A leading recruitment commentator said that 2010 was going to be the year of the referrer, so we recently conducted a round up of the various research available in the market place with regard to referrals schemes, networking and the impact that this is making on the recruitment market:

1. 88% of employers rated referrals above all other sources for generated quality of new hires

2. 78% of companies are now using social networking and social media to find and attract candidates.

3. 50% of companies were spending more on business networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and employee-referral programs and less on print and traditional job boards.

4. 50% plus of companies surveyed by the CIPD admitted that so far they had not utilised an employee referral scheme at all.

Clearly the figures suggest that whilst employers who are utilising referral schemes are seeing an increasing percentage of hires initiated through their employees’ social networks, there is still a long way to go if more than 50% of employers surveyed have not utilised a referral scheme at all.

If your company already has an employee referral program, or is at the initial stages of putting this in place its worth looking at how and why they can work so well and also, how expanding them into open referral networks through sites like mypeoplebiz.com can take your recruitment to the next level with significant savings and a great calibre candidate otherwise difficult to find.

Traditionally employee referral programs act as internal recruitment method, encouraging staff to source new hires for your organisation from their social and professional networks through a monetary incentive. This allows for an efficient recruitment process reducing cost and time to hire thanks to improved relevance of referred candidates and the trustworthy relationship between the referrer, candidate and the organisation itself.

· A recent study showed that 88% of employers rated referrals above all other sources for generated quality of new hires

Referrals generate a higher quality candidate as they are likely know the job and candidate far better and are not prepared to waste their or their contacts time on something they don’t think is right. This cuts down recruitment time for you as candidates have essentially already been well sourced and screened for you. Furthermore, referrals build on themselves, not only are you likely to be building a better talent pool, hired referrals are likely to encourage further referrals and are more likely to refer new talent themselves, expanding your ‘talent network’.

By setting worthy rewards for successful hires you’re also creating ‘brand campaigners’ for your company as they promote your organisation to the friends and contacts in their networks. What’s more, 78% of your staff are spending up to half an hour of the working day on social networking sites, creating a even larger range of connections to source candidates from, capitalise on this rather than thinking of it as wasted time.

The impact Personal recommendations via current employees’ social networks can be very valuable in other ways too, as they can efficiently lead to candidates with the right cultural ‘fit’ for a company in addition to saving employers considerable amounts of money, reducing the amount spent on agencies and external advertising.

Why create an open your referral system? Internal referral schemes can work fantastically, but why stop there; all your competitor’s employees also know great people in the industry, and are just as willing to participate in the action. People are more connected than ever before with new technologies, and since 78% of staff are spending up to half an hour of the working day on social networking sites too, recommending a contact for a job is easy – just a simple message is required, and then they can chose to take it forward. Put simply, If your company rewards and encourages this behaviour, your company is going to be rewarded with better talent from the people who know what is needed.

CIPD surveys indicate that 64% of respondents agreed that referral reward incentives for staff have a positive impact – not just on the caliber of job applicants, but on the budget too. A large insurance company which participated in the study’s focus group reported a huge saving of £250,000 in recruitment costs as a result of their ‘refer a friend’ scheme.

Clearly, such schemes can be highly successful.

We ALL do it without exception when we are looking for a job and thus must remember to consider these same questions as a prospective employer and ask ourselves “why would someone want to work for us” and “what would they get our of it?”

A professional recruiter is tasked with promoting their employer, its values and the career opportunities it has the potential to provide to people, yet so many recruiters and especially hiring managers take it for granted that if a brand or company is big enough in its space (whether that is locally, nationally or globally) it will be a magnet for candidates. Well the coffee is on and if you can’t smell it then I might suggest that your head is in such a dark and unpleasant place that surgery might be needed. Seriously though it is a common mistake that so many people (companies) make, and it can be fatal as far as candidate engagement goes. If you are a recruiter or if you are a hiring manager and fail to provide a candidate with a compelling reason to join your company they just won’t!

A good indicator about how well you are “selling” the company or giving candidates the right level of information and incentive is to look at the number of rejected offers you get and the number of people who leave your organisation voluntarily within their first year of employment. Statistics will vary dept. by dept. and company to company, but if is higher than 10% I suggest that you need to look at how well you are selling yourself and your company.

There could be any number of points that candidates might find compelling and they’re likely to be different from candidate to candidate. Earnings Potential, Team, Challenge, Office Environment, Career Stability, Career Progression……..the list goes on. They are all very personal to the candidate and each will play a part in his or her decision process. Add to them the corporate employer brand, your place in the market and you have a big big story to create.

Unless the time and effort is invested to make the candidate feel important by finding out what is important to them you won’t be able to help them make the right choice. If you have found the right person, one you and others in the hiring process know will add value, you have an obligation to give them all of the information they want, as well as information you think they should know so that they can choose you.

There is no point in just assuming because you have a job to offer and a decent salary it will be enough to get a decision in your favour. Similarly, just because you have a great product or service doesn’t mean that you have a reputation of any kind, good or bad as an employer. You have to sell the benefit and value and what it could mean to each person. Do not take anything for granted.

By Gary Franklin, Passionate recruiter, keen networker, social media enthusiast and founder of The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers (The FIRM)

Firstly, this isn’t about fashion. It’s not about stunning your potential employer with the latest AW10 handbag, an on-trend Bouclé jacket or shoulder pads that defy gravity. In 99% of cases they really won’t care. It’s more about finding a balance between dull conservatism and looking like you’ve been styled by a blind charity shop worker.

A brand consultant I spoke to talked about focusing on your ‘triangle of influence’ or the area between your forehead and shoulders. Remember, you might be wearing a fabulous skirt or shoes, but once you’ve sat down it is your outfit from the waist upwards that will be most visible. In other words, think like a newsreader.

Gender-permitting, ban the following from your triangle of influence:

Unbrushed hair
Excessive make-up
Clevage
Comedy ties
Exposed bra straps
Tatty or turned-up collars
Christmas tree / parrot earrings
Undone top buttons
Stains
Sweat patches
Hair gel
Chewing gum
Piercings beyond the ear lobe

Men: don’t skimp when you buy a suit, a top employer told me there’s nothing more off-putting than an ill-fitting one. This doesn’t mean you have to extend your overdraft five times over and head to Saville Row – M&S came most highly recommended. Invest in a decent pair of shoes too.

Women: you have more freedom, so don’t spend money on a suit if you can’t afford a nice one. If your bank account won’t stretch to a Vivienne Westwood or a Reiss (ie if you’re like most people) go for separates instead; a blouse and pencil skirt combination or dress teamed with a blazer. Go for those brilliant brands that look more expensive than they are, like Zara.

Interviews are horribly pressurised situations where you’re required to make the maximum impression in the minimum amount of time. If the employer is seeing a number of candidates that day, it’s always a good idea to have an extra weapon in your arsenal, even if you’re confident you’re perfect for the job. Remember that, to a certain extent, all people – even the fairest – will judge by appearances, it’s simply human nature. Your experience might speak volumes, but a tatty hem, too-short skirt or comedy tie will speak for you before you’ve opened your mouth.

By Lucy Pavia, Follow Lucy’s blog at www.girluninterrupted.co.uk/

Lucy Pavia – author of girluniterrupted shares her list of dos & don’ts when looking for your first job

As a class of 2008 graduate, arriving into the working world felt a bit like turning up uninvited to a party; the reception was frosty and no-one offered me a drink. Undeterred (and very stupid) I chose to follow a career in magazine journalism, and after two years, many tears, an incident with a pug and 467 Starbucks runs, here is what I’ve learned:

1)  Keep your CV short. My father has been working for 45 years and his still fits onto one page. No-one cares that in the summer of 2005 your responsibilities at Café Nero included ‘cleaning the coffee machine and wiping tables’; this fascinating insight will be explained in the job title. The Managing Editor of a top fashion glossy once told me that a one page CV is a great display of self-confidence. That said, the same woman also told me she was impressed that I hadn’t felt any pressure to dress fashionably for my interview…

2)  There is absolutely no excuse for being late for an interview, bar sudden death or a complete and unexpected shutdown of all available transport anywhere. Turn up an hour early, find a nearby cafe, read your CV over, and interview yourself. Other occupants of the cafe thinking you’re mad is preferable to a potential boss thinking you’re unreliable.

3)  Carry an umbrella on the way to an interview. I once met a Features Editor of a newspaper looking like a human dishcloth. I was sitting by a warm radiator and my clothes began to steam…

4)  Be nice to everyone, particularly the nasty sourpuss bent on making you feel rubbish. Like a playground bully, she’ll stop when she sees it’s not working.

5)  Don’t bitch. Or even worse, don’t send bitchy emails. I once heard a horror story of a guy in an office who wrote to a friend about a fellow female colleague saying ‘X never seems to wear a bra.. Have you noticed?’ He accidentally hit reply to the entire 300 staff in the building, including poor old X. He lost all professional credibility in the click of a mouse.

6)  If you get chatting to a high-flyer at a party, email them the following day saying how good it was to meet them. They could become a valuable mentor.

7)   When covering a celebrity party, don’t point at the nearest D-lister and ask the PR loudly: ‘who’s that then?’

8)   On a similar theme, don’t drink too much if you’re covering a party.

9)   Don’t power trip the work experience person. In years to come you could find them sitting across from you in an interview and they won’t have forgotten that 1000 paperclip challenge you set them at 5.30 on a Friday afternoon.

10)   Accept sometimes that life isn’t fair and many job opportunities simply boil down to luck and circumstance. Case in point: a friend of mine worked with a man who habitually picked up half the pile of CVs and threw them in the bin with the words ‘I don’t like working with unlucky people’.

Follow Lucy’s blog at www.girluninterrupted.co.uk/

So what is Company Follow?

Ryan Roslansky, explains on the LinkedIn Blog it “…helps you be among the first to learn about developments at companies… find job openings… or stumble upon business development opportunities… The new feature lets you tap into key goings-on at nearly a million companies that already have their company profiles on LinkedIn and more that are being created every day.” and it’s simple to use. To see how easy it is to use click here for LinkedIn’s explanation (they do it so well).

Company Follow has several advantages for the Jobseeker who can be notified when employees join, are promoted or leave a company and when the company is advertising a job opportunity, though only when advertised on LinkedIn itself. They can have notifications delivered by email, which is the smartest, and can choose the frequency, e.g daily when actively looking for a new role.

So what can a Jobseeker do with this information? They can:

• Be selective of the companies they follow, choosing those that they most want to work for, have the best reputation in the industry and where their skills would be of the greatest asset to the potential employer.
• Follow all of their selected company’s news listening for what they’re not saying and trends that are emerging where hidden jobs may be found
• See who is leaving. Is their role being advertised? Were they recommended by their manager? Who do they know who knows the departing employee or their manager?
• See who has been promoted. A great opportunity to make contact with a message of congratulations and to follow up some time later to see how they’re getting on i.e. a way to ease into a potentially door-opening relationship.
• See what Executives or Senior Managers have joined. Is the company taking a new direction? Have they won a project? Will they need you in their team?

Company Follow is great for companies who want to attract talent and keep tabs on their competitors so if you’ve not even created your company profile, get cracking! If you already have one you may want to give it a once over and ensure that it will attract followers.

So what can a Company do with this information? They can:

• Build their followers and have a potential talent pool ready to be tapped in to and because, unlike groups, there is not a restriction on the number of companies a person can follow, potentially have followers who may not have been able to join their group.
• Be aware what their competitors are doing. Your competitors can follow you and this gives a company a great opportunity to know who is listening and, you never know, you may just decide to poach them yourself!
• Be aware of what is being said. The content on LinkedIn is user-generated and this may concern you but as these conversations are already taking place, it’s better to know than pretend they’re not.
• Follow their competitors and therefore proactively manage your current employees. You’ll know if your competitor is looking for someone who they could find in your team and therefore you have the opportunity to keep your staff happy and content.
• Follow without being blocked and currently, this is a great advantage over, say, Twitter. So go follow your competitors, to protect your talent pool and to find your new employees.

I wonder what LinkedIn will come up with next….

1. Watch your word order

Including your own interests is always useful and helps to demonstrate that you’re a well-rounded individual. Just be careful how you list them. Word order can be crucial, as this unfortunate CV phrase shows: ‘…coaching the local under-11s boys’ swimming team, amateur photography…’. Oops.

2. Don’t rely too heavily on spell checkers

Spelling mistakes occur far too frequently. Don’t rely on the spell check or grammar check because they will let elementary mistakes slip through, such as using ‘sore’ instead of ‘saw’ or ‘hear’ instead of ‘here’ and so on. I once read a CV in which a candidate talked about his ‘extensive soft drink skills’. He meant ‘software skills’ but his mind had wandered during the writing and his spell check didn’t see anything wrong.

3. Check your punctuation carefully

Make sure you apply the best word order and the correct punctuation. Otherwise, you could end up writing something like this candidate: ‘Proactive – I’m always scribbling down work ideas whenever I can such as when I’m commuting on the back of an envelope.’

4. Be honest – but not too honest

It’s always a good idea to be open and honest on your CV. This doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your professionalism or objectivity, though. In one CV a candidate wrote: ‘My last boss was a bit of a plonker and was probably on the fiddle too’. This hardly inspires confidence.

5. Get your numbers right

Simple keystroke errors with numbers are also an easy mistake to make. Often these are missed because the writer is only concentrating on getting the words right. I’ve seen applicants claim that they ‘have 43 children’ and ‘left school in 1892’.

6. Pay attention

Ensure that any claims you make about your abilities aren’t undermined by silly slips or errors. My personal favourite is an applicant who wrote: ‘I developed a strong attention to detail while working as a Recetpionist’.

7. Speak English

In an ever-expanding global market, possessing international experience or other languages are both becoming more and more important. Just make sure you put this across in the right way. One applicant once declared: ‘I exposed myself to the French market for three years.’ Really? Do the Gendarmes know? Another declaimed: ‘I am bilingual – fluent in English, Spanish and French.’ Well, maybe not English.

8. Only speak if you have something to say

It’s amazing how many people pad out their CVs with worthless information. Among the many fascinating facts I’ve been told are: ‘I hold a driving licence (Provisional)’, ‘I am physically fit and often walk to work’ and ‘My interests include watching television’. If you haven’t got anything interesting to say or any extra skills to promote, then say nothing

9. Always be professional

Employers will always glean aspects of your personality from what you write on your CV. Again, as in number 4, you must remain professional at all times. Don’t write statements similar to these applicants: ‘I like trying to get off with the girls in my office’ or ‘I enjoy going out on Saturday nights and drinking loads (probably too much!)’. These are sure-fire ways to get your CV filed in the bin.

10. Avoid jargon, waffle and total nonsense

We’re all aware of the need to avoid jargon in our CVs and resist the use of too much technical speak. Unfortunately, many candidates can’t resist the temptation to add their own utter nonsense, gobbledygook and waffle. Here’s one of my all-time favourites: ‘I feel my past is defined by my future, whilst my future defines my past.’Eh?

11. One size does not fit all

Your CV should not be a standard document that never changes but should be tweaked with each job application in mind. A colleague of mine once told me about the time he advertised for a Marketing Executive, Senior Marketing Executive and Marketing Manager. One person applied for all three posts – with identical CVs and Covering letters. Only the job titles were changed. Needless to say, he hit the waste-paper bin three times!

12. Avoid ‘zany’ fonts and coloured paper.

Your CV should be clear, professional and concise. I’ve seen CVs written in fonts that are, quite simply, unreadable and printed on migraine-inducing coloured paper. Often candidates choose them with the mistaken belief that they will show their individuality and make them stand out. Wrong. Stick to a clear and straightforward font – Arial, Times, Verdana, Garamond and Tahoma are all good starting points. Paper colour? Any as long as it’s white.

13. Two sides are enough

The basic rule is very simple: Write no more than two sides of A4, ideally in 10 or 12 point. Never let your point size go any smaller and don’t shrink your margins with the aim of cramming loads more in – you’ll just make the whole thing unreadable. Sadly, many people ignore this simple advice. My record? I was once presented with a CV that was SEVENTEEN sides long!

14. Avoid clichés

‘I’m a team player’, ‘I think outside the box’, ‘I’m a blue sky thinker’ etc. etc. etc. These are just a few of the phrases that will make you sound like a candidate for The Apprentice on a bad day. Don’t use them! Recruiters are so bored of seeing them! You’ll almost certainly end your chances of an interview because the interviewer will have flat lined.

15. Mind the Gap

You might be able to get away with a month or two gap on your CV. Maybe you took extended leave or just needed some time for yourself. I was once given a CV where there was a SIX YEAR gap in the person’s employment history. When I brought this up, they became evasive and I never got a straight answer. Needless to say they struggled to find a role. What had they been doing? Employers will immediately think the worst. If you do have gaps in your career history, they explain why. Honesty is always the best policy.

Written By Steve Szita, director of Dazzling CVs –  Get Daily CV writing tips on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dazzlingcvs

You may have seen the story of Rhiannon Mackay, who was jailed for six months this month. Her crime? She lied on her CV.

To get the job of capital projects administrator with Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, she falsely claimed to have two A levels and also forged a letter of recommendation. She used the same false CV to apply for 11 other jobs. It was only when her performance was deemed to be below par that managers at the Trust looked closer at her background and she was ultimately convicted using the Fraud Act 2006, making her the first woman to go to jail for CV falsification.

Should she have gone to prison? Was her crime so great? After all, survey after survey has shown that most people confess to having a CV that’s not, shall we say, 100% truthful. This bending of the truth seems to be fair game and was even, you could argue, vindicated by Alan Sugar when the 2008 winner of The Apprentice,Lee McQueen, was caught red-handed lying (or at least exaggerating) on his CV yet still walked away with the big prize.

So why do people lie on their CV? After all, who’s going to know if, for example, I nudge my grade C in GCSE maths to a B or say that I’ve five years experience in management when I’ve only got four?

The old adage that says “it’s harder to get the job than actually carry it out” has much to answer for. You may think you can blag your way through the job in the early days until you get to know the ropes but, as Rhiannon Mackay found, this tactic can blow up in your face in spectacular fashion.

I highly doubt her conviction will change very much, especially outside the public sector. People will continue to subtly round-up qualifications and experience and, probably, continue to get away with it, providing they don’t overplay their hands. These are difficult economic times and desperate times often lead to desperate CV writing — but it really doesn’t have to come to exaggerating (or even telling barefaced lies) on your CV.

Here’s my nine-point plan to help you stay on the path of CV righteousness.

· Although CV stands for Curriculum Vitae — ‘the course of life’ — it’s really a sales tool, not an autobiography. Write with your goal and intended audience in mind. Don’t write it as a memoir. Also, writing actively is more engaging than writing passively. For example, “I completed the project in under six weeks” opposed to “The project was completed in under six weeks by me”.

· Open with a strong profile that’s intelligently, confidently and attractively written. Make sure it clearly highlights your skills and experience in relation to the post you’re applying for.

· One CV is not enough. If you’re sending out identical CV’s to every job you apply for, then you need to stop now. No two jobs are identical. Your CV should reflect this. Keep a master copy and adapt it accordingly.

· Don’t send a CV out by itself. Your covering letter is equally important, as you will use it to focus the recruiter’s mind on the job in question and how your skills and abilities meet his/her requirements. Clearly flag up your key qualities and illustrate with strong action words such as “achieved”, ”enhanced” and “accomplished”.

· Emphasise your current/relevant skills and experience. Most of the focus should be on the last five years. To help keep the CV short, sharp and arresting, don’t be afraid to delete (or at least drastically cut) job information and skills that are not relevant. This is especially true if you have a history of temporary jobs or have undergone a career change. Of course, account for the time (don’t leave gaps) but don’t spend ages talking about it.

· If you make a claim about yourself (creative, team player, proactive) make sure you back it up with a real example which quantifies the claim. For example, “An accomplished team manager. When ABC Ltd and XYZ Ltd merged, I successfully led and integrated the two companies’ accounts departments”. And be ready to expand on it at the interview stage.

· When writing your CV, make sure it’s well organised and clearly laid out, with well-defined headings and sections. It should be immediately obvious what each is about; career summary, professional qualifications, career objective and so on. The average recruiter will only spend a few seconds scanning your CV and won’t waste time hunting around for the relevant information.

· With so much CV sifting and sorting now being performed electronically, it pays to work keywords into your CV. Make sure that they address areas including your industry, job titles, expertise, specialist skills, technical qualifications and the key companies you’ve worked for. This is not, however, a substitute for intelligent and professional CV writing where you describe and back up your achievements properly, more of an added dimension to the document.

· Finally, don’t claim to have skills you clearly don’t possess. If you do get the job, being unable to fully operate PowerPoint or Excel, for example, having claimed you’re an expert, will create a terrible first impression.

It’s possible to impress without stretching the truth — knowing how to make the most of your skills and abilities will do the job.

Written By Steve Szita, director of Dazzling CVs

The beauty of what I do is that on any given day I get to turn my attention to many different industry sectors. I could be writing for a social care organisation, a government department, a high street retailer or one of the country’s leading breweries, I just don’t know what’s round the corner writing wise some days. Yes, I am used to donning different hats and facing up to a whole range of challenges, but this sounded like a very different kind of proposition altogether – A 1000 word script that had to contain elements of humour yet be professional AND informative – and all captured on camera for a niche audience who really look up to this ‘dude’.

I bit the bullet and decided to take the brief. It resulted in a trip up to sunny North London. Then, during the course of the meeting, the client, the owner of www.oggs.com, a gaming review site, just happened to mention in passing that he had negotiated a few golden tickets to enter some online contest and that he might invite me to be in the team.

I thought no more about it until a few days later when, script (click on link below to see youtube video) and press releases duly cracked and submitted, I got an email confirming that I had indeed been invited to join ‘Team Oggs’ – a seven strong team brought together to try and win a million euros in the Grand Final of Microgaming’s Million Euro Slots Tournament at the end of last month.

Hey, even Ridley Scott had to start somewhere!

I accepted the invitation but quickly came across a stumbling block. . The online gaming industry may be very technically advanced, but their software doesn’t like Apple Macs – and I use….an Apple Mac!

Fortunately that particular dilemma was solved when an agency where I take desk space a couple of days a week kindly offered to let me chance my arm at winning the million from the comfort of their offices in London in a tournament where1500 finalists from around the world played a selection of some of the best online slots games in the business in the hope they would walk away with the big prize.

There was, however, a twist where my participation was concerned. (my life is never ordinary) Each player in ‘Team Oggs’ had to sign a contract in advance stating that if they won, they would take no more than 5% of the winnings, with the rest of the money going to charity. It was an unusual collaboration to say the least, but there really was nothing to lose and a lot to gain. So I signed up.

What’s more, the client was so pleased with the video and releases that he paid me double, yes that’s right, DOUBLE, what I originally quoted. Another first for me! And, it all only came about because I stepped out of my comfort zone.

Did I win? Er, I’m still here aren’t I? No, I didn’t, but hey, I didn’t even expect to be competing. The point is, stepping outside of your comfort zone needn’t always be a scary experience. It can reap rewards and lead to the unexpected. Getting paid double was good enough for me, although the 50,000 euro cut of the prize would have been nice. Oh well, onwards and upwards!

(incidentally the dude in the video, one J Todd, normally wears t shirt and jeans. Yes, I even got him to stand in the middle of a field wearing a suit!)

- Alasdair Murray, Freelance Copy Writer, alasdairdmurraycopywriter.co.uk

There are few things more daunting than attending a job interview. That’s why it’s good to prepare by considering some of the questions you might be asked. Just make sure you don’t end up giving any of these answers….

Interviewer: What is your greatest accomplishment?
Interviewee: Finishing Phantom Mutant Death Fighter 3 for PC – and in work time too! Have you played it?

Interviewer: Could you sell me this pen?
Interviewee (shouting): Get your pens, only 50p. Everything must go. Come on sweetheart, you know you want one!

Interviewer: If our roles were reversed, what question would you ask?
Interviewee: Where did you get that terrible blouse?

Interviewer: Who in the world, living or dead, would you most like to meet?
Interviewee: Oooooh that’s a difficult one. Er, I’d have to say ‘living’ I think.

Interviewer: Describe a complex problem you have had to deal with.
Interviewee: I had a STD once, but don’t worry, it cleared up ages ago.

Interviewer:Do you prefer delegation or hands on control?
Interviewee: Er, what are they? Boy bands or something?

Interviewer: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Interviewee: Shouting up at the window ‘get a life’ to anyone who’s sad enough to be working late

Interviewer: Are you prepared to relocate?
Interviewee: Certainly. Where would you like me to sit?

Interviewer: What do you think you can contribute to the company?
Interviewee: Well it depends how much I have left at the end of each month

Interviewer: Can you act on your own initiative?
Interviewee: I was in the school play once, but to be honest I’m no Sir Michael Caine.

Interviewer: ‘What would you say is the biggest risk you ever took’?
Interviewee: Probably unprotected sex’.
Interviewer: I meant in the workplace.
Interviewee: Yes, funnily enough it was. You know what Christmas Parties can be like!

Interviewer: What are your career goals’?
Interviewee (proudly) 15 in 155 appearances for my local pub team!

Interviewer: What would you like to avoid in your next job?
Interviewee: It’s not so much a case of ‘what’, more ‘who’. Honestly, there were some right sad sacks at my last place!

Interviewer: How do you cope with change?
Interviewee: I put it in a piggy bank and buy myself something nice with it at Christmas

Interviewer: Are you willing to travel?
Interviewee: Duh? How else am I going to get here in the mornings?

Interviewer: Describe the best boss you ever had.
Interviewee: About five eight, a petite blonde, breasts like beach balls

Interviewer: Do you prefer working with a male or female boss?
Interviewee: Oh please. Give me a man every time. I mean women. Temperamental or what? Actually just make that ‘mental’…… Your good self excepted of course.

Interviewer: What unfinished business have you left behind that you wish you had concluded?
Interviewee: I had a bit of an altercation with one of my colleagues. But don’t worry, I know where he lives. He will get his.

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you didn’t get on with your colleagues.
Interviewee: Time? How long have you got? I’ve got plenty of stories where that’s concerned.

Interviewer: What’s your relationship with your former employer?
Interviewee: Purely platonic. Mind you she looked like she knew every branch of the ugly tree intimately.

- Alasdair Murray, Freelance Copy Writer, alasdairdmurraycopywriter.co.uk

If asked anything, whether about a band, shop, company, name or place, what is the first thing you do? Google it. Even your grandma Googles it now. It officially became a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary 4 years ago. It is undeniable that information a Google search brings back can dramatically affect your opinion.

But have you thought about what happens when someone googles you? Most people probably haven’t tried (do it now, see what happens, I’ll wait!). Chances are about 6 people you share your name with pop out of their respective social networking profiles, probably one or two of the results is yours. 123people.co.uk may well be there too, this is a site designed for searching out people and will bring together any profile you have on Facebook, MySpace, etc as well as any mentions of your name in the news (even if it’s not actually you), indeed that scathing review you left on Amazon 3 years ago, and the wish list you made when you where 15… OK so that’s me but none the less, many people don’t think too much about the reputation trail there leaving online. This rings especially true when I tell you that recent research shows that 79% of surveyed hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants AND 70% had rejected candidates based on what they had found.

So is privacy dead? Not quite but, whether you’re a Facebook addict, Tweetaholic or both there are a few things you need to keep in mind whilst updating your status or tagging those photos from last night.

Whilst being everywhere on the internet maximizes your chances of being seen (which could help you get a job), you need to think about your Personal Brand, in 2010 your CV is much more than a piece of paper!

A few hints and tips…

Keep it simple – Do you really need to be everywhere on the net, having profiles on just one or two social networking sites will make it far easier to keep track of your image.

In the with the new, out with the old – Still got that MySpace profile that you haven’t used in years? Delete it, You never can be sure what will crop up on somebody’s search for you.

Check your settings – Most social network’s default settings are designed to make you as open as possible, think about what parts of your profile you want to be seen and by who.

Know who’s following you – You need to think about who you’re allowing into your network, how well do you really know that guy you met at the bus stop last week? Are you willing to have your colleagues or boss seeing what you got up to at the weekend? Either let them in and change your activity accordingly or decide to keep them out.

Be consistent – If you’re trying to build a ‘Personal Brand’ it needs to be consistent, changing your picture and what your tweeting about daily will reduce the chances of you being recognized and make you appear scatty and unsure of yourself.

You’re going to have a profile online whether you’ve made it yourself or not, so make sure your in control of it, get it to work for you rather than against you.