TipTopJob Blog

Our latest survey reveals that job boards are the favoured option for jobseekers when they are first looking to find a new job. 38% choose a "job board" in the first instance to search for their next role before anything else.

"Social networks" were the second most favoured avenue for a jobseeker with 18% visiting either Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram or one of the other platforms. 

"Recruitment agencies" were not as popular as we thought with 16% choosing them first and "search engines", an even less popular source (15%).

Only 10% of jobseekers go direct to the end clients and 3% use their own friend or acquaintance network, which was another surprising result as normally, the networks are a valuable and popular source to find a new job. Maybe it is not the first place people go though!

What do you use? Share here....

Resilience in Recruitment

We all know that resilience is a life skill; we have to be able to bounce back from our setbacks, ready to face the world again. But resilience in job hunting can feel like a very different beast. So, how do you keep the faith and pick yourself up, time and time again?

Remember, it’s not personal it’s business ...

We all know what job hunting can be like – spending hours sweating over application forms or changing the focus of your CV to accommodate the requirements of an individual employer. The elation of being selected for interview, thinking you’ve aced it, only to be told that you weren’t going to be offered the job. It all feels very personal. And that’s the first rule of job hunting resilience: rejection isn’t personal. So, how do you use this to your advantage? 

• Objective reflection: Give yourself a little time to grieve (but not too long – time is money!), then spend some time reflecting on the interview process. Make some notes on the things you felt you didn’t project strongly enough and how you could improve.

• Education and Qualifications: Not just a few words rattled off in an email or tagged on to the end of the phone call where they break the news. Get some quality feedback. The best interviewers (and the more sensitive ones) will ask if you want to arrange another time to talk about the interview and the outcome: say yes! Then go away and prepare for that conversation as if it’s another interview. Take time to gather your thoughts, and cultivate a better frame of mind. Make a list of questions you want to ask, points you want to raise, and make sure you have paper and pen to make notes of what they say to refer back to later when preparing for other interviews.

• Don’t burn your bridges: Remember to stay professional; you might be feeling hard done by now, but there may be other roles with that company in the future and you want to make sure that they remember you for all the right reasons. 

Take a Reality Check ...

If you aren’t getting past the application stage you need to take some action. 

• Do you meet all of the essential requirements (and most of the desired ones too)? If you aren’t ticking those boxes, then the likelihood of you getting an interview are very slim. You need to be realistic in your job choices, spend your valuable time on those which have a good chance of being successful.

• Are you doing yourself justice in your applications? Think about how you are expressing yourself on your CV or in your applications. It’s important to not only tell employers about the skills you have, but to give them some evidence to prove you have successfully used them, detailing any results if possible. Using the CAR formula (Context, Action, Result) can help to structure what you write and keep it concise. 

• If in doubt ... if you’re unsure about how you are presenting yourself then get some advice! Ask friends to look over your applications and discuss the roles you are applying for. Using a service like CVKnowHow can give you professional, objective guidance. 

Take Back Control ...

The whole process of job hunting can feel like someone else is pulling your strings. Thinking that you’re at the mercy of their decision making can make you feel vulnerable and, well, it’s just a little bit scary. However, there are many other ways that you can take back some control: 

• You can decide where and how you look for jobs – besides job sites, you can also use your own network, asking if friends or family are aware of any opportunities, or simply identify companies you would like to work for and contact them speculatively. 

• What you apply for is your decision too – remember , your time is too precious to waste. 

• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, as the saying goes. Send off the application, or attend the interview, and then move on to the next one. Knowing we have choices is an empowering force in itself. 

• How you present yourself and obtaining help to do his effectively is completely within your control. 

Be Kind to Yourself ...

Self knowledge is a wonderful thing – knowing your strengths and skills and recognising them as valuable assets can communicate many positive vibes to prospective employers: if you feel good about yourself, it projects! When things get tough remind yourself of those skills and qualities (some people I’ve coached have kept a list to look back through – it worked for them!) – valuing yourself means employers will value you too. 

Take some time out to relax and focus on something other than job applications – even if it’s just a little time – keeping your mind healthy. 

About the Author: CV Knowhow, our CV writing company partner, have written this article. They are ready and waiting to help you put your new CV together. Check them out here and submit your CV for a FREE review today. 

Which CV layout is suitable for you?

Author: CV Knowhow, CV writing experts in CV Writing 

It’s a big enough decision to start thinking about putting together a CV. It could be the first time you’ve ever had to create such a document, or it might be years since you’ve had to apply for a job, so where do you start? A quick look online can bring up a huge variety of examples: different layouts; different sections; some with colour, and some without; and you never knew there were so many font styles to choose from! 

But which one is right for you? 

The point of a CV is to provide a prospective employer with just the right amount of information about your skills and qualities, in an easily accessible way, to make them want to find out more about you. From the first few seconds of reading your CV they will be able to either see you working with them or not. So, it is crucial to choose the right CV design which best reflects what you have to offer. 

There are 5 main styles of CV:

Resume

This is a single page CV, mostly used in the USA and Canada, and you would adopt this style if you are looking to apply for roles in either of those 2 countries. Its focus is on your skills and achievements within jobs and education, and, because of the space restrictions, being concise is absolutely the key to success here – every word counts. There is no room to include anything that is not totally relevant to the job role you are applying for, and so you must have a solid understanding of the skills and experience required to fully tailor your CV. This style of CV is also used for some jobs within the Financial sector – check with the employer if they require this style, if it’s not made explicit in the job advert or application guidelines. 

Skills Based CV

The clue is in the name! This CV prioritises your skills before listing your work experience or academic achievements. You provide a list of skills as headings, once again remembering the golden rule of targeting them to the requirements of the role you are applying for, and then give evidence, written in bullet points, of when you have used that skill, For example: 

Team Work: 
•Worked in a small team whilst employed at Fred’s Diner, supporting colleagues through flexible working and sharing best practice. 
•Achieved first place in a debating competition, working with fellow team members to develop a successful group strategy. 
•Supported fellow students whilst creating an IT presentation, sharing ideas and enabling others to express themselves coherently and concisely, resulting in achieving a group mark of 92%. 

The variety of examples here, taken from work and education, give an added depth to the CV. This style of CV is useful if you have undertaken a number of short term jobs and have generated a lot of work history within a small space of time, helping to package your information in a much clearer way. This is also the ideal CV style for career changers or those with a limited amount of work history, but other, equally valuable, experience from elsewhere, such as voluntary work – the evidence you provide to support the skill can come from anywhere! 

Chronological CV

This is a nice, ordered layout – taking an employer through your employment / academic history from the present day all the way back, reversing the chronological order. Usually, you would only provide information on the last 10 years of your work history – however, this rule isn’t set in stone, and it would depend on how much work experience you had accumulated and the value of what you have done in relation to what you now want to go on to do –remember to target the CV to the role requirements! This CV works wonderfully if you have a clear employment history within the same sector, and you are quite happy to stay in that same area, providing an obvious pattern of progression and achievement. 

Hybrid CV

This is a little more complicated, but is, actually, one of the main styles of CVs used. It has a foot in both camps, taking elements from the skills based and the chronological formats, spinning them together to create something new and very effective. This style of CV would have a Key Skills or Key Competencies section and / or a Key Achievements section, highlighting the targeted skills required by the employer or sector. Following these sections would be the chronological elements of work history and education. This is a particularly good style for highlighting, very concisely, those key targeted skills - use the job description and person specification to help you focus on the right vocabulary, reflecting the employer’s expressions within your CV. A small word of warning, though: take care not to add too many of these sections in: you don’t want it too complicated or run the risk of repeating yourself in the chronological sections. 

Academic / Medical CV

This is the only style of CV where size does not matter! There is no prescribed length for an academic CV – unlike the Skills based, Chronological and Hybrid, which usually can be no longer than3 pages. However, all the information still has to be relevant and concisely expressed – it is not a cart blanche to tell them every detail about your life! As it suggests, this style of CV is used by medics / post-doctoral students or academics looking to work within research or teaching at academic institutions. It allows you to include sections on research work; teaching experience; and publications. 

A final thought ………

So, knowing more about the different types of CV you can use should make it easier to pick the style most suited to your needs! Just remember, though, that you are not alone – help is always available at CVknowhow, where our consultants can advise on style as well as content. If you are wondering if your CV is right for you, submit for a free CV review here.

Writing a CV that will sell you to a potential employer can seem like an overwhelming task – summarising your entire life on two pages, whilst blowing your own trumpet but not sounding arrogant can be a challenge. But fear not! CV Knowhow have put together their ten top tips to bear in mind when writing a CV. You’ll soon have an enviable CV that will support your job search, give you confidence and enable you to take the next step in your career. 

1. Start with your contact details 
It’s amazing how many people omit this basic information! You could have the best CV in the world, but if a recruiter can’t get in touch to call you for an interview there was no point in writing it at all. Include your town and postcode, telephone numbers (landline and mobile) and email address. You should also consider adding a link to your LinkedIn profile, so that the recruiter can look at your online presence to find out more about you (and hopefully notice all the endorsements and recommendations you no doubt have!). 

2. Write in reverse-chronological order 
To make a great first impression, your most relevant skills, responsibilities and achievements need to be the first thing a recruiter reads. Structure your career history so that your most recent job is at the top and goes further back in time as you progress down the CV. The same rule applies to your education section. There’s no point starting your CV with qualifications you gained 20 years ago, if you can wow the recruiter with recent success in your chosen career. 

3. Target the CV to a specific role or industry 
A powerful CV is always focused on a specific job. If you try to cover all bases, you’ll end up looking like a Jack of all trades and master of none. If you’re targeting a few different roles, then unfortunately that means tailoring your CV to each one. If you have a person specification for the job, cross-reference your CV with the specification to ensure you’ve demonstrated how you meet their requirements exactly. 

4. Write in the third person 
A CV written in the first person (I, me, etc.) comes across as quite basic. It’s also quite repetitive to use “I” on every other line. To look more professional, try to write in the third person. Not only is this best practice when writing a CV, it keeps the CV impersonal and enables the recruiter to focus on what you’d bring to the business. 

To read the full article, please CLICK HERE >>>>>

Do you think it is important to know the background of your company? Do you even care? Or are you one of the 67% of people who DO know the history!

When applying for a new job and you are invited to an interview, it is hugely important to research the company, its owners, history, growth, changes, staff, its industry and anything else you can find out. An interviewer could well ask you questions surrounding the topic so it is good to have the knowledge for this reason but also because if you are applying for a new job there, you probably should have the desire to know what kind of company you could potentially be employed by.

Researching this kind of information helps to give you an insight into the culture, values, ethos, mindset, vision etc so can be useful in deciding whether it is the kind of company that would suit you!

33% of employees DO NOT KNOW their company background but what exactly does this mean? Does it mean they are bad at their job? Not necessarily. Maybe the culture, staff, values etc do not matter to them and they can perform their job without having to know anything more about the organisation itself.

Knowing the history of the company is definitely more important to certain industry sectors and employment levels, such as, Managing Directors, Project Managers, Account Directors and such like. 

We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. What job do you do and do you know your company's history? Comment below.....

If you are currently putting together your CV but struggling to know where to start, we have a great article to read over in our Career Centre, titled "How to write a good CV".

A well-presented CV is vital in your search for a new job. It will not get you the job, but a good CV makes the difference between getting an interview and your application being thrown in the bin. With your CV being one of many, recruiters will only read it for a short space of time, so it is extremely important that it is structured clearly, with your best selling points presented in a logical manner and the most relevant information readily identifiable. 

Everybody writes and presents their CV as they like, there is no right or wrong way. However, with these words of advice we will help you produce a clear and concise CV that will increase your chances of being invited for an interview. 

The first part of the article addresses the Content of the CV. To begin, prepare a list of your key competencies and skills that your employer will be looking for. Be analytical about yourself and identify your main selling points that differentiate yourself from competitors. Head over to the article here, to see the list of content areas.

Then it goes onto the Structure & Presentation of the CV.

We hope it is a useful article for you and at least helps you get started on putting it together.

Do let us know if you would like to see any specific career-related articles from us.

Latest research tells us that 30% of people are living the dream and have landed their actual "dream" job. This is such fantastic to read and highly motivating for many to know that it is obtainable if they have not managed to find it themselves.

Within the same study, another positive finding was that on top of this, 22% are about to start their dream job as well. We really believe that sometimes, that dream job, maybe does not exist until later on life when you understand yourself better, begin to know what you enjoy and what you are really good at. So, do not be heartbroken if you have not found that dream job yet because you are unsure what it even is. Be patient and it will come.

Unfortunately, there were a percentage of people who could not find it for one reason or another (33%) and 15% never get offered it. Our advice is not to become discouraged. If you know what your dream job is and you are trying to secure that, then keep trying and do not give up. You will finally find yourself in it as long as you work hard and do not lose that determination. And as we have mentioned before, be patient if you do not know what it is yet. 

Wouldn't it be great to re-do this survey in 6 months time, to find that 100% had found their dream job?

We would really love to hear what these dream jobs are, so please do share that with us below.....

One of the most daunting experiences for you right now is making the transition from military to civilian life. Not only will it seem like an uphill battle trying to fit back into this daily life but trying to find a new career can further complicate the situation. We have put together a few words of advice when faced with the task of putting together a CV.

What career?
If you know what kind of job you are going to go for, then you are half way there. Trying to decide what kind of job you want to do is difficult and it may be that you do not just decide on one job but several options. To get to this point, you need to sit down and list ALL of the skills you have developed pre-military and whilst within the military and cross-check this list with the skills required in an array of careers. This is the time to research all kinds of job opportunities, speak to your network of friends, family and acquaintances and get some first-hand feedback to work out if it is something you may be interested in doing. It is important to invest time in reading around all kinds of careers to see if something interests you! The internet is a great place to start and there are many sites out there with great explanations of what is involved in different job roles.

More than one CV?
It is highly likely that you may be interested in several kinds of jobs so it is very common to have more than one CV. We allow up to 5 CV’s to be saved into a jobseekers account on TipTopJob so that they can be used to apply to different kinds of jobs and this is the same for other job boards. Each can include different skills and experiences that relate to the role you are applying to. Each CV needs to be kept to under 2 pages.

Skills and achievements
As someone who has no direct experience in the role you are going to be applying for, it is important to pick out the “transferable” skills that you have picked up in the military and that can be used in civilian life. Some of these skills may include team work, decision making, leadership, IT and communication. You are likely to have some good quality and varied achievements that you can use to your advantage so try to pick out those most relevant to the role you are going to be applying for.

Language
Try to minimise any military jargon, acronyms, slang etc from your CV as this can be confusing for a recruiter. If you are describing specific military terms, try to explain and elaborate. You can always ask a friend to read over your CV to make sure they understand it before applying to a job.

Personal Development Record
This is something that civilians will not have so it is a good idea to use this to your advantage. You can quantify each of the areas and be specific with what you have done, who you have managed, what you achieved, what equipment you used etc For example, say that you managed over 20 soldiers, explain that you managed a budget of over £1 million and describe a situation that resulted in saving your department over £50K.

To finish
When putting your CV together, remember to keep it simple, not too wordy and relevant. There are companies that can help you to put a CV together or provide a review on what you already have. Invest some time in getting this right as it can help you to get your foot in the door. If you are rejected for a role, always ask for feedback as this can help you to tweak the content on your CV before applying for another job.

It is time to find a job, but where do you start? Today, there is a wealth of information available on the Internet and it can be mind-blowing. Job boards have become a very popular tool to finding a job but with many different types, functionalities, tools, features, specialisms and locations it can be overwhelming. Job boards seem easy to use but blindly registering on them all and madly uploading your CV across the board is not going to land your dream job! So, how do you best utilise a job board? We are here to help unravel it all!

Difference between aggregators, job boards and recruitment agencies
You will find aggregators, generic job boards, niche job boards, recruitment agencies and direct employer sites. Aggregators compile all jobs (well, almost all depending on who is paying to be listed) from across as many websites as they can. You do not register on the aggregator, you just simply find a job and click through to the site to then make your application. Job boards advertise jobs from recruitment agencies AND direct clients depending on the job board in question. You can register for free, upload CVs, upload cover letters, set up Job Alerts and search through all the jobs and apply online. With recruitment agencies, you can register but they also help you by finding and matching you to relevant jobs and the bonus is you are able to speak directly to them.

Use as a research tool
Job boards are an amazing research tool. Whether you know the direction of your next steps or not, the jobs, career advice available to you on most job boards is phenomenal. You can get a decent understanding of what kinds of jobs are out there, what skills etc are required, what companies are advertising. It is a quick and easy way to gather a lot of important information.

There is much more of this article. Please visit this page on our website to continue reading. We hope it is useful. Like always, if you have any questions please do get in touch on marketing@tiptopjob.com.

Have you tried to connect to people on Linkedin but still find they will NOT accept your request? Maybe there is a genuine reason like they did not receive the email from Linkedn to let them know about your request or the person just has not logged into Linkedin yet. Either way you cannot do anything to overcome these factors but there are OTHER things you should definitely make sure you are doing so as to make sure you are doing everything you can in your power to achieve as many connections as you possibly can. So what can you control?

Your Profile
Is it complete? You need to ensure you have a current job title and history or people will likely not want to connect. A good quality photo helps, history of employment and endorsements will give you a level of value in others eyes. Try to complete as MUCH of it as you possibly can.

Your Message
Do not send a one size fits all message to the person you want to connect to. This will just look like you are trying to build the number of connections rather than show that you want to connect to that specific person. Do not use the default Linkedin message when connecting. Make sure you enter in the person’s name and address them properly. If there is any common ground between you, explain that along with why you want to connect. Make the message meaningful and show how your connection could be mutually beneficial.

Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar
This is always a huge factor in any professional documentation.

Company Loyalty
Having friends at work can increase a person’s loyalty to the company as it is a big factor in deciding whether to leave and move onto a new job or not. People are not loyal to a company but to the people they work with.

Get The Name Correct
Some people will ignore a request if you are unfortunate enough to make the mistake of getting their name incorrect. Double check who you are connecting with before sending your message.

Do Not Sell
If your connecting message, just introduce yourself and connect. Avoid discussing any products or services that you want to sell in this first message as it could well and truly put some people off accepting. It can also be a little off-putting for people to receive a sales pitch straight after a connection so just be careful how quickly you approach them in your follow up.

It may seem like you have to invest a little time into each connection but if you want to build a genuine relationship, this is vital. Do bear in mind though that some people will never connect to others unless they work with them or have worked with them and know them properly so do not be offended if you fail to achieve some connections. Just keep building by connecting and your network will certainly grow!

You can also find this article on our website.