Tag: Job Search

What will your referees say about you?

Majella Laws

phone-2127_640The days of written references are gone and referees need to be carefully considered and chosen.  They also need to be individuals who are easily contactable by modern means.

In choosing suitable individuals to list as your referees, answers to the following two questions are essential.

  1. What makes a good referee
  2. And secondly, how can you make your referee’s job easier and more effective?

Before answering these questions important ground rules and details relating to referees need to be thought about.

  1. Never list a person on your resume as a referee unless you have sought their agreement to the role.
  2. Make sure you have a minimum of two referees with a number of additional people if possible to draw from.
  3. You will need the name, current role and employer, (previous role and employer as well if that is where they supervised you), their email address and the contact telephone numbers of their choice.  Make sure all details are kept up to date and correct if they have been on your resume for a while.

Now to the first question, what makes a good referee?

  1. They need to be someone who has supervised you, preferably in your current role, but if you don’t want your existing employer to know you are looking for another job, your immediate supervisor in your previous role.
  2. Use different referees for different job applications so that the best individual will speak to the specifics of the job you are applying for.
  3. If you are a school leaver approach your careers teacher or a supervisor where you undertook work experience.
  4. If you have been self employed and consequently don’t have supervisors who can assume the role of referee, look to your business associates who can speak to your work or characteristics, for example your business accountant, bank manager, a supplier or a satisfied repeat customer.
  5. The best referee will answer a resounding ‘Yes!’ without hesitation when asked the 64 million dollar question, ‘would you re-employ (insert your name here)?’ If you have any doubts they would answer with a resounding yes, use a different referee.

Secondly, how can you make your referee’s job easier and more effective?

  1. Speak to your referees about what you are doing, provide them with copies of the advertisements and position descriptions of the jobs you are applying for.
  2. Have a conversation with your referee and remind them how what you do or previously did, are connected to the job you are applying for.

And finally, in answer to the question of whether or not you should list your referees on your resume; there is no definitive answer.  Personally, I come down on the side of making the recruiter’s job easier and so I list referees on resumes unless otherwise indicated.

Over to you now, what do you think your referees will say about you, have you considered and addressed all aspects relevant to the role of a referee?  Are you making the most of this element of your job application?

The Hidden Job Market

Majella Laws

hand-68952_640Depending upon who you listen to, it is commonly stated that about 80% of all jobs are filled word of mouth.  Imagine that for a moment …….. 80% of all jobs are never advertised.  Whether the statistic is accurate or not and while it raises questions about how these figures were arrived at, most recruiters acknowledge the existence of the hidden job market and can cite evidence of its existence.

So who are your contacts in this hidden job market?  The simple answer is they are your personal network which can include family and friends; friends of friends, current and former work colleagues, or even people in a church, sporting or interest group you might belong to. When asking people how they got their job, often you hear a comment like “I heard about it through a friend” or “someone I used to work with told me about it” or “I played golf with someone the other day who was talking about it.”

It is not uncommon to see resistance in people when you talk about this hidden job market, as they often feel uncomfortable about asking those closest to them if they know anyone who is looking for a worker. Some of the reasons for this include feeling embarrassed, a sense of failure, thinking that people will look down on them or that they can’t get a job on their own. It is worth remembering at this point just how many jobs are filled through word of mouth; it is far, far more common than you think. So try it, you might be surprised at the result and a little bit of embarrassment might be a small price to pay.

Then there is online networking, but that’s a whole other article!

6 Tips for School Leavers Looking for Work

Majella Laws

If you are about to leave school and you need to find work, these 6 tips will help.

  1. When the school year is finished and you’ve had a good holiday then your job will be to get a job.  That’s right, treat finding a job as though it is a job.  Allocate set hours each day to your job search, be consistent and follow up.
  2. Have your resume and portfolio developed by a professional; they have the knowhow.
  3. Make sure your mobile phone has message bank, a professional message and that you have plenty of credit all the time; who knows who might be calling.
  4. If your email address is a bit out there or unprofessional, either change it, or get another email address just to be used for your job search and check it daily.
  5. Google your name and clean up your social media, employers are watching.
  6. Check out your wardrobe for interview clothes, beg and borrow from family and friends, don’t get caught short.