Taking your job search to the local level
Right, so you’ve gone through the motions with your job hunting efforts – you’ve posted your CV on all the major job boards, you’ve been down the job centre, you’ve checked the local newspapers and sent your CV out to a few recruitment agencies…so what now?
Finding the right job is an arduous process – most people end up with more rejection letters than seems natural (if they’re lucky and the recruiter actually takes the time to tell them they didn’t get the job)! You need to take your job hunting efforts to the next level and source as many channels of promotion as possible.
Preparing for an interview - what to do before you go
The day before any interview can be a nerve-wracking experience, so it can be difficult to do anything constructive. You may think that just because your interview is tomorrow that there is nothing you can do today. Wrong!
Preparation is the key to any interview and lot’s of people don’t realise this. You wouldn’t go to pitch a new client without any preparation would you? Interviewing for a job is just the same.
Here are a few ideas for things you can do to not only prepare for the next day, but also to calm your nerves and allow yourself to be satisfied that you have done everything you can to be ready.
- Check the company website. Long gone are the days that company information is held in a dusty archive somewhere - get on the Internet and check out their website. Get familiar with their products and services - their mission statement - their other vacancies even. These can all be great talking points at the interview and will get your some brownie points!
- Check out company news. Try something like Google News to search for recent news items about the company - another good talking point for you.
- Get your clothes ready! Seems simple, but you don’t want to be panicking an hour before the interview because that shirt you were going to were has an unknown stain on it.
- Make notes. Think about what questions you want answered by the end of the interview.
- Get directions. Either take a wander to the place of your interview or check out something like Google Maps to plan your route.  Check bus and train times if appropriate as well. There’s nothing worse than planning a 30 minute journey just for it to take an hour. And you don’t want to be late!
Good luck!
Sample letter of enquiry
Actually finding out about new jobs can be the hardest part of the job hunting process and that’s why sending in an email or letter or enquiry can be a good idea. This article will look at some of the areas you should note when writing your letter.
How to approach your manager for a job promotion
The process of getting ahead in life starts within yourself. As we have seen in nature and in life, nothing remains the same, plants and trees grow, the rivers never stop, the same can be said of one’s personal growth. As a member of a society we are the product of our environment shaped by our free will and intelligence; this implies constant intellectual growth and as we all have accepted, the more we learn about a specific topic, the more we realize that we know nothing. (Read Full Post)
What is your expected salary? Dodging that awkward interview question…
“What are your salary expectations?”
Not an easy question to answer at your interview - as I’ve looked at other tough interview situations over the past few weeks (such as “reasons for leaving your job“), I thought it was worth covering how to deal with being asked what salary you expect to get.
Sir Digby Chicken Caesar - Peep Show stars’ best work!
This is so funny - watch Peep Show if you don’t know who they are.
Added a career advice blog list
You can find the list of career advice blogs here. It is fairly small just now - I’m not just going to chuck anything in there (and half the career blogs I looked at were either broken, abandoned or taken over by porn sites!), but if you have any suggestions, post a comment on the other page.
