Category Archives: Recruitment

12 days of Christmas, Networking, No, Project Management Communications, Recruitment, The CV Righter

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…..

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On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…..

….. 4 calling birds! Today we have chosen: On the 4th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV!

It is important to pick carefully the contacts you keep in touch with when looking for a new job and as such ideally you should be picking 2 recruitment agencies and 2 job boards. This doesn’t mean you ignore all others but as you research agencies and job boards in a new job search you will quickly find that there are some which are far more relevant to your skill set and their behaviours towards you as a prospective candidate.

Some job boards are better than others and some more focussed on your field – by setting up “jobs by email” alerts, following their twitter accounts and “liking” their Facebook pages so you receive updates in your news feed you can reduce down the unnecessary and irrelevant information being sent to you.

Likewise with recruitment agencies you can get a feel for the types of roles dealt with and how they treat you as a candidate – do they demonstrate an interest in you and wanting to find you the right role or are you just another applicant in the long list of others.

If you are fortunate enough to build up relationships with recruiters it is a good way to keep fresh in their minds as new opportunities are being qualified and you are more likely to get a call before a job advert is even created.

It is all a big learning curve with job boards and agencies so you may find oyu change your favourites list as you progress through applications or as you realise that your endeavours are not harvesting the effort you put in.

Here is an article talking through Project Management specific job boards which you may find useful.

On the 1st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards

Careers Advice, guest blogger, Internships, Recruitment

12 Steps To Make The Most Of Your Internship

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An internship is an opportunity that’ll prepare you for the rest of your career. An internship takes you out of your ‘student mentality’ and brings out the young professional in you. Still, an internship won’t mean much if you don’t know how to leverage one. Here are 12 steps to make the most of your opportunity.

1. Think Of It As A 10-Week Reverse Interview

Consider each day as just another day of your interview so that you’re sharp, focused and diligent. Would you lax off on your interview day? No you wouldn’t. Continue to impress each day and you’ll win.

2. Make An Impact

Make a measurable impact by thinking ahead and beyond, asking astute questions, showing your intelligence, willingness and dedication. Volunteer for advanced tasks and spend extra time to learn stuff from your superiors.

3. Ask For Help When You Need It

If your boss is the kind that expects you to learn on the job, don’t feel intimidated. If you’re stuck with something, don’t waste precious hours. Ask for help –your initiative will be noted, along with your efforts to save time.

4. Ask For Feedback

Ask your manager to give you feedback at the end of each week. Write down the feedback and the next week, show your manager what you did with the feedback given. Then ask for that week’s feedback.

5. Make Friends

Smile often and always make some pleasant conversation, though respectful and limited. It’s ok to be friendly with everyone, even your superiors. Make friends of everyone, from the mailman to the top man. All your friendships can be turned into your network later on.

6. Explore The Company’s Culture

Understand how your company works – the working culture, the dress culture, holiday culture and so on. Then compare this data with other companies. You’ll find many parallels within the same industry. This due diligence will help you follow the right culture when you begin your career.

7. Be Visible

One of the biggest complaints from managers is that their intern is invisible. Be visible. Be seen. Be known. Make yourself visible by voicing your thoughts and opinions respectfully, with confidence. Don’t hide.

8. Understand The Context

Learn how the organization operates. Interact with various teams and find out how everything works as a whole. . Learn about the various functions behind the running of the business. You will earn newfound appreciation for your employer and have a better understanding of what you’re doing as well.

9. Impress With Your Hard Work

This doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself with 90 hour weeks. Still, be willing to work hard and after-hours at times. Offer total support to your manager, such that he or she sorely misses you once the internship is over.

10. Watch The Clock

When assigned a task, do it within the given time. If you have doubts, get them clarified immediately. Find out if your manager will be available to clarify, or get the name of another person you can approach with doubts.

11. Understand Your Own Needs And Limitations

An internship is the perfect opportunity to pinpoint what kind of work you’d like to do, and what kind you don’t want to do. This understanding will help you fine-tune your resume and your inclination for your future career.

12. Don’t Duck Your Responsibility

Be bold, and admit to your mistakes. If you’re criticized, accept it and see about improving your work. Don’t look for a trophy – it’s not Little League. Sometimes it’ll be unfair, but you have to take it on the chin and do your best.

Gagan works for http://tictwo.com/,an internship training administrator and facilitator, who works with young college students and college grads from all over the world who apply for internship in China.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, Job Applications, Project Management, Project management career progression, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, Recruitment, The CV Righter

Asking for help – why does it seem so hard?

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We’ve all been there – having a moment when we really could do with some support in something we do. Having googled for hours and found snippets of information which help to build up a rather bitty solution. CV writing is no different and I have lost count of the websites which offer some advice on how you should be doing things, however there are no real practical examples of profiles, bullet points etc  for project professionals which can become very frustrating.

One of the most common questions I was asked as a recruiter was “why is my CV not working?” often candidates wondering if there was an unwritten rule by recruiters which stopped them being picked over others. Of course there were always the candidates who were adamant that their CVs were the best thing since sliced bread as they know how good they are. I have said it over and over but it isn’t necessarily the best candidates who get the interviews, it is the best CVs. Hiring managers have such high expectations when it comes to a CV, it is not just the well formatted and spelling error free CV they expect to see. They want to know a whole lot more about you and how you work. They want to see examples of projects and methods of delivery as well as how you add value, what sets you apart from others and whether you have a good understanding of what it is you do. The art of CV writing comes down to including all the above in a concise and clear format. Not just a list of duties, contextualise those duties and that additional information about some of the challenges you have come up against. Merely delivering on time and to budget just doesn’t cut it, if anything there is concern for those who never face big challenges such as slippage and tricky stakeholders. Let’s face it, you will have been very lucky to always have an easy route to success so how would you cope in a more challenging environment where you have to work much harder to gain buy-in and succeed?

This is where The CV Righter can help you with your project management CV; project management covers a multitude of roles from programme, portfolio, projects, risk, change and business analysis; from support roles through delivery and team management / direction. We offer a no obligation CV review for project professionals wanting to understand how your CV reads to others. Think of us as a sounding board, you may not like all you have to hear but the information is constructive and wouldn’t it be better to know where the weaknesses are in your CV rather than keep assuming that it is great and that it is the recruiters and employers who clearly cannot see you are perfect for the role!

We also understand that you may want to write your CV yourself – I always say, if you can do it then do. However you may need some assistance and a sounding board to work with along your journey – this is also a service we can provide, it doesn’t cost as much as you might think. For those who are adamant to go it alone we have a free CV writing booklet with examples of the various elements of the CV and advice on how and why certain aspects need to be addressed in the CV – providing a recruiters perspective.

It is nice to give something back having worked in recruitment specifically for project professionals for 5 years – that is why we offer the free CV review and free CV writing booklet, we are happy to talk through what services we feel would be of benefit to you and clearly state prices. Plus we have a process which means we will not stop working on your CV until you are happy with it – unlike a lot of off the shelf CV writers, we make sure you are completely comfortable with the content and even invite you to take your CV and try it with recruiters and hiring managers to gauge reactions. If you feel it is not working, we rework. Although to date we have received only good feedback from clients’ mainly stating that they have got the job (some after months of trying before taking our service, others who came to us before making the application for their ideal job), others have received lots of interest from recruiters (having not had any or very little interactions despite applications and having their CV in PM databases) or those who aren’t particularly looking for a new role but want to be in a good position for when they do – who have a new found confidence about themselves as project professionals.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help – it is openly given at The CV Righter, whether it’s some free assistance or a paid package, we can help. Get in touch today with your current CV and see what we can do for you.

News, Project Management Job Boards, project management recruitment, Recruitment

Project Management Job Boards

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Looking for a new job can be frustrating, and understanding where to look can become wearisome as using the large generic job boards can make you feel like a little fish in a large pond. However there are a number of profession specific websites available and Project Management is not lacking in this area. Here are a few job boards worth paying some attention to in your job hunting endeavours:

  • Project Manager jobs.co.uk – another dedicated job board for PPM professionals, there’s a lot of “partners” and therefore adverts and sales going on with this website however it does also boast a blend of direct employer roles and recruiter adverts.
  • The Guardian – OK so this isn’t a dedicated PM job board however it does attract a great deal of project management positions and unlike a lot of the larger generic job boards you can search on direct employer roles; definitely worth keeping an eye on this one.
  • Exec-appointments – another non-dedicated jobs website however for the higher earners, this website is a must.

 Specialist PM recruitment jobs boards

 

  • Arras People – dedicated PPM recruitment agency with a wealth of experience in recruiting at all levels in the project management field, the job board is easy to use; adverts are full of information about the role, they clearly state “wants/needs” and are kept fresh. There’s also a repository of information for PPM professionals to delve into, which is very thorough. You can sign up for jobs by email and also follow them on twitter for new job alerts.
  • Programme Recruitment – another dedicated PPM recruitment agency. The roles on the job board can be filtered to specific categories, this feature I like. However the adverts themselves are a little limited in content, you don’t get a feel for the types of projects the roles are aimed at which can prove frustrating for candidates applying as there’s no way to know if your experience is relevant. The board is kept fresh and every visit seems to yields a new position or two – a well maintained job board is essential for the users.
  • Wellingtone – A three pronged business offering consultancy, software solutions and recruitment in the PPM domain. The job board is easy to view however you do have to click into each role to get an idea of whether it is relevant unlike other job boards. There is a search facility which is useful. The adverts look like job descriptions supplied by the employer (some very lengthy, others are purely one line stating xx years in BA role required), disappointing for a specialist agency but you get to see what the employer has set out (even though JDs can often be out of date / not a true picture of the role).

Do you have any experiences you can share with using the above job boards or another job board you would like to throw into the mix?