Recruiters point of view

I know this is a bit out of recruiting topic of this blog, but I believe still relevant for every single one of us in this Christmas period, which is also known as a "new year's resolution" one. 

Instead of just repeating the big promises I prefer to plan carefully what do I want to focus on next year. 

1. I always start with the beautiful picture collage of how my year was like my 2013 here.

2. Then I use these 8 powerful questions to build the retrospect of the passing year first. 

3. And then I put my goals on a timeline+tracking tool like this.

A lot of the CVs I'm receiving are particularly useless. Observing how the hiring managers or colleagues are reviewing the mass stream of them makes me say: "Sell it or loose it" - should be your motto when creating one. 

The CV you send is not a copy of your LI profile or About.me page, its your Sales proposal. 

And unless its bright, persuasive and covers customer's (the employer's) needs - its not gonna work!

Open your CV, put the Recruiter hat on and Screen:

A - is it outlining what you want to become with the employer and why you need it?

B - is A customized to what your potential employer wants?

C - are there any buzzwords? "ambitious, highly motivated, hard working" - unfortunately don't differ you from the others. 

D - is it well formatted? saved in .pdf? no grammar mistakes, jargon?

E - are there key words from job description and companies' presentation?

F - when outlining your professional experience, explained the gaps, if any?

G - keep it short - no secondary schools, please;)

Here are some ideas for inspiration: http://www.businessinsider.com/insanely-creative-resumes-2011-6#or-require-your-potential-employer-to-scan-a-qr-code-in-order-to-read-your-resume-8  And here is an interesting tool for a more general, but also visual template of your CV: http://resumup.com/

Its so often I hear from the candidates after the interview: "I think it went really well". And then I get the feedback from the hiring manager: "He is not a good culture fit". 

This week I've been to a couple of start up scene events in Prague such as #appparade and #startuprally and this led me to an insight about the engineering market. How are the developers prepared for the professional career except for the IT skills?

Ask yourself and your friends, how do they imagine a typical developer? Most of mine will tell: "a nice shy dude, a bit socially awkward, prefers computer to a party and wears glasses"

I say: stereotypes!

Market has changed since the time it was truth. Now developers need to work on themselves. And here are the top 5 soft skills my clients are looking to find in the candidates I recommend:

#1 Opinion Makers - they want you not to just have one but to be able to speak about it. And strongly express. 

#2 Curious - they want you to be in trend, to play with new technologies, to know the best case practices on the market, to participate on events, to starr

#3 Flexibility - they want to be as dynamic as the market, adjust

#4 Big picture - they want you to see the project and help to move it forward. You need to combine a role of a CTO and an architect everyday for at least 30 minutes;)

#5 Proactive learner - they want you to pick up things quick, to learn new languages, read, listen, train.

Today I have started preparing for my training on how to manage a phone interview for the #CareerDays conference organized by #AIESEC. Counting my work is to handle at least a couple of them every day, I have decided that I should start with asking my colleagues and myself: "What do we look for on a #phoneinterview to let the candidate pass?"

Let me share some thoughts with you here ;)

First of all, a phone interview was originally created to make the selection process cheaper and faster. So, #1rule keep it short and to the point, cause nobody really wants to talk to you for an hour on a mobile/skype.

Therefore I recommend you a #1 warming exercise - an elevator pitch.

Second of all, the difference between phone and face to face interview is that you can't see each other. This means that all the attention instead is on your voice, intonation, pauses. So, #2rule is to show your passion, your intentions, your spirit.

Therefore there is a #2 exercise to practice your voice

Third of all, of course go your skills. The trick here is that phone interview is a screening and most likely you are not talking to a final decision making person. More likely he is looking for the buzz skills needed for the role. So #3rule is focus on the key skills and tell specific examples on where you've used them. 

Therefore the #3 exercise is to prepare your "cheat sheet". For this open a job description of the role you are running for and compare to your CV. Find the matches and focus on them when speaking.

Fourth factor is your personality and the team fit. Questions like: "What are your strongest characteristics?" or "Why did you decide to apply for this position" are all same at the roots. So #4rule is make the interviewer feel you are a good personality fit. 

Therefore to prepare I recommend #4 step - to research on the companies' culture, corporate values, mission. Maybe you can look on glass door or check some future colleagues on linkedin. Add your personal matches to the "cheat sheet".

Good like with your interviews! 

Hey there, 

my name is Helen (or originally "Elena", currently "Helenka") and I hope to write some useful ideas for both recruiters and candidates in this blog from the "inside" perspective.

Whether you want to know more about me:

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