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British Computer SocietyNORTH LONDON BRANCH

www.bcs.org/branches/nlondon

Get a Better Job!

Wednesday 19th November 2003at PwC Bloomsbury Square

in association with

Computing, Intercall Conferencing, PwC, Teleopen

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Glenda Stone Aurora Gender Capital Management

Paul Taylor Hudson Global Resources

David Festenstein Teleopen

Susan Cuff Spring Technology Staffing Services

Dalim Basu BCS North London Branch

Paul Francis Intercall Conferencing

Event Intro

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Dalim’s presentation

Dalim Basu

‘Just the Job’

‘Treat your job hunt as a project - start date Today’

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‘Just the Job’

Distant horizons..

‘Vision & objectives’

– What’s different about me? It’s a tough world out there..

– Where do I want to be in 5 years time?

– Steps along the way Project plans & possibilities

– ‘Business plan’ & Toolkit

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‘Just the Job’

The grass is always greener..

‘Overview the lie of the land’

– DIY e.g. Contracting, Working for yourself

– Market sectors e.g. Education, Public sector, Finance

– Organisation types e.g. Large, medium, small

– Job categories e.g. Testing, Development, Analysis

– Location location re-location? e.g. London, UK, Europe

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‘Just the Job’

DIY ‘Be your own boss’ • Freelance/Contract/Interim? Entrepreneur? How about a Business plan?

• Are you limited? - employee & MD? Sole trader? Partnership? Franchise?

• Buy ‘off the shelf’ - or via accountant? Tax? VAT? IR35? Other liabilities?

• Where to start? Try www.businesslink.org 0845 600 9006 (DTI), www.startups.co.uk‘Self Employment’ LawPack Self-Help Kit + CD (e.g from WHSmith)

• Think it through - Start-up, Finance/grants, Tax, Products/services, Sales & marketing, Employees, Contracts, Trading, Business sale or closure..

• Ups - potential for high earnings, new challenges, work variety, avoid office politics, no fighting for promotion, flexibility - and Independence!

• Downs - administration, possible periods without work, frequent moves between employers/contracts, low job security, may need to work far from home, family life impacted, holidays may be hard to arrange, few chances to upgrade skills, constant need to look/plan ahead..

• Can you manage stress, finance, time, home life, as well as the business?

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‘Just the Job’

Toolkit ‘Be prepared’

– Routine ‘Work hours’, A quiet place, PC, filing system

– Plans Project plans, flowcharts, notes, lists

– CV**

– Cover note**

– Certificates

– Work/university references [ever seen a bad one?]

– Work/project examples

– Job Tracker** & Overview**

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‘Just the Job’

CV tips– Key sales tool - selling You

– Door opener - to interviews at agency & target organisation

– Be bold - within reason - “how I made a difference”

– Be general + specific highlights - quantify if possible

– Bullet points & Active achievements - ‘doing verbs’

– Mind the gaps

– Accuracy & consistency count - so do lies..

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‘Just the Job’

** CV sample format **

‘Dare to be different?’

– 2 pages? Rule of thumb?

– Who is Curriculum Vitae? Your name at top - not ‘CV’.

– Photo - not in UK?

– Email, mobile, phone, address

– ‘Flash Banner’ “You need me because..” ?

– Key skills

– Career first? Or Education & Qualifications?

– Other details

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‘Just the Job’

** Cover note **

‘We can cover this in any of many ways..’

–Which role I’m interested in, & where I learnt about it

–What I’ve got to offer “I’m ideal because..”

–Why & when I’m available

–What I’m sending now

–How I’d like to proceed

Options: [1] No note? [2] Standard CV+note for all jobs? [3] Std CV + individual note per job? [4] Indiv CV+note per job? [5] CV+note together in 1 document? Your choice?

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‘Just the Job’

Tracking - or cracking?..

‘Who am I speaking to?’

**Job Tracker sample format ** e.g. vertical form

– Organisation, contact, phone no. / same for Agency/other– Job title, key info– 1st contact date, Rejection date / same for interviews 1 & 2– Job offer date & notes

** Tracker Overview sample format ** e.g. horizontal spreadsheet

– Status (e.g. ?, x) / Last contact date– Organisation, contact, phone / same for Agency/other– Job title– Via (e.g. networking, newspaper, Internet..)

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‘Just the Job’

• Newspapers

• IT magazines

• Libraries

• Internet job sites

• Target organisations

• Recruitment agencies

• Your Careers people

• Other job hunters

• Job Centre

• Professional bodies e.g. BCS

• Conferences & events eg BCS

• Contacts - ‘Networking’ eg BCS

Desperately seeking..

‘Like looking for a needle in a haystack’

‘Chase/follow up with care - don’t overdo/annoy..’

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‘Just the Job’

Agency interview - Let’s meet..

‘Practice makes perfect’– “Tell me about yourself”

“What is your greatest achievement? And failure?”“What is your greatest strength? And weakness?”

– Learn ‘learnings’ - take notes, use Job Tracker & Overview

– One step Forward - or 2 steps back? How did you do?

– Rejected? - don’t get too dejected - try and try again..

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‘Just the Job’

The Big One (part one at least)

“You’ve been short-listed for interview by the company”

– Read all about it - research the organisation

– List questions to ask - it’s a 2-way process

– Interview questions/tests - what benefits can you bring?

– “What’s different about you?”..

– Try to relax, stay calm

– “Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time?”..

– Forward or Back? - how did you do?

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‘Just the Job’

And then - SUCCESS..

“Please be here at 9 a.m. on Monday morning.”

For this organisation - You are Just the Job!

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Thanks to...

Presenters: David, Glenda, Paul, Susan

Camera: Paul

Sponsors: Computing, Intercall, PwC, Teleopen

Committee: John, Celeste, Patrick, Angela, Graham, Jude, Warren, Youssef, Terry & Dalim

And You!

Event Outro