Okay, so the first part of this blog post title doesn’t exactly have a direct link to what I’m about to talk about, but hey, that is one creepy film with a very good title worthy of a blog post!

The hidden job market - not as scary as Michelle Pfieffer's character in What Lies Beneath...

But horror film endorsements aside (disclaimer: I don’t actually like horror films, in fact I could just about get through half an episode of the X-Files without wimping out totally), there is another layer to the job hunting process that surprisingly, a lot of jobseekers have yet to catch on to. This layer is called the hidden (or invisible) job market and it’s what lies beneath the surface of advertised jobs.

The hidden job market is very real – in fact, I have firsthand experience of this as this route is how I came to be in the new role I spoke about in my last post.

Statistics have it that as much as 60% of jobs (some calculate much more) are never actually advertised. Couple that with the fact that the few jobs that do make it to the newspaper pages and online job sites attract so much competition that even the best candidate would really struggle to shine, and you can see why it is necessary to go “underground” in your job search.

So what is the hidden job market and why the big mystery?

Put very simply, the hidden job market is made up of the jobs you don’t see but are there all the same. These are jobs held by recruitment agencies, jobs that are filled in-house, jobs delegated to headhunters, jobs obtained over cups of coffees or pints of beer, and jobs that weren’t there before but suddenly appear following the right speculative application.

There are many reasons for the existence of the hidden job market – some of these (as listed in the highly recommended book, Successful Job Hunting in a Week), include:

• the high cost of advertising with no guarantees of success for the employer;
  

  Too many applicants in the visible job market is a real turn-off for under-resourced employers

• the lack of resources and expertise to handle responses to the adverts (this can be overwhelming as in the case of the business owner who found himself faced with 400 applications for one secretarial position in his small firm!);
• employers in a hurry to fill posts quicker than the lengthy process of advertising and shortlisting candidates.

Small and medium-sized businesses in particular tend to shun the visible job market the most due to limited recruitment budgets, but even big players too can benefit from saving a penny or two from bypassing the traditional recruitment process so if you haven’t already tapped into the hidden market in your job search, here are five ways to get started.

Five ways to tap into the hidden job market

1)   Mine your existing contacts

Job hunting is hard work but you can make it a little bit easier by getting other people involved. Mine your contacts – tell your friends, family, neighbours, ex-colleagues etc that you’re looking for a job and ask if they know of any openings in their work place or anywhere else. Even if this doesn’t yield immediate results, the fact that you’ve told people what you’re looking for (the more specific you are, the better) means that you now have extra pairs of eyes and ears open and switched on to find that right job for you.

2)   Network to build new contacts

Build relationships with new people by networking online or, better still, face-to-face at events (more on networking here). The more people you have in your network, the better your chances of succeeding in the hidden job market.

3)   Make yourself available online

Networking on and offline is a great way to tap into the hidden job market

If you haven’t already set yourself up with a professional LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profile, now’s the time to do so! By making yourself available online, you open the door for recruiters and headhunters to approach you directly. You can further enhance this prospect by joining relevant groups for your industry on LinkedIn and following relevant people and conversations on Twitter. Be careful not to “hard sell” though as this can be very off-putting!

4)   Apply speculatively

Make a list of companies you want to work for, drilling it right down to the specific department if it’s a large organisation. Do your research to find out the relevant person responsible for recruitment in your chosen area and send in a well-written CV and cover letter explaining why you’re interested in working for the organisation and, most importantly, what you have to offer. Make sure you get a specific name and a contact number so you can follow up your email or letter afterwards.

5)   Join a recruitment agency

As I explained in my last post, recruitment agencies are your friend so take advantage of the helping hand they offer to help you tap into the hidden job market.

So there you have it – what lies beneath the visible job market really isn’t that scary after all, is it?

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Related articles

• 10 key job hunting lessons I’ve learnt from going back to work (mildredtalabi.com)
• BOOK REVIEW: Successful Job Hunting in a Week (mildredtalabi.com)
• Get A Job Using The Hidden Job Market (Forbes.com)

A few months ago I made the decision to go back to work. My book 7 Keys to a Winning CV had been written and published, my CV writing business had been established, I had gotten into a flow with my weekly blogging on careers, and every so often the invites would come in to speak or run a CV workshop at a university or employment event.

I needed a new challenge, to engage with real (as opposed to virtual) people once more on a day-to-day basis, and I felt going back to work was the solution.

So I was excited about the opportunity ahead of me and confident that all I needed to do was blow the dust off my well-written CV, submit it to one or two jobs of my choice, ace the interview, and then the next chapter of my life would begin smoothly and effortlessly.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!!!

In the next six weeks that followed, little did I know I was about to be subjected to a divinely orchestrated crash course on the state of the job market and how to really go about getting jobs.

I’m pleased to say I did succeed in landing a perfect job and I’m excited to be a part of the organisation I’ve just joined (all will be revealed later!). But in the process I came away with 10 key lessons about job hunting that I want to pass on to you with the hope that it will help you get a better perspective on your job hunting and eventually lead to your own happily ever after in your work life.

The ten lessons

Lesson #1: The harsh reality of the visible job market

Don't let the doom and gloom of newspaper headlines drive you to Jeremy Kyle!

Despite my journalism background (or perhaps because of it), I would be the first to tell you to not believe everything you read in the papers.

In fact, if you pay attention to the constant bombardment of headlines about the rising unemployment figures, lack of jobs available and so on, you may get so discouraged that you will feel you have no other choice but to curl up on your sofa and watch back-to-back episodes of Jeremy Kyle on daytime TV– all day, every day.

While the papers are prone to sensationalism, the truth is the job market really has changed – a LOT! The competition in the visible job market (jobs that are advertised) is very real therefore where with your experience, skills and qualifications you may have previously been a stand out candidate for the role you want, you now have to compete with at least 69 other people who have the same experience, skills and qualifications!

This can understandably be very disheartening so it’s important to make use of ALL job hunting channels you have available to maximise your chances (e.g. recruitment agencies, social media, word of mouth etc) and remember to not take it personal.

Lesson #2: Job hunting is hard work

Job hunting is work in itself, and hard work at that. If you are serious about finding a job, you must get serious about putting in the hard work required to get your CV up to scratch, craft a bespoke cover letter for every job you apply for, or write a compelling application form supporting statement.

Job hunting is hard work - you need to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in

Job hunting also takes time – in fact, it eats up time, so set aside enough hours in a day for the purpose of searching job adverts, registering with online job sites, updating your social media profiles (more on this later) and of course actually applying for suitable jobs. I’d recommend at least 2-3 hours a day if you’re full time job hunting.

Lesson #3: The more targeted your job search, the better

When I first embarked on my job hunt, my primary concern was to find a job that was within my interests (after all, there’s no point working in a dead-end miserable role is there?) so my search was from anything from PR and marketing to project management, communications and editorial.

I quickly realised that this was too broad a field and therefore very time consuming so I went back to the drawing board, re-evaluated my goals and narrowed the scope right down to just two key areas – communications and editorial. This helped me to focus my job search and meant that I could direct my time and energy to where it was likely to yield the most results.

Lesson #4: Only apply for jobs you’ve got skills for and experience in

Leading on from the previous point, you are far more likely to succeed in your applications – in the visible job market – where you have the necessary skills and experience for the role.

Switching lanes? The visible job market may not be your best option if you're a career changer

The competition is so fierce at this level that there really is no need for an employer to take the risk with a candidate who doesn’t have the necessary skills and experience where there are at least twenty others in the same pile who do.

If you’re thinking of switching lanes and entering a new career, your best bet to get a foot in the door is to avoid the visible job market altogether and go for other methods of job hunting.

Lesson #5: Remove any conflicting messages from your CV

Your CV should be communicating one message and one message alone – anything that conflicts the central message should be removed to avoid confusing the employer about your intents.

So if, for example, it’s a medical sales job you want, you really don’t need to be going into detail about that multiple level marketing enterprise you run on the side – save that information for another CV.

Lesson #6: A second pair of eyes is priceless*

I advise people about CVs 24/7 so you can imagine how confident I felt in creating my own CV. But it wasn’t until I got someone else, a professional recruiter, to cast their eyes over my CV (for the first time in over five years) that I realised just how priceless a second pair of eyes is!

Employing a professional eye to look over your CV can make all the difference in your job search

The recruiter pointed out elements of my CV that would have hindered my job search, such as the conflicting message I mentioned above. I found out that my entrepreneurial achievements, as great as they were, were actually obstacles to my employment ambitions therefore that was a conflicting message I had to resolve before handing out my CV once more.

If you’re not having much success with your job search so far or you want to start off on the right foot, I would whole-heartedly recommend that you get a second pair of eyes to look over it – a professional pair of eyes could make all the difference.

Lesson #7: Don’t forget your social media profile

Increasingly employers and recruiters are “googling” potential candidates and checking out their social media profiles to get a better idea of who they are, and of course, to see if there are any unsavoury details that can affect your performance in the role.

With this in mind, make sure your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and, particularly, your LinkedIn profiles are consistent across the board and in line with your job hunting aims. Just like your actual CV, you also need to get rid of any conflicting messages and photographic evidence you wouldn’t be happy for your employer to stumble across.

Lesson #8: Recruitment agencies are your friends

I don’t mean this literally but when it comes to tapping into the invisible job market, recruitment agencies are your friends. Some employers do not publicly advertise jobs, rather they prefer to put it through to a reputable recruitment agency and leave them the work of finding the right candidates to interview.

The key to recruitment agencies being your allies is to sign up (this doesn’t have to be face-to-face, many are happy with online applications only) with ones that are directly relevant to the types of jobs you are interested in and have the right skills and experience for. A quick way to find out which ones are right for you is to do a web search for your field and location, for example, “media recruitment agencies London”.

Recruitment agencies are your friends - the key is to find and join the right agencies

Individually visit all the sites that show up on the first page (you can do the second and third page too if you like) and check their latest vacancies to see if there are any jobs similar to what you are looking for. If there are, then that’s a good sign that they may have something for you when you sign up.

I would recommend signing up with at least three different agencies then you can sit back and relax (only a little, you still have your own work to do!), while they get to work on your behalf.

Lesson #9:  Employers are not mean, they’re overwhelmed

I hear a lot of jobseekers complain about employers not getting back to them after they’ve taken the time out to submit their CV or application form for a job. The truth is, employers don’t get back to you not because they’re mean and want you to suffer the uncertainty of not knowing, but because they’re overwhelmed – overwhelmed with more applicants than they’ve ever had to deal with and, in most cases, under-resourced with the staff and time to get back to every applicant.

The only time you should expect a call back or acknowledgement from an employer is after you’ve been for an interview. Other than that, as much as it hurts, just give it two weeks after the closing date and if you haven’t heard anything, cut your losses and move on.

Lesson #10: Don’t stop growing

One of the things I was glad about on returning to work was the fact that I had grown as a person and in my skill set from the last time I was in employment. This meant that I had a lot more to give and therefore had a lot more choices open to me in the world of work.

Even if you’re not actively looking for work, it’s important to keep on training, adding new skills to your repertoire and refining your existing skills to mastery level. Gone are the days where you just get paid to come to work, these days employers are looking for people who will add value to their organisation therefore the more skills you can bring to the table, the more employable you are so don’t stop growing.

So, can you relate…?

If you’re job hunting now and you can relate to any of the above, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to share your story in the comments box below…

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Related articles

• Guide to Job hunting – What Recruiters can and cant do for you (cathrich.wordpress.com)
• Does ‘Ready, Fire!, Aim’ Describe Your Job Search Approach? (personalbrandingblog.com)
• How to Toot Your Own Horn on the Job Search (conduitsourcing.wordpress.com)

Last week I read an interesting article on Business Insider titled, “What Recruiters Look At During The 6 Seconds They Spend On Your Resume”. This article has been circulating on the social media front for a little while so if you haven’t yet seen it, it’s probably because a) you don’t follow me on Twitter, or b) you haven’t joined my 7 Keys to a Winning CV Facebook page. But not to worry, you can catch up on the link at the end of the article.

Now about six months ago I wrote an article for Guardian Careers on how to grab an employer’s attention in 30 seconds. As short as it is, 30 seconds has long been the average accepted time it takes for an employer to scan your CV to make an instant decision on whether or not you’re a valid candidate for the role. According to this new Insider article however, 30 seconds is soooo…well, last year – SIX is the new thirty!

As Science would have it…

This revelation follows a rather scientific research whereby 30 recruiters were subjected to “eye-tracking” over a ten-week period which recorded and analysed where and how long they focused on CVs. The “where” is shown in this heat map below, and the “how long” worked out to an average of six seconds.

How recruiters scan your CV in six seconds: This heat map shows recruiters' eye movements when looking at a CV for the first time - the one on the right got more attention for it's clearer layout (source: TheLadders)

What this means for your CV (six key areas)

If you’re a jobseeker you would be forgiven for being a little alarmed right now, after all six seconds is barely long enough to decide which leftover to have for dinner let alone make a life-altering decision about someone’s career.

But don’t despair – while there is not much you can do about the length of time recorded, the study revealed six key areas the recruiters looked at during these few seconds, so if you focus on getting these right you may well be able to earn yourself a longer audience with your potential boss.

Area number 1: Your name

This is a seemingly obvious one to start with but yet many jobseekers neglect to give their names that all-important prime positioning at the top of the page, choosing instead to write the word “CV” or “Curriculum Vitae”. As I’ve talked about this previously in 5 sure signs you need a CV makeover, we can move swiftly on to the next point.

Take a leaf out of Eminem's book - make sure the employer knows your name!

One thing to mention however, is to bear in mind that these days employers are quite likely to hop on to Google (or another search engine, of course) to check you out online, so make sure your LinkedIn, Facebook and the rest are professional and up to date.

Area number 2: Your current job

Your current job listing gives your potential employer an indication of your present status (i.e. whether you’re employed or unemployed, and if the former how much notice would be required before you can start, should you get the job), and also allows them to speculate on why you might be interested in the advertised role.

If your current or most recent job is along the lines of the one you’re applying for then you’re okay; if not, or if you’re a career changer, you may struggle to win the six second battle here and unfortunately there’s not much you can do about this, short of changing your job title (which is deception and could get you the sack later so don’t bother).

Area number 3: Company details

Who you’ve worked for in the past is just as important as what you’ve done in these precious six seconds. Employers generally scan for well-known companies to give them a frame of reference for the type of candidate you are and the quality, skills or organisational culture you are likely to bring into their own company.

If you've worked for any "name brand" employers, be sure to make it clear on your CV

“Name brands” can act as an A-star reference on your CV; this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be penalised for not having worked for household names in your industry (at least, not by the average straight-thinking employer), but if you do happen to have some name brands under your belt, don’t be shy about it – make sure the information is clearly displayed on your CV to pass that six seconds test (you can read more about this in 7 Keys to a Winning CV).

Area number 4: Previous job roles

Similar to your current job, employers like to see some kind of correlation between your work history and the job you’ve applied for, just to make sure you’re not wasting their time with an irrelevant CV. If you are a career changer, given more time, you can redress the six second balance in other sections of your CV by writing a strong introduction (i.e. Personal Profile/Statement), highlighting all the relevant transferable skills you have in your Key Skills section, and of course including any unpaid work experience you may have gained in your desired area.

Be sure to list your results and achievements from previous roles as opposed to mere ‘duties and responsibilities’. If you’ve achieved anything remarkable in any of your roles (such as exceeding a sales target), highlight this in a separate “Significant Achievements” section to boost your chance of making that all-important great first impression.

Area number 5: Start and end dates

Your job start and end dates reveal your length of experience in a particular field, but also – and perhaps more importantly – your level of commitment to work in general. Too many jobs in a short space of time generally sounds off warning bells of a potential job hopper and no reasonable employer wants to waste time recruiting and training someone who will only jump ship a few months down the line.

Of course these days it’s more common to change jobs perhaps once or twice every three years or so and employers are aware of this, however be sure to explain any prolonged job hopping derived from agency, contract or freelance work by simply stating the relevant term in brackets after you’ve listed the job title.

The employer sometimes wants to know if you have the right qualifications for the job...

Area number 6: Education

Finally, the education scan is to see whether you have the right qualification for the role. Admittedly, this area doesn’t play as a big a part in non-specialist jobs as the other five areas so there’s not much to worry about here.

If you are going for a specialist role (such as in IT or teaching) where particular qualifications have been listed as essential or desirable on the selection criteria, make sure you highlight your relevant certificates in the Education section, but also mention it in your personal profile for that quick-hitting final impact.

So there you have it – six areas of your CV you can improve on straight away to give yourself a better chance of passing the first hurdle to the job you want. Does this help? Let me know in the comments box…

Oh, and here’s the link to the Business Insider article.

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So you’ve decided to cut costs (or corners) by giving yourself a CV makeover instead of hiring a CV expert to get the job done?

Well, this isn’t necessarily a bad idea……..IF you know what you’re doing!

Making the effort to review your CV each time you apply for a job is very good practice, but before you hit the send button on that CV, here are 10 questions you must ask yourself to make sure you’ve covered all the grounds:

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Let’s be honest, when you come across offers, promotions and anything of that nature that promises you the ability to do something, gain something or lose something in some dramatically short time – say, a week – often you can’t help but raise that one sceptical eyebrow as to the truth of it all and whether it can really deliver what is promised on the tin.

So you can imagine what state my eyebrows were in when I received a review copy of Successful Job Hunting in a Week – a new strand of the Teach Yourself series, published by Hodder Education. This book and the others in the “in a week” series promises to teach you “in a week what experts learn in a lifetime”, and so the structure of the book is based around seven daily ‘learn and apply’ chapters.

Job hunting – a full time job!

If you’ve ever had to look for a job at any point you’ll know that this is a full time job all by itself. There’s the time spent researching the market for the right jobs, the time putting together a winning CV, cover letter or application form, the agonising time waiting and hoping for that letter or email that invites you to the interview, and then of course there’s the time of disappointment of losing out on a job and having to start all over again with the whole process.

No, job hunting is certainly not for the faint-hearted so even though the market is already saturated with hundreds and thousands of books on the subject, there is always room for one more which can potentially help to make the process easier. Successful Job Hunting in a Week is one such resource – the great thing about this book is that it guides you through the whole process step by step, starting with an understanding of today’s job market on day one, right through to tactics for attacking the visible and invisible job market, and concluding with weighing up job offers as they come in (just because you get an offer doesn’t mean you have to take it).

The invisible job market

The chapter on attacking the invisible job market is definitely worth paying close attention to (in fact, this subject has got to be a future blog post) – the shocking truth, which most jobseekers are unaware of, is that MOST jobs are “invisible”, i.e. unadvertised via the traditional routes of newspaper, internet or trade ads. The authors (recruitment specialists Patricia Scudamore and Hilton Catt) estimate that this invisible market accounts for around 90% of the job market so this is definitely not something you can afford to ignore as a jobseeker.

At 128 pages and less than 20,000 words, Successful Job Hunting in a Week is a quick, effective and practical guide for the serious jobseeker – and it’s affordable too at £6.99. If you follow the book’s advice closely, by the end of the week you should be a lot closer to landing that job you want, or at the very least, having a clear mental picture of what it is you want and the tools to go about getting it. Highly recommended.

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To reference or not to reference, that is the question many jobseekers ask when it comes to their CVs.

Unfortunately most then decide to reference and along with writing the words “CV” or “Curriculum Vitae” on your…well, CV, this is one sure sign your job search is in need of a makeover.

Providing actual references on your CV – as in full names and contact details of former employers and the likes who can vouch for your credentials – is bad practice. Not just because it takes up precious CV space, but more so because it is pointless – absolutely pointless. In fact, I’m seriously shocked that some career advisors and “helpful” online job sites still reel out this antiquated advice.

“References available on request”

Equally pointless is writing the phrase “references available on request”. Let’s think about it rationally: imagine you’re an employer with piles of applications to go through to find that one candidate; do you really care whether or not Jane of John Doe has references if they’re miles away from what you’re looking for in a future employee? The answer is of course, “No!”

Very few employers actually want to see your references unless they’re getting ready to make you a job offer, and even then, this usually happens at the interview stage or beyond. If you’re completing an application form (and these are different beasts altogether), by all means include your full blown references, but on your CV, ditch all references to references (yes, pun intended).

What you should really be putting at the end of your CV is your interests and activities. And then that’s it…nothing else…CV finished.

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Interviews can be one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in the job search process. In fact, some interviews can be intimidating for jobseekers, particularly where you have a panel of two, three or more interviewers looking on at you from the other side of the table.

But one of the hardest parts of the interview is that end part where the interviewer throws the ball in your court and asks, “So, do you have any questions for me?”

Asking the right question at your interview can help to build confidence on both sides of the table

To remain silent at this point could literally cost you the job so you have to be ready and prepared with one question you can ask (although aim for much more than one – three’s a good number).

Questions give you a real chance to shine as a candidate and set yourself apart from the competition. They demonstrate your interest in the job and the organisation; they allow you to engage in further conversation with the interviewer and thus build rapport, and, depending on the quality of your questions, they give the interviewer further insight into the depth of your knowledge and your level of intelligence concerning the field.

Essentially your questions help the interviewer make the final assessment on how suitable you are for the role and whether or not you would be a good fit for the organisation.

The number one question

Now many books, career advisers and internet sites will give you a whole range of questions to ask at this point, from “Tell me more about your company” to “How soon can I start?”, but this week I heard a jobseeker ask a fantastic question at an interview – in fact, this question may well be the number one question to ask in your job interview before you part ways with the interviewer.

The young man who used this question was successful in not just landing the job at hand, but also bagging with it a £5.5k pay increase from his previous salary. His question was simple but potent – it allowed him to demonstrate his interest in the job and his eagerness to please, but most of all, it obligated his interviewers to give him an on-the-spot assessment of his performance which would be invaluable feedback moving forward, had he been unsuccessful in this role.

Here’s the question he asked:

“Based on my CV and what you have learnt of me so far in this interview, is there anything in my background that may cause you to feel that I’m not suitable for this job in any way?”

This question can also be asked in several ways, including: “Do you have any concerns that I need to clear up in order to be the top candidate?” or “Do you have any questions or concerns about my ability to perform this job?”

A good interview question may land you the job

At this point the young man received great feedback from all three interviewers about his abilities, with no objections at all raised about his suitability for the role. Sure enough, the phone call came that same afternoon to confirm he had the job.

Why did this question work?

Many jobseekers shy away from using this question because they feel that it works against them – “Surely, you shouldn’t be asking your potential employer to tell you what’s wrong with you, should you?”

As anyone in sales can tell you, inviting objections is a good thing because objections usually occur when a prospect is close to being “sold to”; in fact, you could say that objections are the final line of defence in a sales transaction. In the same way, asking your interviewer to raise their objections or concerns about you not only portrays the admirable trait of confidence on your part, it also gives you a chance to address these objections directly by pointing out some relevant skill, experience or strength you may have that may not have been discussed at any other point in the interview.

On the other hand, you may find there are no objections or concerns at all which can be a good indication that you’re a strong candidate for the role. Either way, you won’t know unless you ask so go right ahead and take the risk to ask this question at your next interview – maybe you too will walk away with the job and a pay rise!

Your turn: I’d love to hear your experience of interview questions that have worked well for you as a jobseeker, or candidate questions that have impressed you as a recruiter. Drop me a comment below…

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Let’s be honest, you really hate doing your CV, don’t you? You can probably think of 101 more pleasurable things you’d rather be doing with your time than staring at your PC trying to figure out whether your education needs to go before your career history or vice versa.

With 2.67 million unemployed, unemployment is now at its highest ever

Well, my reluctant jobseeking friend, in case you haven’t heard, unemployment rate is at its highest ever (2.67 million unemployed to be exact) which means that the competition for jobs is tough, very tough. For every job advertised, you’re now looking at an average of 69 other applicants vying for the same position as you. This means that if you’re going to have any chance of getting the job you want (or any job for that matter), you’re going to need a winning CV as your ally.

How do you know if your CV cuts the mustard? Very simple – if you can identify with one or more of the signs below, your CV needs a makeover – and fast!

5 sure signs you need a CV makeover

1) You have the words “CV” or “Curriculum Vitae” at the very top of your CV

Please be assured that the average intelligent employer knows a CV when they see one so you can safely remove these meaningless words with no consequences. A far better alternative is to write your name and surname at the top of your CV in big bold letters (I recommend a font size in the 20s) – if there’s one thing you want the employer to remember after reading your CV, it has got to be your name.

2) You’re still using the Times New Roman font

When computers were little more than slightly complicated versions of the typewriter, Times New Roman was the “in” font, alongside Arial. Whereas the latter is still hanging on by its last legs, Times New Roman has long passed its sell by date when it comes to CVs.

Times New Roman has long passed its CV sell by date

Using Times New Roman immediately dates your CV by about 10 years – it doesn’t matter how recently you may have updated it, handing in a CV typed out in Times New Roman screams, “Hey, this lazy one hasn’t even bothered to send in an updated CV!” and you can imagine which HR bin your CV will be quickly joining with this damnation.

These days you can get access to dozens of clean, clear, modern fonts in your standard Microsoft Word package (such as Verdana, Calibri or Tahoma) so you really have no excuse to still be stuck in the Times New Roman time warp.

3) You’ve included every single job you’ve ever done this side of the planet

I’ve come across countless CVs from jobseekers who take the “Career History” section so literally that they bore the employer to death by including every job they’ve ever had in their working life!

One of the vital 7 keys to a winning CV is to be very specific and targeted – this means deciding which industry you want to work in and tailoring your CV to match the necessary requirements of this industry and this industry alone. This affects everything on your CV – from the way you word your introduction (Personal Profile) to the skills you decide to display and the jobs you need to include.

The general rule of thumb is that the more you advance in your career, the less the earlier stuff matters, particularly where it is no longer relevant to your current career path. Getting rid of the dead wood also saves you precious space on your CV which you can use to highlight more of your good points.

4) You have full details of your GCSE subjects and grades received

It really isn't necessary to list all your GCSE subjects and grades when you're a mature jobseeker

If you’re under 21, fresh out of college or university and with not much experience under your belt to get started in the world of work, it’s okay to include your GCSE subjects and results on your CV – after all, there’s not much else to write about, is there?

But if you’ve been working for a while and you still mention the fact that you got a ‘C+’ for Religious Studies on your CV, it’s time to let go of the past. There are core GCSE subjects, such as Maths and English, that are important requirements for certain jobs, but if you really must list these, it’s better to put a summary sentence such as “9 GCSE A-C grades, including Maths and English” than to list every single one of your subjects and grades. This is even more important where you’ve since gone on to obtain far more advanced qualifications and training in your field.

5) You’ve been handing out your CV for months but still no interviews

This one goes without saying – if you’ve been actively job hunting for a period of time and you’re getting no results, it’s time to get a CV makeover. Yes, there is a chance that your CV may not be the culprit and something else may be to blame, however do you really want to take the risk of not knowing for sure? A far better strategy – which will also restore your job hunting confidence – would be to eliminate the potential that your CV could be the thing letting you down which would free you to then focus all your efforts on landing that dream job.

WIN A CV MAKEOVER!!!

To mark the launch of CV Makeover Expert, one lucky jobseeker will have the chance to win a CV makeover – worth £150 - EVERY month!

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If you haven’t heard about the Topshop “Shakespere” blunder by now, you nearly missed a valuable lesson on the importance of spelling and grammar.

"Shakespere" or "Shakespeare"? Topshop gets it horribly wrong...

Here’s what happened: Topshop, the clothing giant, commissioned a design company to produce a William Shakespeare-inspired women’s t-shirt. After what we can only imagine was a lengthy creative process, they came up with the ingenious idea of recreating the famous lines, “Romeo Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” on a t-shirt in fancy calligraphy. So far so good…

…and then the blunder

The famous quote was signed by “Shakespere”, not “Shakespeare” and the £20 t-shirts proceeded to go on sale online and across UK stores bearing the grave misspelling – cue lots of online mockery from shoppers, a swift recalling of t-shirts and plenty of red faces at Topshop HQ.

Topshop’s failure to proofread cost them time, probably millions in reprint and lost revenue, and resulted in a very public brand humiliation.

4 out of 10 applicants rejected

Spelling and grammar mistakes are generally not a good look for anyone but for jobseekers, committing these blunders on your CV, cover letter or job application form could be the very thing that costs you the interview – approximately 4 out of 10 job applications are rejected due to bad spelling and grammar.

It’s very important that you proofread your application thoroughly before hitting that send button – if in doubt, get a friend (with proven grammar skills) to look over it, or better still, hire a professional to put together your CV, cover letter or application form for you (there’s no better place to look than right here ).

15 common grammar mistakes

In the meantime, here’s a great infographic on 15 common grammar mistakes you want to avoid at all costs – whether in your job application or elsewhere (courtesy of the brilliant online writing site, Copyblogger):

Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.

For more useful keys on creating a CV that gets interviews, pick up a copy of 7 Keys to a Winning CV: How to create a CV that gets results on Amazon and all good bookshops.

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I tried very hard to keep out of the work experience debate that’s been raging over the past few months as a result of the Government’s controversial Workfare scheme that (up until the u-turn last week) required young jobseekers to carry out “voluntary” work experience or face losing some of their benefit allowance.

Unpaid work experience - exploitation or necessary career advancement?

I was doing quite well until I read a great article in The Telegraph by Sainsbury’s Chief Executive Justin King, which was titled, “Don’t let work experience debate destroy its real value” – someone talking some sense at last!!!

Yes, there are “evil” employers out there who have nothing better to do than exploit the work experience system and the “poor, helpless youngsters” caught in its trap, however despite all that, I believe there is much value to be found in working “for free” – in fact, I attribute much of my career success to date to having done so many work experience placements when I was starting out (I wrote an article for The Guardian about this, back in 2005 at the peak of my internships).

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of free labour when you’re aged 16-24 and trying to carve out a career path for yourself, but if you still need convincing, here are five reasons why I think youngsters should roll up their sleeves and dive right in to the world of work – unpaid:

So what do you think? Are you convinced working for free can be a good thing or is it just plain old exploitation in sheep clothing…?

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