All things recruitment and careers, for candidates, recruiters and hiring managers
Monday, 6 December 2010
Recruitment Solutions
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Recruitment Skills
Recruitment skills are both very specialised in in high demand - as such it is sometimes worth the organisation's time and money to outsource these recruitment skills to companies that offer recruitment solutions.
Recruitment solutions can either be granular to the level of only being limited to search and selection, or at other times recruitment solutions can encompass all the recruitment skills required by a business. From the recruitment skills required for drawing up a job specifications all the way to those recruitment skills or HR skills required to plan and execute a redundancy strategy for your business.
Skills Connect have the recruitment skills and the recruitment solutions required for your business to take care of all your recruitment needs.
Monday, 22 November 2010
I Want A Job!
The solution?
Here is an action plan to make some changes in your life!
Update your skills: If you truly have little or no skills, then it is time to get skilled. If you are currently unemployed, is any work better than no work? If you said yes, then you can get away with on the job training and even look at an apprenticeship or internship. If this is not for you then you may want to pursue the route of acquiring skills via the formal or informal routes. Either by getting hold of good quality training material or attending some good training cources.
Sell yourself: What do you do better than other people out there? What makes you think you can do the job better than someone else? If you become despondent at these questions because you really do not think you have what it takes, then maybe you don't (see step one above). Alternatively, if you know some one that is excessively annoying in the sense that they always describe the mundane with utmost gusto, you may learn from such a person. Think of the last mundane thing that such a person has described and try and use that as an analogy to a single capability you possess. Maybe you can actually approach that person and ask them to describe your skills and abilities and see what they turn you into! Likely someone you do not recognise.
Take Action: Set yourself a plan and get it going. As the saying goes, "don get angry, get even!" Set yourself some goals that will help you get to the job you always wanted and stop procrastinating. Whether it is to obtain new skills, update your CV or just to go out there and and go get that job, just thinking about it is not going to get it done!
Please share your experiences below.
Sainsbury's is to create more jobs
According to a recent article by UKPA, Sainsbury's is to create 500 jobs in the next year, due to expansion plans in the next 12 months
The UKPA article also reports that Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury's customer service director, said: "I am thrilled to be able to announce the creation of these new jobs on our counters and cafes, particularly in the current economic climate.
In the company's interim results on 10 November 2010, they had the following statement about
their commitment to their employees and the Job Market.
"Sainsbury's invests considerable resources in training and development. In May, we opened our Bakery College, an industry first, to ensure 1,500 bakery colleagues are able to deliver great quality fresh products to our customers. We continue to expand and improve our apprenticeships and so far this year we have recruited nearly 200 new apprentices across our bakery, meat and fish schemes. This is in addition to over 2,000 new jobs we have created in the first half and the 14,000 seasonal jobs we will be recruiting for Christmas. Our graduate scheme remains one of the most highly regarded and sought after in the industry. This year we have over 100 opportunities for graduates and students to work with us in a variety of different positions across the business. We recently became the first food retailer to be awarded a gold accreditation from 'Investors in People'. The award recognises our commitment to improve our business through investment in our colleagues. "
No doubt that their new training initiatives will enable skills transfer internally as well as into the community and have a positive impact on society and the job market as a whole.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Paddy Power to create 1440 new Jobs
Overview:
Now before we all get too excited about this news, we need to keep in mind the following:
- These Jobs will be created over the next 2 - 3 years
- These Jobs are spread across 3 countries
- There were only about 150 - 160 jobs listed on their job board at the time that this statement was made.
How these jobs will be split:
In a further press release it was announced that 500 jobs will be based in Ireland, with 375 of these jobs in Tallaght on the outskirts of Dublin - 86 of these positions being open at the time of the announcement. 810 jobs are said to be based in the UK and the remaining 139 jobs going to Autralia.
From the Interim Management Statement:
Commenting on the results Patrick Kennedy, Chief Executive, Paddy Power plc, said:
"The strong growth in Group profitability in the first six months has continued into the second half,
with a particularly strong performance in our international online businesses and UK Retail activities.
We are also continuing to invest in our scale and capabilities to position the Group well for 2011 and
beyond in its existing and potential future markets. In this context, we are also today announcing the
creation of 1,440 new jobs in Ireland, the UK and Australia, to be in place by December 2013.”
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Get your CV jacked up
The first thing you need to do is get your CV ready. Your CV is such an important part of getting that job you always wanted that it cannot be over emphasised just how important a CV or Resume is when you are looking for a Job.
So what is a CV or Resume?
A CV or Resume is probably the most important document that you will be producing in your search for a new job. Your CV or Resume can make or break your search for a job. Your CV or resume can also create lots of unwanted attention from recruiters if it is not correctly representing your skills and abilities, especially from those recruiters that only look at their system results from a database scan without actually reading your CV or Resume.
Physically, a CV or Resume is a document that states your education, work experience and abilities in a form that should be clear, sensible and easy to read.
What to include in a CV or Resume?
This varies vastly depending on your location and what is fashionable at the time. In the UK certainly it is for instance no longer fashionable to include your photo in your CV or Resume unless you are applying for a role as a model or actor etc. in which case you will have an entire portfolio. Personal details are usually kept to a minimum. Only provide what the job application requires. Any information that can be discriminated against and that is not a specific requirement for the role, should be left off the CV or Resume. These include age, race, gender, religion etc.
It is advisable to structure your CV or Resume in a manner in which the reader can easily navigate through the sections.
The CV or Resume should contain you personal details such as name and contact details.
Your CV or Resume should also contain your skills and educational details. Lastly it is important that your CV or Resume contains a brief record of your work experience. This should usually be listed in reverse cholonological order. That means that your CV or Resume should have your most recent Job first and then the previous job and so on. It may be difficult to get this right, but given enough practice, you may eventually get it right.
How long should your CV or Resume be?
In the UK it should not be too long. As a rule of thumb you should be able to fit it into a standard letter envelope without too much fuss and carnage. Ten pages is too long for most people's CV or Resume. Aim for under 5 pages or chances are that your CV or Resume will end up in the bin. Those of you who can justify a CV or Resume that is 10 pages or longer no longer need to worry about writing CVs as you are probably a high profile public figure who has your CV or Resume written and published by others.
Does Spelling really matter on my CV or Resume?
Only if you really want to be placed in a job or vacancy that you are applying for! If you are into wasting all your time and effort and sometimes not even getting a reply, then fire away like a daemon. All jokes aside, do your spell-check on your CV or Resume. You will probably send it electronically which means, unless it is in PDF format, the reader is likely to get little red wavy lines under each word that his or her word processor does not recognise. Seeing red is bad in most people's books but on your CV or Resume it may just be fatal for that job vacancy you are applying for.
There are indeed places you can go to get your CV or Resume checked before you send it off in response to a job application - but be warned, it may take a few days for the whole process so if you need to get that CV or Resume out in a hurry - get it checked out in advance.
If you know of any other good resources for CV or Resume advice or if you just want to leave a comment - please do so below.