Seven triggers that bring on the job hop

By What’s Stopping You? author Robert Kelsey 

As the author of a book on fear of failure I’m very interested in what motivates people to make changes, especially in their careers. Sure, there are plenty of positive triggers for changing jobs, but there are also a few negative ones, which can include the dangerous occupation of being the “runaway” (what I call the “any job but this one” syndrome). As I write in my book, the problem with being the runaway is that it attracts the tag “serial”. 

This is not to state that we should “stick it out” – far from it. I’m simply saying be aware of what’s driving the need to leave, so that you plan your next move proactively (moving towards something) rather than reactively (moving away). I’ve found seven job-hop triggers – all with dangers as well as opportunities – but there may be more. 

Graduation is the first and perhaps the most obvious. Only at this point, do most people dedicate serious thought to their pursuits for the next 40 years, something that’s even the case for many of those completing vocational courses. Some will have strong ideas that crash on the rocks of reality, leaving them cast adrift with respect to their career choices. Others will be luckier, although may have to make compromises in terms of salary or location. Yet the majority will, sadly, be disappointed – usually because of a lack of planning, inflexibility or sheer naivety.

Next is the two-year itch. As stated, most graduates land imperfect first jobs, although convention seems to state that anything other than a two-year stint at an employer may raise questions regarding commitment, which makes the two-year anniversary the first point they can move on without it raising CV-related questions. 

Yet this is a dangerous moment – far more so than graduation. Making one mistake is fine, but two….And keep in mind that, such could be your need to get away, unsuitable offers may look marvellous because of what they’re not (i.e. your current job) rather than what they are. This could result in another false move and further recrimination for that damaged CV. 

But that’s being overly negative. Many, meanwhile, will have truly graduated – made a full transition to the world of work and calculated their long term goals (including whom they’d like to work for), making this move a positive one in the right direction.

Third is being overlooked for promotion. Of course, this can happen at any time in our careers and may turn out to be a blessing, although we’ll only be able to calculate this is retrospect. At the time, however, the humiliation may cause us to react emotionally and, again, be more determined to get away than to find the right path – hence this being another dangerous job-hop trigger. Emotion, of course, is understandable, although it’s a poor driver for decision making. Again, long-term planning should help us see through the emotional fog – putting us in charge of our destiny and helping us make positive rather than negative decisions.

Fourth (for women) is the returning mum. I think this one of the greatest career jolts of all, yet it’s also one of the least examined. Especially for the mums that may have taken a year off or longer (though those taking even statutory leave are not immune), this enforced and lengthy career break is far more than an opportunity to re-evaluate. Often it’s a mental shift so profound that previous career choices can look pointless, vainglorious and even immoral. 

Of course, practicality plays a major role. In the modern jobs market, few careers are the well-structured nine-five Monday-Friday commute. Many involve late nights, socialising, foreign trips and being “on call” almost constantly. Sure, women can compete on equal terms – as long as they can stay the pace while managing childcare and school pick-ups and the boys’ judo/football/swimming (and that’s when they’re not off school due to illness and holidays). Yet there’s also a lot more flexibility (in terms of hours and locations) – meaning that those suddenly-shifted priorities can (hopefully) be accommodated. Again, planning – and moving towards what you want – is the key. 

Fifth is becoming a father. While not precluding the stay-at-home dad, I’m assuming nothing’s changed at the office. That said, becoming a first-time parent is a major moment for career re-evaluation for any parent, although statistics show that men work longer hours at this stage than any other in their career. Of course, this may be avoiding the nappy-changing, but it’s more likely due to the loss of the wife’s income and the need to “be the provider”. 

And this can have a major impact on how he assesses his career. Previously happy to pursue a passion or vocation, he’d taken only a passing interest in his income. No longer. There are costs to be borne and income holes to be filled, making once laidback fathers deeply mercenary, which may lead to radical redirections. Again, planning is important if it’s not to lead to frustration and/or burn-out. 

Next is redundancy. Anyone at anytime can be made redundant, although the later on in the career cycle it visits, the more devastating it feels. It may not be your fault – perhaps brought about by a company’s circumstances (a sale, relocation or collapse). But it may be a reflection of a decline in performance – due to a drop in desire or abilities (perhaps caused by changes at work) – which means a cool re-evaluation is required if a downward personal spiral is to be avoided. 

Many harbour injustices at this point – turning themselves into a “victim” – while others see it as a release and move on quickly: with the difference often being those that have long-term goals and those that don’t. 

Finally (though there may be more) there’s the midlife crisis. This is the semi-mythical midway moment in a person’s career when we stop running and start evaluating: looking back, looking forward, and wondering whether we’re on the right road at all. This could be triggered by an external event (the death of a friend for instance) or something in our career (a lost contract or even a contract completed). However it’s triggered, it’s real to those experiencing it and the results can be as damaging to careers as to families, although can equally be self-enhancing with some strong planning. 

In fact, that’s the point with all seven of these career-changing triggers. Each time, planning is the key differentiator. For anyone standing at any one of the above thresholds, having a thought-though and detailed long-term outlook is the only aid to clear judgement. With plans, we’re being proactive in our choices, not reactive to the choices on offer. And that will help us avoid that dead-cert for mistaken career moves: being the runaway. 

Robert Kelsey is author of the bestselling book on fear of   failure: What’s Stopping You? Why Smart People Don’t Always Reach Their Potential and How You Can. 

  Find out more about Robert Kelsey 

       www.robert-kelsey.co.uk 

Recruitment 4.0 The Power of Crowds

(pic by EA)

Recruitment 1.0 and 2.0 was about job pushing, advertising jobs in papers, internet job boards and placing vacancies with recruitment agencies 

This type of recruiting has cost and continues to cost companies lots and lots of money. In my experience it also sends employers into an angry panic, I was once told by a really angry employer that “He hates recruitment agencies!” I personally felt that what he really hated was being in a place of no control. On one hand employers panic because they have to fill the position immediately on the other hand they become angry about the cost it’s going to involve.

Employers have to want to change if they want to stop throwing money at recruitment, the angry employer that hated recruitment agencies will continue to have hatred for them for years to come as he is one of many that will not change. Similar employers have always recruited like this and even though their veins are exploding with pressure, somehow they must love the stress, the waste of money and have a secret pleasure in slating recruitment agencies! 

However there seems to be a glimmer of hope and some employers are seeing the light

(stats from the “graduate recruiter”)

89% of employers plan to recruit staff via social media 

55% will increase spending on social recruiting

1/3 of Employers plan to cut back spending on the more traditional methods (job boards, newspapers, agencies) 

25% of employers want to start engaging with 1st yr students to start building talent communties 

By 2014 70% of large companies will use gamification for at least one Business process, probably recruitment.

These employers that are starting to embrace change are moving away from the old models of recruitment, model 1.0 and 2.0 and are dipping their toes into models 3.0 and 4.0  

Recruitment model 3.0 is about employment branding and building communities that active & passive jobseeker can go to frequently

Recruitment 4.0 is about the value of these communities and understanding that people love to be rewarded especially publicaly so recruitment 4.0 is is about looking at clever ways to reward within your communities. 

I’ve already spoken about Gamification (check it out here) and this is going to play a huge part in Recruitment model 4.0 as will crowd sourcing. 

Crowdsourcing is all about outsourcing tasks to a large group of people online and offline.

Crowdsourcing lends itself beautifully to talent communities as these communities are there due to your industry or the careers within your industry. There is power in networks it’s then up to you to make them effective.

Within your community you could ask them to design a new logo for your company the winning logo wins a 6 month contract to work with your graphics team 

Unilever has recently dropped it’s ad agency in favour of using it’s talent community for ideas 

Within your talent community of employees, managers, jobseekers, passive and active you can ask them to help develop the company’s employee value propositions (EVPs), and the employer brand etc. Use social media like  micro-blogs, blogs, social networking sites, polls, etc to reach out and engage with the community. The community will more likely buy into a shared, collectively-created vision. They will interact with the company’s brand and they will feel a sense of ownership, even if they don’t work there (yet).

Crowd sourcing will have talent within your communities working for you whether that be as an employee, freelancer, creator, a spectator,or a job seeker. Micro payment or rewards may be given and the community can even effectively recruit for you.  

Recruitment 4.0 flips the the panic, anger & huge costs of the recruitment 1.0 & 2.0 method into  something  calm, engaging and Zero cost. You did read right zero cost because you will eliminate costs attached to method 1.0 & 2.0, you will not be hiring out of panic, so no costly mistakes. You will have a community of top talent so you can cherry pick, your own employees become hiring managers within the communities which gives them a sense of increased value which in return helps to retain good staff.

Follow me on Twitter @jobhopjulie 

Social Media is the future > picture by Stuart Miles

Many employers think social media should be banned from the office, some think that social media stops production. 

Let me tell you this, if you have a lack of production in your office that’s a performance issue not a social media issue. 

Social media grows everyday and it’s now a natural way for people to communicate, your customers communicate this way. 

If you ban social media from the office, would you ban your employees from using their phones?  What about when they go home? In the old days it was a chat on the landline with Mum “Yes Mum Grumpy boss said No to Twitter again even though I tried to show him the benefits” These days Mum is on Twitter & the message is also seen by 5,000 other people!

20million U.S households don’t have a landline phone they use their mobiles and they access social media from their mobiles. This is the way it's going, soon all conversations will be done using some type of social media.

There are many companies that use social media well within their organisations, from marketing the business to allowing ambassadors to naturally rise and preach the good message of the company to others. 

If you’re a good employer wouldn’t you want your staff to tell many others, let others know about the great training, how your company is planning to expand and that you’re looking for new talent. 

As a good employer you owe it to your employees to give them a social media policy and show them how to use Social Media for the good of the company 

Joe Gordon is widely known as the first British blogger to be dismissed for work-related comments made online. Gordon wrote a general, allegedly humorous, blog, entitled the Woolamaloo Gazette, about his life which sometimes touched on his work at Waterstone’s. The comments about work included complaining about shift work, he called his manager an  “evil boss” and a “cheeky smegger” for asking him to work on a bank holiday. He also referred to the firm as “Bastardstone’s” Gordon was dismissed from his position in early 2005 following a disciplinary hearing, but he successfully challenged the decision on appeal, following the case’s high profile in the media.

Catherine Sanderson is a British woman who worked in France for a British law firm.  Her blog was not strictly work-focused either but did occasionally contain references to her employers, without identifying them by name. Her comments about her employers mainly involved gently mocking the conservatism of some of the senior partners. When Sanderson’s employers discovered her blog, she was dismissed, provoking a huge storm of negative publicity. Sanderson took her employers to tribunal and received compensation for wrongful dismissal.

In these two cases and many more similar cases employees have been dismissed, many of those dismissals have been overturned or payouts have been awarded for wrongful dismissals. It’s easy to see why, the argument being they weren’t told that they couldn’t.

You know social media isn’t going to go away so you need to embrace it and educate your employees on it’s many uses.

Show them the good way they can use it, post photos of work charity events, videos of a great day in the office, great messages they can share with online communities.

Show them how you wouldn’t want it to be used, I say show as visual information is absorbed quicker.

Then make sure that everyone is familiar with the Social Media policy.

I would also recommend a private social networking platform which just your organisation gets to use, you are then giving your employees a platform to freely discuss employment conditions. 

That way you are giving your employees many options of communication and if your employees feel better communicating this way then isn’t it better to keep it contained if there's ever a grievance.  

Follow me on Twitter for advice and tips  @jobhopjulie

  Jane Hatton Evenbreak 

One of my missions in life is to promote the benefits of employing disabled people to employers. Of course there are many sound business reasons for doing so, apart from the ethics involved.

Disabled employees are, on average, at least as productive as our non-disabled colleagues, and we have less time off sick, have fewer workplace accidents and tend to stay in our jobs longer.

So if you want loyal, productive staff who save you money in terms of retention, you need to be attracting disabled staff! Also, there are over 11 million disabled people in the UK – that’s a lot of consumers. In fact we spend somewhere between £50 million and £80 million a year between us. Having inside knowledge of this market has to be beneficial to any enterprise’s bottom line.

The challenge is persuading the corporate world of these measurable, tangible benefits. Myths still abound about disabled people being expensive to employ. This is rarely true. Most need no adaptations at all, those that do cost little or no money (e.g. flexible working patterns) and in most cases, reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of a disabled employee will be covered by Access to Work.

For any business, it’s got to be A Good Thing. Not only will employing disabled people help gain all of the benefits outlined earlier, it also contributes to promoting this good practice. Disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people – and, contrary to the stories in the popular press, this isn’t because we are all lazy benefit scroungers! The difference people find when they send in a straight CV compared to when they declare a disability is quite significant. This level of prejudice is damaging to disabled applicants, but also damaging to employers, who may be missing out on the best talent.

Once employers understand this, the problem doesn’t end there. Attracting disabled applicants – who have vast experience of being rejected the very minute they declare their disabilities – can be easier said than done. Employers have to work hard to give disabled applicants the confidence that they will be taken seriously. That the employer is enlightened enough to look beyond the disabilities and find the skills and talents on offer.

It’s for this reason I found Evenbreak – a specialist not-for-profit job board for disabled job seekers which helps genuinely inclusive employers attract more talented disabled people. Employers such as Asda, BBC, Ernst & Young, John Lewis Partnership, Network Rail, Rank, Zurich Finance and many others have already discovered the benefits of employing disabled people.

Let’s hope this discovery becomes more widespread as time goes on – and that more and more employers focus on what people can do rather than what they can’t.

Author profile            

Jane Hatton is the founder of Evenbreak (www.evenbreak.co.uk), a not-for-profit job board for disabled job seekers, enabling inclusive employers to attract talented disabled candidates. Jane was a finalist in the Stelios Disabled Entrepreneur Awards 2008.

I seriously think BranchOut is a  better job seeking app than BeKnown and 25 million people agree. This month Branch out hit the tremendous figure and say that out of the 25m accounts registered 13.3m are active monthly users! Currently new users are signing up at a rate of 3 per second and it's currently the fourth fastest growing app on facebook 

Branchout is hosted on Facebook and is a great app and especially for all of those people that think Linkedin is just for business people.

The Guys at Branchout like to think of themselves as the professional network set within Facebook.

Branchout Founder and CEO Rick Marini says “We power the professional profile for the Facebook generation. Online networking is not just for managers and executives. New college graduates, retail workers, nurses, software engineers and military veterans re-entering the workforce can all benefit substantially from having strong professional profiles on Facebook."

Branchout allows you to follow companies where your friends work, so if a job vacancy becomes available you have a foot in the door, hopefully your friend will refer you. 

The Branch out strap line is “It’s not what you know it’s who you know” and it’s true, the  fact is most job vacancies get filled by referrals. 

http://apps.facebook.com/branchout/user/profile?uid=608111632

It’s easy to set up a Branchout profile (as long as you’re on Facebook) it literally copies all your work history, jobs, employers etc from information that you’ve set up on Facebook.

Once that part is done then it will encourage you to add friends, you can then add friends of friends and so on.  

If you’ve spent years building your facebook network it would make sense to use it when it comes to jobseeking & Branchout gives you the ability to make the process a whole lot easier.  

Julie Bishop  Founder of JobHop

Follow me in Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Instagram wasn’t an Acqui-hire     photo by jscreationzs

Top talent is worth it’s weight in gold & at the moment top software engineers & systems developers are sought after because technologies need software and people want faster, better, superior technology immediately. 

So companies make Acqui-hires as these are easier to do than to source each candidate individually. 

In March the blogging platform Posterous was bought up by Twitter for 36 of its most talented employees.

Previously  Google  bought Frid.ge to improve Google+.. you can see the message left behind on the Fridge website “Fridge is closing up shop, while the product and team are folded into Google+.”  Google tends to buy talent to work on existing projects but it also uses their products to catch up with Facebook. 

It is common knowledge that Facebook buys up companies for their talent and Mark Zuckerberg has stated that

“ We have not once bought a company for the company. We buy companies to get excellent people. In order to have a really entrepreneurial culture one of the key things is to make sure we’re recruiting the best people. One of the ways to do this is to focus on acquiring great companies with great founders.”

So far it’s paying off, Carl Sjogreen of Nextstop had a huge role in developing Facebook’s platform. Lucy Zhang, Jonathan Perlow and Ben Davenport of Beluga built Facebook messenger. Bret Taylor from FriendFeed is now chief technology officer whilst Sam Lessin of Drop.io created Timeline, after telling Zuckerberg that the the profile page design sucked!  Plus the many many more coders and designers that have been aqui-hired from the likes of Gowalla, Tagtile and Strobe

 Facebook has done many acqiu hires, however the latest acquisition Instagram is not one of them. Facebook has said it plans to keep Instagram running independently.

So who’s going to get Acqui-hired next?  Well if you’re talented in the mobile market and you’ve got a good start up don’t be suprised if one of the big players come knocking at your door. 

Author Julie Bishop Founder of JobHop

Follow me on Twitter @jobhopjulie

Tomorrows work place >>> why it’s changing                          

By 2020 Millennials (Gen Y)will account for 50% of the global workforce, attracting their talent to your organisation is imperative for your survival.

But how are you going to compete with the world? We’re not just talking about the U.K we are in fact talking about the world because this generation see the world as a much smaller place and will have no hesitation in leaving the U.K. Millennialls actually think it’s their right to go and work abroad & experience different cultures. 

China, Russia and India want our talent and considering we already have a shortage of it, how will we make sure we do not lose anymore from the U.K? 

I see that two things must happen

1. Know your Employment Brand 
2. Know how to communicate with Millennials

Your Employment Brand has never been so important. If you don’t know what it is then you need to find out quick and how do you do that? Ask your employees, they own your employment brand. 

I say more about employment branding here but just ask yourself about your own company “why would I want to work here?” 

Look at it’s culture,it’s story, the ethics, what training you provide, the environment, the support, the opportunities.

Having a good employment brand will attract talent even before they’re on the job market. Children as young as 12 already say that they want to work for Google or Apple or are joining the XBox Live talent community

If you’re thinking that these are attractive because they’re technology companies then you’re right, millennials love technology. If you think you can’t compete because of that you’re wrong because others have, you just need to know their language and be able to communicate.

So what do you do with a Millennial that is obsessed with technology, you offer them more technology! This is a shock to some organisations because I hear horror stories of technology being limited, social media being banned. Millennials have grown up with the ipad, laptops, smart phones, social media xbox, instant information, this is what makes this generation unique, if you take it away from them they wont be working for you for too long. 

If you’re worried that an employee isn’t going to be productive then you have an employee issue it’s not because of technology. Millennials shiny stuff is their technology the more you make it available to them then them more attractive the proposition is to them.

Working environments need to change to adapt to a collaborative style of working, they are digital creatives and love to brainstorm. Millennials will work hard but will feel stifled in a boring rigid office, you want them engaged so you need to offer a stimulating atmosphere.

Millennials are committed to personal growth and learning so you have to give them the ability to learn. They will learn quickly and they will expect to grow quickly, they will be looking to climb the career ladder in months not years so you have to be prepared for that. 

If you don’t invest in them they will have no hesitation in going to work with your competitor or even set up themselves and do it their way, as they’re very entrepreneurial. They’re high achievers and are natural leaders so you must plan for that, even if it’s a simple earn your stripes system, Millennials have to see that they are climbing the career ladder.

If you expect your employees to clock in and out then you want be attracting any Millennials.They will produce more work in shorter hours and they will question why do they have to start at 9am when they’re more productive from 10am. They want respect and trust, if they can get the work done whilst at home then they will ask “why do you want me to travel all the way in?”  which they won’t ask over the telephone but with a tweet! 

Whatever you promise them then make sure it’s honoured, to a millennial a promise means so much, they trust you not to break it, if you do then there’s always social media! 

Millennials really value mentors and that is the best approach is to mentor them, rather telling them what to do. You can learn a lot from them and in return they want to learn about leadership, industry, leadership, self management.

Every talented Millennial is a passive candidate unless you can give them reasons to want to stay. 

Follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Julie Bishop  Founder of JobHop  

Yesterday I listened to a speaker who completely spoke my language, who inspired me and motivated me not to give up with my quest to make employment human again.

The event was held at The Space in Norwich & the speaker was Mal Fletcher, social futurist, speaker and broadcaster. The topic was social change and Mal is the chairman of 2020plus, a London think tank on social change and leadership innovation.

Within Social Change there are many subjects which Mal touched upon and I will put a post about those on our Norwich Social Media Wk site but for JobHop I’ll just cover what was said that relates to employment.

What is obvious is that change is happening and employers need to start putting some plans together for the age of connection.

Employers need to be thinking how they are to engage with the Millennial generation and if they haven’t got a strategy in place now for that to happen theres going to be trouble ahead.

By the millenial generation we mean the under 30 age bracket, there’s been the Boomer generation age 50 -60’s ( the make love not war generation) the Gen X 30’s - 50’s ( how do we make it happen now generation) and now the Millennials, the under 30’s ( shaping the future generation) 

I repeat the message: If you haven’t got a strategy in place that includes the millennial generation there’s trouble ahead, well actually the message was “Your plan is screwed” 

The Millennial generation are the “Futurists” , the digital generation, they are digital natives, they’ve had a head start on this digital era. If you’re my age, lets just say Gen X, try having a game on X box , hold a conversation on the phone, eat a sandwich & sort out a bit of HTML coding on a website all at once! It’s not easy, for this generation is comes naturally.

As employers you need to be investing in this generation, getting their attention as they leave college and nurturing that talent within your organisation. 

If you invest in their skills then you will receive their loyalty, you’ll have given them a story and Mal speaks really passionately about having a story.

Only the other day I was speaking to a Millennial and she was saying how she started at the company on work experience, she was then taken on and absorbed all the training & knowledge that the company could offer. The story was that she very quickly climbed the ladder and is now a very loyal, passionate Managing Director of the company, what a story!! 

Mal says that Millennials are loyal to a good story and once that happens then WOW! make them the face of your company, they are your advocates, let them spread the word round like Wild Fire. We then get into Employment branding which I’ve spoken about many times before and you can read an earlier post on that here.

Over the next few years Business as we know it will change and Millenials will be the driving force of that. Mal says that you must have a digital team and you must get Millennials to run it, if you want to speak where people listen then you MUST be involved in Social Media. Barrack Obama understood the viral collectiveness of the Millennials and it’s time that Businesses also understand it.

Businesses have to realise that the Millennials bring collaboration and collaboration is an engine for change. 

I remember queuing up at Woolworths to get the new Adam and the Ants single ( Gen X ) Millennials download everything, it’s the age of the Wiki, collaboration & sharing. There is one thing that they would queue for though..Technology! Technology is the new Rock and Roll!

Businesses will become digital and collaborative, one warning of advice from Mal was “Don’t let your technology get out of date” 

Companies need the Millennials digital skills and in return mentor them and grow their talent in other areas. 

But for businesses wanting to attract talented Millennials a change must happen. Trust is a small word but some employers find it so hard to do. Millennials are in the era of Trust.. ie Ebay, it’s normal for them to trust the other person online to pay. If employers don’t trust their employees they will walk and that means trusting your employees to use technology within the workspace. Instead of having Social Media guidelines, many companies just ban Social Media use within the work place.!!  Remember that isn’t a social media issue thats a performance issue, just like someone using the phone all the time for purely non work activities.

If you don’t trust your staff then how can you expect loyalty? 

Employment is going to be very different and only those with the ability to change will survive. 

Mal Fletcher is currently on tour around Europe I would urge everyone to go and hear his message about Social Change, it will change the way you think for sure.

Tips for landing a job in London

London is one of the best cities in the world. It’s wonderful yet terrifying, is full of people and is always busy. London is an amazing place to develop your career and find exciting employment. Although it is worth remembering that London is the world’s third most expensive city to live in and competition for work has grown a lot within many industries. So if you are searching for London jobs you need to have your interview skills polished to perfection. Below are a few of my top tips to help you bag the perfect job in this amazing city.

1. Be Prepared

Getting ready for an interview does not just mean having a shower, getting dressed and arriving at the place on time, show that you really want this position by researching everything that you can get your hands on about the company. Research their history, goals aims and objectives; mention their competitors, their annual performance and anything you have read about them in the press. Most companies now have plenty of material that you can research online. 

2. Make sure you present yourself well

Remember that first impressions are one of the most important elements within an interview. You need to look professional, clean and smart. Just think about it, would you want to work with someone who is untidy and unhygienic. On the other hand you don’t want to go too over the top. Don’t go in looking like you suffer from the worst case of OCD. Don’t overdo the aftershave or perfume.  Just as long as you have a good standard of cleanliness, clean clothes, look comfortable and remain professional then you’ll be fine.

3. The Importance of the hand shake

On first introduction and throughout the interview remember that eye contact is important. The handshake is also an extremely important element. Handshakes should be confident, firm and complete with good eye contact. A weak pathetic hand shake with no eye contact suggests lack of confidence and can present a feeling of distrust. So walk in be confident and show the interviewer that you believe in yourself. 

4. Get straight to Business

Companies will usually interview a number of candidates for a particular role, so when you go in I suggest that you get straight down to business. The interviewer will normally stick to an agenda, firstly giving you some background information and then moving onto questions and discussing your experience. Stick to what is being asked of you and ask appropriate question about the position and the company. Leave pleasantries to after the interview unless you are asked. After all you are not there to waste anyone’s time. 

5. Answering the dreaded question, ‘So why did you leave your last Job?’

Unless you have just come out of university, talking about why you have left or want to leave your current position can be a bit tricky, but you can count on them asking it so you better have prepared an answer for it. The best advice I can give is to be honest, but also keep it as brief as possible. Remember to remain positive, and mention things such as progression and career development. Never be negative about your last company or boss and remember at the end of the day you will most probably need a reference off them. And remember don’t mention if your got fired from your last position. That will very rarely go down well. 

6. Everyone has a weakness so reveal yours

One thing that I believe impresses an interviewer is to reveal a weakness before they ask for one. This shows that the candidate knows what they are talking about and is already thinking of ways that they can self improve. By letting the interviewer know that you feel you would like to improve your technical skills, learn a computerised system or work on your leadership skills shows that you are a little more professional and don’t sit back waiting for the generic interview format. 

7. Ask the Questions

Make sure you do your research on the position and company. If there is something you don’t understand ask. There is nothing that an interviewer will be impressed more by is when a candidate shows they are interested and ask plenty of questions. Ask about the company culture, their structure or what a working day consists of etc. This will make a good discussion which will normally make the interview flow better. 

8. The next round

If you get invited back to the next round well done, but don’t assume that you’ve got it in the bag. The second round will probably be a little more intensive. The interviewer will want to see if you are right for the position and you may be set a task or asked to sit mini exams. Prepare carefully for this stage and ask as many questions as possible. Make sure you know exactly what is being asked of you and remain professional at all times. 

9. Feedback Facts

After you’ve completed your interview and if you have been unsuccessful the best thing to do is to think upon that interview as a learning process. Don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer or the recruiter for feedback on how they thought you had performed in the interview process. You can take from the feedback what elements you are good at and what you can improve on. Stay positive, accept the feedback and just improve on your interview technique.  

I think we all know that social media isn’t going to go away, it’s just going to grow and grow and grow.

What I don’t get, why isn’t it being discussed in a positive way in schools? 

Why is it that many teachers only see it as Facebook & something really bad that students waste their time on?

Students do use it to stay connected with their friends & yes that can be a distraction in class when they should be concentrating on what’s being taught, but social media can also be a great way for them to connect with key people in Industries. 

In my opinion students should be encouraged to use social media in a positive way, in a way that is going to help their future, in a way that is going to help them market themselves .

With an average of 23 applicants going for every 1 job, how can you get your students to get their heads above the competition? 

There are many many ways that social media can be used to attract employers, jobs, key people etc..

Firstly they should be taught about “digital dirt” & what they say online can stay online..forever! 

So if you only choose to give your students one piece of advice, let it be this, if you want to get an interview then think “damage control” 

8 out of 10 employers use social media to initially screen applicants. If they find negative comments, abusive language, drunken photos, scary friends then the student wont get an interview.

Students will say that it “isn’t fair” that they’re being checked out like this, but they need to accept that they are and it will continue to be like that throughout their working life.

Socially networking online is second nature to students so going one stage further & networking online to get a job should come easy. Students need to be shown how, where and who to network with and be shown how to have a strategy in place.

Show them how connecting with the right people can put them in the right place for when it’s the right time. 

There are many platforms where students can showcase their work., like youtube, vimeo, pinterest, screencast, the list goes on.

Show students how to tap into this power cleverly and how they use it to market themselves.

What they do now will pay off later... If they start curating their media presence after they leave college they’re behind, the earlier they start the better.  

Follow me on Twitter @jobhopjulie 

We talk about employers building talent communities but what if you’re a job seeker, what does it mean for you?      

A talent community is literally a community of talent that are communicating with each other, swapping information and engaging in conversation with an organisation. Wikipedia describes it as a “network of candidates, contacts, alumni, employees and job seekers allowing a productive two way communication between contacts”  This organisation maybe somewhere you would like to work and the more you chat with them the more you may want to work there. That is the plan, you get to chat to their employees in this community, even their suppliers are here chatting openly. Being part of the conversation should make you more aware of what type of employee they look for, what roles are available throughout the organisation, their culture, do they all go bowling together at the week end?, does the company offer flexitime?, what type of training do they offer?

Talent communities are a great way for employers to keep recruitment costs down as they don’t have to start advertising job roles, hiring recruiters or head hunters, they can go straight to their community and invite the people they’ve been sharing information with and participating in conversations with.

Employers benefit big time from talent communities, not purely on the cost effectiveness of    having one but it builds brand loyalty and it helps the employer in the retainment of staff.

So what do you do to get into a talent community? The first thing is to know what it is you want to do and the younger you can start the better. My 13yr old son has made himself known within the talent community of Microsoft. He has made up his mind that he’d like to work for them and is now chatting regularly with them and absorbing as much information as possible. Who do you think will get an interview at Microsoft in a few years? The younger you can join these communities the better.

You’ve decided what you’d like to do and what company you’d like to work for, or perhaps theres a few companies you’d like to work for so start tapping their names into google and see where they are and what they’re doing.

The trick is to find something you love and you know you can do it well. Next find the companies that do what you love to do,learn about the company, set google alerts so you receive all the updated news about them. 

Once you’ve built relations with key people within the organisation online a good tip is to turn up at their industry events and cement that relationship by meeting them face to face.

By this time it will feel like you’ve known them for forever, who do you think they’re going to think of when a job becomes available?

Still wondering why you should join a community?

• Exposure  By participating regularly in the communities you increase your exposure
• Advice   Theres so much advice going back and forth within communities
• Meeting your potential work team ... Chatting with employees from the organisation will build relationships prior to you getting a job there. They  may even help you to get your foot in the door.
• 65% of job placements are made based on recommendations ...it pays to get connected 
• Saves you hours of looking at job boards and adverts ..you have immediate access to jobs through your community, spend time on building relationships.
• Learn and keep up with the trends in your chosen profession. Being in a community will have you constantly learning about trends and industry related news
• No more CVs just falling into a black hole 
• No more wondering if you’ll get feedback from the company 

How do you find out about Talent communities?

• Search companies web sites and see if they have follow us on Fb twitter linkedin. Switched on organisations will have the follow buttons, click through and start joining in the discussions and in the groups.
• Go straight onto the social networking sites and search for the companies you’re interested in and see where the action is.
•  Does the company have a blog? Read it and add valuable comments regularly to it. 
• Can you subsribe to them on Youtube? 
• Does the company hold industry related webinars that you can attend? This is a great one for getting known, attend regularly and always make sure that you give some valuable input to the discussion.

Follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Using QR codes to recruit                                                          

QR codes are now becoming very popular but just in case some of you haven’t come across them yet QR stands for quick response & it’s a code, like a barcode but funkier, that can be read using a smart phone.

Once the QR code is scanned it can link back to a website, a video,a profile, text, tel number etc..

The scope for QR codes is huge so how can they be used to recruit candidates? 

Addidas have used QR codes to reach candidates successfully at tradeshows. They realised that whilst they were at these events promoting their products they could also attract potential employees. 

Many passive candidates are at trade shows working for competitors, on other stands, which makes it difficult to actively recruit but a QR code takes a second to scan so you can   capture talent whilst they walk past with their mobile in their hand. 

Addidas found that by using the QR technology it reduced costs, they held less recruiting events, they built a talent community and they saved time.

If you still want to do job fairs then put your QR code onto stickers & give them out to candidates as they walk past.

The point of QR codes in recruiting is to be able to reach the mobile candidate so you have to think where will your ideal candidate be? When will your candidate be mobile with their smart phone at hand? 

Would your ideal candidate be on the tube/ train? at an airport? 

Perhaps you’re looking for a technical minded person, what about at an internet cafe? Perhaps you could get your QR code onto the coffee cups at the cafe, or onto the window.

What if you need young recruits straight from college, perhaps getting the college to use your mouse mats with your QR code on them.

Billboards are a popular place for QR codes and upon some of these you’ll find MI5 recruiting candidates this way.

So think mobile candidates and think how can you reach them using a QR code whilst they’re on the move.

For more tips on reaching candidates, employment branding & building talent communities get in touch or follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie 

Attracting Talent using Social media

Employment Branding 

Attracting talent using social media 

When job seekers want to find out more about your company, do you know what they do?

If you said they go to the company website then you’re a little bit right because a few might tap in the whole URL address into a search bar but the majority will GOOGLE your company name! And yes, you’re web site should come up in the search ( if it doesn’t tut tut!) but now anything being said about your company can appear. Google isn’t just a search engine anymore it’s a social search engine and relies on relevance. If relevant people are saying relevant things about your organisation then it will appear in the search rankings. 

So what will a strong employment brand mean? 

It will mean that your organisation becomes like a magnet, attracting top talent 

It will mean no more pushing jobs

It will mean reduced recruiting costs

It will mean saving time 

It will mean not being bombarded with unsuitable C.Vs

It will help you with retaining talent 

It will mean a good message is being heard 

What do people think of your organisation when they hear the name?

Would it receive the same reaction as Google, Apple, Innocence, a cool place to work? 

Virgin, Zappos, Sheraton, adobe, America Express, Starbucks, Microsoft, KPMG, all of these companies have talent scrambling to get in.

So why should top candidates work for your company? 

Find out from your own employees why they love working for you, is it the flexible working hours, the great training, the fantastic career prospects, the creche facilities, the company ethics?

Survey your employees and start building case studies, if you get any negative feedback then use this opportunity to turn your employees into ambassadors. Every employee that talks about their experience whilst working at your company contributes to your employer brand.

"Employees have always owned the brand; they just haven’t had the tools to broadcast their opinions to large audiences as they do today."  Dr John Sullivan 

Your employment brand is not owned by you it flows from your employees and is spread by them and with social media it will spread faster than you’ve ever known it. 

You must let all your employees know that they are brand ambassadors and that they must represent the company brand when they're at work and when they’re not at work. 

When candidates source information about your company and come across positive comments from employees,it’s becomes apparent that they’ll be joining an organisation that they can trust. 

A couple of tips that help with employment branding and to give candidates a better insight to the organisation are:

1. Have a culture Blog

Where employees can blog & vlog about their work activities, company social events,    fund raising days, anything that is done in the name of the organisation.

Zappos does this brilliantly check them out http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/inside-zappos 

1. Video Tour

Video is so powerful and your candidate will emotionally connect with your organisation if you do it well. Take them on a tour round the company, have different employees chatting, go to different departments, show how your employees unwind..you might have a TV room or have a gym. Show the environment, are you surrounded by lovely countryside or are you lucky enough to have a station across the road and a convenient bus stop.

So remember ask yourself the question “Why should top candidates work for your company?” 

There’s a new name for head hunting and it’s called social recruiting, it’s about being engaging and building talent communities 

If you’re a recruiter then I’m assuming that you’re familiar with Linkedin, getting your head around Facebook, have a few followers on Twitter and you're most definitely using Job Hop! Recruiter’s know that usually the most desirable candidates are the ones that are currently employed, social media gives you the ability to reach the talent that “are not actively looking”, powerful ay! So right now tweeting your #jobs and #careers are working a treat, you’ve connected with some top talent & are building some great relationships and you’re asking is there anything else you should be doing?  There are so many tools out there that will help you connect with candidates and show you how they’re communicating, too many to mention so I’ve just included a few favourites. 

www.bullhornereach.com   has now more than 35,000 recruiters on this platform & a network of  more than 20 million social media profiles.When anyone within your recruiter network of contacts updates their profile it shows up on your dashboard alerting you to a move might be on the cards.If they’ve been in touch with any other recruiters you will also be notified. It’s easy to put on jobs which are then posted to job boards and sent out across Twitter, Facebook and linkedin.There are great analytics, showing you how many views your jobs have received and the relevant traffic sources. Onlooking job seekers can find out more about you via your public profile and any sharing of articles, videos, blogs etc via Bullhorne will help with your recruitment branding.

www.activeinterview.com Perhaps you want a better insight to your candidate before inviting them to the office, the perfect product is Active Interview. Of course you can you use skype and many recruiters do these days however active interview allows you manage everything in one place. You can provide your candidates a questionnaire prior to the on line webcast, have a public questionnaire so candidates can opt to take part and  they can even attach their c.v’s. You can interview 15 candidates for free and  opt for an upgrade if you like it and want to continue using it.

The other nifty tool that I’ve come to love is www.zoho.com  This great applicant tracking system keeps everything simple, is very effective and frees up your time to concentrate on sourcing talent. With just a few clicks you can post jobs to multiple job boards, review c.v’s,reach and organise candidates and book in interviews. Source, engage, manage, how simple is that!    

So get rid of any recruitment headaches and try out the recommended tools  

you can follow Julie on Twitter @jobhopjulie 

Get rid of stress...Get organised for 2012

During 2011 I’ve spoken to so many people that have found job hunting quite overwhelming. Sometimes they’ll collect lots of Business cards but then can’t remember why, they’ll find scribbled bits of paper with telephone numbers on but no name or they may get a phone call from someone they cannot remember for toffee.

There are so many things to consider when job hunting these days, networking, social media, recruitment agencies, online social networks, checking the papers, word of mouth, it’s not surprising some of you feel like you’re drowning in it all.

So for 2012 Job searches need to be better managed as being organised will improve effectiveness, boost your confidence and will help you perform better at your interviews. 

Start taking control of your job search then you will start noticing what is working and what isn’t.

The first thing I would suggest is to create a dedicated work space where there’s enough room for you to write, use a computer and chat on the phone. If this work space can be well away from distractions the better, once you’re in the zone then the more focused you will become.

Set your alarm clock as if you’re going to work, wake up early and seize the day. You’ll have to be getting up early soon anyway once you start your new job, so get use to it.

Start each day with a can do attitude and get going.

Establish a start time and a finish time, 9am - 5pm, I’m serious you have to dedicate yourself full time to getting a job. There are some people that will make a couple of phone calls then get drawn to the fridge, end up on the sofa and before they know it, have watched a full episode of Jeremy Kyle! or worse still 6 hours on X Box!   This cannot happen to you..Dedication, you have to be dedicated to getting a job.

Always make sure your voice mail messages sound positive and energetic, no one is going to want to leave you an interview date if your message sounds like your granny has just died.

Always review your productivity at the end of each day.

Invest in a business card holder, to keep all your cards in order of name or date.

There’s a few way that you can keep everything organised in one place, first try making a spreadsheet. Have all your contact names running down the left hand side of your page then across the top you can put date ( date you met) introduced by, venue ( where you met) company, position, e mail address, address, tel no:, skype, twitter name, memorable note.. ie Birthday is 6th June, follow up date, result.

Of course you can delete or add to this as you wish.

Have a spread sheet for phone calls made, date who to, time, result and another for C.V’s sent.

Have a todo list, theres lots sites where you can create To Do lists & free apps for your phone. We’ve tried a couple of good ones  http://www.tada.com  and                               http://www.rememberthemilk.com  however you may come across one you prefer more.

There is one great App that I think you should try and that’s http://www.evernote.com You can synch this with your phone, create to do lists, take photos of job adverts & clip them into your folder, all the text is searchable to by just tapping a couple of words into search it can pull the advert to the front for you. You can record your notes and listen back to them at a later stage, this nifty tool will come in use so many times over.  

There are a couple of web based platforms that are solely dedicated to making job hunting a more organised experience for you, the first one is http://www.happyjobsearch.com Here you can track all your job search activities, create action points, review and edit them.

Store a general cover letter so you can just modify it for each potential employer and really keep on top of your growing database.

Then there’s http://www.jibberjobber.com Enter your target companies and create action entries to spur you into contacting them.

It’s free for life but if you do upgrade you’ll get the facility to have an e mail sent to you regarding each action point you create.. ie Tuesday 8th August 3.00pm, must ring Jane re Marketing assistant position. Once that has been logged you will receive an e mail from jibberjobber to remind you to make that call, how cool is that! 

So get plenty of rest over the Xmas period and come back in 2012 a more organised, focused Job Hunter  

Happy Christmas   

Nick Clegg are you listening?

You’ve pledged £1billion to get the youth of today back into employment.

It’s called The Youth contract, a bit like YTS in the 90’s where firms secured cheap labour for menial tasks. When the Conservatives came to power there was another scheme in place, tarted up a bit & called The Future Jobs Fund which Labour put in place in April 2009 when youth unemployment was at it’s highest.   On March 18th 2011 David Cameron said “The Future Jobs fund has been one of the most ineffective job schemes there’s been” He then went on to say “The really damning evidence is that it’s a six month programme, but one month after it’d finished half the people that were on it are back on the dole. It failed.” 

So you understand my utter disbelief when I hear that the Future Jobs Fund is being resurrected, in a different name of course.

This time though employers only get a wage subsidy of £2,275.00 not the £6,500 that Labour use to dish out. 

The problems will still be the same though, employers exploiting youngsters, giving them false hope, youngsters taking crap jobs for fear of losing any benefits.

The Government has panicked, it needs to play with figures, it needs to get the youth off jobseekers benefit for a while & who will cough up for it?

Extra funding for apprenticeships I totally agree with however The Youth contract is making me feel doubtful. The feedback from The Future jobs Fund wasn’t brilliant, employers just using youths & not training them in any way, there were stories of youngsters not getting paid until the funding came through, some not getting paid at all & references not given if anyone protested. Don’t get me wrong there were some successes but not enough to be writing home about.

I think Talent hubs should be created where employers can outsource their work at a preferred rate because they know it will be our unemployed youth completing it for them.

These hubs will be supervised to make sure the youngsters are getting the right help.

Now I know a hub initially won’t cover every profession, however to start with it would have receptionists, taking calls for companies when they’re unavailable, web designers, web developers, youngsters good with I.T, marketing, social media, sales, cooks in the kitchen, maintenance & whatever is needed to make the whole organisation work. Whilst the youngsters are there they would have a responsibility for making it work, setting goals & targets, they would feel like they have ownership  etc.. Whilst in the programme they would all get help re getting in front of the employer, CV writing, Interview skills etc...

The thing is this model would also generate revenue & may only need funding initially.

Of course employers would be encouraged to drop in or engage via the online talent hub site where each youngster would have a profile.

Then again I’m not PM, maybe one day!

There’s a lot men growing moustaches during November because of the wonderful Movember movement. I personally don’t like a man to have a moustache however for this great cause I can put up with it for a month. 

The thing I get asked though is can a moustache stop someones chances of getting a job?

Of course I can’t speak for all employers however I think even the strictest employer would see the good in what you’re trying to do and would support it.

I’m sure a lot of employers would be growing their own hairy caterpillar!  and why not it’s for a good cause, raising so much money for mens health, especially prostate cancer.

If you are sporting a tash during November keep it neat, out of control, dirty looking ones could takes points away.

Explain to whoever interviews you that you only have a moustache during November & if they care to view your on line profile they will see how you normally look on a work day.

Last year 110,000 men registered to take part and numbers for this year have said to have doubled!  If you are one of the men committed to looking like Lord Lucan this year just  make sure the itching doesn’t take your mind off your job search! 

 Networking to get a Job.

I’m on the radio in the morning talking about networking to get a job & thought I’d also write a Blog about it.

In my mind I’d mentioned networking many times and I’d actually thought a few times too many, but I still get people saying to me they don’t get it, or they do get it and there’s no way they can do it!  Then the lovely Neil from Future Radio said could I please talk about it in more depth and I realised then, there is an obvious need to know how to network effortlessly to get a job, or at least an interview. 

Lets start at the real basics and work our way up, so what is a network?

A network is just a group of people and by human nature we like to be included in groups, we are social characters, that means you are most probably already networking!  

That was easy...The end!

Lets have a look at where you may be already networking: 

Parties, School gates, Gym, Dog walking, Evening class, PTA, Volunteer groups, Swimming, Book club, Weight watchers  etc etc..

See it doesn’t just have to be Business networking, a lot of people think that to be able to called a networker you need to be attending Business networking groups, wrong. You can, and of course it helps to because you’ll get a room full of potential employers.

Now just take 10 minutes and go through all the people that you know, you will surprise yourself how many contacts you have.

Do all of these people know that you’re looking for a job? Have you told them exactly what you’re looking to do..ie “ I’m looking to be an events organisor for a relatively new company that’s really wanting to get it’s product noticed by it’s market” rather than “I need a job”   

If all your contacts know exactly what you want to do then they become your sales force, the minute they hear of something that matches the information you’ve given them then they’ll be back to you in a shot if they think there’s a chance. 

The thing is you must tell people or how do you expect them to help?

Just think of all the people you know and then think of all the people they know, now are you getting how powerful networks and networking can be.

If you think you can’t possibly do that because it’s being pushy, think of it as asking for help that isn’t being pushy and do you know what? People like helping people so make the most of that!

Ask advice seeking questions ie “ what would I need to do to get a job in a company like yours” “who do you think I should send my c.v to?” Hopefully your contact will say he/she will take it in for you!

Remember a lot of jobs just don’t get advertised that should give you the incentive to find the “hidden job market”

If you find that “hidden job market” via your contacts then hey presto you’re one step ahead of any competitor. If you have a good relationship with your contact they will recommend you via the best way ..word of mouth and one of the oldest sayings is just so true “people do business with people they like” ... Recommendations usually get you the job.

Once you have compiled your database of contacts then keep on top of it, regularly keep in touch with them and keep information up to date. 

Always follow up new contacts, target yourself to getting 5 new contacts a week (5 is just a guide) make notes about Birthdays and any notes that you feel are relevant to the relationship. Remember that networking is two way so if you can do something for them then they are much more inclined to want to do something for you.

A few tips I will give you is try and network at trade fairs in the field that you are looking to get into.

Have a shorter networking C.V that you can freely give out..a real punchy edition with “read more @ www.jobhop.co.uk   for instance  

Or if you want to be really super whizz get some business cards made up with your full C.V into a QR code on the front...so all someone needs to do is scan the code to find out more about you.

Keep all your contacts on www.jibberjobber.com  A nifty tool that allows you to organise contacts, network events, what jobs you’ve heard about, maps interviews and an expense tracker...I like very much! 

Try and make it 2nd nature to network, make it a habit...Become your own agent!!

Happy networking  

University applications down by 12% compared to last year, so it seems that school leavers have cottoned onto the fact that perhaps a University education is not the only way to get ahead especially when employers bang on about having experience.

So perhaps apprenticeships and learn whilst you earn roles will be the way forward 

The thing is theres now 991,000 16-24 year olds out of work and these are the ones we know about, there could be another 100,000 under the radar!  Youth unemployment is heading for the one million mark soon, so what can be done?

If University is something that you really want to do but the hike in fees are making you think twice about it, remember you don’t have to pay the money back until you leave and you’re earning over £21,000 a year. Personally I think this is a no brainer, still go to University.

You can do it a cheaper way & go to Uni abroad.. There are some that cater for the English/American students.. or if you have discipline there are plenty of courses to do at home with some requiring you to part home study and part go to Uni usually for just 1 year.

Becoming an apprentice is always an option, earn whilst you gain experience & get a recognisable qualification at the end of it. The working week is usually divided with learning on the job and then maybe a day out for college.

Prince’s Trust offers courses that can give 16- 25 year old skills and experience in particular sectors 

The government has also announced the launch of the work academies across the U.K which will offer training, work experience and a job interview ( I’m not so sure about the job interview mallarky ) 

The scheme aims to help up to 150,000 young people over the next few months and up to 250,000 within two years

Remember there are ways to gain experience, ok ,sometimes you may wonder when you’re going to get a decent wage...but it will come when you kick those doors down.

Volunteer...offer your services to a company for Free for 1 - 2 mnths, gaining experience and possibly a job

Commission Offer to work at a company for Commission only... As a Business owner myself I don’t think I could refuse someone with such great determination..

Freelance for a company & make sure they are aware that you are also in the market of being employed

Make a position for yourself...research the company, find out their weaknesses and then show them a plan where you can help their weak spots.

Become an outsourcer ... ie on Guru.com  Fiverr.com  Elance.com Getafreelancer.com and many more ...you’ll be paid for your work and you’ll also get testimonials which become your portfolio of experience

And lastly Don’t have too much pride to ask for help..Remember Pride is a useless asset 

Is it the death of the C.V?

Are you still sending out c.vs to employers? or are you just directing them to your online professional profile?

You should still send out c.vs to employers.

It seems unlikely that c.vs will be replaced totally as many employers still like to hold that paper in their hands and peruse your qualifications.

So what to do? Keep sending them out however mention a link to your professional profile where the employer can find out more about you.

Make sure that a professional profile is exactly that with professional photo’s and business like activity.

Employers will go online to find out more about you regardless so make sure all photo’s are professional and untag yourself from any of your friends ones where you look worst for wear.

Always regularly update your profile, share opinions, articles, answer peoples questions, become an authority on your subject. Don’t just decide to update when you think it’s time to look for a job, if you are employed this will raise a few eyebrows in the office, slightly obvious! If however it’s something you do as common practice anyway there will never be cause for concern.

So no for the time being there’s no death of the c.v it’s going to be around for a while yet. However a mix of both will work well for attracting the right employer to you.

Welcome Google+ So how can Google+ help you find a job?

On Linkedin you are asked “How do you know this person?” On Facebook you get the message “Is this person a friend?” On Google+ Nothing, you can connect with anyone and everyone.

No gatekeepers, no approvals, you can immediately connect with the right person, so if you know the name of the employer at a certain company & they are on Google+ you get an immediate connection.

Google+ will undoubtably help with getting in front of employers & to get jobs.

The straightforward, simplicity of the navigation makes everything feel very easy to operate. One of the features of Google+ is the circles, it gives you the ability to drag and drop your contacts into circles that you the user creates.

So these contact circles can be potential employers, contacts at a certain company or a circle of people that will keep their ear to the ground for you. So now when it comes to updating your posts it can be relevant to the group you are speaking to.

Another feature is the ability to directly e mail someone on their profile page, of course there will be some that will start hiding their e mails the minute their inbox starts filling up.

All in all we think Google+ is great & another way of easily getting in front of the employer.

We shall keep you posted of Google+ developments 

Face Book targeting for a job                                          

When you look at the job adverts, in papers, magazines, job boards off line as well as on line had it ever crossed your mind to place an advert yourself?

Who is going to see my advert you may ask and admittedly if you place one in a shop window, a paper or a specific industry magazine then you are leaving it mainly to chance. The chance that the right person from the right industry, who is recruiting or collecting for their talent pool is in the right place at the right time to see your advert.

What if your advert can land right into the right persons lap, the chance that they would see it and read it would be far greater.

This is where Facebook becomes a great tool to use.

People just give information away freely on Facebook, it’s a marketing persons dream.

For instance if you have a Facebook profile and one of the interests that you stated was playing hockey, I bet you see a few adverts trying to sell hockey sticks.

If you liked a page  “like” cross country runners, how long do you think it will be before you’re looking at running shoes that you somehow came across on Facebook!  It’s all such a coincidence..let me tell you something “there is no such thing as coincidence”

So how does this help you get a job? 

Using Facebook adverts can get you in front of decision makers at companies you want to work for or in front of like minded people who can help you.

Facebook never asks for Job titles when anyone opens an account on it’s platform however it is part of a users identity so more often or not it is used somewhere.

So when you are placing your advert and you are working out the demographics ie you want your advert to reach people who live in London  Age 35+ who like.. veterinary surgeon, veterinary, manager, partner, director, owner, veterinary medicine  

Then you know that your advert is going to get in front of owners, partners, directors in veterinary or other veterinary people that can connect you.

Remember that the reason people love Facebook is because it’s social so you must keep the advert social, this all helps with your edgeranking on Facebook..like a score system which I won’t go into now. So how do you keep it social & professional? perhaps have a poll..in this case symptoms of a sick animal & a vote A or a vote B to what they think it could have. Then a link to ..Check out what Paul has to say about the prognosis and this links to a nice video of you chatting about the symptoms, what it actually is & what you prescribe. All of this is to get someones attention, by watching you in video they have connected with you & under the video you will have a personal Bio, your c.v a link saying Job offers here with a link to your e mail address.

So when your chatting to old school buddies on Facebook next give some thought to what you can really achieve with Facebook.

Blog a Job

So how do you put your head above the competition?

Well one way of getting noticed by employers is Blogging

Blog about your skills, expertise, your experiences, the funny things in your line of work & the challenges, especially the tactics you use to overcome them.

Make sure your Blog is personally branded and is linked up with your social networking platforms.

Make sure your Blog content is key word rich and attractive for the search engines to pick up. When employers search relevant keywords it’s your Blog that you want them to stumble upon.

Share your Blog across Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/ niche platforms etc..

Social bookmark it ( Digg it) & tell others to do so

Change 15% of your Blog & let others use it as a Guest Blog  Please note that you must change at least 15% or the search engines will just see it as duplicate content and it will not do you any favours at all.

Record the Blog through Audioboo ( or others) & link it out as an audio file...You can also record yourself reading your Blog...known as a Vlog!

Attract your next employer by Blogging & all the tips we give you.

Want to find a job using social media?

Then make sure you are socially acceptable!

You know that thing, that search engine called Google? You know it 
right? Good, then you have an understanding as to how it works. It finds 
things. As well as finding jobs it also finds out information.

When was the last time you Googled your own name?

Stop reading, and go and search now and then come back and tell me what 
you see on the first 5 pages and then tell me you are happy with it all. 
Because if you are happy with it all then your potential employer will be happy.
 If you have anything at all that does not portray you as a normal, 
happy, hardworking soul now would be the time to remove it.

Those party pics on Facebook, you know the ones? Where you are falling 
out of a pub obviously as drunk as a rat.. you had a great night that 
night and guess what? You didn't check your Facebook privacy settings 
and now they are in Google images - you did do an image search as well 
didn't you?

Your new employer will also check out your Twitter account if you 
mention it on your application form...

And your blog, they will check out your blog as well.

Make sure you are socially fit for employment or you could find you 
don't even get an interview.

I read a social media blog where the blogger called various people 
"knobs" it wasn't funny and and I had no idea who they were calling 
knobs but I won't be hiring them to do my social media stuff. If they 
call publicly call people names then what are they going to be saying 
about me? Careful what you blog.

Ok, so the tweet above is a tweet from one of my own Twiter accounts - 
phew, but what if it was in your Twitter stream? It may turn up in 
Google as search engines index Twitter as well as Facebook and lots of 
other social media sites. and let's not forget the fully social sites 
such as dating sites...

Ever put your details up on one of those? No? Oh good, only lots of 
people have and again they have missed the privacy settings and that's 
how their partners found them online looking for love. Of course it was 
the divorce court for them, and it will be you too if you are not 
careful in with the information you share online.

Unhappy at work?

Share it on Facebook... only your mum reads your status updates and 
hey... all those new friends you made at your new job, well they can see 
it too. Not only can they see it, they can show it to your new boss. 
What can you say when they fire you? You were unhappy in the first 
place, they were doing you a favour.

Social media is a powerful tool, in the right hands

Using tools like Crowdbooster you can find influential people on 
Twitter, you can find casual work and you can find full times jobs. be 
yourself only better. Be the person that is the model employee and 
remember your search engines as well as sharing all your secrets will 
share the employers secrets too...

Sarah

Sarah Arrow is the director of special projects for 
href="http://www.arrowlighthaulage.co.uk" target="_blank">same day 
courier company, Arrow Light Haulage based in Essex. She is also the 
author of Always Be Creating - the 
href="http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/whats-this-site-about/advanced-blogging/" 
target="_blank">business bloggers guide to blogging. Subscribe for a 
free Zero to blogger ecourse whilst you are there and take a new skill 
into your new job.

How many times do we say "8 out of 10 employers now search on line for a candidate" ?

So could you lure the perfect employer by changing your Twitter name? perhaps to 

@carsalessteve  @phpdeveloperPaul  @ LandscapegardenerJill 

Do you make sure that your tweets are linking back to your professional profile? (preferably your Job Hop Profile ) Is your profile packed out with the expertise and skills that the employer is looking for?

Why not link your tweet back to your Job Hop Blog and your future employer can leave a comment for you.

Try stalking the companies on Twitter that you want to work for and engage in conversations with them. If they are asking questions then make sure you reply with the answers, even if you have to google the answers!

Set up TweetDeck for the companies that you want to work at and follow the conversations they're having.

Set up a Twitter list for Recruiters, check into it daily and see what new jobs they're looking to fill.

Why not try and get a job at Twitter  follow their recruitment department @JoinTheFlock

Twitter is another platform for you to build relationships with the right people. Before you know it you will be at the forefront of employers minds when it comes to them filling a vacancy.

Can you really say that you have thought of many different ways to get a job?

Have you tried changing your thought pattern & said "If I wanted to get in front of a particular person/company how do I do it?"

This question itself will open loads of doors for you.

Are you 1 of the 648 million registered users on Facebook?  Wow that's a big number, there must be lots of employers on there! 

Now there are so many ways of marketing yourself on Facebook & that would take hours, however a quick easy way to get in front of employers are Facebook Adverts.

It doesn't cost much & you can really target your advert to particular people in particular areas. A little bit of time studying how Facebook advertising works will enable you to tweak your adverts so they are showing up on the company decision makers profiles.

Remember Facebook is social so keep it social, keep your ad social. ie Should Mike The Events Manager be employed or be Freelance, you vote... once clicked it could link to a video of some super events that you have put on for clients, you get the picture.  It could be though that Mary from Cpp London is looking for an events Manager & your ad shows up on her profile!! hey presto!

As you know Version 2 of Job Hop will be live soon however we are already working on version 3 where we are going to tie in some of this marketing oneself from Job hop across to FaceBook.

Whilst we are working on that I really urge you all to be trying it out yourself.

Should I Stay or Should I go?
You keep hearing the same thing " Well at least you have a job" & it's true you do have a job but not the one that you really wanted.

2.5 million people are unemployed & rising so what do you do?

Everyone is saying "Stay put" "put up with it" but there are ways of attracting the ideal job without handing your notice in immediately.

Firstly look at your job role is there anything that you can discuss with your employers to make the position into more of the job that you wanted?                       ie Did you take the position originally because you thought you would be out there meeting the client but instead you're mainly behind a desk filling in forms. Talk first if that fails then you need to become a passive job seeker.

A Passive job seeker allows the job to come to you whilst you're still getting paid to do your current role.

First of all you need to know exactly what job you want, what role it will be, where it will be, how much salary you want, what skills you want to use etc..

A good way to do this is by creating a vision board. Don't freak out & think Wacky!! it's about creating Focus & the more visual you are the more you will have to focus on.On your vision board  paste pictures of the type of company you'd like to work for, the co car ( if one), the view from your office, your office, your salary  etc etc..

Vision board done now put it into writing, write down everything from your vision board & then give that piece of paper to a trusted friend or a family member, you will now feel that you have to honour everything that you have written down.

Now tell everyone that this is the type of job that you are looking for & it's amazing how many people will keep their ears to the ground for you.

Advertise yourself..Make sure all your on line profiles are geared up to you getting this new job.. Even the books that you choose to display can or will not attract the right people to your profile.. ie If you want a marketing position then you make sure you have Seth Godin in your reading list & delete Katie Price The Jordan Years!Scour the networking platforms & join groups, discussions & debates that all link back to the ideal job that you want.

Don't focus on the "I don't like this job but I'm here now" Focus on "I'm here for a bit & now I attract the job I really want"

Finding Jobs In Norwich

Norwich is a lovely place to work with plenty of scenic places to walk during your lunch break!A huge variety of different Businesses Bernard Mathews, John Lewis, Bertram Books, Makro's, Bupa as well as many small businesses.

Norwich boasts a huge Research Park, Norwich Research Park where you'll find Norwich & Norfolk University Hospital, The University of East Anglia, The Sainsbury Laboratory & The John Innes Centre.

The East side is the place to watch with The Broadland Business Park which already has plenty of businesses on there & continues to grow.

The Tourism Sector is always busy In Norwich, it is a place people flock to on sunny days & a great Holiday destination.It also has it's own airport, Norwich International Airport & guess what it's expanding, so that means jobs!

Whenever you hear a company intends to expand then you must act immediately find out who the right contact is & find out when they are interviewing.Read The Eastern Daily Press religously as they will report when companies are intending to expand.

If you want to get a job in travel then get in front of the companies & you'll find them at Travel fairs which you'll find being held at The Norwich International Airport & Hotels such as The Holiday Inn. Here you can find out who the contact is , perhaps introduce yourself to them there & then at the event & offer to ring them or send your c.v to them.

It doesn't have to stop at Travel fairs check out all the fairs & see whether you would like to work in that field. If you're a dressmaker or a cake decorator perhaps you should check out the Wedding fairs & put yourself in front of the companies that exhibit there. There are numerous weding Fairs in Norwich, The Caistor Hall Hotel, The Oaklands Hotel & Sprowston Manor hold them regularly.

Get in front of employers at Business to Business events. Be fully equipped with a 1 page summary about yourself with a photo attached, hand them to the businesses that you know you would be suited for. You can ask for them to be passed to whoever recruits for the company or you may get to speak to that person at the event. By leaving them something you can say that you will contact them in a couple of days to talk some more. Businesses love pro active people.

 Try out the All about Business event at Carrow rd in March & The Challenge Norfolk 100 in February.Get a list of all the networking events in Norwich & start attending them. At these networks you will be chatting over a coffee & some nibbles with the Managing Directors of companies, what a perfect opportunity to get noticed. Some that you will find in Norwich are 4N, The Business Club, Business Womens Network , Wire, The Weetu Network , Antidote & 25am

Of course you can also register at the many recruitment companies around Norwich Cocoabean , select  ,  14recruitment  & have a look at whats on offer at The Norwich Job Centre. 

The Passive Candidate

You know who you are!

You are really playing the game, you're working smart not hard. You have created the perfect profile & it is on JobHop & Linkedin. 

You've branded yourself, you're known as an expert in what you do, your profile photo is professional & is consistent throughout the networks. You regularly blog, post videos & contribute to groups & forums.

If anyone asks you are you looking for a job you will say No however if your dream job was offered to you then of course you wouldn't say no!

You are not an active Job seeker you are a passive job seeker, you are the one that employers really want & you know it! 

New Year New JobThe definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again & expecting different results.

Get Results in 2011 by doing things differently.

Reflect back on 2010 & decide what needs changing, what should you be doing differently now?

Do enough people know that you are looking for a new job? If not you need to step up the networking. Studies show that lots of jobs are found informally. Before some jobs get published they are filled instantly because of word of mouth, it pays to network.

Have you had many interviews during 2010? Do you know why you weren't offered the job/s? If the answer is No you need to start asking for feedback. How do you know what to improve on when you haven't asked for feedback!

Do you look in the mirror & feel glum? If so this will come across at interviews, perhaps you should make an appointment with an image consultant. Adding some colour to your wardrobe could make you feel like a different person. If you feel different, maybe even dynamic then this will come across at interviews.

Have you been aware of your body language? Weak handshake, no eye contact, fidgeting, slumped in the chair. If you can relate to any of these then you need to change. Go along & visit a personal coach who can help with the signs that your body is giving out & build upon your self confidence. Make sure that at your next interview your body is saying the same as your mouth.

Is there somewhere that you'd really love to work or something you'd really like to do but never got invited for an interview there. Did you research the job thoroughly? Did you research the company thoroughly? Did you volunteer your services for a couple of weeks for free? How much did you want the job? Perhaps you should try something different this New year.

Make 2011 a different Year so do things differently!

So you're in the job market voluntary or you've been put there, or you're considering entering the job market. It's such an effort though you have to update your c.v , register with recruitment agencies, read untold job adverts, constantly phone people and buy a new suit!

There are a few things that you can do to make it slightly easier for yourself. The main thing is to be organised, make a job folder & get a job diary.
In your job folder (fold out type or on your p.c)you should keep research material, contact names, copies of c.vs & your daily call list ( this is a list of companies that you cold call on a daily basis, companies that haven't got a job advertised but you have to convince them that they need you) In your job diary keep interview dates and details & follow up call dates recorded. Make sure reminders are set either on your P.C or your phone so you never ever forget to make that important call.

Do not procrastinate write out your daily plan the night before & make sure your most dreaded/difficult call is done first ( Eat that Frog) then the rest of the day is easy.
Experts say that 75% of jobs are filled by referrals so keep circulating!
Subscribe to Trade magazines & look out for events & seminars where you can meet new contacts.

Do not send out the same c.v to everyone, always make sure it matches the job description & highlight what they are looking for.

Make sure that any on line c.vs/resumes are packed with key words therefore making it quicker for employers to find you.

Don't send c.v's in as an attachment make sure you paste them into the body of the email, you have to make it as easy & quick as possible for someone to read it. If the attachment takes a while to open then it may never get opened.

If you've received an application form then always send in your c.v also, however never put on your form as a reply to a question "see my c.v"

Look out for Business expansions because expansions means Jobs!

And that suit, do you really need a new one? Look through your wardobe & see what you can put together before you rush out to spend your money.

We'd like to give you a phone interview. O.k it's not quite a full on interview however this is your chance & you must make it your objective to get a face to face interview.

If a representative calls you to make an appointment time with you make sure that you get the details of the person ringing you. You want their full name and their position in the company.

With this valuable information you are then going to google this person & find out as much information as possible about her/him. Have they recently won any awards? Has there been any press releases involving them? Do you have any mutual interests which you could slip into the interview somehow...  ie If you get asked "What additional skills did you bring to your last company that you worked for?" and you say "I use to voluntary organise the annual golfing tournament so that we could network with our clients in a fun way" Knowing full well the interviewer is a keen golfer then you will get a big tick!

It's also handy if their e mail addresses appear in the search as you could then send them an e mail just saying that today his/her colleague booked a phone interview on Tues at 10am with them and that you are looking forward to it. ( Little things like this can really impress an interviewer)

Whilst you are on Google I shouldn't have to tell you that you must find out as much as possible about the company and the position that you are applying for.

You will get asked "So tell me what do you know about our company?" and you say "I don't really know anything but I do see your vans now and then" Will not go down well.

So the day & time has been set & you know who is going to ring you and the number they will ring you on is... I hope you haven't given them a mobile number to ring you on. The reason being is that sods law they will be slightly early & you'll be driving, parking the car up, still in the middle of the shopping mall or worse still you have no signal! Always make sure they ring you on a land line & pencil out 15mins prior to the call so you are sitting by the phone in case they ring early.

Don't play games & wait 10 rings before you answer, you will be expected to answer  the phone immediately.

If the interviewer hears Jeremy Kyle, Loose women, or Countdown in the background they will be immediately put off. The television must be switched off. Even if you think it sounds cool to have the stocks and shares on Bloomberg going on in the background it's best not to, most interviewers will want the environment totally quiet.

Children and dogs must be as far away from you as possible, you do not want to be trying to talk over a dog barking madly at the postman or a baby screaming because it's hungry, or a child asking for a biscuit..no no no! The interviewer may love dogs and children but all they will be hearing at the end of the phone is chaos and they will think that you are chaotic.

Never let your children pick up the phone and then shout out Mummy/Daddy it's for you, or I had one once where I had booked a 2pm phone interview and the child answered and said Daddy is sleeping! I didn't ring back.

Once you are on the phone chatting happily to your interviewer remain standing as this up lifts your body & helps your breathing and remember to smile. An interviewer can detect in your voice if you are miserable, not smiling, stern or generally don't have a good attitude. Always smile and sound focused and positive.

Do not mumble or umm and err. Do not keep using the same word over and over again, like "you know what I mean, so I had to get the clients to use it, you know what I mean" or " Basically, yes it's simple really, basically what you do is basically" or "you know where I'm coming from, it was quite funny really but I had to say it, you know where I'm coming from"  I hear so many and I cringe. My advice is that perhaps you get a member of your family or a friend to regularly get you to talk for a few minutes at a time about any old object & you are not allowed to umm or err or say anything repetitive. Doing this regularly will definitely improve how you present yourself, you will become a lot more aware of what you are saying.

The interviewer will ask you a list of questions in front of them and they are either the same questions that they ask everyone or a couple will be swapped round.

They may ask about your present or last job, what type of person you are, what salary you're after, what are your strengths & weaknesses, why are you applying for the position with them and so on. You must be prepared to just reel the answers off.

Remember that your objective is get a face to face interview so ask them some questions, have your list in front of you. Saying something like " When I was looking at your web site I noticed that you were expanding the design side more, would my skills be useful here as well?" This sounds great because it shows you've really researched the company & that you could be put to many uses.

Always ask " What additional information would you like from me?" and give them a link to your professional profile on JobHop or LinkedIn.

When the time comes for them to say Good bye make sure that you say "When is the best time to follow up with you?" If they say give it a couple of days you must make sure to say that will give them a call at a particular time on a particular day, then proceed to say Thank you very much & I look forward to talking more on Tues, Weds,or whenever you'd arranged.

Good luck

Job Hop continues to stress the importance of self promotion & that these days you must be able to sell yourself & your skills.

With everyone competing for a very limited number of jobs you have to shine above the rest, you have to be the first person that employers/recruiters want when they are thinking about filling a vacancy.Today's Job Hunters/Hoppers need to know every trick in the book & have every tool in the box to get ahead.

When Job Hop comes across anything worth shouting about then we shout it from the roof tops & we are shouting at every Job Hopper & Job Hunter to obtain the book Job Hunting 3.0  Buy it , Borrow it, put it on your Xmas pressie list. 

This book is the must have manual for anyone looking for a job or thinking about changing their job.

It's a system, a plan & a map , giving you hints & tips to stand out from the rest. It gives you a valuable insight to what Employers & recruiters are thinking & what they really want.

Sometimes it's great to have a manual to refer to & with Job Hunting 3.0 you can do that even if you're feeling slightly stressed there's a section on coping with stress.

Job Hop continuously goes on about promoting yourself, networking, advertising your skills & within the pages of Job Hunting 3.0 you will learn all this & so much more.

Look at it this way Job Hunting/ Hopping is a process so make sure you follow a good process then you'll get a good outcome.

So we've been told that on average 4 (unemployed)

 people are chasing every 1 job, in some places the

 average is 31 people chasing every 1 job

Just recently a full time minimum wage job in Colchester attracted 500 applicants and Colchester isn't an unemployment black spot.In reality theres probably a lot more people going for the limited job vacancies than what the Government are stating.

725,000 jobs are to go in the public service and a reckoning of 1/2 million jobs due to go in the private sector. More Government cuts = more job losses = swelling dole queues.

So it seems the mind set is; if you have a job even if you hate it just stay put at least it's an income but should you just give up so easily?There are things that you can continue to do to better your career even through these troubled times.

Tell everyone what you're good at.. Whatever your expertise is let everyone know so eventually it stays in peoples heads so when someone needs a ....whatever it may be...they will contact you firstNetwork  constantly stay in the loop..This doesn't mean that you have to go to early morning business meetings, it could be just joing groups, the w.i , coffee mornings, golf, football club..The key is getting people to know you and know what you do so of course they will recommend you.

Get known on line via social networking..  Twitter, JobHop, Linkedin, Facebook  Make sure that your profile reflects you favourably and let everyone know what you are looking for.   The jobs will come to you if you're the person they're looking for however you have to let them know you're out there!

The Best Tip to get a Job

is to Brand & promote yourself.

Make getting your dream job your business &  take tips from successful businesses.

A successful business has a brand & always promotes itself,  their aim should be to create a fan base.

If you wanted to buy a computer you would probably get loads of people who have & love Apple, they will try to convince you to buy an Apple.

If you wanted to buy a good quality beautiful smelling soap with no chemicals, then Fans of Lush may convince you to buy Lush.

So the same with you, you need to create a fan base via branding & promoting yourself.

How?

Lets look at what you want to do.

Make up artist, goes without saying your make up should be impeccable however there are lots out there that don't even try at their own & how many times have you come across a hairdresser with awful hair! A wardrobe stylist should dress well, a cleaner should have a clean home, A declutterer should have a well organised office & a  P.A shouldn't be dizzy & constantly losing their keys!

You need to become the person & start your personal brand, it's about how you look, how you act, how you talk, what makes you unique?When you are branding yourself make sure it follows through with everything ie if you are telling people you are a family man make sure you're not seen out every week end with a different woman. If You want a top job at a law firm then dont let the photos of you with your boobs out on Face Book be seen.

Get out there & promote yourself, let everyone know what you do & that you're available. Eventually you will gain fans,once you have fans they will talk about you & promote you. i.e If somebody asks me if I know a good builder, web site designer, haidresser, dog groomer there is someone  I would promote for each of those jobs because I am a loyal fan.

Become the person become the brand then promote & gain fans.

You've decided to get a new job, you've looked in the papers and joined a few Recruitment companies, are you going to do anything else?

In todays world you need to be doing a lot more.

Market yourself!

How? 

Business cards  These are not just for business owners, you can cheaply get a few business cards together with some bullet points about your speciality/expertise/uniqueness. Always have your contact details, perhaps a link to where someone can view your c.v & if possible a photo.

Blog     Are you an expert about something? Blog about it & make sure that you link back to your blog from places like http://www.twitter.com , Friendfeed, Linkedin, JobHop & Facebook

Network  So where do you think you can talk directly to business owners? Try networking events, armed with your business cards go to a few networking mornings & evenings and introduce yourself. If you become a likeable familiar face who do you think they are going to think of the next time the business needs a P.A, a web designer, an engineer, a florist etc.. Before leaving any networking event always ask for the list of attendees as this is invaluable! When you get home you can e mail each contact & say how pleased you were to connect & hope that you can stay in touch.    Look up any Trade Fairs in your field that you can attend.

Network on line  Become an active social networker & let others know that you are looking for a job & what you can offer. http://www.facebook.com , Linked in & others have groups that you can join where you can contribute your expertise. Attach your cv or provide a link to your cv on these sites. At http://www.jobhop.co.uk you can network with people that may know of jobs vacancies available & have your profile on display to potential employers at all times.

Freelance  Whilst you are not in full time employment market yourself as a freelancer. ie Lets say you're a marketing person looking for the next great employer, whilst you are searching why not contact companies & let them know you are there as a freelance marketing expert. These days companies love to outsource however they may just love you enough to offer you a full time position or you may decide you love freelancing!

Be original   Why would people remember you? Vintage clothes, bright ties, Unique glasses, Impeccable dresser, always matching shoes & bag, different hat for a different day, calling cards with a photo of you. Think of something & try it out

Give  Your ideal employer may not want you, the most brilliant P.A in the world however you've heard she/he is looking for a dogwalker for their 6 corgis & it so happens you know a brilliant dog walker. Give this information away you may get more than a Thank you in the long run. 

Direct e mail  Find out who your main contact is & a simple phone call will get you the contact & e mail address. Then it is up to you to put together a good letter to introduce yourself, state your expertise and then you MUST say how it will benefit the business/company by having you in their employment. Keep it short, have a link to your cv & contact details and I recommend that you include professional photo of yourself also. 

Youtube  So you're an events organiser..get a video together of what you do, how you put an event together & the event itself & get it on youtube. The same applies to anything that you do..Florist, cake maker, baker, painter, seamstress etc etc You can then use your youtube link on your direct e mail if you wish or on profile pages.

Twitter & Twitpic  You've got 140 characters, use them! Tips on dog training, health & beauty, pulling the perfect pint, being a marine biologist, if you're a sales person then sales tips! & now the wonderful Twitter lets you show photos with a link to Twitpic so show what you can do.  Use the search facility, ie tap in florists, send them a message & the link to Twitpic.

& Remember to use JobHop to market yourself to your maximum to potential employers. Use the c.v facility, write plenty of content, include photos & videos & Blog  about your expertise.

This week I met Barry Gough from Eng Tech Recruitment http://www.engtechjobs.co.uk and we immediately started chatting about Scuba Diving. I lied, our conversation was mainly about recruiting and jobs and a huge chunk of time was spent discussing c.v's.

Now Barry shares the same view as me that there's a limited amount of jobs out there so anyone applying for these positions should be selling themselves in the best way possible. However this isn't the case and the first point of call is the c.v.

Whether you are sending your c.v direct to the company, the recruitment agency or attaching it to your profile on job sites like http://jobhop.co.uk  then the first thing to do is to make sure that it is all up to date. Please also make sure that all the dates tally up, if there are huge gaps you'll need to explain why.

Make sure your C.V is relevant for the job you are applying for, ie; If the job description says looking for someone with Leadership skills then there is no point in going on about your Saturday job many years ago as a kitchen porter in a Burger Bar!  Also a word of advice from Barry is that if you are a person of many years experience do you really think the company is going to be interested in a c.s.e in History ( yes c.s.e That long ago!)

Barry also says to make sure that your c.v is totally yours, don't copy someone else's and just change names and dates, companies can spot this a mile off.

I personally think that you should always include a professional photo and this goes with any online job profile you make including Job Hop's, it does surprise me how many do not attach a photo.

Remember there are many people going for the same job so why would any employer choose you? What have you got to offer the company that the others cannot? What makes you unique?

Before sending your c.v off or attaching it to your profile look at it from the employers point of view, will it have them queueing up to employ you?

Searching for a job can be a task at the best of times but it can be soul destroying in this current climate.

There are literally hundreds of people going for the same job at some places.

So how do you get yourself noticed above everyone else?

NETWORK  Network with everyone and get the word out there that you are looking for a job. Tell them exactly what you are looking for and what type of salary you would expect. Network at clubs, groups, organisations, at the Gym etc..

Network online like Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Msn and Job Hop.

Make sure that when you are networking on line that you are always coming across as professional and that your profile and c.v is up to date.

BLOG  Blog about your expertise and get yourself noticed to potential employers. Search on line for Job Blogs and leave comments with links back to your Blog.

RECOMMENDATIONS Ask people to recommend you and also ask them for recommendations. Do they know a good company you could try? Do they know a good contact?

COLD CALLING  Just go out there and get what you want! Because you haven't seen a position advertised it doesn't mean you haven't got a chance. Research the company, are they lacking something that your expertise could change? Could you make money for this company? Many people have got jobs this way, sometimes some companies don't realise they need you until you tell them.

VOLUNTEER If you really have the desire to work for a particular company or in a particular field but cannot find a way in then offer your services for Free. It could be one day a week for four weeks. Once you're in the door then hopefully you will eventually be offered a position.

In the current climate competition is high to get any job but you want the perfect job.

What would make you really stand out?

          JOB BLOGGING

Have you tried Blogging for a Job?

Ok it's not the traditional recruitment path but it is one way of getting yourself noticed.

BLOGGING  can give your search for the ideal job a huge boost.

Your Blog can contain links to your profile, web site, c.v and you can ask your readers to leave you comments. Hopefully one comment will be you've been offered a job!

Job Hunting Bloggers should stay professional and focus their blogs around their areas of expertise. If you do want to break out into a new direction then blog about that.

If done correctly BLOGGING can help you on a new career path.

So get BLOGGING & BLOG A JOB!

Social Networking is becoming the fastest growing way of filling a job vacancy and the easiest way for potential employees to look for job vacancies.

The recession has also changed the ways in how Companies recruit and it has most definitely helped in growing the Recruitment Social networking phenomenon.

Companies can no longer afford the recruitment agency fees and some fees are huge so they are looking for alternatives.

Recruitment networking is so straightforward as well, companies just post their vacancies on Twitter, Job Hop, Face book (and if they wish the many others out there) and contain a link back to their company and job details.

In some cases the response can be overwhelming, where the vacancy has been passed on and retweeted etc.  You do need to be exact in what you require as it's best to get a few excellent ones than hundreds that you are not sure about.

The beauty for the employer is that they don't have to just go on a c.v prior to interviewing. Through social networking sites if the candidate seems suitable then you can get a better insight to that person by viewing their profile, reading their blogs, checking out pics and videos etc

For the potential candidate they have to keep their profile up to date and really treat it like their shop window to advertise themselves. It may be an idea to have a personal and a professional profile to keep things seperate or use a site like Job Hop purely for your professional job seeking profile.

And of course social networking is Free!

So is it the end of the Recruitment Agency?

Getting a job these days isn't as easy as it use to be and as for getting your dream job you really need to be doing a bit more than your competitor.

Luckily Job Hop is here making it easier for employers and employees to network.

The first step is to register at http://www.jobhop.co.uk you will then need to create your profile. Make sure that you put as much information as possible as this gives the potential employer an insight to who you are. Your profile is a shop window for the employer, your aim is to beat your competitor to the job, you really do need to put some effort into it.

Profile photo, this is a must. The employer would like to see who it is they may be thinking of giving an interview to, make sure the photo is tasteful.

Have an up to date c.v so an employer can see exactly what you are capable of, who you have been working for and for how long. You can upload your c.v or Job Hop has one you can fill in. Do not leave gaps and again fill in as much information as possible, remember you are selling yourself.

If your dream job is to be an interior designer and you have photos of your work then upload them and display them, again this will help the employer to make their decision whether to offer you an interview or not.

Blog  It's easy and Job Hop makes it easy. Write about what you do, show the employers that you know your stuff that you are an expert in this field. You may be a dog trainer, estate agent, a chef write about what you do get yourself noticed.

Network  Contact other Hoppers on Job Hop, introduce yourself and tell them what you do, who knows they may know of a vacancy available at their work or somewhere else that would suit you.

There have been cases of hundreds of people going for the same job vacancy so just keeping your fingers crossed isn't good enough anymore, it's about selling yourself.

Put the effort in and show the employers that it's you they must employ because they will if you are the best.

Economists are saying that every 4 out of 5 jobs lost belonged to a man.

Approximately 287,000 people lost their jobs in the first 3 months of 2009 and the majority of that number were men.

How do men feel when this happens to them? A lot feel like they should be the bread winner, the head of the family and will feel shame and guilt.

A lot of men will start to be depressed especially after trying to search for a new job and find that most doors are closed.

Some women are taking upon themselves to get out there and get any work that will bring in the money jobs such as cleaning, school cook, carers, dog walking, child minding. When it comes to the man though a lot will not want to take on any work that they feel could be beneath them. Friction can start to happen at home and currently Relate reports a rise in marital problems due to the credit crunch and job losses.

Perhaps men need to take a back seat for a bit and don't beat themselves up about it. Job losses are happening so take this opportunity and learn a new skill.

Three million vocational qualifications were awarded last year and the number of schools offering them in the last 12 months has doubled.

So men don't crumble see this as a challenge and just do something different.

Ask yourself was that the job you really wanted to be in after all? sometimes something negative can turn into something positive....

400,000 graduates will soon be hitting the job market for the first time or should I say the jobless market! When you speak to the soon to be graduates a lot of them were hoping to find jobs in the banking and finance world, well a lot of these jobs have just gone. What will happen to our graduates?

Graduates use to be able to just walk into a job, it use to be drummed into you to get a good degree pass and you then get a good job.

There has been an increase in the number of people under the age of 25 who claimed jobseekers allowance in the last 12 months, the figures now say that 20% of young people are unemployed. This figure of course will grow.

What will our young people do? without a job they will be living at home for longer, this doesn't help with their independence. Will many of them turn to the army as a means of security?

It now goes back to survival I think where only the strong will survive, or perhaps our graduates will have to start thinking outside of the box.

When the idea of JobHop originally came about it was a case of how can people get their dream job and how can employers get their dream candidate. In todays climate lots of people are thinking that they are lucky to have any job.

U.K unemployment continues to rise now being the highest since 1997.

Youth unemployment is at its highest rate for 15 years and looks to get worse when fresh school leavers and graduates start looking for work in the coming weeks.

Many believe that unemployment will rise to 3 million by the middle of next year.

So Jobhop can be a great help for the unemployed, school leavers and graduates. However JobHop now becomes an even safer bet for those that are in work but not their dream job.

By stating what job you would ideally like, keeping your profile and cv updated keeps your options open to better offers whilst having the security of being in work.

JobHop is here! It all started from an idea that some people are in jobs that they really don't like. The reason for that is a regular pay cheque, lucky to have any job, haven't got time to join recruitment agencies, and they had given up on getting their dream job anyway.

What if there was a place where they could stay at their secure job whilst letting other Hoppers and employers know what they would really like to be doing..No risk if a better job or their dream job comes along then Hop!

And as an employer myself I was tired of paying expensive recruitment fees and I thought that the ideal candidate is probably in a job somewhere and I have no way of making contact with them. If there was a place where i could see people that may be in jobs but if they were offered their dream job they would be enticed.

So Job Hop was born 2 years later! Yes it took that long!

Of course there will still be improvements to be made so please e mail any feedback as that would be very much appreciated.

We have only been live a few days and we have had one drama when the site crashed ! It took hours to be put right however I am told that if anything like that happens again it can now be fixed straight away. Perhaps that was a positive thing to happen early doors then, we all love a challenge don't we!