All About Jobs

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Surprising as it might seem, a teacher purporting to be the holder of a Master’s degree was dismissed by my last employer (Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates) because his educational qualifications were bogus.

Fellow recruitment specialists tell me that there is an increasing number of people claiming to hold qualifications that they do not.

Accepting bogus certifications of any type puts you on a slippery slope. Eventually you will be discovered and lose your job, your credibility and you could face imprisonment for fraud.

When you receive those emails telling you you can obtain a degree in two weeks from some university overseas, do what I do … delete it. There are no short cuts to an education. When you qualify legitimately, you can be proud of your achievements and hold your head high.

Much better to do it the right way.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

PS: If you want to learn about being an affiliate, selling other people’s products for commission, the best title that covers it all is Rosalind Gardiner’s Super Affiliate Handbook.

Seek is conducting a salary survey to find out what people are earning.

If you are in the Australian workforce and would like to participate, enter here and stand the chance of winning the Australian Average Salary amount.

For thos of you who aren’t Australian employees, why not go to Seek anyway and check out some of the excellent free resources?

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

When you submit a job application these days, it’s common for employers/recruiters not to acknowledge receipt of your application. It’s a mistake not to follow up.

Job applications take time and effort … your time and effort. They have a cost. When you submit them, you really need to follow up that they have been received by the right person because they do occasionally get misplaced, misdirected or plain lost.

I recall a job candidate telephoning me to ask if his application had arrived. It was three or four days after the deadline. Unfortunately, the guy had emailed it to me, but got my address wrong and no, I hadn’t received it. Although policy dictated that late applications were not to be received, processing of the applications hadn’t yet begun, so I told him to send it in and I’d include it in the applications to be assessed for shortlisting. I had it stamped as having arrived by the deadline (sometimes common sense has to prevail, even in government jobs!).

The moral to the story is: if you go to the trouble of submitting an application and it’s receipt isn’t acknowledged, spend a few minutes making a phone call (preferably before the closing date) to check that it has arrived.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

PS: Efficient organisations should administer their email using a program like Group Mail Pro that will send an autoresponse advising receipt of applications.

It’s always smart work to carry out at least some level of research about your prospective employer. There are numbers of ways you can do that and some are mentioned here.

Keep your eyes on the media if your prospective employer (PE) is a big name firm like Coles, KMart, or it’s a public organisation like a council or government department. News items about staffing problems, industrial strikes and other PR can provide excellent insights into an organisation.

If that type of public information is not available, start looking for such things as Annual Reports. Annual Reports are a great source of information about expenditure on training, staff turnover and other stats that can provide excellent intelligence. Some will also include details of their future plans, eg, to increase or reduce staff.

An organisation’s Internet site will usually have some useful information and might also include downloads such as copies of Corporate Plans, Capability Statements, staffing documents and so on.

There are literally dozens of ways you can check out a prospective employer … you can even ask existing staff what the firm is like to work for.

Make sure you do your homework both before you apply for a job and after you have been offered a job. Do it before you accept the offer.

Robin
“Think Success - Achieve Success”

When you are job seeking it’s natural to consider the salary first next to all the other general things like,

1. Will I like the job and the company it’s with?
2. Is it close enough to where I live or am I willing to relocate?
3. Does it have career opportunities?
4. Is it secure, etc

While some firms provide brief details of their conditions of service in their job adverts, most don’t provide full details. Many have details of their complete conditions of service on their Internet sites.

It’s good business to do some research regarding conditions of service, especially when you think the salary may be in the lower range for which you would apply. Let’s face it, sometimes firms will spend large amounts of money getting you trained and often qualified in areas of interest to you that will help you in your future career. Some firms are “family friendly”. If you are a supporting parent and get a call from school to ask you to collect your kid because it has nits, you can go without losing a day’s pay.

There are other things like free work clothing, assistance with self-education, and the ability to salary sacrifice into your mortgage, leased vehicle etc that are very valuable options. What you might lose in immediate salary benefits might be replaced elsewhere.

So, before you apply for a job, get a got run down on all of their conditions of service including salary, salary increment, salary sacrifice schemes and anything else that might be available. If you don’t do it before you apply, you certainly need to do it before you sign up.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

Here you go. Jobs in oil is a topic of great interest.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

Questions I receive and read on blogs suggest that job seekers often simply place a resume on line and then leave it sit there waiting and hoping that someone will contact them and give them a job. While that happens, it doesn’t happen to anywhere near the number of people who have resumes sitting on employment agency databases.

Job-seeking needs to be a proactive, multi-pronged activity with a definite plan.

I’m going to write a short ebook advising people how to use a range of strategies to plan, execute and win a job. I’ll endeavour to have it ready by the end of this month.

To make sure you are advised when it’s ready, please download the free “Job Search Handbook” which will ensure your name is on my list.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”

PS: I will most likely provide this ebook free and include some advertising links.