Tips for Success in Searching for a Job

The years spent as a personnel recruitment officer in a well known international consultancy gave me many insights into what constitutes success in searching for a job.

The most important thing for a job seeker to remember is that the more applications you make and the wider you spread yourself, the luckier you will be. This means you need to approach several placement bureaus as well as scour the local and city newspapers, specialist job seeking publications as well as various magazines.

The more specialized you are and the higher up the corporate ladder you happen to be, the more difficult it becomes to find jobs.As a result you need to be a lot more proactive.Make a list of the companies you have previously worked for and then find out who their direct competitors are and approach them. This is how we used to canvass for job specifications from potential clients when we had applicants.

Get hold of a list of the top one hundred companies and telephone their human resource departments. If they sound interested and request a curriculum vitae then send one.

Many people send out their unsolicited resumes to as many companies as they can and then feel annoyed that they have not received a response. The reason for lack of response in this instance is that nine times out of ten the resume does not reach the person responsible for recruitment.Since there was no job advertised in the first instance your resume will not be required.

Most people believe that they need to go into minute detail about their experience and achievements. Believe me when a company has just received three hundred applications for a position the person who is doing the screening is not interested in the minutiae of your life experience.

Make your resume as short and sweet and as reader friendly as possible. Highlight those jobs that have direct bearing on your application. Mention the job title, the company name and the time you spent there. It is irrelevant to state the amount you earned or the reason for leaving. If you are invited for an interview then these issues will be addressed.Your resume is simply to attract interest and obtain the interview.

When you arrive for the interview make sure you are a little early but not so early that you will cause embarrassment. Five to ten minutes early is usually fine and, whatever you do,do not arrive late. If you have an unavoidable delay telephone, apologise and reschedule.

At interview allow the person interviewing you to control the interview. Do not take over and try to impress with information that has not been requested. Remember that your interviewer has to see many applicants and has an agenda to adhere to. If you waste time they may not see you as a potential valuable employee.

Often applicants arrive at interview and begin to discuss the employment package. This is insensitive and premature.Until you have been offered the job it is not relevant. I have known of many applicants who killed their chances of employment by arriving at the interview and interrogating the employer about the package before the interview even commenced.

At interview you need to sit up straight and look alive, energetic and interested. If you slouch and look a little bored you will not make much of an impression. Try to introduce some humor if you can but if the employer does not seem interested in lightheartedness let it go.

It is important in a corporate situation not to dress in an individualistic style. To join a company and become part of its culture you need to fit in. The best dress for a corporate interview is dark, tailored clothing and white shirts,or tops for ladies. Gentlemen choose a dark tie with no pattern whatsoever.

During interview do not lean across the interviewer's desk. Do not engage the interviewer with an unflinching stare as it can be misconstrued. Rather sit back, relax but be formal and make eye contact as is necessary. Keep your hands folded in front of you. Do not have them stuck into pockets and do not drum your fingers on the desk or fidget. It is very disconcerting for the interviewer.

At the end of the interview if you are interested in the job ask for it. Remember that the person interviewing you is as nervous about making a mistake as you are. Often over the years I had personnel officers complain that they wished they knew if the person was keen on the job or not. They do not wish to offer employment and then have it turned down. This is then a waste of time and also makes the interviewer look incompetent.

If you are keen on a job do not simply disappear from the scene after interview. Follow up with the company or personnel agency you are dealing with. Assume that they are interested in you until you are told that they are not.

an exact salary as the employer will not see you if they are offering substantially less or more for the position. Remember you want to get to the inverview, once they have seen you then they are often as keen to negotiate as you.

Remember that when you read an employment advertisement in the newspaper and they state all their client requirements such as you must be under thirty, have twenty years experience, have four degrees and be registered with ten professional associations and immaculately groomed and willing to travel the world and work twenty four hours a day...I am exaggerating for effect here...this is their ideal candidate profile.

In reality they usually place on fifty one percent of their original requirements.So keep your mind wide open when you read employment advertisements. If in doubt apply anyway. They can only say no.

I have often placed people in positions where they are totally unsuitable. Their qualification and experience are wrong and their character and temperament are incompatible. This is a fact of life. The world is not always a fair place. The reasons that people get jobs is often they are in the right place at the right time and they look the part.

It is important to do some introspective thinking before you attend an interview. You need to know yourself, understand who you are and what you have to offer. Questions designed to find these things out are often high on the interviewer's agenda and I have often seen perfectly good candidates lose out on jobs because they were not able to answer these basic questions about themselves. After all, if you do not know why you will be an asset how will anyone else?

Do not be scared to knock on doors when you are searching for a job. I have found this to be the most successful way of finding employment. The reason for this is that often when an employee arrives on your doorstep it saves you the time looking for the candidate, the cost involved in advertising and screening and interviewing, and the possible high fee charged by a consultancy. In such an instance employers are often much more flexible on their requirements than when they would be when paying a large sum of money to recruit.

Do not be scared to apply for a job that looks too junior or too senior for you. Companies are often more than willing to alter a job specification to suit a candidate whom they like.

Finally when you are looking for a job you need to put in a reasonable effort. It is no good looking in the employment section of your newspaper once a day and saying "..nothing for me."

Keep at it and be positive and assume that something will come your way. I have found that something inevitably does.
When you type up your resume it is a good idea to state that you are available by arrangement. State that you are negotiable as to package and that you have a list of references available on request.Do not state