Job hunting in a recession

This is not my most favourite task and I am sure that it is not yours either. When I started looking for work I bemoaned the task on twitter whereby two different people responded to me. One saying: “you need to look at these big web sites such as monster, Irish jobs and recruit Ireland”. And the other saying “don’t look at those sites it is all about who you know and networking”. So who the hell was right?  For me – neither was right. 

Then of course you hear the advice from people saying “the jobs are out there, you just got to be fast and get in there at the right time”   Ah hell! How can quick can I be?

My advice to anyone looking for a job right now in this tough economy is to try all angles and don’t leave any stone unturned when you are looking.  I have written down a few key points for you to follow when you are job hunting in a recession.  These are tips and pointers that have worked for me recently. 

Know what job you are looking for. 

This sounds a bit obvious doesn’t it?  But if you are not sure what exact job you want, how will whoever reads your C.V know that too.  So you have just finished a job where you were mostly doing administration and secretarial work.  But you want to move a step higher or in to the same area.  You need to define your skills and figure out the answers to some questions.  

Are you someone that is more secretarial and administration? Are you an office manager? Or, are you an operations manager.    

Think about these jobs mentioned, they all fall under the same hat in my opinion in one way or another.  You could have experience to complete all jobs in this list.  But if you are going for the Operations Manager position, you don’t want your C.V to look like the secretary position.   

Remember that you want your C.V to be targeted for the specific job you are going for. So make sure you know what you want from a job and then think about what the employer is looking for.

Target your C.V to the job you want.

So you are looking for a secretary position so that you can get working as soon as possible, but ultimately you want to be an office manager.   This means that you will need two C.Vs – this means two different job profiles and descriptions.  Remember both jobs are different, and will require different qualifications and experience so you need to ensure you that your C.V meets these.

My recommendation at this point is to look at job descriptions of jobs that are already out there on the internet.  Take a look at those buzz words in the description and try to work them in to your C.V.

You need to make sure that the person reading your CV knows that you can do the job.  Most important make sure you can do those jobs and have examples of when you completed the tasks for when you are asked at the interview stage.

Take a look at this picture to help branding yourself on your CV.

 

Large Websites

There are many jobs websites out there for example Irish Jobs, recruit Ireland etc.  Be careful when using these sites. I found that sometimes when a job was advertised on these websites, if you went to the actually company whether it is a recruitment agency or the actual company, the job was no longer available or it was initially published months ago.  So whilst it is great to use these – use your head too and make sure you are applying for jobs that are still active and not dead in the water from months ago.

The one thing about using these websites is that it expands your own knowledge of recruitment agencies out there. It also allows you to connect with many recruitment personnel who may be able to help you in future.  My one advice on these websites is to be careful.

Target companies in your area

Have you ever thought “oh I would love to work for X company?”  Then isn’t now the perfect time to try.  Look at their website, is there a careers section? Take a look at it and see what information is available. Can you sign up for notifications on vacancies?  If not, save it to your favourites and visit it once a week to check out if anything is available.   

Networking

Networking is important; making those connections that can help you will stand to you in the longer term.   But if like me you find it hard to ask people you worked with for favours than something like linked in is perfect for you.  Linked in connect you with people that you work or have worked with.   It is basically an electronic version of your CV, whereby people can also write a review about working with you and endorse your credentials.   But as it is real time, when you change job or are unemployed you can put the call out subtly to your contacts for help – without actually asking.  Hopefully someone will notice you are looking and maybe be able to help.  Remember any dealings that you have in a work or recruitment capacity, make sure you follow up with a linked in connection.  This will make your network bigger and allow you to make connections further afield than your own company.     There are pitfalls to linked in so make sure you don’t connect with your boss and than broadcast out that you are looking for another job! Big mistake. 

It is worth looking at other methods of job searching as well such as twitter.  Again remember to use correctly as the person reading it could be your future employer.

 

Internships

Internships are currently being supported by the Irish Government as a way of getting people back in to the work place.  Whilst I wasn’t initially a fan of these preferring to see them more as cheap labour than someone actually getting experience.  Being out of work for some time now has made me realise that maybe an internship isn’t so bad after all.  If I get out and get back that reason for getting up in the morning – even if it is for crap money – isn’t it better than sitting on my ass watching it get bigger and bigger.  You bet it is.  So please don’t rule out the fact that an internship will help you get back to work, get yourself respect back and most importantly ensure that your CV doesn’t have a big hole that you really don’t want to have to explain.   Consider it! It may just work for you.

While I understand that job searching isn’t easy in a recession I also understand that a few little steps as discussed will make things that little bit easier for you.  So remember these steps and put every effort in to them.

1.       Know what job you are looking for.

2.       Target your C.V to the job you want.

3.       Large Websites

4.       Target companies in your area

5.       Networking

6.       Internships

What worked or working for you?

S

 

Networking to build your career

Your CV is ready – but how do you go about finding that ever elusive job!   Networking is a very important aspect to looking for a new job and getting to know the right people.

Networking is having conversation with people who you know can help you with information about other people they know in order to seek the following:

• Advice,
• Ideas,
• Connections,
• Information,
• Support.

Remember that old saying “its not what you know its’ who you know” that sums up networking perfectly.

There are 5 simple steps that will help produce positive networking results for you.

1. Build your network - Know who you can talk too that will get you places.
2. Prepare your story – i.e always use the truth and never lie.
3. Prepare and practice to build confidence in talking to theirs.
4. Make calls – make appointments
5. Develop a tracking system.

Has anyone any particularly good or bad experiences around networking? Leave them in comment section of this blog.

S

My Finances - Where the hell do I start?

This is something that everyone wants to do – but sometimes just doesn’t get quite around to sorting it out.  Read this article and take some time this week and look at it. It really is easy and not as stressful as you might think.  Trust me all your need is a spreadsheet and some envelopes! Yes it is that simple..... read on for more information.

Finances are hard thing to look at.   Sometimes we are all going from week to week in the hope that we get by.  Others we are determined to save and then we dip in to the savings.  It is so hard to try and start anywhere to organise your finances.  Whether you have a debt that needs to be paid off or you are just saving for that rainy day or upcoming events.

Over the years of trying to save my money I have come up with some ways which have been of use to me.   I am going to share these with you and I hope that you will find them beneficial.

Reviewing your monthly / weekly spend

Look at your weekly / monthly wage.  Review your money, where is it going, is it being wasted away on unnecessary items or is it going to worthy causes i.e food.    Perhaps you can make a budget spreadsheet.  Don’t reinvent the wheel take a look at Microsoft Word templates or I can send you mine if you are interested in it.

If at the end of the above task you are still unsure where the hell your money is going – download an app for your phone which will allow you to track each purchase in to a category as you buy it.  Don’t cheat it – you are only cheating yourself.

Where is your money going ?

Once you have established where your money is going – you can determine how much needs to go where.   Remember there are only a few items which are a necessity to your everyday life and these are:

Rent / Mortgage,

Utilities,

Child related expenses ( kids clubs, schools etc)

Loans / repayments

Food,

Car expenses, i.e petrol,

Then you have annual expenses,

Health Insurance

Car service,

School Fees,

If you can think of anything else add it to the above list as appropriate.    Next – put each of the above in a column of a spreadsheet and then mark the relevant month/weekly out.  So your spreadsheet will look like this. ( I get paid monthly )

	Jan-12	Feb-12	Mar-12	Apr-12	Etc
Wages	1200	1200	1200	1200
Rent / Mortgage,	250	250	250	250
Cable TV	150	150	150	150
Gas	50	50	50	50
Electric	50	50	50	50
Child related expenses	0	0	0	0
Loans / repayments	50	50	50	50
Food,	400	400	400	400
Car expenses, i.e petrol,	150	150	150	150
Total Required Per Month	1100.00	1100.00	1100.00	1100.00
Remaining each month	100	100	100	100

Ok so now you have broken down your expenses every month as the required expenses.  You may have more or your may have less – but notice you put your wages amount in the top row, list all your expenses, and minus from your wages total, you will get the amount you absolutely require each month.   Some expenses may vary and leave you with month left over. I will discuss that later.

Savings

You will notice under the required amount, there is a small section which shows the money that is surplus to your own requirements – immediately set up a bank account and arrange for that amount to be taken from your wages each month directly in to your savings account.

If you don’t have a savings account, set up one.  Take a look around at what has the best rates and how you can access this money – make sure it is an instant access unless you really want to see a return on your money.   With instant access to your cash, this means that if it is needed urgently you can access it no problem at all.  Take a look at your bank options, and other banks – look at credit unions and post office – what ever will work best for you is the one to go for but definitely research.

Paying bills

Dependent on how you pay your bills, it may online or a post office.   Get that money out straight away – pay your cable tv bill early so you don’t have to worry about it – same goes for gas and electric.  Why wait until the due date as you may end up forgetting about it and getting charged a late payment.  Keep an eye on these bills regularly as you may find that you have over paid and be able to leave a payment go for one month – whoo hoo extra money.

 

For others such as groceries and car expenses – take the money out of the bank and divide it in to envelopes with the title of what it is required for clearly marked.  So you will have envelope for car expenses with 150 in it, you will have an envelope for groceries.  Now, the important thing to remember is that once this money is gone.... it is gone.  You can’t rob money from one and put it in the other.    If at the end of the month you discover that hey I didn’t spend 150 on groceries this month – take that money out and do one of two things with it.

Put it straight in to your savings account, so you are building a nice little nest egg for those annual expenses or take some of it and buy a bottle of wine as a treat or put it towards a new top or dress that you have been looking at.

Annual Expenses

With your annual expenses, I would recommend sitting down now and discovering how much money you actually need to pay these expenses.  My health Insurance is over 1200euro annually so I have to budget to ensure that I have this money ready and available to me by August each year.  With this in mind, in my own monthly spreadsheet I have a column specifically for that – so I know each month how much goes in to this savings fund for that.  Any extra cash that I have left over at the end of each month goes in to my holiday savings account so that I have cash to spend when on holiday, or even enough to pay for my holiday.    I love my holidays each year so I have a column whereby I put a small amount away each month to pay for a  holiday.

People have different methods of what works for them – and the above really is only the basics that will get you started and thinking about budgeting and financial planning.

Financial budgeting and planning doesn’t need to be hard or stressful but you just need to start it and set your goals.  Set out what your monthly expenditure actually is – set out your annual expenses.

What works best for you with your budgeting and saving – leave a comment and share with other readers.

S

Linky Love - Posts I have loved & adored this week

Take a look at some of the posts that I have really enjoyed this week.

Why not make someone feel special - by The Simply Luxurious life

My Job search formula by Classy Career Girl

Blooger Look of the week comes from Sterling Style

 Celeb Look of the week - its got to be Kate ( again sorry ! )

Fashion Friday – Career Wear – what to wear to an interview.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words regarding my post on creating the perfect CV.  Some of you have asked the next all important question – what do you wear to an interview?

If you don’t have the right outfit on to an interview, you could lose the job without even saying one single word.   If you don’t take pride in your appearance on that one day – how can someone interviewing you have confidence that you will take pride in your work?  It is that simple. 

Men : So for men it is always easy – you can’t go wrong with a business suit. Black is just a tad too formal and very much like you are attending a funeral rather than a job interview so maybe go for a dark grey colour.   

Make sure your socks match – and are not white – yes men you heard me.  The only place to see white on a man is a nice crisp white shirt.   

A nice tie to compliment the suit and voila the man is now dressed for an interview.

Ladies:  it is always hardest for us.   A suit is perfect whether it is skirt or pants suit.  But please make sure your skirt is not too short – too short and you could be interviewing for the wrong job.   

Picking the right colour is not as hard as you think – go for a business colour, such as black, brown or grey.  Never go with the current fashion trend when it comes to interviews unless your job requires such as  thing.  If you do wear a skirt and are wearing tights – bring an extra pair – just in case.

If you are wearing a shirt or blouse – wearing a long sleeve blouse is most professional as it will help convey a professional look.   Dresses are fine for an interview, but be careful not too be too dressy or even too casual.

When it comes to accessories and an interview less is more. Limit the amount of jewellery that you are wearing.  Avoid over using perfume  - too much can knock someone out.  But also, and something most people don’t think about – the person interviewing you could be allergic to your perfume.  I am this person, I sneeze at everything so watch out.  Closed shoes and make sure your heels are not too high.

Take your time to pick out the perfect outfit. Take time and don’t leave it until the last minute.

The Rules are simple and can be summarised like this

Men

• Wear a suit – dark blue / grey work best.  Black is too formal.
• Nice crisp white shirt
• Tie that compliments that your suit – should be long enough to go to your belt.
• Shiny Shoes
• No white socks – go for a block colour e.g black or grey.  Patterns can be a little too stand out.

Women

• If you wear a skirt – make sure it is below your knee
• Long Sleeve blouse portrays more professionalism.
• Basic colours work best  - black, grey or navy. 
• Avoid on trend items unless appropriate to the job you are applying for.
• Bring extra tights / pantyhose just in case
• Don’t over accessorize,
• Not too much perfume,
• Not too much make up. 

 I hope that you have enjoyed this edition of Fashion Friday meets Career Day - if you have any feedback feel free to email me or leave a comment.

S