Professional CV

Death of the CV (again)

Jaigris Hodson of Ryerson University Toronto has heralded the death of the Resume/CV once more. Hodson has suggested that we should all embrace a digital platform as the CV will soon be (if it isn’t already) firmly on the extinction watchlist. Jaigris is quite rightly informing her pupils that to succeed in the job market will require a digital presence that employers can research or find when looking for talent. But is she correct when she claims that some employers will discount you for not having a digital portfolio?

Not quite but in only in so far that the statement is subjective.

Employers will discount you if you do not fulfill the requirement of the position requirements as advertised. If they ask for something then you should supply it as it will be a fundamental part of the application process. If they have no asked for something and you supply additional information then this could possibly exclude you too. So how can you ensure that you pass the first hurdle? Follow the requirement exactly and do not deviate without first seeking approval.

That’s enough digression, what about the death of the CV? In fairness and for clarity, Jaigris actually stated that it was the Resume headed for extinction but surely they are the same? No again, and this is where it becomes a little more interesting; our North American cousins are ahead of us in the UK & EMEA when it comes to embracing technology, and in this respect she is correct. Luckily we have more breathing space to adopt digital visibility but not much and maybe a year or two at the very extreme.

What should you do? Adopt and adapt. A Professional CV, Linkedin Profile and Executive Personal Website are the perfect solution for now and the oncoming future.

Death of the CV (again) Read More »

Linkedin Writing Service

Linkedin Contacts Update Released

From the Linkedin Blog: Linkedin has released an update to it’s iPhone app – which looks to organise your contacts in a “smarter way”:

Have you ever wished for a personal assistant who reminds you when your colleagues are celebrating new jobs or birthdays? Or have you wanted to quickly pull up the last conversations you had with people before you head out to meet them?

Today we’re proud to announce the launch of LinkedIn Contacts, a smarter way to stay in touch with your most important relationships. With this new product, we bring all your contacts from your address books, email accounts, and calendars together with the power of your LinkedIn network. Contacts is available both on LinkedIn.com as well as a brand new app for iPhone. Over the coming weeks, we’ll start sending invitations to try LinkedIn Contacts to a limited number of members in the United States.

With the new LinkedIn Contacts experience, we’ve introduced features in three areas:

Bring all your contacts to one place

LinkedIn Contacts brings together all your address books, emails, and calendars, and keeps them up to date in one place. From these sources, we’ll automatically pull in the details of your past conversations and meetings, and bring these details directly onto your contact’s profile.

Never miss an opportunity to say hello

Get alerted on job changes and birthdays in your network, a perfect opportunity to stay in touch. Also, you can set reminders and add notes about the important people in your life.

Take it on your mobile device

Stay connected on the go. LinkedIn Contacts is available as a standalone app for iPhone, so you can stay in touch with your contacts wherever you work.

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Linkedin Contacts Update Released Read More »

How to write a resume Infographic

A Great Resume – Wear a Bikini?

How to write a great resume – wear a bikini seems to be a part of the answer according to topcounselingschools.org although I’m failing to understand the benefits to your career personally. However, there are some useful pointers and some interesting statistics to be noted:

[lightbox width=”501px” height=”960px” href=”http://www.topcounselingschools.org/great-resume/anatomy-great-resume.png” iframe=”true”]The Anatomy Of A Great Resume
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A Great Resume – Wear a Bikini? Read More »

Applying for a Job

I have covered a diverse range of topics and tips regarding applying and managing the process of applying for a job but how do you manage your voicemail? Is your voicemail working correctly? I found out yesterday that my voicemail did not answer my calls and after a little targeted search on Google I discovered that I had to reset my visual voicemail. If you are an O2 customer and have an iPhone try this tip for changing the number of rings before your voicemail kicks in:

Turn 901 voice mail off by dialling 1760 from your iPhone. The lady on the line will confirm Voicemail has been deactivated.

Perform a Network reset on the iPhone. Home > Settings > General > Reset > Rest Network Settings

Send a SMS to 9011 with the word: STATE in the SMS. (Please note the word STATE needs to be in capital letters)

Once that is done give it a minute, then turn the iPhone off and then on.

Turn 901 voicemail back on by dialling 1750 from their iPhone. The lady on the line will confirm Voicemail has been activated.

Setup voicemail and then do a couple of test calls and leaving voicemail. Check functionality by turning your handset off/on and then going out of VVM and then back to check whether it asks to set it up again.

So that solution resolved my issue. But it also made me consider how your interaction or your agent of interaction (voicemail/email/spouse/partner/parent/child) responds when you are called after applying for a role?

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  • Voicemail: Use a standard default setting. Do not use your own voice unless you have the ability to sound confident and upbeat in the message. Ensure your voicemail switches on when required and check that it is diverting correctly.
  • Email: Pick a simple email address that refers to you by name. (We have seen some truly horrendous email names and some of the most puerile imaginable)
  • Person: If you have to use a number that might be answered by someone else then consider how the person will answer and if indeed they need to answer?

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All rudimentary? Are you thinking that you know all of this and everything smells of roses in your garden? Fair point. But do you know that most recruitment firms grade you as a candidate from those that considered superb down to those that do not grade at all? Your interaction with the recruiter can also be downgraded or upgraded by anyone that has contact with you from the agency.

Consider this:

You have sent your CV out and your phone or email remain painfully quiet – where do you think the issue might be?

(If you have a solution for reseting voicemail on a particular network then feel free to leave it here)

Applying for a Job Read More »

CV ready for the end of the recession

Is your CV ready for the end of the recession?

Your CV is going to come under increasing pressure over the next year as the economy pulls slowly from recession into a growth phase. The CBI predict that up to 35% of private sector employers are expecting to expand their workforce over the coming 12 months. In contrast 15% expect the workforce to be smaller.

How this will impact your CV:

Increased confidence from employers will filter into the economy and this knock on effect will in turn stimulate more interest from candidates who may have been treading time in positions that they no longer want. In turn, they will enter the recruitment market and increasingly dilute the pool of talent that is looking for the new positions. If the numbers are correct and you take the split from the two as a straight 20% then the numbers applying for each role will increase but the question is not how but by how much?

It is difficult to predict but for arguments sake lets say a minimum of 10% and a maximum of I’m not sure! What I can predict is this; More choice for employers and recruiters is the first simple assumption to make but what any candidate that has been out of work or is in an interim position should be concerned about is the competition from the people that just wish to change jobs. In a majority of situations those that have employment can be favoured over those that are out of work or interim. The bias occurs because a blanket false assumption is made that those coming from employment have a fresher skill set.

How to react:
Regardless of your current employment status it is your CV and to some extent your Linkedin profile that must start doing the work for you. Target the positions that you wish to apply for and start tailoring your CV to win interviews and jobs. If you have a generic CV or lack key detail from the job description woven into your CV (and cover letter if required) then you should not be surprised when you are not contacted to go for an interview.

If you want to beat the competition you have to beat them on every conceivable level.

Leaving everything to indifference is a catastrophic career choice.

Is your CV ready for the end of the recession? Read More »

How to avoid prejudice on your CV

CV Tip #5 Detail and Prejudice Avoidance Checklist

The Detail & Prejudice Avoidance Checklist

Guess what? People are bigoted. I know that’s a sweeping generalisation and that you might rank yourself amongst those pure souls that make a Buddhist look like a fascist, but no matter how much you try and convince yourself otherwise it is a fact. We can be assured that at this point in our history prejudice is being marginalised (as I’m writing this, John Terry the Chelsea footballer player has been found guilty by the FA of racial abuse) but will it ever be eradicated? Probably not if ever as it is a protective measurement that is a
Group Choice
[notice]Wikipedia:
“In evolutionary biology, group selection is a theory that alleles can become fixed or spread in a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups.”[/notice]
or sometimes
Genetic Choice
[notice]Wikipedia:
“…the gene-centred view follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the level of the genes) it makes for them to behave selflessly with each other. Therefore the concept is especially good at explaining many forms of altruism, regardless of a common misuse of the term along the lines of a selfishness gene.”[/notice]
throwback to a time when we would tribe (in Western culture has it ended? No.). Most of us can discern right from wrong and ignore our impulse and treat everyone as equal. However, can we really control our subconscious especially when its thinking 20 seconds ahead of us? This is the dilemma you face; people, humans are fallible by intent and sometimes through no fault of their own as shown on Horizon by the BBC:


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Therefore to try and stop prejudice and avoid the Group or Gene mentality, always ensure your cv follows the checklist below by eliminating clues that prejudice “flags” react to.
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  • Address and correct post code: if you have just moved to a new home and do not know the post code then use the royal mail post code finder
  • Hobbies: Keep them short and relevant: The application process for any position is littered with hobbies/pastimes or obsessions of applicants trying to to be funny/interesting or quirky. The consequence of adding the aforementioned is usually to lose credibility or to subject your CV to scorn and at the extreme, prejudice.
  • Portrait picture: This is where you will find double standards abound. Linkedin profiles encourage you to provide a picture and people are increasingly adding a head shot or in some instances a picture that they think is amusing or “cool” (avoid the latter 2 if your position requires an authoritative and corporate individual). Yet the concept of the CV in the UK seemingly still baulks against this trend. But why? Probably through recruiters and employers actively being against the idea for historic reasons and to avoid gender/race/colour/age prejudice. So why is Linkedin able to ignore this historic dogma? Probably because it has been adopted en masse and has become an expected norm whilst those profiles without pictures are now treated with suspicion(Group selection and subconscious again, the irony!).
  • Other images: We have seen a trend, of late, whereby some candidates have decided to add a company logo alongside a company profile in a role description. At first glance this makes a visual impact and if the companies in question are of a substantial size or are renowned, this can have a positive effect. Although there not many ATS options that can accomodate the images and could in some instances cause the CV to fail a parsing sift. Our advice to those of you that would like to use a company logo to follow up with a call to agent and ensure the CV has been parsed correctly. Failure to call could cost you the opportunity of an interview.
  • Religion: You may or may not have a faith or a belief but based on the information that I have presented here look at it on your CV and ask what does it add to your career document? It adds the opportunity for a reader to make a descion based on Group.
  • Facebook/Social or personal Websites: When assessing you for role suitability in the selection process, the recruiter will perform a search on your name via the internet. This can be both beneficial and detrimental; if you use social networks then you are the person responsible for how you portray yourself and the accessibility of the data therein. If you consider yourself a bit of a blogger then you may wish to include a link to your blog. If the blog in question adds something to your application (such as a record of papers that you may have written for an academic institution then use it and explain why on the cv. If your webspace is a place where you rant about life or just generally make vacuous statements based on an ill informed perspective then do not make the recruiter or employer aware. Equally, do not be surprised if the more tech savvy recruiter finds your fetish site and dismisses your application (Group).
  • Lies and truth bending: Any type of bending the truth or lying on your CV is illegal.
  • Age: Age discrimination is illegal and you are not required to put your DOB on a CV. However, by omitting your DOB you can expect to cause an irritation as you the recruiter will try and calculate your age by studying when you started your first position, left university or school. And while you may blister at the thought of someone doing this, it does occur (Group). There is a positive to this and it is experience may be emphasised. You could be a “seasoned campaigner” or a “whizz kid” both of which could say you have achieved a great deal in a time scale and therefore the merits of being old, young or somewhere in-between are viewed positively. Out of all the prejudices, I personally think that age is the one that is not as prevalent as it was in the past.
  • Name: Put your name on your CV and ignore what Nick Clegg said The chances of you being discriminated against by name and not getting a job are low but no one seems to have a percentage. We live in a multi-cultural society and the majority of people in senior decision making positions realise this and make informed choices on employment accordingly. I would suggest that if you are a victim of prejudice then make a complaint to the relevant authority, consider yourself lucky enough to find out before you begin employment and try and find a position with a modern or forward thinking business that appreciates talent as the main criteria for employment.
    Usually (thankfully), the reason you will not get a job in 99% of instances is either, you are not good enough, lack required experience or lack suitability of key criteria. One other reason, your cv was not optimised for the ATS and your application fell at the first obstacle.

    Do you think I covered all the detail relative to your CV? Add a comment below and let us know.

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CV Tip #5 Detail and Prejudice Avoidance Checklist Read More »

CV Tip Number 4 Phone Number

CV Tip #4 Phone number

Quickly following CV Tip #3 (which needed a post of its own) comes the other superfluous and sometimes erroneous detail on your CV. Begin with the phone number. Most people over 30 and under 60 tend to have 2, the good old landline and a mobile (or cell for the rest of the world; is that because you are a prisoner to it?). Those of you that were awake early will be quick to point out that you have 2 mobiles (one for work and one social) and also potentially a work landline. In the instance of your CV you need to use “YOUR LANDLINE and YOUR MOBILE”. Simply because you own them and therefore are unlikely to change them frequently. Put them in the footer of your CV and please make sure they are correct and include area codes.[info]Anecdote:
Recently, we had an application from an individual applying for a COO role and they had not included phone numbers or an email address for contact as “they were fed up with being contacted and offered roles”. Whilst I understand recruiters are an irritation, if YOU approach a recruiter then expect to be contacted! [/info]

CV Tip #4 Phone number Read More »

Founder of #TruEvents. Advisor to recruiting tech cos. SocialRecruiting Implentation. Trainer. Key-NoteSpeaker. Dad.

Linkedin; Continued evolution

Whilst watching our twitter feed this morning, Bill Boorman gave his impressions of Linkedin and its constant beta state. For the non technical, this translates as ongoing change and improvement measured by the time and interaction with the site. For job seekers and those in a position it gives an insight into how Linkedin and need to be on it is a critical feature of recruitment now and for the foreseeable future;

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[blockquote align=”center” cite=”@BillBoorman”]LinkedIn are on a constant path of change. Jeff Weiner, CEO of the professional networking giant describes this as a state of constant beta. The long term aims of the channel are shrouded in secrecy, but if you keep up with the changes it is easy to see a pattern developing. In the last quarters financial results Weiner commented that the company had made significant investments in increasing their sales team and in developing product. Each time I log in, something looks different or has moved to a different position on the screen. Whilst these changes might seem cosmetic, they are changing the way users are interacting with the platform, and this means recruiters need to be rethinking their LinkedIn strategy. The trend over time was for using LinkedIn from outside of the channel, with users relying on e-mail and third party applications to interact and keep up. At one time the average user only visited the channel 1.9 times a month. Most notably, engagement levels were low, and the discussion was all around whether LinkedIn was a social channel at all. What is interesting to note is that since the recent redesign of the home page engagement is now at a record level for the channel because users are driven to the home page, and the home page now contains a stream for updates which increases engagement. One of the other new features enables users to determine which updates get displayed on their home page. The default is for all updates in time sequence, with a refresh button at the top of the stream to show the number of updates since you logged in to the channel. The display options are:[/blockquote]

continue reading

Recruiters: What the new LinkedIn means to you

Linkedin; Continued evolution Read More »

CV Tip #2

Where should education be placed on a CV?

You have just two options depending on background;

Students with no experience would do well to start with their education first as the recruiter or employer will try and establish a link with how well you performed in school or university as to how this could translate to the workplace. Those with any paid work, voluntary or internship history should position education at end of the CV.

But why?

The reader wants to know (as quickly as possible), what you are doing now or the last position you held as this gives an indication to suitability for the postion that you have applied for. Granted that application tracking software (ATS) will try and extract pertinent data and attempt to match you to the postion but there will still be a good old fashioned human being tasked with reading your CV and determining if it’s time well spent attempting to contact you.

CV Tip #2 Read More »

CV tip #1

Should I write a profile for my CV?

This is quite a difficult question to answer for a number of reasons;

1. If you consider the role of the person tasked with reading your CV after it has passed through the ATS then these days the emphasis for a CV is usually matching skills and achievements under a description of the role you fulfilled within the company you worked for.

2. Writing a paragraph of detail described as a profile preceding this will invariably find the reader ignoring it as they prefer all information in a relative section.

3. Further to this, if your career to date has not amounted to much or you are of a level below a management position it’s a probably a waste of time writing a profile because at junior levels the profile requirement diminishes even further.

Except none of this is actually completely correct.

Here’s why;

Every recruitment organisation uses a management system called an ATS to either filter responses to adverts or to manage a database of candidates and this is where you can use the profile paragraph to your advantage. The ATS will filter suitable candidates based on keyword matches. If you write a keyword rich profile this will only help you get noticed in the database and will not hinder your choices in any way.

This is also the reason why an Executive CV should always have a profile – it is an opportunity to highlight detail early in the document and thus entice the reader to look further into the CV. This also correlates with the way Linkedin is currently using the summaris(z)e paragraph.

 

CV tip #1 Read More »

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