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How to Avoid Career Suicide in the Online World by Ruadhri McGarry
In the business of job hunting and recruiting, both parts of the process are relying on and using the internet, social media and blogosphere more than ever. This of course, is a natural business evolution. No problems there.However, more and more prospective employers are not only finding candidates and prospects online, but they are also making negative choices based on what any one individual may have posted on certain social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others.
If you are a jobseeker, I implore you to conduct a "vanity search" using your name in a search engine. Find out, if you, or anyone you know, has posted negative comments, or portrayed you in a bad light online. This can be fatal to a job search. Should you find anything negative before a prospective employer does, get it offline as soon as you can, and take steps to ensure nothing like that happens again.
If your CV is online, be it on LinkedIn, Monster or VisualCV.com, have a third party check it for you to make sure there are no glaring errors and that all of the information posted is correct.
Should you use a photograph or image to represent you on whatever media, ensure that it's "work safe", that it is not offensive to anyone and that again, a third party has approved it.
In Ireland recently, a candidate for a local council election found less than politically correct pictures of her from Facebook splashed across the national media. These pictures were in fact from a friend's page, not her own. This is a great example of how not managing your online brand can tarnish a reputation. (As it happens, this particular candidate was elected. Just.)
In the future, tomorrow's graduates, who are extremely switched on to media such as social networking, may find youthful misadventure coming back to haunt them if they are not made aware of the potential harm to a career that this can have.
In conclusion, it is vital that this element of risk assessment through "vanity searching" be performed regularly to maintain control of your online brand and avoid a potentially disastrous outcome.
Professional CV Advice - Ruadhri McGarry
Almost all employers have a short amount of time to make a decision on applicants, and often look for "why not" factors rather than "what ifs" when it comes to short listing, and also for better or worse, believe in the maxim that "past performance is the best indicator of future performance". The "Career Curve" is what employers want to see. They want to pick up a CV and see quickly that this person has added value at every point in their career, has made or saved money, has been promoted or has guaranteed solidity and reliability.
Basics
Make sure your personal details are on the CV and are correct. Don't go into too much detail on early education but ensure a career summary is included. First impressions count.
Career Curve
So what does this mean? Essentially you need to show that you have improved as an employee and as an asset to your past employers. In basic sales terms, you need to pay attention to features, not just benefits. You could say your car has a sunroof, but you need to say that because your car has a sunroof, your motoring experience is so much better because of better light, ventilation and so on!
If you can show that each career move has given more responsibility and allowed each employer to benefit more from you being there, that's half the battle.
Which font should I use?
A very simple issue that won't save your CV from the bin, but if you get it wrong, will guarantee it goes there and quickly. In our experience, Arial or Times are the best bet, followed by Tahoma and Verdana. These are "universal" fonts, everybody's eyes are used to them! If your trade is in the creative world, feel free to experiment, otherwise, play it safe.
Don't use something like Courier New or radical fonts. They will put off the reader. Finally on fonts, ensure that your font choice is consistent.
How long should my CV be?
Of course, how long is a piece of string? Ideally your CV should be two pages with a maximum of three. There are exceptions, but think of sitting in an interview with a hiring manager who has seven A4 sheets in front of her, never mind trying to navigate through it on a desktop. Whatever length you choose, you should NEVER have a job description bleeding onto the next page. Again, in the interview scenario, it can make things awkward.
Common CV Mistakes
Leaving out an email address - easy to do, but guarantees a waste of time for all concerned.
Spelling and grammar - would you employ someone who does not bother to use Spellcheck?
Equal priorities given to each work experience - a lot of CVs are organic documents. What was a big selling point ten years ago is less relevant now. Make sure that the further back you go in your CV, the less attention should be given to it.
Too much information - rewrite, amend and be ruthless with your CV. Make sure that there is no "padding" and that there is no redundant language. A good indicator to this is repetition of the expression "myself" believe it or not!
The new rules to IT Contract Jobhunting - Ruadhri McGarry
You are back on the market, your contract has not been renewed or has been terminated or you're unhappy in your current one.Whatever the reason, how can you make sure that you secure the best IT role that you can?
If you are sending your CV to an IT Recruiter, or to a busy Human Resources Department, or indeed if you're posting your CV to a jobsite or even uploading to your own site, you need to make sure that you'll be found.
You cannot guarantee that the person viewing your CV will recognise what's second nature to you, sometimes your CV will be in front of someone who's empowered but not qualified to say yes or no. So be careful with abbreviations. Remember, the first look may well be from a non technical person.
Keywords
To get around this you must be aware of keywords, in the same way that search engines rate webpages, you must play this game to win. Ensure you have all keywords on your CV. The best way around this is to have a skills matrix at the end of your CV, including all training you've done in any technology.
Irrespective of whether the searcher is an experienced Recruiter, a junior Human Resources Administrator, or the IT Director of a small company searching online, applying keyword techniques to your document will get it found.
Value Adds
If you can think like the hiring manager, you'll have to ensure that once your CV is found, it stands out. Can you demonstrate all "value adds" that you've brought to all of your positions? If you just list facts of what you have done and where, it can be boring. If you can say that your work enabled a quicker time to launch for a given product, you finished the job of work on time and under budget, that's value and ultimately a cost saving.
Also recommended is that you use a Word document rather than an Adobe PDF. PDFs print better but it's an image and tricky to search. Most recruitment machinery, agency or inhouse is based on keyword searching using Word. Also use Rich Text Formatting as this will help with keeping any formatting you've done.
Mirroring your potential employer's ad or company typeface can be a small but useful trick too.
Who to send it to?
Ask around? Who is employing contractors in this market? Use your personal network or professional networking sites to establish who the hiring managers are. Do you know who the best IT Contract recruiters are? Who's placed you in the past? Are they working with the same company now they were then? Whatever process you use... track everything. If you're not sure where your CV has gone, then you'll be in trouble, you'll double apply (or agents will on your behalf), potentially develop a poor reputation, because Contract employers move jobs too, you may be making a rod for your own back. Again, post your details online where anyone who's looking could find it, be it a free ad site or your own or a friend's site. Use hiring manager phraseology so when they type - Java Contract Developer into a search engine, they'll find you, and importantly for them at present, they'll find you for free!
Potential Negatives
Spellcheck is good to an extent, however, I recommend that you type "IT Manger" into a search engine, and you'll be amazed how often this typo escapes conventional spellchecking technology. Read your CV and better still have a third party read it for you!
Don't use photographs of yourself, don't use logos of companies you've worked for or courses you've done. It takes up processing space and can lead to formatting nightmares.
Finally, as social networking takes off more and more, I strongly suggest you run a "vanity search" online. Type your name into a search engine and ensure that nothing embarrassing comes up on a networking site. Almost every candidate being offered a role will be "googled" so make sure that there's no reason online for you not to be hired.
In conclusion;
Biography
Ruadhrí McGarry - mynewcv.ie
With nearly ten years in recruitment, career advisory positions and candidate management, Ruadhrí formed mynewcv.ie in 2008 with a view to providing exceptional service to jobseekers.mynewcv.ie helps jobseekers maximise the impact of their skills and experiences, with a view to securing interviews with prospective employers, coupled with advice on how to search for jobs efficiently, identify the correct people to approach and how best to utilise recruitment consultants.
The main focus of a Curriculum Vitae (course, or story of your life) is as a sales document. Jobseekers need to take all the steps they can to make sure their CV is targeted, accessible and contains the information that the reader wants to see.
Almost all employers have a short amount of time to make a decision on applicants, and often look for "why not" factors rather than "what ifs" when it comes to short listing, and also for better or worse, believe in the maxim that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. For this reason, each document is tailored to each candidate, and ideally to each single application, demonstrating clarity of thought, ensuring that there are no errors or unnecessary language, creating a look and feel that is empathetic to the potential employer.
The "Career Curve" is what employers want to see. They want to pick up a CV and see quickly that this person has added value at every point in their career, has made or saved money, has been promoted or has guaranteed solidity and reliability.
Ruadhrí and his team have had success with a wide variety of clients within sectors such as manufacturing, high finance, recruitment and sales and have even helped reality television show applicants secure interviews!
