Worky.com is a new Irish Recruitment Social Networking site.
When you write a good CV for your next Job in Ireland, make sure you do not apply to it on the Jobs sites. Since according to Worky – Job sites don’t work.
Here you can find more about Worky.
Paul Mullan is a Career Doctor for the Independent in Ireland. Every few weeks he offers free advice to readers across a range of career issues. You will find the Career Doctor column in Irish Independent Jobs & Careers section every Thursday. Below are two of the more recent questions and answers as they are quite topical in this market place.
CV & Job Hunting explains the importance of getting your CV and Job Search Strategies right.
Upskill in Ireland explains why you should upskill and the benefits of upskilling.
I have just finished running two successful CV & Interview Workshops over the last week. One was for a group of individuals who had just lost their jobs and the other for a group of students seeking work placement. What struck me was the amount of misinformation feed to jobseekers about CV’s and Interviews. Some of this information is so out of date it is unreal. More worryingly is the source of this information.
Jobseekers beware!! There are many career experts and wannabes in the market place offering so-called expertise. Unfortunately most of their knowledge has been taken for a lecture hall or text book. It is not real world and many of these experts have not experienced real world recruitment or job hunting.
CV Services and Interview Coaching services should be treated like any other service – purchase with care!! I suggest you seek referrals or recommendations from friends or family. If this is not possible check the service out online etc …..
Happy job hunting
Most businesses and processes have changed drastically in Ireland in the last decade – Recruitment, Careers and HR is no different and in actual fact may have changed more than most.
I was thinking about when I moved back to Ireland about 12 years ago. I joined one of the bigger recruitment consultancies in Ireland at the time. My how things have changed!! There were two PC’s in the office and one of those was for show – it didn’t actually work. The other was to receive CV’s from the very few high tech individuals who had email which was very few I may add. CV’s were faxed to the employer and the queue for the fax was as bad as the M50 today. Online Jobboards – you must be kidding. 99% of jobs were sourced through the local and national media. Online interviews and job fairs – next you will be telling me that people have landed on the moon.
So you can see how much thing have changed in the job market in a short space of time.
CV – Online CV or Video CV
It looks like the traditional CV could be changing. Online CV’s or Video CV’s get mixed reviews BUT I think when done right they can make an impact. They enable you to give that little bit more information to the employer that a piece of paper cannot. Video CV’s allow you to get your personality across and bring you to life. This is difficult with a paper CV. Have a look at this online CV. I cam across this site through another blog and this CV impressed me.
If you need a CV service or Interview Coaching check out these links. A professional can help you get the edge and make an impact in a competitive job market.
A CV is a key tool for job hunting and it is a key requirement when applying for most jobs. It is essential to have an impact CV and this will improve your performance on the job market. I have worked with all types of jobseekers and all types of CV’s in my time tweaking some and transforming others from frogs into princesses. However a professional can only do so much with your CV without blatant lies.
So what do you do when your CV is not getting you interviews?
Hide the CV!!
Quite often I meet individuals who are totally different than the image their CV gives with positive attitude and personality that cannot be caught on paper. The problem is that they keep relying on their CV’s and struggle in the job market. What do they do? Normally keep sending CV’s and become deflated with the rejection.
If your CV is not working try calling the employer directly. Have your sales pitch ready and use the opportunity to get you point across. Remember you are your CV and not the piece of paper. You will get knock backs from some clients when you call BUT others will entertain you. Good luck.
For more CV advice check out this post.
Would you pin your CV to the side of a public phone box or put it on the notice board of a local supermarket to try and get a job?
Lets face it we are getting lazy when it comes to finding a job. Email a CV to an agency and sit back or post your CV on an online job board and let the employers find you.
If you use these strategies you might take a little more care.
A client (who happens to work in recruitment for a financial services company) told me today that she had recently received spec CV’s from some recruitment companies. What is wrong with this? Well for two of the CV’s it would not have taken a rocket scientist to work out who owned the CV. In relation to jobboards they may not be as safe as you think – read this post.
What problems can arise?
The obvious is that your current employer finds out that you are looking but more importantly CV’s have personal details like name, address and contact details. (Dangerous in wrong hands – fraudster or weirdo)
Solutions
Use reputable agencies or request that your CV is not sent out speculatively. Use established jobboards.
Lets switch to Interviews for this post.
What questions should I ask at job interviews?
This is another popular question along with the salary question that I am regularly asked by my interview coaching clients. Some career experts will advise to ask questions that make you look good BUT I advise you to ask question to get the important information you need to make job choice decisions.
An interview is a two way process and you have to ensure that the job and the company are right for you. You have identified what you want in a new job so use this opportunity to get the valuable information that you need. There are many questions on the internet that people suggest but if you ask questions for the sake of it you are missing an opportunity.
Points to consider when asking questions at interview.
Most questions are fine except perhaps the salary question. It is probably better to let the client bring this up. When asking questions it is important not to ask for information that has been provided during the interview. If your questions have been answered during the interview then point this out to the client and never say that you have no questions to ask.
If you are seeking new employment in financial services or the shannon, tralee or carlow regions check out careersandjobs.
The easiest way to create a CV is to use one of many CV Templates available on the web. How to find them? Easy, just open Google.ie and type ‘CV Template’, and you will surely get a list of them. By just inserting your contact details, your experience, education and a bit about yourself, you will generate your CV in a few minutes. Great!
Is it really great? Imagine how many people used the same template, and is sending a CV to the recruiter that looks exactly like yours? The fonts, the colours, the layout,… everything is exactly the same. There is absolutely nothing visually characteristic and special about your resume, it is the same as the hundreds and thousands of the resumes a recruiters has to read every day, week or month.
What really makes a difference is to stand out! To send in a CV that is special! Back in the printed CVs era it was advisable to print the CV on a coloured paper, but headings, with anything so that your CV would stand out. Today in the electronic CVs era, it does not work, but you have a whole area of the typography and layout to express yourself. Do not go to the extremes, but be different! Make sure it is easy to read. Make sure it is professional. But also make sure that it looks unique!
How to assure your CV looks unique? Well edit that template you started from, change all font faces and all font sizes. All. And that is only to start with. Be creative, express yourself. Recruiters will notice you. You within thousands. They will remember your CV and will automatically try to match it with all the jobs they have available.
Use the CV templates as a guidance what elements should a CV have, but do not just put your name over it to use it.
