Deciding whether it's time to move on to a new job is a challenging decision. While change can be daunting, there are certain signs that let you know that it might be time to brush off your CV and LinkedIn profile…
 
Personal Growth
One clear indicator is a lack of growth or advancement in your current role. If you find yourself stagnant, with limited opportunities for learning and development, it may be time to seek a position that offers greater potential for professional growth. Feeling unchallenged or underutilised in your current role can lead to complacency and hinder your career progression.
 
Culture Mismatch
Dissatisfaction with your work environment or company culture can signal the need for a change. Toxic work environments characterised by poor communication, lack of support from management, or high levels of stress can significantly impact your well-being and productivity.
If efforts to address these issues prove futile, seeking a new job in a more positive and supportive environment may be necessary for your overall happiness and job satisfaction.
 
Career Values
Another factor to consider is alignment with your values and career goals. If you find that your current job does not align with your long-term aspirations or core values, it may be time to reassess your career path. Reflect on whether your current role allows you to make meaningful contributions and pursue work that aligns with your passions and interests.
 
Life Changes
Additionally, changes in personal circumstances, such as relocation or family commitments, may prompt the need for a new job that offers greater flexibility or better work-life balance. Assess whether your current job meets your evolving needs and priorities, and whether a new opportunity would better accommodate these changes.
 
Consider wisely
Ultimately, the decision to move on to a new job should not be rushed and carefully considered. While change can be challenging, it also presents opportunities for growth, fulfillment, and advancement in your career journey. Trust your instincts and take proactive steps to explore new possibilities that align with your goals and aspirations.
 

Interviewing well for a new job is more of an art than a science.  However there are a number of things you can do to improve your chance of a successful interview.  For example:
 
Fortune favours the prepared – Being properly prepared for the interview is critical for it to go well.  Create a list of questions you think might be asked = You can look at the job description and advertisement to help you with these.  Then have some mock interview practice  the week before with family and friends.  Also re-read the organisations website and job description to remind you of the key points your need to focus on.
 
Remember an interview is like any other meeting – Take supporting information into the meeting such as the job description, copy of your CV, questions you wish to ask the employer as well as a pad and pen you can take notes.  This will ensure the information you need is at your fingertips, and will hopefully take some of the nerves out of the process!

Remembering the above, will ensure you are in a good place to capitalise on your achievements, skills and experience at the interview!

It's important to remember that your CV is actually your brochure to the employing world.  However too often people pop their CV together while watching TV the night before they apply for a job they’re really excited about.
 
What many candidates forget is that your CV dictates the success of your career journey and how much you earn for the rest of your life.   Therefore in some respects, this document is more important than your passport!
 
There is a saying in recruitment that perception equals reality. The perception an employer is given via a person’s CV becomes their reality. Therefore, if this document is poorly formatted, has missing information, is full of spelling and grammatical errors and doesn't highlight you was a solution to the employer’s problem, you're letting yourself down.
 
Remember to honour your experience by developing a CV that highlights your true value to the reader.

The strengths and weaknesses questions are probably the most asked in the history of interviewing. However I am always surprised about how many people cannot answer these well, even when you can almost guarantee they will be asked at some stage of the interview process.

What are your strengths?

Pre-select three strengths before the interview, and make sure they are also in line with the type of job you are seeking! Don’t forget to be prepared to give actual examples of your strengths as well if you need to. 
Typical strengths include attributes such as
·      High attention to detail
·      Resilience
·      Enjoys working in a team environment
·      Work well under pressure
·      Able to work independently
·      Passionate about the industry

What is your main weakness?

Share a genuine weakness you have, but then talk about how you are attempting to overcome this weakness. This highlights you as self aware and mature.
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I’m Tom O’Neil – Visit www.CV.CO.NZ to find out more #job #work #career

Making sure you stand out at the interview - In most interviews you will get a range of standard questions that you can prepare well for. These include:
 
What do you know about our company?
Make sure you do your research about the organisation so you can answer these well and with authenticity. You can find great detail of course on their website, but news sources and LinkedIn can give you some great information too.
 
Why do you want to work here?  Through your research, think about what makes this company different and an employer you would like to work for. This could include company culture, industry or perks.
 
Tell me about yourself… For this example, use the PPFP model.
Past – talk about your career and qualifications to this point
Present – share what you are doing at present
Future – talk about how the position you are seeking aligned with you future career
Personal – finally if you feel comfortable, briefly share information such as your hobbies and personal background.
 
All the best with your next interview! 
 
I’m Tom O’Neil – Visit www.CV.CO.NZ to find out more #career #work #career #interview
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​Yay – Full steam ahead!
 
Congratulations!  You now have the formal letter of offer for your exciting new job, and are so excited to sign on the dotted line.
 
However ‘Warning’ dear friend!  It’s very easy to get swept away that the organisation has chosen you, against potentially hundreds of other candidates.  Be careful that you have done your due diligence on your soon to be employer and boss, prior to putting ink to paper.
 
Covid-19
 
Being in another lockdown is never fun, especially when you have just handed in your notice at your last job, and are waiting to start at your next!  Sadly for many companies the ‘last on - first off’ approach means that those who have been recently employed are some of the first to receive their redundancy letters...  Therefore some great questions to ask before saying ‘yes’ include:
 
- Was this a business that struggled, survived or thrived through the pandemic?
 
- Is this business involved in industries that have been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic?
 
- Did this company make any staff redundant due to Covid-19?
 
- If another pandemic takes place, will this company shed any new staff based on their previous history?
 
Company Values
 
Confirm that the company’s values are in line with who you are and what you believe in.  A couple of times in my life I have not followed this advice, and ended up in a great job, but having no belief in what the organisation was trying to achieve.  This disconnect can only last so long, until you either chose to leave, or sacrifice your own values for the company.
 
Family Values
 
If you are a family person, will you be frowned upon for choosing your family over work?  Don’t get me wrong, a job has to get done, and sometimes this impacts a rare Saturday, weekend conference or work night.  However if this is the rule rather than the exception, you will need to sacrifice something, and if this is your family, your heart is in the wrong place.
 
Company Services / Products
 
Does what the organisation actually sells on a day to day basis, match your long term vision for a positive community?  Think about how the company’s products and services impact their consumers as well as wider community stakeholders.  Would you be proud telling people at a dinner party who you worked for, or kind of ‘mumble’ the name of the business, hoping no one is listening?
 
Bosses Values
 
What type of person is your direct boss?  You would have picked up a general ‘vibe’ at the interview, however no manager is going to say that “my leadership style is massively passive / aggressive, micromanaging and ridded with jealousy against anyone who does well.”  Follow your gut if you are not sure, as having a terrible boss is a recipe for long term career disaster.
 
Company Culture
 
Make certain that both the company culture and people you will work alongside are ones that you feel you can engage with.  Ask for a walk round the office or work environment, and get a feel of the type of conversations that are taking place, and how friendly (or not) your potential work colleagues are.
 
Holistic Approach
 
Remember that no one said on their death bed “I wish I had spent more time at the office”.  In a very real sense, we will be spending more time with our employer between the ages of 18-65, than we will with our life partner and children.  Better to take a good hard look and say ‘no’ at this late stage, rather than join an organisation that is pointing in the wrong direction from where you want to go in your life.
 

You have had your first interview for a position you are keen to get, and thought it went well.  However the employer has not come back to you, even though its past the deadline they promised…  What do I do? 
 
Deal Breakers
 
Hopefully you haven’t presented them a ‘deal breaker’, ensuring you won’t get a job offer. A JazzHR survey found what hiring professionals say will kill any chance of progressing further.  The top two deal-breakers were even: 90% of respondents stated they wouldn’t hire someone who lied on their CV or answered their mobile phone during the interview.
 
Bad-mouthing previous employers killed 81% of the chance of a candidate getting a role, while 76% of employers wouldn’t hire someone they considered arrogant. 
 
As well as this, a CareerBuilder survey found that 57% of employers found content online that would cause them not to hire a candidate.  These examples included:

• Provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information: 40 percent
• Drinking inappropriately or using drugs: 36 percent
• Discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion, etc.: 31 percent
• Linked to criminal behaviour: 30 percent
• Lied about qualifications: 27 percent
• Poor communication skills: 27 percent

 
Still okay
 
If you haven’t committed any of the above career or social media sins, there are a number of reasons why the recruiter or employer has not come back to you yet, not just that you don’t have the job.
 
A good friend of mine was promised by a recruiter that she would receive a call to organise a second interview by the end of Wednesday.  When the recruiter hadn’t contacted them by the end of the day, my friend phoned their voicemail and left a very blunt and rude message, telling them off in no uncertain terms.  Sadly the reason the recruiter had not come back to her by the agreed time, was that she had had a car accident, and was currently in hospital.  Suffice it to say that when the recruiter returned to work early the following week, they chose not to take my friend through to the next stage.
 
Can I contact them?
 
Personally I suggest if you have not heard from an employer by the agreed time, don’t take it personally, and follow up the following day with a pleasant and professional email or phone call.  Sometimes hiring decisions are delayed for a day or two for an almost infinite amount of reasons, so showing an engaging, confident and proactive approach is usually considered a positive in the mind of the employer.
 
One major issue for many people is that they stop their job hunt, confident that they have got the job ‘in the bag’.   Unfortunately this may not be the case, so always ensure you have plenty of ‘irons in the fire’, or you could miss out on some great opportunities elsewhere.