Redundancy

What a boring title! Sadly, for those going through it, it's not a boring situation.

If you worked through 2008/2009, it's likely you knew 1 if not more people, who were made redundant or were placed at risk of redundancy, it was a very scary time and I was one of those placed at risk, I retained my role but seeing so many colleagues and friends have to leave the jobs they'd worked so hard in through no fault of their own was heartbreaking at times, and i'm not exaggerating.

Redundancy happens all the time, its a way for companies to keep costs down, loose excess headcount and slimline a burgeoning business in tough times. Its never pleasant but it happens and it may happen to you, I just wanted to write a post on it to highlight a few things to keep in mind if you're put in this position and how to remain positive and proactive.

1 - Every cloud
I don't mean that to sound flippant but it may be that this is the best thing that has ever happened to you. If you're fairly new to the business, well, who wants to stay in a business that is making people redundant, its not the greatest of signs so perhaps its best to get out early. If you've been there forever then all the more reason to celebrate, perhaps you were stuck in a rut, afraid to get out, happy in your comfort zone, well now you HAVE to move, you have to do something and this could be the push you needed to find something bigger and better. It won't always be that obvious when you're worrying about your bills but do keep it in mind, it will help you through the tough times.

2 - Dust off that Cv
It may be that you've been using the same CV for a while, or not, either way this is a good opportunity to really take a long hard look at how you're selling yourself, after-all your position is a bit different now so you need to really understand how you can present yourself in the best way possible and get in front of that new hiring manager. Are you clear, concise and able to demonstrate your expertise, whatever that may be? Of course cvukwriter can help you with this if you're not sure....!

3 - Don't dwell
There's no two ways about it, even if you were quite hoping for redundancy for whatever reason, its still not a great place to be and for 99% of the population, if you're going to leave a business you'd rather do it on your own volition. But don't dwell on this, try and keep your head up, dwelling on the negative will only stall your efforts to a more positive future. Motivated people will do more and be more, unmotivated people who dwell on the bad times will more likely be the people sitting watching Eastenders of an evening rather than tweaking their CV for that role they just spied on Indeed. Easier said than done buy it's often a case of mind over matter

4 - You're better than you think
So you've been made redundant, try not to take it personally (yeah right). That made sound like a daft statement but it's the case, self confidence can go a long way (although when it tips over into arrogance then no one can save you!), just because you've been made redundant doesn't mean your skills won't be valued elsewhere, doesn't mean you won't thrive elsewhere and it sure doesn't mean that someone else won't hire you. They will, you just have to keep the faith and as per post 3, don't dwell on the negative.

For further reading these articles might be of interest:

Aimed at the over 40s but valid points that can apply to many people regardless of age; http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/finding-work-redundancy-40s-tips-for-success

Good tips that hopefully your employer would have covered anyway; http://approachthemarket.co.uk/10-tips-to-help-you-cope-with-redundancy/

The serious side of redundancy, know where you stand, another useful article from the Guardian; http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/jan/20/how-to-cope-with-redundancy

(Not so) Great Expectations

As you leave university you will have spent the last 3 or 4 years working hard, playing hard and hopefully enjoying your time before you have to start making some choices about your next steps which for most graduates will be, what job do you want?

It’s important that when you’re stepping out post university that your expectations match the outside world and most of the time, these expectations revolve about money and time.
If I had a pound for the amount of times I’ve spoken to a graduate and they ask “What is the salary” or “do you offer flexitime” I would be a rich person right now, they’re not taboo questions to ask but there is a time and place and within the first 10 minutes of an initial phone call with a potential employer is not the time nor the place. Which brings me back to the point of this blog, what are your expectations? It’s a really important question to ask as it could demonstrate that your “wants” are totally out of whack with the market you’re applying in or the employment market in general.

It’s not uncommon these days for businesses to offer flexible working, this could mean working from home, staggering your hours or working from a different office but that is not to say that as a fresh graduate with no experience you won’t be expected to come in, on time, to one location, every day for some time to come. You have a lot to learn and you can’t do that if you’re not with your team, it’s not only about learning a skill or demonstrating yours, it’s about learning to be with people in a professional environment, answering the phone, being in meetings, conduct with clients or senior members of staff, very important skills to learn and you can’t do that at home on your sofa and expecting to be able to flit here and there as and when you want is very off putting.

Money is the other embarrassing point and there are far too many grads who think they should be in line for £35K for just graduating. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain jobs that will pay that such as Oil and Gas engineering but most won’t and coming in all heavy handed with expectations of “at least £30000 starting salary” (immediate reject) is so off putting and recruiters will often have to have a very uncomfortable conversation about what you’re thinking!! This usually results in the candidate swallowing their pride or flouncing off somewhere else only to be told the same thing.

These two examples just demonstrate some extremes of behaviour and to ensure you’re on the money when you apply to roles, do your research, what is the market ACTUALLY paying, what benefits are most common in your field? You can play hardball but know your limits and you’ll not only come across as interesting but also astute and someone that an employer may want on their team, unlike someone who’s expectations are so above what they should be, you’re dismissed before you’ve even started the process.

It’s worth me ending by saying that graduates in the main are keen, enthusiastic and present themselves well as they know it’s a busy market out there but there are the odd 3 or 4 that let everyone down and give them all a bad rep. There’s certainly more that can be done at universities to change that but that’s for another post (and it’s certainly not a criticism).

Any comments about this article? Is it too harsh? Do you think graduates have a right to be pushy? Do let me know

UK job market at the start of 2015

Welcome to 2015! I hope you have enjoyed the seasonal slowdown and have spent the first few days  of the year not sticking to your resolutions!

My blogs will be slightly more focused from here on in and I'm starting with a brief (very brief) picture of the UK job market as we head into the year.

It's been clear for a while that what once were green shoots in the employment market are now grassy meadows, we are back in a candidate driven market with many industries enjoying a more buoyant time with the ability to hire new staff in significant numbers.
Without a doubt, many recruiters and indeed managers still feel the reverberations of the recession and the impact it had on employment, it's taken a long time to get to this point but we're heading into 2015 with more positive expectations for the year ahead.

But why focus on the positive?!! We're always so good at finding the negative spin aren't we (our media are at least) so this is mine - research currently suggests that unfilled posts in the UK are costing the economy £18 BN a year. Eighteen billion - that's huge!!

Empty seats are not great and every recruiter's aim is to get the right bum on the right seat, no bum means a cost to the company but also to the wider economy due to time lost, money lost, inability to fulfill contracts on time etc etc - this paragraph came out wrong but you know what I mean.

I'll link to the article below but the issue effects nearly every industry, social, healthcare (obvs), finance, retail, professional services and more.

Its an issue that is already being talked about in the longer term with an ageing population, a lack of qualified candidates and the problems we will face in the future but that is not for now......as I would be here for ages and you would have left in a flurry of boredom.

So what does this all mean? To be honest, I'm not sure, every day you read something different about our economy and the employment market, what you read and what it means in a general sense will depend on the writer. One thing is for sure, we have jobs once again, there are jobs out there, they don't suit everyone I know but as I said, those green shoots have defiantly shot and it would seem that in some industries they're impossible to keep up with.

So what does this mean to you as a job seeker? Well I would firstly say that you shouldn't expect your job search to be easy, there is still a huge amount of competition out there, particularly at Graduate level but if you're committed and intelligent, if you know your market and can demonstrate that in your application through study and/or experience then you are off on the right foot, of course if you're not sure where to start then get in touch with us.

So 2015 - who knows what will happen as we move through the weeks and months, one thing is for sure, no one can predict it, no matter how many facts and figures they give you.

Article: http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/unfilled-vacancies-costing-the-uk-economy-%C2%A318bn-a-year

Graduate Applications - perspectives of a reviewer

It’s been a while since I've “blogged”, I’m not very good at it you see so I decided to step back from it until I had something to say that was interesting not just blabbering on (like now!!). So here I am.

As part of my current role, I manage the graduate recruitment process for an area of our business which invariably means having to review 100’s of applications. After doing this every year for many years, I know what we’re looking for as a business and can pretty quickly make a decision on what is a good candidate and what is not, that is not to say I am blasé about reviewing CVs, oh no, I am quite the opposite, there is always that fear in the back of my mind that we might lose out on that one shining star if I don’t review every single person and review them properly, so I do, even if it takes me 4 hours to get through 300 applications. Or maybe that’s quite quick; I've nothing to measure it against except me.

Anyway, I digress.

I thought that following this review, I would post some tips, partly borne out of frustration but mostly in the hope that this will one day reach the eyes of graduates who need some guidance in how to get a job.

1 – CARE

Quite simply, when you apply you need to show you actually care about the application you’re putting forward. Don’t leave it incomplete, re-read it, make sure it’s relevant to the role you’re submitting it against. It’s so easy to tell when a candidate just can’t be bothered to make any effort and you will get rejected quicker than you can say “I’m off to the pub”.

2 – MAKE IT RELEVANT

Leading on from caring, if you do care, you need to make sure you make the effort and make your application relevant to the role you’re applying to, yes it takes time, yes its laborious, pouring through each application and tailoring your CV to that specific role, but isn’t that the point? Nothing comes for free these days and if you want the job, you need to show you WANT the job and have put time and energy in making your application most relevant to the requirements.

3 – DON’T WAFFLE

This is so irritating to a recruiter. Whilst recruiters and hiring managers like to see you have a life outside your studies, meaning you’re a well-balanced individual, can get on with others and are an interesting person, it’s not relevant to waffle on about your love of scuba diving or the fact that you’ve run 20 10Ks in a year, commendable yes but wittering on for 6 precious lines tends to indicate your passion lies elsewhere and not perhaps in the area you’re applying to. Make sure the focus of your application is on the skills that match the role, your new team can find out how awesome you are once you get the job.

4 – STOP WITH THE DETAIL

We don’t need to know how committed you were to your job in Morrisons while you were at uni, we know what working in a pub entails, you don’t need to bullet point your areas of responsibility while serving at Pizza Express. Include the fact that you have had part time jobs, that’s fine, but you really don’t need to include ANY detail about the role, unless it is entirely relevant, an example could be if you’re applying to a role in Human Resources and state that you worked part-time in Next while studying and was promoted to work in the back office in HR.

5 – THE QUALIFICATION QUESTION

It is of course important to include pre-degree qualifications, it is less important to list every subject and every grade/award, it is even less important to do this via a bulleted list, they take up valuable space and it’s not needed. Simply stating “10 GCSE grade A-C” will do. A levels are perhaps more relevant (dependant on the grad role) but again, you don’t need to list them vertically, you can summarise as per the GCSE example but if you really want to include them then do this vertically “A levels – X (B), Y (B-) and Z (A)”.

6 – SIZE MATTERS

As a raw graduate, you have no business having a CV longer than 2 pages, personally I think 1 page is more akin to a true resume (a summary document) but 2 is just perfect. It gives you enough space to include the right amount of information and explanations without going into too much detail. You don’t need to fill 2 pages (so don’t be tempted to waffle just to get to the end of the 2^nd page), but this is a good rule of thumb throughout your career to stick to. If your Cv goes over 2 pages you need to review and see what you can reduce or cut out, you don’t need to include references so take them off, you don’t need to bullet you’re A levels, you can lose that paragraph space.

7 – CHECK x INFINITY

Submitting an application with grammatical or spelling errors is just the absolute pits. It makes recruiters shake their heads and managers furrow their brows. Just check, check, check it, Word can only do so much, get your housemate to check it, get your mum to check it, get anyone ELSE to check it for you as that 2^nd pair of eyes because when you submit your application to a “Graduate Retail Mangment” position, I can tell you now, there is a 98% chance it’s heading straight into the bin.

So there you go, there are loads of other tips I could post but I don’t want to waffle on! Happy CV reviewing! 

A rumination on the state of the employment market

Venting an opinion on twitter can be difficult, especially when you have one that is way over 142 characters!
This post is a bit off piste but I've been focused up to now, on posting about CV and interview tips, tips on social media that are relevant to me as a start-up business but relevant to candidates in their job searches as well.

The last couple of days I wanted to focus on the state of the UK job market, after all, all this talk about increased vacancies and unemployment dropping is great but what does it mean to the candidate on the ground? 

The answer - it depends.

As previous posts have stated I'm still currently a direct recruiter, working in an industry that took a huge blow thanks to the financial crisis, for 4 years we saw ups, downs, a takeover, redundancies and eventual ongoing recovery but we weren't the only ones and got off lightly in comparison to our competitors. So whilst the stories particularly in the last 6 mths of growth, recovery and obviously the official diagnosis that we were out of the recession are marvellous news for all, it does not mean that everything is rosy once more.

The north south divide is still apparent, not only in jobs but also in areas such as housing and high street growth, although it would seem that latest job growth is higher in the north than London;

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/north-englands-permanent-job-placements-boom-while-london-suffers-1468971

But what about the candidate? What do they think and feel?
For graduates this is great news, following massive culls in grad hires across most if not all market sectors, youth unemployment was a very big problem in the UK and still is, although it is dropping, now we are seeing graduate hiring figures not seen for 3 or more years which is fantastic, career fairs are packed with employers and candidates and the need to sell your company is back on the agenda, we are no longer in a client's market, we have to get the good people interested but candidates are still up against it, with thousands of applications to "graduate schemes" (this is no exaggeration, ours has been running for 2 weeks and we're already creeping up to 1000 applicants).

Experienced hire though is another ball game altogether and herein lies my point. For the grown ups of the world, we lived, struggled and for some of us worried, through the recession, i know plenty of people who lost their jobs, couldn't find one and applied to 100's of roles in the desperate bid to get their mortgage paid. Good, bad and indifferent employees were made redundant and for those left behind, it has left a certain sense of fear, that may sound melodramatic but when you have a family to support and bills to pay, you don't want to be in that situation, ever, so its better the devil you know, particularly for people who have stayed at their jobs.

So whilst there is definite growth, are all industries seeing a certain sense of unwillingness to move? We are, candidates are still uncomfortable giving up their benefits and leaving a place often they have worked in for 5plus years. Getting the best of the best to join your company has always been a challenge, in most industries but now when you're trying to convince someone its the right choice you have a harder, longer battle. Lots of people won't move, deciding they're not comfortable with it. This is reiterated in the article I posted yesterday regarding work life balance, candidates who have an established w/l b don't want to lose it, that coupled with this fear of the unknown could mean that more people are staying put, regardless of the acknowledgement by many industries that w/lb is one of the most important aspects of a working environment with increases in good benefits and flexi working arrangements.

http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/worklife-balance-now-more-sought-after-than-earning-big-money-driving-a-fancy-car-#.VDZsM-mcZnA.twitter

Candidates of a certain level of experience just aren't convinced anymore, I'm generalising of course but I think there is a long way to go to see confidence return overall, this particular post could go in all sorts of directions, political skepticism, media furore, benefit schemes, comfort zones, graduate prospects but for me it's quite simple; whilst the dark days of the recession have been forgotten by some, for many, many people, there is a still a sense of caution and as recruiters that adds to our challenge, but then it wouldn't be recruitment without the challenge would it!