During your job search there are a lot of things to keep on top of. You’ll need to keep your CV writing up to date, write multiple cover letters, speak to recruitment companies and keep checking for the latest job vacancies. But one of the most important things to check on during a job hunt is your online profile. Having an online profile during a job hunt can improve your chances of finding a job. Here is why:

Employers Google You

It’s not just you that does research before a job interview! Most employers now use Google to research candidates invited to a job interview. By typing names into Google, employers can find out some key information about a candidate including past work experience, social networking activity and images. That’s why every so often you should search your own name to ensure that you know what comes up and prepare some answers based on search results in case they come up in a job interview.

Companies Have Social Profiles Too

Businesses all over the country use social media to network with employees, publicise company news, advertise vacancies and build customer relationships. So if a company you want to work for is using social media then creating your own social profile is a perfect way to interact with them and to let them know you are interested in working for them. If you don’t already have an online profile on sites like Twitter and Linked In then you should consider creating one. Follow companies you are interested in, comment on their posts and interact with them! The more you do this, the more a company will be aware of your presence. If you have been invited to a job interview it’s likely the company will be looking at your online social profiles too, reading your updates and finding out more about you as an individual so it’s crucial you keep these pages up to date.

Most Businesses Use Online to Job Hunt

Both recruitment companies and employers use the internet to find candidates. Whether it’s searching job boards, placing online ads or searching through social media pages – most companies will use some form of online search to find potential candidates. So if you are not keeping your online profile up to date and don’t actively use the net to job hunt, then you are really limiting your chances of finding employment! Get online and start networking to increase your chances of finding your dream job.

The post Why You Should Keep Your Online Profile Updated appeared first on CV Surgeon.

The education section of your CV template is one of the most important sections as it tells an employer your expertise and verifies whether you have the right qualifications for the job. If an employer can’t see that you have the right qualifications on your CV, you may not even reach the job interview stage. Read on for ideas of how to structure the education section of your CV.

What to Include:

The education section of your CV should highlight the places you studied, the courses/subjects and your grades achieved. You should include all of your qualifications from secondary school upwards. You don’t need to go into much detail – simply list the establishment you attended, the dates you were there and then list names of subjects studied and the grade you achieved. This will give the employer the opportunity to glance through and to decide whether your skills and qualifications are matched to the position they are advertising.

Where to Include Education on Your CV:

This depends on your experience. If you are a recent graduate and have little work experience then include your education before the work experience section. However, if you have lots of experience in the industry, then include this before your education credentials.

Structure:

It is crucial that you order your education in date order and put the most recent qualification at the top of the list. This will make it easy for an employer to see your most recent, and arguably most important, qualification. If they need to read on they can then read down the list to see what other qualifications you achieved.

Relevant:

You should alter the education section of your CV for every job you apply for to ensure it is relevant. There is little point in listing a set of qualifications you achieved if you think they are completely irrelevant to the job. Pick the qualifications that are most important – if an employer has specifically asked for a certain qualification then highlight it in the education section as it’s this the employer will be looking for.

Work in Progress:

If you are currently studying for a qualification but haven’t completed the course, you can still include this on your CV if you feel it is relevant to the job you are applying to. Just ensure under the grade you include ‘awaiting grade’ or ‘expected grade…’

The post How to Write the Education Section of Your CV appeared first on CV Surgeon.

Bournemouth Foxes FC, sponsored by CV Surgeon, finished their first season together with a respectable mid-table position.

The 11-a-side team finished 7th in the Hayward Sunday League Division 9, picking up 16 points. The Foxes won several of their games, including their biggest win of 4-0 against Boscombe Celtic Reserves and a notable cup win against Division 8 team Talbot Pub Reserves, beating them 5-2.

The season has seen some big injuries for the team but despite this The Foxes have gone on to gain a steady league position and were also presented with the Victory Team of the Week award just a few months before the end of the season.

The award was presented by the Village Hotel and Bournemouth Divisional Football Association and recognised their dedication to the game.

Manager Dan Clark commented: “It has been a tough season. The team only formed last year and it was our first season playing together and I feel we’ve done really well. To finish 7th has been quite a result and we’re really pleased with our position. I think for next year we need to focus on training more and try to get some more wins under our belt – hopefully we can have an even better season next year.”

Keep checking the CV Surgeon blog for updates on the team or you can find out more at the Bournemouth Foxes FC website.

The post CV Surgeon’s Bournemouth Foxes Finish Season on a High appeared first on CV Surgeon.

Most companies have a team building policy – whether it’s monthly, quarterly or yearly. Many companies use team building days to promote team work, cooperation and to enable members of staff to get to know each other better. They are also regularly offered as an incentive. If you’ve just been invited to a team building day at work but have never been on one before, read on for what to expect and how to make the most of it!

Every team building day is different but they usually involve an activity, meal or event you can get involved with. Either way, here are some tips on how to act during your team day to get the most of it and to stand out from the crowd:

Turn Up On Time

Whatever the activity, it’s crucial that you treat it like a work day and turn up on time. Although it’s a social event, you will still be surrounded by senior members of staff and your colleagues so it’s vital you make a good impression. If you turn up late you could delay the day and it won’t impress your boss so whether you are going go-carting, to the cinema or for a meal – be punctual.

Be Professional

Staff activity days, although designed to help staff get to know each other and relax, are still a work event so ensure you remain professional at all times. Dress appropriately, interact with key members of staff and try to avoid being negative about work projects. Although you should relax and enjoy the event, it’s good to remember that you are surrounded by work people that you’ll see the next day so don’t say anything you’ll regret.

Get Involved

Attending staff social days is a great way to get to know senior members of staff and to network with colleagues you may not see every day at the office. It’s also a great opportunity to get recognised, which could lead to future job promotions. But the only way to get noticed is to get involved! Try to get involved in all of the activities and have a voice to ensure you stand out as it could help your career progression.

Avoid the Alcohol

It might be unrealistic to suggest you stay on soft drinks during the entire event, but avoiding alcohol is usually a good idea during staff social events. If you drink too much you could end up embarrassing yourself which could make the next day at the office awkward! Get involved with socialising but try to limit your alcohol intake.

The post How to Act on a Team Building Day appeared first on CV Surgeon.

Check out these five typical work problems and some ways you can handle them:

You Are Being Overloaded with Work

Sometimes your manager may not recognise how much work you have and may continue to give you new projects and assignments to work on. If you are being overloaded at work it could lead to you feeling stressed, missing deadlines and working out-of-hours to finish your work which may make you feel negative about your position.

Solution: If you feel you are being overloaded with work you should speak to your manager about your work load and prioritise projects. Explain how much pressure you are under and ask for advice on what tasks need to be completed first.

You Don’t Like Your Boss

Unfortunately you can’t control who you work with and you can’t control who you get on with in the workplace. You may find yourself in a position where you don’t get on with people because of differing personality and views. It could be that you don’t like your boss, which can make everyday work awkward.

Solution: Keep your personalities separate and try to remain professional at all times. Ensure you work with them efficiently in the workplace and avoid social events if you think it could affect your job.

You Are Not Being Recognised for Your Work

Every so often you may find your work going unnoticed. Whether it’s a big project you are working on or a small task you completed efficiently, not being recognised for your work can lead to resentment.

Solution: Ensure you are vocal about what you do. Copy in key members of staff when completing a project and emailing about it, note it down to talk about in your staff meetings and keep your manager informed of projects you are working on.

You Haven’t Received a Promotion

You could be feeling unmotivated at work if you have been there for a long time and haven’t received a promotion or salary increase. This could be making you feel undervalued at work.

Solution: Don’t bottle your feelings up – ensure you raise any issues during annual appraisals. Ask your manager what more you can be doing to work towards a promotion and take on extra work to prove you want longevity in the company.

You Feel Bored

If you haven’t got enough work, have repetitive projects to complete and don’t feel challenged in your job you could find yourself feeling bored.

Solution: Ask for extra work, take on extra out-of-work activities to keep you motivated and ask your manager for more responsibility.

If you are thinking of changing jobs, why not use our online CV builder to create a new CV?

The post Five Problems at Work and How to Handle Them appeared first on CV Surgeon.

Most employers look for sales skills in a candidate as business development and building clientele is crucial in today’s competitive business climate. One specific skill that seems to be desirable to employers is the ability to negotiate. Whether it’s negotiating good prices for stock or negotiating with a paying customer to secure the best deal – negotiation is definitely a required skill for many jobs on the market today. So how can demonstrating good negotiation skills when writing a CV improve your chances of finding employment?

Rapport Building

Demonstrating good negotiation skills on your CV will demonstrate to the employer that you have strong rapport building skills. In order to be able to negotiate with customers, clients or suppliers you need to have good relationship skills. You can usually only secure the best deal if you gain the ‘likeability factor’ so demonstrating good negotiation skills can reaffirm your ability to rapport build to the employer.

Competitive

If you can negotiate at work it shows that you are competitive and persistent. Negotiation, whatever the circumstances, requires time and patience. You don’t usually secure the best deals overnight so negotiating with clients can take a while. Showing good negotiation skills will show that you are persistent and don’t give up easily – both attractive traits when it comes to business.

Proves You Are a Good Team Player

Negotiating can sometimes require teamwork. Whether it’s working with a colleague to negotiate a deal with a customer or asking your manager for advice, negotiating often involves talking to other members of staff. If your CV shows that you have good negotiation skills then an employer is likely to think you are a good team player.

Overall, negotiation skills can be applied to many different industries. Customer Service, Recruitment, Sales and Buyer jobs are just a few of the roles where negotiation skills can be useful. So when writing your CV, think back to past roles and demonstrate how you are a good negotiator – including statistics – and ensure you include examples throughout your CV.

The post Why You Should Show Negotiation Skills on Your CV appeared first on CV Surgeon.

If you are currently looking for work you’ll probably already have a plan in action of where and when to look for a new job. But it can be easy to be distracted from your job hunt so to keep your motivation levels high, take a look at these tips to help you avoid distraction and win that job!

Make a Plan

One of the best ways to remain motivated during a job hunt and to avoid distraction is by making a plan. Making a plan for your daily job search will help you to keep focused, will give you targets to aim for and will make you feel more motivated. Structure your day and plan out your week. When do you want to search for jobs online? When do you plan to hand out copies of your CV template? When do you plan to approach recruitment companies? Planning all of this will make your week feel much more productive.

Write a To Do List

Having a to-do-list to tick off as you go can really help you to focus on your job search. Set yourself a weekly to-do-list and assess it regularly. If you get half way through the week and realise you haven’t done much on it, then you can focus and increase your work activity in the latter part of the week.

Take Regular Breaks

You will feel distracted if you spend too much time at your computer or searching for jobs. Spending too much time on a job search can lead to you feeling restless so instead take regular breaks, have a lunch break and step away from the desk every so often.

Get Outside

Exercise releases endorphins and is a proven way of making you feel more energised and motivated. A quick walk at lunchtime can really help you to regain motivation for your afternoon of job hunting and will ensure you feel focused so consider getting out and about.

The post How to Avoid Distraction During Your Job Search appeared first on CV Surgeon.

Got a job interview coming up? Then consider putting your questions and answers on film and review your performance before you attend the job interview to help you prepare. Here are some ideas on how you can film your interview and assess your performance.

To set this up all you will need is a camera – either on a camera unit, webcam or mobile phone. After you have recorded your answers you can then upload them to your PC and watch them back and make improvements. You can repeat this process multiple times to help you feel extra prepared for the job interview.

Ask Questions

The first thing you need to do to prepare for this is to narrow down some interview questions to answer. Write down some questions that an interviewer may ask – for some ideas read our article on typical job interview questions. Read these to familiarise yourself with them and to help you think of an answer. Once you have done this a few times, get ready to hit the record button and to film your answers.

Answers

Turn on your camera and film yourself answering each job interview question without turning the camera off and don’t start again if you make a mistake. You won’t get an opportunity to start again during a real job interview so you should treat this as the real thing! Once you have answered the first question, read the next aloud and answer it as you would during a job interview.

Prepare Questions

After you have finished reading through the questions and delivering your answers, you should prepare some questions of your own to ask the employer. Asking an employer questions during a job interview will show that you have done your research and will reiterate your interest in the position. Ask the questions to camera and record them.

Assess

Now you can upload your video to your computer and play back your questions and answers. Doing this will enable you to assess your performance. Have a pen ready to make notes on your appearance, tone of voice, body language, phrases, answers and the quality of the questions you ask. You should be able to see any mistakes you make or pick up on points to be improved. Repeat this process until you feel you are as prepared as possible!

The post Film Your Job Interview Practice appeared first on CV Surgeon.

A recent study by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills has revealed that workers across the UK are more stressed than ever. Results show that 60% of employees feel they work under tight deadlines for the majority of the day and one in four are afraid of becoming unemployed and losing their job.

It’s thought the introduction of more technology in the workplace could be a contributing factor to stress levels, with many employees receiving work emails during out of office hours on their smart phones. So what can you do to feel less stressed at work? Check out these stress-busting tips below.

Time Management

One of the best ways to combat stress at work is practicing good time management. Arranging your work tasks, managing your time and prioritising your work load can help you to feel more organised and less stressed. Write a to-do list at the start of your working week, keeping tasks with high priority at the top of the list. Then structure your day – plan your tasks for the first few hours of the morning. Plan secondary tasks for after lunch and then finish the day with any admin responsibilities. Having a clear plan in place will help you to keep focus and ticking off the to-do list will help you to keep motivated. It will also enable you to see exactly what work you have completed and you can keep a check on the status of some tasks and increase your work rate if necessary.

Socialise

Socialising with work colleagues and attending networking events can be an effective way to keep your stress levels down. Talking with work colleagues, taking regular lunch breaks, attending staff social events and going to industry networking events can help you to break away from the stress of 9-5 and can help you to assess your work goals.

Arrange Meetings

If you are concerned about your work or job then you should try to arrange regular meetings with your manager. Voicing any concerns to them will help you to create a clear career path and regular meetings will also help you to check that you are on target. It is also gives you the opportunity to check with your manager as to whether there’s anything you should be doing more of.

Take Time Out

Working too hard on a project or spending countless late nights in the office can lead to stress and tiredness. It is crucial that you take regular breaks and spend time away from your desk to keep your motivation and concentration levels high.

Offer Help

If you feel you are handling your work load well, you should let your manager know that you are willing to take on extra work and help out with extra projects. Offering this help will demonstrate to the employer that you are keen to progress in the organisation and that you are efficient in the workplace. This should help when it comes to feeling secure at work.

The post How to Combat Stress at Work appeared first on CV Surgeon.

If you are preparing to attend a networking event you may be feeling nervous about speaking to people you have never met before. But networking events provide you with a great opportunity to meet others working in your industry, to publicise the company you are working for and to find out about new opportunities. But what do you talk about at a networking event? Here are some ideas to help you get chatting.

Your Expertise

Don’t be shy when it comes to talking about your expertise and work experience. When you are networking with people you should let them know what you specialise in and let them know what your current role is. Not only will this create conversation, but it will allow you to publicise your knowledge and expertise which could be beneficial when looking for work. If you network with others in your industry and they are aware of what you do, it could lead to job opportunities in the future.

Your Achievements

When you are talking to people at a networking event, the chances are you’ll be trying to drum up business and promote your services. One of the easiest ways to do this is to talk about your past achievements, successes and clients. Obviously only talk about this if it’s appropriate – don’t just do it to brag. If there is an opportunity to talk about your work experience and career successes then you should as it could gain you new customers.

The Industry

One of the best ways to create conversation at a networking event is by talking about the industry you work in. If you are attending a networking event for work, it’s likely that you’ll be surrounded by other people working in your industry. So talk about your own experience and encourage others to share their industry stories.

News

If you are struggling to create conversation you can always focus on the news. Bring up anything that relates to the industry or the networking event to get others talking.

Ask Questions

The best way to keep your conversation flowing is asking questions. Think of some questions before you attend the event as you’ll feel more prepared.

The post What Do I Talk About at a Networking Event? appeared first on CV Surgeon.