Covid-19 has taken a huge toll on our economy, the impact of the pandemic has been fast and unexpected. While the unemployment rate has ballooned and a potential further 135,000 Britons in fear for their jobs many candidates are looking to safeguard and have begun looking for pastures new.
For anyone desperately looking or in worried they may be soon we have put together a couple pointers on how to make your profile stand out!
Personal Summary
Kick off the start of your CV with a personal summary highlighting your top skills, biggest achievements, industry exposure and what you think you can bring to a new role.
Try keep this as concise as possible and no more than a couple of sentences - you don’t want to lose the reviewer before they have even got to your experience!
Overall CV
Ensure your resume is up to date, each position gives a high level of your day to responsibilities and formatting is consistent. When reviewing CV’s, clients are often looking for a few specific things and the easier your CV is to read the quicker they will be able to pick this out.
LinkedIn
While many feel LinkedIn has become cluttered it can be viewed as equally important as your CV.
Only this week did I have a candidate's CV rejected, however upon second inspection of their LinkedIn profile which clearly highlighted their key skills, experience and a couple recommendations from previous line managers resulting in the client changing their mind and we secured an interview!
Enable #OpenToWork
LinkedIn has added an #OpenToWork option - why not utilise all tools possible to get your profile shifted to the top of the list!
Reach out to recruiters in your niche
While your first instinct may be to use the ‘big name’ recruitment companies, reach out to niche recruiters like ourselves. We are fully immersed in the Finance sector day in and day out and have a strong understanding of not only the recruitment industry but the Financial recruitment industry right now! Keeping informed and asking for your profile to be marketed out can help secure you an interview you didn’t even know was out there.
Interview preparation
If you secure an interview do not feel pressured to take an interview slot in an hour’s time. Ensure you leave plenty of time to prepare for the interview. Have you researched not only the company but the industry? Are you able to draw similarities between the roles requirements and your past experience? Have you prepared a couple key questions to ask?
It’s great securing an interview but if you haven’t allowed enough time to prepare you will be doing yourself a disservice down the line.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS CAN BE EVERYTHING IN AN INTERVIEW ENVIRONMENT