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Why Job Seekers Should Use Recruiters
Why Job Seekers Should Use Recruiters
In this modern era of hyper-connectivity, with smart devices that are so smart you can be contacted through your wrist watch, is there value in using a third party to help you find a job or are you better off going it alone? Well, with the global market seemingly more turbulent than ever and every company sending out similar soundbites on why they are the best, it’s increasingly hard to know what path to choose as a jobseeker. Jobseekers have never had it better with companies creating novel ways to attract new talent. Whether it’s a mini-golf course on the roof, an onsite masseuse, gym membership or yoga classes, it shows companies are aware of employee turnover and that the job itself isn’t enough to attract and retain talent anymore. However, on the other side of things, a job for life is clearly a thing of the past for most of the labour market, unless you’re a health professional or a teacher. This means more diversity in a person’s career, certainly among millennials, under 25’s and graduates in particular. This also means more disruption in previously stable careers and the need to diversify people’s skills and keep an eye on the market. It’s a dynamic environment in recruitment with marketing and internal recruiters partnering to attract the best staff, so why use a recruiter? Industry Knowledge Most recruiters specialise in one niche of the market and as a result become market experts within their sector and can give you a complete roadmap to the lay of the land. Going it solo will mean that you will have to do your own research about each company you are applying for who will each have their own unique requirements. Your recruiter, however, will be able to provide you with a company background, describe the team structure, the key aspects of the role and what exact experience the hiring manager is looking for. A recruiter will help you decide whether the position is for you and keep you updated as things develop in the market you’re in. Recruitment agencies provide a completely cost-free service to jobseekers. They only charge the companies hiring, so why not have unlimited access to the inner workings of the company you’re applying to and assistance for free? Direct Line To The People In Power Recruiters have a direct line to HR directors and hiring managers. Why not make the most of this? With a direct line to the people in power, you get the inside information on what makes a company, a department or even a specific job so exciting. If you have high goals of progression or want to work on a set type of projects, you won’t find this information through a job advert and may not realise if you have made a mistake until you’re in the job. Another aspect a recruiter can help with is when it comes to negotiating salary, the recruiter will know exactly what can be negotiated and keep things on track. You can focus on performing in the interview and the recruiter can handle all the awkward/difficult conversations. Your Own Personal Advocate Who doesn’t want someone singing their praises? With a recruiter you have your own personal cheerleader getting face time with people in power and telling them in no uncertain terms that you were made for this job and could do it blindfolded like Sandra Bullock in Birdbox. In all seriousness, a recruiter is trained find out your best qualities in relation to the job and make sure you don’t get missed by the hiring company. They can also help with CV re-design and know the best ways to catch the eye of the employer. Also, as mentioned, people are jumping jobs a lot more now which has previously been a serious red flag for employers. However, your recruiter can help explain your motivations and elaborate on your CV in minute detail to get over the initial hurdle of pre-screening. Practice Makes Perfect Interviews are a minefield. Say the wrong thing or react the wrong way and you will be stuck in no man’s land with no way back. Nike have a motto “Think training’s hard? Try losing”. Every day a recruiter prepares people for interviews, so let the experts show you how to ace every interview. They have the practice that can make you perfect! They will already have given you the background to the job, the hiring managers and the company, so the next logical piece of the puzzle is on the interview process. Recruiters will have reams of documentation but will always tailor the preparation for interviews to each person to maximise the value. The difference between you and the next person competing for the job is usually a small margin. That could mean that advice from a recruiter, who has placed plenty of candidates in jobs, could be the reason you succeed in getting the role. The future is bright for job seekers with more opportunities than ever. Partner with a recruiter who knows the industry, the companies hiring and who can help make the jobs market easier to navigate.
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How to Prepare for an Executive Level Interview
How to Prepare for an Executive Level Interview
Job interviews can be nerve wracking and good advice can be hard to come by when you’re applying for senior management roles. Our recruitment consultant, Louisa Poinboeuf has devised a list of tips for anyone interviewing for an executive level role. Guaranteed Interview Questions A job interview is designed to test you. You're asked questions about yourself and your experience and your response is supposed to show the interviewer how you can handle being put on the spot. However, this isn't always the case, because there are always guaranteed questions that you can expect which you can prepare for in advance. Tell Me About Yourself? This question can strike terror into the heart of even the most experienced person. It is designed to test your ability to handle an unstructured and possibly unexpected line of questioning. Your response will show the interviewer how articulate and self-assured you are. As with all interviews, preparation is key here, ensure that you have a 2-3 minute narrative prepared to demonstrate your strongest professional qualities. Start with your most recent and relevant employment and explain why you are well suited for the role. Practice this narrative. Try to avoid asking in the moment, “what do you want to know?”. Instead, when preparing, think of what the interviewer will be most interested to hear about and match your experience and qualifications to what the job specifications are. How Do You Explain your Job Success? Be honest without sounding arrogant. Use observations that other people have made about your work strengths or talents. Why Do You Want This Job? Be able to demonstrate why you have a genuine interest in applying to this company over any other company. What is it about them and this opportunity that grabbed your attention? What are your ambitions? What do you want from this role? What can you bring to the role? If taking on this role will involve you moving location, be able to demonstrate clearly why this is not an issue for you or your family (if relevant). It will always concern an employer if an applicant chooses to relocate to an area where they don’t have an established network of friends or family, so be prepared to explain your reasons for moving if this is relevant to you. Why Did You Leave Your Last Job? If there is any job hopping on your CV, have a very clear reason why you moved on from each role. It is expected that any strong Senior Executive would stay with a company for a number of years (minimum 3) before moving on. If this hasn’t happened be able to explain why. What Is Your Greatest Weakness? Prepare for this question. Demonstrate that you’re able to admit responsibility and accept criticism. Give an honest answer and be able to show the interviewer that you’ve learnt from experience and are still working on this weakness. What Do You Do Outside Of Work? Regardless of whether you are an intern or a CEO, every employer wants to know what type of personality they may be working with. You can tell them about any hobbies, interests, where you live, volunteering activities, what you like to read and whether you like to travel etc. If you can demonstrate that you live a good quality of life that is well balanced you will come across as a fit, healthy and happy candidate. Do Thorough Research Delve into the organisation’s goals, culture, strengths and weaknesses. You can utilise social media platforms like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. as well as the company’s official website. Consider conducting an in-depth SWOT analysis of the company. Be aware of recent press releases, news stories, annual reports and competitors (and what the competitors are doing). Research the current team and key stakeholders. Build Rapport Build a rapport with your interviewer and get your personality across. Personality fit with the organisation is key and how you communicate with recruiters and HR throughout a process will demonstrate how well you manage people. Stories And Examples Stories of your success and specific examples are key, these are what interviewers will remember most after an interview and are likely to be what is quoted most to the rest of the recruitment team. Have examples prepared that illustrate your strongest professional qualities e.g. leadership, business development, strategy etc. Tell Me About A Situation Where You Did Not Get Along With A Direct Manager Be honest! Everyone has had disagreements with a boss and saying otherwise would look suspicious. Be able to explain what your opinion was at the time and that you were also able to take a step back and consider the other person’s opinion. Tell Me About A Time You Failed Again, be honest! If you can’t give an example of this the interviewer might determine that you don’t have a high volume of experience. How did you recover from the failure? What was your decision-making process? What did you learn from this? What would you do differently now? Demonstrate that you’ve been able to turn this negative experience into a positive learning outcome. Ask questions The type of questions you ask will make you stand out from other applicants, do your homework and have interesting questions prepared e.g. ask why the previous employee moved on from this role. Just like any level interview, it's important to be yourself. Try to stay calm in the interview and be honest about your experience. At the end of the day, you know the answers to the questions because you'll be talking about yourself and once you know a bit about the company you should get on well. Good luck and if you have any questions, be sure to talk to your recruitment consultant.
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Hoping To Get A New Job in 2019? Here Are 5 Tips To Help You With Your Search
Hoping To Get A New Job in 2019? Here Are 5 Tips To Help You With Your Search
Searching for jobs is a job in itself. It can be challenging and time consuming but there are ways of making this task a little easier. If you are planning on finding a new job, Sigmar Recruitment has devised a list of top 5 job searching tips to help you in your pursuit of the perfect job this 2019. Get Employers to Come to You Uploading your CV online can increase your chances of being seen by employers. Most job searching websites like; Jobs.ie and Monster.ie allow job seekers to create an online profile using their CV content. This profile can then be viewed by potential employers. There is also an option, when you create your account, to highlight specific jobs and organisations you’re interested in and receive email notifications when positions become available. This is handy for any job seeker as it does the hard work for you and allows suitable job opportunities to come directly to you. Update your LinkedIn Profile The first thing you should do before applying for a job is ensure your LinkedIn profile is up to date with all your relevant work experience. Often employers will search for you online while reviewing your CV. It’s important to make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date as it could be the reason you get called for an interview. Extra Tip: If you are unemployed and don’t have an issue with making your employment status public, you may want to update your LinkedIn profile headline to something like, “Currently seeking (insert type of role here) in (insert location here)”. This will let your network know that you are currently job seeking Target the Right Companies It’s important to know what type of company you are looking for. This all comes down to your personal preference. Knowing what you want will make it easier. Would you rather be; “a big fish in a little pond” or “a little fish in a big pond”? By eliminating the type of companies you don’t want in your search, you will narrow down the available jobs suited to you. Extra Tip: If you know of a company you think you would like to work for, search for reviews of the company online. Glassdoor.com lets you search millions of reviews of companies that are all posted anonymously by employees. This is a great way to get an honest appraisal of organisations you’re considering applying to. Network Use the contacts you have to enquire about available jobs and get the word out that you’re looking for a new position. Often jobs can be found through people we know so it’s a good idea to get in touch with any relevant contacts you may have. Building on your current network can also give you an advantage in your job search. Attending conferences and job expos are a great way to network and find out about career opportunities. Be Positive Finding the perfect job isn’t easy and may take time. As rejections start coming in, it’s important to always try to stay positive. It’s only natural for you to feel deflated when things aren’t going according to plan but try to use the rejection as a motivation to work harder. The right job is out there for you and you will find it if you stay persistent and optimistic. Don’t have the time to job search? If you find yourself not being able to find the time to search for jobs properly, you can contact us in Sigmar Recruitment. You can upload your details and CV to our website and create an online profile that will be accessed by our 125 specialist recruitment consultants to review your details and contact you with potential job opportunities.
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Six Benefits of Working Over the Christmas Period
Six Benefits of Working Over the Christmas Period
No annual leave left? Or maybe the high demand in work has meant you’ve been requested to come in? Don’t worry, whatever the reason there are some benefits to working over the Christmas period. Getting Ahead of Work The best part of being one of the few people working this time of year is that you will have the peace and quiet you need to get things done. Catch up on work and get a head start on work for the new year. With the phone not ringing constantly and emails not flooding your inbox, it’s an opportunity to get some headspace to really get ahead of your workload. Getting a Seat on Public Transport For anyone who commutes to work this will really feel like a Christmas miracle. Having your own seat and maybe even a seat for your coat and bag is a really nice perk to working this time of year. Avoid Unappealing Christmas Parties This time of year brings a lot of nights out and they’re not always nights out you’re in favour of. Working gives you the perfect excuse to turn down any unwanted invitations for a Christmas session. Although, if you do want to go, working shouldn’t stop you. Just pace yourself and be sure to stay hydrated and get enough sleep. Christmas Organised If you’re working over Christmas chances are you’ve known about it for a couple weeks or even months, so you’ll be organised well in advance. It’s a great feeling coming up to Christmas knowing you won’t be part of the mad Christmas Eve rush to buy last minute presents. Being Recognised as a Team Player Maybe you were asked to work over Christmas because of workload or because of staff demand. Accepting you have to work and coming in with a smile, will go a long way with your supervisors and colleagues. It might be fun! It’s Christmas and everything this time of year is joyful! Take the time to treat yourself and indulge. Get that Christmas latte or treat yourself to a fancy lunch or a delivery to the office. Whether you will be working or not, Sigmar Recruitment would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas and every success in 2019.
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6 Qualities of a Great Recruiter
6 Qualities of a Great Recruiter
Being a recruiter isn’t for everyone but if you have these qualities, it could be the perfect role for you… Target Driven Recruitment is a competitive industry, so a recruiter needs to be driven and work well under pressure. As a recruiter, you will have weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly targets to achieve. It’s a target driven career, so a person in recruitment needs to be motivated by targets and enjoy working to achieve long-term and short-term goals. Confidence Recruiters are often extroverts. A recruiter needs to network and interact with people on a daily basis, so it’s important that the recruiter is confident. It’s not only about being confident enough to network but to make others confident in you. It’s important that a recruiter shows confidence so that their client, candidates and their team is confident that they can deliver. Curious Someone who has an interest in digging for information and is naturally curious is an ideal recruiter. Being vigilant and eager to ask a lot of questions is the type of person who will find out everything they need to know and share the most up to date relevant information with candidates and clients. Curiosity killed the cat, but it made the recruiter. Superb Communication Skills A recruiter deals with people constantly so it’s important for them to be excellent at communication. Communication in every sense must be perfected by the recruiter and this means listening as well as talking and also written communication. There is administration work involved in recruitment so having good writing skills is very important. Marketing/Sales Skills In recruitment you will be selling the benefits of using your company to both jobseekers and employers. Sometimes you will even be seeking out new business by doing research on who’s recruiting and phoning around to talk to prospective clients. A recruiter needs to know how to market and promote the roles they are trying to fill for clients, as well as market their candidates to clients. If a recruiter has a handful of ideal candidates for a role and the client refuses to consider any of them, then the they probably aren’t suited to recruitment. A large part of recruitment is selling and if you don’t have negotiation skills or selling skills it’s probably not the job for you. Mentally Strong Recruitment comes with a lot of failure and I mean a lot! Sometimes you just miss out on your target, or your candidate pulls out of the process because they get another job or the role you were working on gets filled by someone else. Rejection is part of being a recruiter, but a great recruiter knows how to deal with it. We’re not saying in order to be a great recruiter you must accept failure and not react to it, but when things go wrong a great recruiter can deal with the disappointment and be equipped to self-motivate themselves to keep trying. Thinking about working in recruitment? Why not work at Sigmar? Contact careers@sigmar.ie
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Five Ways To Impress Your Boss
Five Ways To Impress Your Boss
This may come as a shock, no one expects you to be perfect and know everything, even your boss! Sometimes you may feel like you’re not good enough and worry that you can’t impress your manager, but it is actually easier than you think and you’re probably doing some of these things already… 1. Dress to Impress Make sure your personal hygiene is impeccable. One of the worst office offences is bad body odour. Once you have your personal hygiene in check, dress smart. Dressing well will impress your superiors and your fellow colleagues. It will also give a little extra confidence while you do your day to day tasks. via GIPHY 2. Timekeeping Traffic, public transport, school runs, they can be a nightmare in the mornings and we’ve all been there, but it’s no excuse to be late for work constantly. Want to make a good impression? Be on time! Even if it means you have to leave earlier in the morning. If you want to impress your boss, you have to make real effort and show you are reliable. Bad time-keeping is a pet hate for managers. Remember: When you are late, show you understand that time-keeping and attendance matters and always inform your manager that you’re late. A quick text or phone call can really make all the difference. via GIPHY 3. Socialise If you want to impress at work, get involved in social events with your colleagues. It’s important for managers to see you gel with the rest of the staff and integrate with the culture of the business. If there isn’t a social scene in work why not try to organise something yourself? You could suggest after work drinks, a running club, a book club? Getting involved is impressive to a boss, but if you can organise your own social activity, that will definitely get your managers attention. via GIPHY 4. Share Ideas Don’t be afraid to tell your boss about ideas you have. Managers appreciate someone who takes their own initiative and wants to help improve things. It’s a great way for your boss to know you care about your role and the company and that you want to make it even better by putting your stamp on things. via GIPHY 5. Be Prepared Always be prepared to work. When you come in in the morning be ready to hit the ground running. When you attend meetings have all the relevant information and documents needed. Remember, you’ve been appointed this role and if your boss sees you struggling in it, it’s not going to impress him/her. Always being prepared and showing your boss you can manage your task will impress your boss and even increase your opportunity for a promotion. via GIPHY It’s always good to remember, not everyone is perfect, and your boss doesn’t expect you to be. Trying your best should always be enough to impress your boss. All a boss wants is an employee who’s working hard and is happy in the company and with the work they do.
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How to Land that Promotion
How to Land that Promotion
If you have been in a job for some time, you may feel like you are ready to take on more responsibility or feel you deserve an added amount to your salary. The way you can accomplish this is by doing the following: Own Projects from Start To Finish Creating your own project and implanting it from start to finish is a great way to get a promotion. Showing you have the initiative and determination to carry out your own project will give you the opportunity to be given more responsibility. via GIPHY Do Things You Don’t Have to Do Don’t be the person who says “That’s not my job” and refuses to do tasks they are asked outside their job specification. Sometimes in order to get noticed and to get ahead you need to be willing to do jobs you don’t want to do. via GIPHY Be Prepared Always be prepared to work. When you come in in the morning be ready to hit the ground running. When you attend meetings have all the relevant information and documents needed. Remember, a promotion is a company giving you more responsibility. If you’re not handling what you’re doing then how do you expect to be given more? Always being prepared will impress your boss and increase your chances of a promotion. via GIPHY Be Positive Coming into the office every day and complaining about how you don’t want to be in work or giving out about the work you have to do or complaining about your colleagues, will never land you a promotion. If you’re unhappy doing what you do and you complain constantly, your boss isn’t going to feel comfortable giving you a promotion. via GIPHY Avoid Office Gossip You can’t control workplace gossip, but you can control how to react to it. Not getting involved in office gossip and politics will mean you keep your professionalism. Those who take part in gossip can become known as unprofessional, immature and untrustworthy and none of those characteristics will help you get a promotion. Any time someone tries to involve you in drama, simply say you are not interested and leave the conversation. via GIPHY If you feel you're doing all the above and you have mastered your role and feel like you’re ready to take on more responsibility, it may be time to ask for a promotion. Click here for our blog on How to Ask for a Promotion
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The Benefits of Using LinkedIn Effectively
The Benefits of Using LinkedIn Effectively
LinkedIn has been around since 2002 and you’d think 16 years is enough time to master something but essentially people are still using LinkedIn wrong or avoid using it because they don’t know how. This blog will give you a guide to LinkedIn and how it can be used effectively to benefit your career. Who Should Use LinkedIn? Some people understand LinkedIn to be an online CV and it should only be used by jobseekers. This isn’t the case. There is a certain audience for LinkedIn and it does include jobseekers but that’s not all. This is who should use LinkedIn: Anyone in a job Anyone looking for a job Students Freelancers Recruiters Someone who has something to contribute about their industry Someone with an interest in connecting with professionals If you’re any of the above, LinkedIn could be the perfect social media platform for you. However, you will need to know how to use it effectively, depending on your reason for using it. Benefits of LinkedIn if you are Employed: Networking LinkedIn has 500 million users from all over the globe in different industries. This gives you the opportunity to connect with so many different people and broaden your professional connections. This could give you new opportunities for you in your current role. Sharing Ideas & Learning New Things In our current day to day tasks we come across many obstacles. LinkedIn can be a great opportunity to share these difficulties and how you overcame them. Chances are if you found it difficult, so did another person. Sharing your experiences on LinkedIn can help other professionals like yourself with issues and vice versa. LinkedIn gives professionals the opportunity to learn and share new things. Motivation Motivated was the most overused word on LinkedIn in 2014 and 2015 and it’s still in the top 10 of most used words in 2018. Motivation can be infectious on LinkedIn. Everyday new posts on new learnings and achievements are illustrated. If you’re looking to boost your creativity or just looking for some inspiration, then LinkedIn’s newsfeed is a great place to start. Benefits of LinkedIn if you are Job Seeking: Showcasing Your Talent and Experience Your profile is essentially an online CV and it can highlight all your relevant experience and skills to potential employers. A lot of job applications and job boards, require a LinkedIn page to submit your details. In order for you highlight your professional resume, it is essential for you to have a LinkedIn account. Reach Out to Employers/Hiring Mangers/Recruiters LinkedIn gives jobs seekers the opportunity to approach hiring managers about available positions. If you’re thinking of applying for a job or you already have applied, why not connect with the hiring manager and introduce yourself? It could be the thing that makes you stand out and be offered a job. Keeping Active During Your Job Search LinkedIn has 3 million active job listings on the platform. Even if you don’t have any interviews lined up, you can stay active by networking on LinkedIn and searching for available jobs. LinkedIn is a great way to stay active in your job hunt. Benefits of LinkedIn if you are a Student: Learn from Professionals in your Industry Following and connecting with professionals who work in the field you are studying in is a great way to learn more about what you are studying and what to expect when you receive your qualification. Build a Network Before you even start your professional career you could already have a bank of professional people in your network, all from LinkedIn. Benefits of LinkedIn if you work Freelance: Showcase your Work You can have an entire online portfolio on your LinkedIn profile that can showcase all your experience. You can share this among your connections who can also do the same. It's a great way to advertise your expertise.
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Ever wonder what it would be like to work as a Sigmar Recruiter?
Ever wonder what it would be like to work as a Sigmar Recruiter?
Here at Sigmar our Recruiters work hard but have a lot of fun along the way. Check out what it's like to spend a day as a Sigmar Recruiter... If you want to be a Recruitment Consultant in Sigmar. Check out our job opportunities here
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