In the last article, we talked about common CV mistakes and in this article, we’re covering the two most common pitfalls:

Achievements: Surprisingly, many people do not list achievements on their CV. Most employers, want to see how you SOLVE problems. What have you achieved? An achievement-based CV ABSOLUTELY critical in today’s marketplace.

Your achievements are made up of three parts: the assignment or project description, what you did, and the result. You want to quantify your results where possible (i.e. percentage of productivity improvement, amount of savings captured, and / or amount of revenues generated). Sometimes, you can add a compelling situation, such as a “volatile recessionary period,” to frame the achievement. Here’s an example:

Generated $1M in new revenues during a volatile recessionary period by developing XYZ new product and structuring a sales blitz to drive sales during the launch.

Additionally, you can list projects that you completed, the result(s), if the project was completed on time, or under budget, etc.

No Customization: Your CV is not a one-size-fits-all document. You MUST customize your CV, making sure it’s applicable to your background and experience. As you customize it be sure to write about the type of position you are seeking. Emphasize areas that directly link your skills to that type of position and de-emphasize the duties or achievements that are not related.

As you read job postings for positions for which you are interested, note the keywords (noun and noun phrases) they use throughout the listing. Are those keywords on your CV? One strategy you can use to customize your CV for a particular position is to interweave keywords in a job posting that are applicable to your background and experience. Why is that important? If the hiring manager wrote that job posting, chances are greater that those keywords will be in the search parameters that he / she utilizes if they are using CV scanning software.

Including these elements on a well-formatted, error-free CV will help improve your career marketing material. Remember, your CV is not your silver bullet for getting a job. You need to employ multiple job search strategies, especially networking!

Written by Fiona Biggins, adapted from the article Using the Web for Work By Kristen Jacoway

Contact one of our Career Coaches for more information on our services.

As a career coach and career preparation expert working on the Future Jobs Fund Programme aimed at getting young people aged 18 to 24 back into work, I have the opportunity to review many CVs. For many of these young people it is their first foray into the world of work, so I wanted to address the top seven CV shortfalls. In this article you’ll learn how to make your CV stand out and shine. In the next article we’ll look at the  2 more pitfalls.

Email Addresses: I am often surprised at some of the names people develop and list for their email address. I’ve actually seen ones like Foxylady@….com or 2hot@…com. Think about this for a minute. If you are an employer or a recruiter, what’s your FIRST impression of a person that would use this as an email address? I suggest you try to use your first and last name as your email address. Additionally, I also recommend getting an email address that you exclusively use during your job search. Having a separate email address for your job search helps you to track your search activities more efficiently.

No “WIIFM” Paragraph for an Employer: Of course, employers are all tuned into their favorite radio station, WIIFM - What’s in it for me? People in career transition often make the mistake of putting an objective stating what he/she wants with no regard for what it is the employer is seeking. Instead of an objective, you want to use a “Profile” paragraph to introduce your skills and abilities and leverage your personal brand. How are YOU different from everyone else who has the same job title? Relate your profile to the top three to five requirements for which the employer is seeking.

Data Dumping: Are you suffering from “TMI” on your résumé - too much information? Remember, studies show that on average, a recruiter or a hiring manager only takes 10-45 seconds to look at your CV for the first time. If you’ve included everything you’ve done in the past 30 years, you are data dumping. You need to include the skills and abilities that are relevant to TODAY’s marketplace. Most employers, hiring managers, and recruiters are generally interested in the last 10-15 years since that is what’s relevant to today’s market challenges.

Use hyperlinks: According to Webopedia, an hyperlink is an element in an electronic document that links to another place in the same document or to an entirely different document. Typically, you click on the hyperlink to follow the link. They are useful on your CV so that employers or recruiters can click on the link to find out more about the companies you’ve worked for. For example Gordon Brown’s CV:

Contact Information: Many people use a header function to enter their contact information. Why is doing this a mistake? Many CV scanning software systems cannot “read” header and footer information, so the information is missed and could cause you to miss an opportunity!

For more CV writing tips check out article “Tips for writing a compelling CV”

Written by Fiona Biggins, adapted from the article Using the Web for Work By Kristen Jacoway

Contact one of our Career Coaches for more information on our services.

If you have never been for a formal interview or it has been some time since you have attended one, the thought of attending an interview can be quite daunting. However, with the thorough preparation and the right attitude you will succeed. And remember “fail to plan, plan to fail…”

Here you will find some clear and easy steps to make your next interview experience as straightforward as possible.

In the weeks leading up to your interview;

(i) Research the role and identify how you match the skills required, also identify any extra transferable skills you have to offer.

(ii) Research the company; understand what they do and how you can contribute to this.

(iii) Decide what to wear, first impressions count so ensure you dress suitably for the organisation and role you are going for.

(iv) Plan your journey, how will you get to the interview and how long will it take. Make allowance for any potential travel delays and plan to arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

On the day of your interview;

(i) Arrive at least 10 minutes early.

(ii) Remember, the interview starts from the moment you enter the building and does not end until you leave the building.

(iii) It’s quite natural to feel some nerves, however, smile and make eye contact.

(iv) Speak clearly and confidently and project yourself well, the organisation have recognised your skills and talents from your application, use the interview as an opportunity to really demonstrate these.

Although the interview can feel like a daunting prospect it can be the first step towards securing a rewarding and fulfilling role, enjoy it!

If you are either at crossroads in your career or still figuring out what ‘ladder you really want to climb’, a dream job may well be just what you should be looking for. However, many people are unprepared to contemplate the idea - well, it’s just a dream, isn’t it?

The short answer is - it is entirely up to you.  The job you yearn for is somewhere out there waiting for you to find it. First you need to know what it is you are looking for, otherwise you can keep looking aimlessly and, after a while, give up saying that ‘it is simply not there’. Once you know exactly what your dream job is all about, you can then establish the steps you need to take to get there - do you need new skills, qualifications, experience?

Often, it can be a question of really knowing that whatever you have done with your life so far can be useful in a field you never thought was possible. For example, if you want a career in banking, that’s a good start.  But what exactly do you want to do?  The banking industry is vast.  In fact, there could be an argument here that whatever your background, you are probably well on your way to making your mark in the banking industry, even if you don’t have the most obvious credentials. Someone with a background in anthropology or international development, for example, could make a great candidate for the industry’s corporate social responsibility sector.

If you are a carpenter and your dream is to make films, the same applies. You just need to look at any film’s credits to find out the range of skills needed to make that happen.

The journey to a dream job maybe bumpy, but that’s doesn’t mean the road is not there. If you need support, career coaching can help you define your career goals, plan your career path and make a realistic assessment of what you need to get there.

There may well be challenges ahead, but the easy road is not always the right road. A few months ago I attended a training course and was quite surprised to learn that about 80% of the people in the room - aged between 20 and 50 - felt they had made a bad career choice. Many had spent time and quite a lot of money building a career they later found to be unfulfilling. Many wished they could turn the clock back while others felt that, after all the effort they had put in, they had to bite the bullet and get on with it.

It is a matter of individual choice but it makes me question - what is worth more than waking up every day knowing that, even in a bad day, your job is something you enjoy, excel at and has meaning to you?

Tips for finding your dream job

1)    If there were no limitations or barriers, what would your perfect job description be? Be as specific as possible and don’t think about labelling your job yet - many jobs with the same title can be quite different.

• What would you be doing?
• Where would you be working?
• What would your work environment look like?
• Would you work alone or in a team?
• What would your colleagues be like?
• How far would you commute?
• What would be your every day activities?
• What would be your achievements?
• How much would you work?

2)    Divide a piece of A4 paper into three columns.

Column 1 - Write down everything you are naturally good at

Column 2 - List all the things you enjoy doing

Column 3 - Write down everything that’s important to you.

Don’t think about it too much, just put your thoughts down on paper. There is no right or wrong, or indeed possible or impossible. Now look at the three columns and try to find a common thread. It may not be obvious at first. If that’s the case, put the paper way and look at it again another day. You will realise there is a theme which runs through some your answers, which may point you in the right direction.

No-one can tell you what to do with your career.  The decision is yours.  So use the skills you have, and perhaps learn some new ones in order to reach your full potential and eventually get the job of your dreams.

For more information contact Figuring Out

Written by Ana Paula Nacif

Have you found yourself being stuck in a relationship with your boss or colleagues?  Or stuck in a job you no longer enjoy? You hear yourself saying  “well that’s the way it is”, ” that’s the way he/she is”, “I can’t because ….” “that’s reality” or “I wanted this promotion so….”

The stuckness can bring up emotions such as frustration, resentment, anger, despondency and you end up feeling powerless and that you don’t have a choice.

This in turn can be destructive in your work relationships and ultimately your career, if the pattern repeats itself. You end up going nowhere fast!

WHAT IF you could develop the ability to see a situation not just through the lens of your own viewpoint, but also from the perspective of colleagues, boss, spouse or prospective employer? What could be possible?

The dictionary defines perspective as a “mental view of the relationship of aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole” and “an idea of the relative importance of things”.     More simply a perspective is “how we view a situation or circumstance”. The circumstance or situation remains the same it is the way we look at things that makes a difference.

Here is a familiar, general example “Blondes have more fun”. Notice our tendency to take a stand, as if it is true or false. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is, if you take this on as a belief, or a way of looking at life situations, things are coloured in a certain way. If you’re blonde, you probably expect to have more fun. If you’re not a blonde you’re either wishing you were one, lamenting your bad fortune, or coming up with an alternative perspective that lets you have fun too!

Coaching can help you to separate yourself from the people and situations in your lives, and even from your beliefs and assumptions.  A coach can help break open this blindness and help you see that there are other ways of looking at things and that you really do make the choices, even on days when it feels like the world is running the show.

See below some examples of “seeing it one way”. Notice that there may be some truth in the following statements, just as there is some truth in alternative perspectives, but they are not the absolute truth, just one way of looking at a situation.

“Everybody knows that, if you work in corporations, you have to be a team player. You have to sacrifice yourself for the good of the team”

“Either you’re committed to your career or you’re committed to being in a relationship. You can’t have both successfully”

“I’m a freelance designer. I can’t turn work down - not from my best clients”

A coach can challenge these long held “absolute truths” and help you to shift your perspective by asking questions to identify your current perspective. A coach can help you to also articulate other people’s views or other filters through which you might look at the situation.

Here are some sample questions you can ask yourself on a situation you are stuck in.

If you were X (the other person in the situation), what would you want/feel/need/say?

If you were advising yourself, what would you suggest for getting unstuck?

If you weren’t stuck what would you do right now?

If you didn’t blame X, what else might be possible?

If that weren’t true, what else could it be?

Remember there is ALWAYS more than one way of looking at our situation/circumstances.  We are not the victims of our circumstances. We can choose differently, and the first step is to shift our perspective and start living creatively again, making conscious choices.

As Henry Ford said “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

With help to get from “Stuck to unstuck” in your career, contact a Figuring Out career coach

Written by Fiona Biggins - Career Coach

At Figuring Out we believe that rewarding work and high performance are closely linked. Work is more likely to be rewarding if it gives you what you want from it and you are more likely to perform at a high level if your work is rewarding.

It is a reinforcing cycle because performing at a high level in itself is often rewarding.

Lets explore the different elements of what makes work rewarding and what enables high performance:

Your Values - What is important to you?

Your values represent what is important to you. Although you may think you know what is important to you, it can be useful spending sometime clarifying this and reminding yourself of the really important things.

Values are about who you are and when you are honouring your values you are being ‘true to yourself’. You are more likely to be happy, content and fulfilled if you are honouring your values.

The process of clarifying your values is not a choice or decision-making process. It is a discovery - to uncover the values that are already there and intrinsic to you and your life. Once you are clear what your values are, you can make decisions that are aligned to being ‘true to yourself’, rather than what you believe you should do.

Your Motivations to work

To be motivated is to feel inspired and excited, and to look forward to doing something. Each of us is motivated by different factors at work, including both the type of work and the environment in which we perform it.  We will not perform at our best unless these motivating factors are present.

While many people know the types of tasks they want to perform they are often unaware of what really motivates them. Motives are often unconscious, and as such become a driving force that must be fulfilled. They may appear as needs, wants or concerns and usually include a desire to reach a certain kind of goal.

Values often influence our choices about where to invest our energies, while motives - what motivates us  - reflect how much pleasure we get out of certain activities. What are your motivations to work?

Your Enablers. What enables rewarding work and high performance?

There are many things that can enable both rewarding work and high performance. Below are some possibilities and add more that are important to you.

Your Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

Jobs consist of a combination of functional or technical skill sets, with management required in many jobs/areas.  Rewarding performance is when your skill-set matches the requirements of the job, so you feel you are “good at it” and are “doing a good job”.

Think about the most important skills to your job and out of 10, rate your level of competency in them. Which ones can be improved upon and what difference would that make to enabling higher rewarding performance?

Stock Take

Do a stock take of each of these elements in relation to your current role. Use the elements to look at your job from a different perspective. Then reflect on each element to see how you can make your work more rewarding enabling higher performance.

Written by Fiona Biggins (Career Coach) and Suzanne Cleal (Business Coach) based on the workshop Rewarding Performance.

For more information please contact Fiona Biggins

In last weeks post we discussed how to optimize job hunt research techniques in the digital age. This week we show how you can make the most of digital job hunting.

Job-hunting

There are so many online job-hunting resources out there - too many it seems at times - that you could spend all your time just looking for jobs.  So you need to focus and be selective.

Find the sites that best suit your job hunt, then filter and customise them so they only give you useful information. Set up email / text alerts to make sure you get your selection of job ads as soon as they get posted.

Remember, recruiters and companies move fast: make sure once you find the right job you apply for it as soon as possible.  It might be filled tomorrow…

o   Online job boards - limit your time on these or you could waste days. Spend no more than an hour or so a day and be productive. Note the jobs you want to apply for and apply for them all in batches.

Sites like Monster , Totaljobs and Reed are very popular with employers and jobseekers but it does mean that you face lots of competition for every job. To enhance your chances and find as many advertised jobs as possible use a ’scraper’ like Simply Hired - these are sites that search (scrape) lots of job sites so you don’t have to.  Set and save your filters once and make your job search simple.

o   Niche groups - the digital revolution has improved the access to the hidden job market by making it easier to find out about jobs that are only advertised to their target market.  Join relevant groups and forums online and you’ll get to hear about relevant postings. LinkedIn Groups are particularly good for this - note: search and sign up for relevant groups and make sure you get the daily email digest.

o   Twitter - hot property Twitter is now the source for a surprising number of ‘exclusive’ jobs (that aren’t advertised elsewhere).  Searching Twitter for opportunities can be a bit hit and miss so try Work Digital’s excellent Twitter Job Search tool.

o   Recruiters online - recruiters are all over the digital space (posting on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and on their own sites) so find the ones that recruit in your area and ‘connect’ with them digitally.  It’s much easier than in ‘real’ life. Take a look at some UK recruiters’ blogs.

o   Companies’ websites - Lots of firms list job opportunities on their own website and nowhere else. So identify companies you’d like to work for and make their sites part of your regular search activity.

Networking

The Internet makes the world a smaller place - no matter what your industry it’s easy to connect with like-minded people who want to network and share knowledge. Networking is invaluable for job hunting.  See the Figuring Out post on social networking to access the hidden job market.

o   Blogs & forums - follow the ideas and discussions on the blogs of people in your industry that you admire. If you think you’ve got something to add then comment or even set up your own blog (easily done via Blogger or WordPress). Often online groups set up offline events and more informal meetings that can be great for networking - find out more about offline meetings using  Tweetups,Eventbrite

o   Facebook: it’s a social networking site for friends…not colleagues, clients or employers.  If your boss, a recruiter or anyone else involved in your professional life asks to be your Facebook friend, point them to your LinkedIn account instead.

A note of warning: don’t lie, don’t take liberties and don’t forget that what you put online lasts forever, somewhere…

Guest post by Lopez - digital content professional

For more more information on careers please contact Fiona Biggins (Career Preparation Expert and Career Coach)

Ten years ago iPlayer, iTunes and YouTube didn’t exist. Hard to believe isn’t it?  And the same digital revolution that hit the entertainment industry is having a big impact on job hunting and recruitment.

Online job boards, recruiters on Twitter and professional social networking sites are just some of the changes that have taken place.  Overwhelming? Confusing? Well it doesn’t have to be - get to grips with digital and it can open up the job market.

Ways to use digital to help with your job hunt

Research

Gone are the days of trawling the library or waiting for information by post now, if you want to find out anything, it’s usually easily done online.  Word of caution though - always double-check your sources…Wikipedia isn’t always right.

o   Companies - look for information on companies you’d like to work at (size, location, the type of people they hire and who’s there now): a LinkedIn company search even shows the most recent hires.

o   People - find possible new contacts (no spamming or online stalking please), look up people who are doing a job you’d like to do and find out how they got there. Also get the inside track on your interviewer before you go to an interview: do a standard Google search on their name (use the filters at the top of the page to help you narrow down your search), LinkedIn people search (search by name, company and skills)

o   Industry moves and changes - it’s vital to keep informed with what’s going on in your area. That new product, start-up or company expansion might mean recruitment and you could be first in the queue.

- Try newspaper and trade magazine websites

- Search the blogosphere for blogs that are relevant to your interests

- Keep track of all the things you want to read regularly by subscribing to RSS feeds. An RSS reader like MyYahoo! , Google reader or NetNewsWire (for Macs) will automatically gather the information feeds you want to follow.

o   Skills - In this job market, it’s the candidates with the most relevant (current) skills that get hired so keep looking for ways to develop and improve your skills.  If you’re out of work it’s a great opportunity to spend some time on development - whatever your field of interest, with research, you’ll find plenty of websites with good quality, free information and training resources.

Useful sites:

- Free online learning portals: Open Learn (Open University), BBC Learning, Alison and Microsoft Office

- Free education and learning - Directgov has a whole load of information on adult learning (on and offline)

- ‘How-to’ guides for the web - Mashable

Free educational textbooks online - Wikibooks

o   Salaries - want to get an idea of what you should / could be earning? Try: MySalary.co.uk, the benchmark tool on Monster.com or glassdoor.com (US-based info but still useful)

So now you’ve done your research, the next step is the actual action of job-hunting.  Stay tuned for next weeks’ article on Job Hunting in the digital age.

Guest post by Lopez - digital content professional

For more more information on careers please contact Fiona Biggins (Career Preparation Expert and Career Coach)

Its tough out there on the open job market, so accessing the unpublished or hidden job market is all the more important!

Social networking using Linked In and Twitter can be a pivotal strategy for tapping into the unpublished market.

According to UK Recruiter , recruiters and potential employers are using both Linked In and Twitter as a vital and free resource to source candidates.

Because of the recent massive influx of users Linked In provides a potentially extensive network for recruitment purposes. It has an estimated 35 million registered users worldwide of which more than 2 million are based in the UK. This figure is growing at around 5% per month as more candidates find themselves on the market.

Twitter is fast becoming one of the most talked about social networks available on the net. It has huge potential for recruiters; and is without doubt an essential resource for all types of recruiter in all sectors of the industry. Those using it astutely realise that it is quickly becoming a major addition to the likes of Linked In as a must-have in the modern day successful recruiter’s armoury.

So how can you make the most of social networking?

Networking can be defined as the process of meeting with appropriate people in a specific industry or career focus area to find out about what they do and what their current needs are – thereby developing strategic relationships. Social networking is doing this virtually.

It is not telling everyone that you are out of work and need a new job, which is how many uninformed job seekers approach networking – and then bemoan the fact that it does not work for them.

To maximize the value of your social networking, make sure you adhere to the following key principles:

• Remember the objective of “social networking”. The goal of networking is to gain information, connections and referrals, not jobs – at least initially. Your profile on Linked In/Twitter/Facebook should attract prospective employers or recruitment consultants by stating the problem you help with. This acts as a mirror so that the prospective employers or recruitment consultants feel confident they have come to the right place.

Example profiles on Linked In: Digital Content Professional, Human Resources Professional, Management Consultant Operations Six Sigma

Example profiles on Twitter: Disciple of Southwell, wordsmith, writer & creative creator — available for hire, Helping Women who are fed up of wasting their lives and yearning to make a real difference.

• Apply the “1:50 Principle”.  Everybody knows at least fifty other people from various parts of their life. School, work, church, volunteer activities, sports groups, trade associations, neighbours, friends, family – all of these can become relevant when considering social networking. List as many people as you can from these and any other categories, Expand your list by using Linked In and Twitter. Then realize that each of these people knows at least 50 other people. The likelihood that several of these individuals will know someone who works in one of your target industries is very high.

With Twitter, follow people who inspire and energise you as possible collaborators, groups you want to keep up to date with and support, business mentors, friends, recruitment consultants and prospective employers.

With Linked In, build a network of everyone you know or who could be useful in a business sense : invite everyone you know, become an OpenNetworker and join TopLinked.com, join relevant industry groups and connect with members.

So think of todays’ social networking sites as virtual villages, where networking is based on a foundation of interdependence and win-win and where fun, discovery and connection are the keys to success.

Written by Fiona Biggins - Career Preparation Expert and Coach

For more information on this topic or for an informal chat please contact Fiona Biggins

And  of course follow us on  Twitter and connect to us on Linked In