Six Rules To Successful Job References.

Excellent references are essential to successfully gaining employment, most job offers are subject to references so even when you have an offer you still need your qualities and experience rubber-stamped by your previous employer. Bearing this in mind it is essential to adhere to the following rules when supplying referees;

1. Ensure the referee is a previous manager or supervisor, rather than a friend.

2. Graduates and Interns should use college professors as referees if they have no work experience.

3. Choose a former supervisor with whom you had a good relationship when looking for a referee.

4. Make sure you gain the approval of the referee before including them on your resume.

5. Should you receive an offer “subject to successful reference” then call your referees in advance to tell them to expect a call from the company offering you the job.

6. Ensure the contact details are correct and up to date before submitting them. The contact details should include name, position, company, telephone number and email address.

A bad reference could have a disastrous impact on your employment chances so take time to pick referees that you know will enhance your application and leave you with nothing to worry about when your offer is “subject to references.”

Issues To Consider Before Deciding To Change Your Job.

Changing jobs is an important decision, so careful consideration should be taken into understanding the root cause of your unhappiness and see if they can be resolved. You should make a list of the reasons why you want to change jobs and sort them in order of importance. Examples of some of the main reasons employees look to move to a new job are outlined below along with tips to overcoming the obstacles.

1. You are considering leaving because you want more money.

This is straight-forward enough, if you like your job but feel that you are being paid below your worth then arrange a meeting with your manager and HR to discuss the problem. Come prepared with examples of your work and salary-surveys that will help back-up your claim. Be reasonable and see if a mutually happy agreement can be agreed upon, if not then it will probably reaffirm your decision to seek pastures new.

2. You are considering leaving because of the commute to work.

The balancing act of career and family- life can be a tricky one, if there is an hour or two added to your journey each day it makes it an even trickier balancing act. Employers are not unsympathetic to this so before making the final decision to move, arrange a meeting with your boss to try and work-out a compromise. Again depending on your job you may be allowed work from home a couple of days a week or be given the opportunity to flexible working-hours to help avoid traffic congestion at peak-times.

3. You are considering leaving because you were overlooked for a promotion.

Arrange a meeting with your manager to discuss the reasons why you did not get the job. Do not be confrontational, instead ask the manager where he/she sees your future in the company. The feedback you get from him/her will give you a strong indication of where your future lies.

If you are steadfast in your decision to leave then make sure you have a job to walk into once you finish your notice-period. In the current economic climate job-openings are at a premium so make sure you’re leaving your current company for the right reasons as opposed to obstacles that can be overcome.

3 Reasons Not To Apply For A Job Until You Know Who The Job Is With.

If you are currently in a job the importance of being made knowing in advance where your resume is being sent cannot be understated. In your eagerness to find new employment you may be tempted to apply for jobs where the client company is not specified, this could turn out to be a big mistake. If you see a job advertisement that looks perfect but has “Confidential” listed as the company then avoid applying for it until you can garner more information about the job. The following examples highlight just 3 of the dangers .

1. Your resume gets sent to your existing employer.

Yes the unthinkable could happen, you apply for a job before eventually finding out the dreaded information that the role is with your existing employer. Expect a call to the bosses office should this happen but not necessarily for the type of meeting you hoped for.

2. Your resume gets sent to a client of your existing company.

Your boss won’t appreciate getting a call from a vendor asking “What’s that employee John Smith (for example) like?, he has applied for a job here with us”. This will be met with, at the very least, disappointment by your existing employer and like above will a meeting with your company management for further discussion.

3. The job may not exist.

You read that right, it is not unheard of for companies / recruiters to want to build a database of resumes for certain positions, in order to have them on file should such a position become available through an employee leaving or company growth. It is rare in the extreme that this happens but is worth bearing in mind nonetheless.

It is important not to let your desire to find a job curtail your professionalism in seeking one, should you see a job advertised without a name do all that you can do to find out who it is with. One way of trying to find out their identity is to send an email (not from your company email address) requesting information about where the role is based, at the very least, this should help you eliminate your own company as being the employer.

5 Tips For Panel Interviews.

Panel interviews may seem daunting particularly for inexperienced job-applicants however an interview of this nature can be more relaxed than being interviewed by a single individual. Treat a panel interview with the same attention to detail that you would a regular interview.Consider the interview as a professional business meeting with a group of people, rather than worrying about responding to a panel and be thankful for the opportunity to showcase your ability in front of them.

1. Send a thank-you letter to each person.

You know by now the importance of a good thank-you letter following your interview, therefore be sure to send a courtesy letter/email thanking each individual for his/her time.

2. Ask questions to the appropriate interviewer.

As with a thank-you letter, asking questions, whether in a one-to-one interview or a panel interview, is very important. It is vital to ask questions to the right person, you do not want to ask a question about sales, for example, to the recruiter if the Sales Director is on the panel of interviewers. It is important to know in advance who will be on the panel and their position in the company, asking questions to the appropriate person not only is a sign of professionalism, it also signifies to the interviewers that you have done research on the company and that will bode well for your application.

3. Use eye-contact to your advantage.

It may seem safer to maintain eye-contact with the person you know better or with a smiling interviewer on the panel, but you will be better-served by initially focusing on the person who asked you the question before scanning the room to make eye-contact with each person through the course of your answer. If the question asked requires a short answer then concentrate on the person who asked it.

4. Have at least one example that will impress each interviewer.

As mentioned knowing who the panel will consist of in advance is crucial, knowing who you are meeting allows you prepare an example of your work that will have elements that each interviewer will be impressed by. If for example the 5 people on the panel are the HR Manager, Financial Director, Sales Manager, Project Manager and CEO then you should provide an example where you successfully managed a project where you built a team, reached sales-target whilst maintaining control over costs. Stats and figures work well in a panel interview so have your key-points prepared in advance.

5. At the end of the interview shake each person’s hand.

Just as you would in a regular interview, at the end of a panel interview you should to firmly clasp the hand of each person, smile, and thank them for their time. Be sure to address each interviewer by their name as you thank them and say how you look forward to hearing from them before departing.

From a company’s perspective a panel interview can save time and money whilst expediting the hiring process, for the applicant it provides an opportunity to impress to many rather than a sole interviewer. Doing well in a panel interview will greatly enhance your chances of getting the job, so prepare well and look forward to the interview with confidence rather than trepidation.