SWORDS
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SWORDS
There are basically only 4 ways of finding a new job:
We’ll cover replying to adverts next month, but this month we’ll look at how to make the most of the amazing opportunities that employment agencies offer.
1. Show That You Can Meet Their Need
The agency is paid by the companies they find new employees for – a percentage of the person’s salary. They aren’t there to help you, they are there to find the right person for the job vacancy. Many people think the agency should be working hard for them, but the people looking for jobs aren’t the ones paying the agency’s fees.
If you can show that you are skilled, qualified, experienced, presentable, capable, etc., you are helping to meet the agency’s need and they will put you forward for jobs.
2. Write a high-impact covering letter
Your cover letter should make the recruiter want to read your CV – and your CV should make them want to get you in for an interview. Make your cover letter interesting, ****
3. Have A ‘Knock Their Socks Off’ CV
Agencies are frantically busy places, they don’t have time to wade through pages and pages of your job history and references. Keep your CV short (around 1,000 words), to the point and dont’ repeat yourself. Think of your CV as your advert. Adverts are ruthlessly edited so only the most essential words are on there. A CV isn’t a novel and it isn’t your life history. You want the most important points on there (not which month and year you took your Grade 1 Piano exam!).
4. Don’t dress for s hopping trip
Lots of employment agencies are on the high street, so often people pop into them to ask about vacancies while they are out shopping. This means that the recruiters’ first impression of people is often of them looking stressed, bedraggled, clutching half a dozen carrier bags and trying to calm fractious toddlers. Not the best first impression! A visit to an employment agency should be prepared for as if you were going for an interview to a job. Business dress, neat hair, polished shoes, no chipped nail varnish or car oil-stained hands. You don’t get a second chance to make that first impression, don’t waste it.
5. Show that you will represent the agency at any interviews
Agencies need to hold on to their clients – the employers. If they send people for interviews who aren’t top-notch, they run the risk of losing the client. By demonstrating that you have some awareness of how the system works, they will feel they can trust you enough to send out to interviews with their clients.
