You may be looking for your first job or moving on - whichever it may be, the search and actually getting a job secured is a challenge and we all appreciate some advice and guidance to make the journey alittle less stressful.
It is the small things that seem to have a big influence at the end of the day and if you have these in hand they may give you the break you are after.

I will give you a basic breakdown of these little things and how you can make them work for you.

We shall start at the first hurdle. Sending in your CV. Believe it or not, but even before the letter is opened, you are being assessed. Choose your stationery carefully - do not use the stationery from your previous employer and do not put it throught their franking machine!

I suggest you use good a quality paper and envelope as this will create an image of quality about you. Address it to the correct person and use that person's name not just the title of their position. Spelling is vital. Create your personal name and address sticker to put on the back of your envelope - this will all give a very good first impression. You want your envelope to speak for you and to be opened for your CV to have a chance of being seen.

A tip for writing you CV is to give the employers what they want. Do not start of with what you are looking for. They need to know what you will bring to them. Your skills, experience and talents that will benefit the company.

Applying by email is now being used quite alot. You need to be careful doing this to get them interested in you. Your email address must come over as professional and not sloppy or suggestive eg hotlips@aol.com - remember that email address is the first thing your prospective employer will see - and first impressions...can decide whether the delete button is hit or not.

TIP - set up a dedicated email account just for your job applications.

It is vital that your spelling and grammar is correct. If it is bad you could be deemed as not paying attention to detail and this could count against you.

Address the email to the specific person - you can get this information from the job advertisement, if not, a phone call to the HR personnel department would be wise.

Taling of phone calls - you may have a phone call out of the blue from the personnel department and just to warn you that this happening more often. Happily, you can take this as a positive step - if they are spending time contacting you then they must be interested in you! If you are unable to take the call, they may have caught you at a bad time, it is okay to say so. By all means tell them to ring you back in hour or so - don't keep them waiting for hours on end, yo may end up giving someone else the chance to shine! Just enough time to sort yourself out and to get you composure.

Okay, you have got through this first stage and you have an interview - well done!

Follow these simple tips for an interview and you could be signing up for a job in no time.

Role play is a good way to get your confidence. Grab a friend to play the interviewer for you to practise answering questions and to get the feel for the procedure.

How you dress is important - again attention for detail goes along way. Suit and tie for men and something smart for ladies. It is not a fashion show - clean smart, toned down suit will never fail. Clean shoes too!!

Make sure you know exactly where your interview is. Plan your route before the interview day. It may be worth doing the journey the day before so you can be aware if there is traffic problems or anything that might delay you and cause you to be late.

When entering the interview room - walk in purposely, give a pleasant smile and shake hands firmly. Do not have your mobile on or even be speaking on it.

Do not be loaded with a mountain of materials. If you are required to be bring samples of work, only bring what is relevant and put it in a smart folder or file. It all creates that professional feel.


After all that, fingers crossed that you will get good news soon.

I hope this has helped you and I wish you the best of luck!!





About the Author
First impressions are so important - for help to make sure you get that chance for an interview visit http://hopurl.com/40635.