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The way you represent yourself through your CV is crucial to getting noticed by hiring managers. Your CV must create an optimal first impression of yourself, as it’s most probably going to be the first point of contact that the hiring manager has with you as a candidate. It’s common knowledge that professionals in control of an organisation’s recruitment process spend a very fleeting amount of time looking at your CV, as they sieve through applications and decide who to invite to interview. So, how can you ensure that your application survives this process and ends up in the successful pile on the hiring manager's desk? Below we have provided some pointers to pay good attention to if you want to make sure your CV stands out against the crowd. 1. Is your personal statement effective? For many, writing an attractive and original personal profile is one of the most challenging aspects of building a successful CV. We recommend you spend a good amount of time perfecting these few sentences if you want to immediately engage a hiring manager. They have probably already looked over a great deal of applications, likely all using very similar and generic language. The strength of what you write in your opening personal statement will dictate if a person decides to continue to read the rest of your CV. Reassess your personal statement, is it truly unique to you? You should be instantly selling yourself as a candidate who isn’t simply offering the same as everyone else. Try to get into the mindset of the employer and consider the most interesting and impressive skills, qualities, and achievements you possess, that are most relevant in relation to this job. 2. Find your own USP To stress this again - the biggest hurdle to securing yourself an interview is setting yourself apart from your competition. Now is not the time to be modest, think about the extra qualities that you can bring to the table that will most benefit the employer. Applicants competing for the same role will usually have a background similar to your own and will certainly be highlighting a similar range of skills. What are you doing that everyone else in your industry isn’t already doing? What are the outcomes of this? What notable achievements do you have? Of course, make sure your USP is relevant to what the employer is looking for, then back your statements up by providing evidence of the results that you have produced in the past. 3.Tailor your CV to every application CV writing can often feel like a chore you’d prefer to avoid; therefore, many applicants make the mistake of thinking that this is something they only need to do once. Unfortunately, if you really want to impress an employer, you’re going to need to put in a little extra time and care. We would suggest, reading the job ad carefully and realigning your skills and experience in a way that is most responsive to the particular organisation and what they are looking for. This will show that you are eager for that specific role – a quality that greatly increases your chances of winning over the employer. Concisely listing the details of your career that actually address the requirements of the available position, is incredibly more valuable than a lengthy list of everything you have ever done. Don’t expect that the hiring manager will sieve through all of this information, instead show it to them immediately. 4.Utilise keywords Hiring managers often rely on keywords whilst searching for candidates, so make sure that you show you have what they are looking for. Examine the job description as well as the company’s website and social media for keywords and specific phrases that describe what the employer is seeking out. Use these words intelligently, don’t use them repetitively or generically.  Avoid falling into the trap of being obvious or cliché and do remember to stay personal. Also, consider using synonyms of these keywords. 5. Be clear and structured This one probably seems obvious, but it's worth double-checking how easily readable your CV is. Ensure that the layout is attractive, and all of the information provided is completely clear and easily accessible. Break your CV up into digestible different sections and use clear and consistent titles within these sections so that the reader can easily bounce between the different information they want to read. Get straight to the point and make sure that nothing is too over-embellished. You could use short and direct sentences or bullet points, to make your achievements more comprehensible. Don't let your CV go over two pages and thoroughly check that there are no spelling or grammatical errors. 6. Always provide evidence Don’t just provide a list of the responsibilities of your current and previous roles, try to include the impact that your work has had on the businesses you have worked for and support this by providing evidence of the outcomes of your hard work. Anybody can claim to possess great qualities, not everybody can give impressive, concrete examples of how they have best utilised their skills to accomplish desired results. Put this into practice to directly demonstrate your capabilities and present yourself as a worthwhile candidate. 7. Include your out of work interests and activities You may think details of your extracurricular activities to be unimportant in comparison to your experience, qualifications, and education, but this information is instrumental in building up a profile of your personality. Hobbies and projects that you spend your spare time on, make you an interesting person. Having passions not only reflects your personality but also what you will bring to the job as they show ability, initiative, and drive. So, when you’re next applying for a new role, do not underestimate the value of investing a little extra time into editing your CV. Admittedly, writing about yourself is not something that always comes naturally but it will prove a worthwhile task when you land that dream job. With the tips we have provided, you could break the process down into a few straightforward steps to ensure that your CV is reflective of the best version of yourself and your career to date. This will make your application truly worthwhile and give you the best chance to outshine competition. Also, get a second opinion, have someone read it over and share their suggestions or advice. Our recruiters are more than happy to benchmark your CV and give you tips to improve it.  With much experience in handling CVs, we are well versed in offering expert assistance. Get in touch with us via info@hamlynwilliams.com to be put in touch with one of our specialist recruiters who can provide professional guidance, not only on your CV but on the whole recruitment process.

First and foremost, congratulations on progressing towards the next step in your career and landing yourself an interview. As anticipation builds ahead of the event, we would like to take the opportunity to offer some advice and assistance. You will likely be looking forward to getting your interview out of the way and when it begins to draw to a close, you may find yourself feeling relieved to be walking out of the door. Usually, it is when the recruiter turns to us and asks ‘so, would you like to ask me any questions?’ that we realise that the end is in sight. At this point, it’s important to remember that this isn’t just a way for the employer to wrap up the interview. This is your last chance to make a memorable impression. Therefore, don’t pass up this opportunity by replying ‘no, thank you’, or ‘you have already answered all of my questions’.  If you wish to show real enthusiasm for the position, it’s best to be inquisitive and naturally curious about the role and the company. Of course, under nerve-wracking conditions, it can be difficult to stay focused and clear-headed. Your interviewer could have genuinely answered all of your questions and you may even find that your mind goes blank. We have provided some examples of good questions to ask your interviewer. Keep them in the back of your mind, so that you always have some options to rely on.  1. What do you think are the most important qualities required for someone to excel in this role? This question will give you some valuable insight into the role that may not have been specified in the job description. It will help you learn what will be expected of you so that you can understand if the position is right for you. 2. Could you give me a bit more detail about the day-to-day responsibilities of the role? Obviously, asking this enables you to know exactly what you will be spending your time doing. It’s important that this is clearly outlined so that, if you are offered the job by the employer, you will have no surprises if you start working for them. 3. What would it take for me to impress you within my first 30 days, 60 days, 12 months? Inquiring about this will leave a great impression on the hiring manager, it shows that you are a candidate eager to leave a positive impact on the company. However, don’t just say this to look good, pay close attention to the response – it will highlight what you should focus the most attention on when you first start and also how the organisation will want you to perform. 4. Can you describe the work culture of the company? By getting the interviewer to respond to this, you will learn what the work-life balance of the business is, what employee benefits they have to offer, and how they prioritise employee care and wellbeing. Information you absolutely need to know before considering becoming part of this company. 5. What opportunities are there for progression in this role? You need to know if this position will offer a pathway for you to develop your career, in a way that is in line with your long-term goals and desires. This also demonstrates your interest in growing within the company and will give a good indication of whether the company promotes from within. 6. Where do you think the company is heading in the next five years? If you are looking for a role that you can stay in for several years, it is essential to learn if the organisation is going to provide a space for you to continually progress. This will also give you a stronger sense of the level of security that there is with the job. It's a bonus that it also shows commitment on your part. Consider also asking about the challenges and opportunities facing the company as it develops. 7. Could you tell me more about the team I will be working in? It’s very advantageous to learn about the dynamic of the team you will become part of, how is the team structured? Who will you be reporting to? What are their working methods? Think about whether this is the type of set-up which you are looking for and if you will fit in. 8. What do you enjoy about this job? This question gives your interviewer the chance to talk about themselves after spending a significant amount of time listening to you speak. Because this question is a personal one, you can learn a lot from the reply – you will get insight through the eyes of an insider. 9. What sort of training and development is available? You wouldn't want to embark on a role that is stationary, this will allow you to assess if the company could sustain you for a long period of time. Show that you are serious about your professional advancement by asking this question. 10. Do you have any hesitations about my application? You may be apprehensive to ask something like this. Whilst it does leave you a little vulnerable, it shows confidence and a willingness to improve. This question could also lead to the possibility of you being able to clarify or elaborate on anything the employer might be concerned about 11. What are the next steps in the recruitment process? It’s beneficial to have a good sense of the organisation’s timeline for the hiring process, in order to follow up in the most appropriate way. This question will also show your desire to move on to the next step in the process. The hiring manager is interviewing you to learn about your skills, qualities, and experience, but remember that the meeting is also your chance to find out if the position, the company, and your potential new managers are right for you. Seize the opportunity to learn everything you need to know, having these questions to hand will also show your interviewer that you have prepared for this interview and have thought about the opportunity seriously. Good luck! At Hamlyn Williams, we personally assist and guide all of our candidates whilst they prepare for an interview. One of our experienced recruiters can provide you with questions tailored to what’s important to you, what we know about your industry and what we know about our clients. Should you like to receive any further advice, please get in touch with one of our experts - info@hamlynwilliams.com

The recruitment agency expo is an annual event which unites the industry’s figures to answer and analyse the questions currently facing the market. Having hosted over 3,000 recruitment professionals and 70 guest speakers over the course of two days, it plays an integral part in ensuring that professionals remain up to date with the recruitment industry. As the market continues to evolve, the different topics covered over the numerous seminars the event hosts, provide the space for us to think about the challenges and opportunities facing recruitment businesses, and what strategic innovations are going to yield the best results as we look to the future. We attended some talks, of which the feedback will help your businesses evolve and grow, they have been detailed below  Ann Swain's talk, 'Your People are Key to Your Growth Strategy', kick-started a busy and lively day. The importance of positive internal company culture and implementing strategies that are effective at retaining talent, is what drove many to this seminar. The talk demonstrated the benefits of having a well thought out and focused internal recruitment process. Ann covered how certain methods, such as IQ tests, could help companies be especially selective over who they hire. This emphasised how employers are seeking new and unpredictable ways to assess the competencies of their candidates, rather than just turning to their experience and technical skills. The tactics most commonly used to sell recruitment or similar sales roles, were also pointed out to be potentially ineffective at filtering out candidates who are actually going to want to stay within this industry for a sustained amount of time. Ann's insights were very valuable, the room felt motivated and energised in response to her enthusiastic discussion. She offered suggestions for improving and nurturing the personal development of employees. High on the agenda was providing employees with resilience training activities and soft skills workshops that aren’t industry specific. Eagerness to get some new insight into how marketing teams can most effectively ensure that their brand stands out and remains relevant, drew many attendees to Aimee Treasure's, 'How to Become a Brand-Led Recruitment Business'. The results that Aimee has produced for her own company are very impressive and are a testament to her direct approach to generating interest and engagement. Focusing on producing original content that solves the problems of your audience and adds the most value to their experience, Aimee also highlighted how imperative it is to track the customer journey and understand how your audience interacts with your content. In turn, helping you to invest time and money into the most worthwhile projects. This seminar is strong evidence that, in the future, the most successful recruitment agencies will be those who have mastered the art of aligning their sales and marketing strategies. All businesses need to know how to respond to the needs of their customers, outside of making transactions with them. This was also notable at the talk 'Winning New Business in 2020' delivered by Brad Shackleton. His energetic and engaging presentation not only discussed the skillset, knowledge and best strategies to get the most out of employees, but it also highlighted repeat business as a fundamental factor in sustainable business growth. It's not surprising that companies should be optimising on their product portfolios if they wish to maintain strong relationships with their customers. If you wish to maintain an edge over your competitors, it’s imperative to guarantee that customers continue to interact with your organisation, in between doing business with you. Another fascinating and interactive talk was Katrina Collier's, 'Engaging Candidates in a Transparent World'. Katrina's knowledge and creative solutions to branding yourself well online were really insightful and useful for anyone looking to hire. Offering suggestions for approaching candidates and clients in more personal ways, Katrina also outlined how to be a great communicator and best use social media to appear worthy of someone's time and deserving of a response. With social media now such an integral component within the recruitment process, the channels that employers are using to reach out to candidates were also put under the spotlight. With the average LinkedIn user only using the platform for around 17 minutes a month, Katrina stressed just how important other social media networks are, and how they can best be used to our advantage – considering how Facebook messenger could even be used creatively to approach candidates. Making engagement with customers and candidates more personal continued to be a significant part of the discussion at one of the last talks of the day. 'How to Save Time & Generate More Leads Using Big Data & Marketing Automation' delivered by Harriet Rhodes, offered a detailed guide to analysing and utilising data to provide your audience with a personalised marketing experience. Harriet demonstrated how tracking the ways in which users engage with your website, is integral to understanding your audience. With this information, you can make sure your website is targeting the people you most want to attract and ensure that you are providing the material that is most in-demand and relevant for them. Harriet also offered some great recommendations on how to use automation to target users, by tailoring responses to them, depending on how and why they are interacting with your online site. In an increasingly data-driven world, Harriet underlined its prominence in all industries and demonstrated how progressive profiling can be used to track a candidate’s engagement with your website and, if this data is fed into your companies CRM, it could provide invaluable information for your hiring managers and internal HR teams. If you are a client or candidate and would like any expert advice, we would love to talk to you – contact info@hamlynwilliams.com to be put in touch with one of our specialist recruiters.   

If you have just secured yourself an interview with a potential new employer, you are most likely thinking about how you can make the best impression. Whilst interviewers are beginning to take more unpredictable approaches to get to know their candidate’s capabilities, there are some questions it pays to always be prepared for. Since the questions listed below are so common at interview, the hiring manager will probably expect you to answer them quite readily and smoothly. There is no need to have perfectly rehearsed answers to these questions but, before going into your interview, it would be beneficial to have considered what you might say in response. Therefore, to assist you in your preparation, we have outlined some very regularly occurring, key interview questions and commented on some of the reasons that hiring managers often ask them. Tell me about yourself The hiring manager wants to know if you’re the best fit for this role. Evaluate the skills, qualities, and attitude the perfect candidate should possess. Take this opportunity to share more about yourself and showcase your personality, you could start by talking about work and how you got to your current position. Share some of your personal interests and experiences or talk about your background and what motivates you. When you talk about your career history, emphasise the range of skills you possess which are most relevant to the job offer. Your hiring manager needs to learn more about the person beyond the black and white CV, help them understand not just what you’ve previously done, but why you did it. Why should we hire you? The recruiter wants to see you talk; they want to see how you can sell yourself. It’s time to show that you are qualified for the job. This question might seem intimidating but, if prepared for, it’s a perfect platform for you to directly demonstrate why your skills, experience, and personality make you the best prospect. Think about the job description, what are the company looking for? Align this with what you have to offer and back it up with evidence. Deliver your answer like a well-focused sales pitch and don’t forget to take the opportunity to highlight anything you haven’t had the chance to touch upon. It’s important not to be vague, be specific when you summarise your achievements and work experience. Don’t just say ‘I’m a great team-player’, talk about what results you have achieved in the past by working effectively as part of a team. What are your greatest strengths? The interviewer wants to know if you’re well qualified for this role and how much value you can add to the organisation. Give a straightforward and to the point answer, make sure your answer is clear and sharp, you want to show your confidence in your ability. Here, it is essential to prove what your greatest strengths are rather than just stating them, give examples of how your strengths have assisted you in your career. What are your weaknesses? This question is asked so that the employer can find out how developed your levels of self-evaluation and self-awareness are. Therefore, don’t try to behave as if you are perfect – your interviewer will certainly see through it. Chose a genuine weakness and frame it in a positive light by talking about the steps you’re taking to overcome it and improve. What are your greatest professional achievements to date? The interviewer wants to know if you’re an achiever. What will you bring to the table if they hire you? Preparing for this question is crucial so that you don’t fall short when you have the chance to dazzle your interviewer. Chose an achievement that is quite recent, identify the skills you used, the actions you took, any obstacles you overcame and then describe the result, and quantify the benefits of what you did. You could also explain why you are most proud of this achievement over your others. Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years? By asking this, the recruiter wants to find out if you’re ambitious, they want to see if you’ve already thought about your future and progression. Of course, be wary of appearing unrealistic. The hiring manager will also be trying to work out if your goals are in line with the position and its potential for growth. The best approach is to think about where this new step could take you and answer along those lines, and if the position doesn’t provide you with a direct path to your career aspirations, remain honest. It’s ok to say that you’re not entirely certain what the future holds, but you see this role playing an important and valuable part in your professional journey. Describe a difficult challenge or conflict you had to deal with at work, how did you overcome it? Understandably, you’re probably not keen on talking to a prospective new employer about a work conflict you have had to face. This question is important because it helps the employer understand what your definition of difficult is, and how you can show a logical approach to solving problems. Be truthful about a difficult situation you have coped with and remain professional – don’t approach your answer in the same way that you may complain to a friend. Spend more time talking about the resolution than the conflict, how did you define the problem? What action did you take and why? What was the outcome? End the story with a positive note, the interviewer probably wants evidence that you’re willing to deal with and learn from these kinds of difficult situations. Why do you want to work for our company? The hiring manager doesn’t just want to know why you want to be a part of the organisation; they want to know what you already know about the company. Do your research into the organisation and find something unique about it which you find appealing. Avoid answering with a very generic answer which could be applied to any company. You could incorporate this to then talk about how you would like to contribute to some of the company’s future opportunities for growth. Why do you want to leave your current position? Your interviewer wants to understand what motives could drive you to leave an employer. You should answer this straightforwardly, state that you are looking for a change of environment, more challenges, greater responsibility and a chance to broaden your experience. Never speak negatively about your current employer in response to this question. Why do you want this job? Employers usually want to hire enthusiastic candidates, they will want to see how passionate you are about the role, so you should be able to answer this question quite swiftly and sincerely. Identify some significant aspects of the job that make it such a great fit for you, it would be good to then tie your answer into why you’re interested in the company and what you like about it. What are your interests outside of work? The interviewer wants to get to know you as a person a little more and find out how you prioritise your time when you’re not at work. Take the opportunity to let your personality shine through. Remain professional but answer honestly, just being cautious of appearing as though you have a hobby which you will devote all of your time to in favour of the job you are applying for. Do you have any questions? This will most likely be the last question you are asked before the interview is wrapped up. Don’t pass up on your last opportunity to stand out by responding with a ‘no’. There is always something you can ask at the end of a job interview, even if you feel that all of your questions have already been answered. Being inquisitive will show enthusiasm and demonstrate that your interest in the position is sincere. In preparation for the interview, consider a handful of question which you could ask and keep them in the back of your mind. Taking some time to think about how you might respond to these questions, could make the difference between you having a successful and flowing interview, rather than one which leaves you feeling disappointed. Dedicating some of your time now, to anticipate how the interview might go, means that you can relax more during the process, think more clearly and get to know your potential new employer. If you’re an employer looking to fill a vacancy, you can register a job with us and discover our unrivaled talent solutions. If you are interested in one of our vacancies, please click here for all the latest opportunities.