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Archive for the ‘career counselling’ Category
9
Aug/10
Since the job market has become more demanding and competitive than ever, careful and strategic career management is required to ensure you make the most of your skills and experiences.
Planning your career
The most successful career paths have good planning, a sense of direction, and clear milestones along the way. A career path needs to be flexible but it should always be structured. If you have a “map” of your intended route, you can make sure that all the activities in your working life help further your aims and give you a sense of purpose. Managing your career does not mean closing your mind to luck and chance, but involves talking and thinking about your career in a methodical way. This will help you gain further insights and recognise any opportunities as they arise, so that you can make the most of them.
Make the most of all the career choices that face you during your working life, be clear about your goals, alert to opportunities, and quick to make key decisions when necessary. Effective planning will help you be prepared and focused, so that when you need to, you can make the right choices. Nobody wants to look back on their career at retirement and wish they had taken a different path or done things another way.
So take action and give yourself the best chance possible:
- View managing your career as an exciting new project.
- Give planning your career the time and effort it deserves.
- Concentrate on career opportunities.
- Be prepared to look back as well as ahead.
- Ensure you have the best marketing tools at your disposal, starting with your CV or resume
Marketing yourself
CVs or resumes are critical and to be noticed a CV has to be powerful. It is your primary marketing tool. The easy answer is that you need as many versions of your CV as it takes. There are different types of Curriculum Vitae for different job-hunting methods — and if you are using multiple strategies and approaches to search for a job, you’ll probably need multiple versions of your CV:
- Traditional paper Curriculum Vitae
- Electronic CV for attaching to email applications
- Personal Career Website for hosting your CV, professional information and experience
- Video Enhanced CV to use as an attachment on electronic CVs or on your Career Website
Maximise your opportunities for success and ensure that you are approaching your career with a practical and realistic plan, a well-written CV and a range of marketing tools to help you stand out from the crowd.
Tags: career management, career planning, curriculum vitae, CV Tips, CV Writing, CVs, jobhunting tips, marketing tools, personal career website, Video CV, Video Enhanced CV, website cv
Posted in CV Writing, Personal Career Websites, Video CVs, career counselling | No Comments »
27
Jul/10
With reports claiming there are now 70 graduates for every available position, a focus on how your CV and life experiences can single you out from the crowd is essential. Gap year applications have shot up this year, and employers appreciate that gap year students can add knowledge and skills to their repertoire that can be valuable in the workplace.
Gap Year Skills
Individuals who choose to take a gap year - for travel, work or a charity, should make use of this time to think about how their experiences can translate to essential skills and abilities to benefit their career. Here are just some of the gap year attributes you can showcase to potential employers:
- Fundraising – Showing that you were able to raise a percentage (or all) of the cost of your gap year by working, fundraising or applying for a grant shows determination.
- Staying Power – The ability to see a project through from start to finish.
- Enthusiasm – A can-do attitude and the spirit to take on the unknown.
- Making a Difference – Working and assisting charity and fundraising projects across the world is a fantastic personal accomplishment.
- Actively Volunteering – Choosing to help others, putting yourself forward and signing up for a beneficial project shows great character.
- Working as a Team – Gap years are often organised in groups, and especially if you are working on a project, you will have to use group skills to achieve your goals and get on with others from all walks of life.
- Overcoming Challenges – Whether you are travelling, working or volunteering, you will undoubtedly face obstacles, difficulties and hard times during your gap year. Showing how you overcame these (and what you learned) can be a great subject to bring up in interviews.
- Communication – Succeeding with interpersonal skills and problems of language shows problem solving and adaptability.
Employers wish to see proof that you have made the most of a gap year – even if you spent it working in your hometown, rather than volunteering in a third-world country – you should be able to show that you have grown as a person and expanded your life experiences. This can be on your CV, in a cover letter, a Video CV, your Personal Career Website or face to face in an interview.
A gap year can show responsibility, drive, ambition and commitment, and if you managed to fit in some related work experience along the way then all the better. By recognising the areas in which you have learned and articulate them in your CV or interview, then you will stand out from the crowd.
Interviews and applications often ask for examples of challenges you’ve faced, difficulties you’ve overcome and times when you’ve had to use your initiative. Gap year experiences can be great examples of teamwork, organisation, ingenuity, enthusiasm and passion. They can also help answer those tricky “what are your strengths/weaknesses?” questions, as your personality is sure to have been tested at least once while on a gap year.
Most importantly, a gap year should not just be a year off – for graduates particularly, a gap year should be considered to help improve employability, and for seizing opportunities. Any and every work and life experience is valuable, so long as you translate it into a tangible skill that is beneficial in your career. Accendo can help you word your experiences in a cover letter or CV to best show these attributes and gain the most from your gap year.
Tags: cover letters, CV Services, CV Writing, gap years, graduate gap years, Job hunting
Posted in CV Tips, career counselling, cover letters | 1 Comment »
28
Jun/10
Interviews can be stressful situations. Ensure you give yourself the best chance for success by following our guidelines on the dos and don’ts of interview technique and etiquette:
DOS:
- Lay out your clothing the day before – getting prepared beforehand leaves you more time to organise your thoughts on the day.
- Dress appropriately. Conservative/sober dress is a safer bet but check with the culture of the organisation by contacting the offices/recruitment agent. Do wear smart attire and ensure your shoes are shiny and well kept.
- Plan your journey well in advance and allow for delayed trains, traffic and other unforeseen events.
- Ensure you know the correct name of your interviewer, job title and arrive at least 15mins early for the interview.
- Read and understand the job advertisement and description prior to your interview.
- Ensure you meet the requirements and you have a positive answer for any areas that you may not fully meet.
- Read over your CV and make sure you know it back to front.
- Have your CV, references and any additional information that has been requested with you.
- Research the company’s products and services, staff, culture, market position, recent press releases, clients and competitors.
- Be prepared for the target interview procedure; some companies have one-to-one interviews; panel interviews; assessment centres; psychometric testing.
- Give your interviewer a steady handshake when entering. Smile!
- Focus on your achievements when asked interview questions and portray every response in a positive way.
- Prepare for the interview via your own rehearsed model answers for any tricky questions you believe they may ask you.
- Prepare your own questions in advance, which might include – What is the organisation’s business plan for the next 1 or 5 years? What challenges do you foresee and how do you plan to overcome these? What challenges do you envisage in this role?
- Ask if there are any areas they would like further clarification on at the end – just to be able to have a second opportunity if necessary.
- Ask the follow up procedure; when you should expect to hear; 2nd or 3rd interviews etc if you are unclear and would like to know.
DON’TS:
- Don’t ask what the salary/benefits will be, particularly if this is the first interview.
- Don’t interrupt your interviewer, argue unecessarily or be defensive/aggressive in response to questions.
- Don’t badmouth previous employers/colleagues/businesses.
- Don’t lie or exaggerate – tell the truth, even if you have to describe a difficult situation or employment that ended badly. Explain delicately, and as briefly as possible if you have to.
- Don’t slouch, smoke, fidget, pick your nose… Sitting up straight and rigid can also look odd – try to relax, but remain interested and alert.
- Don’t stray from the question or subject – interviewers have to keep to a timeframe, and irrelevant tangents about your personal life, while perhaps giving a sense of your personality, may not impress them!
- Don’t give long-winded answers. Showing you can think fast, be succinct and solve problems efficiently is far more useful than being able to talk at length…
Interview Follow-Up:
After the interview and upon reflection, if you could have answered a question in a better way or failed to get an important achievement across, why not follow up with a letter thanking the interviewer for their time and re-state your suitability for the post?
Unsuccessful Outcome:
If you have been unsuccessful in your interview, it is worth requesting feedback. They might be very busy but they might oblige and offer you some valuable tips as to where you could improve your interview performance.
Successful Outcome:
Great! You have secured a job offer; however, wait till you have received the offer officially by post before resigning from your current post. Don’t forget to thank your interviewer/new manager!
For more career, interview and CV writing tips, visit AccendoCV.co.uk – specialists in career management and CV writing.
Tags: career management, CV Writing, interview dos and don'ts, interview technique, interview tips
Posted in career counselling | 1 Comment »
15
Jun/10
There’s no time like the present to take that step into a new career! We all face crossroads in our business life, whether it’s being unhappy with a certain job, difficulty working with colleagues, a desire for change or financial problems, we needn’t feel trapped or stuck where we are working.
Of course, making a career change is a daunting prospect, but there is help to be had, in the form of career counselling. Accendo’s Career Counselling provides access to senior executives, human resource directors, MDs, company secretaries, CIOs and FDs. They have invaluable personal knowledge of managing business change and the processes involved and will help you work through the challenges and identify new opportunities.
It could be as simple as rewriting your CV for a fresh new start, perhaps recording a Video Enhanced CV to give you an edge over competitors in your new chosen field, assisting with interview preparation and writing a professional cover letter.
In the current financial climate, we are all concerned about job security, but there is no need to settle for less than we deserve. Accendo can assist in all aspects of career management, helping you find, and achieve the career you want.
Tags: career counselling, CV Writing, interview preparation, Job hunting, Video CV
Posted in CV Tips, career counselling | No Comments »
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