CVs and Interviews

I set up Measurability Careers & Jobs Club on Linkedin 4 weeks ago and we already have 80 members. The Group was set up to support Jobseekers and I offer advice and have gathered a group of professional and experts to help with this. We now have about 80% jobseekers and 20% recruiters/HR and career professionals.

If you are a jobseeker and you use Linkedin please feel free to join. If you are a recruiter/HR/Career professional you can also join BUT I expect contribution from you.

The Link to Measurability Careers & Jobs Club

Cover Letters – Creativity for results

A question was asked recently on Linkedin about whether you should send out naked CVs (send CVs without cover letters). Below is part of my response. By the way – If you are sending application after application with no response perhaps you should try a creative approach like the below example. Put it like this – if you are not getting positive results you have nothing to lose

QUESTION

You don’t send out naked resumes without cover letters do you?

MY REPLY

Yes you do send out naked CVs without a cover letter if I am the decision-maker. Writing a cover letter would be wasting your time as I never read them. Stopped reading cover letters years back as I was sick of reading the same old stuff.
Now if you were a creative job hunter and tried this approach then I would read your cover letter……

1. Write out your cover letter.
2. Crumple the page into a ball.
3. Open it back up, fold it and place it in the envelope with your CV.
4. Post and wait.
5. Reader receives the envelope and opens it while drinking a coffee
6. Crumpled page – what is going on here?
7. Reader is intrigued and opens the cover letter and begins to read.
8. Dear Paul, I took the liberty to crumple up this page to save you time when throwing it into the bin.
9. Reader laughs out loud before picking up the phone to set up an interview.

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

How do I get the most out of my cover letter?

Although I rarely read them many employers do. With this in mind an expertly crafted cover letter can enhance your job hunting efforts. An important point to remember is your distribution strategy as most applications are sent by email nowadays. Below are a couple of points to ensure that your cover letter gets read and delivers the punch intended.

1. Only include a short message on your email and do not put your entire cover letter. It will not be read. Use a message that is at most a couple of lines and something snappy.

2. Put your cover letter and CV in the same file. When the receiver opens the file/document, they will have both and be able to print both easily. It is possible that the receiver will open two separate documents and will probably gravitate towards the CV meaning the cover letter may not be read.

3. Focus the cover letter to respond to the requirements in the advert, this will lead them to your CV, which is the purpose. Don’t try to make your cover letter a mini-CV.

4. Differentiate and personalise the cover letter. Use the cover letter to comment on something you found out about the company in your research, especially if it is something that you have in common.

5. Put energy into your letter. Starting your letter “I am responding to your ad. . .” is boring. Starting it with “I was excited to read your advert for . . .” could work.

Hope these help

CV Writing Service Ireland

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 set up a new Group last Friday (2nd October) on LinkedIn – Already 7 members. The goal of this Group is offer a platform for Jobseekers currently active in the job market – enabling online networking and access to free advice. Yes – free advice!! Aside from jobseekers there are a number of experts in recruitment/hr/careers/interviews/CVs. All are welcome to join and my only request is that you contribute. Believe me when I say if you are invisible people will not find you.

Join now — Measurability Careers & Jobs Club

I found it quite hard to get into Twitter and if I am honest still struggle a bit. I received this post about “10 Twitter Mistakes” and I think everyone should read it.

How do I use Twitter?

I post career, interview, CV, job searching and job related posts – If you are interested follow me at Paul Mullan Twitter.