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By Liza | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Insurance and accounting job market, Insurance Jobs Sydney, Recruitment advice | 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.
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By Karalyn | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Career advice, Insurance Jobs Sydney | 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 | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Career advice, Insurance and accounting job market, Insurance Jobs Sydney | 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.
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By Liza | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Career advice, Recruitment | 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.
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By Liza | Categories: Career advice | No Comments
It seems like people are wanting to use Facebook in a million different ways when it comes to hiring.
There are lots of interesting studies emerging about the characteristics of social media users. This one for example, shows that regular Facebook users tend to be more narcissistic and extroverted.
None of these studies are very sophisticated in our opinion. While we’d encourage you to have a professional LinkedIn profile, we’ve not seen any studies that show that the way people interact online reflects their qualities as employees.
If you are worried about what you post on Facebook and other sites, then you should be. We’ve heard of Headhunters who ask for applicants’ log in details to their Facebook accounts as a way of making a decision about them.
Rest assured we would never do this.
This person was sacked for a rant about his employer on Facebook.
It seems having your privacy set to the maximum settings is no protection, as this person had. His work colleagues read what he said.
Interestingly Fair Work Australia made this comment.
The fact that the comments were made on the applicant’s home computer, out of work hours, does not make any difference.”
“The comments were read by work colleagues and it was not long before Ms Taylor was advised of what had occurred. The respondent has rightfully submitted, in my view, that the separation between home and work is now less pronounced than it once used to be.”
How would your social profile stand up in this instance?
We don’t want to be the fun police, but it’s probably safer to post as if your grandmother may see what you have written.
Your thoughts?
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.
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By Karalyn | Categories: Career advice | No Comments
Behavioural interviews are a common form of interview. Nowadays at least one part of the recruitment process will probably be a behavioural interview, or at the very least, an interviewer will ask you to provide an example in one of the questions they ask. These tips will help you answer these questions.
Behavioural interview questions often start with: “tell me about a time,” “describe a time” or “provide me with an example.” The idea behind these interviews is well founded research that past behaviour is a reliable predictor of future behaviour, that is what you’ve done in the past, will predict what you do in the future.
If the behavioural interview is well constructed, the questions you are asked will come from some solid on the job research. Your interviewer should have benchmarked top performers in a role, isolated in detail the competencies required to perform that role, then written questions to allow you, the interviewee to demonstrate those competencies.
How are you assessed in a behavioural interview?
You are judged on the “quality” of the example you provide.
In general under each competency is a set of behaviours that the interviewer will physically or mentally tick off as you answer each question. You may be asked the same question in different ways to check that your skills are well developed and that you’ve used them consistently. You’ll be assessed highly if you demonstrate all the behaviours required in each competency. Interviewers like this method of assessing people because it’s structured and clear and a good answer is obvious to all.
The challenge for interviewers in this scenario is for them to elicit the best answer out of you to enable you to demonstrate your skills. Your challenge is to understand and clarify the intent of the question properly.
STAR interviewing technique
How do you answer STAR questions: “tell me about a time” or “describe a time” in a behavioural interview?
Describe the situation you faced or the task ahead. Describe how you handled that situation and describe how it turned out. Think of it like a story. The interviewer wants you to give an introduction, describe what you did and what happened in the end.
ST = situation and task. Think of this as “the challenge you faced”
A = the action you took to meet that challenge
R = the result
You need to be specific in answering these questions. Not what you would do. Not what you usually do. Not what you do every day. But something you have actually done, and preferably an example from your work environment.
Why such specifics? If you can provide recent examples that you can easily recall, you are actually demonstrating, rather than just claiming, you have the skills the interviewer is looking for. The more easily you recall these examples the more convincing you’ll be.
You also need to cover all areas however the bulk of your answer should focus on the situation/ task and the action.
How much detail should you give in a behavioural interview?
As you tell the story you need to provide detail about how you achieved something, but don’t provide so much detail that you lose track of what you are talking about. Give enough to be credible which will reassure the interviewer you have the skills they are looking for. If you are confused, remember interviewing does not need to be a one way interaction. You can always ask the interviewer if they need more detail or how much detail they need.
If you think you are providing too much detail, check with the interviewer. Or use your cue from the body language of the interviewer. If they stop writing, then it’s a good idea for you to stop talking, and check back in.
What if you can’t think of an example in a behavioural interview?
It’s not a great idea to pass on too many questions. However it is easy to freeze up under the stare of an interviewer. Don’t put pressure on yourself by trying to think of your best scenario. If you can’t think of your best example, then think of your most recent. Many people take for granted the skills they use every day, yet if you are doing these things every day, you may under rate your competency in that area.
Can you use a general example in a behavioural interview if you can’t think of a specific example?
For a behavioural interview the short answer is no. Try not to. It’s too text book, and just not convincing. You could have made it all up and you will sound just like the next person in line.
What if you can’t provide examples based on a similar role to the job you’re being interviewed for?
One of the beautiful things about behavioural interviews is that they allow you to showcase competencies. You may have developed these skills in a role unrelated to the position for which you are applying. So listen carefully to the question and provide an example that answers that question, regardless of where you have gained that experience. Again if you are not sure whether you can present an answer from another context, ask the interviewer.
Sample Behavioural Interview Questions
To prepare examples, look at the key competencies listed on the position description. Prepare at least one or two examples to demonstrate your skills.
Example behavioural questions are:
1. Tell me about a time when you managed a customer complaint
2. Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to help a custome
3. Describe a time when you worked under pressur
4. Tell me about a situation at work where you had to unexpectedly change what you were doing to work on something else?
5. Describe a time where you were criticized at work
6. Tell us about a time when you met a goal
7. Can you give me an example of a team that you have managed?
Questions to ask if you’re asked for any questions
Why has this position come about?
1. How would you describe the company/ team?
2. What do you see as the key challenges of this role?
3. What are the plans over the coming year?
4. What will be the next step in the process?
These tips were brought to you courtesy of www.interviewiq.com.au
By Liza | Categories: Career advice, Consulting, Recruitment, Recruitment advice | No Comments
Here at Enigma HR we love TED talks.
They’re inspirational, thought provoking and delivered by some of the most fascinating thought leaders in the world. Like this talk, from Dan Pink – a career analyst and former speechwriter to Al Gore.
For a long time we’ve all asserted that there’s pretty much a direct relationship between reward and performance.
That’s wrong says Dan.
He says science proves that people can actually perform worse (not better) when they’re offered financial rewards. While incentives are not disincentives, they can act as a distraction in roles that require right brain and creative thinking.
Rewards, he says, work really well for simple linear type tasks where there is a simple set of rules and a clear destination. However, rewards by their very nature, narrow our focus and concentrate the mind. For real life problems in the working world of the 21st century, you don’t want to be looking straight at the task when the solution may actually lie in the periphery.
Dan says we’re rewarded and engaged when we do things that matter to us, when we like what we’re doing, when we find the task interesting and when we feel we are doing part of something that is important. Put simply there are three things are critical to true motivation – “autonomy”, “mastery” and “purpose.”
These are the foundation for a new way of looking at our businesses and working lives:
- Autonomy is the urge for us to direct our own lives
- Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters
- Purpose is the urge to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
What’s our take out of all of this?
Well, we hope to surprise you too, given what we do.
We say – before you throw more money at a performance problem with your staff; before you decide to offer the big dollars to attract new staff and before you personally decide to go after the big dollars, watch Dan talk and think about what really matters to you.
Then when you’ve done that come and talk to us.
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.
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By Karalyn | Categories: Career advice | No Comments
1) Do nothing. Turn off the iPhone, bury the iPad, give Facebook the flick. Catch up on sleep.
We call Christmas the cranky season, as it is one of the most stressful times of the year. If you’re worried about your career direction, put it on hold during this period. Take a break and give up worrying for a while. – or find something bigger than yourself to worry about. Try volunteering. You’d be surprised at how much perspective the size of other people’s problems can give you about your own.
2) Develop some self-awareness. Do you actually know your strengths, weaknesses, motivations and values?
Most people spend more money on their holidays than they do in evaluating and marketing themselves for their career. Yet your career is where you’ll spend most of your time. You do know the saying, don’t you? “Do something you love and you’ll always feel like you’re on holiday.”
3) Develop some clarity about what you can offer your employer. This comes from the self-awareness we describe in point 1), plus understanding where you sit in your market.
4) Write down a few goals. Make them measurable. Put a time frame to them. This sounds so basic, but you’d be amazed at how well it works. It must be the process of articulating your goals that keeps you accountable.
5) Break down your goals into smaller steps. One huge goal can seem insurmountable. You may find yourself giving up if you feel overwhelmed if you ask yourself to climb the career mountain all at the one time.
6) This next bit is going to sound like dating advice.
Put yourself out there. Make sure people can find you. Put your profile up online. Linkedin is a treasure trove for headhunters. A passive way of being active in your job hunt is to have a very good profile.
7) Look for help. One thing that works for people is an accountability coach. Ask a person to ask you once a week how your job search is progressing. Think of them like your professional nag. They’ll soon irritate you if you have done nothing.
Speaking of professional nagging, if you do find yourself thinking about your next career move, give us a call (02) 8221 0553. We don’t mind doing it. That’s what we’re here for!
By Liza | Categories: Career advice, Recruitment advice | No Comments
We often receive this question from people we interview. “They say we go into a consultancy about one role, and end up talking about another. Did the job exist? Why does this happen?”
This happens all the time when you are looking for a role. Here are five reasons you might experience this.
1) Other agencies are working on the job. So the time you visited the agency the job was almost filled. The consultant did not want to waste your time and has other opportunities they can discuss with you.
2) There was a job, but the job was not that agency’s exclusive property. For example, the agent called that company as part of a business development exercise. The company has talked about the role that they have on at the moment, then said “if you can find someone send them in.” The agency then puts an advertisement up. Enter you.
3) The consultant decided that you were not a good match for the job they had on offer, but decided you were a good prospect for one of their clients. If this is the case, you do have the right to ask the consultants the reasons that they would not put you forward to that role.
4) The consultants want to place you, and are falling all over themselves to get you into their clients. So they’ll talk to you about a few things they have on offer.
5) Scenario 4) but the consultants neglected to talk to each other, so you end up confused. You would be surprised at how common this is.
No matter what the reason for the confusion, the thing for you to remember is that you have a choice about what you do. If you think you’re being sold to, or even if you’re not, you need to do your own due diligence on a role.
We encourage you to ask many questions about the role, to help you make a decision. As an agency it is in our best interest to ensure that you are a solid long term match for that role and that company.
We want to know that you as a candidate are making a solid decision as well.
Our reputation is at stake, along with yours, if you leave a role too early.
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.
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By Liza | Categories: Career advice | No Comments
Do you use words on your resume that you would never use in real life?
Take the word utilize for example. You rarely utilize the word utilize in real life, so why should you utilize it on a resume? Apart from the fact that it sounds pompous and vague, there are other far more powerful words you can use instead of utilize.
Here is a list of action words for your resume.
They’re not ours. They’re yours. Feel free to use them.
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.
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