If you need help with ..

How To Get Your Ideal Job

This article is © Copyright Liam Healy & Associates 2002.
We are happy for other sites to link into this page, but no unauthorised copying or reproduction is allowed.
 

Introduction

Guide use
This Guide is intended as a manual for people who are thinking about changing jobs, organising their career or starting out in the world of work. It contains information for use through the whole of the job search process, from thinking about looking for a new job, to the first few months of a new job.

This information is best used in conjunction with other Liam Healy & Associates career development products and throughout the article there are references to our products that may help you in your Career Development.

*Please note that some information is applicable only in the United Kingdom.*

 

Changing Trends in Work

The nature of work is continuously evolving and changing, the notion that an individual will have a job in the same organisation for life is a very rare concept. Today people tend to change jobs, industries, or even careers more often. It is not unusual for a person who is established in one career to decide to go to college or university to train for another, totally unrelated career for better opportunities and rewards.

Organisations are no longer responsible for an individual’s career; it is left up to the person, meaning that some people drift through their Career, without any real goals or focus, changing jobs without a plan of what they want to be doing in the next six months. Whereas other people take control of their own personal development and plan where they want to go and what they want to achieve.

Organisations encourage their employees to take advantage of learning opportunities as a way to enhance their skills and motivation. The accessibility of learning has increased, with more online, distance and part time courses becoming available for people interested in learning new skills.

The emergence of new technology has dramatically changed the way organisations are run. Computers and Internet technologies have enabled different parts of organisations to communicate with one another across continents and work together from all corners of the globe. This has enabled organisations to centralise departments and use fewer employees to perform the same volume of work that was accomplished previously, cutting costs for employers. This has brought about greater job insecurity for the remaining employees, fearing that their job will be cut next.

Technology had also led to changes in the types of working practises. Part-time work is on the increase, so is Teleworking (working from home), Job sharing, Short-term contracts, flexible working hours, team working, even working with teams across the other side of the world.

Employees today have to be flexible and adaptable and be able to tolerate the level of change that their organisation is going through. They have to be able to use the latest technology in their work and keep up with their continuous personal development so they do not get ‘left behind’.

 

Part 1  How to prepare for a Job Search

RESOURCES YOU WILL NEED

1. Time
Looking for a job or new career is a time consuming process. Expect to spend at least 10 hours a week on working towards getting a job. You need to spend time planning and doing research, completing application forms, tailoring your CV, following up applications and attending selection events.

2. Commitment
You need to be wholly committed to your Career Development, because nobody else will do it for you. It is your responsibility to manage your career and develop to your full potential. It takes a lot of effort and energy to research different career options but it is important for you to choose the right one for you, as you will be in your career for years to come. Properly researching your Career Goals is a major, but extremely worthwhile investment you can make for yourself.

3. Access to Resources
You can find a vast amount of information about Career Planning using the Internet. There are many websites devoted to trade associations and career advice. Organizations provide web surfers with information about what they do, cases studies of recent work they have done and job availability.

Membership of a library may be extremely beneficial, as well as the resources they provide, there is also the added benefit of having somewhere to work on your career without normal day-to-day interruptions. There are many Career Help books on psychometric tests and interviewing techniques etc. that may come in useful. Libraries often have access to trade magazines and newspapers, which will help you in your Career Research.

4. Support
You will, no doubt, need some support during your career planning, both financial and emotional. A Career Search can be a very stressful process, due to the fact that it is strange and unfamiliar. Also, during selection procedures you have to reveal a lot of sensitive information about yourself to relative strangers and open yourself up to rejection. There is also the added pressure of having to wait to see if you are invited to come for an interview or rejected. Due to the volume of applications a job opening usually has, it is becoming more common that the organisation does not contact you to tell you that you have been successful.

Going to organizations for selection events may be a costly process, especially if you have to travel a long distance. Sometimes the organization will pay your travelling expenses. Help with travelling costs may also be offered by your local job centre, contact them for details.
 

CAREER OPTIONS

There are many difficult decisions to make when looking for a career. The main question people typically ask us is:

What Career would suit me and enable me to become successful?

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with all the answers. This is a serious decision and the only person who can answer this question is you. A number of different factors predict ‘success’ in a job. Everyone has his or her own definition of success. For some it is becoming very wealthy, powerful and being the ‘boss’, for others it is having a job they enjoy, find interesting and can do well.

Motivating Factors
When looking at Career Choices it may be useful to look at the things you want to get out of your work life.

Examples of motivators include:
 

You have to decide whether you will get what you want out of your career. It may be useful to remember that within a particular industry, all organisations are different and the benefits offered by a job in one organisation may not be what you get out of another.

Interests
Interests have a big influence over what type of career you would be interested in. For example, if your least favourite subject at school was art and you have no artistic ability whatsoever, you would be advised to stay away from being an artist or graphic designer. The same goes for people who disliked studying maths, they may not enjoy being a maths teacher or accountant.

When making your Career Choice, try to answer these questions.
1. What subjects did you enjoy at school?
2. What do you enjoy doing now?
3. What skills do you have?
4. If you had the guarantee of being successful, what would you be doing in 10 years time?

These questions will enable you to think about the areas you would be interested in finding more information out about. If you have completed the Careers Interest Report, use your interests and the report to narrow down the type of field you would be interested in to start of your Career Research.

Ability
The actual ability to do a job is an important factor. If you find that you are unable to sing a note, despite having lessons for years, it may not be practical for you to pursue a career as a singer. The same goes for intellectual ability, if you found that you struggled at physics and nothing made sense to you, it may be logical to stay away from jobs that required any use of physics.

Different types of ability have been shown to be gender-specific due to biological and evolutionary factors. Males tend to be better at spatial awareness and numerical reasoning, whereas females tend to be better at communicating and verbal reasoning. There are many exceptions to this, of course, but this is the reason why you find more men in scientific careers and more women in counselling and caring professions, although the gender ratios are rapidly changing. You should not stay away from careers that have been traditionally male or female, you should try to find a job to suit your personal interests and abilities.

Q. What do we have at the Career Psychology Centre that can help you gain an understanding of which types of work you may be interested in?

A. The Careers Interest Report is designed to help you.  Using a comprehensive on-line Occupational Preferences Assessment Questionnaire developed specifically for the purpose, we can assess your occupational interests for the 8 major Job Groups and 27 specific Job Types.

RESEARCHING YOUR CAREER CHOICES
 

The Internet
The Internet is an invaluable tool for Career Researchers. The easiest way of finding information about a particular career is typing the job name into a search engine and seeing what information you can get.

For Example
Type in ‘Accountant’ into a search engine, the results you would expect to find are:

1. Accountancy Companies
   - Useful for giving you more information about the type of companies that are offering accountancy services.
   - There are often links to job vacancy pages and details of the type of knowledge, skills and abilities they are looking for in applicants.

2. Websites offering Accountancy Job listings/recruitment consultants
   - Can give you an idea of accountant’s role, salaries, qualifications necessary for the role and personal abilities required.

3. The Website for the Institute of Chartered Accountants
   - This gives up to date and clear information on how to become a chartered accountant and other information for Accountants.

This type of information will help you in your Career Decision-Making and help you get information about different industries and jobs.


Trade Magazines and Newspapers
Trade magazines and journals can be useful sources of information about new developments in a profession. It may be useful for future selection activities to be familiar with the type of jargon used in the profession’s trade magazines. Also, there are often job advertisements in the back of trade magazines, giving you an idea of the qualifications and experience employers in the industry are looking for.

Local newspapers routinely run stories about businesses in the area. It may be useful to keep an eye out for stories that interest you about companies. National Newspapers often run stories about organisations. For example if a particular company in the sector you are researching is announcing record profits, you may feel that is good news for people who want to work in that sector.

An additional note, employers do like applicants who have a good grasp of world affairs, in particular issues that have an effect on their business, so it would not harm your chances to brush up on your general knowledge.

Once you have narrowed down a list of professions you are interested in, it may be useful to find out more detailed and specific information about the different aspects of the job and the types of organisations that employ people within the industry.

Career Interviews
Career Interviews are informal interviews the job hunter has with a person who already holds the job they would like to find out more information about. The main goal of a Career interview is to collect information about the job from the person you are interviewing; you are not there to enquire about job vacancies.

There are many benefits of Career Interviews:
 

Decide if you would be able to do the job, and whether you would want to.

Asking for a Career Interview
 

1. Your first step would be to do some systematic research into some companies that employ people in the job you wish to explore. Ask around your friends and family to see if anyone is doing the job you wish to know more about.

2. Contact the organisation(s) and ask for the name and job title of a person who is doing the job.

3. You could write the person a letter or email them, but calling them is a better approach and you will probably get a better result on the telephone. This is because it is a more personal method of communication.

4. Whilst on the phone, maintain a friendly and polite tone and listen to what the person is saying to you. Remember, you are asking them to do you a favour.

The structure of the call would be:

1. Explain who you are and why you are calling (you are interested in researching the person’s job)

2. Clarify how you got the person’s name/number

3. Tell the person what type of work you would like to research.

4. Explain that you would only require 20-30 minutes of their time, to go for a quick coffee.

5. If the person is too busy, ask if you can arrange a time to speak to them on the telephone.

6. If they say no to this, ask if they have the name and contact details of someone who might be able to help you.

7. If they agree to meet you, thank the person for speaking to you and confirm the time and location of the meeting.

8. If they are unable to see you, express regret, but thank them for speaking to you.
    

It would be a good idea to practise this with a friend before you call an organisation, as you should sound confident and clear.

Before the Career Interview
 

1. Research the job, company and industry, so you do not have to ask pointless questions, which you could find out from different sources.

2. Some examples of questions you could ask are:
    

Be prepared to provide some information about yourself. The person who you are interviewing may want to ask you some questions too.

During the Career Interview
 

1. Make sure you look professional for the interview, wear a suit or smart clothes.

2. You requested the interview, so keep to the point so as not to waste the person's time.

3. Allow the person to make any additional points they feel may be useful.

4. Make notes during your meeting, not only will it make you look keen and interested; it will help you remember the answers to questions you have asked.

5. Always send a thank you letter promptly (within 1 day of the interview).

Job Shadowing, Work Experience and Voluntary Work
Job Shadowing is much the same as the Career interview, you spend more time with the person in the job and you may get to observe and help with their day to day work. Job shadowing can last anywhere from ½ a day to a week, depending on arrangements with the person being observed. Follow the advice given for conducting the Career Interview, make sure you ask lots of questions and take notes.

Becoming qualified for a job is not the problem people face, as accessibility of learning has never been better. The major issue that people face is getting suitable experience as many companies ask for 1-2 years experience in the role. This, of course, is a vicious circle! People often ask us how you can get experience when there are not many entry-level jobs on offer.

You could get some work experience, which usually consists of spending a longer period of time in the organisation. You may not get to observe the person in their job as much, but you will gain a better understanding of the organisation and different roles in it, and may be doing a job. You should not expect to get paid doing work experience and when you approach organisations try to make this a selling point.

Voluntary work often consists of regular work you do that is unpaid. Employers look favourably on any type of experience in the industry and working for nothing, shows that you are determined and that you want to get ahead in your career.

The main thing to keep in mind in all these situations is, this is an excellent networking opportunity and it would be highly beneficial for you to impress the people you are observing in the organisation enough so they feel that are able to give you a reference in the future.

If you are unable to secure work experience or voluntary work in your chosen industry, it is time to think laterally. Think about jobs that are related to the one you ultimately want or jobs that enable you to use the same skills as your target job. For example, if you are researching a career in law, aiming to become a solicitor, try contacting voluntary organisations that offer free legal advice or organisations that do work in courts, such as looking after witnesses etc. Any similar role will look good on your CV.


Training
For entry onto some jobs, you may find that there is a minimum education requirement. This information can be discovered through contact with people who are already in the industry, or through finding out more information from job adverts/trade associations/careers guidance.

There are three main ways to gain qualifications in the UK:
 

1. Attend College or University Full Time

This is a quite expensive option, as you may have to pay for your course, which depends on your circumstances, and you may not be able to fit in work around your course.
 

2. Attend College or University Part Time.
This will enable you to go to college on evenings, on a part time basis, you will be able to keep working, but you may loose all your spare time!
 

3. Do an Online or Distance learning course in your own time.

This is an option for people who feel confident in their ability to work alone, you will usually have a tutor who you will be able to contact if you run into any problems. You need to be very motivated to do this, as you have to keep on top of the workload and make sure that completing your course remains a high priority.

Many universities are offering sandwich courses; the typical format would be that you go to university to do a 3-year degree, but after your second year you spend a year in industry gaining experience. This will extend your degree by a year, but you will graduate with a years worth of experience in your chosen field.

There is an abundance of financial help available for funding courses your training provider will have further details on this. It may also be useful to contact your local council about training grants offered to employers to train their staff.
 

ASSESSING YOUR ABILITIES

Before you write your CV and start applying for jobs, it would be highly beneficial to think about your marketing strategy. In other words, what are your key selling points and what would make an organisation want to employ you. You need to be able to pinpoint your major strengths and skills, so if you are asked questions about them you are able to respond appropriately.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
To help you it may be useful to make lists about:
 

1. What you know

a. Knowledge about the Industry
b. Knowledge about the Job
c. Specialist Knowledge about the subject
 

2. What you are able to do

a. Particular Qualifications
b. Competencies
 

3. What you have experience doing

a. Work Experience in the area.
b. Experience of work in general.
 

Ask your friends and relatives about your best qualities and ask them how they would describe you. This will enable you to find out how people perceive you and make you more aware of how you present yourself. This is a very valuable learning experience and may give you the motivation to change less appealing perceptions before you start going to selection events.


Competencies
Many organisations use competencies in their personnel selection. Competencies are defined as ‘a motive, skill, aspect of one’s self-image or social role, or a body of knowledge’ (McClelland, 1973)

Typical competencies organisations look for are

Interpersonal Communication Skills
Involving interacting, listening and conversing with other people in order to develop and maintain relationships with them. It may involve giving advice to others, bargaining, negotiation, influencing and encouraging people at work. This may also involve verbal and non-verbal communication, writing and presentation skills.

Team Working
Team Working involves working with others to complete an activity, task or project, or solve a problem using communication/interpersonal and organisational skills. Participation in a team often involves using influencing and persuasion skills, as well as bargaining and negotiation skills, whilst ensuring cooperation rather than competition with fellow team members.

Planning and Organisation
Planning and organisation involves preparation to make sure that all available eventualities are considered, searching for and communicating relevant information to others, and the evaluation of all available evidence. It may also involve coordinating people and other resources in a methodical, logical, and systematic manner with a close attention to detail.

Problem Solving
Problem Solving involves identifying that a problem exists and accurately defining what the nature of the problem is, gathering and evaluating problem relevant information, generating and evaluating possible problem solutions, implementing solutions and monitoring the effectiveness of your actions by setting objectives and milestones.

Adaptability and Resilience
This involves being able to deal with ambiguous or conflicting information, handling conflict and maintaining levels of performance in high-pressure situations. It also involves being able to cope with the demands of change or the unexpected, using personal flexibility, assertiveness, confidence, enthusiasm, responsiveness, objectivity, drive, and judgment.

It may be useful to keep these definitions of competencies in mind so that if you are asked a question on an application form or in an interview, you are able to recall what makes up a particular competency.

Key Selling Points
Thinking about your Key Selling Point is an important part of your preparation for your job search. This is the one thing that makes you stand out and makes you special. You have to answer the question:

WHY SHOULD I GIVE YOU A JOB?

This is a very difficult question to answer, but it can be easily answered using information about your knowledge, skills and abilities.

Q. What do we have at the Career Psychology Centre that can help you identify your own personal characteristics and help you work out ways of addressing the development areas you may have in relation to a particular type of work?
 

A. The Career Development Report is designed to help you. After completing the on-line Work Personality Questionnaire you are presented with an in-depth personality assessment report, which you can then use to develop your own understanding of yourself, and as the springboard to embark on your own personal development using the Career Development Workbook.

CAREER MARKETING TOOLS
As you have already gathered lots of information about yourself, the type of work you would be interested in doing, and the organisations you would like to work in, you will find it very easy to write an effective CV and Covering Letter. The difference between a good and poor application is the amount of time spent on the application, including researching the position and organisation. Applications fail because the person reading the CV thinks that the candidate lacks the qualifications and experience required for the job.

The Covering Letter and CV, or application form, are your crucial marketing documents. They are the only items an employer has to base their decision on whether to invite you to a selection event or not. Remember, the employer is looking for what you can do for them, rather than what they can do for you.

Preparing a generic CV and Covering Letter before you start your job hunt is a good idea, as all you will have to do is adapt it to fit the organisation you are applying to. It would be a good idea to invest in some good quality stationary, including envelopes that do not require you to fold your CV, so it arrives in good condition.

Sending a CV by email is a tricky thing, as employers are anxious about receiving computer viruses by email, and some may be reluctant to open your attachment. A way round this is to remove all formatting and put your Covering Letter and CV into the main body of your email. You should email this to a few of your friends and ask them to send it back to you to check that it does not get corrupted.


Covering Letter
This is the letter that will invite the person opening your letter to read your CV. It introduces you and sets the tone of your application.
 

 
Curriculum Vitae/Resume

Q. What do we have at the Career Psychology Centre that can help you choose the correct CV layout to best present your information and avoid common mistakes?

A. The Personal CV and Resume Writer Downloadable software that will help you write your CV and Covering Letter. You only have to enter your information once to have your basic CV. CVs can be easily edited, kept up to date and tailored using the built-in editor, or the information can be easily saved and edited with a word processing program.

Can help you avoid common mistakes like...

Part 2: Job Search Techniques

PREPARATION
Before you start you have to put a lot of planning and organisation work in. You should plan your job-hunting as you would a normal project, or marketing campaign, there are some guidelines below:

1. Define your project

2. Define your working times/days off

3. Organise your time between applying for advertised jobs and looking elsewhere.

4. List the people/organisations/industries you want to target.

5. Research the target people/organisations/industries.

6. Plan how you are going to market yourself.

7. Schedule your tasks

8. Set deadlines and targets

Tools

There are many physical tools that are needed to carry out your Job Search.

1. Telephone
Having access to a telephone and answering machine/service is essential in your Career Search. This will enable potential employers to contact you, and if you are not available, they will be able to leave a message for you to return their call.
 

2. Address Book
It is very important to keep a note of all the people you speak to in your job search, including the names of people who interview you. This is very essential as you need to be able to chase up applications you have submitted and know who you have send your details to.
 

3. Diary
With so much going on it is essential that you keep a diary. This will enable you to track how much time you have spent on an application and plan your days. You also will be able to schedule your selection events and plan your preparation for them.
 

4. Filing System
You should keep records of all paperwork that an organisation has sent to you and photocopies of everything you have sent to an organisation. Keep all paperwork from the same organisation together in one place, so the information is easily accessible if you are called in for selection events.

Q. What do we have at the Career Psychology Centre to help you with you with keeping addresses a diary and your CVs in order?

A. The Job Application Tracker is a piece of software that will enable you to do all the things mentioned above. You are able to put in all the details of the organisation you have applied to, details of the job and keep track of any correspondence you have sent to a particular organisation.
 

COMPANY RESEARCH
The key questions you need to answer when you are researching companies that you are going to be applying to are:

1. Will this organisation suit me?
2. Will I suit this organisation?

There are other things you need to find out about a company, which will aide you in your choice are:
1. The history of the company.
2. Products and Services they offer.
3. Their main competitors.

A company’s financial information can be obtained from Companies House.

Please click here for a pro forma detailing the information you need to find out about an organization before applying. You may photocopy this and use it to keep a record of all the organizations you have applied to.

The more research you do into your target organization, the better prepared you are for the application process and for any selection events. It also shows that you take your career choice seriously and want to work for the organization.

Application Forms
 

Make sure you photocopy your completed application form before you send it to ensure you know what your answers to the questions they asked were.



Person Specification and Job Description
The Person Specification and Job Description are very valuable resources. You can often get these from the organisation you are applying to. The Person Specification describes what the organisation is looking for in terms of the qualifications, skills and experience that is required to do the job. The Job Description is, naturally, what the successful candidate is expected to do once they have started working.

These two documents greatly enhance your ability to tailor your CV and Covering Letter to make sure it markets you in light the organisation’s requirements.

References
There is some debate over whether to include references in your application; of course if the employer asks for them, you should provide them. It is up to you to decide. The recommendation is to put them on a separate piece of paper and refer to them in your Covering letter.

Employers should not check referees, particularly referees in your current employment without your permission.

With recent legislation from the USA, employers are becoming more and more reluctant to provide references of their former employees for fear that someone will sue them. The general trend is to confirm the former employee’s job title and the dates that they worked for the organisation.
 

JOB HUNTING TECHNIQUES

There are a few places that people can find jobs:

Newspaper Advertisements
Newspapers have job advertisement sections on a weekly basis. Libraries often have daily newspapers in them and increasingly newspapers are also advertising vacancies on their Website.

The adverts usually ask you to directly send in your CV and Covering Letter to an address or to call/write/email to receive an application form and job description.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Trade Magazine Advertisements
Most Trade Magazines have job advertisements included in them; it may be useful to have a look through them. Trade Associations usually have a website with a dedicated area for job vacancies.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Online Job Posting Databases
There is an abundance of websites, which offer the opportunity to complete an online CV and search and apply for jobs in the database. Typically potential employers are able to search the database and contact you directly.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Company Websites
Today most organisations have their own websites and often list any job vacancies they have on their website. These are beneficial for companies, as they do not have to spend a lot of money advertising positions, but it tends to be big companies who do this in conjunction with another method for attracting clients.

Occasionally, you may come across a company website that is not advertising a job as such, but give a description of the roles that people in the organisation do and what they are looking for in an employee and ask for people to send in their CV to be kept on file until another vacancy is available.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Out and About
Many job opportunities can be seen when you are walking around your neighbourhood, or the town/city where you live. You often find jobs advertised in local shops and supermarkets, this is particularly true about jobs in retail.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Recruitment Agencies
Recruitment agencies exist to put people into jobs and they tend to be paid when they place people in jobs.

You should call the agency for an appointment and take your CV, National Insurance Number and names of 2 referees. Occasionally you will be asked to sit computer/word processing tests and/or basic psychometric tests, please refer to the psychometric test section for more information. The recruitment company will ask you about things such as where you want to work, what you are able to do and your ideal salary requirements. If and when a suitable job comes up, you may be sent to the company for an interview or straight into work.

Before you go to work you need to find out from the agency:

Advantages

Disadvantages

Networking
There have been scores of books written on networking and the best way to do it. Basically, networking is a term to describe the way we interact with people and build relationships with them. In job-hunting terms, it is about asking the people you know, your friends and family for help in your job search. They many have information that could be useful to your job search.

Many job opportunities are not advertised and employers find new employees by asking for recommendations of people to contact. There are many different networking opportunities available, such as conferences, seminars, business clubs, and discussion groups. Remember, networking is a reciprocal process, you have to be prepared to help other people, not just to get help.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Speculative Approaches
Making speculative approaches is a very good way of getting a job. Many employers may be considering taking on an employee, but have not got round to formalizing the process they want to take, or they may even create a post for the right applicant.

This method works very well if you have a recommendation from someone they know and trust, so you are able to say “ Mr. Smith recommended that I contact you…”

You have to be prepared for rejection as not all companies can afford to take on a new employee, so you should ask them to keep your details on file for a suitable job position in the future.
There are three ways of making a speculative approach, but the most important thing to do before considering any of these approaches is to DO YOUR RESEARCH and focus on what you can do for them, not what they can do for you!

In Person
 

1. Contact the organisation and ask for the name and job title of a person who is doing the job.

2. Go to the employer’s premises in very smart clothing, as if you were going to an interview.

3.  Take with you a copy of your CV and Covering Letter in a large envelope addressed to the person that makes hiring decisions.

4. Ask to speak to the person responsible for making hiring decisions.

5. Make sure you are very polite and friendly, as secretaries and receptionists tend to keep people from wasting the time of people in the organization.

6. If the person you want to speak to is available:

   1. Thank them for agreeing to see you.

   2. Give your CV to the person.

   3. Explain who you are, what you want and what interested you in the organization (in less than 5 minutes, practice what you are going to say before you arrive so you come across as confident and prepared).

   4. Answer any questions they have.

   5. Thank the person profusely for their time and leave.

   6. Call the person a few days later to ask about their impression of your CV.

7.  If the person you want to speak to is unavailable:

   1. Ask to speak to someone else in his or her department – try not to be pushy, as this may come across as aggressive.

8. If you are unable to see anyone:

   1. Thank the receptionist for his or her time and ask if you could leave your CV and Covering letter for the person you wanted to speak to.

   2. Call the person a few days later to check that they have received your CV and ask about their impression of it.
      Advantages

Disadvantages

On the Phone

1.  Contact the organisation and ask for the name and phone number of the person who makes hiring decisions.

2. The structure of the call would be:

   1. Explain who you are, what you want and what interested you in the organization (in less than 5 minutes, practice what you are going to say before you phone so you come across confident and prepared).

   2. Ask the person if you could send your CV to them and how they would like you to do it, e.g. by post or e-mail.

   3. Make it obvious you have done your research into the organisation.

   4. Answer any questions they have.

   5. Thank the person for speaking to you.

3. Send your CV to the person by post or email

4. Call the person a few days later to ask them for their impression of your CV.

Advantages

Disadvantages

By Letter/ Email

1. Contact the organisation and ask for the name and address/email address of the person who makes hiring decisions.

2. Send the person your CV and Covering letter, making reference to your company research.

3. If you are emailing your CV, some organizations do not like to receive attachments due to computer viruses, it may be better to remove all formatting and put the CV and Covering Letter content into the main body of the email. Then send a nicely formatted CV in the post.

4. Wait until they have had the CV for a few days and call them to ask them if they have received your CV and what they thought about it.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Q. What do we have at the Career Psychology Centre that will help you write your CV?

A. The Personal CV and Resume Writer will help you develop your CV and Covering Letter for speculative approaches.

 

Job Centres/ Careers Centres/ University Careers Offices
These places sometimes have Jobs advertised that may not be elsewhere. You do not have to be unemployed to go into a Job Centre. Job/Careers Centres often have company brochures and application forms ready for you to take away and complete, bypassing the need to contact organisations directly.

Take your CV with you, as there is usually someone available to have a look at it and give you some advice about any vacancies that have arisen. Also there may be Careers Counsellors on hand to speak to you about your job goals.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Create a Job for yourself
Creating a job for yourself basically consists of doing some in-depth research into the target organisation, finding a niche in the organisation that you could fill and the sending a proposal for the job to the person who is in charge of the hiring process.

Just think of yourself as a specialist consultant, offering them your knowledge and skills to solve a problem that they have. You have to put the problem in a reasonably good light, so it does not look like you are blackmailing them for a job.

Advantages

Disadvantages