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The Interview with Joy Redmond, Flexitimers

joy-redmond-photo-flexitimersThe Interview with Joy Redmond – Marketing & Operations Director of Flexitimers

About Flexitimers
Flexitimers is a self-service project board enabling companies to connect with consultants, freelancers, small businesses, contractors and specialists/experts for professional project work in Ireland.

The site is completely free for both professionals and companies to use. Flexitimers is a closed network – employers or other professionals cannot search through profiles. Profiles are only viewable to employers whose project matches your profile.

Ivan: New Flexitimers site is launched, the media love it, and the response has been very positive. How happy are you with the media coverage?
Well obviously we’re very pleased and I think the reason is because Flexitimers is a good news story during recession overload. Everyday we’re hearing and reading about the recession, job losses, redundancy and market uncertainty. Flexitimers is good news for a few reasons. Firstly, we’ve hit on a previously untapped sector with the recruitment industry in Ireland being a mix of web2.0 and project work – this is very new and hugely necessary. Secondly, project and indeed flexible work tended to be quite siloed – IT and design sectors largely but our intention was to offer flexibility to a broader occupational base. Traditionally I suppose IT and design were easy outsource targets because the output was so tangible but there is no reason why any company can’t outsource less tangible operations/functions such as PR, sales and marketing, admin, legal and financial roles. It all goes back to people skills and effective management and just because someone is sitting in your office 40 hours per week doesn’t always translate into an optimal solution. Thirdly, we practice what we preach – I live in Wexford and co-founder Dervla Cunningham is based in Dublin and we’ve managed to research, develop and launch a business by working remotely.

Ivan: The Recruitment industry in Ireland is changing. What role will Flexitimers play in the future?
Of course the recruitment industry is changing because it had to, it’s a bit like the construction or property sector during the boom which was synonymous with over-charging and under-delivering. Today, no company can afford to pay for mediocrity whether that’s in suppliers, staff or services.
To get back to recruitment, we believe the employment model is changing and the focus will be less on hiring full time permanent staff but will be more project driven. It’s a win-win situation for employers because they get to pick and choose the best people for each task and manage their overheads more effectively.
Flexitimers’ role is to provide companies with access to a pool of skilled and experienced professionals who are actively seeking project work. Traditionally companies tend to find project workers through their own networks but this is random and unfortunately the best people aren’t necessarily within your reach. On Flexitimers you can hire beyond your network and not compromise on quality or caliber. I suppose, Flexitimers confounds false economy and mediocrity.

Ivan: The way we live and the way we work is not the same. Flexitimers seems to be accommodating this and applying it to recruitment?
Absolutely, as the line goes ‘nobody ever said on their deathbed, I should have spent more time in the office.’ But there is one key point I want to make here: just because you want to work flexibly doesn’t mean you have to compromise your career. Take part-time work for example, typically available only in retail, catering and administrative jobs. Like I said earlier, Flexitimers is broadening that occupational base. How? We provide professionals with access to flexible positions i.e. contract, temporary, freelance, consulting and telework across a variety of roles so we’re there to help anyone who’s just been made redundant to earn income while they’re in between jobs. Furthermore, more and more of these interim project workers who join the site for interim or stopgap work find it works better for them – so now not only have they flexibility but also they’re expanding their profile, career and portfolio.

Ivan: Flexitimers – what is the next step? What is the plan for the future?
I could tell you but I’d have to shoot you afterwards! Only joking, big plans and plenty of exciting developments. I suppose the biggest news at the moment is that our service is FREE to use which again reflects the dramatic changes in the recruitment industry. We’ll of course want to build our brand and awareness over the coming months. In the background we’re working on expansion plans both in terms of functionality and geography. I speak French, Spanish and basic Dutch so who knows, maybe I’ll be teleworking from a sunnier climate!

About Joy Redmond, co-founder of Flexitimers
Joy Redmond started her career in 1996 as Marketing Director of Newmedia, one of Ireland’s first web design companies. She remained agency side working with Zartis.com and Campaign HTDS before moving client side to become online marketing manager of IngredientsNet.com (a joint venture between Fyffes and Glanbia). Before setting up Flexitimers with Dervla Cunningham, Joy was a lecturer in E-business, research and marketing in the Dublin Institute of Technology and was Course Director of the Masters in Business & Entrepreneurship. Joy also is a busy project worker doing consultant marketing and research for many blue chip companies in Ireland such as Bank of Ireland, eircom, NTL, Poster Plan and JCDecaux. She is a mentor on the Wexford County Enterprise Board and a member of the Irish Internet Association Social Media Working Group.

Joy: Thanks Ivan, a pleasure doing this interview, keep up the good work.

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10 don’ts for job hunters on social networks

  • Don’t be too technical or industry specific in your profile
  • Don’t jump on a social networking site and give the perception that you’re desperately looking for a job — just “taking” and not “giving”
  • Don’t wait until you’re laid off before building out your social networks and staying active
  • Don’t forget to check out your “online presence” or “personal branding” to make sure nothing embarrassing shows up when you Google your name
  • Don’t forget the No. 1 goal is an in-company referral and you must be willing to take action outside your comfort zone to get one
  • Don’t spend too much time in front of the screen. Phone calls and face-to-face meetings are vital
  • Don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone on the Web in your targeted area — ask questions, suggest products, share information
  • Don’t expect to log on and find a direct lead, because the best tips often come from someone on the network who is several times removed from you
  • Don’t forget to stay engaged in your field, keep up on the latest news, products and services. Check out start-ups, which can be a great place to find a job if you act fast
  • Don’t try to make friends or contacts with everyone you can on the networks; make sure it’s someone you know or have something in common with
Categories
Career CV Interview Recruitment

NEW CV & INTERVIEW WEBSITES LAUNCHED IN IRELAND

Paul Mullan has just launched two new websites for jobseekers offering Professional CV Writing Services – www.cvsolutions.ie and Interview Preparation Services – www.interviewsolutions.ie. Paul is founder of Measurability a leading Outplacement & Career Coaching – www.measurability.ie provider in Ireland.

CV Solutions – Professional CV Writing Service in Ireland

CV Solutions is a website dedicated to CV writing. The site offers a comprehensive service tailored to meet the needs of all jobseekers. The service caters for Graduates, Mid-Level Professionals and Executives. The site also contains excellent tips and advice for jobseekers on a range of topics including CV Layout & CV Format.

Interview Solutions – Interview Coaching Service in Ireland

Interview Solutions offers a professional interview coaching service helping jobseekers deliver at interview. Interview Solutions supports all levels of professional and helps prepare for all styles of interview – competency interview, structured interview, traditional interview, panel interview and phones interview. This site also contains some excellent advice for interview preparation.

About Paul Mullan

Paul established Measurability in 2006 offering Career Coaching & Outplacement Services to employers and employees nationwide. He has 15 years recruitment, careers, outplacement and HR experience. Paul regularly comments across national media and radio on a range of Career & Recruitment issues (Sunday Times at the weekend). He writes for many online websites and is Career Doctor with the Irish Independent.

If your are currently job hunting and struggling to get called for interview visit www.cvsolutions.ie and if you can land interviews but fail to perform visit www.interviewsolutions.ie.

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Career CV Internet Jobs Recruitment

Twitter Job Search

twitter-job-searchTwitter emailed us today to ask if they can take our jobs and publish them on Twitter. I had to read their email twice since I could not really understand / believe / comprehend / …fill here something yourself … / see value for them us or the end users.

So I tried to use the Twitter Job Search (beta), and made a number of searches. It is just a text search so not that sophisticated, you cannot really choose a salary range or a location. Just pure text search.

I wonder who is the next who will come in to the jobs sites market in Ireland. TescoJobs.ie ? Dunnes? Nothing would surprise me anymore….

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Blogs Career CV CV Database Internet Jobs Recruitment

Jobsket

I visited the Jobsket (Jobsket.ie) web site today. It’s one of those now innovative sites that their owners and founders know will be the next big thing on the Internet. Unfortunately as we all know not every single site can success, such is the nature of the market. You can recognise those sites by not really having any real meaningful info what they are about, and you cannot really do much yourself on the site.

Jobsket will force you to give up your email address (do I have SPAM…) and then they let you in to log in. When you do log in there is less to see then on the outside, so let’s not waste ink on the Jobsket here anymore. What I wanted to show you is the interesting poll results left from the people who visited Jobsket. The Question was:

Submit an Idea
We’ve setup a feedback forum so you can tell us what’s on your mind. Please go there and be heard!
20 Votes – Import CV from LinkedIn
4 Votes – Change tags
3 Votes – Improve CVs viewer
3 votes – Allow import your CV from Google Docs
1 votes – Allow sending my CV

jobsket

What this tells us is the people do not care really about the fancy feature about a jobs site. What people do care is their own time. I do not want to insert another bloody profile and online CV here. I have a profile (that I am proud of) in LinkedIN. Now go and take it from there you lazy….

Twice many more people suggested the LikedIN connection than all the other suggestions altogether. Now what does that tell you? It tells you that people are sick of creating their profiles and filling the repetitive info in the forms on the various sites. It tells you that there is the time for one site to be a holder of your personal info, where the subsets of it you as the account holder will be able to open to various other sites.

Ehm,… this blog post was about Jobsket. So what is Jobsket really? Jobsket is a spider that takes jobs from Jobs.ie and than matches your CV with the positions advertised and calculates from the published salaries what is your CV, or what are you ‘worth’. I tried. In my case rolling the dice gave more precise results.
The data they collected from Jobs.ie is so old – yeas there are the positions in there that have been published not last year, but before the recession started – so you can guess how accurate the figures are.

The Feedaback from (powered by uservoice) on Jobsket is nice though.

Categories
CV CV Database Recruitment Recruitment Agency

Canvassing in Recruitment

The following is a real life example on the canvassing email sent by an Irish recruitment agency. You might use it as a template, but then again you might read this post to the bottom, and this might change your mind – not to use this as a template, but rethink you recruitment canvassing strategy altogether!

Dear (candidate name)
(your name) here from (recruitment agency), I hope this email finds you well. Apologies for the email intrusion – if this does not apply to your circumstances please feel free to forward to anybody who might be interested. You have previously registered your CV with (recruitment agency). I am contacting you to see if you are currently looking for a role and if I can be of assistance to you.
I specialize in placing (inustry) Contractors throughout Ireland and in the UK also. Please send me a copy of your up to date CV along with your required daily rate, availability and preferred locations. I will give you a call to discuss further.
Note that we also have a permanent recruitment team so if you are only looking at permanent opportunities please let me know also.

Kindest regards
(your name)
(industry) Contracts Recruiter
(recruitment agency)
(slogan)
(address)
(phone)
(email)
(web address)
Winner of the National Recruitment Federation Award: Very Small Agency Category – Superb Agency of the Year 2006/2008/2009
All listings in the (recruitment agency) website are automatically deleted after 2 weeks, ensuring that there are no old vacancies on the site. This means that every role you see as a candidate is active and current. Check out our referral scheme on: (web site)/referral.html

That sounds just lovely doesn’t it? Kind of like the fake mails from the banks, or mails offering you different products that will help you to please your partner.

Dear (Candidate)
Joe Blogs here from (recruitment agency), I hope this email finds you well.
Candidate: This is a classic opening sentence of the American canvassing letters. Joe from Company here, I hope you are well buddy! Well the style does not travel well. The message just does not sound right. This is the basics of the localisation – making the message sound right locally. This does not. And it sounds like you link exchange request, or a mail from the lottery in some far country announcing you just won millions, and they just want €100 for the cost of transferring it to you.

Apologies for the email intrusion…
Candidate: Off so you do feel bad do you? Well you should!

if this does not apply to your circumstances please feel free to forward to anybody who might be interested.
Candidate: Let me get this straight. You feel bad by sending SPAM and I feel bad that mi SPAM filter didn’t block you, and now you are suggesting I should forward it further? As a chain letter perhaps? You forward this to 10 of your contacts in next 10 minutes and you will feel happy! – kind of a thing??!!!

You have previously registered your CV with (recruitment agency). I am contacting you to see if you are currently looking for a role and if I can be of assistance to you.
Candidate: Did you find me a job in the first place? You failed? And what now? You want a second chance? Worming up the cold soup? What’s the story here???

I specialize in placing (industry) Contractors throughout Ireland and in the UK also. Please send me a copy of your up to date CV along with your required daily rate, availability and preferred locations. I will give you a call to discuss further.
Candidate: Ehm,… didn’t you just say that you have my CV. And that is the fact that I regret. Since you did not help in finding me a new job, but instead are sending me stupid emails like this?

Note that we also have a permanent recruitment team so if you are only looking at permanent opportunities please let me know also.
Candidate: Right… And in some different industry, and different country you say? Different continent? Actually a different planet?! What good dies it make me in finding a better job where I live. Here on our green planet? In our Green country? (who said Green Party?!!!).

Kindest regards
(your name)
(industry) Contracts Recruiter
(recruitment agency)
(slogan)
(address)
(phone)
(email)
(web address)
Winner of the National Recruitment Federation Award: Very Small Agency Category – Superb Agency of the Year 2006/2008/2009
This is like a bantam weight category then? NRF is a bit like the boxing scene. There is so many belts and boxing organisations that there are probably more winners and titles available than professional boxers. In recruitment in Ireland if you do not have a few titles every year – you are nobody!

All listings in the (recruitment agency) website are automatically deleted after 2 weeks, ensuring that there are no old vacancies on the site. This means that every role you see as a candidate is active and current.
One would thought that you actually remove the vacancy when you fill it, but not have it online for two more weeks?

Check out our referral scheme on: (web site)/referral.html
I get a an iPod when I make you earn your monthly salary? Or in other words I get a six pack or two, for sourcing the candidates to be placed in the positions that will pay your annual salary?

Well, that is how it to someone looking for a job. Or someone that was actually looking for a job some years ago. So think how are you going to structure your recruitment canvassing email…

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CV CV Database Jobs Recruitment Recruitment Agency Search Engine

Jobs.ie Hacked

When there is a very negative press articles about our competition, we decided not to comment them. Here s one from the Irish Times, about the Jobs.ie Web site being hacked. It happened to Monster and http://www.irishgradjobs.ie/ only a few months ago. And now Jowbs.ie is hacked as well. Unfortunately the bad news like this are damaging he industry. Here goes the full story about Jobs.ie web site hacked:

Hackers access information sent to Irish jobs agency
PERSONAL INFORMATION supplied by job applicants to online recruitment agency Jobs.ie has been illegally accessed by internet hackers, writes Olivia Kelly.
CVs submitted by the applicants were downloaded in bulk through a non-Irish web address last Thursday.
Jobs.ie would not say how many of its clients had been affected, but said it had now fixed the security breach.
The clients whose information was taken are at risk from identity fraud and “phishing”, where criminals, often posing as a well-known, legitimate company, use the information gleaned to try to extract further personal and financial information from their victims.
It is understood that the hackers used an illegally obtained log-in and password given to employers who are registered with Jobs.ie to access the job applications area of the site. They then downloaded personal information from CVs submitted, along with job applications.
Most of the stolen information relates to archive CVs rather than those of people now looking for jobs.
The company, which is owned by businessman Denis O’Brien, has in recent days contacted those affected to warn them of the possibility that they may receive e-mails from people using their information.
“All of the people affected have been contacted and informed of the situation. We have urged them to exercise extra vigilance with inbound e-mails in the coming weeks to ensure online security,” a spokeswoman said.
The company has informed the Data Protection Commissioner but will not be informing the relevant policing authorities until it has identified which country the hackers’ web address originated in. Jobs.ie was still investigating this issue, the spokeswoman said last night.
Clients of the website affected by the breach received an e-mail last Friday from Huw Taylor of Jobs.ie, bringing their attention to a “security breach” that occurred the previous evening.
“Although this breach was identified and stopped quickly, a small number of CVs were illegally downloaded. Unfortunately, your CV was one of the records taken.
“I understand and apologise for the concern this will cause you, and I want to assure you that we are taking steps to prevent this happening again,” the e-mail continued.
It urged clients not to give any personal information until it had been established the contact was legitimate; never to give out personal banking information; not to share passwords with anyone; and not to open e-mail attachments if the client was suspicious, especially .exe files.
Victims of the security breach who contacted The Irish Times said they had “grave concerns” in relation to their exposure to identity theft.
Jobs.ie, one of the State’s largest recruitment sites, said it had never before had such a breach.
The security breach follows the recent launch by Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan of the “makeITsecure” campaign designed to combat phishing.
© 2008 The Irish Times

No Comment!

Categories
CV Jobs Recruitment

Resumes – Chronological vs. Functional. Which do you prefer?

An interesting thread on the toppic of the CVs from LinkedIN:

Patrick Myers
Risk Management, Process Improvement, Consulting, Credit and Operational Risk expertise

Resumes – Chronological vs. Functional. Which do you prefer?
There are many opinions as to what resume should be used. Which do you prefer and why?

Answers (18)

Bryan C Webb, P. Eng.
► Technical Product Marketing & Sales Professional ◄

Recruiters ALWAYS want chronological.

On the other hand as long as you specify companies and dates, a functional may be more appropriate to stress the myriad of accomplishments.

Why not do both and use accordingly?

Henrik Brinch
CEO, TriGemini, ProDocumentor, PointGlass, [LION]

To sum up what I prefer in resumes (in this order):

1. Personal information (name, age, contact information, civil status, children)

2. Short personalized summary (photo is a plus)

3. Education (chronological, descending by year), type, place, period.

4. Professional experience (chronological, descending by year), period, company, position, short description on assignments and preferably a connection to the qualifications given in my #5 and a reference person.

5. List of qualifications, each rated by level: Very high, high, medium, low., Years of experience, Year last used. low. E.g. French (spoken), lmedium, last used 1999, 10 yrs. experience.

6. Date of availability´and expected minimum wage.

Given these information in the given order, enables me to categorize the resumes pretty fast. Unfortunately candidates have numerous of different ways of setting up resumes, so I usually reformat into the format above.

Alesia Lewis
Human Resources Manager at The RPM Company

I’m recruit as part of my overall HR responsibilities and I usually prefer funtional. This format allows me to, at a glance, get an clear understanding of the skills a candidate possesses. As long as the employment history is included somewhere, with dates, I prefer this style. I’ve also used it myself, successfully, when job searching.

Functional is also the better format when looking to switch to a field that you have experience in that isn’t readily understandable by looking at a chronological resume, or when seeking a position with increased responsibility when previous titles don’t necessarily show that type of experience.
Clarification added 1 day ago:
Ugh. Editing…it’s a good thing! I meant “I recruit” not “I’m recruit”!

Karl Kabanek
Senior Program Manager

As a hiring manager, I have returned resumes and asked the candidate to put them in chronological order. I expect each entry to pertain to the position and company they are applying for and to. Chronological allows me to see how recent and relevant the candidate’s experience is.

Veronique Serritella (Trusal)
Recruiting Manager at Robert Half Finance & Accounting

There are reasons to use either. Anything other than chronological is used to hide a gap, IMHO. This can be good and bad.

For those with a lot of similar experience with many different companies, I like to see a summary of qualifications, followed by a chronological list of companies with job titles and a very very short description of the tasks. Then the usual education, … It’s a hybrid of the two.

Aggie Gajewska Diamond
Director, Interim Staffing at Smyth Solutions

Need to put my two cents in…
In reply to Henrik’s answer: in US – don’t put your photo on a resume – recruiters and HR managers are uncomfortable that little bonus feature due to anti-discrimination laws that may become shaky if you go there…

Don’t write your resume in first person and don’t list your marital status, number of children, and hobbies unrelated to your professional life.

Chronological resumes make most sense – but you can turn your experience with the same employer into a functional one. Example: You worked for ABC Inc. for 20 years and served in many functional areas of the company. List them.

Let me know if I can help.

John Gravanis
Sales Director @ Ergoman ||| Onwer of ManageIT

Both are great for different candidates, going after different placements…

However, more experienced professionals will tend to write functional CVs, where more junior professionals, favor chronological CVs and taking it a step further (rather a step lower) people fresh out of school/college write chronological with education up top, followed by ‘professional experience’ right after…

Although chronological are easier on my eyes (especially when we are hiring and I need to go through several of them in a short period of time) I find that I give functional CVs guys a first crack at an interview more frequently, & usually endorse/vouch for them easier…

Point is, this one is definitely, not a ONE SIZE FITS ALL matter.

Bob Garrett 3600+ Looking for employment . LION TOPLINKED
> LOOKING < for employment - bobcgarrett@gmail.com

Guess it depends on how much experience you have.
I prefer chronological

Send an invite to connect if you like

Kristen Fife
Technical Recruiter, Author

The *only* time I recommend a functional resume, as both a Resume Consutlant and as a Recruiter, is if you are in a portfolio-based profession and you have multiple concurrent clients or projects simultaneously using the same skill set. Examples would be creative agency/PR, stock broker, actor, public speaker,etc. .

The reason *why* a functional resume is frustrating is because I (and my hiring managers) want to see what you did, when you did it, if it was something you used recently/currently, and how it pertained to the job we are looking at you for now. Listing out a bunch of skills that have nothing but a string of job titles to tie them to tells me *nothing.*

Here’s a recent example. I am looking at an accounting resume, and the candidate sent me a functional resume. I asked her for a chronologic resume, and she told me that she used the functional format because she used the same skills in every job she has had in the last 10+ years.

This says to me that she doesn’t seek out new challenges, doesn’t keep track of projects that can add to her total worth as an employee, and that (perhaps) she is just working for a paycheck as opposed to taking pride in her work. When she sent me her chronologic resume, all she did was copy/paste the information time and again. She had a few different titles and worked in a couple of different industries, so she *should* have had at least some different experiences, and working at different sized companies should have produced more or less responsibility for her, but that wasn’t the case as she portrayed her professional history to me.
posted 21 hours ago | Flag answer as…

Greg Coyle
Experienced information technology and services leader, expert in delivering quality solutions to complex problems.

Functional resumes are useful for highlighting experience in a way that facilitates bridging into an industry or role for which you have no explicit history. However, most people are only familiar with the chronological format these days, and find functional resumes confusing. For cold calls, or any situation where you are not going to have a chance to present (and explain) your resume in person, you’re pretty much going to have to use the chronological.

Paula Cohen
Career Coach and Consultant

Reverse chronological vs. functional… The chronological resume is best for people who are seeking positions similar to, or the same as, they’ve been doing. It’s the easiest format to read, and potential employers can eyeball it quickly and make the most sense out of it. Summary, experience, professional development, education, and professional memberships are the suggested sections in the suggested order. Put accomplishments — measurable / quantifiable, preferably — in bullet points under a brief job description in the experience section. Note: to make them stand out, only accomplishments get bullet points. Ordinary job duties are written in paragraph form; and don’t be too wordy. No one cares what you’re doing on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis, they just want to know the broad outlines of what you do, and what you handle — how many people do you supervise, what’s the size of the budget you control, whom do you report to, etc.

Functional…you’ll need an objective. This is the format you use if you’re looking to do something very different from what you’ve been doing. The objective is necessary because the landscaping company with the position for a gardner will be plenty stunned by getting a resume from an IT person unless it’s clear that the IT person is looking to switch to gardening. The objective comes before the summary. After the summary comes a section just for accomplishments…and those accomplishments can be put into separate sections, for instance “Programming”, “Project Management”, “Operations”, and “Leadership”, with three, four or five bullet-point accomplishments under each.

Then comes a brief section of experience or work history, with nothing but company names, job titles and dates. After that, professional development , then education, etc.

Chronological is preferable if you’re continuing to do what you’ve been doing. Functional is preferable if you’re looking to make a significant change in career direction, since if focuses on transferable skills and expertise as illustrated by the accomplishments, rather than on the specific industries, companies and roles you’ve held within them.

Any more questions? Contact me!

Richard Kirby
{LION} Executive Career Coaching and Recruiting

If you want a recruiter (executive search firm, staffing company, or internal/HR recruiting staffer) to read it, they prefer reverse chronological.

If you think the people who will review the resume are not knowledgeable and you feel a function suits you better, you might get away with a functional one. Sophisticated resume readers/screeners know why people use functional resumes (no clear career progression, lack of career momentum, lots of jobs, blank spaces in work experience, general inability to stay focused in one area, returning to work after being out for several years, etc.) and they LOOK for confirmations for these negatives the writer is attempting to hide. A functional resume, 90%+ of the time, will work against the person.

Anyone who wants an article on this subject can email me at rkirby@executive-impact.com.

Hal Moore (LinkWithHal@gmail.com) LION
Executive Search Consultant

As a recruiter, I have had very little success with my client base using functional resumes. I cannot tell you how many times hiring officials have asked for a chronological resume after first seeing the functional version. Most of my clients want to understand what duties the candidate performed at each position they previously held.

Many people view functional resumes as an attempt to hide something in the candidate’s experience, such as frequent job changes or the real amount of time that someone has experience in a certain field.

Denise Anne Taylor
Expertise in Business Etiquette, lnternational Protocol, Conflict Management, and Career Transition: Speaker, Writer

There really is not an option when creating a resume. Chronological is your best choice. Most recruiters and those that interview do not desire the Functional format. Chronological shows your most recent accomplishments that would be applicable to the current job search process.

Ray Miller
Energy expert, educator, award winning sculptor

I definitely prefer functional resume’s.

Much more informative and more of an expression of who the candidate sees themselves to be versus what they did and when.

Bobbie Rogers
Your Trusted & Preferred IT Services Provider!

It depends on the audience receiving the resume: MOST HR Professionals view Functional Resumes as a RED FLAG! What is this person hiding? So always send Chronological resumes to HR.

Managers with the budget don’t care what TYPE of resume you have as long as you have a stable work history with no gaps of employment and the skills to do the job!

Executives don’t care! Executives only want people who were referred and prescreened. They tend to make their own decision based on the interview & feedback from their trusted advisors. MOST Executives never read or looking at the resume, they rely on others to summarize your expertise for them.

The purpose of a resume is to OPEN THE DOOR to get the interview, if you are not communicating exactly what they are looking for in the top paragraph of the resume you will be screened OUT! You only have 6 seconds to grab the attention of a Recruiter / HR professional & 10 seconds for Managers.

The REAL KEY is to make sure every keyword in the resume matches the specific job description you are applying for; otherwise, you will be screened out NOT “In”! If they ask for an MCSE & you stated M-C-S-E or Microsoft Certified whatever you will be screened OUT Not “In”.

Lavie Margolin (Laviemarg@yahoo.com)
Job Search Advisor, Employment/Career Counselor, Job Developer

Chronological if you are on a smooth path- applying to a job you are currently doing or has just ended.

Functional if you are applying for the type of job you have not done in along time but still have the skills for or have been out of work for a significant amount of time.

Marc LeVine
Owner, Integrity Consulting Associates

Chronological or, at least Chronofunctional. Recruiters look for closure. We want to see career progression (was the current position a step up or step back from the one before it?). We want to see how long the individual stayed at each company? We need to kow if there are any significant gaps or periods of unemployment between jobs?

Problem is…just by using the functional approach, most recruiters can smell that something being covered up.

With the Chronofunctional resume, at least, everything you need is there. It is just listed in such a way as more attention is given to the developed skills of the candidate, while the job history is buried near the bottom. It’s a gamble that scanners andthose with a short attention span will note that the information as present, but may not focus on the detail.

Some people have to use this approach, but the more experienced recruiters can usually read between the lines.

Sooo…. not really a 100% straignt answer, isn’t it? :)

Categories
Blogs CV CV Database Jobs Recruitment

Developing a Jobs Site / Job Board

Jobs Sites are fairly straight forward web sites. Not as simple as a pure presentation “shop window” web sites, but there is not that much to it.

Three basic types of registered users:

    Employers
    Job Seekers
    Job Board Admin

There is also a very small number of pages:

    Home
    Search
    Advanced Search
    Search Results
    Full job description
    Application form
    About / Contact

A few more admin pages in the back end of the job site and that is all you really need to get going. Later on you might ad a page for Company Profiles, Quotes, or similar Jada-jada required for the search engine optimization purposes. You might disguise it under eh title Career Resources, or something sounding equally smart.

Any web development company can do it fairly quickly, and if you stick to those basics, it will not cost you an arm end leg. Outsourcing the development to India will save you quite some money as well. And this is the reason we had more than 20 new job sites in Ireland launched in the same year 2007. Imagine 20 new job sites in the market that to anyone in the industry seams overcrowded.

CV Database exposed on the WebThere is only one problem with the job sites, and that is that they are more often than not built so that they store the CV’s of the candidates. This enables the job board owners to sell access to the CV databases. Holding onto CVs online requires a tough security, and if you have been cutting corners while developing your web site, it might not be there. The end results are that job hunters private data gets exposed. Sometimes their application history and sometimes even the full CVs find their way to the web.

Yes we did contact Karl to let him know and he pached the security hole quickly.