The New Job Hunter

Something for nothing

When was the last time you offered to lend a hand?

 

Recently I have started suggesting that people literally do something for nothing. Not just lending a hand or doing a good deed, but actually committing to unpaid work. The look of horror on most faces is amusing, but I am in fact deadly serious about the benefit that is there to be gained.

 

Far too many job hunters are of the opinion that sitting back and conducting online job searches is the most valuable thing that they can do. Visiting each individual job site in turn and reading the same vacancy adverts posted by the same recruitment agencies is not going to get you any closer to finding a new job, and it certainly won’t fill that ever increasing gap on your CV.

 

If your time is filled with nothing, then why not go out and fill it with something? Networking is regarded as one of the best ways to secure new opportunities and whilst we all seem to be focussed on online activity and social media, there is nothing wrong with good, old fashioned face to face interaction.

 

As companies cut costs and in many cases staff, there is a world of opportunity to lend a hand and develop your own skills and knowledge. Small companies in particular are often appreciative of someone who wants to gain experience or volunteer to learn about their business – they may not be able to offer you a job but if you impress them, then they may know someone who can!

 

In an ideal world, we would all be paid handsomely for our efforts, but the world as we know it, at the beginning of 2009 is far from ideal.

 

Whether it’s filing, photocopying or working as a general dog’s body, any exposure you can gain to an industry that interests you is better than nothing.  Perhaps when you do secure an interview for your dream role, the knowledge or skill you developed when volunteering could swing it for you!  

 

So if there is a company or organisation that you may be interested in, why not ask the question – what have you got to lose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Interview Dress

Most of us have, at some point in our career, owned an interview suit. The kind of outfit that you buy in the hope that you will project the most professional image possible! In fact, for many people this is the area to which they pay the most attention to during the interview preparation phase.

 

Strange then how so many people shoot themselves in the foot before they even make it to a meeting. The image that you portray on interview day is highly important, but have you stopped to think what your online image says about you?

 

There is no doubt that the utilisation of social media as a means of job hunting is increasing in popularity on a daily basis. Canny job hunters are using social networking techniques to track down opportunities and to make contact with potential colleagues or employers with great success. In addition though, hiring managers and companies are also doing their own research and these online tools are, in many cases, highlighting a little more information than is actually necessary.

 

An open Facebook profile providing half naked holiday snaps and drinking competition photos is probably not the best way to demonstrate your employability to the world. I’m sure we would all like to hope that people won’t pre-judge or dismiss us based on a couple of fun filled photos or an outspoken blog, but is it really worth the risk?

Optimism from Marriott

Excellent news that Marriott are to go ahead with their graduate intake for 2009, despite the crunch!

 

The hospitality industry will no doubt be one of the hardest hit with both corporate and leisure spend decreasing as a result of the economy so it’s good news for graduates who will be entering the employment market this year.

 

More info here: http://tinyurl.com/7hywwn

 

 

 

A small dose of optimism anyone?

Although I agree that the news from M&S regarding their redundancies and store closures is miserable, I have to say that I am tiring of all the doom and gloom that the media are spreading. Did anyone really expect a company like Marks to carry on as normal? Of course not, even if they are not at breaking point they were always going to tighten their fashionable belts and make cut backs in line with the rest of the retail industry.

 

Isn’t it about time to put things into perspective and attempt to be slightly optimistic about the situation? What is there to gain from reading and worrying about predications made by experts?

 

There is no doubt that house prices will fall further still and that by the end of this quarter the levels of unemployment will have risen again but this morbid fascination with worst case scenarios isn’t going to help anyone, least of all the job seeker.

 

However difficult it may seem, right now is the time to try and find some confidence that this situation will improve and we will all survive. There are organisations that are still recruiting staff so there is hope for the unemployed, you just need to be in the right frame of mind when opportunity comes knocking.

 

New Year, New You, New Start

The age old phrase “first impressions count” has never had more meaning than it does in today’s competitive job market. With hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants for each online advertisement, I am continually surprised by the many job seekers that don’t seem to consider the importance of making that initial contact.

A recent graduate writing for the Evening Standard this week describes his encounter with a recruitment consultant in addition to the joys of online job applications. The ever successful Reed website, kindly informs the user of the number of applications made for each particular vacancy, including the 587 applications in 48 hours for the role of Office Assistant.

Rightly or wrongly, my automatic reaction upon reading that was poor recruiter!

As a recruiter I have never been under any illusion about the general perception of our industry. Every individual you speak to has, at some point in their career, had a bad experience with a recruitment consultant. It’s exactly the same type of dislike that we all seem to have for Estate Agents, fundamentally they can’t do right for doing wrong. I would however argue, that in the current economic conditions, being the bearer of negative news is challenging even for the most hardened recruiter.

Advertising that role generated 587 emails over a two day period, which is a mountain to climb, even for a speed reader. Literally hundreds of people desperate to gain that foot in the door and more importantly, the guarantee of cash at the end of the month. So if your CV was one of the many hundreds that arrived, what steps should you be taking to make sure you are in with a shot?

Going back to my initial point, first impressions do count and as much as we dislike recruiters or feel that their place within the recruitment process is merely operational, never forget that they are an important decision maker. Not only that, they are often highly pressurised, target driven, time poor decision makers who will see reasons to reject you quicker than Sir Alan can shout “You’re fired!”.

Email salutations, spelling, grammar and a polite approach should all be essentials when applying online. Far too many people skim over these details when hurriedly typing their application and each day it is normal to come across one or two who manage to spell their own name wrong! Consider how your attention to detail is viewed when you send your covering letter detailing the incorrect job title or company name!

These small details are never going to secure you a job, nor will they guarantee you an interview, but in a market when applicants far out number the job vacancies, you would do well to double check everything within your control to maximise your chances!

Social Warfare?

I have been predicting for a while that this could get messy. Please find an article below from today (Wednesday19th November) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1087204/A-middle-class-recession-One-moment-youre-planning-holiday-youre-abyss-.html#comments The article itself is difficult and thought provoking (and wonderfully written) BUT, it’s the comments that hit home. How people have viewed this couple’s unfortunate circumstances.

Enjoy.

Its cold (and safe) up north....

Apologies for my recent absence, I had to travel to Yorkshire with the family for a couple of days. It’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of London; with the only real choice I had to make was which fish and chip shop to head to!

 

The North is a clearly a very different place to the South, and in particular London. In the last recession it was the North that was hit hardest; the blue collar workers were left in disarray with their livelihoods in tatters, however, this time it’s a different story.

 

This is a very middle class recession. It is going to effect middle England like never before, and I cannot emphasise enough the importance to get your stuff together and to ready for the potential, bold out of the blue phone call. In years gone by, our Economy was underpinned by manufacturing, however that as we all know has moved steadily to the current Service lead industries we all love to hate in 2008. The manufacturing and engineering roles will undoubtedly still get hit, and hard, but there simply isn’t the levels of employment in that sector that we saw last time round. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7732164.stm

 

The LGA (Local Government Association) has announced this week that London is most at risk to be hit by the recession and I can absolutely see why. On my journeys around the UK researching my work it is absolutely apparent to me that this is a bombshell waiting to explode. People simply are not aware of the implications of their jobs and the income and earnings this provides. For years people have been focused on investment, they’ve been focused on spending the money that seemed to literally fall into their lap, and I know why – I did it!

 

The LGA report suggests that nearly 8% of all jobs in London are under threat by 2012, and this, I fear is jus the tip. Unemployment is tipped to push 3 million, but it is the knock on effect this has on the wider economy. Taxation levels will fall to an unprecedented low – the Government has a choice, cut public expenditure in line with income or continue and create a taxation deficit that will need to be found somewhere, sometime. This will strain the public sector, which is about to be needed more than ever! – How many people have Private Health Insurance? How many people send their children to Private School? Of course, there are many individuals who will always be wealthy enough to support such expenditure.

 

A recent report by Halifax Financial Services showed that the average Private school fees were £10,239 a year, or £853.23 a month in 2008. Imagine the number of people that could afford that figure that simply hasn’t got a hope this time next year? How many people are going to be re-entering the state system? The schools already have squeezed budgets, and they are going to have to do more with less money. The same will be said for the private health service as Bupa, AXA PPP are all supported by large corporate companies who add their products to their benefits packages – redundancies means smaller subscriptions on behalf of their staff, and for those that pay for this out of their personal income, it is very likely to mean that this will be removed from peoples monthly expenditure.

 

We need a solution, and we need it fast. If we don’t stimulate the job market, this will have an enormous effect on society, and not only for those in the dole queue. But for now, I am still working out whether Cod or Haddock is the order of the day.

 

 

Tut’ Later,

 

JS

 

 

Virgin, Yell, BT, what next? The NHS...

So, another large organisation has announced redundancies, not just a few, but 10,000 of them! British Telecom has never been everyone’s favourite household name, and as of today they might be even lower down the ranks around the UK! Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7726174.stm

What does this mean to you and I? Well, the redundancies that have been announced this week are now making that dangerous inroad into “normal business” that I referred to yesterday. Of course, unique businesses that have ridden off the back of the “boom” as Mr. Brown puts it have cashed in, and if they’re clever, then they’ll be long gone! I am, of course talking about the Property Developers, the Hedge Fund Managers and all of those companies that for years have begged the question “What do they actually do?”

November 2008 has seen the introduction of the mainstream companies; BT is a national institution, it’s as British as well, Royal Mail. Surely, BT offered the “job for life” if you wanted it? Many of us will have grandparents or parents that have worked for one of the UK’s largest employers and whilst BT has suggested that it will mainly affect “agency, contract staff and off-shore workers” I somehow doubt that this will be the picture come March 2009.

The thing that is most concerning about these redundancies (and those announced yesterday) is the speed at which the announcements are being made. The question of which company will be next, seems to hang over us like a black cloud. I really do hope that we will begin to see an end of these reports; however, from the findings yesterday it appears that these may simply keep on occurring.

Tomorrow is your future, are you ready?

The darkest day..........so far

Tuesday 11th November 2008 will be remembered by many as the 90th Anniversary of the ending of the First World War. For some however, whilst that importance is not lost, it was a very different day.

Yesterday became the worst day so far for job losses within our crumbling economy and job market. Companies that were water tight, are now taking on water faster than a fat bloke at the end of the London Marathon and companies that offered tons of stability resemble my wife after a session on the red wine, whilst in the middle of a storm...on a boat!

So, Virgin Media, Yell and GlaxoSmithKline all join the rather more obvious companies to announce "restructures", now between you and I that means "redundancies".

Tuesday November 11th will also show that unemployment is at its highest point for longer than we can remember. The reports will show that we now have in excess of 1.8 Million people unemployed which is bad, however perhaps more frightening than this is that an expert, a.k.a Ross Walker, an Economist at The Royal Bank of Scotland (should we listen to him?) has suggested that this time next year that figure will be around 2.7 Million people.

People who always had a job, could always find work and did not worry about their income suddenly need to. I cannot emphasise enough that the impact this will have, not only on today, but also the future of your career could be colossal.

The key and solution to this? Revitalize you! Get your junk together and be in the shape of your life to secure your next role. Being average is a no-no, being good is simply last year and being exceptional is the only way forward.

Vacancies hit an 11 year low......Dont Panic!

The (lovely and ever so useful) Recruitment and Employment Confed (in conjunction with the brilliant firm KPMG) have told us that there are the least number of vacancies on the job market since 1997.

This is also happening at the same time as salary levels for new hires are also falling, with a 4.3 point fall on a very clever indexing system used to work out the exact levels of employment and salary levels.

This comes on the same day that the REC advise job seekers to utilise the services of Recruitment Agencies more for advice. There within lies the problem - as we all know Recruiters (in the main) only help individuals who they can place in their job vacancies so they can generate revenue. I really hope that the REC wakes up soon and realises that this is not the job of the Recruitment Companies, but the job of the Job Seeker.

By investing in your own career, your own job search and your own interview process it is my belief that you will begin to find your own feet and not wait on the advice of a spotty teenager with (significantly) less experience than you!