The National Jobseeker Roadshow - Ireland
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The National Jobseeker Roadshow - Ireland
- 1. Peter Cosgrove May 2011
- 2. Agenda INTRODUCTION YOUR CV WHERE ARE ALL THE JOBS THE INTERVIEW / ASSESSMENT YOUR PERSONAL BRAND DEALING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT Q & A
- 3. 1 %’s It can often be the small things that make the big difference, so improving that 1% in certain areas can differentiate you from the competition
- 4. Your CV
- 5. Your Advert 30 seconds to make an impression Your cv is your advert, in the current market you may only get 30 seconds from an employer so like an advert make every word count
- 6. Our approach to transition Your CV
- 8. CV FORMAT CONTACT DETAILS PROFILE CAREER & ACHIEVEMENTS EDUCATION & TRAINING OTHER SKILLS & INTEREST CAREER OBJECTIVE REFERENCES X
- 9. VISUAL SIZE M A T T E R S < 1000 WORDS FONT WHITE SPACE/ MARGINS No photo – it adds to the size of the file. In terms of length – under 1000 words
- 10. CONTENT Biographical Key Words Complexity What does an employer want to see Begin with the end in mind Can someone out side your industry understand your cv
- 13. Why even after reading you may have spelling ‘msiteaks’ Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
- 14. Language Organized / Color Your vs You’re Led vs Lead Accept vs except … also be careful of jargon
- 15. Be careful of what you write! “ I am about to enrol on a Business Degree. I feel that this qualification will prove detrimental to me for future success.” Hobbies: “enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians” “ I received a plague for Salesman of the year 2006”
- 16. SO WHAT! Ask this question after reading every bullet point in your cv. Does the employer get anything from this bullet point, does it say what you did or what you did well?
- 17. Finding a Job
- 18. Where have all the jobs gone? JOBS HERE
- 19. There are only 4 ways to find a job Direct applications to companies Advertisements – online / offline Recruitment Consultants / Headhunters Using Your Network
- 20. Companies … FIRST DERIVATIVES plc If 70% of companies are not recruiting right now, that means that 30% of companies are.
- 21. Publications & Useful Websites
- 27. Recruitment Consultants They never return my calls or emails Their jobs are not even live They just want to put me into a box They just want my details for their database
- 28. Recruitment Consultants – what can you do Identify the recruiters you believe can help you Provide a professional perception of yourself Listen to their advice Ask for feedback Be professional (again)
- 32. Networking
- 33. The interview
- 34. Prepare “ Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity” Interviews are all about preparation however most people do not prepare for more than 5 or 10 minutes
- 35. Do Not's Don’t be late, Don’t smell of food, or smoke or excessive perfume, don’t eat right before an interview and be prepared and you will be less nervous
- 36. First Impression – Eye Contact Eye contact
- 37. First Impression – Dress Sense
- 38. First Impression - Handshake
- 39. First Impression - Smile…
- 42. Types of Interview / Assessment Biographical Interview Competency based Interview Other: Panel/ Stress Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres Tell me about yourself is still the most common first question – have it prepared in advance
- 43. Types of Interview / Assessment Biographical Interview Competency based Interview Other: Panel/ Stress Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres
- 44. STAR S ituation T ask A ction R esult All questions that begin with “give me an example of a time...” should be structured this way
- 45. Types of Interview/ Assessment Biographical Interview Competency based Interview Other: Panel / stress Psychometric tests Assessment centres
- 46. In summary: Prepare prepare prepare
- 48. SAFE What company brand does this word remind you of?
- 49. SAFE VOLVO
- 50. MAGICAL What company brand does this word remind you of?
- 51. MAGICAL DISNEY A powerful brand can be summed up easily and quickly but it takes work – what do people say of your personal brand?
- 52. What do we mean by motivation?
- 53. Studies of communication Body language: Tone of Voice: What you say: 55%: 38% 7%
- 54. Kids pick up non verbal clues much easier as they spent the first year of their life almost exclusively looking at these, they know when you are cross with them through what they see not what you say
- 55. Roger Bannister Was told that if he tried to run a mile in under 4 minutes, he could die, he had to picture it to help him see it and believe it
- 56. What do you see?
- 57. Opportunityisnowhere What does this say, could it say anything else?
- 58. “ KNOW THYSELF”
- 60. How are jobseekers responding.... Creative ways to find a job “ now I have my foot in the door…” You will get the other half of the fifty when you see me…”
- 61. How are jobseekers responding.... The Google Job Experiment clip…..
- 65. Ernest Shackleton JOB ADVERTISEMENT Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."
Notas del editor
- Welcome and thank you for taking the time to attend this event which is part of a national jobseekers Roadshow Please can I ask that mobile phones are turned to silent. My name is NAMEand I am from Cpl in LOCATION Can I please ask you to firstly spend 1 minute to filout the survey whoch we are alos running on a facebook page as we are keen to gather jobseeler information – it should only take 2 minutes. Thanks for that In terms of this session – we will have all the slides available online for you after the event
- My slides are not detailed and everything will be available on our website – today is not about taking copious notes its about taking away actions so I would prefer you to only write down actions as there is 100s of books that can give you advice on this but it needs to be pertinent to you. Also – this could be a one day talk so you are not going to get everything you ever wanted but I will try to touch on everything Here si the agenda We will take a break at… Therwe will be questions at the end and the opportunity to one-no-one with recruiters
- Story from Adrian Birrell about the 1%’s –
- Lets start with a clip from a well known product CLIP – “do you know who I am.“ Ok what you have seen there is a 30 second advert which probably took weeks to make, they have only one outcome from this commercial and that is for you to buy their product or get the message Why is this important, well because this is the same with your cv, the only outcome is that it gets you a job interview and sadly most cvs are poorly written, formatted and thought through. Think about that ad again, if you saw a spelling mistake, if the guy fumbled his words etc you would link that to the brand. Therefore your cv represents you and in 30 seconds someone is going to make their mind up about who you are, where you are coming from etc. Why 30 seconds, well lets agree that this is a disgracefully short time for someone to look at your cv but imagine the average office looks like this –
- This is what the average recruiters cv piles look like - now realise that the person running through these cvs wants to discount as may as they can – so essentially they are de-selecting not selecting. While the room here may seem a bit unrealistic we are now living in the electronic age which means one person can apply for about 3000 applications in an 8 hour period – that’s why you may not get responses to everything you send through and we will come on to the right way to apply later. Now that the internet has made us truly global companies like Google get over 2 million unsolicited applications every year – even though they employ loess than 20,000 people
- So who likes talking and writing about themselves – hands up (so no politicians are in I see) First things first if I find your cv annoying, hard to read, confusing, too long, too short, in a form I don’t like – this is all YOUR problem. Just like when you were in school teachers always praised good easy to read handwriting as it made their job easier. Think about it do you want someone to feel relaxed reading your cv or annoyed – so it makes sense to get it right! Secondly – most cvs are a first draft, we do not rewrite it Remember the phrase – “I did not have time to write you a short letter so I wrote you a long one” again like school rather than answering the question we wrote down everything we knew just so we could be the first to put our hand up and say “more paper” and scare the bejeesus out of everyone else 92% of cvs still coming into Cpl have errors either in formatting, typos, or grammar errors
- So while lots of people will argue – here is my view based on seeing 1000s of cvs and talking to employers CONTACT DETAILS PROFILE CAREER & ACHIEVEMENTS EDUCATION & TRAINING OTHER SKILLS & INTEREST…in that order Career Objective can be a negative as it may take 6 months to get a job yet your original objective may have changed References: the person reading may not like one of your references or call them without your permission – no need tp put on at the cv stage – it rarely can help
- No photo – it adds to the file size, it nothing to do with your looks, I have had this photo on a cv Less than 800 words if you have less than 5 years experience, less than 1000 words if you are a senior manager Font – make it easy to read and not 9 font Use the nomal margins Formatting – lack of use of page breaks or keeping lines together, tables that corrupt Margins and cramming text – use the less than 1000 words rule – they notice that the page looks really long and wordy and they dont like it. Actions: have colleagues print off on their printer, ask recruiters to forward you any cv that was sent to the client, get feedback from many sources.
- Again its not about you its about them, it does not mater how wonderful you were 15 years ago most employers when they look at a cv start with one think your current or last job, so have that on the first page – remember you have 30 seconds! While there are different types of cv ie functional (where you highlight all your skills on the first page) and then highlight the jobs that you were in, the problem is that most employers want to see a biographical cv – so give it to them – in reverse chronological order, ie last job first. Once you get past this millennium the interest level drains especially if you have stayed within the same profession – so if you were once a HR Administrator and are now a HR manager the chances are that the roles in your proviso job can be taken as read and don’t need elaboration The next point is key and again this is to understand the rules. Many cvs if they go to a company or a recruiter get put into a database and when they are looking for the right fit they search on key words. So why is this important. Well firstly people often don’t have them in their cv. I met a human resource professional who did not have it in her cv she just had HR - no one searches on HR as it brings up words like mushroom. So be careful of jargon ancd acronyms. Secondly if you have worked for CRH or Vodafone you may want to mention they are in the building or telecoms industries as what is being searched on is skill words, job titles and sectors – are they in your cv? So a job from 10 years ago possibly the most important thing to have is the sector. Action – focus on current roles the most, reverse engineer your cv to the job you want, check you don’t have acronyms instead of the full word at least once.
- If you take one thing away from the cv it is to focus on achievements. Here is a story for you. I has two people working for me one who was an excellent salesman, one who was an incredibly poor performer, came in late, was very negative, did not perform well etc Here is 6 bullet points that they could both put down – the problem is that this says they are the same. Without evidence and achievements and some measurability you are giving an employer no way to differentiate in your favour
- Even the small things matter- what does an employer want - a resilient, flexible hard worker – if you are never sick mention it! I know someone who has not had a sick day in over 10 years – that’s a positive Marketing I was told once was simply a reason for consumers to discriminate in your favour. If you just list your job spec no ones knows how good you are. If you think you can right down achievements without even thinking – you wont, its HARD What’s the difference between what you did and the guy who got fired?
- Finally, we come to language and again we can’t blame texting and twittering for our bad spelling. Even today my 4 and 6 year olds are still taught spelling and grammar, it is pure laziness not to check a document. Spell check is not enough, apart from anything we live in Europe so organise and utilise are with s not z. Spell check wont pick up from vs form as they both correctly spelt. Grammar can be just as bad, mixing past and present tenses, in appropriate capital letters and apostrophes where they may not be
- But Peter you say, such pedantry, do you really think this level of detail matters Let me tell you what got through as a good cv a few years ago was different as it was a candidate market, you do not know that he person looking at your cv is not detail oriented and is looking for reasons to put your cv on the long pile of “no’s” Action – have a former English teacher look over it not only would they enjoy writing in red pen all over it they would enjoy the tutting they could do in your presence!
- Remember not all typos are mis-spellings and not all sentence make sense if written the wrong way
- Final Actions: Get as many views, my view on how a cv is written comes from years at looking at them and while you may get some different views these are broadly the views you will here from professionals so take them on board. Also half of the room will still have poor cvs in a months time as its human nature, its procrastination – so don’t be one of them Remember every point in your cv should get the SO WHAT factor – why is it in there and does it say anything about me Final question – if an employer looks at your cv Does it highlight how good you are,and represent you in as good a view as possible Is it just a job spec Is there any reason in looking at your cv vs others that you have to be selected for the shortlist
- Firstly if you listened to the news you would give up throw in the towel and decide that there is no chance so why even try. But remember bad news sells good news does not. There were 1 million jobs in Ireland in 1987 and we had a population of xxx. Last year there was 2.1 million in employment…just for some perspective – you only want one job out of 1.7 million Here is a list of companies that have announced jobs in the last few months – but you may not have heard of them all – don’t worry about writing this down – this is all the IDA website or RTE online. Firstly you need to understand why there is such a delay right now – The problem currently is that many of the roles are not “live” there is a position but perhaps not a budget Many jobsites keep jobs up for 114 days even after job is dead Companies need multiple sign offs How to ensure you get the interview Do you get the interview because you have the right skill-sets – not always!! This depends on how you tried to get the interview – is it a cold call, a ad, a network an agency – need to follow up and think at the outset how to give yourself a better chance When and why to follow up How do you deal with the frustration? You cannot be precious or assume things – get the job then be self righteous! Closure Closure is through a yes or a no ideally or perhaps through a contact in a recruitment agency for example Have a spreadsheet of applications etc
- There are only 4 ways to find a job Direct applications to companies Advertisements – online / offline Recruitment Consultants / Headhunters Using Your Network ..so lets look at all of these….
- Here is a list of clients that have all been recruiting in last 6 months – many new enterprises So if you hear that 70% of companies are not hiring that means 30% are When it comes to applying to a job before you do this you should firstly identify if this is the best route to go down. It may be the only route however you are often in a position to get more information through a friend who works in the company before you apply ie using your network and going in the back door not with everyone else. Never apply to a company if you do not have a person to apply to Think of how you react to a “Dear Sir/madam” email secondly – if you do not apply to a person how can you follow up with a person Thirdly – if you have applied directly and then a recruiter tells you a bout a positin in that company they cannot represent you even if you want them to as the company already has your details – so think before you send
- Offline: If anyone has looked at the national press you will see very few ads – does this mean companies are not recruiting – No it does not, it does mean they have a smaller marketing budget. Answering a job ad directly should only be done if you feel you are a good match for the job – this may seem obvious but its not always the case Online Here is a list of places to look which may all be familiar but some may not: NCI, IDA, company websites – all places you may not look Be a better researcher – the more you look the luckier you will get, you may find roles not called HR that are HR - they may say operations Try different ways of searching as just looking for an exact job match will not always work. The first search should be long and exhaustive where you are looking for all the types of roles that you could so. For instance “operations manager” can mean so many different types of roles. Check copany websites specifically companies you want to work for. Action : Know you are doing everything, ie there is not a job out there that you are suitable for that you have not applied for and choose the right application method each time. Finally try to get feedback on every application and if you have not after a few weeks consider the job is gone.
- Here is how to approach dealing with a recruitment agency
- Ask friends or colleagues who they have used or go to the NRF.ie website which highlight all agencies bound by the regfulations of the National rectuitment Federation
- Firstly – I wanted to highlight the objectives of a recruitment agency so you understand potentially some of the frustrations that you may have had dealing with them Here is what they do; Win business from prospective clients either exclusively or as one of a number of suppliers Source and interview relevant candidates Manage the interview process and advise client Manage offer and contract process with the client Reject the other candidates Here is what they are not: A career counsellor So if yo go to a recruitment agency and say you want a “xchange” or you do not know what you want – you probably should try to get a view on this frist as to some extent they will want to put you in a box
- Here are things that they may discriminate on – I don’t say this because it is fair but this is the reality Unclear visa status – if you have apssport and right to work in ireland and are not irish – ensure you highlight this, it may seem obvious to you but recruiters get many applications from people who cannot work In ireland so make it easy for them Same job 20 years – no one does exactly the same job for 20 years, you may have been with the same company and even in the same role but break into 5 year chunks where things will have changed due to new technology, how the company has changed over the years etc Out of work for 12 months plus – this is going to be a concern and it is better for you to know this and be able to organise your cv so that it is less of an issue – further education planned, working for a not for profit, helping out at the local school/ community – people want to see that you are doing something, they are aware it is a tough market but you can contribute somehow and that is what they want to see Cv sent multiple time – keep track of where you send your cv otherwise you come across as dis-organised or not committed – are you just sending in an application to every job you see Chip on shoulder – it can be difficulty dealing with agencies who often do not appreaciate how hard it is to find a job however while you are with them and interacting with them you need to be able to be positive and upbeat as they will rememeber you and how you related to them more than the cv
- Why use an agency in the first place Firstly – its free to the jobseeker – so it costs nothing They have access to clients and jobs They have better relationships than you with many hiring managers They can give you feedback which is always appreciated on your cv They can give you an update on the marketplace and how easy difficult it will be to get a job You have someone hopefully working for you
- This slide highlights the challenges candidates have with recruitmet agencies and not all of these are unfounded
- Treat these just like a formal interview when you meet them, if you are late, too casual, arrogant etc they will be less inclined to put you forward to companies. Their goal is to match candidates with clients but again with the birth of the electronic age they can get 100 of cvs a ay often from China which they need to open to understand their lack of relevance hence you are not their only concern. Also in the current marketplace they may be losing their jobs so you may find jobs that when you go to apply are no linger valid – expect this. There are reasons for this but rather than complain about it just accept it. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO You should : Identify the recruiters you feel can help you and meet with them Provide a professional perception of yourself, a good cv and clear ideas of what you want Listen to their advice on salary guides and the market place Ask for feedback on your interview style and your cv And I reiterate BE PROFESSIONAL – so many peope are not and it will hurt their cause This is only one route so there is no point calling them for daily updates or you will quite quickly find them not returning your calls – is it right no, is it what will happen – yes If more than one recruiter has a job that you are interested in you are best to go with the recruiter who is closest to the client. Find this out through asking questions regarding the job – have you been out to see the HR, what is the benefits package, who des it report to etc.
- Remember recruiters only make money by putting the right person into the right job!!! This is critical to understand as if you do not get the job it is because: You are not right for the role 2. you did not sell yourself appropriately or come across well enough or have a good enough cv that the recruiter was able to see you were right for the role There is no conspiracy among recruiters – they want to put the best people forward as this is how they make money so rememeber that Also – if you do not have feedback from the recruiter it is because they havenot had feedback from the client – often the client does not give feedback, we do not like this as a recruitment agency bt there is not a lot we can do
- Here are some things recruiters like to hear and make you more marketable I am interviewing elsewhere – it highlights that you ar ein demand by others and therefore of more interest to the recruiter I have seen three of your competitors this week all who have been positive about opportunities for me in the marketplace – asame as above, makes you seem bbetter I am currently using my free time to learn/ develop ....shows you as positive, focused and willing to keep learning Preparation – a pre-interview, idf you ask for a pre-interview before your cleint interview it highlights how seriuos you are Positivity – its catching! – everyone likes positive people
- Here is a slide from the book “What Colour is my Parachute” which highlights the way in which an employer hires and how we as candidates might look. Put yourself in the position of an employer and think about when they need to hire what do they want to do. They want to hire someone that they know is good, eliminate the guesswork, the easiest way is to take someone internally and get them to take the job. Secondly they will look at people they worked with or who worked for them in previous roles. Thirdly they ask people in the company to nominate candidates – through refer a friend schemes. Often they will pay 1000 or sometimes up to 5000 for introducing a new employee – these are always under utilised. Why? Employees don’t want to be linked with a bad hire so will only do it when they are sure. So how much time are you spending on re-engaging with old colleagues, bosses, friends etc?
- Networking is an art in itself and some people are more comfortable than others but what I would say is that the benefit of networking is not the person you meet but their secondary contacts, you do not know who else they will meet that day. Secondly you learn something from meeting everyone, whether it is seething about the market, a good new website or book, some knowledge on their company etc so get out there. As regards formal networking this becomes even more crucial the more senior you are and you should be attending events, drinks etc ….. They say that over 50% of roles are hired through some sort of networking. Think of this from an employers perspective they don’t need to go through the recruitment process which they don’t like! How many people are on linked in – how many people have never heard of linked in. Use linkedin.com if you are looking to reconnect but know how to use it effectively and be aware in general of your profile online In summary – much fewer jobs out there, firstly give yourself a world class cv to have a chance and secondly use all four routes of entry to try and find a job. I know many of you said when asked what you wanted to get out of today it was how to find a job and you may have been hoping for great new ways but my experience is it is the application and the lack of research and the lack of proactivity about finding out the best ay to apply for a job that is the biggest stumbling block.
- Ok, you have the interview, this is fantastic it means they liked your cv if it was a direct application and if it was through your network or a recruiter, it also means they liked you. 3 years ago there was more jobs than people so you may have got every job you interviewed for - that does not necessarily mean you did a great interview.
- Step 1: Preparation Many people do all their good work until the moment the interview starts and just because they seem to have gotten dressed in the dark or used their best friend from the video shop to design their apparel – the interview s over before its begun.
- Simple basic DO NOTS! Do not be late or cut it fine – you will just stress yourself before the interview even begins Do not smeall – seems obvious but I am not just speaking about the hygeine smell, do not smell of smoke, as some will discriminate against smokers, do not smell opf too much perfume, it may be the case that the perfume reminds the intereviewer of an ex wife – you don’t want that! Check if you have eaten beforehand – I once interviewed someoe and they had a piece of green in their teeth and that is all I can rememeber from the interview Do not give a sweaty handshake – no one likes that!
- So there are 4 things that automatically get clocked at interview – your eye contact or lack of it, how you dress sense, your handshake and whether you smile Lets look at each: Eye contact: If you do not look at someone when you talk to them it it makes them think you have something to hide or that you are shy or that you are being rude or that you do not have basic manners etc, whatever it is it can be a huge turn off
- We have 1,5 billion visual brain cell receptors to every language one that we have Dress sense is not about expensive clothes – here is Berite Aherne at the g8 summit and it did not help him. Conversely this is Barack Obama, well known for sartorial elegance but usually its just dark suit, white or blue shirt and a red or blue ties, in reality you notice the man not the clothes So it is about appropriate clothing so get advice …not from you mum!
- Handshake –if I ask you all to remember when you got that wet, or limp handshake, or worse both. I can see some of you looking repulsed buy this – its only a handshake but we immediately make up our mind on this basis and some of you still have memories of one Everyone gets nervous but there are a few reasons for this, one is because you are not prepared and then you should be nervous but even if you are there will be natural nerves which can lead to sweaty palms and there are many ways to help calm yourself down including cold water on pulse points and holding your hands against metal on a chair to cool them down or even holding them palm up – again you can find all this on that great super highway the internet
- We like to deal with positive people so ensure yoo smile when you enter the room What this highlights is that you are every much in control of your first impression – that’s the good news!
- In terms of the actual interview – It is important to remember what the employer will be thinking and in reality for all interviews regardless of how may you go through all they base their decision on is: Can you do the Job Do you want the Job Do we like you So do you have the capability to do the job – your skills and experience Do you want the job – there is a big difference between wanting a job and wanting the job – know the difference! And do you they like you – there is nothing you can do here as you cannot be someone else – but you can have a strong first impression
- For any job if you want to research a company – don’t think the company website – usually its at least 6 months out of date and does not really impress an employer when you tell them what is on their website Thank of all the other places you can find information: Google and bing – search engines produce different results as do the dot.ie and the dot.coms so search both If your job is in a profession where there is a body or an institute – say architecture, the sales institute, retail excellence Ireland – see if you can find anything out from them about the company or the industry Use linkedin and other social networking sites to see if you can find people who work there that you know or someone you know knows – the best source of info is someone who works there Talk to suppliers to the company And finally look at the website You can also use Google news and a good tip is to always type the company name int ogogle news 24 hours before the interview in case anything recent has happened that you may have missed
- In terms of the actual interview there are many types and rather than go through them all the main point is how you prepare in advance will be the best predictor of success. The simple interview is called the biographical interview where they run through your cv and you talk through your roles and your skills, this may seem easy however this is where you need to take the opportunity to sell yourself in case the questions you prepare do not come up. Ask the audience – what is the most commoon first question (the answeer being tell me about yourself) When I did my Leaving Cert many years ago, you may remember if you are of a certain age that there was a question on the paper for 20% of the marks which was to write a pre-prepared question. It seems amazing that people did not get 20 out of 20 as it was purely about writing a great essay in advance and remembering it on the day. The reality is that in 80% of interviews the first question will be something along the lines of “Tell me about yourself” or “Can you take me through your cv”. This is the equivalent to the history essay – you know the question but have you prepared the answer. The general view is if someone asks you this they would like to you to talk for 2 to 3 minutes so be prepared to do this. I would advise you structure this in advance and if you speak in an organised fashion, running through your career, highlighting achievements and strengths and talking about colleagues who can give the employer references you will be in an excellent position. Other questions like – strengths, weakneeses, achievements, “why do you want this job” will all come up so prepare for them
- The preferred approach of any strong interviewer is the competency based interview. These were developed in the army and the basic and most important premise to understand is that they are based on the principle that previous behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. I’ll repeat that previous behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. This means that they are looking for examples in your past which will give them an insight on how you may work out in the future. So firstly what are competencies. A competence is the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically and intellectually. SO examples of these might be organisation skills, influencing, analysing deciding, man management - so it is really important that you find out what types of competencies you will be challenged on and in many companies they are happy to tell you what these are – so all you have to do is prepare – but most people do not do this. So the questions will go something like this, can you tell me a time when you had to ma ke a decision with incomplete information, what was you role and what issues did you have to overcome, or can you give me an example of a situation where you had to deal with a difficult boss.
- These can seem really scary however there are two things to be aware of. Firstly – use the STAR model, there are many variations to this which stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Nearly all questions should be answered this way and I will give you an example. The reason you want to talk about the situation is that it puts you back the time when this happened eg While working in Tesco as a Store manager, I was required to change the ordering system for the stores in Kildare, so you have now highlighted the situation and the task, however you may want to add a little but more ie the reason we had to do this was due to a new system being implemented in ireland,. I was tasked to do this by my boss and was given sole responsibility to get it done with a team of 4 to support me. Now you have highlighted your role and why you were doing it in the first place which means the interviewer understands the background. This all seems very simple but I have lost count of the number of times someone launches into an example and you do not know which company they were in when this happened and what their precise role was and if they were in charge or just helping. The main piece of the response is the A for Action as this is the piece where that are looking at what you did, whether you looked at alternatives, what issues arose, how you dealt with these, how you managed time and pressure and so forth. Remember they will only mark you on what you say so if you don’t say it regardless of whether it is on your cv it does not count. Do not think that the person across the table knows your cv intimately because generally they don’t – you need to know it intimately.
- There are many other types of interview –panel interviews, stress interviews (although less favourable nowadays), all of these give different challenges but as I said at the outset the only things they will care no matter how many interviews is – can you do the job, l do you want the bob and do we like you – simple! So prepare at least 10 to 15 good examples of yourself – this may seem a lot but you will need them. The interview is the most common means of selection but is far from the most accurate and you do need to be aware of assessment centres which are a much better way to see if the person is right. An assessment centre is essentially trying to simulate some real life work examples and may also include testing and an interview and a presentation – it is all dependent on the role. If you are going for a role as a secretary they may have a typing test, possibly a psychometric test to see your fit with the company, an interview and then possibly an exercise like an “in tray” where they get you to sort through multiple items against a fixed amount of time. For a more senior role there may be a presentation or often a group exercise so they see how you deal with challenges in terms of your interaction with others. How many people here have had an interview in the last month, how many did it go perfectly for – none! Ok so if it did not what did not and did you write this down so you would not make the same mistake again! For tests – there are so many types you cannot prepare too much however you can read books, take tests online to exercise the brain but one of the key points is to ask as many questions before the test, some tests are there to see how you cope under pressure ie t40 questions but they know you wont get past 20 of them. Some engineering tests have problems with no solution just to see how you work through the process – so don’t give up! As regards psychometric tests , Hudson is called the BAQ, SHLs is called the OPQ - don’t try and cheat them these are written by clever people and they will see if you are not being truthful. Secondly, there is no point saying you are an extrovert and love meeting new people if you don’t like this as you will end up in a sales role which you will abhor. Action – do no go through an assessment centre without speaking to someone in HR, Recruitment who can talk you through the process, it helps a lot
- It is boring, it takes work but it is effective Write answers to questions Have examples And talk your answers out loud, however silly it may sound
- So your personal brand is crucial – how you look, sit, feel and what you say I have given free seminars before to jobseekers where one or two are just giving out – they ay have a good point to make but the way they make it can affect how others perceive them
- Finally – lets just think about what employers are looking for right now – it’s a depressed market and people are taking pay cuts, they are being asked to be more flexible, keep optimistic and positive and look for solutions not issues. These are the people we like to work with, ones who get their sleeves rolled up, who are willing to help out, who are resilient, flexible and hard working – does your cv reflect this – it should do – so look at your profile again. So your cv is your brand and just to highlight how powerful brands can be I will try something interactive (there is not too much of this so you have to help me out here). Ok I am going to put up one word and you have to tell me what the brand is of the billions of brands that are out there.
- Well done to whoever said Volvo – often someone says Durex so thank you for that Now you get the concept lets try it again – take the following one word and tell me what of the thousands of companies would this brand rperensent Ready!
- So what word does magical conjure as a company brand
- (someone will definitely say Disney – trust me!) Wow – isn’t that amazing that one word can capture a brand Why do I highlight this – well because we all have a personal brand and employers are able to see it in seconds whether we like it or not so we need to know what our brand is saying about us – if we don’t know this we will always struggle with the interview process
- Add in funny clip to wake up the audience!
- This links in to the final part of my talk which is to do with you, your personal brand and how you come across. Some of you may know this but in the first 30 seconds of meeting someone have a think about how much time we focus on their body language, their tone of voice and what they say Body Language 58% Tone of Voice 35% What you say 7% So only 7% is about what you say and 93% is about how you say it and the tone in which you say it – incredible On the phone where you cannot see the person it si 84% the tone of your voice and only 16% what you are actually saying!
- How many people here have kids. Have you been told to shout at kids is wrong, yes we all have, but its easier said than done when they have poured ketchup all over your new suit or they are currently knocking down all the food in the supermarket So instead of shouting we tense our shoulders, frown and speak in that voice that kids say to themselves – “now he is really angry because they listen to tone and watch your face and body!” Why Because Kids pick up non verbal clues much easier as they spent the first year of their life almost exclusively looking at these, they know when you are cross with them through what they see not what you say Now more than ever all I hear is there are no jobs out there, I will never get this job, - guess what you are right as you have projected this negativity before you have even started. You need to get out of this state of mind and only you can do it If it is very stressful getting kids to school in the morning don’t book an interview for the morning, if you are at your worst first thing get your interview in the afternoon. Do something good before your interview, read something interesting, exercise,. Listen to something that makes you laugh etc. have some better small talk in the lift that the weather
- Can I get a volunteer from the audience – just to highlight how your physiology affects you. We all know how to stand when we are bored and it is pretty easy to see when someone is bored or happy – so you should be aware of this. Exercise - Powerful and Confident Who is this? Ans – Roger Bannister Well he was the first guy to break the 4 minute mile. What most people are not aware of is that before he did it many doctors and physicians had announced that it was not possible and you could risk death. Now that’s a pretty tough psychological barrier to get over and the way he managed it was visualising 3 minutes 59 seconds as he crossed the line, as you know he did it. Interestingly, a record that had stood since the beginning of time was broken on 6 th May 1954 at 3.59.4 however within 7 weeks on 21 June 1954 the record was broken by John Landy in 3.58.0. Could he have done this if Roger had not – who knows? Once he kknew someone else had done it became a lot easier to do
- What do you see here – an old lady or a young lady People percieve things differently so be aware of this
- What does this say What else could it say Are we optimists or pessimsists? Opportunity is Nowhere OR Opportunity is now HERE
- This is a picture of Socrates and he siad Know Thyself – which could not be more miportant than at interview. SO however much your mum tells you that you are perfect unfortunately you are not, either am I. When asked what your weakness is at interview, they don’t want to hear, that you are chronically lazy and only like to work 2 days a week but they do what you to recognise that you have had challenges and had to learn skills along the way. So highlight a real weakness, point out where it made a role difficult and highlight what you have done to improve on this – don’t say I am a perfectionist! Finally Get some 360 feedback. Ask for negative/ constructive feedback – many people do not get a job and it is always for the same reason – bad breath, angry interviewee, chop on their shoulder, poor preparation etc – find out your weaknesses As your wife or husband – they would be delighted to have free rein to tell you your faults!
- So your personal brand is crucial – how you look, sit, feel and what you say I have given free seminars before to jobseekers where one or two are just giving out – they ay have a good point to make but the way they make it can affect how others perceive them
- Jobseekers are getting creative - so employers need to as well. You may have heard of some of these Twitter should hire me.com – got Jamie Varon a job Shoe with a cv in it – “Now I have my foot in the door….” Crushing up cv – I took the opportunity of crushing me cv in advance tio save youthe trouble – trying to catch their eye with humour Half of a 50 euro note – I will give you the other half of the 50 euro note when you see me! Facebook story of a recruiter – who instead of just sending in a cv sent in a note about a role they had had on their website for 2 months and a strategy for how to fill it – they identified a need that they had and sought to solve it – it showed they were following the company and knew morre than just the basics about it
- Jobseekers are getting creative - so employers need to as well. You may have heard of some of these Twitter should hire me.com – got Jamie Varon a job Shoe with a cv in it – “Now I have my foot in the door….” Crushing up cv – I took the opportunity of crushing me cv in advance tio save youthe trouble – trying to catch their eye with humour Half of a 50 euro note – I will give you the other half of the 50 euro note when you see me! Facebook story of a recruiter – who instead of just sending in a cv sent in a note about a role they had had on their website for 2 months and a strategy for how to fill it – they identified a need that they had and sought to solve it – it showed they were following the company and knew morre than just the basics about it
- Can I ask what people may want to et out of this as it may not be what you think!!!
- Ensure you try and keep a routine Make finding a job a full tie job Enjoy the time off because you know you are doing all you can to find a job Meet people – the more people you meet the luckier you will get Pcosgrove…need to add more here??????
- Be aware that emigration is not necessarily a bad thing -I emigrated for 10 years and came back, many people come back It can be good for your career, good for opportunities but does carry an amount of change. So emigration is not necessarily a negative even if it is often looked on like that in the media People who emigrate are often looked on as “ the best of the crop” ie they had the get up and go to go aborad, may don’t The australians changes their worrk visa to 31 years old form I believe 28…just for the Irish – so it tells you how much they value our work ethic 70 million people around the word have Irishheritage
- Her is how bas it was back in Shackelton’s day – the famous explorer Read out the Ad!
- Summary