is a difficult scenario to recreate, but a simpler test I heard of was to give all interviewee’s a potato peeling exercise. The ingredients were a potato, a bowl, a potato peeler and some water; the instructions were to peel the potato. I liked this test because, the ace in the test was not about your ability to peel the potato – the task was about cleanliness, and did the interviewee dispose of the peelings and dirty water correctly and leave the freshly peeled potato in clean water? If not = fail!

Come and meet us days:
The simplest test I have ever seen, and its something we wholly recommend at Ajiri, is the “come and meet us” day. However much you meet, test or interview a candidate – that’s not in a real work situation.

If you like a candidate, and they like you, then invite them in to your office/team for half a day, may be even a day. Then, with a bit of an agenda to chaperone them around the team, introduce them to people and let them ask as many questions as possible – even a bit of one on one time, may be even paying for lunch.

The questions employers have about this technique is – am I likely to lose a good employee because we haven’t done formal induction? Well, if you were likely to lose them – better on a “come and meet us” day than after the cost of formal contract signature/induction etc.

How should candidates approach interview testing?
Candidates should accept that, even if an interview schedule doesn’t define a specific test as part of the interview procedure (most will advise before hand if a test is part of the interview procedure, particularly physical tests on Health & Safety grounds), that an interview is a test, and as you have been offered and accepted an interview that you have consented to any reasonable part of that interview procedure to test your ability to perform the job - and that this could include a test.

Tests should not be approached as examinations – quite often there is no definitive pass/fail standard in an interview test, its more about testing ability with aptitude. They necessarily need to be short, and unless you are asked to attend a specific physical test or aptitude day they should be designed to be accessible to all the potential candidates.

When placed in a test situation, read the instructions fully through at least three times – planning and clear thought in test situations, as the employer is seeking to put you under pressure, will give you a better result consistently more often that an immediate call to action. Then plan your action, write that plan down clearly – quite often as part of the instructions, you will be advised that all notes should be included with your answer – and stick to that plan. If you make changes to the plan, then note these. The key here is that the test is short and simple, but pressurised – the actual answer is not right or wrong, its as much to do with about how you approach this simple task.

You will often find in interviews that the test comes first, and the interview second. Expect that once you are in the interview to be asked how you approached the test task – you may well find that your plan is used as part of that section of questioning as to why you approached the task in that way.

In summary:
There is a tendency these days for HR departments to drift towards more politically correct testing methods. But personally, if done correctly, there are better ways to test actual “fit” of a candidate than a remote psychological testing approach. I think all employers could and should sit down and come up with three such tests, and introduce “come and meet us” days – it might show up some issues before you formally employ a new candidate, and it does reduce total recruitment cost through increasing effectiveness.

Good Luck!

Does the colour and weight of the paper your CV/Resume is on really matter?

2008-09-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Peter asks: Does the color and weight of the paper your resume is on really matter? What are your thoughts, in this digital age, of the effectiveness of sending resumes on traditional resume paper? And what tricks have you seen or used to make your resume stand out (not folding it, etc.)?

In answer:
Simply - yes, it makes a difference!

OK, we are in the internet world. Guess what - we go through more paper, printing ink and stamps than we have ever gone through! The internet increases communication, and everything from Twitter to MSOutlook just adds to the clutter. It does not reduce or alternate channel that communication in any way.

PDF's may be green, but its more difficult to look different and standout if all you do is eMail out 1000 PDF's. Sure, you need to pay attention to how your CV/Resume looks when printed out, and you can control that more with a PDF than MSWord. The first thing my agency does is scan any paper version straight onto the candidates record system in our dBase.

But you know what? We have a little box in the dBase record that shows whether it was an eMailed or scanned version, and if mailed we always keep the latest original. Plus, when a mailed CV/Resume comes in, that always makes it to a recruiters desk, as opposed to a resourcers telephone "to do" list. The resourcers know that anyone who took the time and effort to print it out on nice paper is probably senior with great experience, and as a result they will earn more commission when that person is placed - so put them at the top!

Paper has weight and takes effort - to print, to put in a decent envelope, to post; an eMail is a button push, and takes little effort - and resultantly that gains it less respect. Its why physical junk mail marketing campaigns still exist, and senior executives and legal types use quality paper.

So if you want to look serious, and professional - the extra effort on the jobs you really want that paper will give, will mean a difference: possibly even employment. Just make sure everything else matches up with the first impression.

Good Luck!

Wacky interview questions - what would you do?

2008-09-18T06:29:00.003-07:00

Robert asks: A few weeks ago I saw a job posting for a corporate in-house attorney position. They had an automated online "interview" (in reality, application) procedure which was pretty straightforward (e.g.. “do you have experience in the following areas?”) but then they got to the goofy stuff. Here’s the question that took the cake:

Q. Which of the following is the all-time best lawyer movie (or possibly “courtroom movie”)?

1. “To Kill A Mockingbird”
2. “Twelve Angry Men”
3. “A Civil Action”
4. “The Firm”
5. “My Cousin Vinny.”

They actually asked this, and of course you could not skip it. What reason can there be for asking this question? Would YOU ask this question in an online application?

In answer:
It's either a psych question, or a stumble/WTF question! Does the answer matter - if its a psych question, possibly, but under European law could be considered highly discriminatory on age grounds.

A stumble question is meant to trip you up, lose your concentration and - see what happens afterwards in the next question: would have been interested to know what the question after this one was.

Any question in an interview is meant to create a different situation where the potential employee can be assessed on both their answer and choice of. It is often difficult creating pressure situations, so many job application processes and interviews try either the psych path or the goofy to create a situation in a different way.

The answer on how to approach all such questions in a job application process is - take a breath or two and think; then pick an answer you can stand by and know the reason you choose it over other options. That way, you will have shown your best, and although you may not be "right" for that employer, you will never again question if you got the answer wrong.

Good Luck!

Changing jobs - how "frequently" is "too frequently"?

2008-09-18T06:29:00.002-07:00

John asks: I have changed jobs thrice in the last twelve years. In the last job I lasted for a little under two years. When I wanted to leave the last place I couldn't seem to impress upon prospective new employers that it was fair enough time to learn and move on. Ironically, many of those who interviewed me have themselves switched jobs every 6 or 7 months. Is there a safe minimum period of service before one should consider a switch? Are there double standard in hiring? I am serving my 'notice period' with my current employer and will move to a new place by the end of this month.

In answer:
The normal in post period for most jobs would be between 18months and 4 years, to be able to integrate, learn and be productive. There are norms where less is OK, such as in software project work; and there are norm's where longer would be considered better, such construction project management.

It sounds like you failed to communicate a reason for wanting to change posts and apply for a new opportunity in interview, as opposed to the answer given to you that you had changed jobs too often. In the whole job application process, employers look for skills AND fit - anything that gives them any doubt in either area to resultantly deliver, often leads to an "unsuitable for us" and resultant exclusion from the process.

In an interview, trained HR interviewers focus on the gap between job posts: what were you doing, why did you want to move/change, why do you choose to go where you did? While the manager that is seeking to employ focuses on the skills in job, the HR manager seeks to understand motivation and career management. If you can't show logical and managed career management, although you may have the best skill set in the world for the job you will be seen by the HR manager as a risked choice, and hence be excluded.

You say in your own profile: Extensive experience in Promoting and Marketing International Education & Qualifications in India. It sounds like a 12months+ time scale before you could see results, and 6 months of planning before that - leaving only 6months fully in post. That's how an HR manager will see it, and that's why you need to be able to answer the "why" questioning on moving to the next position.

The only question you have to ask when managing your own career is: what will this result in adding to my CV/Resume, that makes me more employable/more satisfied and higher paid? If you can't answer that, then when the question does come up don't be surprised if you don't get the next "desired" job.

Good Luck!

......................................................................
John replies: though your hurt my ego a bit, and my gut reaction was to call you names, I think you told me what I must hear and not what I wanted to hear. By referring back to my profile you convinced me that you really know what you were writing back about. Thank you once again and happy answering

......................................................................
John,

Thanks for your message. My sincere apologies for any hurt I caused you.

There is an undoubted "art" to career management and job hunting, and - unfortunately - candidates need to hear how to become accustomed to that art quickly to be successful in job hunting.

You have great skills and very human scale capabilities, so I am sure you will be successful. To deliver that great career you want, always be thinking: what does this do for my CV?

If ever you think I can help you, please - just ask!

With Best Regards,

Ian McA

How should workers overcome the bias against the over 50's?

2008-09-18T06:29:00.001-07:00

Mark asks: I hear daily from friends and colleagues about the pernicious effects of hidden systemic discrimination against contributors over the age of 50. The masking subtleties seem to pre-empt any direct challenge. Is age bias real? Is it defensible? What strategies are effective in breaking through the age barrier? Have you employed alternative career strategies that are more effective?

In answer:
Yes - its clear, plain and obvious on a weekly basis for a recruiter from employer briefs that many individuals are still biased on the basis age, sex, race, religion and disability basis: I am not saying its the corporations or their policies, its the individuals giving the briefs. We at Ajiri explain the law - particularly clear in Europe, where if we took or selected on such a written or unwritten brief we would be co-liable - that we would be breaking the law. Around 90% wake up and with good candidates easily change their ways - the other 10 percent, about one employer a month, we refuse to do business with.

However, I also have to say that the "bias" is not necessarily related to age, but to attitude. Too many over 50's are not stretching themselves to learn new skills or are not keeping up with current trends. Also, over 50's need to allow themselves to be more adaptable to change. How many over 50's understand Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 concepts? How many are using social networking sites? How many are going back to school to learn new skills? How many are thinking about product innovation?

The best career strategy - where evr you are in your career - is to continually grow your skills and your professional network. Be the expert! Be the most productive worker!

With that in mind, and recognising the soft people skills that many over 50's have, I think that you should perhaps consider a career change to a more flexible consulting based position, rather than looking for another permanent job. It would allow you to learn, and allow the employers to learn about you - you are more likely to over come bias through evidence than words.

Here is a suggested strategy:
1. Make time to learn new technologies -- particularly social media. If Twitter & Plurk just sound like non-sense, you're out of the loop! Create a solid presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and other networking sites that apply to your industry.

2. Hire a coach or other objective party, even if only for a short term, to help you define YOUR VALUE. Before you dust off the resume or jump into self employment (i.e. consulting), you need to be able to succinctly state what value you bring to others. This should be in quantifiable terms. Knowing your strengths is great, bringing quality to an organization is wonderful, but getting hired depends on what you can do financially for that business.

3. Polish up your image. Get objective opinions on your look. Are your suits out of date or tired? Is your hairstyle a decade past due? Would a touch up of color in your hair erase a few years? This is not about looking young -- but avoiding looking old, aged, or dated.

4. Get out and meet people. See and be seen. Make lots of connections. Be genuinely friendly and curious about what others do. Find people who do what you think you'd like to do and buy them lunch. Ask lots of questions. Be disarmingly honest about your goals and dreams. People love to help. Become part of a networking group and they will work for you!

Age will never stop you being employed, but attitude will.

Good Luck!

Declining an applicant due to geographic concerns?

2008-09-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Nechiele asks: Is it common practice to decline an offer of employment for a qualified candidate due to geographic concerns? I ask this because I have actively applied to several positions that I am well qualified for and have consistently been declined due to my location. I've gotten several 'suggestions' to outright lie and say I live in the area that I am looking at for employment; apparently that makes me a much more desirable candidate. That is an action that I'm just not comfortable taking. I am more than willing to foot my own relocation costs yet that fact seems to be overlooked more often than not. I am beyond frustrated to say the least. Any suggestions?

In answer:
Look at this from the employers risked standpoint:

- They have 150 CV/Resumes for this open position
- They have 10 highly qualified candidates
- 8 of those candidates are local

Add in the current economic woe's, and many companies are backing away from relocations due to:

- Hardships in home sales
- Costs of interviewing

But the biggest problem from the employers view point is that simply retention of employees is statistically better with local or regional candidates. It sounds like they have been burned in the past, either by quick turnover or a candidate accepting the position and then backing out before the start date. This typically occurs when the interviewer fails to determine the true motives of the job seeker, and might be the reason why the position is vacant to begin with. Also, many CV/Resumes say that relocation costs are not necessary, but then when the offer is on the table, the applicant asks for it.

Hence, what you are experiencing may feel discriminatory at the moment, but keep in mind that until your feet are on the ground in the community that you are seeking employment, you are not seen as a viable candidate unless you are totally outstanding. This isn't true for certain hard-to-fill openings but generally, you are seen as too high of a risk.

My advice is not to lie. You need to make it very, very clear at the outset in your Cover Letter that you are interested in the job because to want to, and have already planned to, relocate to that area. If you truly do not need relocation assistance, then put in your Cover Letter and repeated in the CV/Resume that relocation costs are already covered and be sure you dont ask for it.

Good Luck!

Do I put a temp position in my CV/Resume?

2008-09-17T04:04:00.000-07:00

Kathleen asks: I was hired for a contracted writing position that lasted only a few weeks. Do I list that under the employment section of my resume, or should I list that under skills/other activities? It is my only contracted position.

In answer:
Bearing in mind that you don't lie on a CV/Resume, your CV/Resume is not supposed to be a list of every single job you have ever done. It's purpose is to include enough information to be invited for an interview. Answering the following questions should help you:

- Are you proud of this job?
- Do you think the work you did on this contract demonstrates your value as an employee in your chosen field?
- Did you learn things you would not otherwise have known?
- Do you have any other contract work you can group together?
- Will it add value to your CV/Resume?

If you are a new graduate, it may be helpful to use anything you can leverage. However, you should still try to keep your CV/Resume focused to your career goal. Basically, if your goal is to be a writer, include it - say that it was a short-term contract assignment to explain the dates, listing your learnings and accomplishments on this job. If your goal is to be an accountant, it may not be applicable.

Good Luck!

How do you demonstrate your ability to learn new software to a potential employer?

2008-09-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

David asks: I recently had a phone interview with a company that I would love to work for, as an entry level project controls junior in construction. During the interview it was mentioned that the company uses Primavera extensively - I have experience with MicroSoft Project, a product similar to Primavera. A friend sent me a copy of Primavera, and I have begun preparing a small project about developing a career in the construction field. Is it appropriate to present this little project to the company? If so, in this age of spam blockers, firewalls, and viral hysteria, how do I present the project? Should I change the project to something more generic? Would you consider it unethical to include knowledge of Primavera as a qualification on my resume, having never used it professionally? Thanks for any response.

In answer:
Let's start with the basics - if you have had a telephone interview, and you have not listed Primavera as a skill, then either the retained recruiter or HR manager clearly thought from your CV/Resume that you already have the basic skills to do the job, and learn the required additional skills in post. So, why worry about learning about Primavera - stick to the basics: "I am a good entry level project manager, with proven skills in managed delivery via learnt software systems, as shown by my use of MS Project."

Secondly, don't look like a "brown-noser" by taking to the interview your Primavera "project." You will only show your present lack of knowledge - and additionally a school/college-like "please the teacher/professor" approach: not an adult/business approach which is appropriate to the tough, hard sector which is construction.

Primavera is designed to manage very large projects with dozens of people in the software simultaneously. No matter how complex the project you create, I think there is more risk to highlight your limited experience. The flip side of this is that some hiring managers will be impressed with your initiative to dive in. The problem is that you can't predict which will win out with the hiring manager you are interviewing with.

I would if asked in interview say that you had as a result of the initial telephone interview looked at Primavera - a widely used program among the big construction companies. You could list it on a revised CV/Resume as "familiar with," and be prepared to discuss this familiarity in an interview - don't make it out to be something it isn't - just be honest. Another good way to quickly learn about software is to read through bug listings, user support forums or mailing lists, etc. - where people talk about problems and solutions. It'll give you a feel for how software is used in the real world, and where it's not perfect or not intuitive. This approach shows you are willing to learn and investigate, and take appropriate action when required to be prepared.

One thing to remember, in construction, there are people that believe that Project is just a toy compared to Primavera. If you're interviewing with someone that thinks that way, you're not going persuade them that Project experience is a substitute for Primavera. A better approach is to emphasize your skill and experience with the actual tasks that both programs manager - project scheduling, project controls, financial controls, etc...

Sometimes, candidates forget that the skills they already have are the reason that the company picked up the phone for a chat, and that their wrong approach to any training issues raised could totally kill the opportunity for them. Stick to what you have which is what made them pick up the phone, rather than trying to prove yourself in an unfamiliar new skills area which they are happy to train you in.

Good Luck!

How valuable will be PRINCE2 certification if PMP certification has already been acquired from PMI?

2008-09-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

Rani asks: How valuable will be PRINCE2 certification if PMP certification has already been acquired from PMI?

In answer:
A great technical question, the answer to which is - depends! Also for the non-project managers, Prince2 is a process, where as PMP is a professional level recognition.

PMP and the PMI is not as well recognised presently by either hiring managers or HR professionals, as is a Prince2 certification. Also, if the hiring organisation is sub contracting to another main or prime contractor, the eventual client or prime contractor will often stipulate that all work is in accordance with Prince2. To hence fully comply and reduce insurance liabilities, the organisation will only hire Prince2 certified professionals for certain/some times all positions.

I think you should build into your career plan Rani the target of acquiring a Prince2 qualification, and in the mean time apply for posts where the experience of delivery in a particular technology you have experience are the higher level job description requirements, over pure technical/educational certificates. Certainly a Prince2 certification will open up more opportunities in your further career.

Good Luck!

What social media/networking sites are must-haves for job-seekers?

2008-09-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

Heidi asks: What social media/networking sites are must-haves for job-seekers? And how are they best used? I'm looking for two-part advice (a) your favourite connection sites and (b) how you use them to connect and promote yourself whether you're looking for work or not. Thank you!

In answer:
A friend of mine is an online marketeer, and he says - and from my experiences, I agree - that much like a vurtual White Pages telephone directory, that you can find anyone by using three SN's: LinkedIn; a Social Network (the likes of Facebook or possibly MySapce); and an in-country or in-region business network.

I would add to that for job seekers using other online resources - a Jobs board like Monster and/or Craigslist; and Twitter is a key tool: amazing to see who is listening using TwitterSearch!

Tactically, Twitter works best on a key stages basis (thinking about changing job; dusting down an old CV/Resume; looking at job pages, etc); while the rest are best addressed by changing the words on your profile to make it clear you are a job seeker; and asking questions in forums like this - which is what you are doing at present!

It's really just about letting people know you are looking, and then defining what you are looking for - those who do the first bit, but don't know what they want in the second often later post about how bad their job seeking is going: so always think and be clear about your goals.

Good Luck!

How to show technical college coursework and skills on a CV/resume?

2008-09-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Rick asks: I'm completing my degree in Operations Management and Supply Chain, and currently working on my resume. My concentration courses are quite technical (statistics, computer models, etc) and do not really have self-explanatory titles, unless the person who reads my resume has similar technical skills. Should I include a sentence or two to briefly explain what the courses has covered, then add more about what skills I have gained, and finally tell more about the major projects in those course? In other words, what is the best way to present major coursework in college graduates resume? How do I do it, do you know any examples? Thank you!

In answer:
Most post-graduates suffer from relatively short work experience, so they worry about how to write up their CV/resume's.

Honestly, this is not a problem - view your University projects as would a work based resume writing up individual projects done at the place of work, to show case your skills.

For each project state the scope if the title is not 110% obvious (ie - House wife is easier to understand than is Domestic Engineer), the objective and the outcome. If you worked as part of a team, state that and your role/scope/deliverables in the team, and outcome of the team. Keep each project to three lines maximum, with a final dissertation project at double that.

Post-graduates worry about having experience enough to fill two pages - you just have different skills and experience, that's all!

Good luck!

Just for Fun: I’ve been tagged! OMG, what do I do now???

2008-09-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

Being tagged is a game bloggers play where they have to write six random things about their self, and tag six other people.

In this case, I have been tagged by Sarah Arrow of Essex Courier, who was tagged in this chain by the UK’s leading internet marketing expert, Nikki Pilkington.

So here goes with things you may not know about me:

1. I can't stand celery, not even a hint of it
2. I went to school with Jack Russell the England cricketer....
3. And we both then had a love of model railways. I have still got mine
4. I had a teenage to mid-20s side-career as a DJ
5. We don't keep meat in the house - pure pescatarian at home
6. I have been shot at (once, one round) in the UK by a man holding an AK47 and a kilo of cocaine

The rules, borrowed from Nikki’s blog are …

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Right so who to Tag...... I have added some commentary on why I have tagged them, and a link to their Twitter accounts

Louise Triance - better known as UKRecruiter. If you are in UK recruiting and are not reading her stuff, why not?

Jim Stroud - many people have heard of Dave Mendoza, but Jim's in the same league and writes so much consistently great stuff

Bill Vick - while Jim's from the recruiters side of the table, Bill's his Texan equal from the candidates side. It also transfers well across the Atlantic, thanks to his easy style

Julian Bond - the technical genius behind Ecademy, and a die-hard biker: uber-cool genius dude!

David Long - is an online marketing genius. Doesn't say much as he is always delivering for real customers, but if he does, I recommend you listen

Andreas Wiedow - need cold calling in Germany, from a German who has a sense of humour? This man got me involved in one of his online games recently to take over an SN - and it was all in German!

So, done! now off to inform them all they have been tagged. Have a happy reading experience!

Move to a new area - how do I find a job?

2008-09-01T03:47:00.001-07:00

Kate asks: My husband and I live in the Pacific Northwest and in the next year we want to move to Minneapolis/St Paul. I am a web developer with lots of experience in multiple environments and my husband is a Microsoft Systems Administrator with lots of experience with managing large number of users. What is the best approach with jobs for contracting in the new location?

In answer:
A task many have undertaken before, but a few key thoughts on how to do this.

Many just move and then find work, where as your approach is similar to those who need an income to facilitate the move and sustain their desired lifestyle. The problem here is the fear of the employer as to if and when asked you actually will move, and this is all not a desired/dream over a driven plan. Secondly, in recognising where there is and is not flexibility in your own plans.

You have to firstly remove the fear of any employer or recruiter by removing words like "plan" or "want" with "we are..." and focusing every word on the presumption that you area living in the desired area, while stating clearly when asked where you actually are living at the time of the question. The follow up to this will be "how long have you been planning this move" to which the answer is not too long - its hence best to set a date for the move, and not let it go on too long.

Secondly, your skills are more portable than your husbands - you could take home work or set up your own business, where as without a network your husbands skill set is less flexible. I would hence focus on a strategy which focuses on his employment as an essential of moving, and yours on a "as long as its within X months of getting there" assumption.

There are many recruiters in the desired area - its a metropolis, so no problems there. Have his resume re-written/polished, and make contact to check their views of availability of work/pay scales in the desired destination area. You may need to be a bit flexible at present in the final location of work, but there should be something in the desired range of skills/pay/location. Once registered, there should be a reasonable flow of opportunity.

I think the other key in this plan is not to underestimate the scale of moving over 1000miles. The reason to recognise the flexibility in your skill set is that it means when you first move he is dedicated to securing his post from trial, and not the two of you trying to cope with new schools and neighbourhoods and the issues those bring. Allow at least the first month for settling in issues, which would include you registering then with agencies who are looking at your skills sets.

Good Luck!

Do I need a cover letter for a McJob?

2008-08-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Nick asks: I was going to write a cover letter for a part-time job at a coffee shop. But then I realized that they probably don't care. Thoughts?

In answer:
Personally, I would drop the CV/Resume and just send a well written Cover Letter.

Imagine you are the coffee shop manager, and from your morning post you open two applications: one includes just a well written two page CV/Resume, which you have to pick the skills out of; the other is a well written one page Cover Letter which addresses the skills requirements, and looks forward for hearing form you to answer any further questions. Which one makes it easier to find the skills, and then pick up the phone to call them?

The purpose of any job application is to get the organisation to pick up the phone and contact you. Your only question - without lying in the process - is which method for a particular application is more likely to make that phone call happen?

Good Luck!

Should you embolden the important points on a cover letter?

2008-08-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

Greg asks: Should I embolden the important points on my cover letter where they relate to the required skills of the job advertisement?

In answer:
The style guru's have two answers to this:

YES - because it shows you have the required skills

NO - because its looks stylisticly awful, and suggests you think the person reading the letter can't pick out these issues

I'll come at this from the angle of - its depends! It is a far, far more accepted practise in North America, where the natural level of sales pressure and resultant acceptance is far higher. In Europe and the Far East, it is far less acceptable.

I therefore suggest that obvious cases for using this style choice would be sales, marketing and artistic posts; cases where this approach should not be used would include all executive, accounting, administration and all government posts. In between, depends where you are and what you are applying for, but it tends to suggest to the reader that you are a pushing/sales based personality.

Good Luck!

Job I interviewed for still unfilled, best approach for follow up?

2008-08-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

Melissa asks: I interviewed for a position in June (its now August), and did not hear anything. While browsing the company website I see that the position in still posted on their website as unfilled. I realize that there’s a chance that the site was not updated. What is the best way to approach to show that I’m still interested?

In answer:
There could be a whole bunch of internal issues as to why the post is not yet filled, from budget cuts to just a plain and simple external benchmarking exercise.

But in this case, lets just focus on you. Did you hear anything in follow up to your interview, or did you follow-up and then chase the contact (be that HR or a recruiter), for feedback?

Some time has passed now, so lets safely assume you didn't get the job - the only reason to follow up is hence for interview feedback. Write them a nice simple letter, saying that you assume you didn't get the position, but would appreciate as you have not heard from them feedback on both the skill set who did fill the post, and interview feedback for you. That way, if the position is filled, you know who and why - and if not, the possibility exists that you could still be offered another post with that company.

It is always best to follow up post an interview within a week, not by telephone but by letter or eMail. Always say thank you and ask for interview feedback, as that it is neutral and communicative ground for both parties.

Good Luck!

What do you think of a CV/Resume that omits graduation and other dates?

2008-08-26T03:12:00.000-07:00

Robert asks: What do you think of a resume that omits graduation and other dates? I received an e-mail from someone at a job web site in response to their offer of a free resume critique. One of the things it said was that if you graduated college more than 10 years go you should admit the year. Recruiters and HR People: What do you think of a resume that omits the graduation dates? Similarly, if you are dropping the year of graduation, will it make any difference if you have the dates of employment or indeed, any other dates? I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

In answer:
The first thing a CV/Resume should answer is - do you have the skills and experience to reach and exceed the job specification? Hence, the fact you have the right base degree counts more than the date you graduated - and the delivered experience since counts more than both of those.

In many countries now, legally there is no need for applicants to include or employers to specifically request certain information, including dates, as they are considered discriminatory to some extent - date of birth, graduation, etc. However, leaving them out and counting a statement which includes a 20+ career comment means they are not that hard to figure out - plus most corporates will at some point use a checking service, so it will come out at some point.

Personally, its up to you - there is no right or wrong generic answer, just what's right for you. If you can show career development with a second degree or more qualifications in a managed career path, then why not - if it happened 20years ago, and you have done little since, best not to.

Good Luck!

How can I pass a six month review evaluation on my new job?

2008-08-26T03:00:00.001-07:00

Pamela asks: How can I ace a six month review evaluation on my new job?

In answer:
By starting six months ago with an agreed set of conditions, skills and targets, which over the past six months at each monthly review you have brought up and agreed progress/or not against.

Any professional manager/reviewer worth their salt - and any of them reviewed by an HR manager - will have been keeping a record of your successes and failures: if they haven't then they need to go on a training course for conducting performance reviews. Therefore, you should also go armed with your own record of your own successes that you can refer to.

In either case, ask for and provide feedback on your performance. Explain how it could be better, or why its great. Get an understanding of the expectations of your supervisor. You want to leave the evaluation with a clear path of where you're going in your current role, but also any potential future position.

Be honest with yourself before entering the evaluation. If you know you've slacked off in an area, bring it up. Expose it so your manager knows you're aware of the "problem" and that you're addressing it. We all can't be perfect in all areas, 100% of the time.

Good Luck!

Why do companies not follow-up after conducting an interview?

2008-08-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

Ari asks: Why do companies not follow-up after conducting an interview? I notice a job ad, pitch myself to the employer, am asked to come in to their office for an interview, meet with senior managers, and am told I will receive a follow-up call or email in x number of days. Time passes without a response. I wait another week for good measure and call/email my interviewer or their assistant to inquire and 9 times out of 10 I never receive a response. I can cite numerous examples of this corporate behavior and I don't understand why. If *I* pitch *you* and you respond to me, that indicates I exhibit enough interest to warrant an hour out of your schedule to meet with me. Then you don't respond. I don't get it. On the extreme, I was invited to meet with a firm last year THREE TIMES and was never told the outcome nor was responded to when I asked for a status. Thoughts?

In answer:
Simply, its horribly unprofessional on behalf of the hiring company. Under EU law, there could be a case for legal duress, so most HR managers are on top of this. But in North America and other parts of the world where there is not so much focus on HR and Human Rights law, then such incidents can be common.

A professional would always close out - how ever badly the interview went, and even if it was clearly obvious to all in the room at the time that it was a "Don't call us, we'll call you" opportunity. Plus, a candidate deserves feedback on an interview, and how they can improve/apply more relevantly next time.

I would change your approach in one area, and review your performance in another. Firstly, the way you describe this situation it seems to be happening very often - so if after the stated time period you have heard nothing, go back with "Look, I am assuming I haven't got the position, but would appreciate your feed back on my application and interview performance." That's a far, far softer approach than a "have I got the job or not" question, and would allow even a wholly negative reaction to be delivered.

Secondly, I would review your choice of posts applied for, or your interview performance. Ask a friend before you apply for any new positions to check your application through for errors; if they think its appropriate and OK, then its probably your interview experience which needs a bit of buffing, so again ask a friend who has been a hiring manager to give you a mock interview, or take some training. Once you have learnt the skills, the situation should not repeat.

Good Luck!

Are you better than your resume?

2008-08-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

Steve asks: Are you better than your resume? How do you overcome this as a manager looking to hire or as a candidate trying to get the job? Maybe you've moved around too many times, even though YOU know you have excellent reasons. Maybe your degree is not in Finance, but rather in Art, but you are the best candidate for that wall street job, and you're certainly better that the guy you are competing with that has 10 stable years at the same position and an MBA in Finance. How do you overcome this as a candidate, or as a hiring manager, are you open to looking past this? To clarify, please assume that the candidate has relevant industry experience that is equivalent to a degree in the chosen field.

In answer:
There are three things to fulfilling any job requirement - skills, experience (delivered), and relevancy. So, you could be the best trained Cha-Cha-Cha dancer in the world, with a part time interest in stocks and shares trading which is how you live and made a fortune on; and now as your championship level professional dancing career comes to an end, applying for a full time finance post on Wall Street.

As a Wall Street HR director, would you take that enthusiastic amateur with some skills in the area where your job exists, that are unproven except in his own bank account - versus a 10 year Wall Street veteran with an MBA? Thought so.... which one would you hire if you were a cruise ship director looking for entertainers?

If you can't as a candidate match and answer skills, experience and relevancy, then by any HR director or Recruiter there will be a gap in your skills versus the job description, which they will read as risk. I took a professional sports person as my example here because every HR director and Recruiter loves to meet a world champion, plus they will also tell you that professional sports people come with a wholly ingrained focus and will to win, which makes career changing for them very easy.

If that truly is the candidates chosen path/goal, then I think only two strategies will work. Firstly, apply for the job anyway and after a written submission make a telephone call follow up - its your enthusiasm which will count and sell you. You may not get that job, but may well be offered a lower position on which to prove yourself against the experience track record you presently lack. The second option is to network in the chosen area - both attending meetings, as well as writing and calling the heads of the various companies, saying why you want to work in that field for them.

Career changing is an accepted part of the modern world, but during and for a period of five years after the transition period, there is a price to pay against the skills, experience and relevancy calculation in any hiring organisations mind - simply, close the gap through your focus, enthusiasm and commitment.

Good Luck!