CVs and Interviews

Networking is a key strategy for jobseekers to unearth jobs in the hidden job market. Invest time in this strategy and you will open yourself to more opportunities. Networking is not easy and the below article explores the topic a bit more.

Here we go again another so called expert banging on about the value of networking and creating more hype about a strategy that doesn’t deliver. I know networking works and here is a recent example which prompted my article. A participant from my outplacement workshop emailed to say thanks and informed me that they offered my networking advice to their partner who secured two interviews through Facebook within 24 hours. So you are right when you believe networking doesn’t work and you can stop reading.

Why more jobseekers (or businesses) do not use networking?

Networking requires blind faith – We cannot see the opportunities which can make it difficult for us. Advertised jobs/opportunities appeal as they are tangible whereas proactive job search is difficult as we work in the dark. Most of us need to see before we can believe BUT networking requires us to believe before we can see.

Networking is hard work – Networking requires moving out of our comfort zone (lazy zone). Then there is rejection and knockbacks. Most pitch expectations too high and expect results too soon. We don’t land results and give up.

A few pointers that help me when networking …

You know what the say about ASS-U-ME – Everybody knows somebody no matter who they are or what they do. Back in 2004 my mother had a potential lead for me. I never asked her as I assumed she wouldn’t know anyone in the IFSC. Sorry mum! Ensure that you talk to everyone!!

I just called to say…. No not Stevie Wonder “I love you” more like “How are you?” Social Media makes networking more accessible and less daunting for many. We find it easier to engage online than face to face in a room full of strangers. Ensure you take online connections offline with a phone call or meeting. You will develop stronger relationships and access more information and value.

Give and thou shalt receive – I firmly believe in this one. Helping others and not expecting anything in return will enhance your networking. Most people fall into the trap that networking is all about them. Big mistake! Go out of your way to help others.

Stay on the radar – Many think networking is about phoning all their connections and telling them what they want and the sitting back. You need to stay on the radar as out of sight means out of mind. You need to continually engage your network and not rely on one of communication.

There is much more advice but I have over shot the runway with my word count Please feel free to add tips that work for you. And I love success stories. As I posted in Measurability Careers & Jobs Club – Reading success stories can inspire others to engage and network more.

Been quite busy over the last few weeks working on a few outplacement projects and this explains the lack of activity. I have written a few posts for Bloggertone that may be of interest. These articles are all based on my belief that job search success requires – activity, creativity and visibility.

Linkedin is becoming an increasingly important tool for jobseekers. My Linkedin article explains how to get more traffic to view your profile.

The next article is about bringing creativity into your self marketing to help you stand out in the crowd.

Enjoy

Just a quick reminder that I will be presenting at the Keep Ireland Working Careers Fair on the 12th November. My topic will be CV Writing – How to deliver more interviews. I will be about the RDS most of that day and will be helping man a career stand. This stand will offer advice and tips to jobseekers all day. Why not pop along and introduce yourself.

My recent activity …..

My work – Just delivered three excellent career workshops last week working with a great bunch of people who had recently been let go. Serious days but we had some fun throughout. Off to Cork today for a few days work with my VEC project. Then next week I have more outplacement work.

In the papers – I commented on a recent ST article about motivating staff in tough times. My angle really was good communications and strong leadership. I will be in the weekends ST talking about the upcoming Career Event in the RDS. Keep an eye out for it as there will be some useful tips on maximising returns at a career fair.

Online – I have started writing some articles for a new business blogging site called bloggertone. There seems to be good interest and traffic which is probably down to my pearls of wisdom . I have posted two articles to day Linkedin – Do You Dance & Jobhunting – Time to turn the lights on. My RecruitIreland article will be out this week and the topic is Personal Branding. Ensure that you are registered for RI monthly e-zine – some great advice and I write most weeks.

Linkedin – My Linkedin Group – Measurability Careers & Jobs Club is growing from strength to strength. We now have 83 members with an 80/20 split. 80% jobseekers and 20% career/HR/Recruitment experts. Why not join up as there are some excellent discussions, job news and advice.

Twitter – Feel free to follow me at Paul Mullan Twitter

Good Luck

Paul

I have been asked to talk at the upcoming “Keep Ireland Working” Career Fair organised by Monster. It will be held in the RDS on 12th November and I will be talking at 12.30 and the topic is CV Writing. (may have another slot to do so will keep you posted).

Career Fairs can be a positive or negative experience but the outcome is down to you. Below I have outlined some tips to help you increase your value. There is much more that you can get out of this day aside from meeting me and hearing me talk

Before the event – preparation is essential and you need to plan your attack and identify what you want to achieve. Otherwise you could spend your time aimlessly wandering around or stuck in the coffee tent. Areas to consider include

- Find out which companies are attending – is there any way you connect before the event – Are the employers attending the event users of Linkedin.
- Have a 30 second sales pitch. You have to stand out from the crowd.
- Have some questions prepared to ask potential employers – just in case you speak to DM
- Have a wow CV & business card

On the day – it goes without say that you push yourself out of your comfort zone and dress for success. As someone mentioned earlier a smiling face is always welcome. Other things to consider include

- Get there early – From experience the first hour or so can be slow and you might get more airtime with the employer. With this in mind try to target ideal companies first.
- Make yourself visible – Handing CVs and slipping back into the masses is of no real benefit. Engage the employer within a short window. Remember these are busy places so you will only have a short window so deliver your sales pitch you have prepared.
- Collect Business Cards – if available as this will support follow up.
- Talk to everyone – this includes other people attending the event – you never know!!

After the event – follow-up.

Follow me on Twitter – Paul Mullan Twitter
Join Measurability Careers & Jobs Club on Linkedin

Enhance your Linkedin presence

Below are some Linkedin Tips for Jobseekers taken from the Measurability Careers & Jobs Club.

1. Profile headline

Your Headline is a very important part of your Linkedin profile. This is normally the first thing people see when they view your profile. For example if you posted a comment or started a discussion in the Group it would show your Name/Picture and Professional Headline.

Increasingly Recruiters/HR Managers are searching Linkedin and this can help them find you. Active jobseekers should insert the words “seeking” or “looking” in their Headline. Other information to consider is preferred location/industry or name drop a previous employer (reputable). Remember your Professional Headline is a marketing opportunity – use it effectively.

Some users are very creative and a good tip is to view what others are doing and take their ideas and make them better.

2. Recommendations

Recommendations are an important part of building your online profile. If you do not have any recommendations I suggest that you go and get some. For me an old boss, a customer or a client work the best – work colleagues don’t carry as much weight but are ok if it is all you can obtain.

If you have old references/recommendations why not include them in the text of your description about previous roles. I added some to the text this of my role at Measurability on my profile. I didn’t want to bother the client again BUT also some of the testimonials are for sensitive projects.

If you are really cheeky – when you are asking for a reference/recommendation why not tell your contact that to save them hassle you will write it and email it to them. Many will agree to this and it will give you more control over what is written.

3. Ask & Answer Questions

This is easily one of the most important aspects of using Linkedin. Some jobseekers get this point but unfortunately many never do. You see there really is no point creating a profile on Linkedin and sitting waiting for things to happen. You have to make it happen.

Answering a question – You can answer questions in the groups you have joined or you can answer general questions via the answers drop down menu bar. Answering questions will increase visibility, draw readers to your profile and it is an opportunity to show readers your expertise in an area. Apart from potential employers/recruiters finding you there is also the opportunity to make new connections.

Asking a question – Users ask questions for many reasons. This will increase visibility but more importantly you can get free advice and tips.

Market Yourself effectively and land more jobs ….

Linkedin, Networking, Social Media Networking, Job Hunting

I am always bleating on about being proactive in your job search. Yes you have to cover the easy bases like job boards, agencies and papers – as I see them here everyday. However if you really want to step it up you can do much more.

Let me tell you about an experience yesterday. I received the below email with a CV attached.

Good afternoon,

I have recently been made redundant and am looking to be placed in a company free of charge to gain experience.

I have 8 years HR experience and would like to become a consultant at some stage. I do need to gain experience however.

I hope you could consider this proposal, as I want to put my time off to good use while offering my skills and experience to the company

I admired the “get up and go” attitude so I returned an email to request that the individual call me in the afternoon. We talked and I decided to inform a few of my corporate clients about the offer. One hour later there was one request. Now this is where I stepped out of the equation and put the two in direct contact. To be honest I don’t know if anything came of it…..

What do we learn from this ….

1. This individual is seeking permanent work BUT by offering services for free they are gaining experience and plugging a hole in the CV. She was also making loads of new contact in the meantime.

2. This individual is keeping busy – one of the worst things about not working when job hunting is the time element. Most people think about their situation and get themselves down.

3 This individual is putting themselves in the shop window if they get in to an organisation – could lead to something else.

4. This individual asked for help. You will be surprised what help people will give you if you just ask. There are some great people out there (that includes me)

Careers & Outplacement Ireland – MEASURABILITY

I have started to answer career, interview and CV questions on Linkedin offering free advice jobseekers and employers. Below is on recent Linkedin question and answer relating to cold calling. Cold calling can be a useful tool to land your next job. If you want other free career advice you can follow me on twitter

How do you get used to the idea of “Cold Calling” to help build a network?

I agree with Richard that Cold Calling is probably the least effective tool but sometimes desperate measures require desperate means. I am a rejection junkie BUT still hate cold calling even though I have developed some very good contacts and business from this strategy.

I guess the biggest hurdle is fear of rejection. What does rejection mean in your situation? You don’t have a job. You phone up a cold lead and he/she slams the phone. Guess what you still don’t have a job. You are no worse off. Rejection will not make you any worse off. Expect some rejection so it won’t be a shock – it is likely that you will be told to “go forth and multiply”

Remember that even though the ultimate goal is to get a job any valuable information you acquire to keep up momentum is a success. This means you can still achieve a positive outcome from your call without actually landing a job. For example another networking lead, important industry information and possible networking opportunities. This will mean that rejection isn’t fully rejection.

What to say – there are loads of creative angles and I love humour ….. My first job was in recruitment in London for a US firm. The MD was a very inspirational guy. I was struggling once and he pulled me aside and told me a story. When he was doing my job in US he was trying to break a large account. Rejection followed rejection followed rejection. No matter what intro or angle he used nothing worked. One day he landed a big deal and was high as a kite and decided to target our old friend – the nightmare decision-maker at the large account. It went something like this ….. Hey John its Greg from Made-Up Resourcing. Listen before you hang up I just want to say that I have had a great day, landed a huge deal and I am feeling on top of the world. I decided to call you so that you could bring me back down to earth. What followed – Short silence, laughter – New Business …..

You could also try asking for advice rather than a job. From experience people love to talk about what they do and are flattered when perceived an expert. You can be informing the contact that you are job hunting without physically saying the words “do you have any jobs?”

Paul Mullan Linkedin Profile

According to some online job boards and agencies the recession could be a thing of the past. Over the last week or so I have noticed much positive comment from recruiters and job boards. Is this the end of the recession? I am no economist but I would not get too excited yet. It sure is good to read some positive stories though. We could have reached the bottom of the recession but according to many experts it could take a while to reach economic heights when the recovery does arrive. Below are some comments from senior people within the recruitment sector. It has always been my belief that recruitment is the pulse of economic activity

Comment from Jane Lorigan (Marketing Director – IrishJobs.ie)

August figures from the IrishJobs.ie Online Jobs Index were released yesterday. Jobs advertised by companies in August increased by 3% over July and have increased 10% since the Index began in April.

Comment from David Block (MD – Brightwater)

After a nightmare, almost indescribable 12 months we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with 4 months in a row of growth, with a jump in vacancies of 45.61% in June and a further 20% in July – compound growth from April to August of 86.79%. With Recruitment taking so long now, we’re looking for this to translate into September figures – and onwards and upwards from there!

I am getting much of this information from a number of groups that I have joined on Linkedin. As I pointed out in previous posts Linkedin is a great tool to make great connections but it has many other uses including being a great source of useful information.

Career Coaching – Job Search Support, CV Writing and Interview Coaching.

Linkedin has changed my business in a very short space of time. It provides an excellent tool for networking, business development and marketing – It offers a new platform to gain additional exposure to potential corporate and individual clients.

Not only has it impacted how I generate business and contacts but it has also impacted the content of job search discussions with jobseekers participating in private 1-1 coaching or outplacement programmes.

Social Media Networking and Linkedin is now a critical tool for jobseekers. Although not established as a job hunting tools it is proving very valuable. Many of my clients embrace this advice but there are those who fail to gravitate away from traditional reactive job hunting techniques.

I have many positive stories about how Linkedin has worked and I hope the most recent quote will help convince other jobseekers to increase proactive efforts and access the hidden job market.

“Hi Paul, I have some good news – got a job! So much of what you mentioned came to light. More interviews came my way after the re-jig of my CV. Got the job via Linked In, which I need to update. Thanks again for your assistance, it was a great help.”

Measurability helping jobseekers navigate a tough job market in Ireland – Career Direction, Job Hunting Advice, CV Writing and Interview Coaching.

Linkedin, Networking, Social Media Networking and Job Hunting.

There are no jobs in Ireland …….

Yes it is a tough job market but there are jobseekers finding jobs and there are jobseekers interviewing for jobs as you read this post. If you talk to agencies, read the papers or view online job boards you will see a drop off in the numbers of jobs advertised. The nature of my work provides me with an insight into job market activity and believe me there is activity in the job market!! Just because jobs are not advertised does not mean that there are no jobs!! I have 4 interview coaching sessions this week – these are preparing for one internal interview and three external interviews.

I had an interesting experience last week when I spoke with a jobseeker and an employer one call after another ……

The first call was with the jobseeker. I was finishing off their CV and was providing some advice on job search strategies. This individual was employed in sales and I was commenting on the usefulness of the tools they used in his day to day sales job for job search. When talking about networking they commented that they did not have the time to network so would be solely relying on agencies.

When I hung up my next conversation was with a company owner seeking advice and costs for services to help a family member. We were having a general discussion when he indicated that he was bucking the trend and hired a sales executive recently. I said “I bet you didn’t have to advertise” to which he responded “no need”. He filled the job through industry contacts.

My jobseeker from the first call would never have landed the company owner’s sales job as their sales experience did not match requirements. BUT what if the individual could have done the job and was suitable for the job. As they are relying on agencies they would never have accessed the opportunity. Yes networking and proactive job strategies do take time and energy but this is the only way to access the hidden job market. I am not saying that you should not use agencies, newspaper adverts or job boards. You should use these tools to access the low hanging fruit (advertised jobs) BUT if you want to access the hidden jobs market (unadvertised jobs) you must get proactive and use strategies like networking.

Perhaps the above satement should read — “there are no jobs advertised in Ireland”

Career Expert – CV Writing, Effective Job Searching Advice & Interview Preparation.