1. HOW TO GET THE JOB YOU WANT
Chris Goulding – Regional Director
May 22nd 2012
AAT

2. ABOUT US: CHRIS GOULDING DIRECTOR
Graduate from Nottingham University in History
13 years recruitment experience working for Hays
Recruited permanent and interim roles during that period
Currently manage 30 consultants in Reading, covering Procurement, Senior
Finance, Non-Qualified Finance, HR, Office Support, PA and Secretarial, Tax, Treasury, Accountancy Firms, Corporate Governance and Legal
Spent 12 years out of the 13 purely recruiting or managing consultants covering finance positions

3. AGENDA Getting Started CV Writing Interviews Offer Management
Interim Work – The benefits
Q&A – Both on presentation and other recruitment focused questions

4. GETTING STARTED Prepare before hand….. Think about…
Why do I want a new job?
What do I want from my next job?
What do I actually want to do?
Understand your financial worth – the market has changed
Practical considerations such as location
Not every job is the right job!

5. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A CV?
Shout out answers please?
Hays Senior Finance Thursday 21st October 2010

6. THE PURPOSE OF YOUR CV IS TO SHOWCASE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN ORDER TO GAIN AN INTERVIEW
This is your opportunity to ‘sell yourself’ and make the employer see you as a well qualified, professional, concise and thoughtful individual who is taking your career seriously.
Hays Senior Finance Thursday 21st October 2010

7. CV WRITING How do you put a CV together? Common Questions We Face:
What structure / order should my CV be?
How long should it be?
Where should education be written / qualifications?
How much detail on experience?
Should I put date of birth / marital status / dependents?
How much focus on my achievements?
Should I put a synopsis on my employers?
How much detail on reasons for leaving?
What is a good personal profile?
Should I write hobbies / interests?
Ask crowd what they think the purpose of a CV is?

8. DO’S
DO keep personal data short and sweet, and don’t space it out too much
DO include your academic and professional qualifications and which stage you’re at – put if you have first time passes, it will help separate you from the competition
DO put your current role first and bullet point your duties and achievements clearly, not lengthy paragraphs
DO write in the 3rd person – no ‘I did’ or ‘I have’
DO explain any gaps – people assume the worst
DO send a covering letter and draw attention to the reasons you feel you are a strong candidate

9. DONT’S
DON’T mention marital status or dependents, people can use it to discriminate
DON’T write date of birth on the CV
DON’T list hundreds of duties and responsibilities – use headings and bullet points. Part of assessing a CV is how well you are communicating information about yourself, getting the message across in a succinct and precise manner
DON’T include a picture
DON’T write in capitals – it makes the reader feel like they’re being shouted at!
DON’T write in a too large or too small font, is perfect

10. CV KILLERS Different fonts, colours and clip art
Spellin an grammer mistukes
You can’t claim attention to detail if there is even one mistake on your CV
Poor reasons for leaving
Gaps on CV – employers will consider the worst (e.g Jail!!)
Poor reasons for leaving: Consitantly career progression, didn’t get on with boss, personal reasons, prison!

11. AND THE BIGGEST CV KILLER OF ALL…….
PHOTOS. JUST DON’T. EVER.…..

13. TAILOR YOUR CV
Once the basic template is in place, target your CV to specific jobs
What qualities have been specified in the job spec?
Does your CV clearly highlight these requirements?
Research the company and industry
- Internet
- Use your recruitment consultant to gain inside knowledge

14. JOB SPECIFICATION
Business partnering with specific part of BP in order to ensure their HR data requirements are satisfied through GPD
Developing functional and non-functional specifications for new reports/dashboards required by each business.
Testing reports produced by offshore & onshore team to ensure adherence to reporting strategy and business requirements.
Providing training and assistance on use of GPD portal and subsequent new reporting outputs and new look & feel – increase utilisation of portal self-service.
Migrating existing segment/local reports to Business Objects as and when available
Development of additional reporting functionality as part of the GPD Expansion and Cross-Country Reporting
Accountable for the submission of all segmental headcount KPI’s/dashboards to the business within agreed timescale
Responsible for developing and maintaining a reporting forum of GPD data stakeholders – sharing common reporting challenges and resolutions
Working closely with the Data lead to expose and communicate data discrepancies
Responsible for developing, maintaining and delivering best practices for managing reporting stakeholder
Managing the satisfaction of ad-hoc reports for Segment and Function teams
Accountable for measurement of customer satisfaction

15. YOUR INTERVIEW
Hays Senior Finance Thursday 21st October 2010

16. BE PREPARED Research Job Description
Visit their company website for more information on the firm
Look committed and find out as much as possible about the firm
Ask your recruitment consultant what the company wants. A good consultant will know!
Job Description
Read the job description carefully
Ensure you can discuss all the points on the job description. You may not have all the experience, but they have chosen to meet you for a reason.
Be confident that you are technically qualified to do the job
Have examples from your previous role to demonstrate your ability to do this job.

17. AT THE INTERVIEW No matter how well-qualified you are for the job, your personality and personal presentation will count greatly at interview. What ever your confidence levels, you can develop and work on the skills required to make the interview process more bearable.
Get Organised
Basic information, who & where?
Paperwork
- CV
- Application Form
- Notes / Questions
- Job Specification
- Journey / Travel
Your First Impression
Appearance
Firm handshake
Eye contact
Body Language

18. INTERVIEW DO’S Punctual Professional
Know your CV – be clear on dates and order of jobs before you go in
Take Time Over Answers
Justify Career Moves / Decisions
Have Examples Prepared
Plan Questions To Ask

19. INTERVIEW DONT’S DO NOT Arrive empty handed
DO NOT Bad mouth ex employers
DO NOT Cover weakness by blaming others
DO NOT Be vague
DO NOT Be first to mention money
DO NOT Be too opinionated or show lack of morals

20. CHANGING TIMES….. HOW INTERVIEWS ARE CHANGING
OLD STYLE QUESTIONS:
Q: Tell me about yourself?
Q: What are your strengths?
Q: What are your greatest weaknesses?

21. THE NEW WORLD! CBI – COMPENTENCY BASED INTERVIEW
What is a Competency Based Interview?
“Competencies are defined as behavioural traits combined with technical knowledge and skills that will serve as indicators of success in specific jobs or positions.”
Why are they used?
What is assessed at the competency based interview?
- Skill
- Knowledge
- Competency

22. CBI HOW TO ANSWER
Situation Task Action Results

23. CBI – QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR ROLE
Q1 - Persuasiveness
Describe your most satisfying (or disappointing) experience in presenting to, and gaining the support of, top management for an idea or proposal.
Q2 - Teamwork
Tell me about a situation where you have been part of a group working
toward a specific goal. What was your role in the group?
Q3 - Problem Solving
Tell me the most difficult situation you have had to face and how you
tackled it?
Q4 - Achievement Focus
Tell me about the last time you had a lot of work to do within a very
limited deadline. How did you go about it?

24. CBI CONCLUSION
Good Preparations = Strong Interview Follow the STAR Methodology Always ‘I’ not ‘we’ or ‘my team’ Ask questions

25. QUESTIONS TO THE INTERVIEWER
Topics to consider when asking questions:
Training delivered and courses offered?
The wider department and internal relationships?
Changes seen within the company / team in recent years?
Scope for development or increased responsibility?
What they think it takes to succeed in this role?

26. Examples Of Negative Interview Feedback
“He asked if we had a company website”
“The candidate just did not let me speak to ask him questions. It was more like a monologue than an interview”
“I counted 4 questions he asked me about the role which were answered on the spec he had in his hand”
“She was nice enough but seemed more interested in bad-mouthing her current employers than hearing anything about what we’re like”
“It was all going well until he started demanding more than we were paying, before I’d even guided the conversation towards remuneration”
“He was pleasant enough and the interview went OK. However he clearly just wants a job. He did little to convince me why this was the job for him”
“Well, his phone rang in the interview. He then answered it in front of me. Lets just say we ended the meeting there”
“I wish he’d looked me in the eyes as opposed to my chest!”

27. AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW THE DREADED TESTS…….
Verbal Reasoning Test
Numerical Reasoning Tests
Personality Profiling / Psychometric Testing

28. OFFER STAGE How to deal with an offer at interview
When does an offer become legally binding?
Negotiating package
When to hand your notice in
Negotiating notice period
Counter offer

29. INTERIM WORK – THE BENEFITS TO YOU
Keeps some money coming in while you look for a permanent role
Add skills (especially project skills) to your CV you may not acquire in a permanent role
A way to truly add short term value to a business
In current climate it can open doors to a permanent role
Due to the recession you are no longer seen as ‘jumpy’ if you have taken interim work

30. QUESTIONS?
Hays Senior Finance Thursday 21st October 2010

31. Career Support
AAT careers information:
AAT CV builder and video case studies:
AAT jobs:
Hays Recruitment: