2009 revisited

2009 saw the South African recruitment industry hit harder than we can remember. For job hunters, it's been a frustrating year of submissions and waiting with little or no response from agencies or companies. And yet, somehow newspapers still spoke about the shortage of skills untill very recently.

Just like most other industries, the recruitment industry was hard hit by the economic recession that rippled from overseas into South Africa. Retrenchments and closures made their presence clearly felt.

Perhaps the most frustrating symptom of the insecurites in our industries has been the indecision on behalf of companies. Part of recruitment in Gauteng has always been the fickleness of some industry sectors who just as soon advertise a vacancy as cancel it, change it, or relocate it to another province. However, this past year has seen more freezing, thawing and re-freezing of vacancies than our polar caps. (It's been Global warming of a whole other nature!)

Even well established companies with a vast historical network of client connections have felt this as we commuted through the very rough and extremely choppy seas of the 2009 job market.

Under such tremendous pressure, the already existant trends towards online marketing and recruitment were taken up a few quick notches, leaving unprepared agencies rather bewildered in the vaccuum of no CVs and no clients. For many it was as if suddenly the lights had gone out, and we're not just talking Eskom's cuts which saw it's own share of fits of fury at black screens and pending CV submissions.

Like a falling dominoes game, agencies saw industry after industry wobble reflected in the CV submissions of candidates who would settle for anything remotely similar to what their career of choice is, just to stay employed. It's been a buyer's market for employers, but the latter were simply not buying.

So what do we take from a time such as this, a year such as 2009? IMM Recruitment will certainly prove to have benefitted from this in the long run since, always looking to market trends, we had already predicted the move to online recruitment and began to position ourselves early in the year. We can confidently say that our marketing strategies have reached more companies than in any previous 12 month stretch. Coupled with IMM GSM super initiatives like the re-building of our Association for Marketers and the creation of an every strengthening sales force, the IMM GSM flag has flown higher than before, and with it, IMM Recruitment.

The key in times such as these is to find the strength to weather the storm, and tie down everything that moves, then begin to build the ship for an extended journey. IMM Recruitment is optimistic. We believe that the spices and silk of prosperity are already in view, as more and more companies begin to breathe a little more easy this month, and staff planning resumes.

It is difficult to say just when the clouds will lift completely, but certainly 2010 is a year of promise, judging from what already sits on the books.

If you haven't already done so, submit your CV to IMM Recruitment today. View www.imm.co.za/recruitment for details on a branch near you, and a taste test of things to come.  Stay in touch with our changes and vacancies via twitter, or link up to us via LinkedIn.

As the year end holidays speed towards us all, we wish you a very peaceful and safe year end. May 2010 shine onto your career of choice.

It's Retail time

I blogged about trends in a recent entry, and how industry trends can be seen via the CVs sent to recruitment agencies such as ourselves.

I thought I might blog about the most recent trend, and welcome comments (click on comments below) as to what is brewing..

This week, IMM Recruitment in Jhb has received about 5 cvs from the Retail Industry. And by retail, let me narrow it down to furniture and associated products.

The first CV came from someone in a junior/mid level role from company A. I spotted it because there was no inherent reason for desiring to leave - not associate to pay or performance, that is.

The second candidate hailed from company B -same sector, but this time a National Sales Manager. The third from company C - a Marketing specialist for a competitor of one of the previous companies, and so it progressed into management within these two (of several) big boys. 

This is precisely the trend I was referring to in previous blog entries. Whilst 5 CVs may not be much to go on, I'd be willing to bet this is just the beginning, or the end as the case may be, of a restructuring process within this industry. Perhaps it is restructuring at the moment or perhaps it is looking at retrenchment? Perhaps it is just fine tuning its growth strategy.

I must say that these CVs are not the CVs of "dead weight" employees at all (if there exist such a thing), which leads me to think that maybe, just maybe, they know something we don't? I think I'll wait it out before I go furniture shopping anywhere right now.. perhaps there are new, exciting things in the pipeline? Or perhaps this industry has been hit really hard by consumer's shrinking purchasing power and the workforce has felt the pinch.. whatever it is, let us know!

If anyone out there is in the retail industry or knows someone who is and would like to share an opinion on what may/may not/ is currently happening, (anonymously or otherwise) I would truly welcome the opportunity to further research this recruitment VS industry trends hypothesis... if you'd like to submit an article about the trends you've observed (naturally you'd have to be in a position of some knowledge authority) then do so, and we'll blog it in!


Happy Job Hunting!

We are the Champions

There are two questions that most young graduates entering the job market fear the most. The first is "what are your strengths and weaknesses?" because they simply do not know given their lack of experience and because they need a little help translating their personal strengths and weakenesses into workplace areas for growth or areas of strength.

The second is "Where do you want to be in 5 years." Many graduates and school leavers will giggle at this one and answer something like "I'd like to be working, thank you very much!" Another typical answer at companies is "I want to be in your role." Whilst a candidate may think this is flattering or reflective of ambition, it does not really answer the question.

The question being asked is "What are your career goals?" The interviewer wants to know if their company can help you get where you are headed, because they know that if you know where you are headed, it's only a matter of time, and they'd like to help you get there. If you do not know, then they will understand that you are looking at short to medium terms goals and will reposition themselves to enjoy that particular ride with you.

What every leader has found, somewhere along the walk towards success is that Champions make good companions.

Let's look at this more carefully: A Champion is someone who is a winner, and so one could look at this statement to mean that by associating oneself with champions, one will learn and grow in the areas necessary to become a champion too.  Whilst this is true, the champion I refer to is not this. The Champion I refer to is that individual or group of people who will back the visionary. Someone who will recognise your talent and your vision and because of a particular set of acheivements, skill or charisma, backs you.

In this sense, the Champion can be a referee - if you pick the right people to speak about your performance and if you are diligent in the impression you create with people by taking responsibility and really making a dynamic impact on your current leadership, your referees are your first line of Championship in any job race.

More important than the referee is the champion that truly sees your potential and with whom you retain contact throughout the years - these people will be waiting on the sidelines for a chance to make your dream happen and be a part of greatness. But they cannot exist unless you have a shot at greatness on any level. And greatness can never be a goal in itself - greatness is simply the colour of success, inasmuch as success can be measured by what you've done, who's lives you've changed, what bottom lines you've added value to, and how positiveloy your life has touched those of others. Every person's definition of success is different, but it will somehow involve who, and what you've done, and who and what you've been, in relation to the who and what you COULD do and who and what you COULD be if you arrived at the point where you are the best you that you could be.

The free dictionary defines success in its simple form; "the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted."

Can one really say that one has been successful without knowing where one is going? Can one look back on life and say "I succeed" without having previously estimated what success would entail?

Success, therefore, is simply pie in the sky when it has no Goals or vision attached to it, because it becomes un-measurable. (Ask any marketing strategist.) In order to succeed, then, one needs to have the following:


-Goals (a clear idea of what one will have done/ acheived/ become at the point of success)
-Vision (a mental picture of what life will look like at the point of successs)
-Strategy (a flexible, re-adjusting set of do's and don'ts that becomes the stepping stones towards achievement of the goals so that one's vision is realised.

I have placed Goals before vision because sometimes one knows what one wants before knowing what life will be like if one has that.

Taking this back to career-speak, we embark on our career because we have passion for a particular subject or activity. We want to spend time honing the skills of that craft. Our goals may change or we may shift direction once we feel we have acheived that sufficiently to say to ourself "I succeeded in it" (for measuring of success is personal) and this certainly accounts for people shifting careers. Like sugar dissolving into water, we saturate ourselves with doing that which we love until we are ready to enjoy it or move onto the next glass of water.

So what's your sugar? What's your passion? When you find your passion you find your inner truth, career wise. You discover the integrity of being true to your path and you begin to read ads more carefully, and apply to less vacancies because you know what you want and you are realistic about what you are worth. (read that again)

Let's say you love marketing. You love the idea of coming up with a strategy to put a company on the map. You ache to do the below the line and above the line calculation of steps towards making your company "great". You even worked out what "great" is and how it looks on the bottom line! Fantastic! What happens when you've done that? Do you retire? No.. although you've reached your goal (however long it took - short, medium or long-term), you are only edging closer to success, you are only edging closer to your vision. Vision is tricky because you only begin to get the vision when you start to taste the small successess of meeting your goals.

So take another look at that job ad - will it take you one step closer to your short-term goal (which might be "working in my area of passion - marketing") or will it take you one step closer to your medium term goal (which might be - "making a noticeable contribution to the world of branding") because you've carefully selected the company as well as the job you applied to?

I hope this has made you consider what your goals might be. If you are still having difficulty, take out a pen and paper and answer the following questions:

Short-term goals
what do I love most about my career choice right now?
How can I best excercise that passion? (In the next 3 to 6 months)
What do I do to get there - This is your strategy

Medium term goals
If I could imagine a next step from "you're hired" at this interview/ point of cv submission, what would that be?
- would I be promoted?
- would I take up an add-on study?
- would I grow the department I'm in, and if so, how?
At the next step:
- who do I invisage my network of influence would be (see upcoming blogs)
- what environment/meetings/projects would I be involved in?
What do I need to do to get there? - this is your strategy

Long-Term goals
What do I think my career ceiling will be?
Do I aim to the ceiling or will I be happy to "almost" reach it?
What would "almost reaching it" look like? (- where will I work (type of company), how will I dress/walk/talk, who will my associates/friends/colleagues be,how will I spend my professional and personal time?
Where will I live/work/play?
What do I need to change in my short-term and long term goals to get there?


A successful person asks themselves this about themselves. A succesfull career person asks themselves this about themselves as well as about the current title they hold at work.

A vision without goals is just a pie in the sky - it's Jack never conquering the giant because he's too scared to plant the beanstalk. Similarly goals without a vision mean you'll always be stuck without a map, somewhere between where you are and where you want to be; but you will definately end up where you're headed!!

Happy Job Hunting!

Cruising down the River - The job hunt begins

So you've decided to get into/ back into the job market.

The hunt begins! Job advertisements can be found online and in newpapers.

When going through advertisements, you will find 2 types of job advertisements:
1. those submitted by companies,
2. those submitted by agencies.

The advert is like a map of the road ahead if you apply (and get) the job - so look at the map. You wouldn't go white water rafting without knowing what's up ahead, would you? Get a sneak preview of what your day would be like at any job by going through its advert carefully. Pay careful attention to the duties described in the advert.

Some companies and recruitment agencies simply do not understand the differences between a marketing and a sales role. Therefore, you may see a "marketing assistant" position that reads like a sales job. If so, then it probably is a sales job regardless of the title.

Similarly, whilst some adverts may state "marketing assistant" they may typically be a secretarial position. If it looks like its a PA role, it probably is. (Hint: "Admin", "Office assistance" and "general office duties" are a good indication that this may be the case.)

If marketing is your preferred career, then neither of the above are the ideal place to start.

However...

The important thing in any career is to begin..

In any rafting trip you pack your dry bag carefully, then actually get into the boat. Career wise, you begin  where you can, preferably in a reputable company within which there is room for lateral growth into the marketing role you wish to occupy, or in a company which you believe has a future.

Essentially,you must start somewhere, but you also need to consider what the future will be for your career if you apply and get a particular job. If the "marketing" role reads like a sales or secretarial position, then by all means do some research on the company offering the job- weigh up the non-marketing aspects of the role against the potential for movement into a marketing role in the company advertising. Research the company itself and decide if this is an environment you'd like to start in. You may want to join a small company in which you can grow while they grow, or you may opt to target only larger corporates. It all depends on your career goals.

It's harder to establish if you should apply for a position or not when the advert is an agency ad and you don't know the company in question, but don't just "tata ma chance" - call the agency and ask a few questions about the company for whom they are recruiting. (Know upfront that they are unlikely to give you the name of their client; but they will be able to tell you what the growth potential in that company is.)

Here are a few good questions to ask an agency:

-How big is the staff compliment in the company?
-Does the company have marketing and sales departments or just a sales compliment?
-(If the company has a marketing department) What is the medium term possibility of moving into a more marketing orientated role within the company?
-Does the company have an international presence?
-What industry is the company in?

From asking these questions you will have acheived two things;

Firstly, you will have made the recruitment agent stand up and take notice of you above other candidates. (Intelligent questions from a candidate who knows the value of their education and career choices always does.)
Secondly you will know if this is a company worth working at, even if the role is not perfect. If the role is perfect for your next career choice, you will know if the company is, too. The education choices we make usually come from looking within ourselves to establish what type of job we would be best suited for, so why should our choice of employer be any different? After all, every product has a value - know yours, be realistic, stay optimistic and aim for the best within your range of choices at any given time.

A Career is the journey to your GOALS - Get some

It makes sense to have a targetted, strategic  approach to job-hunting, rather than a blanket "finding me a job" approach. A targetted approach builds a career. A the latter finds you work.

I've often said to entry level candidates "Life should be what happens when you're carving your career, not the other way around." After all, we spend more time at work and with fellow employees than we do with family or friends -so why not be selective?

It's understandable that many people in this current economy cannot afford to be too choosey, but then again I'm not suggesting you sit it out until the best thing comes along - what I'm saying is look at what's on offer at a particular point in time, then choose the best one or two out of your current options, based always on where you want to end up. You have to have an idea of your destination before you take to the water.

Let's take a step back from the job hunt process for a moment.

Consider the statement "Life should be what happens when you're carving your career". You should live while you carve, and you should carve your life whilst you live your work. When relationships fail, we get up and start again. We move on. We "get over" the emotional rubble in our own unique way and only we know what our baggage is. When a job fails, we can walk away, we can begin anew, but the past is recorded in your CV and it is referred back to by agencies as well as employers.The past impacts the present in both instances, and the present choices dictate the destination. This is why it is important to have career goals and let those dictate your choices alongside current employment opportunities.

When you enter a job blindly looking for employment rather than assessing where this particular choice may lead it's like what they call "going solo cat down high water" in white water rafting. (ie. getting into a one person cataraft with a double-bladed paddle in really deep rapids!) You could find yourself struggling down a totally different stream to your intended path, not to mention being toppled over by rapids you didn't expect! (This is where getting the job could be the worse thing that happens.)

Applying to a job you don't really want as part of your career can be tricky - it might be "just a place to start", but it might be a turning point - so choose carefully.

The point I make then, is that at the very beginning we all get to choose a raft among those available at a particular point in time. We all get to chose to either put on the dry suit and life vest, pack in our dry bag and GO or get stuck at the first river strainer and have to wade our way back to the beginning just because we didn't plan ahead.

Job hunting is very much like rafting - it is possible to live a career at the oars, or seated in the back at the stern, holding on and hoping for the best. But take a look at those individuals who have made things happen for themselves. There is one thing that remains constant; they had vision, (they had GOALS) and they kept their eye on the destination, whilst never forgetting the importance of checking the water flow however briefly each time their grabbed the oars a little tighter around a sharp turn.)

To move towards a goal takes drive. A career in marketing requires guts and perseverance as much as any great career. Anyone can get what's "on offer" but goals have to be worked on, strived towards; opportunities must be seized, and every step (and job opportunity) carefully assessed. Successful people, those pioneers or great names in any industry? They didn't just climb aboard with a "woo hoo" yelp and hope for the best  - they took out their charting paper and pondered on their destination first, then they plotted their course; then they picked from the available opportunities at any given time; then they fought the rapids towards their destination of choice. They knew their goals were waiting on the shore - they knew the journey was going to be rough at times, trying, gruelling, and at times it would be scenic and restfull, but they focussed on the prize.

Whilst we can't all be pioneers, we can re-position ourselves if we've lost our career path (as long as we know where we want to end up.) A career is a living, breathing thing - you can't carve a career unless you have a destination in mind; the best you can hope for is a great ride.

It's as simple as this; "tata ma chance" at whatever sounds like something you could do for pay, and you leave your career in the hands of someone (company or agency) who may not share your best interests. Take your career in your hands and you have to assume responsibility not just for your cv and your duties in a specific role, but also for your choice of what jobs and companies you apply to. Luck is only part of it - whilst luck can determine your current opportunities, it is vision coupled with drive that will ultimately determine your destination.

If you started job hunting a while back and are reading this wondering where you went wrong, wishing you'd taken a different career path, it's not too late to re-assess your goals. You may be exactly where you wanted to be. If you aren't, then it's time to shift gears to get back on track with the river path that initially lit that internal fire of passion and dedication to your work.

Gettting back to the nuts and bolts of job-hunting

To summarise:

1. Set yourself some goals (more in a future blog)
2. Read the job ads available daily/weekly for your particular career path
3. When an ad catches your attention, ask yourself if this will get you onto the next platfrom in your career
4. If you aren't sure, then do any job spec checks or company checks that you need to do
5. Call the agency if you aren't sure about applying to a specific vacancy
6. Submit your CV to the company/ agency (remember the well drafted email, subject line and adress)
7. Follow up with a phone call.

Follow up
A follow-up call let's your adressee know that you are serious about being considered for a specific job opportunity.

• keep it professional- how was your weekend/how's work/howzit/ are not appropriate.
• keep it relevant - "I'm calling about the advert in "... -state the advert
• keep it short - say who you are, ask if they received your CV, thank them for their time and say you hope to hear from them soon.

Note: If they didn't receive your CV, re-send it, then follow up again.

Happy Job Hunting!

Industry Trends & Interesting Data

It is not news to most that 2009 has seen the world enter into a recession. Although there will always be a difference of opinion as to how it emerged and where to assign blame for the financial mess that many companies and individuals found themselves in, most people agree to an underlying lack of caution in lending (and spending) being somehow attached to the roots of the main issues.

It is true that in order to prevent this type of situation from recurring we need to understand how it came about, and there are many articles available online that can be used as reference for those readers who are interested in delving into the economic and financial intricacies of how we got to this point. The repercussions have been felt everywhere, from job losses to price hikes, and certainly many companies have scrambled to review their SWOT analysis and their scorecards, seeking to find ways to stay liquid and a general belt tightening from stationary to staff has definately been felt.

For many newcomers to the job market, it has been a stressful time; internships and graduate programmes being the first to feel the axe of company cut-backs. View that alongside the re-structurings that have taken place across industries, head freezes and retrenchments and one begins to see the very tangible effects on recruitment as a whole, not just in South Africa but globally.

The effects of the recession on the recruitment industry have been many; recruitment agencies have battled to stay afloat, some have gone under, and many others have resorted to retrenchment simply because the demand for staff has whittled beneath their billing capacity, which directly impacts on how many agents stay and how many go. In the end, it's boiled down to a numbers game all around.

At a time when our staff are our greatest asset as companies, these same companies find themselves having to decrease expenditure and targetting this same assett. Some companies will begin to restructure, to re-invent themselves, or to really look at the value add of their human capital. Others panic and blindly hack away at their payroll, following only labour law practice (hopefully) whilst trying to secure a fair balance between expense and growth strategy. But there's an assett companies are perhaps not aware of, which is the ability of a recruitment agency to predict what is happening in the very near future within a specific business sector. Suprised?

It's true. Consider this; the moment your employer is under financial or survival threat, do you not feel it? And do you not, then, begin to "put your feelers out" even though you are relatively happy in their employ? It's a human characteristic; that basic fight or flight element to survival that tells you when to resume job-hunting. It is not unique to a human being in say, the marketing field. Following this logic then, it makes sense that the first people who "see" the companies in trouble via the CVs of their staff are recruitment agencies. It's a research angle that I don't think many people have cottoned onto. Perhaps economists should run a survey on "who's panicking" - because we at IMM  Recruitment can certainly tell you (often before it hits the news) when a company is in trouble. Like a ship in a storm, the crew begins to locate the life-boats long before the mast is shot and the hull compromised.

Looking at this from the employer's perspective it also makes sense; when management identifies the need to restructure, it creates the kind of stress in the workplace that can often be felt right down to the caffeteria. Nobody needs to say "they're thinking of retrenching", or "they're trying to get people to resign" (there is always a grapevine or two hanging about, however unfair it's whispers may be) stress among management filters down, through processes, through small cut-backs here and there, and certainly through staff members' body language. All these put "job threat" on the radar of the employee and we, the recruitment agencies, begin to see those threats by reading into the numbers; ie the number of cvs coming in either from a particular company or a particular industry.

Each day, recruitment agencies receive CVs; some are sent in response to adverts, others are motivated by the spoken or unspoken job threats to individuals, and the cumulative effect is that recruitment agencies can often predict what's about to happen in a specific industry quite accurately. This is especially true of specialist agencies such as the IMM Recruitment - our focus is marketing and sales, which underpin to a large extent the growth of a company and even industry sectors. Just as requests from clients in a specific sector tell us what type of candidate is sought after at a particular moment and make for instance, March,the month of Internships in Marketing, so too silence from clients coupled with CVs from that industry's staff speaks volumes to us.

To illustrate, this year January and Februrary were the start of the "banking months"; we knew it was serious when it went past the 30 and 60 and then 90 day mark! CVs came in from bank call center staff, client services staff, marketing staff, and then sales and even middle and senior management. When sales staff in an industry begin to bulk send their CV to us as a recruitment agency, I tune in to the news. Sure enough, something's about to hit. The stream of CVs didn't stop until just recently, which indicates to me that there is a growing sense of renewed stability about to happen among staff members.

2008, by comparison, saw January as "pharmaceutical month" and we were swamped by CVs of all sorts of professionals from BSC grads to chemical engineers looking for "growth". It lasted about 2 months, then settled, at about the same time that the plastics sector began actively looking for sales, marketing, project management and operational staff from a "background in chemistry".

I'll admit I was surprised at SABC CVs streaming in to us in March/April this year, but that was later clarified in the media, too, although I was certainly not in the dark as to why we were avalanced by Eskom CVs around the March mark!

So the next time you're wanting to know if your company is just having a bad month or the problem is in the industry itself, consider calling up IMM Recruitment and asking us if we're getting loads of cvs from individuals in your industry .. you may find some valuable answers without the huge expense of a dedicated researcher!

Rabia

Smile break - CV mistakes

After all the serious blog entries on CV writing and job hunting, it's time to take a smile break!

Have a giggle with us, then check your CV for similar mistakes.


Below are a few extracts from CVs that are claimed to be real. (we cannot verify this, although it would not surprise us; as recruiters we understand that these "mistakes" can happen..)

CV errors to be avoided:


"Personal Information: I'm married with 9 children. I don't require prescription drugs."

"I am extremely loyal to my present company; please don't let them know of my immediate availability."

"Qualifications: I am a man filled with passion and integrity, and I can act on short notice. I'm a class act and do not come cheap."

"I intentionally ommitted my salary history. I've made money and lost money. I've been rich and I've been poor. I prefer being rich."

"Note: Please don't misconstrue my 14 jobs as 'job hopping'. I have never quit a job."

"Number of dependents: 40."

"Marital Status: Often.
Children: Various"

"Here are my qualifications for you to overlook."


Reasons for Leaving:

"Responsibility makes me nervous."

"They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 every morning. I couldn't work under those conditions."

"Was met with a string of broken promises and lies, as well as cockroaches."

"I was working for my mom until she decided to move."

"The company made me a scapegoat - just like my three previous employers."


Job Responsibilities (Duties)

"While I am open to the inital nature of an assignment, I am decidedly disposed that it be so oriented as to at least partially incorporate the experience enjoyed heretofore and that it be configured so as to ultimately lead to the application of more rarefied facets of financial management as the major sphere of responsibility."

"I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award."


Special Notes:

"Please call me after 5:30 because I am self-employed and my emplyer does not know that I am looking for another job."

"My goal is to be a meteorologist. but since I have no training in meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage."

"I procrastinate- especially when the task is unpleasant."

"Minor allergies to house cats and Mongolian Sheep."

"Personal Interests: Donating blood. 14 gallons so far."


Small Typos that can seriously affect one's meaning:

"Education: College, August 1880-May 1984"

"Work Experience: Dealing with customer's conflicts that arouse."

"Develop and recommend an annual operating expense fudget."

"I am a rabid typist."

"Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest Chain operation."


Now get back to work - job hunting is serious business!

Happy Job Hunting!

10 Tips for Successful CV writing

We promised it, and so here it is: 10 tips that will help you to compile a professional cv.

Well... okay, so it began as 10 tips! But going through our list, it was not comprehensive enough to cater for the needs of both newcomers to the working world and established professionals, so here is a more inclusive list of tips we can all make use of.

1. Contact information:
Ensure that you are contactable at all times. Check that your cellphone number, home number and "alternative contact" names and telephone number are included on your CV.

2. Information Update:
If you have submitted your CV to IMM Recruitment for inclusion in our database and your details have changed, please advise us, either by submitting an updated CV or dropping us a line with your updated details.

3.Transport Issues:
Do remember to include details regarding the status of your drivers licence and whether you have a car. This is particularly important to us as an agency when we are screening for positions that require both.

4. Computer literacy:
This has become an essential tool in the workplace. Remember to list the programs that you are comfortable using, and those in which you are proficient. If you have advanced working knowledge of any programme, bring that to the reader's attention.

5. Employment History:
Singularly the most important part of your CV. Remember to list all the duties you carried in each of your previous jobs. (review CV Rescue part 1 and 2 on this blogsite)

6.Employment dates:
Be as specific as possible about your start and end dates in various jobs, and remember to indicate whether these were permanent or temporary positions. (because your CV may appear to be that of a "job hopper" when in fact you have filled temporary or contract positions.)

7.Education:
In the case of short courses and diplomas, remember to indicate the duration of the training you have received.

8. Current Package:
Review "CV Rescue Part 2 - CV outline" on this blog. Have you remembered to show the break-down of your current package?

9.Qualify your Referee:
Your listed referees should not be friends or colleagues as they will not necessarily be credible references. Instead, provide names of the persons to whom you reported or a senior member of staff with whom you worked closely. Where possible, keep written references from all your employers, which can be attached to your cv. Referees cannot be contacted without your verbal authorisation, and therefore you can choose to leave these out of your cv and simply state "references provided on request". However, if you have a good relationship with your referees, there really is no reason to wish to keep the information confidential.

10.Honesty
Misrepresentation of yourself, your experience or your education is dishonest. Sooner or later it will come to
light. Never provide false information or certificates.

11. Credit Checks
Recruitment agencies will ask you to fill in an "intake" form. On this form you will notice that there is a section where you give permission for them to conduct ITC or criminal record checks. It is illegal for agencies to conduct a criminal check without your signed consent.

12. Disclosure of Information
The South African law states that it is not required of you to disclose certain information about yourself, such as information related to your marital status, whether or not you have children or are pregnant, your health , whether or not you have certain illnesses such as AIDS or TB, etc. This information can be found in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. That said, please excercise wisdom with regards to what you choose not to disclose. After all, you do not wish to create the impression that you are deliberately trying to hide something. Both employers and agencies should know what not to ask but in the same token, if you feel it may cause some unintended discrimination, steer clear of questions about these topics. Personally, I have always volunteered all such information feeling that I'd like an open and honest relationship from the beginning, but it is a personal choice in the end, and one protected by law.

13.Spot Check
Do a spelling check on your email introduction and your CV attachment. Read through it and check your grammar. Make sure that bulleted information is neatly lined up and your paragraph spaces and indexed information is neat and falls perfectly beneath the previous tab.






Happy Job Hunting!

CV Rescue part 2

Having discussed an outline for your cv in our blog entry "CV Rescue", we hope that it will be helpful to all those starting out with compiling their CV.

Following this entry, we have blogged an example of what not to do when submitting your CV to an agency or company. It makes sense then to continue along this vein and discuss how to submit the CV you will so carefully have put together.

However professional your CV may look, sound and "feel", it is only one weapon in the arsenal we are helping you to amass in your hunt for the perfect job. A well constructed cv can be likened to a gun at a shooting range- very good at hitting it's target, but useless without bullets. The "bullet" in this instance is the email and just like a bullet has an entry point, gunpowder and the ability to "spread" its active substances, your emailed cv must be well balanced in terms of  it's layout, it's subject line, and its address. Here are the guidelines for sending an effective CV:

Subject Line:
This should be one of these:

Name of vacancy applying to    OR
Reference number of advert applied to   OR
type of position you are looking for

DO NOT forward an email to an agency or company that you have sent to someone else. Likewise do not send an attached email within an attached email within an attached email to anyone. Keep it simple, clean and professional.

Layout:

1. A CVshould always be sent as an attachment. Remember to attach it!
2. Ensure that your attachment is a .doc extension document. In other words, a word document. When you click "save as" to save your CV onto your computer, you will save it under a name in the "save document" window - use your name and surname. Make sure that it reads your name and surname.doc for example, if your name was Jane Peters you would save your CV as Jane Peters.doc that way ensuring that when your CV reaches its destination, it can be opened. We receive many CVs that we simply cannot open, and in this current economic climate there is no guarantee that agencies have the time to respond to an emailed cv to tell the sender "we cannot open your document".
3. Your email should have a brief introductory letter, stating;
1. who you are
2. the position you are applying for
3. special skills that make you the right candidate
4. salary expectations and availability
5. contact details

          This need not be lengthy - as an example, you could say;

Dear  xxxx (Please get the name right!)

I am applying for the position of ..(title and reference number from advert)............. I have a ...
(e.g. IMM Marketing Diploma from institution X).... and ....(e.g. 3 years experience in sales)........  

I would would like to be considered for this position so as to further my career in (e.g. marketing).
My current salary is ....(e.g. RXXX / per month)... and I would be available (e.g. immediately/ at a month's notice)..

I may be reached on .... (e.g. 072000000).... and look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
(name and surname)


Address:
Submit your CV to each recipient separately. We cannot stress this enough. Just as you cannot send a birthday card you received to someone else, so too you cannot submit a cv by email to one agency or company which you have forwarded from a mail you sent someone else. It's called respect.

Coming up: 10 Tips for Perfect CV writing

Happy Job Hunting!

Not so funny..

In learning what to do when it comes to job hunting, it's imperative that we identify what not to do at the same time. This section (Don'ts) is dedicated to the odd little things we receive or hear. They are not intended as mockery at all, (even if some of these may leave you rolling on the floor with laughter!) but if we look beyond the funny, we'll find that there are lessons to be learnt.

I recently received a cv application via email, the subject line thankfully quoting the name of the vacancy we had posted. Here is what the body text said. You decide how effective this was..

>
>
>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> I
>would
>>like
>>>to
>>>>apply
>>>>>for
>>>>>>the
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>above
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>position
>>>>>>of
>>>(name of position) as
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>it
>is
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
of
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>great

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
interest
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>to
>>>>>>>>>>>me
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(and the arrows went down like this for a few pages further.)

If this is the kind of marketing we do for ourselves, one should not wonder that the response (if there ever is one) is either that an agency ignores our cv, or simply drops it into file 13. After all, we must take pride in our product, and understand that even an email application must put our best foot forward.

Happy Job Hunting.

CV Rescue

Every product you buy nowadays has a manual. Every service you sign up for has an SLA (Service Level Agreement), terms and conditions. When an individual embarks on the hunt for a job, he or she must also have one - it lets people know who we are, what we have done, and a little more, too.. it is a personal and personalisable document that serves as your first weapon in the arsenal of professional job hunting. It is known as a cv, which is the abbreviation for curriculum vitae. Curriculum vitae is the latin for "record of life" and the intent of a cv is to record not just your acheivements, but your accumulated skills, competencies and abilities. It describes who you are and speaks to what you are capable of via what you have already done.

Below is an outline for a simple, straightforward and effective cv. You are the product you are about to market, so get creative!  Too much colour is not a good idea, but professional use of colour, lines, etc is a great way to show your personality.

Remember that although the headings can be left in capitals, you should always type in lowercase, since capitals are construed as shouting.

Briefly, a cv is compiled of 4 main areas:

Section 1 - PERSONAL DETAILS (who am I - legislation governs what you don't have to share)

Section 2 - EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS (What I know - yes, education is important!)

Section 3 - EMPLOYMENT HISTORY  (What I've done - it speaks to my potential!)

Section 4 - REFERENCES AND SPECIAL NOTES

What agencies and employers want is a document that flows so that they can, at a glance, pick out what they are looking for to fill any vacancy they may currently have.

So here we go - The Cv OUTLINE you've been waiting for. Remember to remove the stuff in brackets which we've put in italics since these are guidelines for you! (Contact us via our website http://www.imm.co.za/ for an electronic copy)

(ON YOUR COVER PAGE: )

CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME

YEAR

(remember to keep this updated)

(on page 1:)

PERSONAL DETAILS:

SURNAME:

FIRST NAMES:

KNOWN AS::(optional)

CONTACT NUMBERS: (provide an alternative if you have one)

NATIONALITY

DATE OF BIRTH (optional, but a good idea - you have nothing to hide, after all!)

HOME LANGUAGE

OTHER LANGUAGES (indicate if you are "fluent", "good" or "fair" at these, some people break it down into speak, read and write - especially good if you know a few of them, it can look very impressive!)

DRIVER'S LICENCE:

COMPUTER SKILLS: (indicate the programmes you are comfortable working with)

(on page 2:)

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

(copy over and enter the information below for each of the places you have studied at, starting with the most recent and working backwards to matric/senior certificate)

INSTITUTION:

QUALIFICATION:

YEAR OBTAINED:

SUBJECTS: (use this only when all you have is schooling or matric plus 1 further qualification) 

(on the next page: )

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
(Start with your most recent employer and work backwards chronologically. Keep your cv updated. Whenever you are given a new duty/task/award, add it to your cv so that there is never a last minute rush. Good records make for a great future! Copy over the following headings for EACH of your previous employers)

COMPANY:
SERVICE PERIOD:
POSITION HELD:
DUTIES:
REASONS FOR LEAVING:
SPECIAL AWARDS/ACHIEVEMENTS
(only put this in for those jobs where you have special awards/achievements - there's no point highlighting the fact that you don't have them when you haven't got them, see?)

It is critical that you leave out none of the above information. From this section companies answer the following questions:

 - how many jobs has this person held in X years? (in other words, are they a "job hopper" or on the other end are they a "company X career person", neither of which is ideal)

- how has this person grown, either in the company or in their career

Remember: past behaviour is a predictor of future behaviour - companies and agencies alike with skim your cv in this area in particular for indication that you have certain key abilities, competencies or skills. We will give you more info on what these are in future blogs.

Special note regards "reasons for leaving" - never write something like "my boss was a jerk". if you left for ethical or personal reasons, state something like: "ethical" or "personal" and leave it to discuss during an interview. CAUTION: READ INTERVIEW TIPS blog before you speak (still to come, so watch this space!)

(new page:)
REFERENCES AND SPECIAL NOTES
(A Referee is someone who you have worked for in the past, who can speak about your abilities, talents and special personality and style. When putting references on your cv, make sure of the following:
- that the referee knows they will be a referee for you. It's unfair to not warn people and your
reference will not glow.
- that you pick people who have no hidden agenda against you - this should be obvious but
sometimes isn't..
- that you keep in touch with your referees at least once a year so that you know where to reach
them.  There's no point having a list of referees that no-one can contact.
- when you cannot provide a telephone contact, provide an email adress for this person
- friends and ex-colleagues do not count!
- where possible, keep written references. Some companies only issue certificates of service. try to
maintain good relationships with all ex employers and where possible, get these letters on a
company letterhead before you move on.


REFEREE:
COMPANY:
CONTACT:
(copy this over for each referee)

SPECIAL NOTES:
CURRENT SALARY:
CURRENT BENEFITS:
TOTAL COST TO COMPANY: (explained below)
AVAILABILITY: (in other words, how what notice period do not need to give your current employer, if any. If none, then say "immediate")

Note on TCC - total cost to company --

A company pays a staff member a salary, but from that salary, they deduct
PAYE -pay as you earn- and
UIF - unemployment insurance fund --
they may also contribute X amount towards a medical aid,
or petrol,
or cellphone, depending on the type of work you do.

The full amount of what it costs your company to keep you in their employ is the TCC-Total cost to company -  that is, including whatever taxes they need to deduct from the various items and pay that over to the various government bodies. the higher your salary, the higher the income tax you pay, and this gets deducted before you receive your pay. For this reason we speak of GROSS pay (the full amount of your salary without your benefits), NET pay (the amount you take home after all the deductions) and BENEFITS (the added bits you get or not for medical, pension, petrol, etc, which are also taxable in different amounts)
- its a simple view, but all you need to know. If you need to know more, you probably need an accountant, not a recruiter - lol..)

And that, dear candidate, is your cv in a nutshell. It can speak volumes or it can say nothing about you. But it will certainly represent you, so why not put your best foot forward and re-visit what you have today! See if you have all the necessary bits and pieces of information and add or remove as you feel you need to.


Coming up : TIPS for effective cv writing - just a few little pointers to make sure you're MARKETING the best YOU!


Happy Job Hunting!

First Contact - Be selective

The best place to start is always at the beginning! In this instance, the beginning is the day a graduate contacts us. We are contacted by IMM GSM grads, BCom grads, ND, grads,  you name it and we've probably had at least a couple of dozen phonecalls from that type of graduate interested in persuing a career in marketing or sales.

First contact marks the beginning of our interaction with you, the graduate. Yet before that date, you have embarked on your journey through your choice of educational institution and type of qualification. It is not a secret that IMM GSM graduates are asked for by name. The IMM GSM has a reputation of over 60 years of educating marketing professionals which is held in very, very high regard among companies looking to attract the very best marketing talent. That's not just a sales or marketing pitch from us, it's simply a reality.

We receive literally thousands of cvs and phonecalls from graduates and students looking for work. Some are looking for part time work, others for full time employment. Some have just started out while others have been looking for a while.

Cvs reach us either by way of a response to our various job postings (among others we use our website http://www.imm.co.za/) or via word of mouth, or directly as a result of graduation day. Whilst we would love to reply to each and every cv that comes in, we have to keep focussed and target primarily those cvs that meet current vacancy requirements. However, that does not mean to say that we ignore or delete other applicants. Each cv is viewed, each candidate assessed and then placed onto a database of available candidates. Our candidates can be assured that when and if a vacancy emerges for which they would be ideally suited, we will be in touch.

Enter, then, into the "meet and greet" or "intake" interview. Ethically all agencies should interview their candidatess prior to submitting them to an agency. Such interviews can be done telephonically or in person, yet we find that the personal approach is best and so prefer to conduct personal interviews.

For the graduate, it can be frustrating to attend interviews with agencies and then wait for a "call up" for an interview with a company, yet it must be understood that the one cannot take place without the other, and that the latter does not necessarily and automatically flow from the former. There are times when we interview towards a job spec, and there are other times when we interview simply to get to know our candidates a little better, so that we always have candidates at our fingertips that could fit a specific vacancy.
Agency interviews are not a bad thing, then, as frustrating as they can be, but there is certainly a trick to it, for the graduate- and that is, to not send your cv out as a blanket cv to all and sundry.

The very first piece of advice we can offer a job seeker is that they be selective about who and when they send their cv out.

There really is no point sending one's cv to an IT recruitment agency, a Temping agency, a specialist marketing recruiter and everyone else. It is rather defeatist behaviour; firstly because agencies that do not specialise in marketing are not equipped (in many instances) to deal with the specific requirements of this industry. Hence, the candidate will either never be contacted or go into an interview where they are not appreciated for their specialist skills. Secondly, the candidate that sends out hundreds of cvs will begin to feel that "nothing's happening" and grow negative about their career choice and possibly themselves, in the case of the younger graduate.

The other mistake that many job seekers make at this point is that they do not read the advertisements they respond to. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of reading not just the educational requirements of a particular job but the experiential requirements too. Too many times candidates who have grown desperate (possibly because they've sent too many cvs! see above..) will "Tata ma chance" (in their own words) and send out cvs to anything and everything that is however remotely associated to their career choice.

We as agencies quickly pick up on this because we will receive the same cv 5 or 6 or 12 times, each time with (hopefully) a different subject and sometimes (often) no heading.

The most important step in first contact, then, is to be selective about what vacancies you apply to as a job seeker. Look for the vacancy that speaks to what you can do, what you will be comfortable and happy doing and what will get your foot into the proverbial door of employment. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is that a candidate lands the job they apply to - only to find that it is either above their head and setting them up for failure, or not at all what they want to do. Just because one has a degree does not mean one can do it all. Essentially, in the beginning, one must simply begin. And to begin one must read through advertisements as though looking for something lost - something that the candidate knows is theirs and they must retrieve - not something they aspire to but is unrealistic or for which they are not honestly ready. It requires integrity and it requires the simple of honesty of desire to begin. Certainly, once experience is earned and confidence grown through small acheivements, then a job seeker can move to a more demanding role; but in the beginning, one must begin.

Therefore, read adverts carefully. Identify your strengths, weeknesses and career aspirations, and understand your own particular limitations. You don't need to know where you'll be in 10 years - when you are starting out, you only need to know what your next step should be. If we all look to the next step each time we take one, we can look back one day over the path we have travelled and realise that we have crafted our career from a premise of personal truth and passion;  and is that not true success?!

Happy Job Hunting!

Marketing Me, Marketing you.

Welcome to the blog site for IMM Recruitment's specialist recruiters!


The aim of this blog is primarily to assist graduates and job seekers in marketing themselves effectively in the job market, and secondly to further open the channels of communication and learning between ourselves and our candidates.

This IMM Recruitment blog is intended as a mouthpiece for the Recruitment managers of IMM Recruitment as well as our candidates; it is dedicated to learning, sharing and growing among ourselves. It can be viewed as a training ground where job seekers are able to pick up and share tips and experiences, comments and constructive advice to one another. It is essentially a forum then, as much as a blog; a forum for sharing and learning and walking alongside one another during this time of global recession and beyond.

We hope, as recruitment managers for IMM Recruitment, that this will remain a place of honesty and integrity so that we may all grow as individuals and members of the labour force as we continue to build on South Africa's future.

For a long time now, both Isabeau and myself have counselled students, graduates and professionals on their career path, their approach to job hunting and a variety of topics related to work life. We have found that wether our candidates are in Gauteng or Kzn or Cape Town for that matter, there are a number of common needs when it comes to recruitment; namely information, understanding and guidance. For these newcomers to the profession of marketing we have created the blog category  "Marketing Me" where we will post tips, tools and the odd anecdote about things that happen (names witheld) during our walk with these vibrant, dynamic and enthusiastic youngsters that are our graduates.

Between Isabeau and I we've spent, cumulatively, hours, weeks, months, and yes, years growing in  understanding our candidates, our graduates and our niche in the recruitment industry. We hope that on this blog we will be able to share some of our accumulated knowledge with the reader so as to further guide and assist professionals entering into the marketing and sales professions. Since there is no end to knowledge this will also be a place where we can learn from readers. So, if there are any articles you wish to submit, we will most certainly review them towards publishing right here.

We welcome your comments and questions, which we will attempt to answer on this site as far as possible and as much as time permits. It is as much our blog as that of our readers.


Finally, we hope that through this blog you will gain an insight into ins and out of IMM Recruitment's drive and passion to fulfill the vision to Effectively position marketing talent.

In the words of Seneca; "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult."

We hope you enjoy this walk with us.

Happy Job Hunting!
Rabia