Know-how
Our recruitment company in Warsaw specializes in conducting effective employment processes for clients from various industries. We have an excellent knowledge of the job market, we follow the emerging offers, and search for candidates – specialists ideal for positions in many fields. We also have extensive experience in personnel consulting for companies.
Tips for Candidates
How to write a good resume?
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Each of you has asked yourself at least once in your life: how to write a good CV to get your dream job? We will try to answer this question in a simple way.
It is not true that the shorter the CV the better. Each of you has different work experiences. It is not true that the shorter the CV the better. The „three page” theory was created by recruiters who simply don’t want to read any more. So throw it in the trash and write as much as you need. Of course a person with one or two years of experience should try to fit on one page, but someone who has worked for 20 years in several companies in managerial positions can afford to write much more.
Your CV is a reflection of your personality. An orderly CV will inspire confidence, whereas a chaotic one will put people off. Personal details should include your name and surname as well as your direct telephone and e-mail contact. Age is not necessary and a photo is not obligatory – it’s a matter of taste. If you do decide to upload a photo, the most important thing is that it is in focus and matches the position you are applying for.
Many of you want to boast of having completed all possible schools, which unfortunately often makes recruiters laugh. Executive MBA, post-graduate and master’s degrees, and at the bottom… high school. Remember that the higher level of education automatically overwrites the lower one. Other studies such as post-graduate or MBA are in addition to education and should definitely be listed.
Every candidate is de facto a product for sale and like every product must stand out from others. That is why it is so important to summarize your competencies before you describe your career in detail. This is a kind of an advertising slogan which is to encourage the recruiter to read further. It should be short and specific. It can be written in points or in a few sentences.
The element that discourages the recruiter from reading is to start the career description from the past. Your most recent work experience is the most important and is where you should start. When listing the dates next to each position, be sure to include the months as well (you can skip the days). Firstly, this is just an honest approach, and secondly it will avoid any misunderstandings during the interview. After a few years it is difficult to remember all the details of your employment, and this way, you will have a record.
For the sake of clarity, do not include your employer’s logos on your CV. This is just unnecessarily distracting. Bold or possibly enlarged font will suffice. If the company is not very well known, you can supplement the information about it with a few short facts (e.g. „manufacturer of equipment for…” or „company in the… industry”). or „a company in the… providing services in…”). Giving a website address instead of a short description is, on the one hand, a sign of laziness, and on the other hand, it suggests to the reader that he or she is incompetent and will not be able to search with the help of „uncle Google”.
Many of you, in order to show how many responsibilities you have, try to write out a whole list of them. What is missing are the specifics that we are waiting for.
In the case of managers who manage teams and budgets, you should first describe these two facts: how many people you report to and how much money you are responsible for. A sales manager, for example, does not have to write out his or her detailed responsibilities. It is obvious that such a person manages sales, conducts negotiations, etc. A much better solution is to describe in points the projects carried out and to boast about successes with concrete numbers, e.g. an increase in sales in the „from – to” period of several percent, or exceeding the assumed sales plan by several percent. For example, the Financial Manager can boast about cost reductions or process optimizations that have resulted in concrete savings. Facts, data and specifics – this is what recruiters expect from people in managerial positions.
It is also crucial to remember about one very important issue. CVs of such candidates often end up on the desks of people at the highest levels in companies, and they simply do not have time for a detailed analysis of each document that comes across their desk. They focus on the general outline and if they like certain facts, they engage in a conversation with the candidate.
Therefore, it is worth highlighting important facts and data so that they are the first to catch the eye and encourage further analysis of the document. Underline and bold fonts are sufficient. You can also include links to websites that demonstrate your achievements.
The key to a CV is to keep the document in perfect typographical order and to standardise the fonts used so as not to create too much chaos. A CV is a reflection of your personality, so a cluttered CV is the first clue to a recruiter as to who you are. And no one likes a messy person.
Even 10 years ago, using coloured backgrounds or paper other than white was perfectly justified, as it allowed your CV to stand out from the pile of printouts on recruiters’ desks. Today, no one asks for a hard copy anymore, so this type of action is completely unnecessary. If you want to show your creativity, do it efficiently by using your writing skills to be specific and to the point about who you really are!
It is very important to state your language skills in a way that everyone can understand. A universal method is the European grading system from A1 to C2, where A1 means basic knowledge and C2 means proficient. Do not base it on grades from a few years ago if you do not use the language regularly. In such situation it is better to lower your grade by at least one point to avoid appearing bad during the interview. Nothing is more damaging to a candidate’s image than a lie on a CV.
Training is a very important part of your resume, and very often it is taken „off the table”. Every employer wants to have an employee for whom they will not have to spend extra money to prepare them for work. This is especially important when your job has nothing to do with the education you received. Therefore, it is a good idea to list chronologically (just the year and duration) from the most recent to the oldest, all courses and trainings you have taken, stating the subject and the company that conducted them. If you have a certificate of completion of a training or course you should indicate this and have it with you at the interview, so that you can show it if necessary.
Many people ask why they should write about their interests in the CV because nobody reads it anyway. A CV is a reflection of your personality, so presenting your interests or passions will show the recruiter what is hidden in you. Just remember to include your real interests and not those that seem relevant to the position you are applying for.
It is wrong to list interests that you don’t have much to say about. Remember that recruiters have time to read your CV, are able to prepare for an interview on this particular topic and will quickly spot a lie. On the other hand, candidates who are passionate about something are extremely valuable employees, because this way they prove that they strive for something in life. And this is an extremely valuable trait that sometimes cannot be discovered by a recruiter when discussing a candidate’s work experience. Passion can be your important asset when choosing between several candidates with very similar evaluation parameters.
Interview
The main telephone conversation with the recruiter is de facto a preliminary recruitment interview. This is how the parties can determine if the position and you are made for each other. That’s why it’s so important to choose both a convenient time and a place where you can talk freely – so both parties can potentially avoid wasting more time on the meeting.
This interview often takes place before the recruiter receives your resume, but that doesn’t mean you should speak untruths during the interview. Remember that thanks to various social networking sites, information about you is widely available. During such an interview, the recruiter usually has your GoldenLine or LinkedIn profile on the computer screen. When the recruiter concludes that the information obtained is sufficient for them to continue the interview, they will ask for your CV. If they fails to do so, it means that your candidacy for this project will be rejected.
Every company is deep down convinced that it is great and its products or services are the best in the world. On top of that, they offer you a job, so they deal the cards and deserve a lot of respect. This is how each of you should think about the company you are going to interview. This requires very good preparation for the interview.
In most cases the invitation to a meeting is quite precise, i.e. you know exactly the date, name of the company, address, and details of the person you will meet. First of all, you should analyze the job description very carefully in terms of your experience and take notes. This is especially important if you will be looking back to events from 5 years ago or more. Memory is fleeting and can play tricks. Remember that there may always be someone sitting on the other side of the table who, for example, was involved in the events of your professional life that you may not even know about – the world is very small.
Once you’re sure you’ve covered all the important parts of your career, focus on getting to know the company. It will be easier to find information when it comes to public companies or large companies that are active in the media. Any financial, market, or personnel strategy data is readily available. It is worse when you apply to, for example, production plants that are only branches of foreign concerns (no local website or press releases). In this situation, look for information on the website of the parent company and various forums, where current and former employees often describe the situation in the company. It is also worth looking at the websites of local commune offices, which like to boast about investors from their area. Do not forget about the so-called „goodies”, such as CSR actions or patronages, in which the companies are involved. Thanks to this information, you will be able to get to know their character better, and most of all, you will shine during the interview with the non-obvious knowledge.
The key to victory is information about the enemy. With it, even a small army can defeat a much more numerous enemy. A job interview is a kind of battle in which you „fight” on a field very well known to your „opponent”. This is the purpose of getting to know the company thoroughly, which we wrote about above. But even knowing the strength of the army very well but not knowing its commander, you cannot be sure of victory (like most enemy armies facing the troops commanded by Hetman Żółkiewski).
This is what a detailed check about your interviewer is meant to do. Start with LinkedIn and GoldenLine. The information contained therein will allow you to learn about the professional career of your interviewer. Thanks to this it will be easier for you, firstly, to avoid mistakes in case of, for example, common professional threads. Secondly, you will always be able to refer to certain facts from your interviewer’s professional life, which will allow you to make an impression on them. Remember that an interview with any manager is an ego battle. If you manage to boost it in your interviewer, you can be sure of winning. Even your possible minor slip-ups during the interview will not be so important anymore.
In addition to the above-mentioned portals, you should definitely browse the web for e.g. press releases or interviews that your interviewer may have given in the past. Perhaps they are active marathon runner or amateur actor? These are all „jokers” in your hands, which will allow you to at least partially play this „game” according to your rules. It may turn out, for example, that you have common interests or passions (we do not recommend matching your interests to those of your interviewer – remember that all passions or hobbies come from the heart and it is very easy to detect artificiality in talking about them).
Interview with a head hunter
Preparation, not disregard
More and more often you will find candidates who are not specialists in a given field and they are only supposed to cast candidates. Substantive assessment will be done by the company commissioning the search. This is a huge mistake. It is worth preparing for the meeting and presenting yourself as if it was a final meeting before signing the contract. Head hunter usually follows the invitation by phone to the meeting by sending a job description to the candidate via e-mail.
The next step is a deep analysis of the company for which this recruitment is conducted. The website itself is an essential minimum. You should also look for its activity on internet forums, social portals, etc. Look for information about the company’s managers to know whom you will potentially work with.
Interview with a head hunter can take place either in person or via video conference. Nowadays, this second form is becoming more and more common. We will start with it because Skype calls can cause many problems.
Tips for Recruiters
Interviewing the Candidate
Preparation for the candidate interview is the key to a successful team. Every manager needs to be aware of the responsibility they have in the process of selecting a new team member. This is because not only will it affect their performance or the work of the team, but it can also negatively change the candidate’s life if they have to be fired after a short trial. This is why it is so important to get to know the candidate in-depth as early as the interview stage.
A good manager should develop an interview outline that also includes a list of questions for the candidate. This, of course, requires preparation for the interview. In addition to the analysis of basic documents, we suggest searching a few social networking sites in order to confront your documents. After all, the Internet is a real treasure trove of interesting facts! You can then add some questions that will be addressed only to a specific person.
At the beginning of the interview with the candidate, you should introduce yourself and briefly the company you represent. It is important not to overwhelm the candidate with too long an introduction and give them the opportunity to speak freely. We always advise clients to tell the candidate at the very beginning the scope of the interview and the order in which it should proceed. There should be only one interviewer from the beginning.
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