Social Media and Job Hunting

Starting A Job Search: How To Use Social Media To Get A Job

This is a natty little video from Video Jug explaining how to go about using social media when you are job hunting. It explains the process of exploiting social networking/media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find jobs. The tips are all good ones, cleaning up your profile or at least locking them down. No drunken photos of that Stag Do in Prague. Also add some keywords into your profile, job titles, interests and even clients you have worked with. Treat it like an interactive CV. They mention linkedin as well and its importance in building professional networks.

They also talk about using Twitter to look for jobs and build relationships. The core of the issue is building a strong personal online brand. To do this takes some time, effort and creativity on your part but it is worth pursuing. This is a neat article about it here – building your brand online. Get started on building your brand today. You never know if your dream job is just waiting for you!

And then there were 2 …. It’s the FINAL tonight!!

If you are an avid Apprentice fan then I am sure you have put everything that you would normally do on a Sunday night to one side ready to tune in to watch the delights of Kate and Yasmina battle it out to become Sir Alan’s next Apprentice!

Last weeks interview sessions were by far my favourite viewing of this series – how could Yasmina not know her company accounts can be accessed by anyone, why did James crumble under the pressure and why did Lorraine keep slipping back to her Irish roots!? There were some extremely awkward moments throughout the interviews and I was also shocked to hear James call Jo Brand one of the ‘Ugly Sisters’ on the BBC2’s after-show – if she had actually heard what he’d said I am sure she would have taken the mickey out of him more.

The interviewers this year were the usual - Karen Brady, MD of Birmingham City Football Club, Bordan Tkachuk, CEO of one of Sir Alan’s firms Viglen and Claude Litner, Sir Alan’s former “global trouble-shooter” – and replacing the one that has gone bankrupt (!) was Alan Watts, a city litigator.

If you are currently looking for a job there are some basic lessons to be learnt just from last weeks show;
- James commented that he didn’t think that he’d get to the interview stage and as such made some less than professional comments on his CV/application – which when sat in-front of a panel of interviewers made him look like a joke and let him down big style. Take your application, CV and interview seriously – yes be light hearted when it is appropriate but don’t be a fool.
- Another one lying on their CV – have they never watched the show?? Well, actually maybe as Lee McQueen was the one hired last year after lying on his CV they thought it was a good move? Poor Lorraine could not cover her employment dates (extended by a year!) as a ‘misprint’ – you should always triple-check your CV, get someone else to check it and ensure that every part of what you have written is true and can be backed up! E-recruitment buddy have a CV Writing Service available to candidates so perhaps check out what we can offer you before you apply for jobs.
- References; is it just me or did Debra almost delight in what her previous Manager and work colleagues said about her!? One of them claimed she is ‘'loud, obnoxious and inexperienced, swearing and telling colleagues to F*** off”!! {I am not sure if it is illegal for giving an ex-employee a bad reference? I think you are on ‘dodgy grounds’ and if you don’t have a good word to say about them it is best to just confirm dates of employment, reason for leaving and sickness record, otherwise you could end up in court. Either way give a reference contact as someone who you have had a good relationship with and who isn’t about to ruin your chances of getting the job that you want.

I appreciate this is a TV show, they have to be brutal and rub the candidates up the wrong way, and of course it makes great viewing & gets us all talking. So do you think Kate will triumph to complete her as little miss perfect or will Yasmina storm through?

One last thought – did that interviewer (was it Claude) really not know what an SLA was!??

The best job advert in the world

Tourism Queensland has pulled off a PR coup by pursuing a radical e-recruitment policy. They spent $1.7 million on advertising "the best job in the world" and gained an estimated $100 million dollars worth of publicity. Now that is a super smart recruitment and marketing synergy.
The job is to live in a luxury villa on the island of Hamilton for six months. The job entails exploring Hamilton and adjoining islands and writing about them on his website blog with a view to attracting tourists to Queensland. The successful candidate was Brit Ben Hamilton, a Charity Fund Raiser from Hampshire.

The campaign was centred on a website created by Queenland Tourist Board. The online recruitment process was a huge success attracting 34,684 applications from 200 countries.

Wanted Sheep Shearing Violin Playing Modern Dancer

I know the headline reads like a nightmare act on Britain ’s Got Talent but it demonstrates the current shortages in the UK jobs market. The recent report by Migration Advisory Committee has highlighted the current shortfalls in the UK labour market. They have outlined the roles that even in a recession with rising levels of unemployment are required to meet the UK skills shortage.

Modern Dancers, Classical Musicians, Sheep Shearers and Computer Animators are all areas where employers may have to look outside of the EU for staff. The news isn’t so good for those seeking work as Quantity Surveyors or Site Managers in the construction industries. The massive increase in unemployment for these jobs (up 500%) has resulted in them being removed from the list of roles that non EU citizens can be employed legally for in the UK .

The government is looking to advertise for the shortages overseas in an attempt to attract applications. It seems if you want job security in this volatile market then you should learn to dance, play a classical instrument or create you own computer animations. It’s a strange jobs market at the moment!

The Apprentice Predictor

This is really good fun. You can log on and see if you can guess who is going to get fired. The earlier you predict the right candidate the more points you score. The way the program is often edited it seems as if the winning team is going to lose and vice versa so I guess it’s not as easy as it seems.

You can play the game here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/about/predictor.shtml

Apprentice Review – Philip in the Lead

So the Apprentice 2009 is now entering week four and we are starting to get an idea of the runners and riders. My tip for the possible winner was as good as my horse in the Grand National. Poor Rocky managed to mess up the perfect task for him and was sent home with a lesson learnt!!

James is making great TV and I am sure for that reason alone he will stay in for a couple more weeks.



Having looked again at the candidates it seems as if Philip is now the front runner. He has a clear head, seems to be able to lead and is well liked by the others. The only issue is that he seems to be able to moan for England and that might get on Alan Sugars wick in the end. I would like to see him as project manager to see if he copes.

It seems even the sacked candidates like Philip:

New Office!!!

I haven’t blogged for a while – we’ve been very busy. Lots of good business things happening and the most exciting part we are having our own office space built – away from the house! This will make a huge difference to me in order to attempt to separate my home/work life and will also enable me to expand & take on additional staff members when in a position to develop to the next stage of business. I have taken a few pictures of the progress and we are still a few weeks away from being able to operate e-recruitment buddy from there. Yes it looks small but it’s a bit like Doctor Who’s tardis & I’ll take some internal pics when we’re up & running.