One of the biggest mistakes any jobseeker can make is that of assuming that if they join up with the right recruitment agency, they’re guaranteed to land a great job. This sadly isn’t the case at all and is precisely what leads, so many down such an unfortunate path – one that rarely leads to job satisfaction, or even a job at all, for that matter.
The thing is, anyone can reach out to the best recruitment agency Brentwood has to offer and ask for help, but not everyone will be successful. Of course, one of the biggest determining factors will be the background and competence of the applicant in question, but in other instances, it all comes down to the way in which the job hunting process was approached and handled.
As is the case with most things in life, there are certain things you should and most certainly should not do when it comes to working with a recruitment agency. What you’ll find below is a brief introduction to five of each, which may help give your own efforts a boost or at least go some way to break a few bad habits.
5 Key Things to Do:
- Make yourself as easily contactable as possible with more than one communication channel and make sure the details are printed clearly on your CV. In addition, make sure the information is accurate and that your email address doesn’t have a ridiculous domain name. It all sounds obvious, but thousands of CVs are thrown out every day due to their poor or missing contact details alone.
- Ensure that your CV is as up to date as possible, which means getting out of the habit of using the same CV for months on end. If your CV is more than a month or two old, you’ll need to think about adding to it to fill the gap you’re slowly building. They’ll need to know who you are and what you’re doing now, not what you were doing a while ago.
- Get out of the habit of ignoring any incoming telephone numbers you don’t know and answer your phone politely each time. This may be the very first impression they get of you, so you need to make sure it’s a good one!
- Research the job you’re applying for and the company you’re looking to work with. Not only will this assist you when it comes to showing your genuine enthusiasm, but you’ll also be in a much better position to negotiate salary, rewards and all other terms.
- Make sure everything about your CV, cover letter and profile in general are consistent – create a brand that’s you and you to the core with nothing conflicting or unattractive to employers.
5 Key Things NOT to Do:
- Never assume that the computer’s in-built software will leave you with a CV that isn’t littered with a million and one spelling errors and the use of poor grammar. Make sure you get the thing checked several times over before sending it out.
- Under no circumstances should you fall into the trap of using one generic CV and cover letter which is then fired out to a thousand and one jobs. If it’s not clearly targeted for this employer alone, they won’t even read it.
- Be careful not to forget about the importance of telling the agency you’re working with if anything changes about your situation or your CV/experience. For example, if you take a two-week course, it needs to go on there. If you’re suddenly slapped with a criminal record, they need to know about it or you’ll have no chance. Whether it’s a big deal or not, any changes should be relayed sooner rather than later.
- Don’t ever rely solely on a single recruitment agency and assume they’ll do every bit of the work for you in finding the job you’re looking for. Sure, they’ll help you find it and they might land you an interview, but they can’t do a thing when it comes to making sure you make all the right moves. And of course, it’s crucial to remember that a huge chunk of all job listings never makes it to the recruitment agencies – they’re already filled.
Write or speak anything that’s clearly been memorised from a book or is as generic as it gets. Even if you aren’t great with words, any and all employers would rather have you be yourself than just blurt out robotic and pre-planned lines.