Can You Follow Instructions

Can you follow instructions?

I often use this fun quiz at the beginning of a group session “completing applications forms”. I thought my blog followers would enjoy attempting this quiz.

See if you can complete all the questions in under 3 minutes-most cannot. You will need to print this quiz before starting:

Time Limit: 3 minutes

CAN YOU FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS?

1. Read all that follows before doing anything.

2. Write your name in the upper right hand corner of this page.

3. Circle the word “corner” in sentence two.

4. Draw five small squares in the upper left hand corner of this page.

5. Put an “X” on each square.

6. Put a circle around each square.

7. Sign your name under line 5.

8. After your name, write “yes, yes, yes.”

9. Put a circle around number 7.

10. Put an “X” in the lower left hand corner of this page.

11. Draw a triangle around the “X” you just made.

12. Call out your first name when you get to this point in the test.

13. If you think that you have followed directions carefully to this point, call out, “I have

14. On the reverse side of this paper add 6950 and 9805.

15. Put a circle around your answer.

16. Count out loud, in your normal speaking voice, from 10 to 1.

17. Put three small pin or pencil holes in the top of this page.

18. If you are the first person to get this far, yell out, “I am the first person to get to this spot and I am the leader in following directions.”

19. Say out loud, “I am nearly finished. I have followed directions.”

20. Now that you have finished reading carefully, do only those things called for in the sentences numbered 1 and 2. Did you read everything on this page before doing anything?

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Hope you enjoyed and passed the quiz- Quiz author – Unknown

How to gain an Interview from a job fair

How to gain an interview from a job fair

Job fairs are held throughout the UK, being organised by recruitment and job advertisement companies’ as well local councils and public service companies. Job fairs can be held for both general job roles or targeted to a specific sector.

First find out which company/sectors are attending, if even one company for the industry you are interested in is attending, then it is worth going.

Before you go to a jobs fair ensure you know which career and job role you are interested in. Many people gain career ideas by meeting with a qualified career advisor.

How to prepare for a job fair?

1. First, the impression you make at the job fair counts, often the same person who interviews you for a job position, will also attend the jobs fair. We all know that First impressions count.

2. Research the company you are interested in, like you would for an interview. Companies are always impressed if you know something about the company history.

3. Check and update your CV, if your unsure how good your CV is, have your CV reviewed by professionals. You need to take a targeted CV to the job fair.

4. Dress smart, people make instant presumptions on your appearance.

5. Most importantly, prepare a 60 second introduction you can use with employers. Don’t make it sound too scripted, but it should quickly explain why you are attending the job fair and what you are looking for.

Example: “ Hello, my name is Dave Smith, I currently work at (Company Name) I am interested in applying for a position as a (job role) within your company, I have 3 years experience working in this field and feel that I would fit in well with your company”

How to act during the job fair.

1. Timing is everything, job fairs can be very busy and when you speak to an employer you want them to listen to your excellent prepare introduction. Wait until the employer is free and the head over and introduce yourself.

2. Carry all your documents and CVs in a smart case; remember people judge you on appearances.

3. If an employer is busy talk to an employer on a different stand as they sometimes have inside information regarding the employer you really want a position with.

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4. Shake hands with the employer and be prepared to answer question regarding your skills and experience, like any informal or formal interviews prepare questions to ask the employer.

5. Discuss the application process and ask the employer what type of examples/skills they like to see on the application form. This way you know your application form will be targeted to each individual employer.

6. Finally, thank the employer; shake hands and move on to the next employers stand.

Need a new CV?

I can't get an interview

I can’t get an interview!

Many job hunters become frustrated after applying for large numbers of job advertisements, only never to receive an interview. As a careers advisor, I would always check how the job hunter had applied for these vacancies. As an example you may in the main, be applying for jobs using your CV, if your CV does not gain you interviews it will either be because:

• Your CV is not targeted to the industry you are applying for
• The CV you use is more then 2 pages, so the employer is not reading the whole of your CV
• You have not sent a Cover Letter with your CV; in some cases employers see this as essential, while other employers don’t.

If you’re unsure how good your CV is, have your CV reviewed for free.

If you have a good 2 page targeted CV, with the text split up by headings and bullet points and you always send an individual tailored covering letter. Basically your CV is great and sell’s your strengths to the fullest.

If this is the case you may need to re-look at the job positions you are applying for, as some job hunters apply for jobs out of their ability.

• Are you applying for job you feel has a large salary, compared to your ability to fulfil the role?
• Do the job roles you apply for ask for skills and experiences you do not have?

It is always good to aim high and follow your dream, as I always believe everyone can achieve their goal-sometimes you first need to overcome a couple of small barriers.

If you don’t have a career goal, you can use a career coach to help you move forward.

If your job goal is set high, you need to ask yourself if you first need to apply for a vacancy a level below your career goal? And use this as a stepping stone towards your dream career.

How to check if you are applying for job at the right level.

Pick 4-5 job adverts you have applied for and highlight with a highlighter the common skills, experiences and qualifications needed for all the job adverts. you now need to be honest with yourself, you may already know you would be a dedicated worker but if the advert is asking for a certain qualification or a certain number of years experience as an essential requirement - do you have what the employers are asking for? Be honest, as we want to increase the amount of interview you receive.

If the answer is yes, you do have the essential requirements, then you need to re-look at your CV or application forms review them.

If you answered no:

You can apply for any job and hope that your other strengths will out way the criteria you do not have, but if you have already applied for a large number of similar vacancies with a good CV or application form and you do not make it through to the interview round, if you want a different result, do something different, you may now need to re-look at the positions or salary you are applying for (the higher the salary the more strict the employer will be when it comes to flexibility around the essential criteria)

need to find a job?

Still apply for jobs in the same industry, jobs that suit your skills and abilities and use this experience to make you more employable for future industry job roles on a higher scale.

Do you need a career coach?

What is a Targeted CV?

A targeted CV

I recently received an email querying the difference between a General CV and a Targeted CV,

Many unsuccessful job seekers in fact will not have heard of targeted CVs, having just one CV. Often this CV is of a good standard and records the job hunter’s employment and education history. So, why do you need a targeted CV?

A targeted CV will make you more marketable.

If you’re applying for several job roles, which many job hunters do to help increase their chances of gaining employment you need to create a targeted CV. A targeted CV is a CV aimed at an individual job role and company; research has shown that targeted CVs increase offers of interviews.

First write your general CV, or if needed ask a CV writing service to write one for you. A general CV should record your contact details, personal profile, employment history, education, hobbies and your references.

Once you have a CV, read the job specification for the job you are applying for. The job specification will tell the job hunter what key skills and qualities are essential for this particular job role in this particular organisation, if you possess these essential requirements RECORD them on your CV-it’s these skills the employer is looking for, so many job hunters record information that they feel is relevant, where as the interviewer does not.

The personal profile is often the first section on the CV the employer will read, this is the section on your CV to really sell yourself. Look at the personal profile as a “sales” paragraph, why should the employer interview you? What makes you stand out from the other applicants? Before you write your personal profile, re-read the job specification and only record your transferrable skills needed for this opportunity.
How long does an employer spend reading your CV?

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An employer can receive over 300 CVs for every advertised job role, for any organisation that is a large amount of CVs to read and time is money! In many cases employers will spend 30 seconds “skimming” through your CV quickly looking to see if you have the essential skills and qualities needed for the job role. If you do, the employer will put your CV through to the second round of the application process, spending more time dissecting your CV, helping the employer decide which 6, on average, applicants to interview for every one job position.

Unhappy with your job?

CV Writing tips.wmv

Employment King's Interview

Read Employment King's online interview

How to get rid of gap's in your CV

Do you have a CV with gaps in your employment history? Don’t worry, so do many other job hunters. Some gaps can be easily explained, while other normally longer gaps may not be so easy to explain.

The secret to writing a CV is to keep the CV positive, especially when explaining employment gaps. If you can not avoid the gap in employment, you should record an explanation rather than just leaving a long gap.

If you leave a gap, an employer reading your CV, will notice your employment gaps and may come to their own conclusions why you have the employment gaps.

How to get rid of gaps in employment.

1. On your employment history only record the years of employment rather than the day, month and year as this will quickly delete any small gaps of unemployment between jobs.

2. Record if you have had time off for becoming a parent or taking a gap year to travel-you can even record what skills and qualities you have gained from this experience that you can use in your new job.

3. If you have had a custodial sentence and completed any qualifications while in custody, you can record the qualifications and governing body. This will look like you have attended a training establishment. You don’t need to record criminal convictions on your CV, when completing an application form you have to answer honestly the question “do you have a criminal record” Remember with many industries you don not need to declare “spent Convictions” for more information visit the Nacro website.

4. Many people at one time throughout their career have a long term illness, leaving them with an employment gap. Explain that you have had an accident or illness and you are now completely recovered and ready for continuing with your career. I recently worked with a client who had recovered from cancer, while having treatment the client became a mentor for other cancer patients, from this he gain a wide range of skills that he could add to his CV.

5. Have you been unemployed for several years? Many job hunters find a large unemployment gap hard to explain. To overcome this type of employment gap you need to highlight any positive activities you undertaken, this could be voluntary work, attending a short course or a hobby that has given you transferable skills that will be useful to your next employer.

Need help? Use a professional CV writing service.

Employment Opportunities

Job hunting is only hard when you don’t know how to find the job vacancies and employment opportunities. If you want to quickly increase the amount of job opportunities you can find:

1. First, use job search engines – the Internet is an important tool for job hunters. You can quickly find hundreds and thousands of job adverts by entering your job title and location into a job search engine. TIP * try inserting different job titles, as search engines are word sensitive.

2. Company WebPages – You won’t find many employers without a company webpage, in most cases companies will save money on job advertisements by advertising their own jobs on their own website. To find company recruitment WebPages, quickly Google “the company name” and “recruitment”

3. Speculative Applications – Don’t just wait for companies to advertise vacancies, show them you are interested in them and send a speculative letter along with your CV. Research has shown there is a 40% success rate using this approach. If you need to create a CV, use a CV writing service.

Tesco

"At Tesco, the philosophy behind Every Little Helps is at the very heart of everything we do. It's not just a marketing slogan, it's what makes us different." Source www.tesco-careers.com

Everyone has heard of Tesco, with it being the largest British retailer. In the UK it is hard to find yourself without a Tesco being a short drive away. Tesco started trading in the UK in 1924 and now has 2,362 UK stores employing 286, 394 employees.

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Tesco Jobs; With Tesco being one of the UKs largest employers, it’s not surprising that Tesco offer a wide range of skilled and low skilled job roles:

• Head Office
• Distribution
• Store
• Pharmacy
• Clothing
• Tesco Bank
• Tesco.com

What Tesco Career would suit you?

Tesco offer a wide range of jobs roles at a variety of levels and are keen to improve and develop their staff offering apprenticeships, qualifications and a staff development programme.

What type of worker is Tesco looking for:

“There are people. And then there are Tesco people
Tesco people are easy to spot because they're always:

• Passionate about retail.
• Focusing on the customer and striving to understand them better than anyone.
• Driven to achieve results through determination and commitment.
• Committed to treating people in a fair and consistent way.
• Willing to roll their sleeves up to get things done.
• Determined to respond energetically to customer feedback.
• Motivated to work in partnership with others to achieve individual and team objectives.
• Adaptable and flexible to thrive in a 24/7 business.
• Devoted to seeking feedback on their performance and investing time in their own development.” Source www.tesco-career.com

With Tesco announcing their about to create 1000 new jobs in Newcastle, Tesco are set to continue to expand. For someone with ambition and passion, Tesco will offer the opportunities for you grow and climb the career ladder.

You can view all the Tesco job roles and down load application forms on www.tesco-careers.com Their website has a variety of information and advice to help you choice if Tesco is the career for you, including employees profiles.

Learn how to complete application forms.

reBlog from smartmeters.com: GE to Create Green Jobs in the UK

I found this fascinating quote today:

General Electric International announced plans to spend 110 million Euros on an offshore wind turbine manufacturing base and create up to 2000 green jobs in the UK. GE will also create application and service engineering centers around Britain and plans to develop a 4 Megawatt capacity wind turbine.  The investment will follow the successful outcome of the government’s grid infrastructure competition to make the roll out of Round 3 UK offshore wind a reality.smartmeters.com, GE to Create Green Jobs in the UK, Mar 2010

You should read the whole article.

reBlog from smartmeters.com: GE to Create Green Jobs in the UK

I found this fascinating quote today:

GE International CEO Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco says offshore wind will play a vital role in meeting the growing global demand for cleaner, renewable energy. “These investments will position us to help develop Europe’s vast, untapped offshore wind resources, while also creating new jobs for both GE and our suppliers.”Regarding the announcement, energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, remarked, “We’re creating the right conditions and incentives to maximize the potential of our wind resource. Now we have another leading player entering the offshore wind market as a result, GE’s investment will create new jobs and help the supply chain flourish, reinforcing the UK as the destination for offshore wind investment.”Analysis from the Carbon Trust indicates the U.K.’s offshore wind industry could employ 70,000 by 2020 and generate £65 billion over the next 40 years. Dr. Gordon Edge, director of economics and markets at RenewableUK, notes that RenewableUK has long maintained the UK could become a leading offshore wind center, resulting in “thriving manufacturing clusters and 57,000 jobs by 2020.”Other elements of GE European expansion include plans to create a new Offshore Technology Development Center in Oslo; developing a Conceptual and Systems Design Center in Karlstad, Sweden; a new engineering center in Hamburg featuring product development, application engineering and advanced technology; and expanding resources at its existing wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen.smartmeters.com, GE to Create Green Jobs in the UK, Mar 2010

You should read the whole article.

What is the National Minimum Wage?

In October 2010 the National Minimum Wage rates will increase from:

• £5.80 to £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 and over
• £4.83 to £4.92 an hour for workers aged 18 to 20
• £3.57 to £3.64 an hour for workers aged 16 to 17

Apprentice for the first time will now be eligible for a minimum wage rate of £2.50 an hour

The new apprenticeship rate will apply to:

• apprentices under 19
• apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship

Need more advice on the national minimum wage?

The Pay and Work Rights Helpline number is 0800 917 2368

How much tax do I pay when I gain a job?

"If you're starting your first job

If you're a student and you've done some part-time work this tax year, you may have a form P45 from your previous employer. This gives details of your earnings and the tax you've paid. A tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April.

If you haven't got a P45, your new employer will ask you to fill in a form P46. It's important you complete this before your first pay day so your employer knows what tax code to use. They'll send the P46 to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) so that they can set up a record for you and review your tax code.

Your employer uses your tax code to work out how much tax to take off your wages through the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) system.

What tax you'll pay

There are two main rates of Income Tax:

• 20 per cent on income up to £37,400 (basic rate)
• 40 per cent on income of £37,401 or more (higher rate)

However, nearly everyone who lives in the UK gets a tax-free personal allowance. This is the amount of income you can receive, spread equally over the year, without having to pay tax on it."

Source: www.direct.gov.uk

Happy Easter

Employment King would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter.

5 quick ways to increase your job opportunities

1. Contact your last 3 employers explaining to them that you are looking to progress your career and ask them if they know about any industry vacancies. Managing Directors benefit from inside industry knowledge, as long as you left the company on good terms, many will be happy to share this information with you and even give you a recommendation.

2. Sign up to Google and Yahoo Employment News Feeds; you can filter this to industry and sector information and vacancies, these links can be e-mailed to you on a daily basis. Most industries have sector websites and Industry newsletters, to increase your knowledge of the companies recruiting sign up to receive these weekly bulletins.

3. Let others know you're back in the job market, it's amazing the amount of people who gain job offers from information passed on to them from friends and family. This can be verbal or through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.

4. Many job search engine websites will allow you to sign up to industry job adverts, this will save you time with your job hunting. It’s good to sign up to at least 5 job search engines to help maximise your job hunting.

5. Look at other careers and/or job roles that match your skills, qualities, everyone has a wide range of transferable skills that can be used in a wide range of job roles. Once you can identify vacancies that are both suited to your experience and that you will enjoy you will find that you have a larger number of vacancies to apply for.

Need careers Advice?