In the last two weeks I have been rewarded for going the “extra mile” with clients and reminded of the reasons why I enjoy doing the job I do.
Conversely, the experience of trying to sell our house has reminded why going the “extra mile” is key in a service industry and why when you do not deliver you not only lose your customer but damage future relationships and business opportunities. Continue reading
Recently I was finding it hard to find the right candidates for a role, despite many hours of CV searching, advertising on various forums and scouring Linkedin, still no success. Pondering this, I was reminded of the theory of Six Degrees of Separation and started to think of people I might know, who might know somebody, who might know somebody, you get the picture. Continue reading
Skype interviews becoming more common during hiring, not being prepared can easily keep you out of the running. While meeting via video is time saver, getting past the technological barriers of not speaking face-to-face can be difficult. Continue reading
In many ways, competency based interviews are a lot easier to prepare for than a general interview.
Competency-based interviews are designed to test how well you perform in certain areas. In other words, the interviewer is trying to figure whether you’ve got the right skills and strengths to do the job.
The competencies they’ll cover depend on the job you’re going for but some common ones include oral and written communication, personal motivation, planning and organisation, and problem-solving and analysis. Continue reading
Pitting your employer against another in a bidding war for you is often career suicide.
A few years ago, I recruited an executive to run a mid-level company. The night before he was supposed to start his new job, the executive called to say he was staying put. The board of directors at his current company–a major multinational retailer–had offered to name him CEO in one year’s time.
I was aghast, but my former candidate could hardly envision a better scenario. He had leveraged an offer to run a mid-sized company and used it to land the coveted top spot at a retailing giant. No greater career coup exists, right?
It’s bad enough making a fool of yourself in front of one interviewer – but in front of two, three or four? Unthinkable. If you are faced with a panel interview, here’s how to avoid that unflattering rabbit-caught-in-headlights expression.
As an active recruiter I see 70-100 CV’s every day. We all know that within 30 seconds of meeting somebody we form an impression, it is no different when you open a CV.
So why do candidates, many of whom are out of work, still allow a poor quality CV to damage their chances of being noticed and landing that job they are after?
Poorly written, out of date CV’s get passed over for two reasons:
It is recommended to arrive 10-15 minutes early for an interview. From the moment you present yourself at reception it is “game on”, so make sure you use this time to find out all you can about the business:
Study any company information you can see, whether on the walls or written documents. Listen to conversations. Do not take phone calls or produce a book to read or pace around.