Tag Archives: job

Your Best Foot Forward

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Be the Best

Be the Best

When reviewing or re-doing your CV, stop and rethink it. You need to think of your CV as your representative on first look! Put your best foot forward with your CV.

  • Do not tweek your CV to the job, rather include the relevant details in each position you have held and that should speak for itself.
  • Pur your jobs in chronological order and not in terms of relevancy to the job you are applying for. i.e. in date order not your Nursing jobs first then your Medical Sales jobs.

It is easier to read a CV when put in chronological order. If your CV has all the relevant duties worked per job, then it will speak for itself and your best foot will be put forward to potential employers.

So rethink when revising your CV – simply make sure all the details are up to date and it will speak for itself!

Format your CV

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Tidy it Up

Tidy it Up

Please format your CV!

A few key points to note before sending your CV out:

  • Font – is it clear and concise
  • Font Size – trust me, 12 is big enough!
  • Bold/ Italics – Bold is best for titles, the rest in plain text. I find that Italics can be a bit hard on the eye
  • Use the tab button for spacing!
  •  Do not forget the dates, the company name and your job title

So whether you are a Nurse, a Medical Sales Rep, a Chief Medical Scientist or a Radiographer, it helps those reading it to format your CV!

Word is the Word

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Take the time to format your CV in an accessable format.

Take the time to format your CV in an accessable format.

Word is the word when applying for a job, particularly to a recruitment agency your opening shot is with your CV and the worst thing you can do is send a CV in a format that cannot be edited easily such as Pdf. Whats the difference I hear you say?

Well for a start  all CV’s received by agencies (and some direct hiring companies require CV’s to be presented in a particular fashion that  has to be done swiftly.

As the majority of  agencies use MS Office and in particular MS Word, it means having to convert CV’s to a completely different format. But that should’nt take long you say. You’re absolutely right but tell that to the recruiter who is under pressure and has a hundred CV’s to review before lunch and edit those of use.

If you send your CV in PDF or other format, it will remain most likely untouched and unconsidered at the bottom of the electronic documents submission list. What would you prefer?

Take time about your CV but the simplest thing you can do is send it in the most easily accessable format that can be read, re formated and read by OCR (Optical Character  Recognition) technology used by most recruitment databases for data capture.

Give yourself at least a fighting chance for your next job.

A New Order

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Back to the Brain Drain of the Eighties

Back to the Brain Drain of the Eighties

A New Order seems to have decended on the Irish employment front with salaries being one of the most obvious signs that things have changed in Ireland and that the Celtic Tiger is becoming more and more of a distant memory.

The New Order today for job applicants requires greater flexibility in taking on job roles that require increased duties for in most cases salaries as much as 15 to 20% less than previously paid less than  two years ago and job descriptions that have expanded responsibilities which would have previously merited increased pay but now are considered mandatory and simply part of the job.

Additionally we see greater flexibility demanded of candidates required to take work further and further away from home requiring longer commutes and in some cases having to be transferred overseas to sister offices whilst the current economic conditions prevails.

Job seekers should consider this as temporary however as these were similar conditions some of our earlier readers may remember existed in the eighties when emigration was the order of the day. But that order changed too and then came the boom of the mid nineties bringing us to the recent present.

The key point to remember is things do change no matter how bleak or omnipresent that they can appear. Our current downturn will change but it requires willingness to accept change to current or previous existing terms and flexibility to continue working in order to survive the harsh conditions we must go through today to meet the eventual upturn of tomorrow.

It pays to be nice!

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Take the time to listen and to talk

Take the time to listen and to talk

It pays to be nice! Simple manners go a long way when dealing with people you meet in recruitment. How often have you found yourself in a situation where you helped a person not seeking a reward but for the simple pleasure of  being nice or to help a person out of a difficult situation. Being nice pays! This might appear disingenuous but in recruitment potential and opportunity are closely relatives and a good recruiter nevers wastes an opportunity to be nice.

In the Irish recruitment industry, recruiters meet many people and often its the little things that count or lead to success-such as taking the time to talk to candidates. Perhaps you dont have a job for them today but the time you take to talk with them can be all some people are looking for. Some people may simply be looking for help or guidance about their career prospects, feedback on their CV or a little direction.

Because of our intimate market knowledge it doesnt take much to helpfully point a candidate in the right direction or to steer them out of a potential dead end career. So if we can we take that time to talk and we help when we can.

So- whats in it for you? Why bother? Why waste valuable recruiting time talking to people when you need to spend that time making placements and securing your job I hear you say? Well, for one, a candidate can be a candidate today but they can also potentially be a client tomorrow. They can  potentially introduce you to friends or colleagues who may be able to help you with your requirement or be the ideal candidate you need tomorrow -or in quite a few circumstances, be the husband, wife, brother or sister, of a client you have been trying to do business with for months.

Always remember be nice to people, its good for its own reason and it will make you feel better but more importantly remember- it’s too small a world to be nasty to people. The wheel will turn and you never know who knows who or who will be in a position to either hire you in your next job or give you your next break-its in your best interest.

Fail to Prepare-Prepare to Fail

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Prepare to win the interview and thejob

Prepare to win the interview and the job

A maxim oft quoted in management texts and tutorials which is as succinct as it is true to life.  It is a consideration that all those attending an interview must keep at the forefront of their mind whether they are applying for a technician or senior manager’s role. The applicant must at all times be aware that the purpose of the interview is not an opportunity for a chat- it’s to get the job!

Preparation then involves at the very least consideration of your appearance followed swiftly by transport, communication and research; – all of which will boost your confidence and improve your state of mind when the big day comes.

Ensure you are dressed for the interview; another maxim well known and often forgotten is dress to impress. Today as time is short and applicants are plenty, always be aware that you will have one chance to make a good impression and you must appear to be at least as professional as your appearance.

Dressing casually will signal to the interviewer you are neither serious about the role on offer, or the interviewer who has decided to give you valuable time out of their day to meet and interview you.  A poor first impression immediately drops you down the competition ladder. Take time over your appearance and if possible have a dry run the night before, check shoes are polished, shirts, blouses and suits are clean and pressed, ready for immediate use in the morning. You’ll be grateful you did when you see the opposition sitting across from you in reception in a crumpled suit or at worse, a T- Shirt.

Getting to the interview is as important as the interview and its worth checking your car is fuelled and at reduced risk of failing on the motorway twenty minutes from your interviewer.

Phone numbers are vital; always make sure you have your recruiter and interviewer’s telephone contact numbers- main switch and mobile. In deference to the interviewee, your interviewer may have their phone switched off and may not know you are frantically trying to tell them you cant reach them.

Research should similarly not be underestimated or undervalued as part of your preparation. Read the company website, call for extra information, flyers, and magazines, and ask to speak to the press officer if they have one. The better informed you are, the keener you will appear and the more informed your questions will be. Employers want keen employees- lack of knowledge in the age of the internet can only be interpreted as lack of interest.

For further information, please visit our advice center.

R&D at UCD

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R&D

R&D

The preeminence of R&D at UCD is very much in evidence and globally renown. Despite the shortcomings of the current government and its recent track record on the economy, its long term investment  strategy in relation to R&D appears to be on target. €14.8m is being invested over the next five years in the Systems Biology Ireland Research Centre and will be centered at the UCD campus, already home to NIBRT, (National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training).

It is hoped that this will make Ireland a leader in the consolidation of computing, maths and biology and will further enhance Ireland’s attractiveness as a site of  foreign direct investment for the future as this state of the art computing center will considerably promote Ireland as a significant R&D center of expertise and scientific research in addition to being a major scientific contributor in the fight against cancer and various other life threatening medical conditions

Adding  to the attractiveness of  NIBRT’s direct industrial applications and capabilities potential, the consolidation of computer modeling and study of biological systems offers a similar appeal to R&D clients. Collectively these  will present considerable marketing advantages for Ireland as a center for foreign direct investment and offers enhanced potential  for collaborative projects which can only improve Ireland’s already excellent reputation for world class scientific and engineering professionalism. 

For more news on developments and employment opportunities in science and technolgy in Ireland, please visit our news and jobs pages

Grab your job with both hands!

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Keep your job!

Keep your job!

Hi guys,

We are getting calls every day currently from people who are trying to change jobs or change career and our advice right now as employment is so insecure, whatever job you have right now, grab it with both hands!

This is not the time to change career direction unless of course redundancy is becoming a risk and you have to upskill or change career direction.

Alot of Sales people are trying to get in to Medical or Pharmaceutical Sales and this is proving more difficult without a Medical/Science qualification and Medical Sales experience.

We hear of redundancies being made every day and for these people we can offer little advice or encouragement as the economy dictates this situation.

Alot of people are turning to college and up skilling which seems to be having a positive effect.

However, if your current job is secure, do not look to change anything as it may not be the best job you ever had, but now is not the time to do anything about it as in a new Company, your will be the last in and therefore the first out as the Redundancy cloud looms.

In a nutshell, whatever your current job is, if it is secure, grab it with both hands.

The time for change will come when the market turns for the better.