Are you in the situation where you need to get your CV together and start applying for jobs, but you don’t know where to start and are procrastinating and doing everything else? Are you worried that the people in your life think that you are lazy, but in reality, you are just overwhelmed?  Where do you even begin to put together a CV, and tackle such an important task as finding a job?

Easy- one day at a time!

We have broken down this overwhelming task, into seven easy, manageable steps.  Don’t overthink it, just start putting your CV together today!

Day One: Get a template

Start with a fresh new template.  Keep it simple and professional.  It does not have to be 2 pages, a 4-5-page CV is quite acceptable.  It’s important that your template has enough space to include all your duties and experience, rather than just look pretty.  Visit our website to download our free CV template, or have a look at the templates in MS Word and CANVA

Day Two: Data Capture the Easy Stuff

It’s a big scary blank document, so start by just data capturing the easy stuff such as your personal details, computer systems worked on, educational details and an overview of the companies you have worked for, with the most recent first.  By the time you are finished with the easy stuff, it won’t seem so overwhelming to fill in the blanks!

Day Three: Check the dates

You are going to be asked what dates you worked for at your different companies and these dates will need to correspond with your reference, LinkedIn profiles and your reasons for leaving. So, you might as well take a few minutes now to make sure they are in your CV and that they are all correct.

Day Four: Brainstorm all the duties

In the olden days, you had a two-page CV because job applications were faxed.  Today you upload them onto job portals and these CV’s are shortlisted by being “searched” for with keywords. To ensure that your CV appears in these searches you have to make sure that you list all your relevant duties. If it’s not on your CV- you never did it, and you won’t be shortlisted for the job.  If you don’t have a job description or a list of duties, start by brainstorming what a typical day was like.  Jot down the information in point form and put as much information down as you can.  You can always go back and group and edit duties.  Don’t assume that everyone knows what you do and where possible avoid using abbreviations.

Day Five: References & Background checks

Once you send your CV off a lot of companies will proceed with reference checks and background checks.  Put the managers that you would like contacted with the company details as well as their contact numbers on your CV.  It is also a good idea to let them know that you are putting them down as a reference.  At this point, you will also want to check your privacy settings on your social media accounts and make sure that your LinkedIn profile, mirrors your CV.

Day Six: Proofread

You should be trying to impress with your CV, so it should be an example of the best work that you can produce.  If it is littered with spelling and grammar errors, it won’t make a good impression.  Ask someone to read it over and check for mistakes. However, be careful of giving it to someone who wants to appear as professional and give unwanted advice.

Day Seven: Checklist

Make sure that your CV has the following: Your contact telephone number; Email address; The area and region that you live and can work; If you have your drivers licence and own car; How soon you can start a new position; Your ID number; And what computer packages you have worked on.

Your CV is a constantly developing portfolio of your experience, and as such, should never be a final copy.  Once you have a CV, start sending it out and applying for jobs.  As you get feedback from recruiters or realize that something is missing, alter and update it.

It’s a stressful time for everyone.  This situation that we find ourselves in is completely unprecedented, and the unknown the future holds just amplified that stress.  It is so hard to not completely panic and be crippled by anxiety, but you have to stay mindful and keep focused. 

If you are a job seeker, it is especially important that you stay mindful and focus on your goals.  Often job seekers appear to be procrastinating about getting their CV together, applying for jobs,  and the process in general, when in reality, they are just overwhelmed by the process.  It’s scary, and if you lose perspective, it can be hard to know where to even start!

Here are a few things that may help you gain some control over the situation:

Mourn the loss

People resist change because they are mourning the loss of what was.  It’s okay to mourn.  It’s okay to look back on a job you loved, or a dream you have let go of.  The second you acknowledge that you are mourning the loss of what could have been, or was, you are able to start moving forward and embrace the opportunity that today holds. 

Start looking for joy

I am a big fan of gratitude journals.  But these can get boring and a little stale if you are not feeling very grateful at the moment.  Try looking at things differently and look for joy.  The joy you feel waking up to the sound of rain or the birds chirping.  The joy you feel having the time to watch TV or read a book.  The joy of a hug from a loved one.  And if it does not bring you joy- like scrolling through social media feeds about the state of the world- stop!  Focusing on joy or gratitude slowly makes you more positive, and positivity attracts more positivity.

Set yourself goals and hold yourself accountable

The job-seeking process can be broken down into a number of little steps, which approached systematically, makes the whole process a lot more manageable.  Furthermore, it’s a constantly evolving process- so don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get it right the first time.    You will do a CV, and then get feedback on it and need to add information.  You will not be shortlisted for a job, and then know the way you apply needs to change.  You will mess up answering an interview question, and then know how better to approach it the next time. 

Focusing on “getting the job” is getting ahead of yourself.  Focus rather on what kind of job you want, and then putting a cv together, then loading your details onto job portals, and then searching and applying for jobs, and then….

Make a list (write it down!) of what you need to do, then set yourself a goal for today, this week, this month.  Maybe today you are going to call someone and bounce ideas off them as to what job you should apply for (you don’t need to know the exact job title).  Then tomorrow draw up a CV- it’s as simple as data capturing your details info a template, and then reviewing it.  Maybe set yourself the goal of loading your CV onto a job portal every day.  Break the process down into bite-size pieces, and just look at the next piece, not the end goal. 

Activity attracts activity, and you will find that as soon as you start moving the process forward, things will start to fall into place.

Manage your time and skills

There are things that we cannot control, but there are plenty of more things that we can control.  You can control your time, and schedule time into your day to be still: exercise, look for a job, and improve your skills.  There are so many free resources out there at the moment, that you get to chose if you leave this time of being at home with new skills… or waste your days away.  When you are asked at your next interview, “What did you take away from the COVID19 shutdown?” or “How did you manage your time during the shutdown?” – how will you answer?

Here are just a few of the many resources available to you:

www.udemy.com  
www.coursera.org  
www.getsmarter.com  
www.udacity.com  
www.skillshare.com

https://thehollisco.com/pages/next90

There are also some great YouTube channels, podcasts and books to read or listen to.  If you have stumbled across a great site- set us know, so we can share it with other job seekers. 

Keep perspective

This will pass- it always does.  Times are tough, and they may get tougher… or they may not. And next year will most definitely bring a new set of achievements and problems; as will the following- that’s life.  Worrying about what will happen at the end of the month, or next month, does nothing to help you, it just makes you anxious and overwhelmed.  There may be retrenchments and jobs lost, but that does not mean that you will be unemployed or lose your job.  As long as there is a country and people living in it, there will be jobs.  If you want one of those jobs, you need to be present in this moment, and embrace this exciting new time as an opportunity.

Keep an eye out on our social media accounts (@resource_recruitment) and our website (www.2r.co.za) for more newsletters that will be coming out, on how to figure out what jobs you should apply for; how to draw up a CV; tips on getting the most out of job portals; your LinkedIn Profile; and so much more! 

It was recently brought to our attention that one of our candidates had been victim to one of the latest recruitment scams. In light of this we wanted to inform you of the ways to recognise these scams and how to prevent it from happening to you.

1. You are offered the position outright without ever having gone for an interview or having spoken to a person on the phone. If you receive an email that says you have been offered the job with a start date- but no company name or profile, this is a red flag. No company will realistically employ you off your CV alone, never having met you.

2. There is a monetary transfer involved. In South Africa it is prohibited by law to charge someone to find them a job. The second that someone asks you for money, without ever having met you, we would advise you to think twice!  This includes payment of registration fees or background checks.  

3. Look at the email address and website – are they legitimate? The one way of telling if it is a fake site or address, is to look critically at the email or website address- not just the display name that they are using. If they have used a made-up company name or number, Google them and do some research. Does the website look roughly put together and not professional? When you search their details do multiple sites come up referring to them or is it just the one site that they have created? If it is genuine company they will have a footprint and presence on the web.

4. What do the documents they send you look like? Are they professional with a letterhead and logo? If not, I would start to question it. If they have provided you with contact details try and get hold of them and ask to speak to their HR department. If there are only cell phone numbers provided, see if you can get a landline number.

5. They refer you to a second party that will do the background checks. There is a new scam were they refer you to a second party for background checks, but the second party is part of the scam, and once you pay your money, the job and company cease to exist. 

6. Lastly, if you have fallen victim to one of these scams – don’t beat yourself up or feel ashamed, they are designed in such a way that they know how to get money out of you. By targeting job seekers, they know that their target market is one that is desperate and it is in this desperation that we sometimes don’t always make the most rational decisions – it’s part of being human. The best thing you can do going forward is to speak up and to make people around you aware of how you were scammed. Alert people to the names of the companies who scammed you so you can bring more awareness to how these scammers are operating.

If you have ever been scammed by a fake recruitment agency, get in touch- we want to hear your story: chrissi@2r.co.za . Also, feel free to let us know if you have any other hints and tips you can pass on – the more light we shed on this subject the better. 

Article by Chrissi Preuss, Psychology (Hons.) – February 2020