Online Business Blog

There are many places you can look for jobs online and many of those places also allow you to post resumes. You really want to post your resume because some jobs never even make it to the point of being listed. They are taken by those that posted their resumes. When preparing your resume, less is more. The longer your resume is, the less likely the hiring party is to read it (within reason). Be clear and precise. Use as few words as possible to get your job descriptions across. If you have any, attach recommendation letters, those are like money in the bank so some employers.

In order to be successful finding a job, you need to make that goal your job. This means you get up at a certain time, get showered, shaved and prepare yourself for a day of work. Then you sit down and you get to work looking for your job.

Add your job search engines to your favorites list so you can go directly to each search engine. The less time you spend looking for the site, the more time you can spend looking through the site. Many sites have an option where you can have matching job descriptions sent directly to your email. This is a good option but don’t rely on it, by the time that particular job hits your email it may already be gone. Check the search engines multiple times a day. The faster you get in touch with the job provider the more likely you are to get an interview and possibly the job.

In this marketplace, many jobs have been sent overseas. If your job is gone not only because of the economy, but also because your job was shipped out of country, you are fighting a bit more difficult battle than others. You now need to figure out where your experience with one job can fit in with another job. In order to do this, get a piece of paper or bring up a word document and list all of the knowledge and skills you attained from that career. After you have listed these down, you will have an easier time finding other career paths that can use some of the knowledge you already have. If you can use some of this knowledge, you will be able to procure a higher pay wage than if you went into a completely different field in which you have no knowledge.

If you find yourself needing to go into a totally different field and start at a ground floor position, make sure it is in an industry that is more stable in this economy and that it offers you the opportunity to advance at an acceptable rate so you can get your pay amount up quicker.

There are two things that mean a lot to an employer: dedication and innovation. If you can show these traits when applying for a job, then it will work to your advantage. The problem is that if the only opportunities you have are in an interview, where the employer is asking the questions, and an application form or CV, then you’re limited in what you can show off.

The answer is surprisingly simple, and surprisingly effective: make your own opportunities.

Over the years, a number of strange approaches have been tried and met with success, even when dealing with international recruitment. There’s no reason that anybody couldn’t try one of these tactics, or even come up with something new.

Meeting the Employer

If an employer has met you outside an interview, and you’ve demonstrated your strengths in a more casual and friendly environment, then you’ve already got a lead on other candidates.

Seizing the initiative if you run into a potential employer on a train, waiting at a bus stop, or anywhere that you could conceivably spark up a conversation can be a great tactic. It shows off your dedication to getting the job. You might also learn some useful information that you can use in a more formal interview, or find out about another opportunity that the employer thinks you’d be perfect for.

Meeting the Staff

Find out where the staff of an organisation during their lunch breaks or after hours. Listen out for opportunities, get to know them, let them know you’re looking for work, and they could pass on a positive word to their employer.

This has the double advantage of alerting you to new opportunities (you might be chatting to lawyers and hear about accountant jobs) and showing your dedication. It’s also a rather innovative approach, which will bear weight with employers.

Put Yourself Out There

Try and make opportunities for yourself. If you can convince somebody that you’d be an asset to their company, even if they hadn’t considered employing at the time, then you’re in with a chance. Show what new ideas you’d bring in.

Even if they don’t take it further at that time, they could be in contact later. Once again, this shows a level of dedication and innovation that few will match.

The Ultimate in Dedication

Work for nothing. If you can show that you really want the job, and then demonstrate that you’re good at it, employers will be very impressed. Offering to work unpaid is one way of doing this, but of course you must be sure you don’t get taken advantage of.

Be Truly Innovative

We’ve given you some ideas, but if you truly wish to innovate, then you’ll have to come up with something even fresher. Be bold. Show that you are the best candidate for the job, whatever it takes.

For years, people across the UK have wanted to break out of their business mould and start something new and fresh, something where they hold the reigns and can make important decisions for themselves, something where, maybe, they could earn more.

As far as business opportunities go, there are a number of ways somebody can stake their claim. Some are bizarre and risky, some are safe and profitable. We’ve presented a number of them here from both sides.

One avenue that people go down is invention. If you can create a novel product that would be useful to people, or that people don’t need but want, then you have a big head start on making your own business and drawing in profits. Weird enterprises that have come out of this are the Ottimat, a mat made from human hair that’s used to soak up oil spills, and Smartgrow, another mat woven from human hair, but this time used to aid in plant growth.

The fact that there are two successful products based entirely on waste human hair might be surprising, but it just goes to show the variety of places innovation can come from.

Another option might be to offer a new service, either by combining two or more already existent services into one, a coffee shop, a bar and a beauty salon, for instance, or recognising an opportunity created by the emergence of a new hobby or invention, such as training for video games.

However, these all require you to recognise the gap in the market and hope that nobody else has beaten you to it. They are not safe businesses, nor do they give a guaranteed profit. Because of this, many people opt to buy in to a franchise. With a franchise, you’re offered support from people with experience in the trade, and can use an already established brand.

There are many more options to consider when looking to strike out alone. This post should have presented a few ideas, but independent research is an important part of any business plan.

Finding accountant jobs can be a tough task, and job seekers need all the help they can get. So in this blog post we are going to look at some ways in which to market yourself during the job hunting process.

1. Selling yourself

If you think of yourself as a product, you can choose which features and benefits you have that will make a potential employer want to hire you. It may seem a strange concept, but thinking of yourself as a gadget that you want to sell to a certain market can be a great way to think of how to sell yourself.

2. Be confident

The British people can be very bashful when it comes to promoting themselves (maybe not the big brother contestants) and this can be true with some peoples CVs. You need to really sell yourself and talk about your skills and experience and not think take it too personally.

3…… But not cocky

Our tips so far have been to sell yourself and believe in yourself, but some people can do this too much and come across as cocky. There are certain ways you can word things in regards to their tone.

4. Choosing the right audience

You can create a list of businesses and employers you think your skills will benefit and then enquire about whether they have positions open. Professional institutions can provide great information on your target employers that their HR department might not be so forth coming with.

5. Getting your foot in the door

Some people ask to meet up with employees from potential employers in the flesh and talk about things related to the company and the sector in general. If they like you they are likely to give personal recommendations if you apply for a job with the business.

6. Networking

Family and friends are a great way to start networking. Letting them know the type of work you are looking for and what you bring to a business will help them get you in touch with the right people. It is surprising how effective this technique can be in finding a potential employer.

A well-written application form can give you the boost you need to stand out from the crowd when applying to a banking job or any kind of job really. Whether you’re going for a part-time local job, or aiming at international recruitment, you may well be presented with an application form as the first hurdle.

In an application form, an employer will be looking for more specific information that may not be included in a CV. You need to make sure that you give it to them.

With that in mind, here are our tips for making sure any application form you fill in is the best you can make it:

• Make sure you understand all the instructions, and be sure to adhere to them all the way through. Dropping to lower case when you should be using block capitals will impress no one.
• If you’re given the chance to talk about yourself, take your time! Plan it out and be sure you mention what you’ll bring to the job. What makes you the best candidate?
• Emphasise any of your achievements that are going to be particularly useful in the job.

And if the application form is a paper copy, rather than an online copy:

• Make a photocopy for a practise run.
• Black ink means clearer photocopies. It also looks more professional.
• Handwriting counts! If the employer can’t read your form it’s going to ruin your chances.

And in all cases, be sure to double check! Spelling or grammar errors are not going to endear you to a potential employer. Ideally, get another person to read through your work.

Hopefully, you found the list of do’s useful; now here’s a list of don’ts:

• Don’t leave sections blank. An incomplete form is not useful. If a section does not apply to you, fill it in saying why.
• Don’t include a CV or cover letter unless specifically asked to.
• Don’t lie! The consequences of getting caught are simply not worth the risks. If you’re found to be lying you could be blacklisted from any future openings in the company, and the information may be shared among the entire group of companies, if one exists.

We hope that these points are useful to you. Remember them when filling in application forms. Good Luck!

Everyone knows that their CV is important when looking for jobs as it is your first opportunity to impress your potential employer by allowing them to see you are suitable for a role.

But not many people don’t know that employers can take only around eight seconds to scan a CV and work out whether to keep it or not. So this means you have to know how to make your CV stand out and make the cut.

1. Stick to the point

Keeping your CV concise allows recruiters who are faced with many documents at a time, a clear representation of your experience and qualifications. Your CV is your foot in the door and only the first step of the recruitment process. A good guideline for a length of a CV is around 2 sides of A4 paper, you want to keep some things to the interview.

2. Target it to the opportunity

Different job opportunities will mean recruiters will be looking for different qualities, so you should tailor your CV to each role. You can tell a lot about a business from some quick research on the internet and looking at the ad they placed. When writing about your skills and experience, you should bear the requirements of the role in mind.

3. Plug the gaps

Recruiters tend not to like seeing big gaps on CVs as they have no idea what you were up to during these periods. You might have gained some transferable skills during your time off that you can mention. The best way to do this is by updating your CV regularly, so you can keep track of skills you may gain while out of employment.

4. Make it error free

In the Finance Recruitment world and other high interest sectors, recruiters will be looking for easy ways to cut down the weaker applicants and one easy way to do that is to look for errors. Simple things like spelling and grammar, should be picked up by your computers spell checker, but getting a few people to read over it will make sure it all makes sense and is error free.

5. Be truthful

It is quite common for applicants to exaggerate or lie on applications and CVs and this maybe easy to get away with if you are applying for a fast food job. But in International recruitment situations or high responsibility roles, recruiters will be a lot more thorough when checking qualifications and claims made on your CV. The best advice is to not lie at all as it could be very embarrassing when you are caught out.

When looking for jobs like Accountant Jobs, things can be very competitive. Making the most out of the skills you already have, on your applications is a must,  this can be something that people find hard. These skills are called transferable skills and are usually generic skills, but different jobs and sectors put more emphasis on them.

Finance Jobs will be looking for numeracy skills and experience to show them.

If you are planning a career move, whether it’s a promotion or a new job, you should take a look and evaluate your skill set.

Sometimes skills you gain away from work can be just as valuable to a new job as those gained in the workplace. Things such as volunteering can show leadership and motivation skills that employers will be looking for.

Job seekers who are returning from a break in their career should construct a list of what you have been doing since you were last employment and use them to realise your achievements. There may be skills and experience you have gained during your time off that can show an employer your potential.

When it comes to entering the workplace for the first time, you can find transferable skills from a range of places. Transferable skills are even more important for people entering the workplace as they will not have previous work experience to use in their CV.

The actual skills themselves can range wildly from languages and driving to interpersonal skills.

IT Literacy skills are very useful as most jobs use computers these days in some form. One way of showing an employer what skills you have is to list all the software you are competent with.

Language skills can be useful in the modern workplace with many businesses dealing with other offices and companies abroad. Even if a job doesn’t require it, being fluent in foreign languages can make you look very employable.

Research skills are transferable skills that are often overlooked. If you have recently gathered information for any projects or any studies you should mention this on your CV and in any interviews.

Other transferable skills you may possess are things like Leadership, Presentation, Organisation and Problem Solving. These are skills that we may already possess but we need to find a way to demonstrate them to a potential employer.

Even skills like Driving maybe something that will be useful in your role, but if you don’t mention it on CV, a potential employer won’t know and may overlook you.