Tips and advice

Ironically, the more successful you become in your career, the less practiced you become as an interviewee. This typically happens when your success has resulted in a number of internal promotions. Whilst internal assessments can be extremely challenging, they can be very different to an external hiring process.

It is essential therefore, if you are either an experienced professional or in the process of climbing the old proverbial career ladder, that you take stock of your position and invest some time to get fully prepared for what lies ahead.

Understanding the rules of engagement as a candidate in todays global employment market could be the difference between securing your ideal role and not, and we would urge all our candidates to digest our advice and prepare thoroughly.

CV construction
Even after the advent of web 2.0 your CV still remains one of the most important documents you will ever produce. However today it has to compete against publically available information, often published by ourselves, on social networking phenomina like MySpace, Linked-In and Facebook.

CVs and application forms therefore are no longer the only route to new employment. Employment can and will find us, either directly by employers or indirectly via recruitment / executive search firms. In effect what this means is, it is even more important than ever for your CV to be both accurate and reflective of you as an individual, because the picture you are painting can to some degree be verified.

Your CV remains a key tool in helping you to secure the initial interview, as well as acting as the predominant point of reference from which interview questions will be tailored. So to be effective your CV has to be well structured, concise, and provide an even more accurate reflection of your capability, experience and personality than in the past.

CV do's and don'ts

Do's

• Personal profile – An executive summary of you (your product)
• Keep concise, accurate, with consistent formatting in black typeface
• Provide most relevant information first
• Provide summary per role, key responsibilities and list ‘your' key achievements
• Consider SEO – Key word content in body text
• List relevant qualifications, training and professional memberships
• List all schools, colleges and universities (inc qualifications)
• List social / personal interests
• Make yourself easy to contact
• Keep length to under 2 pages (maximum 3 if necessary)

Don'ts

• Avoid humour and sarcasm
• Never remove roles from your CV (however short)
• Negative reasons for leaving previous role

Approach Letters
Leading organisations receive many approaches from individuals looking for work. So what differentiates you? Your letter.

A personalised covering letter will enable you to:

• Specify your particular interest in working for a particular company
• Draw new employers attention to relevant achievements that will be of benefit to their organisation

Remember employers receive high numbers of direct approaches, keep you letter clear and concise with a strong heading.

Assessment Centres
Assessment centres come in all shapes and sizes. The primary objective is to benchmark you against a number of candidates using a variety of assessment techniques. They can represent the most challenging and intimidating selection process you can face. You will be judged on how you perform against other candidates who all want the job as much as you do. Typical exercises are; in-tray exercises, role play, presentations and group discussions.

Ability Tests
When used in conjunction with other selection methods like an interview, ability tests are a powerful aid to ensure that new staff are competant to undertake the key tasks of their role. By using standardised measures to assess an individuals performance increases an employers chances of achieving a successful hire and improving overall trading efficiencies.

Numercial Reasoning / Apptitude
The term ‘numerical reasoning test' is often used interchangeably with ‘numerical ability test' and ‘numerical aptitude test'. There is no widely accepted definition of the difference between numerical ability and numerical aptitude and as far as psychometric tests are concerned the two terms are interchangeable. However the same does not apply to the term ‘numerical reasoning' which does have a specific meaning. The term ‘numerical reasoning test' should really only be used to describe a specific type of numerical test.

This is best explained as follows: there are basically two types of numerical questions that appear in psychometric tests. Speed questions are so easy that with unlimited time most people taking the test could answer them all successfully. However, the time allowed to complete the test is so short that even the most able person is not expected to finish. This means that the result depends on the number of correct answers made in the relatively short time allowed.

In contrast, a power test contains questions that vary in difficulty and no one is expected to get all of the answers correct even with unlimited time. In practice, a definite but ample time is set for power tests.

Even though there are literally hundreds of numerical ability tests available to employers, the questions used in these tests can be classified into four basic types: Numerical computation, numerical estimation, numerical reasoning and data interpretation.

• Numerical Speed Tests – Computation and Estimation
  Numerical computation and numerical estimation are ‘speed' questions. These questions involve basic arithmetic including: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, ratios, fractions and decimals. To score well on these questions you will need to be able to make quick and accurate calculations without using a calculator.
  
• Numerical Power Tests – Numerical Reasoning and Data Interpretation
  A numerical reasoning test is a power test rather than a speed test because the questions require you to interpret the information provided and then apply the appropriate logic to answer them. In other words, you need to work out how to get the answer, rather than just doing the necessary calculations.

Verbal Reasoning Tests
Verbal reasoning tests are designed to measure your ability to understand concepts framed in words, your ability to find commonalities among different concepts and to manipulate ideas on an abstract level. Most employers who use aptitude tests in the selection process will include a verbal reasoning test as there are very few careers which don't require the ability to understand, analyse and interpret written information.

Verbal Critical Reasoning
Verbal critical reasoning tests are used to find out how well you can assess verbal logic. They are usually in the form of a passage, or passages of prose, followed by a number of statements. Your task is to decide if the statements are "True", "False" or if you "Cannot tell" from the information provided. You are to assume that everything that is said in the passages is true.

Emotional Intellegence
Your emotional intelligence can be the biggest factor in your success at work and in your personal life. The term "emotional intelligence" was first used by the psychologists Salovey and Mayer in 1990. They defined it as "a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and action"

Psychometric Testing
More and more companies are using psychometric tests when making recruitment and promotion decisions. Investing time and energy in getting to grips with psychometric tests can supply the extra edge you need to succeed.

Personality Questionaires
Competition for good jobs is fierce. You need to know what employers are looking for and how your personality measures up to it. You can learn how to dramatically improve your score and frame your answers to get the job you want.

Interviewing
Interviews to this day are still won or lost off the back the first impressions. Many interviewers can not help themselves and spend a large percentage of the rest of the interview process trying to prove that their initial hunch either right or wrong.

It is also fair to say that many organisations are much better at assessing true competance and cultural fit, thanks to the great work of HR professionals.

So what does all this mean? Well you have to be prepared. Prepared to demonstrate that you have a clear appreciation of the requirements of the role. An understanding of whats expected from you at the various stages of the recruitment process, and how you believe your past experience will best lend itself to a particular firm.

Tips:

Pre - interview

• Conduct thorough research on the company
• Work on making a great first impression (including the receptionist)
• Establish core competancies / responsibilities for role
• Prepare examples from recent experience which demonstrate competance
• Prepare some powerful questions

Interview

• Take time to fully consider each question and stick to the question
• If you don't know say so. Don't dig yourself into a hole
• Allow your personality to shine through
• Show an active interest in the company, team and interviewer.

Post interview

• Send a follow up letter confirming interest post interview
• Never drop your guard until you have left the building.