Candidate Tips

First impressions count. An employers first impression of your suitability as a candidate starts from the moment that the employer reviews your CV. There are some simple tips that you can follow to ensure that your CV makes a good first impression, highlights relevant information and looks presentable to a future employer.

KEEP IT CONCISE – Your CV is a synopsis of your career history, skills, and key achievements. It should serve to highlight the most important aspects of your career history and draw attention to which skills or attributes you possess that would differentiate you from other candidates.

KEEP IT RELEVANT – A potential employer is looking at your CV to assess whether your experience and skills are aligned with a particular role. A CV that has been tailored to a particular role or employer will stand out clearly in comparison to a generic and broad CV.

SIMPLE PRESENTATION – A well formatted and presentable CV allows relevant and important information to be highlighted and stand out on the CV. Break up your CV with bullet points, bold headings or underlining to bring the employers attention to your skills and strengths as a candidate.

The interview is a significant and important stage of the recruitment process. This is the candidate’s opportunity to make a positive impression on the employer and ensure that questions regarding skills, experience and suitability for the position are answered to a standard that exceeds the employer’s expectations. Ensuring that you are well prepared for an interview is essential in ensuring you perform to the best of your abilities and outshine other candidates.

Prior to an interview

• Research the employer and understand their business
• Review the job description and requirements for the role
• Research the interviewer(s) and their role within the organisation
• Prepare for general and role specific questions that are likely to be asked during the interview
• Prepare questions for the interviewer regarding the role, the organisation, career development, training & development etc
• Confirm the time and location of the interview
• Have a contact number for your consultant or the interviewer in case of an emergency

On the day of an interview

• Arrive early for the interview or prepare to dial into a virtual interview in good time
• Project confidence – smile and speak clearly and concisely
• Listen carefully and reply to the questions that you are asked with a good level of detail and examples to support your answers where applicable
• Use your career experience and achievements to answer questions honestly and provide real life examples
• Ask the interviewer the questions that you prepared in advance and show a genuine interest in the role and the organisation
• Conclude the interview by asking the interviewer about next steps and thank them for their time

 After the interview

• Provide feedback to your consultant on the interview and raise any follow up questions
• Once the client has provided feedback to the consultant, discuss this with the consultant and understand any next steps
• Review feedback for next steps in the process or for future interviews

Your online and social media presence can often be the first thing that a potential employer or recruiter sees. It is essential that your social media presence reflects your professional and personal brand as this could significantly improve your status and give you an advantage over other candidates.

It is important to bear in mind that all social media profiles that you have could be considered part of your brand and that any information that is made available through your social media channels may be taken into consideration by a potential employer.

LinkedIn is widely regarded as the leading professional networking tool and was built to help people develop their career. This is a perfect platform to showcase your skills, expertise, and prowess as a candidate. Just having a LinkedIn profile however isn’t enough, you will need to be engaged and active with the industry and wider network to maximise your exposure and accessibility to recruiters and potential employers.

Here are some tips on how you can make yourself more visible and maximise your networking capabilities to the industry:

1. Post ideas and be a thought leader
   Creating, sharing, and discussing relevant industry topics or updates is a great way to interact with your industry peers and increase your visibility. Be sure to post content that is of interest to your network and interact with people through your post’s comments section.
2. Connect with people
   One of the main features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect and expand your network to individuals outside your immediate circle of contacts and into the wider industry. This allows you to access new information, new contacts and importantly new opportunities that might not otherwise have presented themselves to you.
3. Join groups
   Networking or industry specific groups provide the opportunity for you to communicate with smaller and more specific groups of individuals that have a shared interest or area of expertise. Most groups are specific to industries or interests, join ones that are relevant to you and your experience.
4. Follow companies and people
   By following companies or industry leaders, you will receive regular updates on their content and activities. Companies or hiring managers may post jobs or interesting updates that could align with your professional aspirations. Interacting with these posts or communicating directly with the author will significantly increase your presence and give you a natural advantage over the competition.