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British Computer SocietyNORTH LONDON BRANCH

www.nlondon.bcs.org

Job Lot – or Not?Wednesday 13th October 2004

at PwC Bloomsbury Square

in association with PwC

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Dalim’s presentation

Dalim BasuChairman, BCS North London Branch

‘Just the Job’‘Treat your job hunt as a project - start date Today’

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‘Just the Job’

Distant horizons..

‘Vision & objectives’

– What’s different about me? It’s a tough world out there..

– Where do I want to be in 5 years time?

– Steps along the way Project plans & possibilities

– ‘Business plan’ & Toolkit

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‘Just the Job’

The grass is always greener..‘Overview the lie of the land’

– DIY e.g. Contracting, Working for yourself

– Market sectors e.g. Education, Public sector, Finance

– Organisation types e.g. Large, medium, small

– Job categories e.g. Testing, Development, Analysis

– Location location re-location? e.g. London, UK, Europe

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‘Just the Job’

DIY ‘Be your own boss’ • Freelance/Contract/Interim? Entrepreneur? How about a Business plan?• Are you limited? - employee & MD? Sole trader? Partnership? Franchise?• Buy ‘off the shelf’ - or via accountant? Tax? VAT? IR35? Other liabilities?• Where to start?

Try www.businesslink.org 0845 600 9006 (DTI), www.startups.co.uk‘Self Employment’ LawPack Self-Help Kit + CD (e.g from WHSmith)

• Think it through - Start-up, Finance/grants, Tax, Products/services, Sales & marketing, Employees, Contracts, Trading, Business sale or closure..

• Ups - potential for high earnings, new challenges, work variety, avoid office politics, no fighting for promotion, flexibility - and Independence!

• Downs - administration, possible periods without work, frequent moves between employers/contracts, low job security, may need to work far from home, family life impacted, holidays may be hard to arrange, few chances to upgrade skills, constant need to look/plan ahead..

• Can you manage stress, finance, time, home life, as well as the business?

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‘Just the Job’

Toolkit ‘Be prepared’

– Routine ‘Work hours’, A quiet place, PC, filing system

– Plans Project plans, flowcharts, notes, lists

– CV**

– Cover note**

– Certificates

– Work/university references [ever seen a bad one?]

– Work/project examples

– Job Tracker** & Overview**

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‘Just the Job’

CV tips– Key sales tool - selling You

– Door opener - to interviews at agency & target organisation

– Be bold - within reason - “how I made a difference”

– Be general + specific highlights - quantify if possible

– Bullet points & Active achievements - ‘doing verbs’

– Mind the gaps

– Accuracy & consistency count - so do lies..

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‘Just the Job’

** CV sample format **‘Dare to be different?’

– 2 pages? Rule of thumb?

– Who is Curriculum Vitae? Your name at top - not ‘CV’.

– Photo - not in UK?

– Email, mobile, phone, address

– ‘Flash Banner’ “You need me because..” ?

– Key skills

– Career first? Or Education & Qualifications?

– Other details

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‘Just the Job’

** Cover note **‘We can cover this in any of many ways..’

–Which role I’m interested in, & where I learnt about it

–What I’ve got to offer “I’m ideal because..”

–Why & when I’m available

–What I’m sending now

–How I’d like to proceed

Options: [1] No note? [2] Standard CV+note for all jobs? [3] Std CV + individual note per job? [4] Indiv CV+note per job? [5] CV+note together in 1 document? Your choice?

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‘Just the Job’

Tracking - or cracking?..‘Who am I speaking to?’

**Job Tracker sample format ** e.g. vertical form– Organisation, contact, phone no. / same for Agency/other– Job title, key info– 1st contact date, Rejection date / same for interviews 1 & 2– Job offer date & notes

** Tracker Overview sample format ** e.g. horizontal spreadsheet

– Status (e.g. ?, x) / Last contact date– Organisation, contact, phone / same for Agency/other– Job title– Via (e.g. networking, newspaper, Internet..)

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‘Just the Job’

• Newspapers

• IT magazines

• Libraries

• Internet job sites

• Target organisations

• Recruitment agencies

• Your Careers people

• Other job hunters

• Job Centre

• Professional bodies e.g. BCS

• Conferences & events eg BCS

• Contacts - ‘Networking’ eg BCS

Desperately seeking..

‘Like looking for a needle in a haystack’

‘Chase/follow up with care - don’t overdo/annoy..’

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‘Just the Job’

Agency interview - Let’s meet..

‘Practice makes perfect’– “Tell me about yourself”

“What is your greatest achievement? And failure?”“What is your greatest strength? And weakness?”

– Learn ‘learnings’ - take notes, use Job Tracker & Overview

– One step Forward - or 2 steps back? How did you do?

– Rejected? - don’t get too dejected - try and try again..

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‘Just the Job’

The Big One (part one at least)“You’ve been short-listed for interview by the company”

– Read all about it - research the organisation

– List questions to ask - it’s a 2-way process

– Interview questions/tests - what benefits can you bring?

– “What’s different about you?”..

– Try to relax, stay calm

– “Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time?”..

– Forward or Back? - how did you do?

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‘Just the Job’

And then - SUCCESS..

“Please be here at 9 a.m. on Monday morning.”

For this organisation - You are Just the Job!