Career Advice Articles

Three questions to ask in your next interview.

mark — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:47:42 +0000

I’ve made the mistake before. Yes, I forgot to ask questions at the end of the interview.

It’s a mistake easily made, once you’ve been asked what seems like a million questions and you’ve been hounded on your CV it’s finally your turn.

I often feel that everything has been covered, but this usually down to mental tiredness, so I’ve formulated five questions to which will impress the interviewed during your next interview.

1. Do you have any objections or concerns regarding my ability to do this job?

This is an excellent question since it gives you the opportunity to answer any issues they may have there and then. If they are convinced that you could the job then by them stating this is a sign of acceptance. Once acceptance is made in ones mind then the situation becomes reality.

2. Are there any concerns I’d need to address in order to become your first choice?

This question can follow on from the first and again if the employer offers nothing then this can be a good sign. But be prepared to get to the crux of the issue. Here the recruiter could tell you exactly what credentials other candidates have to offer which they consider advantageous. Any issues hey raised should be handled with care. Offer a solution to their concerns with examples addressing the issues you can recall from previous experience.

3. What’s the next stage?

This is a question that is great to end on and can really set yourself apart from the competition. It demonstrates not only that you are keen but also it ends the interview on a positive note

5 steps to finding Jobs in Ireland

mark — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:11:39 +0000

Searching, finding and attaining jobs and careers in Ireland - 5 steps to speed up your search

Job Hunting in Ireland is much the same as anywhere else - you have to sell yourself and convince employers that you are the best person for the job!

Jobs2Ireland offers some ground level advice about finding jobs from the recruiter’s perspective.

1. Best to be in Ireland

Look at it from the employers point of view. Unless you are the only person applying for the position, an employer may have a hard time speaking to you at length about a position when you currently live out of Ireland. Again, look at the situation from the recruiters perspective, it’s easier to start a process with someone who is already living here, there are many risks involved when employing someone from abroad, there will always be question regarding how will they settle, will they just try to find another ‘better job’ when they arrive, in fact there are many other relocating issues that potential employers will want to avoid. So it’s best to be in Ireland first.

2. Prepare yourself

Ask yourself exactly what it is you want to do and then prepare yourself to apply for the position. An unprepared candidate will not only irritate the interviewer but find themselves far down the pecking order.

3. Play to your strengths

People who are successful at what they do play to their strengths.Find unique strengths in your skill set and search for careers that will benefit from those skills. In addition, write your CV and Resume to complement and back up your application

4. Research potential employers who will benefit from your skills

Research employers on the internet and find out if they would benefit from your skill set. The best way to do this is by analyzing their adverts, they will give you a very good indication as to what type of person they need. Secondly, pick up the phone and speak to potential employees. Find out what exactly they are looking for for, ask them if it is worth applying.

5. Formulate a great CV and resume

Again, sell yourself and highlight elements in the CV\Resume which have particular relevance to the job you are applying for. For more information about constructing a great CV and Resume see our article here

Finding jobs, careers and other employment opportunities in Ireland is a similar task to finding a jobs anywhere else, there are plenty careers and opportunities available but competition for jobs in Ireland is high and you will need to sell yourself in this competitive market

So what are you waiting for? Do your research, brush up your CV and get searching! Our search engine is always a good place to start.

3 Tips to sell yourself during an interview

mark — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:44:49 +0000

Enthusiasm

I remember some time ago when I applied for a sales position I was suitably qualified for but was unfortunate not to get it. I looked long and hard at the interview and questioned what went wrong.

The feedback was quite conclusive. I didn’t really seem like I wanted the job, in other words there wasn’t enough enthusiasm. Even though I ticked all the boxes, showing more enthusiasm would have sealed the deal. OK, lesson learnt

Focus on your strengths

Interviewers I’ve found can often focus on the negative points you have. I have found that in order to answer this we should focus on the positive at all times, this is effect reduces and dilutes the perception of the negative points. Always focus on the positive.

Find areas you can add extra value to the business

During the interview process the company will give you a lot of information regarding their business. Listen to everything that they say and pick out the information which you can use to your advantage by way of adding value to the company. This could be in the form of leadership experience, team building experience, evidence that proves you can handle pressure etc.

This article was written by Mark Hollingworth of Jobs2Ireland and is subject to copyright.

Finding Jobs in Ireland

mark — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:44:04 +0000

Moving up the Irish career ladder will probably mean searching for a job in order to find work. But where do we find jobs during Ireland’s heaviest recession for many years? There are of cause the traditional channels like knocking on the doors of businesses and asking for work. But this as you may know is a long, tiring task. Here is our guide to finding Irish jobs

Target your search

Ask yourself the question, what kind of job are you looking for? Furthermore, where would you advertise that job if you where a business owner looking to fill that position? By thinking like the employer you we can make reasonable assumptions as to where they would find the staff they need. For example, do you often see jobs for Londis advertised in the Sunday Business Post? No, not often. But you will find them posted on the shop walls. This would be a good start.

The job centre

Go to the job centre. People tend to forget this, even people standing in line to ’sign-on’ don’t spend much time reading the adverts displayed on the walls. For employers to advertise their jobs here is often the cheapest means for them to advertise and as a result they use this frequently. A word of warning though. If you are looking for a higher management role the job centre might not be your first port of call.

Job Boards

Search for jobs in Ireland on the internet. Google, Yahoo! and MSN are all good portals to finding jobs. Try different search terms, just writing ‘jobs’ will provide very broad results where as typing the title of the job you want and where you want it will return very specific results much more suitable to what you are looking for.

Newspapers

Employers and recruiters tend to use specific channels to advertise these days so it follows that you will find executive jobs in these types of publications. For example, the Financial Times and the Irish Time are excellent places to find finance jobs. If you are looking for a web development job then you would be wise to go online to the industry magazines website - this is a great portal for companies to find great talent.

Social networking

More and more recruiters are using online tools to find talent. Linkedin and Zoominfo are two examples of this. Be sure to expand your networks as much as possible and get old employers to recommend you. This is one of the best ways to finding your next job since the majority of jobs are filled via networking or word of mouth. It’s true what they say, it’s now what you know but who you know.

Word of mouth

Yes, it’s often true what they say. That most jobs are filled before the vacancy is advertised. So how do you make that yourself? 1. Call potential employers and sell yourself - give it a go, you can’t lose anything. 2. Tell your friends you are looking for work - people are often happy to help other people 3. Hand out your business card - this will help people remember who you are

How to write a great CV.

mark — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:38:12 +0000

The advice we offer for writing your CV is quite simple. Well, it’s ‘keep-it-simple’, actually. When writing a CV for you next job it’s very easy to make the mistake of putting as much information (content) in there as possible with little regard for layout or presentation (context). The context, I would argue is as important as the content. In fact we really should be selling our services in terms of benefits to the employer along with some real-world examples to prove our case. This should be clear and easy to understand when reading the CV.

So how do we write a great CV?

1. Heading

The heading is the first element the reader will see.

Which sounds better?

a) Joe Blogs MSC Biology

b) Lab professional with 10 years work experience

All too often, it is easy to put your name first as the heading. I prefer to use a statement which entices the reader to become interested and read more into the CV. Think of this like the headline of a news article, you want to write it so the reader is encouraged to read more.

2. Contact details and key skills

Once you have the readers attention you can advise them of your key skills and contact details, for example:

PC skills, negotiation, sales, product development

Joe Blogs | Joe Blogs@jobs2ireland.ie | 98 St John walk, Dublin | Mob: 45577345

So having this information at the top of the CV is a good start. You have given the reader a statement about yourself, your key skills and contact information. Now you can get into the details.

3. Work experience

I wouldn’t recommend putting your education first. Unless of-cause your education it has been gained from such a place which would get you an interview.

Highlight the title of the job and employer. List what you achieved during your employment, your responsibilities and most importantly the differences you have made. If you can, this should be in terms of profitability or cost saving.

My tip! - If you have a testimonial from your employer, try to include a quote from this somewhere in this section as it adds weight to claim.

For example:

Sales Exec - the XYZ company

key responsibilities: Sales administration, client retention, sales training

key stats: Improved sales by 120% in 12 months, implented company systems and to reduce sales admin

“Joe Bloggs managed not only to improve our sales figures but made us more effeicient implementeding aaa sales system” - Ken Doe, Managing Director- XYZ company

4. Education

Keep it clear and concise. I tend to include a few modules that I covered which are related to the field of work I’m applying for. I also focus on extra curricular activities such as ‘chairman of the student council’ etc

5. Ensure your CV is easy to read

It sounds obvious, but you need to ensure that your CV is easy to read. Get a friend to look over the CV and ask them to point out your key skills and attributes. These should be easy to point out. In fact, if you have followed this advice, you may even get a ‘Wow, I’d employ you!’ type of reaction!

Good Luck

Out of work? - Banish negativity!

mark — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:51:46 +0000

When we find ourselves out of work we can often hit some of the lowest points life has offer. The most natural thing for many is to sink into a helpless state of uselessness. Unfortunately, this does nothing to help our plight when searching for jobs in Ireland. In fact the negativity rubs off on other people who then tend to respond with more negativity resulting in an downward spiral. If you feel that you have come to this point then it’s time to snap out of it and banish negativity!

Nothing positive comes from anything negative

Generally speaking, nothing positive can come from anything negative, unless of-cause we purposely decide to think in this way. The problem is that negativity tends to be the reaction our mind jumps to when it isn’t trained to do otherwise. It can often be the ‘little voice’ inside your head telling you you can’t do something or a situation is impossible. But when your mind jumps to a negative presumption is this in fact the reality? Maybe, maybe not. The reality is something in the future which hasn’t happened yet so how can you know that the little voice in your head is right? The truth is that we don’t, but it’s easier to presume this since it take no effort to do so. Our minds tend to do what’s easiest regardless of whether it is for good or bad.

How do we banish negativity?

There are a few steps we can take which will help banish the negativity and allow you to think positively instead thus creating an proactive environment.

Train your brain!

Remember that the reality hasn’t occurred yet. In order for it to occur things need to happen, you can influence this future with the power of your thoughts alone. The first step is to train your brain to react in a different way.

How do we train our brain to react positively instead of negatively. Well this does take some effort and it’s usually why people tend to think negatively, because it is easier to think this way. It takes effort and focus of the mind to think differently to this.

The first step is just to be aware that when something doesn’t go your way you have have a choice. To think positively or otherwise. Once you understand and accept you have a choice, your brain will offer you that choice instead of default to the path of least resistance, often the negative reaction.

Practice positivity

The more we practice being positive, the better we get at it. Like with any other type of training we are repeating an action to teach ourselves to react in an specific manner. In this case reacting positively instead of defaulting to something easier. Practising starts with our thoughts, and is communicated back to our brain and others though speech. So start by thinking the best or positively out of every situation and then communicate this with others be it your partner or friends. In turn you are telling your brain that this is in fact the reality.

So if you are out of work and feel in a rut, then remember that the best thing you can do to start with is banishing negativity. It will give you the best platform to move forward.

Belief - the cornerstone to finding your next job.

mark — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:56:11 +0000

Have you ever wondered how people get themselves out of incredibly tough or ridiculously impossibly situations? The world is littered with stories of people who have overcome great difficulty. When we become unemployed or searching for jobs in Ireland the situation is similar. We can often find ourselves in a hole, faced with staring at the person in front of us at the dole queue. It is easy to forgive anyone to feel this way, but sympathy at best is all that the person will find. It is at this point we find ourselves without belief.

Start to believe

Belief is the the cornerstone to success for any discipline. You simply have to believe. If one can truly envisage a situation, in their mind, if they can see it, live and breath how and what that situation would be like then this starts a chain reaction of events in the mind to make this happen.

Try it for yourself. Think about some sort of object and focus on it. For example, a red car. Think about the shape of the car, how it feels to drive, what sort of petrol it uses and details regarding the interior. Then go for a walk. What are you going to notice more than anything? It will probably be a red cars, or cars in general. Your mind has been trained to focus on such items and thus will be attracted to it.

The same theory is true when you find yourself unemployed and in a hopeless state of mind trying to find work. The problem may be that you simply don’t believe it’s possible to find suitable employment. You can’t imagine it, feel it or see it. You mind is closed and cannot start working towards attaining such goals. The problem really lies in this; if you don’t believe that you can do it, no-one else will.

How to start to get your next job

As with the red car, start thinking about what type of job you would want. Then search for jobs on-line and read about the position and company. Think about where the offices are, what you would wear for work, how you would do the job and what the people you meet would be like. Think about the interview, what questions would they ask, how and what would you say to convince them to give you the job. Convince yourself that you are going to get that job, in fact you already have it - it’s yours.

Now, a funny thing will happen. A thing that works equally regardless of whether it is for good or bad. Your mind will start working towards making this situation a reality. Your mind will give you motivation to write the application form and what’s more, write it in a convincing manner. The rest will follow.

Belief is the cornerstone

If your not convinced that what I am talking about here is true. Then I urge you to try it for yourself in a number of different ways. If you play sport like Golf or Football, it doesn’t matter what it is, the principle is the same. Focus your mind on living the situation before it happens. For example, imagine scoring a goal or hitting the ball perfectly, how would it feel, what would the shot look like etc. The chances are that the situation might not happen exactly how you thought it would, but you will probably be a lot closer to what you imagined than just guessing and not preparing your mind first.

How to apply for jobs and be successful

mark — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:04:24 +0000

When receiving resumes and CV’s there is nothing more frustrating then receiving something which is irrelevant. How would you feel if someone gave you something you didn’t ask for and couldn’t use? Unfortunately, a common reaction among recruiters to this is all too often “Can they read the advert?”

It’s a good question. And unfortunately, this may also have a negative effect on judging your intelligence. But maybe we don’t do enough to read the advert and convey our skills correctly? Here are 3 tips to help you be successful when applying for jobs in Ireland.

1. Apply for jobs that you are convinced that you can do well in.

The key word is convinced. You may not have relevant experience for a particular role, but you may have transferable skills, so that shouldn’t put you off applying. If you are convinced that you can do the job, go for it and convince the recruiter. However, don’t waste your time applying for things which aren’t relevant. For example, I know nothing about medicine, I do not have a degree in this field and so I wouldn’t apply for a doctors job. I do however have a degree in IT and experience in sales. I want to work in marketing I’m convinced that my relevant experience will give me an edge in this role. I will highlight this in my application and I would think I would have a good chance at getting a job in this field since the subjects are related.

2. Sell your key skills and demonstrate with examples.

This is where you really need to read and analyse the advert. Start by picking out key skills which are an absolute requirement in order to do the job. Then find examples regarding how you have filled this skill in the past. Directly answering these key requirements will give the recruiter absolute confidence that you are a good bet. Simply stating ‘increased sales’ in reference to how you performed at a sales job will not cut it I’m afraid. Use hard facts and examples about how you made a reference, in figures, how much by % you increased sales by.

3. References and quotes

I love this one. I always take notice when the candidate has included quotes from their references against the actual job in their employment history section. For example, underneath the title of your previous job you could write ‘James provided us with a unique skill set, I would be happy to recommend him’ - James’s last employer.

This serves as a quick testimonial against each job and looks very good.

Appearences can be deceptive - Susan Boyle

mark — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:54:55 +0000

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. These immortal words seem to have withstood the test of time. So what is it about our appearance that speaks a million words?

How you appear, or someones perception of you or your products will go a long way in establishing a good start with any relationship. In relation to your career or when searching for jobs there are a few things you should get right to start with. You have probably heard of Susan Boyle. She is the woman that went on ‘Britain’s got talent’ and and sang her heart out to an overwhelming response. What is strange about this? Nothing, really aside from the fact she didn’t look like she had talent and in other circumstances may have been judged and discarded before being given a chance. But this is what makes good entertainment. Applying for jobs however, isn’t about entertainment. It’s about impressing someone enough to offer you a job.

So what can we learn from this.

We’ll I’m not going to suggest that one should tone downs one appearance in order to dramatise the effect when one eventually speaks. Although Susan Boyle used this to here to her advantage, it was more the overwhelming talent that struck a chord than her deceptive cunning. When she walked on stage I don’t think anyone in the audience (who didn’t know her) thought she had any talent.

How does this help me.

Well don’t leave it to chance. There are 3 simple things everyone can do to improve their appearance.

1. Brush yourself up!

Dust down your suit or purchase a new one. I go to gentlemen’s tailor and purchase ‘value for money’ suits at very good prices, I then get them to adjust the suit to fit me perfectly. This costs a lot less than you think, in fact, this particular chain will adjust the suit for free

2. Brush up your CV

How can you make your CV better? Think about it from the recruiters point of view. Ensure your CV is clear, well layed out and easy to pick out your strong points. Sell yourself and advertise the benefits of hiring you.

3. Brush up your vocabulary

The words we use and the manner in which we communicate is essential to convincing someone that we have command of our thoughts and actions. Whether right or wrong, people judge us not only on appearance as in the case of Susan Boyle with in the way we speak.

So I would recommend thinking about the words you use when talking to people and also the way we say things. Using slang will simply communicate that you are either too lazy or worse. So make an effort to find and use good words to describe what you mean.

Good luck!

Beating the unemployment trap

mark — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:32:18 +0000

My Dad once told me, “It’s easier to get a job when you’re in a job son” - little did this help when I was out of work at that time.

However, he was right! Here are 5 ways to beat the unemployment trap.

Constantly strive to improve your skills

The world we live in is changing all the time. Every action people take creates a reaction elsewhere, if you’re not part of the change, the change is affecting you without you knowing it. For this very reason we should constantly strive to improve on our skills. Learning new skills is relatively easy and you don’t have to spend money to do it. I have recently embarked on a process of improving my PR skills and offered my services free-of-charge to a growing company in order to learn more ‘real-life’ experience. The company were happy to take me on and I’m learning an important aspect of communication and I’ve added that to my CV. This in turn gives me a competitive edge as I have displayed desire to improve and have gained broader experience.

Become a product champion

I rarely recommend one to become highly proficient in one area or another, simply because if you know nothing else and if your area of expertise becomes obsolete then you are out of work. However in the workplace, becoming a product champion will often mean you become a reliable resource of information and an asset the company will find hard to let go.

Develop your network

Talk to people and get connected through networking sites such as Linkedin. On here you can get yourself recommended so others can view your profile and invite you for new opportunities.

Volunteer for helping at your local scout group or community centre

You never know who you might meet. Also being part of a group will help you develop leadership, organisational and management skills.

Seek professional services

Registering with recruitment agencies or specialists in employment tend to have inside knowledge and jobs. For example, register with jobs2ireland and you become part of our database which is search able by 100’s of Ireland’s recruiters: http://www.jobs2ireland.ie/jobseekers/registration.php

Good luck!