Strategies for a
Successful Job Search

This is an optional section and can be used to indicate your career aspirations for your specific industry, and to convey in a positive way why you are seeking a career move. Be aware however that a poor personal profile can do more harm than good, so don’t try to be clever. Avoid terminology that has no relevance to your CV, for example, and steer clear of clichés and buzzwords. Use your personal profile to honestly reflect your skills, experience, attitude, and behavior.

Your key achievements form a key section of your CV. It needs to really engage your prospective employer – so use facts, figures, and timescales to demonstrate that you are a competent achiever in your current and previous roles. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself, but substantiate your claims with solid evidence. For example:

• As Store Manager of Glasgow, I successfully lead a team of 50 to increase sales by 10% year on year, an increase which was recognised as the highest in the region.

• Successfully managed a complex store refit program whilst maintaining excellent customer service and sales results through high team motivation and loyalty.

• Significantly improved absence results and staff turnover, reducing staff turnover from 30% to 3% and absence from 10% to less than 1%. This was achieved through improving staff communication systems, introducing absence procedures and developing team morale.

• Achieved consistent high mystery shopper results of 90%+, being rewarded with the responsibility of Regional Customer Service champion.

Using bullet points makes your achievements easier to read – and remember to use strong words that demonstrate what you actually did, words like led, organised, designed, formed, developed, significantly improved/reduced, successfully created and so on.

The achievements you select for this section should reflect a number of different competencies, tailored to the job for which you are applying. Don’t simply focus on the financial and sales element of your position, for example, and completely overlook your achievements relating to people management or customer service, or it may raise doubts about a lack of people skills. Finally, compare your achievements to the results of your colleagues whenever appropriate to convey the real impact of your contribution – this adds a useful perspective to your achievements and enables the reader to more fully understand what you have to offer.

Your career history is a compact summary of your employment history and the responsibilities that you held in each post.

Start with the most recent or current employer, detailing the month/year you started and finished, together with the company name and location as shown below. If you had a number of different roles within the same company, list the dates and then detail the specific roles and responsibilities below.

For every position held, summarise the key facts and figures below each employment entry – include details about the size of your team, turnover, square footage and the number of units for which you were directly accountable, if relevant. This is critical information and helps an employer or recruiter to correctly assess your level of experience.

For clarity, your key responsibilities should be bullet-pointed – and remember to include any extra responsibilities that would make you stand out from your colleagues. Don’t make the mistake of confusing key responsibilities for a full job description. If you are a retail store manager, for example, the very nature of your role will indicate to a prospective employer that you have key holder responsibilities. However, if are a supervisor, the fact that you have keyholder responsibilities may not be immediately apparent and can be listed.

Finally, explain any gaps in your employment history by detailing the dates along with a short, concise sentence providing the reason why you were not working – traveling the world, for example, or spending time with family.

Present your most recent qualifications first, providing details for your most important and relevant qualifications – reduce this detail for less significant qualifications. Detail all relevant courses or company training you have received by the date and course title.

Your personal details comprise your full name and title, your postal address and full contact details including your e-mail address, home, mobile, and work telephone numbers. You should also include your marital status and state whether you have a full, clean driving license.

You need to supply two references – and ideally, one of these should be your current or most recent employer. Rest assured, they will not be contacted without your permission being requested. However, it demonstrates that you are comfortable with the referees being contacted at the appropriate time.

It is imperative that you fully proofread your CV to make sure that you have accurate spelling and grammar. If you’re unsure, ask a friend or relative to read your CV for you.

Your CV should look standardised, so avoid using fancy fonts and stick to a standard font size of 10/12. Print it on white paper and use black ink, colour formats rarely impress and can detract from the real message you are trying to convey.

• Be open to the views of others, demonstrate your listening skills through your body language.

• Seeking others’ opinions and helping focus the group on the task are more effective ways to show you can lead a team than issuing instructions to other group members.

• Make sure to communicate your ideas in a positive and diplomatic way, don’t criticise or interrupt other participants.

• Successful candidates are those who are ready to have a go at any exercise, who show genuine interest in fellow candidates and who participate actively in discussions.

• Try to enjoy the assessment centre as an experience in itself which will enhance your self-knowledge, regardless of the outcome.

• Let your natural personality show. Don’t try to second guess the sort of person you think the employer wants as it’s impossible to keep this up over an extended period and your behaviour will appear unconvincing.

• Whatever the outcome of the assessment centre, ask your assessors for feedback soon after you hear their decision. This can pinpoint where you might want to improve when preparing for your next selection centre.

• Most numerical tests will allow the use of a calculator. Make sure you are well prepared with all the tools you need before you start the test.

• Other tests sometimes include verbal reasoning or ask to interpret data from graphs. Start reading broader sections of industry-specific information or practising data analysis where possible.

• Familiarise yourself with the typical content and format of psychometric tests, this will give you a significant advantage.

• Prepare for and practice the test in the way you would for any exam. By practising and training your brain to identify frameworks for solving problems you’ll significantly improve your results.

• Not all jobs take the same kind of test, the level of quality and content of the test will vary depending on the type of role you applied for.

• Use websites such as Glassdoor to help find out what kind of test you will have to take and prepare and practice accordingly.

• Ensure you carefully review all aspects of the offer and consider this against any competing offers you may have as well as your current role.

• If there are any details following on from the offer that you have any questions about, contact the employer and set time aside to ask questions.

• Decide how you will respond, if they sent you an official offer email it’s acceptable to send your acceptance back in an email reply. Equally, if you agree to call the interviewer then go ahead.

• Whilst we would hope that you are successful in any interview you go for, please use interviews as a learning experience and take feedback on board in an open manner.

• Even if you were unsuccessful this time, there are still many positives you can take from an interview process. This feedback could be invaluable for next time you go forward for an interview!

• It can feel like an awkward conversation to have, but once you’ve decided to leave, it’s going to happen at some point. Don’t put off handing in your notice and get the ball rolling as soon as you can.

• Try and book a meeting or time away from others so you can have an open and honest conversation with your manager, they may want to ask why you’ve decided to leave and if there’s anything they can do to keep you in the business.

• Even if you get on well with your boss and they’re usually friendly, you should still prepare for a negative reaction. Though hopefully, they’ll be accepting you need to remember that they’re losing a valued member of staff and may be shocked.

• Also prepare yourself for a counter offer, if your current employers really want to keep you they may approach you with a counter offer in an attempt to get to you to stay.

• When you have decided to leave, don’t tell anyone else until you’ve had a conversation with your boss. Even if you think you can trust your colleagues, office gossip is inevitable and these things always seem to have a way of getting out.

• Your boss will be much happier to hear that you decided to leave directly from you rather than hearing it through the grapevine, treat them with respect and the way that you would want to be treated.

• In our experience, most people who accept counter offers find themselves looking for a new job a few months later as the situations that caused them to explore the job market in the first place remain unresolved.

• Once your employer knows you have been looking for opportunities elsewhere, you demonstrate that you have the potential to be disloyal to the company. You may no longer be seen as a team player and could potentially be first out the door if there is an internal reorganisation.

• If you do accept the counter offer that results in a substantial increase in salary, you may end up being over overpaid compared to the market rate for your level of experience.

• Most people make the most dramatic improvements to their career progression, immediate and long-term earning potential by making an external move. Think about the new challenges, new ways of working and skills you will develop from an external career move.

• Although it may be flattering to receive a counter offer, along with this comes confusion. Once you have taken the time to review your options and made a decision, be firm in your approach and communicate your decision to your current employer professionally.

• Whilst you won’t necessarily be best friends with everybody from the first day, showing you’re enthusiastic about trying to get to know the team, as well as the work you’re doing, will naturally allow your colleagues to be more open and welcoming with you.

• Try and make time to get to know your teammates during your first few weeks and find out more about them, the history with the company, what they do and their lives outside of work.

• Get organised and start good habits, this job is a fresh start and a good opportunity to shed old habits. Take the first few weeks to decide how you want to organise your calendar and your to-do list as well as how you manage your time.

• As much as you’re likely to want to hit the ground running, you can’t expect to be an expert in your first few weeks. If you don’t know something or feel like you need help always ask.

• Challenge yourself with ambitious goals, work towards these goals and dive into situations that support them.