Recent research, by major online job boards, such as Jobsite, Monster and Reed, showed that a sizable proportion of CVs contain a number of obvious mistakes.

When you consider that a role will frequently have well over 70 applicants, and as such a recruitment consultant can only spend up to a minute assessing your details, it shows how essential it is to double check everything.

Some of the most frequent CV mistakes we have encountered within Jenrick Commercial are highlighted below. We would urge you to spend a couple of minutes referencing them against your current CV:

Spelling and grammar
Over 20% of CVs have obvious and multiple spelling mistakes. A spellcheck on a PC is a good start, but please check it yourself - or, even better, have someone with fresh eyes look through it.

Concise and to the point
You have a limited window of opportunity, so keep it to the point and ensure your core messages come across with strength - and do not make your CV too long.

Lack of tailoring
Each employer is looking for a CV and cover letter that applies to their role and as all roles are different, you should make small adaptations so that it matches their specific requirements. Show that you understand what it is they want you to do. (more…)

We just received a report from Personnel Today regarding additional information on how the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) will affect UK employers.

The report was compiled by Linda Goldman and Joan Lewisand will provide some useful additions to the information already available.

Please click on the link below to read the full online report:

• How the Agency Workers Regulations affect employers

Source: personneltoday.co.uk

Click on the following links for more UK job market news or to gain job hunting tips and advice if you are thinking about moving jobs.

The Jenrick Recruitment Group is an award-winning multi-sector recruitment agency that has been helping people develop their careers since 1967.

In today’s challenging job market, securing employment is more important than ever.  We found this recent article regarding the importance of a firm handshake during the interview process.

Developing a firm handshake is a vital to landing a new job, according to new research.

Experts say unemployed people often miss-out on landing a new position because they make a bad impression with the commonplace ritual.

And a study found that one in five people suffer from a ‘limp fish’ grip which means they are downgraded or dismissed in the first five seconds by interviewers.

In a survey of 2000 people nearly 20 per cent admitted they judge people instantly on the quality of their handshake.

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“It’s the angle your nose meets the wind” - that was the answer I was given by the US naval pilot, Curt, who answered my question ‘what does the word attitude really mean?’

The famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said:

“My altitude depends more on my attitude than my aptitude’ and that phrase has stuck with me since I first heard it about 10 years ago.  How far you go, how successful you are at something, how high you reach up whichever ladder you might be climbing, depends more on how you approach it than how skilled you are.  It’s your attitude that counts.

I’d always thought attitude was something that described a person and their general way of being, you’ve heard it so many times ‘Oh, he’s got a bad attitude’ and ‘You need to change your attitude’, ‘you’ve got the wrong attitude’ - you can hear it as an everyday phrase.  I hadn’t realized that there was a more powerful, useful meaning.  Words are like that, aren’t they, they’re often ‘just words’ until you get under them and into their meaning.

So it’s your angle of approach.  Think about it.  How you approach something; the angle your nose meets the wind as you approach it.

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The word ‘positioning’ is one that we hear a lot and that, when push-comes-to-shove, few people really are able to define.  I define positioning, in everyday language, as putting things in the right place for people.  In a place that’s useful for them and, at the same time, is useful and helpful for you.

If you think about positioning a picture at home, for example, you’re placing it where it’s accessible and can be seen, it looks good in the light and yet it fits with the décor of the room.  You think about the angles and you position it accordingly.  Positioning your skills, what they do and your value, it’s the same principle.

People need to understand what you’re going to be able to do for them, find a use for it in their world (not just in yours) and these 7 P words which will make positioning yourself, your skills and your value easy for you:

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Jenrick IT is privileged to be one of a select group of recruitment companies exhibiting at the DESi 2011 show, which opens today at ExCeL, London and is dubbed as “The World’s largest Arms and Defence Show.”

SC and DV Cleared Professionals are encouraged to visit the award-winning Recruitment Company at Stand N4-187 to receive up to date Security and Defence Career Advice, which reflects the current skill and experience requirements within the Security and Defence Sectors.

The career advice team at the show, led by Jenrick IT’s Managing Director, Philip Fanthom and Security Careers and Recruitment Specialist, Miriam Lee, added further comments on their role at the show:

“There is an incredible amount of opportunity available for SC and DV Cleared Professionals, especially those with an IT background, which is the area of careers that is our primary focus. However, due to the nature of this industry, people will be largely unaware of many of these job opportunities, which is a key reason we have made ourselves available at DSEi,” Fanthom explained.

Miriam Lee added, “the speed at which the market is evolving is incredible. {{Job hunting techniques of two years ago are now largely obsolete.}} This is one reason why I recorded the career advancement podcast; to highlight the current career strategies that individuals should implement.”

The Career Advancement Podcast for SC and DV Professionals, is just one of several exclusive career and job-hunting resources that are available to visitors of the DSEi Show.

In addition to gaining access to these resources, SC and DV Professionals will also be able to receive a one-on-one career clinic with a member of Jenrick IT’s experienced career advancement team.

If you wish to pre-book an appointment with one of the Jenrick IT team, please email dsei@jenrick.co.uk, or call the office on (01932) 245 500.

Think of any film you’ve seen that grabbed you.  What about a TV series you follow, or a book you read and re-read or share?  They’ll all have grabbed your attention and kept it with a story.

The story that’s threaded and woven throughout any attention-grabbing book or film is what we remember, long after the titles and credits.  Stories have the power to move us and make us act.

We all tell stories - to ourselves, to our friends and families and to our clients, customers and colleagues.  That phrase “so what’s the story on that?” - we want to know the story.

The facts are just that, basically a list of details or information.  The story is what makes the difference, how the facts are all pulled together and it sways people and if &nda sh; and how - they take on and accept your message.

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With businesses looking to cost cut where possible, there is decisions to be made over whether it is a good idea (or not) to implement ‘working from home’ schemes. This article may help business leaders make that decision.

It’s also not just cost, which is driving more companies down this route. The need for increased business hour coverage, increasing congestion and commuting costs, the need to be flexible to obtain the best talent - all of these factors (and more) are forcing companies to become more innovative and flexible in their approach to managing their teams. (more…)

With competition for the best talent ‘hotting’ up, Jenrick IT (Specialist IT Recruiter) is advising clients to review their interview strategy.

With this in mind, Jenrick is offering to run a number of seminars during the Autumn, aimed at advising clients on the best attraction strategies to utilise before, during and after interview.

Philip Fanthom (Managing Director of Jenrick IT), commented;

“Unfortunately, some clients are missing out on some top talent at interview stage. In the current market, there is an onus on the interviewer to impress the interviewee, as well as the other way round. Some interview techniques being employed are still very interrogation style and perhaps if the style was to change to a more inclusive collaborative style there would be a higher success rate.”

Examples of particularly tough interrogation style questions (a bit tongue in cheek) can be found in the article below, which was recently published by Forbes . . . .

A job interview at one of Google’s 75 campuses around the globe might seem to have more in common with pledging a secret fraternity than job-hunting. An often months-long interview process, iron-clad non-disclosure agreements and back-to-back hours of interrogation in windowless offices are a matter of course, but the added intrigue of allegedly absurd interview questions takes the experience into cloak-and-dagger territory. (more…)

That expression ‘talk is cheap’ is a powerful one.  The idea that words mean less than actions was the intention of this expression but in actual fact, talk can be expensive, it can be valuable, it can be discounted and it can also be cheap.  It depends on the words you use and the value you attach to yourself, your subject and the value you attach to what you do, as you talk about it.

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