Never give up…..tips for staying positive (and Sane) while Job Seeking!

"To be a great champion, you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are."
—Muhammad Ali

You are a special person. You know it. Your mum knows it. Your dad knows it. Your siblings know it (but probably will not admit it). Your friends and relatives know it. But unless you convince prospective employers of your special talents and abilities, you will fade into that great dark abyss of opportunities lost. In order to convince them, you have to get in front of them, to get in front of them you need to make job applications and in order to do that you have to take ACTION!

Here are some top tips for getting your job search activities organised and keeping your confidence high.

 Use a range of sources to look for a job — Internet; Recruitment Agency; Careers Advisors; Networking; Friends and Acquaintances; Job Centre Plus; Newspapers; etc Use all avenues / methods - do not rely on just 1 method. Set time aside each day to check out all your sources and make a not of any vacancy that could be of interest.
 Not all jobs are advertised, so it is a very good idea to use contacts, ask around and try to network. If people can't help you themselves, they may be able to put you in touch with those who can. Aim to make or research at least 1 speculative approach each day.
 Tailor your CV and cover letter to the job/employer you are applying to. Take your time over your job applications and do not rush. Research the company and the role. Tailor your content to the position you are going for. Keep a note of what exactly you have sent to each employer and when you sent it.
 Always follow up your applications. Make yourself stand out from the crowd. By calling potential employers, you will look eager and you will also gain peace of mind knowing where you stand.
In the next Bolg we’ll be looking at staying positive and sane about Job Interviews......In the meantime, take a look at www.codepro.co.uk and discover how Job Prospector has been designed specifically to help you with your job search – take the pressure off yourself and use Job Prospector!

Good luck with your Job search!

Network your way to a Job

Looking at job adverts is quick, easy, and a useful way to learn what jobs are available, but presents a few problems as a starting point for a job search.
Firstly, adverts are not designed to help you understand what different kinds of jobs involve - they are for people who are sure of exactly the job they want. Many are vague and others can swamp you with detail.
Secondly, many jobs are not even advertised, leaving you to miss out on a wide variety of options. Todays thoughts consider how you can network your way to a job by making yourself known to potential employers.
Every day, someone, somewhere, is offered a job that was never advertised, possibly without even making an application. How does this happen?
It is a myth that all jobs must be advertised by law. Open recruitment is considered best practice, but is not a legal obligation. Advertising is expensive and employers may prefer to recruit internally by promoting or seconding a member of staff or may take personal recommendations from staff as the best option.
They may also draw on personal contacts to find suitably qualified candidates. This is particularly true in small businesses, and for popular types of work where there is a permanent supply of keen applicants.
To unlock these hidden jobs you need to make yourself known to potential employers.
A direct, carefully planned approach can be effective. Your CV and covering letter should be specifically tailored to the Business and the job role you are seeking so research and preparation are essential. Recruiters easily spot generic CVs, which are likely to go straight in the recycling bin just like any other unsolicited, impersonal junk mail.
To improve your chances:
• Prepare a general CV and covering letter geared towards a particular industry sector, and then adapt it to target individual Businesses.
• Do your research e.g. market position, key stakeholders, suppliers, customers and business development. You need to gather as much information as possible about the responsibilities of the role you are aiming for and the team you would join.
• Get the name of the contact in your chosen business function or human resources/personnel before approaching - this may take some perseverance, but is worthwhile.
• Ensure that your letter starts by clearly stating what you are looking for - a job, contract or project work, work experience, work shadowing - and include details of your availability.
• Focus on explaining what skills and experience you have to offer and what you could contribute to the organisation, rather than simply what you hope to gain for yourself.
• Follow up your letter with a phone call to show your genuine interest and try to arrange a meeting to discuss job possibilities, review your application or gain further contacts.
People often find jobs through their own contacts. Contacts might be friends, relatives, or people you have met through leisure interests, voluntary work or part-time jobs, previous employers and even casual acquaintances. Combine contacts from all sources into your personal professional network.
Even if these people do not directly help you, they might put you in touch with others who do. They may help you find an opportunity or even get you an interview.
Remember to pursue networking opportunities yourself. Networking opportunities include:
• Temporary or part-time work to enhance your marketability and industry knowledge and to meet people in your target sector.
• Voluntary work to build experience and show your commitment - be clear what you are offering to do and for how long.
• Professional associations, which may run networking events or useful training and conferences where you can forge new links.
• Careers events where you can speak with representatives from many organisations in one place.
Further study, training and work experience also gives you an edge in the job market.
Activate your network by letting everyone know your ambitions and plans, so your contacts pass on any information they hear as soon as possible. When you approach a new potential employer, mention who suggested contacting them, as it will increase the chances of your application being read.
Job Prospector is a computer program which has been designed to enable you to search for a job your way and organise all your employer, vacancy, personal and contact information in one place, on your own computer, right at your fingertips! Download it today from www.codepro.co.uk and get an advantage.
We wish you success!

GOOD DAYS or BAD DAYS?

Whether we have a good day or bad day is often more about how we think about things rather than about what is actually happening. The meaning we choose to make of one event can set us up for the rest of the day in either a positive or negative frame of mind.
We are what our thoughts make us! There is now overwhelming evidence that shows that optimism is healthier than pessimism. Not only is a positive outlook healthier it also helps you to be more successful, have greater resilience to stress, be better able to cope under pressure, be more inspiring to others and generally a more pleasant person to be around!
Optimism and pessimism can be considered as chains of thought that relate to the future and structure our thinking about what we predict may happen in response to some event in our lives. It is interesting that pessimists when challenged about their negativity often reply by saying they are simply being realistic. Likewise the optimist when challenged about being overly positive also says they are just being realistic! So who is right?
Well the fact is that we cannot predict the future anyway so neither is right - as yet! However our thoughts about the future can become self-fulfilling prophesies. So on balance if you think the worst not only is this draining your energy but you are kind of programming yourself to make the worst more likely to happen, think more positively about future outcomes then you are making them more likely to become reality.
So how can you consistently maintain optimistic and positive thoughts (have more good days!) particularly when under pressure or when things are more difficult? The answer lies partly in understanding the structures behind your thinking and knowing how to adjust these to hold more of the kind of thoughts that you want – the ones that empower you to succeed and are good for your health!
It begins with a real event, to this event our minds can then make up future possible scenarios that are linked together like a chain. These chains of imagined future possibilities can follow a more optimistic direction or a more pessimistic direction depending on our general de-fault way of thinking and also depending on just how we are feeling at the time. (and by the way the more we practice a particular way of thinking the better we get at it!)
The first step is to recognise what your brain is doing, be aware of your thought chains and how they are working either for you or against you. The aim once aware is to create another possible thought chain, a more optimistic one, to run in parallel with the pessimistic one and ultimately for this new chain to become the more dominant pathway. Begin to do this by questioning the meaning you are making of events and challenging the links (loosening the connections)!
Keeping positive when you are Job Seeking is hard to do. People using Job Prospector tell us that it helps them to feel in control and on top of their activities and that helps them to feel more confident and willing to persevere. We hope that you'll invest in yourslef and use Job prospector to help you have more good days and eventual success with your job search. Please let us know how it helps you
Keep similing and have a fantastic week!

Internet Job Search is Only Part of the Story...

All of the statistics show that job boards on the internet are a low-return way of finding a job. Unless you have a skill set that is in high demand, and one that can be easily described by keywords, finding a good match on a job site will be a challenge. Most people have to send out a lot of enquiries. Each enquiry requires follow-up to be effective, few result in any feedback, and it is a challenging job search approach.

I believe that job sites have a role in your job search strategy, but those roles should be limited (unless you are one of the lucky few with an easily-described, highly desirable skill set). As a job candidate, you need to focus on results and progress, rather than on activity for its own sake. The challenge of job sites is they can mask a lack of progress by providing lots of opportunity for non-productive work.
So to get the best from internet job listings, first, choose 3 of the bigger job boards (i.e., Monster.com, Job site etc) and establish your profile. You may also want to choose job sites that are specific to your chosen field or geographic location. Set up an alert so that as jobs that are posted which match your interests, you will get an email. You can then respond and apply to those jobs. Spend one day setting up your profiles and one hour per week responding.
Next, be sure to include the exact keywords you see in the job details on your C.V. or letter of application. C.V. scanners are typically used to scan resumes that will be reviewed and those scanners work much like a Google search. The closer the keywords match the job posting, the more likely it is that your details will pop up.
Finally, you will need to follow up to make sure they have received your CV (unless the posting specifically asked you NOT to follow up). Allow five business days after you posted for the job and call or email the human resources department. The goal of the first follow up is just to make sure your application was received and to ask about the hiring process. If you can’t find a contact name, do a search on Linked In for someone in that organisation, preferably in the department you want to work in and follow up that way. Continue to follow up until you either get an interview or are told that you have been screened out.
Remember that although job sites can be helpful in the job search, don’t spend too much time on them and be mindful of the work that they require for each opportunity that comes from them. A listing is not an opportunity until someone expresses an active interest in you. If you periodically check the number of opportunities arising from your job site efforts, and appropriately manage the time that you spend working on them, you can keep them a positive resource for your search.
Remember networking still accounts for approximately 80% of all jobs filled! Whatever your job search methods, Job Prospector gives you unmatched convenience, flexibility and security. It is a powerful tool that will help you to take control of all your job search activities, manage your connections and network and spend time on what matters!
Take a look at www.codepro.co.uk
Good luck with your Job Search

Job Hunting – Have you got a system?

Let’s face it, the old ways of managing a job search using a binder or even a spreadsheet just will not work in today’s environment. Post it notes also leave a lot to be desired! There is too much information online, too many ways to connect to jobs, companies, and people, to master your job search using out-of-date tools.

The complexity is in the breadth of the five things that you need to organise for a modern job search:

• Activities: Tasks or To-Do items, meetings and follow-up.
• Contacts: Networking and relationships.
• Documents: Everything from CV’s, Application forms, all your personal data and Cover letters to research and tips.
• Vacancies themselves.
• Organisations: Companies, social organisations, schools, and other groups that people belong to. Tracking these are critical for you to expand your universe of available jobs.

In addition, you need a system to keep track of your search overall. Your system needs to help you track those opportunities that you have applied for or enquired about without spending a lot of time on them. Until you get a response. Then you need somewhere you can store all your useful research on the company.
At the same time that you are responding to vacancies, you should pursue a targeted approach–focused on a set of companies, or people you want to work with, or a specific type of job. For this part of your search, you need to be sifting and sorting a lot of information to figure out how and where to present your skills and abilities at their best. Later, when you identify an opportunity, you need to make this research instantly useful.

When you do make applications you need an easy way to keep track of what you have sent to whom and when. You also need a way of keeping track of interview and follow up dates to make sure you never miss out.

An automated system can do all this for you, and do them well. Take a step forward with your job search today and download Job Prospector from www.codepro.co.uk

It has been designed to make your life easier and will help you to get an advantage!

Good luck