The Definitive Job Book

Rules from the Recruitment Insiders

Anne Watson

• Publisher: Capstone
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781841127811
• eBook ISBN: 9781907293986
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Petite entreprise

There are few books available which cover the full job-searching, application, interview and negotiation process. The Definitive Job Book is just that – it covers every single aspect of job-hunting in seven chapters. Each chapter includes 'advice from the inside' interviews with HR and recruitment specialists and 'I've been there too' interviews with people who have successfully navigated the recruitment minefield. The Definitive Job Book Is an essential reference for anyone - from graduates starting out, to senior executives seeking a change - to the job-hunting process. You will need only THIS book to get the job of your dreams.

CHAPTER 1

THE DECISION TO MOVE

RESULT: CALL TO ACTION!

Fed up with your job: you know you need to move

Did you know that, according to research carried out by www.gumtree.com (the UK’s biggest website for local community job classifieds), 53% of British workers are in their current roles purely by chance? Only 8% of them said they were doing something they’ve wanted to do since they were young. A further survey of 1500 users showed that half of them would not swallow a salary sacrifice to take their dream job, preferring to stick with the work they were doing, even if they were in it by accident and didn’t really like it anyway.

If you are reading this book, it must be because you have a feeling, however mild, that there may be something else you could be doing. Now is the time to take control of your life and do the job that you want to do rather than stay where you have ended up. What is your dream job? And why aren’t you doing it? Avoid the comfort zone of being a victim. Take responsibility for your own life and for your own career. It is up to you how you choose to earn a living and how you choose to use your talents. Don’t fall into the trap of blaming other people for how your career is going.

For most aspects of our lives, we make positive choices about what we want. We choose our homes, our holidays and our cars. We choose the people that we want to live with and we decide actively about most of our interests and leisure pursuits. Isn’t it astonishing, therefore, that so many of us drift into a job and later on we wonder how it happened?

My one and only formal job interview was at the age of 22 when, having got through the civil service exams and interview panel, the final stage was an interview in the immigration office in Hull. Apparently I had ticked a number of boxes on my original application form for Executive Officer, a grade that covered a myriad of possibilities within the civil service. I had indicated that one of the roles I was willing to be considered for was that of Immigration Officer. I didn’t even recall doing this, so the box must have been merrily ticked in a fit of ill thought through enthusiasm. The next five years of my life were spent in the world of immigration because I had mindlessly ticked a box and then shown enough initiative to buy a copy of the Immigration Act 1971 that I had artlessly peeping out of my handbag at the Hull interview. This initiative impressed the inspector of immigration so much that I got the job that I wasn’t sure I even wanted. Although I loved working with the intelligent and quirky people I met there, the Civil Service working environment was absolutely wrong for me as I was born to break rules. I often wonder what would have happened if I had put some thought into my job search and actively thought through what I wanted to do and what I would be good at.

Redundancy and coping with the shock

You might be reading this because your role has been made redundant and you are wondering what to do to create a new future and a new career. While you are dealing with this, you are also coping with the emotional impact of this life-changing event. People will be telling you how you must view it as an opportunity. They will be reassuring you that you will easily find another job and that it is bound to be something better. They will tell you that it will be an exciting adventure that will lead to a better paid and more rewarding job. They will be reminding you that you often used to complain about the job and wished you could leave. This may well be true but it is always easy to shout encouragement from the sidelines. It is alright for other people, dishing out advice from the secure position of a salary cheque landing in their bank accounts at the end of the month. They still have the security of their daily routines whereas you are adjusting to a life that you never imagined. Routine is a word you no longer recognize and I bet that at three o’clock in the morning you lie awake wondering if you will ever work again. Even if you are absolutely confident about your marketability and your skills, occasionally doubts creep in. Losing your job hits at the very roots of your security and, unless your redundancy cheque is seven figures, you know that eventually it will run out and you will have to find a way to pay the mortgage. The weight on your shoulders is a heavy one and it is a lonely place to be.

Accept that it is perfectly natural to have down days when you just can’t be bothered to make one more telephone call or to write one more email. While it is important to maintain the momentum of a high energy and focused job search, you also need to make sure that you have a break and maintain your personal well being and equilibrium. Take time for exercise, whether this is going to the gym, attending a pilates class, Tai Chi, five-a-side football, running, walking or going for a swim. One of the best ways of combating stress is to burn it off through physical exercise. Rest, relaxation and a change of scenery also help you to regain your motivation as well as the confidence and the pace you need. Go for a coffee or a drink with a friend because it is as important to find the time for reflection as it is to be immersed in the nitty gritty of job hunting. The encouragement and companionship of others will lift your spirits and help you return to your tasks with a lighter spirit.

As well as the job search, you have to cope with the redundancy situation itself. You might be quite delighted to be leaving your job and you may regard this cheque as a bonus. However, you may be vulnerable to feelings of rejection, insecurity and lack of confidence. No matter how resilient you may normally be, your self-confidence has been given a nasty dent and it is from this lonely position that you have to start a job search and be performing at your absolute best. This is the time when you require every vestige of self-confidence that you can muster. You need to be full of self-belief and eager to look forward. In order for this to happen, you need first of all to resolve the issues of the old job and the redundancy so that you can put it behind you and move on. If you don’t, this could hold you back and it may spill out in one way or another during interviews. Before you know it you will be talking too much about the redundancy, using all the wrong words, and sounding critical and bitter. Get rid of all of this before you start the job hunt. If possible, go away on holiday and give yourself the leisure time to absorb what has happened to you and to work it through in your head. The temptation will be to launch into action immediately, to start the telephone calls and the networking, but sometimes the best course of action is to do nothing and to create a period of calm where you can begin to restructure your thoughts about your future.

Pieter Schats, Managing Director of Toys LiFung (Asia) Limited, says:

I believe that everyone should lose their job once in their career. It focuses your mind on your own performance and it redefines the meaning of security.

However, it is also important to look at corporate performance and to recognize that it just may not be your fault. Other people in the organization will look at how the redundancy has been handled, hopefully with dignity and respect, and the whole process will speak volumes about the employer.

Finally, once you have experienced a redundancy situation yourself, you will make sure that no-one ever has to feel like you felt and you will be a better manager and better boss as a consequence.

Walking out on your job

Perhaps you have just walked out on your job or you have resigned without a job to go to. You may have marched into your boss’s office and had the satisfaction of slapping your letter of resignation on the desk. However it happened, you are now living with the consequences of a brave decision. Whether it was something you had thought about carefully beforehand or if you responded to the impulse of the moment, the result is the same. You need to get a job - and you probably need to get it fast.

Everyone will tell you that it is always easier to get a job from a position of employment and perhaps it could be true. However, maybe this is an example of the rigid thinking of the 20th century, not the flexible and more tolerant views of the 21st. Of course, this depends on the reasons why you decide to leave. You might have decided to leave because you were faced with an unacceptable situation at work that caused you a moral dilemma. Maybe you were at odds with the company’s values and you could not fit in. Maybe you realized that you had no future with the company and you were so unhappy that you just had to go. Whatever your reason, so long as you can justify it with clear examples of what drove you to this decision, prospective employers will understand. They may even be impressed by this demonstration of your strength of character and your self-confidence.

If you plan to find a job that matches your skills in a better way than the role you have just left, you will need to dedicate full-time resources to it. Job-hunting while you are working is a hard act to manage. You can spend your days off doing research and creating your CV and letters of application, but you need time during the normal hours of the working week to make telephone calls as well as attend informal meetings and interviews. Now that you are liberated from the day job, you can leap straight into action and secure that next role.

Bearing in mind that you need to leave a company in the right way, just as you need to join one properly, you may need to reflect on whether you need to build any bridges with your former employer. If you left in the heat of the moment and perhaps said things that now, in the cold light of day, you may now regret, find an opportunity to sort things out. You may not change your decision to leave but you can change the impression that you have left behind. You never know when your paths may cross again at some point in the future so make sure you have not left behind any unfinished business.

And if you were fired?

Generally good employers work within HR best practice and if they are experiencing problems with your performance at work, you will be made aware of it through feedback, both informal and formal. Disciplinary procedures and processes are in place and these are usually adhered to. Occasionally individuals ignore the process, tempers flare and the result could be your sudden and ignominious departure. However it happens and whatever action you may decide to take through the employment tribunal system, you are still left in an unhappy and probably emotional situation. You need to manage how you feel as well as rousing yourself to create a brilliant job-seeking strategy. It will be even wo...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• DRAMATIS PERSONAE
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 - THE DECISION TO MOVE
• CHAPTER 2 - CRAFTING THE PERFECT CV
• CHAPTER 3 - GET THE LETTER RIGHT
• CHAPTER 4 - WHERE AND HOW TO APPLY
• CHAPTER 5 - HIGH PERFORMANCE INTERVIEWING
• CHAPTER 6 - NEGOTIATING THE BEST DEAL AND MANAGING THE JOB OFFER PROCESS
• CHAPTER 7 - TECHNIQUES TO HELP YOU MAKE THE BEST OF WHO YOU ARE
• APPENDIX A: - ANNE’S TEN TOP TIPS TO STAY ONE STEPAHEAD OF THE CROWD AND MAKE ...
• APPENDIX B: - RESOURCES YOU MAY FIND HELPFUL
• INDEX