By Liza | No Comments
We want to clear up a few common misconceptions about cover letters.
Yes we do read them.
A cover letter is your introduction to your experience and to you personally. In it you should tell us why you want the job, why you are suitable for that role plus highlight any achievements that are relevant to the role.
You may roll your eyes with what we are about to tell you and say “yes I do that already.” However so many people do not get the basics right, so covering these off may just get you across the line when we may have overlooked your resume.
Here are a few things that will impress us in your cover letter.
1) You tell us why you want the role we have advertised.
This tells us you have given some thought to your application and why you are suitable. It does show us that you are sincere in your approach.
2) You are brief.
We are not saying this because we are not interested in you. We are. But being realistic, if we receive hundreds of applications, we appreciate brevity and a layout that is easy to read.
Please limit your cover letters to one page, and use short paragraphs. That way we are not working late into the night to get through applications and can actually action yours quickly.
3) You address some of the key skills we have requested in the advertisement.
This tells us you have read the advertisement and are not just sending your resume off to everyone. You can use the scatter gun approach, but you may only succeed if your resume “hits the mark” in terms of the exact skills we require.
If you do send your resume everywhere without much contemplation, you can risk sounding vague when we call you. From our perspective there is nothing more disconcerting than a candidate having no idea about the role when we call them.
4) You have proof read your letter.
Now we know people are not perfect. We’re not perfect. Sometimes typos slip past even the most careful of eyes. What we would say however is that if you claim to have advanced word processing skills and strong attention to detail, and have a cover letter with three different fonts, we will not take that any further.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Karalyn | No Comments
Many Aussies struggle to sell themselves in interview. I don’t know whether it’s because of the tall poppy syndrome here, where people think that talking about their strengths is chest-beating. I do think accounting and insurance people typically struggle with this. After all, many people in both professions are more used to talking in technical terms rather than their professional achievements.
An interview however, is one place that you should do some selling of your skills. This reason is really basic. If you do not have confidence in who you are or what you do, there is no way you will inspire confidence in others.
Behavioural interviews have been popular for years. Mastering how to present your examples in a behavioural interview will do half the sales job for you – without you actually having to tell the interviewer how terrific you are.
So no chest-beating involved. Here’s what I mean.
In a behavioural interview, you need to give a specific example – for example, a person, time, project, task or thing you did. You structure your answer with the situation/task, the action, and the result. That’s the STAR approach.
A good behavioural interview starts with self-awareness. You understand what you said or did that made you successful in the example you choose to present.
Many people however, fall down here. They will just tell the interviewer what they did. But there is no point just launching into an example or just providing detail about what you did. You also need to tell the interviewer why this particular task was meaningful and challenging for you.
When you describe the scenario, think about and talk about:
- why you are presenting that example?
- what was at stake, in the project or completing the task?
- why did you personally find the task challenging?
- what did you feel like when you were confronted with that situation?
To sell your examples you also need to pick examples that are vivid for you. These are the examples where you can easily remember details – perhaps this is because you did face a challenge in completing the task.
If you pick an example where your face lights up, you can remember detail and you explain some of the challenges, when you talk about the actions you took after that, the interviewer is more likely to think every action you took was “amazing.”
You have then sold your skills without any chest beating.
No fake superlatives needed!
By Karalyn | No Comments
Last year the Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year was “Googleganger.”
Do you know what this means?
A Googleganger is a person with the same name as oneself, whose online references are mixed with one’s own among search results for one’s name.
My Googleganger is a gnome rescuer. In 2009 my rescue operations made headlines in the Penrith Press.
As people post, re-tweet, and share all over the place, you can’t have complete control over how you appear on Google. So it’s advisable Google stalking your Googleganger every so often. You never know who might pop up.
If your Googleganger has some unpleasant habits, here’s a really quick fix.
LinkedIn has a high Google ranking. Therefore your profile reference should appear in a Google search. Go into LinkedIn and check that your headline appears in searches. Include a line about what makes you unique. For ideas take a look at this post by LinkHumans on creative LinkedIn headlines.
When it comes to your good name, there are many things to be mindful of on social media. I’d tell you about these but I’m busy reading the speech my Googleganger made at annual dinner of the Blue Mountains Rotary Club in 2008.
It’s a cracker.
By Liza | No Comments
As we enter a truly global age in communication, chances are you may face an interview over Skype.
Skype interviews are a little weird. Yes you can see the person, and we all know communication is about the visual, but are these interviews the same as a face to face interview? And what should you do to prepare?
Be a little bit patient.
No matter how good the communication, you will find that sometimes it’s a lot slower. You will also find that it is interrupted. Try not to pull faces when this happens. It’s a good idea to wait until the other party stops speaking before you launch into your answer. In fact, that’s good advice for any interview come to think about it.
Dress professionally.
It’s probably tempting to wear your newsreader outfit – with your pyjama bottoms hidden under the desk. Please don’t do this. It’s simple really. If you dress professionally you will believe you are professional. That, we think, is an important confidence boost.
Meet people face to face.
Yes in a Skype interview you can see the other person, but you do want to see where your desk will be, who you will be working with, and who you will be reporting to. You want to be able to see that this will be a place in which you perceive that you are secure. You won’t have that sense if you cannot see the workplace.
Turn off all distractions.
You may be having this interview at home, which means other phones may ring, or your spouse, parent or child may call out and offer you a cup of tea. Shut the door. Turn off the phone. You want to appear completely professional.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Liza | No Comments
If you’ve hooked in to Linkedin this week you would have seen this provocative piece pop up as a headline article.
Here’s what recruiters look at in the six seconds they look at your resume.
It shows a study of a scientific technique called “eye tracking.” Researchers from the website the Ladders tracked the eye movements of 30 professional recruiters during a 10-week period to “record and analyze where and how long someone focuses when digesting a piece of information or completing a task.”
It shows that we focus on your name, current title and company, current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education.
So is this all true?
Well, partly.
We’d like to discuss a few things around the way we review resumes.
Along with your experience we are just as interested in the impact that you have made in each of these roles, and how that relates to the role we are recruiting.
One thing that bugs us is that people consistently confuse their responsibilities with their achievements. Your responsibilities are the tasks you complete. Your achievements relate to the impact you have had when you complete those tasks, or when you have gone above and beyond your job description.
No matter how good your experience is, if you have a sloppy resume with funny fonts, strange spacing and limited or inappropriate detail, we may well question your communication skills and your grasp of technology. These are fundamental skills all employers need.
Do keep in mind that we are time poor.
If we are faced with a pile of hundreds of resumes we are going to give your resume the quick once over. So all the relevant information must be easy to read and catch our eye. Keep your heading simple and bold and space out your information so it’s easy for us to read.
We strongly suggest that you take your resume writing seriously. The Ladders study showed that clear layout that made it easier for a yes/no decision. You don’t want to be the person who is a yes for that role, but a no because we cannot find the pertinent points on your resume.
If you are confused in any way at all about the job advertisement, or if you want us to spend time reviewing your application, call us. That’s why we put our number on the advertisement.
(02) 8221 0553.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Karalyn | 2 Comments
Here’s my soap box rant on words I see and hear that niggle at me a little. These are my pet peeves only. You could me picky, so you’d better tell me if you agree or disagree, in the comment section down below….
“I’d consider that…”
If someone says in interview “I’d consider a lower level job,” I hear: “I’ll jump ship at the next better offer.”
It’s better to tell someone why that particular job suits you right now.
“Dealing with”
Spoken interviews and used in resumes – “dealing with” customers, staff, people etc.
On resumes you need to use more action words. See our previous post here.
In conversation it sounds like my Dad when he’s mad about something. He’s dealing with Telstra, “dealing with” the Local Council, “dealing with” his local member of government.
“Facilitate”
This always sounds a bit passive aggressive – usually used when someone wants to control something or direct a result, but doesn’t want to be obvious about it. Look in their passive aggressive tool kit and you may find enough post-it notes to start a cold war.
This is term is also frequently used incorrectly.
In interview I once heard someone say they were facilitating communication. When I probed a little deeper I found out that they had made a telephone call.
I facilitated the end of the interview after that.
“Outcome”
I like using the word “outcome” when I’m not really sure what to say. I can sound like I’ve achieved something, but I can be vague about what.
“In relation to”
Stick with about…
“In terms of”
Padding and filler. It either is or it isn’t!
This article first appeared on the www.interviewiq.com.au website.
By Liza | 1 Comment
Accounting jobs in Sydney – the demand is still strong
In a jobs economy that is increasingly dominated by growth in temporary, part time, contract and casual roles, if you’re an accountant you can count yourself more fortunate than others.
What is the long term outlook for accounting jobs?
Job prospects in accounting continue to defy national trends. There are more Accountants working in full time positions than the national average and workers in accounting jobs earn more than other sectors. If you’re interested in where we get our numbers check out the government’s Job Outlook site.
Where are accounting jobs in Sydney?
We’re in Sydney. We recruit jobs for CA and CPA qualified accountants for professional services across a variety of roles and for all levels beyond graduate.
For people employed in this sector in Sydney, job prospects continue to be relatively solid, although we’ve found employers are taking longer to make decisions and are demanding top quality applicants.
During 2010/2011 we saw steady demand for jobs for Senior Level Accountants. This seems to be a trigger point for career decisions and decisions about exiting this profession. Once someone becomes CA qualified, they have the option of leaving the profession. Many head into commercial jobs within organisations.
As part of the hiring conservatism we mention we are seeing less demand for Supervisors jobs as many firms promote from within.
Demand for insolvency jobs in Sydney
Over the past decade, consistently in demand is insolvency professionals and business services professionals.
Insolvency professionals tend to be in demand when business is going backwards, or people are going bankrupt. While we have not seen a spike in demand for these jobs of late, there is definitely nervousness in the economy.
Demand for Business Services professionals in Sydney
The demand for business services professionals is a by product of the mining boom and the economic recovery. This has had the spin off benefits for business consulting, taxation and auditing type services. This growth in jobs in Sydney has been primarily for qualified or part qualified professionals who have very strong relationship management and interpersonal skills, and outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
Interestingly we’ve seen clients revisit the incentives offered for staff who are able to bring new clients in the firm. We’ve not seen performance incentives for client retention, which should be present. This would be an added carrot for attracting well rounded professionals.
Why do we say this?
Accounting candidates focus on the portfolio of clients they are given and the diverse nature of the work they do for these clients. Gone are the days when firms should expect their staff to do the same thing for the same clients over an extended period of time.
If you would like to discuss your staffing requirements or your next career move please give us a call – (02) 8221 0553. We’re experts in this field!
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
