How important is it to keep in touch with your key consultant?

A large majority of candidate's expectations are such that they think the recruitment agency is there to serve them, no matter who they are and what their skill set or background is and that every recruiter has every job in town. Well none of this is true. Recruiters exist to search out the cream of the crop, the best and brightest of candidates, as that is what their clients are paying them for. The truth is that many apply but few are chosen. The more you stay in touch, the better relationship we build together ensuring you are in the forefront when a suitable opportunity arises.

Given that agencies see so many job seekers, one of the most important things to do in the weeks after your interview is to stay in touch. Phone us regularly to touch base and to let us know you are still enthusiastic and available for work.

Job hunting is depressing work and it’s easy to get discouraged. The secret is to hang in there, to keep trying, to not give up. If you’ve done your preparation properly, constructed a great CV and honed your interview technique, the odds are that you’ll land a job eventually. And remember, there’s no law against registering with more than one employment agency.

Since we do not know when a client will call with an opening for someone with your skill set, we cannot guarantee how long it will take before a job is available. As long as your file is active, we will call you with positions that match your employment criteria and skills sets. It is your responsibility as a job seeker to stay in touch and review our job board regularly. First preference will be given to those who actively communicate with us. It’s a buyer’s market at the moment and you’re competing against an army of skilled candidates, all of them ready and willing to snatch that job opportunity away from you. You need to stand out.

How to convince a recruiter in a covering letter that you are the right person for the job?

The key to writing a great covering letter is to make sure it is tailored to the role. Don’t just think – “yes I am ideal for this role – they will read my cv and see that!” Never assume this, the responsibility for making the connection for the recruiter is yours.

Take your ad and highlight each and every skill or experience they are looking for. Then relate this to your personal work history – make the connections for the recruiter. If you find it difficult to put together words that flow easily together, use the bullet point method to highlight what you have to offer.

You should “queak” your cv to reflect the wish list outlined in the advertisement also, but make sure that everything you highlight as being relevant is real and authentic. Any good recruiter will easily catch you out in a phone, face to face interview or verbal reference check if you have been a little liberal with the truth!

What research should candidates undertake prior to an interview?

Candidates tend to underestimate the points they gain from undertaking research on a company before they go for an interview. With most companies having a website, a lot of candidates just go to the site but you can do so much more to enhance your chances of gaining the role:

1. Try and get some of their brochures and take these with you when you go to the interview. Make sure the client knows you have it with you, refer to it , ask questions – it indicates huge interest and can only do you good with the client.
2. If the role is in a call centre, ring up their 0800 number and pose as a customer. Don’t be afraid to let the client know you did this – action like this indicates a real interest in the vacancy.
3. Look in the hard copy yellow pages – you will see who their competitors are, how many branches they have, what they specialise in. You may not pick up this information from the internet as quickly or easily. Remember a full page ad in the yellow pages costs a lot of money.
4. Speak to people you know who are in the industry – amazing what scuttlebutt you can pick up on the grapevine.
5. If quite a high profile organisation, search news on google – you can search this on last day, week, month – so you look really informed of recent developments that may not have got to their website yet.
6. Check out if the organisation has a presence on facebook (www.facebook.com) or search the company function on www.linkedin.com and see who else works there.

All of this is a waste of time if you don’t let the client know what you know about them. Ask relevant questions and use any opportunity to let them know you have been researching them.

How has the Temp market shifted?

Feedback from one of our consultants:

What is your feeling about how temp employment has changed over the last 6 months?

I believe there are two fundamental reasons why the temp market has shifted over the last 6 months.

1.Businesses are trying to absorb absenteeism whether it be holidays or sickness by transferring additional responsibilities to other members of the team, if someone is away for an extended period of time i.e. anything over a few weeks then clients will then assess the situation as to whether or not a temporary resource will add value to the business or whether staff just work harder and smarter.

2.Businesses currently have been running lean for a number of years throughout the global recession so there has been an increase in temporary usage, businesses are now looking at strategic requirements and are now taking on permanent staff to define and secure specific roles, with this shift in the market temporary usage decreases and permanent requirements are increasing.