The Undercover Recruiter

How To Get a Job When You’re a Royal Princess

In March, The Telegraph featured a story on the troubles of some of the ‘minor royalty.’ The Queen has been charged with reforming and reorganizing the Civil List and to find places in overall spending by the British royal family to trim off some £6 million from the budget by 2013. Prince Charles announced that when he becomes king, he intends to severely cut the number of royals benefitting from the Civil List down to 8 or 9. Where does this leave the ‘minor’ royalty, such as the young lady who is fifth in the line of succession, Princess Beatrice?

A courtier at Buckingham Palace claimed the Princesses will seek employment while still carrying out their royal duties. However, the Telegraph reports, “…despite her Royal title (or perhaps because of it), Beatrice has failed to find a suitable job since she graduated from university with a 2:1 in history last year.” The Princess also draws much criticism from the public for her “royalty protection officers.” So what’s a Princess to do?

Burly protection officers aside, Princess Beatrice, like all job seekers, is going to have to take stock of her assets and use what she has on hand to find a “suitable job.” Her 2:1 degree in history could get her into postgraduate studies if she chooses, or possibly open a door to her in the fine arts or fashion industries. Fortunately, the Princess is already pursuing work in those two fields.

Other questions the Princess, as well as all other job seekers, may have to consider include the following:

What generally transferable skills have been gained through my course of studies?

The wise student will take advantage of his or her university education in order to sharpen the skills desired by employers who recruit graduates in any discipline. This will allow the student to clearly communicate both orally and in writing, put forward ideas and arguments in a concise, clear manner, gather, organize and analyze data, and base conclusions on research. In fact, these skills will likely be more important than the subject of the conferred degree.

What have others done with a similar degree?

From journalist to practitioner of law, many university graduates have found the important skills learned while studying History to be invaluable. The University of Kent also offers a list of Occupations Associated with History, including Civil Servant – not that the Princess isn’t already familiar with that field! Job seekers should research various opportunities afforded those with similar educational backgrounds.

Would the conferring university offer help or advice for placement?

As a graduate of Goldsmiths, University of London, Princess Beatrice has Alumni Services available to her. All former students of Goldsmiths are automatically part of their alumni community which is updated via regular e-newsletters, a biannual magazine and networking events. The University also has its social media pages. For more hands-on assistance, the Princess may avail herself of the Careers Advice office for up to two years following her graduation.

How can a well-written CV assist in a job search?

Thanks to her education, hobbies, interests, and charity work, Princess Beatrice probably has several pages worth of experience. By further including a personal statement with her CV, the Princess can explain how her varied experiences will help in her future career. The CV is her personal advertising campaign.

What is the best way to get the word out?

No doubt the princess has many friends, acquaintances, and contacts who would be more than happy to connect her with others who might offer her the position she is seeking. Perhaps her Uncle Charles or Cousins William or Harry could be of some help. The best way to locate employment opportunities is through networking and word of mouth. Job seekers should let their friends and neighbors know that they are available and actively looking for challenging work or a position where they can utilize their talents and abilities to help others succeed. Throughout this process, it is important to keep a positive attitude – no one wants a “downer” person around, nor do they want to refer this person to their friends!

This British royal’s plight highlights several strategies that are important for any job seeker – newly minted from a university or otherwise – namely, utilizing one’s immediate resources and built-in networking. Whether one is fifth-in-line to the throne or, much more likely, a regular university graduate searching for that “suitable job,” one should take stock of one’s assets, research alternatives available to individuals with a similar education and skill set, take advantage of available resources at one’s alma mater, polish up one’s CV and make it a personal ad campaign, network with others, and most importantly, stay positive. Following these tried and true strategies, one will have a job offer before one can say, “The Best of British to You!”

Ashley Parker is an Anglophile currently living in Houston, Texas. She works as a Recruiting Representative for Insperity Recruiting Services where she assists in matching the right talent to the right companies by writing engaging job ads for internet publication. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Houston’s University of St. Thomas. Follow Ashley on Twitter @Ashley_E_Parker.

photo by: www.chicagofabulousblog.com

Filed Under: Career Management, Job Search, UK Tagged With: Career Advice

INFOGRAPHIC: Top 20 Best UK Companies to Work for

The best employers to work for in the UK have been revealed by Reed.co.uk and their Employer Brand Index 2012. It reveals the organisations UK employees most want to work for. Over 2,000 workers shared their top employer brand, favourite business personality and the reasons why they mean so much to them.

Key takeaways from this study:

There is a strong loyalty towards British brands with reputation for quality, like Virgin, the BBC and John Lewis
Generation Y are primarily interested in training and development, Google is their preferred employer
Generation X look for pay, benefits and conditions, Virgin is their choice employer
Boomers are looking for rewards and recognition, the BBC is the winner in this segment
Words used to sum up top employer brands include ‘admired’, ‘fresh thinking’ and ‘credible’
UK workers want to work for celebrities; business people with strong personal brands such as Sir Richard Branson and Lord Sugar

Filed Under: Employer Branding, Infographic, UK

How the UK Economy Affects Jobseekers and Recruiters

We all know that the British economy is going through something of a troubled time right now. Unemployment is on the rise, growth prospects are shaky and youth unemployment is a particular concern, with more than 1 million youngsters currently classed as ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training).

This is a cause for concern, particularly as a recent survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found that 31% of private sector firms plan to make cuts to jobs during the current quarter. This is likely to result in the unemployment queues swelling further and, when you add in the public sector redundancies that are currently taking place too, it all adds up to a difficult picture.

But how does this affect job seekers? In many ways, it is easy to see how they are affected by redundancies due to business cut backs and slow industry growth. There are more people chasing after the jobs that are out there, meaning that competition can be fierce, particularly for the very best jobs or in very competitive industries. Another worry is the north-south divide: the CIPD study found that job prospects in the south are much better than they are in the north.

We also have to take into account issues such as London School of Economics suggests that the fees increase could result in 7.5% fewer men going to university and 5% fewer women.

This all has an impact on the jobs market, adding to the number of young people looking for jobs. When you consider that there are also more graduates than ever before chasing after jobs, it puts even more pressure on the system. There are other options for them to consider, such as apprenticeships, but we have yet to see whether the challenge will be met.

There are also recruitment challenges involved in all of this: some recruiters are finding it harder to get work themselves as businesses look to cut costs and take recruitment processes back in house. Others are overwhelmed with candidates for vacancies, which in some ways can be seen as a positive thing as it provides more choice, but it can also make it harder to place increasing numbers of unemployed people in jobs.

Overall, even though there are still some excellent employment and training opportunities out there, it seems as though the challenging conditions for job seekers and recruiters alike are set to continue for some time yet.

Filed Under: Job Search, Recruitment, UK Tagged With: Economy, Recruiter, UK

INFOGRAPHIC: How Much Does it Cost to Live and Work in the UK?

Did you ever stop to think about how much having a job actually costs you? Here’s a clue: It ain’t cheap. Think about how much you spend on your train tickets or petrol, how much you fork out for your daily lattes and those overpriced lunches at the organic cafe round the corner from the office.

Before you get your spreadsheets out, have a look at this infographic compiled by Guardian Jobs on the price of living and working in the UK. Some of the key findings are:

• The average salary in London is £33,899, the average salary in the UK is 26% lower at £26,978
• The average person in a job has spent 8 years, 7 months and 2 hours of their life working
• The average annual cost of peak-time train pass with tube travel is a whopping £6,000
• A coffee from Costa, Starbucks or Caffe Nero will range from £1.40 to £2.50
• If you made instant coffee instead, you could save £888.61 annually
• A daily sandwich will on average cost £2.49 at Pret a Manger
• If you make your own sandwiches you could save £261
• Finally, the average monthly rent in the UK is £713, in London it’s £1,202

In conclusion, if you want to save money for your retirement make sure you make your own sandwiches, sip Nescafe, get a bicyle and live far away from London…

Image credit: Guardian Jobs

Filed Under: Career Management, Infographic, UK Tagged With: Career Advice, Infographic, UK

INFOGRAPHIC: What’s the Difference Between American and British Recruiters?

I say tomato, you say tomaydo. I spell potato, you spell potatoe. Winston Churchill famously said that Britain and America were two nations divided by a common language. So common in fact, that ‘creative’ is the no. 1 buzzword on both US and UK LinkedIn profiles.

But what about our favorite topic hera at The Undercover Recruiter, the recruiters themselves? What do they have in common across the pond and what differs? Thanks to our friends at 4Mat we’d like to publish an infographic that addresses just this.

One striking difference is of course the fact that the UK has lots more recruiters in proportion to its population. We would venture to guess that half of the recruiters in the UK are based in Greater London and serving the UK, EMEA and sometimes the world.

Filed Under: Infographic, Recruitment, Social Recruiting, UK, US Tagged With: Infographic, Recruiter, UK, usa

The most overused buzzwords on UK LinkedIn profiles

The number one most overused buzzword in LinkedIn Profiles, (the place where members’ list their professional skills and achievements), both globally and in the UK was ‘creative’. Here is LinkedIn’s 2011 list of the top 10 terms that are overused by professionals in the UK:

1. Creative
2. Track record
3. Motivated
4. Effective
5. Extensive experience
6. Wide range
7. Innovative
8. Communication skills
9. Dynamic
10. Problem solving

Here are the 2011 number one buzzwords for countries that LinkedIn fielded the study in:

Creative: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the United States
Multinational: Brazil
Dynamic: France
Effective: India
Problem solving: Italy
Motivated: Ireland
Managerial: Spain
Track record: Singapore

Here are some tips professionals can act on over the Christmas break to increase the number of people viewing their LinkedIn Profile:

Showcase your skills

LinkedIn tracks thousands of hot, up-and-coming professional skills on How To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

Come highly recommended

Recommendations on LinkedIn spread virally, and give those viewing your profile a sense of who you are as a professional. Request LinkedIn Recommendations from past managers and clients, and feel free to hint at why you’re asking for the recommendation (to get more clients, to find a new job, etc.) as well as the types of things the recommender can comment on. (“Tim, I’d really appreciate it if you could give me a recommendation regarding the ABC project that I worked on that resulted in us increasing sales by 120 percent.”)

Accentuate your profile

Make sure your LinkedIn Profile is complete and includes all the roles you have had. You are 12 times more likely to be viewed for potential opportunities if you have more than one position listed on your profile. Also, add a profile photo – people never forget a face.

To learn more about LinkedIn, come to a LinkedIn training workshop in London hosted by Link Humans at Covent Garden.

Image credit Vlad Nikitin

Filed Under: LinkedIn, UK Tagged With: LinkedIn, UK

INFOGRAPHIC: UK Salary Trends for Startup and Tech Jobs 2011

With the London startup careers fair SiliconMilkRoundabout taking place in East London, the good folks at Adzuna have gathered some start up and technology employment data below that might be of interest to companies and jobseekers alike.

One thing is for sure, London Startups drive a hot tech employment market and here are some of the key findings from the study:

There are 3,134 Graduate technical jobs available in the UK and over 1,000 in London currently listed on Adzuna, the UK’s most comprehensive job search engine.

The average Banking IT salary is £57k which is 19% higher than the average tech start up salary. Tech startups offer greater job satisfaction and the upside of options, but this salary gap is what the start hiring community is up against.

23% of start ups currently hiring in London are offering stock to graduate tech employees; 0% of banks hiring graduates are offering stock.

Despite their age, workhorse languages such as C and C++ continue to remain at the top end of the software development landscape in terms of use and job potential. That being said, Ruby, Hadoop and HTML5 are the fastest growing “in demand” tech skills with employer demand up 70%+ year on year for all of these search terms

Graduate Mobile developers can demand a premium, with the average graduate salary for iPhone developers at £34k and Android developers at £35k, 20% higher than the average graduate tech job.

Despite what appears to be an abundance of tech jobs in the UK, 13.1% of computer science graduates remain unemployed (source: HESA). 7,000+ computer scientists graduated this summer from University in the UK.

If your company is looking to hire graduates, there are social media in recruitment strategies designed to capture this demographic, social recruiting consultancy Link Humans can help you.

tech jobs in east london

Filed Under: Infographic, London, UK Tagged With: Infographic, Job Hunting

How Social Media Helps Londoners Find New Jobs [INFOGRAPHIC]

A recent survey by LondonLovesJobs.com is the latest evidence to show that social media is playing an increasingly important role in job searching. The results, illustrated in the infographic below, also show that the popularity of social media varies greatly depending on the gender and the professional level of the job hunter.

In the survey of 500 business leaders and 500 other adults in Greater London, 43% of respondents said that they used social media when searching for a job. Looking beyond this figure reveals some further insights:

43% of respondents said that they used social media when searching for a job
52% of men said they would use social media compared to just 33% of women
30% of business leaders said they would look for their next role using LinkedIn compared with just 13% of other respondents

See some tips at How To Use Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn for Your Job Search.

Are employers adopting social media?

While 43% of job searchers are looking on social media sites, only 14% of employers surveyed said that they were marketing their job vacancies via these channels. This is a big disparity when compared to other more ‘traditional’ job search media, which tend to be well utilised by employers.

Recruitment websites remained the most popular job search tool, with 67% of all respondents saying they used them to find a job. 34% of employers said they advertised on these sites.
However, employers should not take it for granted that the websites they choose are marketing their vacancies on social media on their behalf.

Only 3 of 8 of the biggest national UK job boards have LinkedIn groups where they can speak directly to members about vacancies. 5 of 8 advertised jobs on Twitter, with monster.co.uk, reed.co.uk and jobserve.co.uk using both of these channels on behalf of their clients. In London, only londonlovesjobs.com use both LinkedIn and Twitter.

An opportunity or threat for employers?

As new channels become popular with job searchers, employers must adapt their recruitment strategies and integrate more channels. The job can seem to become more complex. But using social media, if well executed, can be a low-cost method for employers to integrate into their existing recruitment processes.

The survey data shows that 43% of employers advertise vacancies on their own website. Although it’s the most popular single channel, this is actually a fairly low figure, considering 52% of job searchers surveyed said that they look directly to employers for roles.

Improved marketing of these roles using corporate sites as a hub for social media activity is a relatively low-cost strategy. Furthermore the control that employers have over this channel allows them to look at long term investment in search engine optimisation (SEO).

The infographic below shows that UK Google searches including the word ‘job’ peaked at 39% higher in June 2011 than June 2010. Faster and more comprehensive indexing of web pages by Google means that advertisements on well-optimised websites can be found by searchers directly on search engines.

With 48% of job searchers surveyed saying that they ask friends and family about possible opportunities, asking existing employees to refer candidates, in person or using their own personal networks on the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is also becoming a bigger opportunity for HR departments and employers.

The lesson to be learned is that employers should consider how and when social media is used by job hunters. As for the right strategy to source the right candidates, that will depend on the employers own specific set of circumstances.

London based consultancy Link Humans are social recruiting experts that can help your company use social media to attract the best talent.

Source: LondonLovesJobs.com – jobs in London

photo by: Ian Muttoo

Filed Under: Infographic, Job Search, London, Social Media London, UK Tagged With: Infographic, Job Hunting, London, Social Media, UK

UK Employers Posting Jobs on Twitter

Britain is definitely lagging on the Twitter job posting front so I will do best to stimulate some employer tweeting in the realm. Here is a list of the major British companies doing it already (no recruiters).

By following these Twitter accounts you will get jobs straight from the source and possibly quicker than anyone else. Click on the employer’s name and you will be taken to their Twitter page.
Accenture