Advice Centre
Struggling to write a CV?
Many people begin writing their CV and their mind goes blank. It is renowned as one of the most difficult things to do “sell yourself”. Below are some top tips to get your started, but if all else fails contact Indigo People and we will happily guide you on the phone or arrange a coaching session to help you get started.
Top tips for CV writing:
- Get a friend to help you write a list of what you are good at. Let them be honest, it is always easier for someone else that is close to you to spot these positive skills you have
- Write down all the experience you have up until now. Include everything to start with, you can always strip it back later
- Start with an opening sentence that summarises who you are, what you are good at and why someone should employ you. This should give them enough information to encourage them to read on and find out more about you
- Your CV is only an introduction to who you are but it should encourage a potential employer to want to meet you face to face. Make it factual but also interesting. Include personal interests in part of your CV so they get to know what you do outside of work
- When writing about your work experience, mention what your responsibilities were / are along with what you have achieved while with the company
- Management experience should also be mentioned, how many people did you manage and what level were they?
- Continuous Professional Development. All employers will be interested in your technical training and qualifications but also any professional development you have done since leaving college. Any courses you have undertaken at other employment or undertaken yourself in the evenings to further your knowledge will all be of interest. Remember to include any IT skills or business / accounting qualifications too
- Try to keep your CV to a maximum of 2 pages and format it so it is easy to read, maybe even use bullet points within the text to make certain points stand out
- Ensure you don’t have any spelling mistakes in your CV, read, re-read and get someone else to re-read again to ensure all details are correct
- Remember to put your contact details on your CV so when you generate interest you can be easily contacted. Include your home address, email and telephone number.
- If you really want to catch the eye of a potential employer why not include a small photo of yourself
- Don’t lie on your CV, you will only get caught out!
Not sure what direction to take with your career? (school / college leaver)
There are so many routes you can take when you leave school or college, it can all seem overwhelming. There are lots of career advice centres provided by the government offering free of charge advice. Your college may also have held a careers open day to help guide you and provide advice on what your options are. Once you are qualified most people have 4 main options:
- Get a job with a reputable company that will continue to train and develop you
- Start your own business. For the brave and ambitious this can be a very successful move however you will need financial support as well as a good network of contacts and buckets of energy and enthusiasm. You will also need experience beyond just the spa and health and beauty industry. You will need accounting and business skills. Business Link is a government funded organisation that can help advise you if this is a route you decide to
pursue. - Continue with your education and take further qualifications. Your college / school will be able to help you chose the right course and how to go about registering. The job centre can also provide information on courses in your area.
- Travel! It may seem like a luxury but after studying, many people chose to take time out and travel abroad before they commit to getting a job.
Once you have explored all your options, if you decide you want to “get a job”, come and speak to Indigo People to find out what opportunities we have to offer. We wish you well with whatever route you take.
Thinking of leaving your current job but not sure if it’s the right thing to do
You may have recently started a job and you aren’t really enjoying it as much as you had hoped, or you may have been doing a job for a while and want a change. My advice would be do not leave your current job until you have answered the following:
- How long have you been in your current role? (if it’s less than a year, why are you looking to move on so soon?)
- Do you enjoy your current job? If not, confide in a friend or colleague and get them to help you write a list of what is good and what you don’t enjoy about your current role. This will help you decide if any of the less enjoyable aspects can be changed (either by you or by your manager). If not and you decide it is time to move on, this list will help you know what you want from your next role and what to avoid. Include people you work with in this. It’s important to cover all aspects of your role.
- Look at your point in time, is it a particularly busy and stressful time that could calm down ie is it Christmas rush with added stress, or is your company undergoing a structural change which will improve in a month or so time? If you can justify why you are not happy and see an end to it, great you just need to stick it out a little longer. Every job has it’s up and down times. Being able to see your way through a tricky patch is a credit to you and you will be rewarded in the long run if you can work together with your employer and come out stronger the other side.
Not confident when interviewing a candidate. Are you asking the right questions to get the best results?
Interviewing and management skills are often left to the individual to pick up “on the job”. There is rarely any formal training given and often interviewers can feel out of their depth – are you asking the right question.
These helpful tips may be of use, however if you would like further coaching on interviewing tips and techniques please let one of our team know and we will be more than happy to help.
- When interviewing the key is in preparation. Make sure you have read the CV’s thoroughly and mark any questions you would like ask them in the margin as you go along.
- Try to ask questions in logical sections, for example, work experience, future progression, personal life. It’s important to follow a structure so that your interview flows
- Explain at the beginning of the interview what your planned structure is to the candidate, how long they will be with you and when they can ask questions. Introduce everyone present. If you are going to write notes, explain to the candidate what you will be doing so it puts them at ease
- If you are interviewing with a colleague make sure you both meet before the interview to discuss what your approach is and who is asking what questions
- Ask open ended questions ie not ones a candidate can say “yes / no” to.
- The more relaxed you make the candidate feel, the more open he / she will be with their answers
- Give the candidate an opportunity to ask questions, if you don’t know the answer to a question they ask be honest and tell them you will need to get back to them with an answer
- At the end of the interview thank the candidate for their time and explain the next steps to the interview ie who will contact them to give interview feedback, when will this be, if they go through to the next round what will be the process.
Download our Candidate Information Sheet.
Need help writing a job specification / description
Large companies have the benefit of an HR department who can advise on what to include in a job specification or person specification. Smaller companies may not have this so we thought we would give some advice on what you need to prepare before you approach recruitment consultants or begin job advertisements.
Job description
The aim of a job specification or description is to write down what you will need that person to do in their day to day role. It should be clear and concise but also detailed enough to cover every aspect of the job. Include:
- Job title
- Who they will report into
- Location of the job (and if there will be any travel requirements)
- Hours of work (will there be any exceptions?)
- A summary of main duties / tasks of the job
- day to day tasks
- management responsibilities
- ad-hoc responsibilities
- Objectives – how will the person know if they are doing a good job? Any sales targets should be included here
- Health and safety responsibilities are important to include here and legal advice should be sought on any specific requirements given your individual company / sector
Person Specification
A person specification should provide a list of requirements the person undertaking the job will need to have. This should cover
- Technical or personal:
- knowledge
- experience
- skills
Try to split this into what is a key requirement (must have) and what is desirable. Management experience should also be included. Care must be taken not to discriminate when writing a person specification and further legal advice should be sought if you are in any doubt as to what constitutes discrimination. A person specification is not a legal requirement however can be of real benefit to focus on the type of person you are really looking for to fulfil that role.
Do you have a high staff turnover?
We often get asked to recruit staff that will stay with the company ie will not leave after 6 months. Of course, we will work with each employer to get an understanding of the culture within the business and what other requirements you will have of an employee to help them fit in and help your retention of staff. However, there is no guarantee that staff will become life long partners with their employer. At Indigo strong and happy employer/employee partnerships is our ultimate aim and we can work with you to improve staff retention.
Companies can look at some key fundamentals to help with staff retention. If you believe you have a high staff turnover, an honest appraisal of the below will be of benefit.
The top reasons for leaving a job are:
- Poor benefits / reward in relation to the demands of the role or the marketplace
- A lack of training and development opportunities
- Amount of time spent at work or travelling to work
- Colleague relationships
- Relationships with management
If you would like a more objective and independent appraisal (perhaps your staff will be more open to somebody from outside your business), we also offer a consultation service, honestly appraising your business and staff structure. Focussing on retention we can supply a recommendation to you of how improvements can be made. Please call to speak to one of our consultants to get more information on this service.
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