Whether you are part of the three-fifths of job hunters who are unhappy in their current role
due to culture or salary or find yourself needing a new job due to redundancy or relocation,
job hunting is a part of life, and having the right tools to navigate it effectively can make it a
lot more pleasant!
In this blog, we will be answering some recruitment questions and providing some expert
tricks and tips for finding your ideal job, including
Recruiters are experts in job hunting and networking and usually operate within a specific
industry or niche, making them the best people to contact when you are looking for a new
role.
After all, if you had no experience fixing cars, you wouldn’t just rely on your ability to make
the repairs - you would visit a mechanic, and it’s exactly the same with job hunting.
Seeking out the advice of a recruiter and building a relationship with them can be the
difference between getting an interview and not.
There are over 138 recruitment agencies in Glasgow alone, so finding the right fit for you
and your career is crucial.
Finding an agency that specialises in the field you are interested in is the first step to finding
the perfect recruitment consultant for your journey.
Lusona Consultancy is proud to have specialists across a range of different industries,
including accountancy & finance, legal, HR, audit & risk and many more niche areas.
Utilising keywords that are relevant to your chosen career along with locations can narrow
down your potential recruitment agencies.
From here you can check out their website for live roles that they are shortlisting for and see
which consultant is looking after those positions.
You can continue your job search with LinkedIn and connect with the consultant on LinkedIn,
adding a personalised note to the request.
Sending a message through the consultancy’s webform is also a great way to get in touch as
the most appropriate person for your industry will get back to you to discuss further.
CVs should always be tailored to the role you are applying for as it is almost impossible to fit
every single piece of experience you have onto your CV.
During your introductory call, you will be able to go through your experience in detail with the
consultant.
As they recruit in the sector you are interested in, they will be able to pick out the nuggets of
skills gold that their clients are interested in adding to their team and will advise you on how
best to include them in our CV and cover letters.
This will also allow them to add these to your profile on their system, so you pop up when
they are searching for potential interviewees.
No matter how well the interview went, the chances of not getting the job are still quite high.
Rejections are hard, especially when you have invested time and effort into practicing,
researching, and potentially traveling.
Asking for feedback from the recruiter is an important step that a lot of people don’t take.
Recruiters can follow up with the hiring manager or decision maker to find out why they went
with the selected candidate identify any knowledge gaps and give you pointers on how you
could improve your interview performance, making rejections an almost positive thing.
Take your job search to the next level and connect with our Lusona consultants today!
• Discussing past experiences with the consultant can highlight relevant skills that
you didn’t know to mention, and help to tailor your CV.
• Asking for feedback and learning from it to improve future performances is a
positive way to handle rejection and gets you one step closer to your goal.
It is estimated that around a third of employees are looking for a new role, which in real numbers looks like 9.8 million people in the UK who are actively looking to over on from their current employer, according to a study conducted in March 2023.
However, between March and June 2023, only a tenth of this number of jobs were available in the UK, making the job market pretty competitive, especially in certain niche sectors.
In this blog, we are going to investigate:
Job hunting is not an exact science, and every sector has a different approach to recruitment.
In the UK, statistics show that only 2% of applicants will be taken forward to an interview, and on average hiring managers will only interview 6 candidates for every one vacancy.
This means that standing out is crucial to success.
Along with finding the right opportunities that will help you to stand out and show off your unique skillset, utilising the right job boards and buzzwords will ensure that recruiters and hiring managers consider you for your dream role.
Below we are going to explore the benefits of the top three job-hunting approaches:
Back in the day, help-wanted adverts were displayed on notice boards in libraries, local shops, or printed in the newspapers, so anyone looking for work had to do a lot of literal leg work to find a job.
In the online age, however, finding a new role is usually quite a sedentary challenge and involves a lot of scrolling!
Job sites are the new notice boards and are getting more and more high-tech.
On job hunting sites like Indeed, CV Library, Monster and Reed, you can save a standard CV that is linked to your profile so hiring managers can find you through a simple search.
When applying for roles, you can utilising the ‘favourite’ list and save jobs as you scroll to come back to you later so you can tailor your CV.
This process can be very labour intensive, draining, and lonely though.
Dropping CVs into places that job seekers wanted to work was also a common ploy of times gone by (who hasn’t had the ‘why don’t you drop your CV into X, Y, and Z’ speech from their parents?) but this approach is not likely to succeed in careers such as law, accountancy, or engineering.
This is why expanding your professional connections can be one of the biggest steps to your dream job.
In fact, 70% of jobs are never published and 85% of vacancies are filled through networking.
LinkedIn is a great place to start and gain confidence in ‘cold messaging’, but attending networking sessions locally, job fairs and industry-specific seminars are an even better way to get in front of people who could be making their company's next hiring decision.
This does, however, take a lot of time, patience, and the ability to play the long game.
Using a head-hunter or recruiter to find your next role can take a lot of stress and pressure off the job hunt process.
Recruitment consultants have the ear of hiring managers, contacts across a wide variety of industries, and insider knowledge on the job market, hiring practices, and work on a commission basis, meaning that they are just as invested in your success as you and can provide key job search help.
Following businesses that you would like to work at on their social channels can allow you to be an early applicant when they are looking for the next great hire.
Recruitment consultants know the market better than anyone else and can sometimes have exclusive access to roles that are not advertised publicly.
Along with giving you a foot in the door, they can also advise on CVs, point you in the right direction for what to include on your cover letters, and give your CV a once over before it goes to the hiring manager.
It is also a good idea to make sure your LinkedIn profile matches your CV!
If you don’t get the job, don’t see it as a waste of time or be too disappointed. Requesting feedback from the hiring manager directly or through your recruitment consultant is instrumental in improving your interview technique or pinpointing the areas that you need more experience in.
Check spelling, contact information, and formatting before sending your CV, especially if you’ve recently made an amend or addition.
As discussed above, networking and recruitment consultants can open up a lot more doors than just scrolling through job sites, giving you a lot more exposure to the jobs that you might not know about otherwise.
Looking for a job is hard. It takes a lot of time, energy and can have a negative effect on your mental health if you get rejected, especially if it keeps happening.
If you feel like you’re struggling, take a break. Don’t constantly scroll online and don’t start panicking and applying for everything. Reach out to recruitment consultancies specialising in your desired industry and let them do some of the heavy lifting!
In today's competitive job market, successful job hunting requires a strategic and proactive approach.
Understanding the intricacies of recruitment, such as the low interview selection rates and the significance of standing out, is crucial.
Job seekers must embrace the power of job-hunting sites, utilising platforms like Indeed, CV Library, Monster, and Reed to save tailored CVs and stay updated on potential opportunities.
Networking is another key aspect, with many jobs being filled through personal connections.
Leveraging platforms like LinkedIn, attending industry-specific events, and introducing yourself to recruitment agencies can significantly enhance your chances of finding your dream role.
Need help with job hunting?
Speak with our expert teams and find the right job for you.
TL;DR
Surveys say that 70% of employers will look up candidates on social media, but when it comes to recruiters it’s more like 100%.
And if you think that whatever employers and recruiters find when they search for you online won’t have an impact on whether you get hired, you’d be wrong. 54% of employers say they’ve pulled a candidate from their shortlist based solely on their social media presence!
In a nutshell: Use social media wisely and it can do great things for your career, but use it thoughtlessly and it could do your professional reputation some serious damage.
Here are 8 ways your social media presence (past and present) might be hurting your career – and what you can do about it.
Posting negatively about previous or current customers, colleagues or employers might get you lots of engagement on social media (for all the wrong reasons) but it reflects terribly on you.
Online rants are never a good idea. Sure, they might help you blow off some steam when you’re angry about something, but reacting emotionally and badmouthing people (even if anonymously) is so unprofessional.
Think about it: would you want to work with someone who complains publicly about their job? If you need to rant, phone a friend instead.
If you think employers won’t be looking beyond your LinkedIn account, think again. With a quick Google search, recruiters can easily trace your personal accounts too, and some employers even outsource social media screening for a thorough vet.
You have two choices here: either ensure your account names are fit for job hunting (so no ‘:|AngeL*B*tch|:’ or ‘Big Billy Boy’) or change your privacy settings so that your social media profiles aren’t traceable on search engines.
And the same goes for email addresses and Zoom usernames too!
Again, you might think that posting controversial stuff on LinkedIn gets you lots of attention, but it only attracts the wrong kind of attention.
Posting anything that might be considered offensive should be a big ‘no’ on any social media platform, and try to keep your LinkedIn content particularly professional.
Same goes for posting comments too. Remember that if you comment on a LinkedIn post, that post will appear in the newsfeed of everyone you’re connected with, even if they don’t follow the original poster.
The main lesson here is that if you’re ever second thinking a status update or comment – don’t publish it.
This might sound a bit petty but even on social media, spelling and grammar matters. As much as 66% of employers admit they look negatively on poor grammar or spelling in social media posts.
The reason for this is that it suggests lack of attention to detail. So take your time when posting, and use an integrated tool like Grammarly to keep your spelling and grammar in check. These tools will automatically flag any errors in the status box before you post.
This should be fairly obvious but it’s so crucial that your work history on LinkedIn reflects what’s on your CV.
If a recruiter notices any discrepancies, this looks to them like you either lied to get on the shortlist for a role or that you lack attention to detail – and neither is good.
Spend some time going through your LinkedIn and cross-referencing it with your CV. It could save you an awkward conversation and even improve your future job opportunities.
Got an old Bebo or MySpace account you don’t use anymore? A Facebook account from way back in your uni days?
It’s likely there are a few old social media accounts floating around the web that you’ve forgotten about. And it’s even more likely that these accounts will have profile pics you wouldn’t want an employer to see.
Have a deep search online and delete any old accounts you’re not using anymore. For those accounts you don’t want to delete, make sure you change your privacy settings so the profile pics are appropriate (or at least hidden to the public!).
As recruiters, trust us when we say that the job is certainly not ‘in the bag’ when you get an offer from an employer. Unfortunately, lots of jobs still fall through before start date.
This is why – as well-intentioned as posts like this can be – you should never share any information about a job offer or a hiring process before you start the job.
It’s not unheard of for an employer to retract a job offer because the candidate has posted unprofessionally during their notice period.
If in doubt, just ask your recruitment consultant for guidance. That’s what we’re here for!
We know the advice on social media activity can be a bit confusing. A lot of sources say you should post frequently on LinkedIn to help build your network and reputation as a professional. You’ve probably also been told to comment and engage with other people’s posts as much as possible too.
But there’s a balance you need to strike. If it looks like you spend too much time on social media platforms, posting and commenting at all hours of the day, this is a red flag for employers.
Give yourself a specific window in the day for working on your social media presence (preferably outside working hours) and stick to it.
So now the question is: What does your current online presence really say about you as an employee?
Take some time to look through your social media account web search in public mode to see what employers see (open a new window in ‘incognito mode’ to view this) and make any necessary changes.
If you need some help auditing your social media presence to get ready for the job market, we’d be happy to help!
Contact one of our specialist consultants at Lusona today and someone will be in touch to help you out, free of charge.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
So you’ve just received a job offer for a new role that ticks all the boxes. But there’s one thing making you doubt whether you should go: When you handed in your resignation to your current employer, they’re throwing all kinds of tempting counter offers at you to convince you to stay.
And suddenly, you’re asking yourself: is my current job really as bad as I think it is? Would the extra money make me happy enough to stay? Maybe moving jobs will be stressful and what if the new role is worse than my current one?
It’s no wonder that in situations like this, a lot of people will take a salary rise and stay put instead of moving forward with a new job offer.
But it’s worth remembering that of those candidates who accept a counter offer, 50% end up regretting it and leave within a year anyway.
Here are a few reasons you should think very carefully before ever accepting a counter offer from your employer.
Research has shown that only 12% of employees want to leave their job for a better salary, whereas 89% of employers think that’s their only motive for doing so.
So, what was the reason you decided to look for a new job in the first place? Do you find your role unchallenging? Struggle to get along with your colleagues? See no space for further progression?
Whatever your reason was for leaving, the situation will still stand. If you except a counter offer, the only thing that will change is your salary.
Your employer might probe to unpick what’s made you unhappy enough to hand in your resignation. But do you really believe there’s anything they can - or will - do to fix things? Because if so, surely you would’ve just had that conversation instead of looking for a new job.
If your current employer goes in all guns blazing and offers you a substantial salary increase in order to keep you, you have to ask yourself: If this is what I’m worth, why weren’t they paying me this before I threatened to leave the company?
Essentially, your employer is admitting that they’ve been underpaying you all this time. You might think this is water under the bridge now, but it will eat away at you later.
Your future employer, on the other hand, has shown that they see potential in you that your current employer hasn’t appreciated until now. New hires are always a risk, and your future employer clearly thinks you’re worth it.
Why not take the risk with them instead of with an employer who is making you unhappy?
No matter what your boss tells you right now in order to keep you, the relationship was damaged the minute you admitted you’re talking to another employer about a role.
Staying put because they’ve offered you more money isn’t going to repair the relationship either – even if they try to make it seem that way.
Despite what they say, they will no longer trust you in the way they did before, and this will have an impact on your future with the organization. For example, the chances of you being promoted internally when up against someone else in the company (who, in their eyes, they can still trust) will be slim-to-none.
There are a whole load of reasons why 2022 is the perfect time to change jobs. But one reason that stands no matter what the job market looks like is that staying in your comfort zone is never good for your career.
The world might feel very unstable right now (because it is!) and it might seem like staying in your current role is the best option to play it safe. But nothing great ever comes out of taking the comfortable option when it comes to your career.
No one is denying that your employer wants to keep you, but it’s worth being very sceptical about what their real motives are.
Replacing staff is expensive, and once you take into consideration things like training costs and downtime, a ‘new you’ is likely to cost a lot more than your than your raise is worth.
This is why, in reality, counter offers are usually just a stalling tactic employers will use until they can find your replacement at a lower price. So in this sense, you’re actually doing the company a favour by sticking around.
Any good recruitment consultant should prepare you for the possibility of a receiving a counter offer from your very first conversation. In some cases, they might suggest staying in your current role is the right option for your career – but this will only work if you haven’t told your employer that you’re considering other roles.
If you’re unhappy in your current role, speak to one of our specialist recruiters to find out what your options in the current job market. At Lusona, we’re here to help!
If the madness of 2021 has left you craving some normality, we don’t blame you.
But your job should be the one exception in 2022.
A combination of different factors have created a job market that is heavily in your favour right now as a candidate, and now's the time to take advantage of it.
2022 could easily be the biggest opportunity of your career to date - here’s why this is the year to change jobs…
The job market is unusually hot right now and we may never see it like this again in our lifetime.
With more job vacancies on the market than there are available skilled candidates in most industries, this means you have the upper hand as a job seeker. Take advantage of this!
If you’ve been craving a change but feeling like a job move would be too risky, 2022 is the year to take the plunge.
If you’re feeling in a bit of a rut, there’s no better time than now to explore new companies, new industries, or even a total career change.
The job market is entirely different from what it was even just five years ago and your skills, education and employment background could be adding value in a totally new role that you might not even know exists yet!
Right now, employers are looking for candidates who are adaptable and resilient, with transferrable skills that will benefit the larger organisation.
Speak to a recruiter who can give you some inspiration and guidance on how to change jobs and where your next move could take you.
It’s hard to believe that only a couple of years ago, your work commute could mean the difference between you applying for a role at a company or not.
With remote and hybrid working now being the norm in most industries, the geographical barrier is a thing of the past. Even living in a particular country is now rarely necessary for employers to consider you for a role.
But are you taking advantage of this? Remote working should massively open up your pool of opportunities for you. Employers are casting their sourcing nets further afield, so it makes sense that you look internationally too.
One thing the last couple of years has taught us is how to adapt quickly when a situation requires it.
The business world – and the world more generally – is currently in VUCA, meaning life is unpredictable, and we’ve become much more adaptable as a population in response to this. As a workforce, this makes us much more agile than any workforce that has preceded us.
While you’re in this adaptable mindset, you’re in the perfect position to adjust easily to a new role. If you can’t face change now, when will you?
In any area of our lives, we generally reach the best of our ability when we’re outside of our comfort zones. And it’s no different when it comes to your career – being mobile in the job market keeps your skill set fresh.
If you’re comfortably ‘coasting’ in your current job, this is preventing you from reaching your full potential. And the longer you coast, the harder it will be to change jobs when really need to.
‘Languish’ (the state between depression and flourishing) has been cited as the dominant emotion of 2021. While this is totally understandable given the circumstances, languish can be a dangerous emotion if it sticks around too long. It sucks all your motivation and gets in the way of your self-development – which is why coasting is never a good thing.
Interested in a career move but not sure where your skills and experience leave you best placed?
Get in touch with us here at Lusona and we’ll connect you with a recruitment consultant who knows how to help. 2022 will be the year for your career!
© Lusona Consultancy (Group) Limited
Company Registration Number: SC419051
Company Registered Address: Duart House, 3 Finch Way, Strathclyde Business Park, Bellshill, ML4 3PR
VAT Number: GB 125 4740 27
Website design by SMK Creations