Blog - Carolyn Smith

Avoid these 3 major mistakes 90% of job seekers make

April 2, 2018 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

Not adjusting their resume for each and every job

With the domination of Applicant Tracking Systems (robots), you now need to adjust your resume EVERY time you are applying for a job online. Now it doesn’t need to be adjusted much (and I teach my clients how to quickly alter their profiles and skills list), but you need to be tweaking your resume to align with the job advertisement keywords. This gives you the best possible chance of your resume actually being read by a human being, rather than being discarded.

Now when optimising for key words, you don’t have to go nuts (e.g. stuffing your resume with dozens of key words). Plus, if you have a narrow job search, (that is you aren’t applying for multiple different types of jobs), the process is very easy. [Read more…]

Avoid these mistakes 95% of job seekers make with their resume

March 5, 2018 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

Throughout my 14 years in this business, I’ve seen and reviewed more resumes than I’ve had hot dinners and when I send reviews back to professionals on their resumes, I sound like a broken record. So in this short article, I thought I would share the top 3 mistakes people make, so you can avoid them.

Mistake Number One

Lousy formatting and presentation: Yes, content is king, but a visually appealing resume or CV, can make a massive amount of difference. To help fix this problem, if you apply to become a member of My Career Groove we have provided effective resume templates that you can use to accelerate your career. Find out more at My Career Groove [Read more…]

How to significantly improve the odds of being selected for a government interview

February 19, 2018 by Carolyn Smith 3 Comments

Government applications are really competitive. It is not uncommon to be competing against 60 or more job applicants and this figure can go up to 2,000 or more, when applying for the more sexy jobs – e.g. intelligence officer at the Australian Secret Intelligence Service ASIS. (Just as a side, ASIS do regularly advertise for new ‘blood’ so if you want to become a spy – keep an eye out for their regular recruitment drives).

Since these jobs are generally very competitive, I outline 3 tips, so you can significantly improve the odds of securing a job interview. [Read more…]

Why you need to change your LinkedIn privacy settings today

February 5, 2018 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

If you are not already aware, Microsoft Office owns LinkedIn. Now Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, so they could exploit your data (LinkedIn is not private and owns your data).

Now generally speaking this is not a problem, but recently, Microsoft introduced a new feature called Resume Assistant, which is embedded into Microsoft Word, ‘to help Office 365 subscribers craft compelling resumes with personalised insights powered by LinkedIn’. (In Microsoft’s own words). [Read more…]

Facts you need to know before you apply for a job

January 15, 2018 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

January going through to April is the crazy time in regards to people applying for a new job. If your New Year resolution is to get a pay rise, a better job, a promotion, or a job that you love, before you leap ahead and start applying for jobs, I would like to share some key pointers, so you are better prepared for the journey.

Not all jobs listed on job boards are genuine

It is against the law, but recruiters do advertise for jobs that don’t actually exist so they can sell you to potential employers down the line. If the job description is vague and they don’t provide specific details about the job, get sceptical and don’t waste your time applying for a potentially non-existent job. [Read more…]

Steps to Prepare for a Great Career in 2018

December 11, 2017 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

Reconnect with your network

Christmas is a great excuse to reconnect with your entire network. It can be as simple as an email thanking them for their support during the year, sending them a useful report or article, or inviting them for a quick 15 minute coffee catch up to say hello, before the Christmas break. The bulk of jobs are secured through networking, so use this as an opportunity to get reacquainted.

And remember, networking is about giving, not taking.

Don’t stop looking

With Christmas just around the corner there is a tendency for many job seekers to stop looking at job boards, on the assumption that employers don’t hire this time of year. [Read more…]

Getting the Basics Right for Job Interviews

October 16, 2017 by Carolyn Smith Leave a Comment

This is obvious stuff, but a surprising number of job candidates don’t adhere to these basics in job interviews and in order to ensure that you are not eliminated from the process, you need to get the basic things right.

Arrive on Time

It is imperative that you arrive on time – or rather never arrive late. If an emergency comes up and you cannot get there in time, call the company as soon as possible to make them aware of the situation. However don’t arrive so early, that you are sitting in the corridor/reception area more than 15 minutes. Arriving 5 minutes early is more than sufficient, besides, who wants to get more nervous sitting in unfamiliar surroundings. [Read more…]

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