In terms of my career, I've had an easy life. To start with, I have the 'right' accent. You wouldn't believe the number of times people have assumed I'm trustworthy and intelligent just because of the way I speak. One former employer actually admitted being swayed by my accent within a minute of the start of my interview. My gender (male, if you hadn't guessed) and skin colour (white) certainly helps with some employers too. Hard to believe it's the 21st century, isn't it?

So although I've done alright for myself, lots of it is down to being on the lucky side of people's prejudices. And on finding gullible editors. (3-1 to me!) Even so, I've had eight 'proper' jobs along the way, so I've learned a great deal about the career process. Here are my top tips for getting a job.

Job hunting

People make the same mistakes when searching for work as they do when looking for a partner. The more difficulty they're having, the less motivated they are to search. But it's all about numbers! If you're having trouble getting a job, you should apply for more, not less. You could:

sign up to every local recruitment consultancy and to Web-based ones too;


make sure the consultants don't forget you; contact them once a week to ask if any opportunities have come up;


look in local papers for job adverts;


send letters or emails, along with your CV, to any companies you think you might want to work for; and


walk in to companies and ask them if work is available.
Do your research

Before you apply to a company, you should do your research:

use the Web to learn everything you can about what your potential employer does and what their goals are;


if you're applying for an advertised post, make sure you understand what's required of the candidate. If you don't, call and ask; and


if you don't have some of the experience or qualifications an employer is looking for, give them a call to ask if they'll still consider your application. You might say that, although you don't have all the experience or qualifications they're looking for, you're highly motivated and very keen. You could then highlight some of the qualities that you do have that are in the job description.
The CV

The problem here is that you could be the ideal candidate for a job, yet be terrible at writing CVs. To write a decent CV you need good English skills, sales skills (as you're selling yourself) and knowledge of good CV structure and style. It doesn't matter if you're a great lawyer, a hard-working manual labourer or a knowledgeable marine biologist, you won't necessarily have all three of these CV-writing skills. Therefore there's potentially a lot to learn, but here are some tips to get you started:

if any of your friends are good at getting jobs, ask them if you can see their CVs. A search online for 'CV examples' might prove useful too;


tailor your CV to each individual company you're applying to by highlighting relevant experience only. For example, if you have a programming background, but you want to get into writing technical manuals for an IT company, don't just list the programming projects you've done. Instead, draw their attention to any guidance notes you've written along the way;


your CV doesn't have to be long. In fact, potential employers usually prefer you to get to the point. Don't take three sentences to say one thing; that's getting dangerously close to bureaucratic English;


in the employment history section, consider what's relevant to your potential employer only. Don't get bogged down in the day-to-day details unless the job you're applying for involves the same tasks. Usually one or two lines summarising the company and your role will do;


after this summary, say what you have achieved that's relevant to your future employer. This might be providing a good level of service to your customers, learning a new skill, or that you've simply gained a professional attitude;


if none of your previous roles are directly related to the post you're applying for, you could highlight your relevant knowledge and attributes in a 'core skills' box above your employment history. Only include skills that are relevant to the potential employer. This might be that you're hard working, or that you have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office;


people worry too much about the little things on their CV, like the fact they start too many sentences with 'I am, ' or 'I also am, ' It might read better if you can rewrite some of these sentences, but what matters more is that each sentence is relevant to your potential employer;


people also worry too much about hobbies. To me, hobbies are simply a talking points for the interview. One line listing three or four things you like doing in your spare time will suffice, e.g. I like reading, tennis, shopping and watching football; and


ask friends and family to read over your CV and offer suggestions.
The cover letter

When applying direct to companies, as opposed to through recruitment consultancies, you'll usually need to send a cover letter (or cover email) to go with your CV. Use the cover letter to grab their attention: you want to engage them to look at your CV and get you in for an interview. In the letter:

tell them the post you're applying for;


explain a bit about yourself and your background, making sure that every point is relevant to the post;


mention something about their company that you like which has attracted you to the role; and


don't bore them. It need only be two or three short paragraphs.
Interview

Like writing CVs, being good at interviews is usually a completely different skill to the skills required in the job. This is because most interviewers aren't properly trained to conduct interviews, so they don't know how to learn about you properly. I find that doing well in an interview generally only proves that you're good at interviews. However, that won't stop them hiring you! Here are some tips:

the quicker you and the interviewer are relaxed the better, so break the ice with a joke. It doesn't even have to be funny to relieve some tension. It could be about your journey, e.g. "It felt like the traffic was moving backwards", or about the area: e.g. if it's posh and beautiful, say: "I was expecting something a bit more upmarket", Like I said, it doesn't even have to be funny;


try to think of the interview as more like a conversation. I know it's not easy, but once you've broken the ice with your very droll joke, the interviewer will become less Jeremy Paxman and more Michael Parkinson;


think about the sorts of questions they're likely to ask about your CV and your relevant knowledge. Prepare answers that will highlight the skills they are looking for;


it's alright to be nervous; interviewers expect this; and


interviews take practice. Everyone gets turned down for roles, so don't worry about it. You will get a job! It's just a numbers game.
Negotiating your contract

People are scared to negotiate, because they don't want to offend their potential employer, but if they've made an offer then they're interested in you! The worst they can do is say: "Sorry, we can't increase the offer".

offers usually arrive by letter, or they tell you direct over the phone or in a second interview. When you get one, don't forget to add up the value of other benefits, such as the pension scheme and medical insurance; and


in three out of my last four jobs, I negotiated a higher salary simply by saying that I was expecting, say, £2,000 more, or by saying that their offer is less than my previous salary. It's perfectly OK to look and sound a little disappointed at the offer, but don't go over the top!
Stand out from the crowd
What works for me is I like to take little gambles to stand out from the rest. For example, when I applied to The Motley Fool, I thought that to stand out for a company like this, I'd write my cover email in a more conversational way than a 'normal' formal letter. I wanted to sell my technical background and give the impression of someone with a reasonable command of English, whilst also showing that I'd grasped the overall tone of the website, I don't know if it worked or not; my editor will probably now tell me I was the best of a bad bunch. He's always trying to score points! (3-2)

Happy job hunting!

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