Uhm…It's the weekend isn't it?

Hi Job Seeker! Weekend Wahey! Since it is the weekend we would be having a light chat today about Filler Words!

Filler words? What is a filler word? No, I most certainly do not use filler words since I do not even know what they stand for, well you do use them even if you do not know what they are called, we are all guilty! So here are a few examples:

Hi.. umm You love me too much!

How many filler words did we use in our introduction? We are sure you didn't even notice, feel free to back up. Filler words are words with no use! They do nothing or add no value to our sentence. They fill in for us either when we panic, loose our train of thought,  or when we are trying to explain or emphasise a thing, you know, make it sound richer!

The thing with filler words is they are killers of speech. They make you sound unprepared and less intelligent. We all need help with this one!

Addiction.

In every interview your pitch just stops being interesting once we start hearing filler words, for example; We ask; Tell us about your final year project and you reply; 'Well  I worked on the effect of music in adverts on its audience, you know a lot of people have purchased items they do not need because the music they heard made them excited, like in the mood of buying something.

Second example; Tell us about yourself and you reply; Well i am xyz and i studied bbc at university of gogogo, umm I enjoy swimming on my weekends, like I do not miss it for anything in the world, umm… I graduated top of my class, basically top five, umm..

You do sound unprepared for the interview. So you need to watch out for these filler words. Instead of using them, pause, think very well before you answer. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with you telling the recruiter to give you a minute before you tackle a question!!!

We think a lot of job seekers feel they always have to keep talking or have to answer straight after we ask a question. Please take reasonable time before you answer every question.

Practice in the mirror, smack yourself every time you use a filler word. Practice always makes perfect. Eliminating filler words would not just help in passing your interview and getting the job, it would also help in keeping the job! You would  have to do a presentation at some point.

Till our next post please read up more on helpful tips on eliminating filler words and as usual watch some videos on youtube.

Carrying on with the weekend waheey! RR

Thursday's Tip - Catch me in 30 Seconds.

Hello again Jobseeker, how has the week been so far? Have you gotten any feedback from your applications? For those who have attended interviews; how did they go? remember to mail any questions you may have to rrecruit@outlook.com and we would be sure to reply you!

Now on to Thursday's Tip -catching me in 30 seconds. By this we mean grabbing and keeping our full attention within 30 seconds or less of us lifting your CV.

You see the competition for jobs out there today is unbelievable, we receive tons of applications for every job advert we have posted and we would say it loud and clear, this part of recruitment can be an extreme BORE.

Is your CV boring?

Yes it is our job to go through every CV and we make sure to do that, however we are human and our attention span shortens after our first, let's say 30 CV's. After then we only come alive when we pick a well prepared and interesting CV.

Here's a little exercise for you, pick up your CV and read it as if you were a busy recruiter whose client requires a vacancy to be filled in say two weeks. Now are you captured after ready your introduction or career objective or you feel like a snooze fest? Do not lie to yourself.

Since this is a quickie, here are 10 Tips on Grabbing Us in 30!:

1. Flush your CV - Not all your experience is relevant, we only want to see useful work experience
2. Two pages please - Your CV should not be longer than 2 pages. NO MATTER WHAT
3. Avoid singing your praises 'I am a seasoned and great mechanic? STOP & BACKSPACE
4. Your CV must always be aligned properly.
5. If you created your email address in secondary school and thus have a mailhoney@gmail.com type of address, please change it to a more formal one.
6. Your font size should ideally be between 10pt to 11.5/12. 12 might be a little large.
7. Don't over sell yourself or sound desperate, you would be surprised how we can sense that from paper.
8. Learn to write! Check your Spellings! Avoid run on sentences.
9. Do not use too much grammar in your sentences
10. Every section should have a heading.

As usual we found an interesting article on this tip on jobs.theguardian.com Is your CV boring?

Please click and read more, we would do a detailed post on how to get your CV to grab us in less than 30!

 RR

Tuesday's Quick Tip - Are you weak? I mean what is your weakness?

Good Morning Job Seekers, we made it to Tuesday! Did anyone go for an interview yesterday, care to share? Do you have one lined up for today?

In case you do, here is a quick tip on how to tackle this strange question; 'What are your weaknesses?'. I mean why would a recruiter want to know my weaknesses, wouldn't my weaknesses portray me in a negative light?

First thing's first, this question is a trick, you need to understand that no one wants to employ anyone with a negative mindset, so do not give a negative answer to this question. I am sure you must have heard before that it is better to call problems challenges. Challenges would always come to test our abilities, it is what we do about it that matters.

So before we run off into a different topic for a different day, in answering this question you must paint your weakness in a positive light, you must paint it as a challenge you are working on and would over come.

Your weakness must never be detrimental to the expected deliverable's on the job. We do not expect you to lie to us, but be smart about your answer. Good answers to this question include:

1. I can be a bit of a perfectionist. I am really unhappy when I do not give my best on a task.
2. I tend to be dedicated to my work during working hours, my co-workers may see this as me being unfriendly.
3. I tend to pay attention to detail on my work, therefore I am overly cautious.

Yes We Are!

The worst answer you can give to this question is that you have none!, Do not do that.

This is meant to be a quick tip so we would stop here.

Remember to send any questions you have to rrecruit@outlook.com.

Best of luck to anyone that has interviews today. Stay calm. RR

The Skill Based CV.

Have you ever found this job advert, gone through the skill requirements and duties expected and thought;  'This is definitely right down my alley' and then scroll to the experience and educational background criteria and then feel your heart sink cause you do not meet all or most of what is written on there?

Do not loose hope, you can and must submit your CV however you should submit a Skill Based CV.

Snapshot of a Skilled Based CV.

What is a Skilled Based CV you ask? This is a CV format where the candidate lists their job qualifications underneath their skills, instead of the using the reverse chronological CV format. This type of CV format would be more ideal in cases where:

1. You do not have the specified relevant work experience or educational background for the job.
2. You have enough enough work experience but not within the desired industry.
3. You have a non-desirable educational background.
4. You have transferable relevant skills.

Under this CV Format you would list the desirable skills you possess and then sub-list where you have gained and developed this skills, either whilst studying or working. This skills are called 'Transferable Skills' - skills gained from experience in a different industry.

By doing this you gain the recruiter's attention even though you lack certain educational or work experience criteria. The recruiter can see the relevant skills you have (which is critical) and how/where you have gained them.

The catch here of course is you must have desirable and transferable skills, so firstly flush your skills; make a skill list, match it to the job advert and as mentioned in the last post, BE SPECIFIC and DETAILED.

There are numerous sample skill based CV's online which you can check out.

We have however put a sample CV we found on www.prospect.ac.uk for your perusal. Click here for sample skill based CV

Any questions should be sent to rrecruit@outlook.com.

RR.

Job Interview Do's and Dont's

A little comedy for you all. We would do a post about answering that question, What is your weakness! Enjoy.

Sunday Tip - Are you ready???

Hi job seekers! I hope you have a had some rest this weekend? You do need all your energy for the new week, Are you ready?

Ready for your interviews this week? I know that telling you to 'Be Prepared' for an interview is cliche but it can never be over emphasised.

However, being prepared for an interview does not simply mean memorising your CV from the head to the bottom, it does not only mean memorising ready made answers or even questions for the recruiter/interviewer or practising your pronunciation and reciting facts about the organisation.

Being ready for an interview also involves taking a moment to step out of your shoes and step into the shoes of the organisation. Why do you think the organisation has advertised for this vacancy, what do you think they expect? The recruiters' are humans after all are they not?

Is the position core to the activities of the organisation? If I owned this organisation; What kind of person would I be looking for? - Selah. You must know that the organisation means business, they are looking for someone to fill a role in order for the organisation to achieve its goals. It's bigger than you. The answers to this exercise completes your preparation.

So yes! Always ask that question, have a good think about it before rushing off to the interview. You do usually only have that one chance to make an impression on the recruiter. So stop, look in the mirror and ask yourself - Are YOU Ready??

Why should we give you the job?

What do you do?... I am a Banker!

Its the weekend again. I wonder how many people went for interviews this week? How did they go?

Today I would like to touch on a very common type of way of answering this question:

So what do you do?... A lot of people think they actually answer this question but they do not. This is because they give general answers. For example; Working in a bank does not make you 'A Banker'. There is no Banker job function in a Bank.

Whenever i ask candidates this question I am asking for what you DO. specifically your job role and in more detail what tasks you embark on when you get to work every day. Examples of an appropriate answer would be:

1. I work as a Relationship Officer with Bank XYZ. My duties or tasks involve visiting my clients, ensuring they are being serviced by answering their queries and delivering their request in record time.

2. I am currently a Junior Consultant with Firm O, I and my team audit two firms every week. To achieve this we make requests for all information we would need the previous week.

By being specific you are taking me through what you actually get done. Action is better than voice they say, and what better indirect way is there of demonstrating your skills and capabilities than telling the recruiter about what tasks you have to do, what challenges you face and how you over come them.

In closing, always be specific and detailed. Also mention the challenges you face in your current duty and how you overcome them.

My next post would be on Skill based CV's. Till then, Have a great weekend.

Thursday's Tip - At the end of every interview always have a memorable question!

First Thursday's Tip has got to be this, personally it took a long time to get the hang of this one. As an 'occasional introvert' I argued with that I did not have to ask questions in an interview. Simply read up on it all, no need for questions..... Cute but wrong!

lol..Definately not these questions.

In my brief time in recruitment I cherished candidates who had well thought out questions, challenging questions, memorable ones! From their questions I deduced how prepared they were for the interview, how much knowledge they have about the role or organisation and lastly their interest in the job.

So in little words as this is a tip: Since this is an organisation you are also considering working in, ask smart questions that may shed light on whether or not this is the place you want to be. Interview your Interview-ers?

We would definitely do a full post on this in the future... Till then recruits, never say 'No' to that question.

Tell me about yourself...

Most of us tend to take this question very casually and answer it  as if we were at a party with an acquaintance we just met. This question is one of the most important questions to be asked at an interview.

A common mistake candidates make in answering this question is to read out their CV/Resume to the recruiter. However the recruiter does not want you to tell them what is written on your CV/Resume. If they are efficient recruiters they would have read through your CV and pieced together a profile of who you might be.

I hear you wondering why ask again? since they have read most of my academic and work life experiences on my resume?  What is the point of the question?

This question is designed to assess some of your attributes. Which include:

• Your confidence
• Ability to communicate clearly
• How well you speak
• Composure

Confidence: The recruiter wants to see how confident you are in pitching yourself to anyone, you might be required to sell the business someday. We advise you cover the following areas when answering this question.

1. Your Name
2. What you currently do for a living (If employed)
3. Your achievements so far academically and non-academically
4. Your passion and what you enjoy doing
5. Your plan for your career and future. Project yourself.

Although your resume largely covers most of the areas outlined above, it does not explain your experience from them, your resume merely lists them and this question gives you a chance to expand on them and complete or correct the preformed profile the recruiter may have of you. It is also very important to have the role you are being interviewed for in mind as well as the organisations corporate culture and values. These should shape your answer.

Below is an example of a typical answer to the question for someone who is unemployed but interviewing for an accounting role:

“I am Fola O, I hold a B Sc. degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos where I graduated with a second class upper division in the top 20 of my class. - ACHIEVEMENT- Whilst at the University I was an active member of the Faculty of Business Administration Student Society. With help from other members of the society I organised several student workshops on accounting standards and policies. -ACHIEVEMENT- I am passionate about corporate transparency which is why I am currently running a course with ICAN in this area - PASSION-. I have a year’s work experience working with Williams Ltd as an accounts officer. In this role I gained attention to detail, numeracy and analytical skills - ACHIEVEMENT-. I hope to finish up my course with ICAN and pursue a career in accounting regulations “-YOUR PLAN.

You need to deliver your pitch with total confidence, and you must highlight on your achievements, passion and plan. You might be nominated to represent the organisation in the future and confidence is a necessity in the dog eat dog world that we live in.

Ability to communicate clearly: It is one thing to have knowledge about something and another thing to communicate this knowledge to someone else with clarity. You must be able to communicate about who you are clearly, what you say must have a logical flow, if it was a story it must be a good read, not one that leaves its reader befuddled.

Just like a well written essay try to have an introduction, main body and a conclusion in what you say.

How well you speak: You must speak English properly, as this is the national business language in Nigeria. Practice does make perfect, practice your pronunciations, pace yourself, be eloquent. Try to avoid filler words such as 'erm/uhm/so/err' as much as possible.

Composure: You must be well composed when answering this question as well as throughout your interview. Sit upright, do not panic into a sweat, smile, try to maintain eye contact. Do not have shifty eyes or rub your hands together, dress appropriately. The recruiter is picking up on all of this!

Find below  a video on this topic for your edutainment!

We do hope we have given you a better idea of how to tackle this question.

Tell me about yourself? URI Career Services

Till next time!