The downturn in the economy caused by the turmoil in the financial markets over the last 18 months has meant that many people have faced redundancy at a time when there is seemingly less work out there than ever before.

The situation seems to be particularly relevant to our own geographic area as so many of the large employers around Cheshire, North Wales and the North West region in general have been focussed on the financial services sector, especially during the last 10 – 15 years.

The prospect of looking for work can seem daunting at the best of times but even more so if you have been secure in your career up to this point and have worked in one place or industry for a number of years, with some newly unemployed professionals having lost their jobs with up to 20 years service!

There are some practical things that you can do to make sure that you are ahead of the ever expanding community of job seekers out there, and here are a few practical tips that you can implement immediately to improve your chances of securing a new opportunity:

-��Covering Letter:- Write a “killer” cover letter for every job that you apply for telling the prospective employer what you can offer them and what they will get in return for their money. Make it relevant to their specific business. So many people applying for jobs send only a CV which merely lists their jobs and times they worked there. Use your cover letter as an opportunity to sell yourself ! Be enthusiastic and passionate with what you write about why you want to work for them!

-��CV:- We probably all know that your CV should be a document that details your experience and length of time served in each particular role. It should be no more than 2 pages long, and most importantly it should list not only what you did (i.e. responsibilities and direct reports – tasked to implement new sales strategy / 10 direct sales people reporting) but also specific achievements (i.e. raised turnover by 70% and profitability by 67%)

-��Send you CV and cover letter to the M.A.N. (the person with the MONEY, AUTHORITY & NEED):- Find out who the Director of the department is, or even better the owner of the business. Often people will send CV’s to the HR department, but it is much more powerful if the unit manager or owner receives your “killer” letter and CV and passes it to the HR team with a note on it saying “this person looks good, should see!”

-��Interview Practice:- If you haven’t attended interviews for a while then try and avoid going in cold! You should list 5 -10 questions that you think you might be asked, and practice these in front of someone, it could be your partner, your peer group, or your recruitment consultant. Make the mistakes when it doesn’t matter rather than when it does!

-��Recruitment Agency Selection:- There are literally thousands of local and national agencies out there that are able to help you with your search for work. It is important to work closely with just a few of them (I would say 3 max.) as there is nothing worse than your CV landing on the same hiring managers desk from multiple sources. Be strict in telling the agency what you want from them, and select agencies based on their knowledge of your industry and your locality.

-��Job Boards:- There are hundreds of job boards available out there now, and you should register your CV with some of the larger ones as well as some of the more local and industry specific ones out there. (For example: Monster and Totaljobs are good generic boards, Salestarget is a sales specific board, and jobs-cheshire.co.uk is a good local job board.) I would also suggest signing up for the “jobs by email” service that a lot of the major job boards provide. This service means that jobs matching your requirements will be sent to your inbox as soon as they go live.

-��Career Change / Self Employed / Franchise opportunities:-
Redundancy / job loss can actually be a great opportunity to think about what you really want to do and where you would like to be in 5 – 10 years time. Have you ever wondered about working for yourself? Well if you have a redundancy package then this could be just the time to set up on your own, buy a franchise, or re train in a completely different field. Business Link (www.businesslink.gov.uk) offer a good resource for advice and direction, and other organisations like The British Franchise Association can give you some great inspiration and ideas (www.thebfa.org)

-��Social & Business Networking Sites:- I would strongly advise anyone looking for work to utilise the power of online social and business networking sites. Update your profile so that it is current, make as many connections as possible, and interact with your community to let them know what you are up to, and looking for!
www.facebook.com and www.linkedin.com are the most obvious places to start! Despite what people tell you facebook is not just for kids and the average of a user is around 26 but it is rising all the time! The average age of a linkedin user is 35, and you’d be surprised how many people you know, or have worked with, are present in these communities!

I hope some of these tips and advice prove useful to you in your search for a new job. Stay positive and focussed and this could turn out to be a great opportunity for your future!

��
For more information on how you can secure FREE advice on improving your job search contact us enquiries@adambutlerltd.co.uk or call and speak to one of the team on 0845 618 9535.