Smartness and scorching weather simply don’t go together; hot weather is casual, hot weather is bikini tops and frayed hems and lolling about with a frappucino in flip flops. Recently I’ve begun to wonder whether this scruffy attitude is a uniquely British trait. Because our summers are so brief, and come July we flee en masse to the Costa Brava, there’s a dearth of decent formal summer wear available on the high street, unless you work on a beach, or are willing to pay £150 for a Reiss shift which will look like it’s been worn by a chimney sweep after one trip on the tube. After all, if workers in Madrid and Rome can look chic at 30 degrees, why can’t we?

A friend of mine who works for the Foreign Office has been having problems too. Last Tuesday (during the heat wave) her legs weren’t ready to be bared, so she struck upon the idea of wearing hold-ups under her knee-length skirt. They were high enough to pass off as tights, she reasoned, but far cooler in the heat. Unfortunately, she hadn’t noticed a small rip in the back of the skirt, which caused it to ride up over the course of the morning. By her afternoon meeting at the embassy there was an inch gap of leg between hem and hold-ups. She had left for work looking like a professional, and returned home looking like a professional call-girl.

So are there any solutions to the problem? If your office has an all-suit policy I’m afraid I can’t suggest much, aside from taking off your jacket and thanking the air-con.

If you’re in a more casual office, try a formal hareem pant. They’re cool, they’re practical, they work with both heels and flatties and they’ll give you a sartorial edge over your colleagues. That is, of course, provided you buy the right ones. Get it wrong and you’ll look like a fat Jasmine.

Here’s my choice from Topshop.

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

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/

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

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 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.

Not so long ago, even at the beginning of the new millennium, letters where still kings of communication, and we were perfectly prepared to wait the week required for a response. At the start of 2010 the world of communication is a very different place. Clients can contact me 24/7 by email, mobile phone or instant messenger, I  can receive information regarding what my favorite celebrity is eating for breakfast as they are eating for breakfast as they are eating it, direct to my mobile phone. Equally I can find out what someone I’ve not met more than once got up to on New Years.

This prevalance of Social Networking and communication is becoming increasingly important for recruiters, and clients increasingly want to make the best use of referral schemes over the traditional methods of recruitment/ 83% of adults regularly use social networks, which now takes up 93% more time than in 2006 according to bizreport making the need for individuals to capitalize on this increasingly apparent.

This can often be a bit bewildering, tricky and time consuming, so we have put together a few tips and ideas to help you get thinking about how the new world of communication is important for your job hunt.

Finding jobs online has long been the norm, but in the forever evolving realm of the internet the world of online recruitment is too changing. Searching through an online jobs-board is useful, but not always fruitful. According to an article on Mashable.com the amount of jobs posted on job boards has been decreasing at over 13% in recent times, making this an ever more prevalent issue. This is a quick guide to get you thinking about how web 2.0 could help you with your career, getting you ahead of the game in these tough times.

For some this may seem a little confusing or scary: Social networking, online referrals and self branding may sound a bit scary for some. However, all it’s really about is building your network and getting yourself ‘out there’ online.

The traditional way to find jobs online was to apply for roles, not really knowing if you where actually going to enjoy the role. Whilst it would be naive to say these days are over, Web 2.0 has bought for many the opportunity to build a personal brand that attracts employers to them.

This does not mean you need to be an online guru, but it’s important to make yourself aware of these technologies and how recruitment fits into them.

Web 2.0 is not a technical term like it sounds, more a buzz word that refers to an idea or attitude. This being that the internet has moved on from its roots towards a wealth of rich interactive content composed and shared through a system of participation and community.

This starts with your CV, make sure your CV is clear, this may sound obvious and nothing to do with new technology, more common sense, but the majority of sites, including MPB allow employers to search CVs to find candidates there interested in. Make sure all the terminology in your CV is your industries most used. – take a look at some job descriptions in your field; does the text in your CV correspond well to requirements?  For example, rather than putting experienced with Microsoft Office put Experienced in using Microsoft Word, Excell and Acesss as an employer may be looking for someone with particular knowledge of one application. Mypeoplebiz also allows you to write an anonymous personal profile which is searchable by employers, and you can find a guide to getting this right here. 

 To really participate in web 2.0 You need to be a “prosumer”, a content producer, not just a consumer of online content. This doesn’t have to be difficult and you can spend as little or as much time as you have depending on what you want to do.

Whether you want to go all out and create a blog, or maybe your one for a YouTube video or a flickr photo album or all of the above. It is up to you and what you feel up to doing. If your currently unemployed this a good project to undertake as a way of building your IT skills whist doing something that may help you get that much craved job.

Blogs

If writing is something you like, start a blog about your professional expertise and experience, this works particularly well for media and marketing jobs and has become almost essential requirement for some roles. You can include photos, music and video in this too, bringing together all your online work.

Creating a blog will prove your passion and understanding for the subject matter. Mentioning this in your CV or Profile will highlight your passion; recruiters are likely to check it out. If they like what they see they will want to hire you, not just on your apparent professional ability but it is a great way to make you personable, make your blog get them like you.

-Making a blog doesn’t have to be difficult, give it a try with blogger.com or wordpress.com, both free.

Video

A new trend is the talking CV or video resume, this can be a great way to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, but only do this your feel your are confident enough, otherwise it may do more harm than good. In the New Year Mypeoplebiz will enable you to attach your talking CV to a job application and employers also will have the ability to create clips explain the role to you and introducing the work environment.

Photography

One of the simplest things you could do is create an album on flickr.  Flickr is a photo sharing site where you can upload your photography to discuss, share and interact with other photographers. If you have a digital camera or a mobile phone camera, get snapping!

This will be great for personal interests or hobbies section of your CV, even better say your applying for a role in a electrical retailer, you can prove your interest and understanding of the technology, cameras, computers and the internet just by creating photo album online.

Going social and Building your network

So you’ve got Facebook and reconnected with some old school friends and laughed at some embarrassing photos of yourself, but how can social networking sites help get you a job?

Firstly, it’s an excellent way to bring everything together and publicize anything you may of created online as outlined above, also make sure all your profiles are linked together, e,g there is a link to your twitter on your facebook profile etc. You may also want to think about how employer friendly you profile is, and remove content or change security settings to fit as it’s reported that many employers search social networking profiles of prospective employers to gain a greater insight.

Secondly, if you haven’t already done it, join the professional social networks. Primarily this is LinkedIn, but there others, namely xing.com that could also prove useful. Perhaps not as fun as the other social networks but definitely a useful tool for building your professional reputation and finding jobs. Start by adding all your contacts from outlook, Gmail etc you can build up from this point on. There are simple functions to do this on LinkedIn as well as an Outlook LinkedIn Application. The more people you are connected to the easier this is because you’re only able to reach other people in your network (1^st 2^nd and 3^rd degree connections).

Recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn (as well as others social networks) as a serious source for candidates, and is a great place to find jobs online, so complete as much as your profile as possible. The mypeoplebiz LinkedIn page publishes all the jobs on the site, including referral bonuses, you can refer anyone or people can refer you.

Further to this there are thousands of jobs advertised on linked in, look through groups, almost all of them have a jobs tab. More important advertise yourself, get involved join groups and conversations this way you can make connections and get noticed, Avoid sounding like a sales pitch, people will tune out. Stick to the rules of the group – it will be tempting to post in more popular sections of groups to get more attention to your message but these groups are often well policed and is likely to get you kicked out of the group if you do it more than once.

Evaluate regularly, how much time are you contributing to this compared to the delivery, are there any additional bonuses that you have discovered.

However, be patient this will not change your circumstances overnight, try to have fun with it and make it something you enjoy.

 Let us know of your web 2.0 activities and any experiences you have!