premierehire career guide - jumpstart your career

26
JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE Jumpstart Your Career

Upload: susan-lawes

Post on 11-Feb-2017

69 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

JOB SEEKERSE-GUIDEJumpstart Your Career

Page 2: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SOCIAL MEDIA02.

THE RIGHT RESUME03.

THE COMPELLING COVER LETTER04.

THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW05.

THE FOLLOW UP06.

PREPARING FOR AN OFFER07.

THE PROFESSIONAL EXIT08.

WORKING WITH A RECRUITMENT AGENCY

09.

UTILIZE YOUR NETWORK01. 03

05

07

10

13

16

18

21

24

Page 3: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

3 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

A strong professional network is becoming increasingly valuable to the job search process so it’s important to consistently make and maintain connections. After all, you never know when a contact might help you towards your career goals.

UTILIZE YOUR NETWORK

01.

Follow our guide to ensure you make the most of your network

Page 4: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

4 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Make a List: Make sure to leverage your own social circle. Write down the names of all your friends, family and former colleagues. Be thorough and don’t discount anyone. Then make a point of discussing your career aspirations and skill set with them. One of them might be able to recommend you or put you in touch with one of their own connections. Grandma might be retired but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have friends in high places.

Keep in Contact: You never know when a social or professional connection might come in handy. Make sure you always keep in touch with people and don’t burn any bridges.

Get Social: These days connections around the world are just a click away. Make use of social networking to engage with potential employers and keep in touch with professional contacts. You can also join professional forums on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook to establish yourself as an expert in your field. The next section provides information on how to make the most of your social media profiles.

Get Out There: Not everything is online. There are still those who prefer to do their networking face-to-face. Use your skills to volunteer. Not only will this add extra experience to your CV, it might also put you in touch with useful contacts. Make sure to also attend conferences, professional gatherings and industry events to meet other people in your field.

Be Genuine: Networking isn’t just about what others can do for you. Make sure you show an interest in your new and old contacts. Ask about their lives, share ideas and information. They’ll be much more likely to want to help if they feel as though you actually care about them.

Be Prepared: If you make a new contact or someone offers to help you with your career aspirations, be ready. Make sure to have a professional business card to hand out and have a consistently up-to-date professional portfolio to send. This includes your references, resume, cover letter and online profiles.

Follow Up: When someone offers their assistance, it’s up to you to follow up. Exchange contact information if you haven’t already and get in touch to discuss how to move forward. If the assistance results in a job opportunity, remember to thank your contact. It’s polite and only solidifies your connection.

UTILIZE YOUR NETWORK

01.

Page 5: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

5 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media can make or break your job search. It’s easy to assume that its role is purely social but today many hiring managers and recruiters use social media to find and connect with prospective employees. A well-constructed social media profile could

lead to a wide variety of excellent career or internship opportunities. But social media can also damage your chances. If your profiles are not professional and tailored to the opportunities you want, employers will bypass you immediately.

02.

Follow our guide to make sure you take full advantage of social media in your job search

Page 6: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

6 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Public Profiles: Publically accessible social media profiles should always appear professional. When you’re shortlisted as a candidate for interview, more often than not a potential employer will search for information about you online. If they discover unprofessional content on your profiles, your chances of an interview are definitely over.

Appropriate Content: Content on public profiles, whether photos, statuses or comments, should always be professional and appropriate. No potential employer or professional contact wants to see drunken escapades, crude language, negativity or recreational drug use so if you want to discuss or upload photos of any or all of these things, then make your profile private. Alternatively, leverage your public profiles by establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Post about your industry, interact with influencers and offer tips and advice to your professional peers.

Private Profiles: If you have content you want to share with friends that you don’t wish potential professional contacts to see, it’s important you make your private profiles well and truly private. Check your settings and make sure strangers can’t see anything besides your basic information. If you’re unsure how to go about it, there are often guides online which can help. Make sure at minimum your profile picture is appropriate and consider also changing the name attached to your profiles. With a different name, a potential employer is a lot less likely to stumble upon your private profile while searching.

Look for Tips: If you want to use your social media profiles for networking purposes, go to the help section for the social network you’re using or look up tips and guides online. They’ll help you leverage the site to your advantage and maximize your professional impact.

SOCIAL MEDIA

02.

Linkedin is the number one professional networking site. With the ability to post your resume and interests, join professional groups and find job postings, this is your go-to public social media profile. It should always be kept up-to-date with your information and highlight your qualifications, skills and work experience. Remember that recruiters look for you with keyword searches so make sure your profile includes these. According to LinkedIn, users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive job opportunities.

Facebook is currently one of the best known and most used social networks in the world. This is the first site most potential employers will visit to find out about prospective candidates. If your profile is public, make sure to follow our guidelines on content above. You can also use Facebook as a networking tool, as mentioned earlier. “Like” companies you are interested in working for, engage with their posts, keep up-to-date with what’s happening and inquire about job postings that match your skill set.

Twitter has quickly become one of the most important players in the social media world. Make sure you leverage it fully by ensuring you have a professional profile and background photo, and a powerful statement about your field of interest in the bio section. Then post content per our guidelines above and follow potential employers and industry influencers. Doing this, means you can engage with them, keep up-to-date with what’s happening and get targeted employment information.

BEST SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR NETWORKING

Page 7: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

7 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Your resume is frequently the first a potential employer will see of you. Ultimately, a good resume means a good first impression and often the difference between an interview and the trash can. Your aim is to create a well-crafted, impressive document that displays the experience, accomplishments and skills that make you the perfect candidate for the job.

Follow our guide to help you stand out from the crowd in the right way

THE RIGHT RESUME

03.

Page 8: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

8 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE RIGHT RESUME

03. LAYOUT

Chronological or Functional Format: Some believe a functional resume is best for new graduates and those with little experience. This is not true. Most hiring managers see the use of this format as an attempt to hide something, usually the lack of experience or employment gap the resume writer is in fact trying to conceal. It is far better to be upfront using a chronological resume. Bolster experience with volunteering roles and throw a positive light on employment gaps in your cover letter by explaining how you used them to your benefit to learn useful new things.

Divide and Conquer: Always divide your resume into skills, work experience and education in this specific order. Your skills, be they languages, computer skills or certifications, should always come first and can help with keyword searches done by recruiters. These are the bait which attract the hiring manager to keep reading. Your work experience then shows the knowledge needed from the perfect candidate, while your education solidifies you as a candidate they want to interview.

Write it in Word: Microsoft Word has long been the go to resume writing tool. You may want to stand out, and for creative industries this will undoubtedly be important, but most hiring managers will not appreciate the effort. They want to see a professional, standard resume style that they can quickly and easily look over. So save yourself time and write your resume in Word.

Send it as a PDF: While recruiters like to see your resume as a Word document, prospective employers expect your resume to be sent in PDF format. So, unless stated otherwise in the job description, make sure you do just that.

Easy on the Eye: Make sure your resume is neatly and professionally laid out. Hiring managers will at best skim each resume before moving on to the next. Your goal is to make it as easy as possible for them to recognize you as a potential candidate. Take care to have headings for each section and differentiate employers and job titles from the rest of the content by italicizing, bolding and using the white space between lines to emphasize important information.

Use Bullet Points: Block text is daunting. No one wants to spend fifteen minutes sifting through a wordy document to get to its core message and hiring managers certainly won’t. Bullet points break up text. Use a maximum of two to three to highlight your accomplishments for each role.

Skip the Photo: Federal regulations state that resume photos are discriminatory. So no matter how pretty or handsome you are, leave the photos for your social media. Using one will either cause your resume to be rejected or leave your prospective employer with the impression that you don’t know how to construct a resume.

Page 9: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

9 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE RIGHT RESUME

03. CONTENT

Be Concise: A resume should ideally be one page in length and a maximum of two. Hiring managers are faced with hundreds of resumes a day. You’ll have at most 30 seconds to show them you’re a candidate they want to meet so make sure your qualifications are front and centre.

Measurable Results: Always provide meaningful and measurable accomplishments. A potential employer wants to see the results you can offer them, not the daily tasks you completed. After all, the 30% increase in revenue you brought to your previous company will impress far more than your ability to collate documents.

Be Relevant: Being the captain of your high school football team or the host at a restaurant may impress your friends and family but if it’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for it won’t impress the hiring manager reading your resume. Always customize your resume to the job you’re applying for and assess how each role shows the relevant skills that make you the perfect fit for the job.

Use Keywords: Read the job posting carefully. The hiring manager will have used keywords to describe their ideal candidate. Highlight those words and include them in your resume. They will stand out to the manager looking at your resume later and will keep them reading.

Use Action Verbs: Hiring managers want to see a proactive applicant. No one wants to employ someone who seems passive and uninteresting. Always use dynamic, positive verbs such as “achieved” or “launched” to describe your past accomplishments.

State the Facts: Present yourself as a proactive applicant but don’t come across as arrogant. Your accomplishments may be great but giving the impression that you’re superior to others is off-putting. Most employers want a team player as much as they do a leader.

Spell Check: Never rely on an automated spell checker. The number one reason resumes end up in the trash is spelling. If your resume has spelling or grammatical errors, it will automatically be rejected. So read it, re-read it, ask someone else to read it and then leave it overnight before re-reading it again. If after this you still can’t find any errors then you can send it off.

Phone a Friend: As mentioned before, always have someone else read over your resume before sending it off. As the person who wrote it, you know what you were trying to say. Fresh eyes can not only show you spelling errors but can also reveal when your writing isn’t clear. If your friend or family member can’t understand what you’re trying to say then a hiring manager certainly won’t.

Page 10: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

10 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE COMPELLING COVER LETTER

04. Your cover letter is your second and sometimes final opportunity to secure an interview. A well-written cover letter is your chance to distinguish yourself from other applicants, selling yourself as an intriguing candidate beyond the standard bullet-pointed accomplishments of a resume.

Follow our guide to help you write a compelling cover letter

Page 11: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

11 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE COMPELLING COVER LETTER

04. LAYOUT

Make it a Letter: The clue is in the name but your cover letter should always be drafted as a standard professional letter with the appropriate greeting and sign off.

Be Concise: A cover letter should fill at most half a page. Just as with the resume, you can be the best candidate in the world but no hiring manager is going to put in the effort to read even a one page document when they have 100 other applications to sift through. So save some of it for the interview and keep it short.

Easy on the Eye: Make sure to avoid block text in your cover letter. If you’re concise this should never be a problem, but large amounts of text is off-putting to the person faced with reading it. So use your spacing wisely and don’t forget to paragraph!

Send it as a PDF: If possible always paste your cover letter into the body of an email to avoid landing in the spam folder, but if the job posting asks for a copy always provide it in PDF format.

Find a Name: Where possible, always address your cover letter to a specific individual. It makes your cover letter more personalized and lets the prospective employer know not only that you put in the effort to find out who to contact but also that you’ve customized your letter to them. If a job description doesn’t specify a person to address, contact the company and ask.

Customize: You don’t have to rewrite your entire cover letter for every application but always make sure to tweak it to address the specific job posting you’re applying for. Use

the job description’s keywords and change the examples to the ones which best suit the qualifications you need to exemplify. Prospective employers will recognize generic cover letters and sending them out will only lead to one place, the trash can.

Don’t Be a Parrot: Never repeat the content of your resume. Your cover letter is your opportunity to elaborate on your skills and how great you are but don’t just rehash what you’ve already said. Think of other situations where you utilized your skills, the more interesting and impressive the better!

CONTENT

Page 12: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

12 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE COMPELLING COVER LETTER

04. CONTENT cont.

Don’t Just State It, Prove It: Always support the claims you make in your cover letter. It’s not enough to say you have the skills they want, you have to prove it. Describe situations where you used certain important skills they’re looking for to resolve issues. If problem-solving is key, make sure to describe that time your previous employer’s computer system went down and you introduced the temporary manual process that saved the day.

Be Friendly: Hiring managers read hundreds of cover letters a day. After a while, they all just blend together. Don’t just write another bland, cliché-filled document. You should always be appropriate and professional, but don’t be afraid to inject a little humor and personality into your writing. A well-placed joke will make the hiring manager smile and go a long way to making you memorable.

It’s Not About You: Your family may care about your career aspirations and how the job you’re applying for can help you but prospective employers definitely don’t. Always frame everything in terms of what you can offer them.

Proofread: Your cover letter should be just as well-written as your resume. If it has any spelling or grammatical errors, you’re headed for the rejection pile. So, just as for that resume, read it, re-read it, ask someone else to read it and then leave it overnight before re-reading it again. If after this you still can’t find any errors then you can send it off.

Phone that Friend: If you look back at the resume section, you’ll remember I said it’s important to have someone else read over your work before sending it off. This goes double for your cover letter. With a letter, there are many more opportunities for misunderstanding than a bulleted list. So have some fresh eyes take a look. If your friend or family member can’t understand what you’re trying to say then a hiring manager certainly won’t.

Page 13: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

13 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW

05.

No matter how well you’ve presented yourself in your resume and cover letter, it’s important to prepare and make the right impression at the interview. It’s the point at which the key impressions are given and decisions made.

Follow our guide to help you build on the great impact your resume and cover letter have already made

In fact, a recent study found that 44% of managers rely on their gut instinct to make a decision and 47% of managers make hiring decisions in 30 minutes or less so your first impression is critical.

Page 14: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

14 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW

05.

IN ADVANCE

Be Prepared Preparation is key when entering an interview. Re-read the job description in advance so you remember what they’re looking for, practice answers to general interview questions and gather multiple copies of your resume, cover letter and references to bring to the interview. The interviewer will undoubtedly have some of this information on hand but having the copies ready to distribute if necessary will make you appear professional and organized.

Memorize Your Resume It may seem obvious – they’re your life experiences, how could you forget what you’ve done? – but in the middle of a stressful interview it’s easy to forget the reasons why you’re the perfect fit for a job. Take the time to memorize the information on your resume and cover letter so that you can go in and blow them away with your qualifications and experience.

Research Always research the industry you’re trying to get into and the company you’re interviewing with. Look over their website to find out about their values and goals, use Google to find any available news stories about them and research their competitors. Make sure to leverage this information during the interview to make it clear you know them and their industry. If possible, find an area they are interested in that you can offer insight into or help with.

This is your first meeting with a potential employer and your aim is to make a positive, lasting impression. One way to be remembered, since interviewers can sometimes get overwhelmed with several candidates, is to distinguish yourself with a common connection with the interviewer. Look for clues in their office or check out their social media beforehand. Maybe you both love dogs, chat about it briefly so your follow up can reference this to help them remember you.

Page 15: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

15 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW

05. ON THE DAY

Dress Appropriately: First impressions often dictate the success of an interview. Ultimately, you must always wear appropriate professional clothing. For men, this is a suit, plain dress shirt and polished dress shoes. No patterns, no sneakers and definitely no shorts! For women, this can be a dress, suit or skirt and blouse with flat or slightly heeled shoes. Minimal make up, no bright lipstick, excessive jewelry, short skirts/dresses and definitely no skyscraper heels! Finally, make sure your clothes are well-pressed and your hair brushed.

Be Early: Always arrive 10 minutes early for an interview. This gives you the time to find the location, take a deep breath and read over any last minute information you’ve found. But don’t get there too early either. Arriving too early leaves you with too much time to overthink things and become anxious.

Turn Off Your Phone: It may seem obvious, but double check to ensure your phone is on silent or turned off before your interview. If it rings aloud, it will be difficult to recover from the negative impression it has given the interviewer. If it vibrates in your pocket, it can break your focus, causing you to lose your train of thought while answering important questions.

Fake It Till You Make It: Going into an interview is rarely a relaxing experience but it’s important you don’t give the impression that you’re uncomfortable. Enter the interview with good posture, a big smile, eye contact and a firm handshake to show the interviewer you’re self-confident and in control.

Relax: I know it’s easier said than done but having the right body language during an interview is just as important as having good body language entering it. Here are a few things you can do to relax and appear confident:

■ Sit up straight ■ Maintain eye contact ■ Don’t cross your arms and legs ■ Keep your hands and jaw relaxed ■ Take deep breaths between answers

and smile!

Use the STAR Method: STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. It can sometimes be difficult to structure impressive answers under pressure. This method helps you frame quick, powerful responses to your interviewer’s questions. Briefly describe a Situation where you found a certain skill useful, the Task you were asked to complete, the Action you took to achieve it and the meaningful Results of those actions. This way you offer the interviewer what they want to hear without waffling.

Ask Questions: Prepare one or two questions to ask your interviewer about the company and your potential role. The interviewer will undoubtedly ask you whether you have any questions at the end of your conversation and having a couple of thoughtful ones prepared shows intelligence and interest. Questions such as “Can I clarify anything further for you regarding my qualifications for this role?” are also useful. However, now is not the time for queries about salary, vacation or retirement plans. You don’t want to seem more interested in the compensation than the job.

Page 16: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

16 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Follow our guide to help you do it the right way and establish yourself as a strong contender for any role

THE FOLLOW UP

06. Your opportunity to make a positive impression is not over once the interview is finished. You may wonder if following up with your interviewer is too forward but it isn’t.

Page 17: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

17 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Self-assess The moment your interview’s over and you have the chance to sit down, write down the name of your interviewer, your recollections from the interview and your thoughts about how it went. Was there anything you feel needed further clarification? Were there any concerns you need to address? These will all be useful when it comes to writing your follow up message.

When to WriteSend your thank you note within one to two days of the interview. Any later than this and the interviewer will probably have forgotten you among the other candidates. Email or WriteWrite each of your interviewer’s a brief one to two paragraph personal email or note to thank them for their time and reiterating your interest in the position. If you have an address for them, make sure your note is hand-written. In our age of technology, this is unusual and will differentiate you from other applicants. Never phone your interviewer. They are busy people and don’t have the time to be bombarded by hundreds of thank you calls from applicants. Doing so will only irritate them. Summarize Your StrengthsUse the information you noted down from your interview to briefly address and resolve any concerns the interviewer might have had and then emphasize the strengths that make you the perfect candidate for the job.

Jog Their MemoryAlways try to make a specific reference to your conversation to remind the interviewer who you are. If you discussed your industry insights or mutual interests, make a point of saying how much you enjoyed talking to the interviewer about them.

THE FOLLOW UP

06.

Page 18: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

18 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

PREPARING FOR AN OFFER

07.

Take a look at these questions and guidelines to make sure your offer of employment is the right one for you

Your interview is over, you’ve made the right impression and you receive that all important offer of employment. Congratulations! But the work isn’t over yet. Preparing for an offer is just as vital

as the steps that came before it. Your first reaction may be to accept but it is important to evaluate every opportunity carefully before making a decision.

Page 19: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

19 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

Questions to Ask: As thrilling as it is to get an offer, you should always remember your career goals. Think about the following questions before making any decisions:

■ Does this offer satisfy you overall? Does it meet all your non-negotiables? (i.e. compensation, benefits, challenging position, company values, friendly people etc.)

■ Is this position a step forward? Will it enhance your resume and help you move forward with your career a few years down the line?

■ How does it compare to your current job and compensation package?

■ How does it compare to other opportunities you are considering?

Talk it Over: Once you’ve thought about the questions yourself, talk to your close friends, family and partner. They may be able to offer insights or spot issues with the offer that you haven’t noticed.

Ask Questions: Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification on things you’re not certain about. You should fully understand everything about the offer, the position and the company before moving forward with any discussions on salary. If there are factors other than salary in the offer which don’t meet your requirements, then it is better to reject it before wasting their time negotiating salary. You also don’t want to end up signing a contract for a job you later regret accepting.

PREPARING FOR AN OFFER

07. THINK IT OVER

NEGOTIATING SALARY

Do Your Research: Before all else, always make a point of researching the average salary those in your area receive for similar positions. Use professional associations, salary websites such as Payscale.com and Salary.com, and job boards to determine a rough estimate of what you should expect to be paid.

Know Your Numbers: Never enter a salary negotiation without knowing your non-negotiables. You should always have:

■ A target number – This is your ideal salary. If they offer you this, you’ll accept immediately.

■ A minimum number – This is the minimum salary you’ll accept. For this number, it’s important to factor in the other reasons this is a good opportunity. If everything else about this job offer is an improvement on your current situation and it will propel you forwards in your career then you may still be better off accepting regardless of the lower compensation package.

■ A turn down number – This is $1 less than your minimum number. If they offer you this and refuse to negotiate higher, you will turn it down. Anything higher than this number you are willing to accept.

Be Open to Compromise: An offer may not always match up to the target salary you have in your head. It is important that you take into account the overall benefits of this new position and be open to compromise.

Don’t Begin the Discussion: Always leave it up to your prospective employer to raise the subject of salary.

Page 20: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

20 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

PREPARING FOR AN OFFER

07. NEGOTIATING SALARY cont.

Don’t Name a Number: Once the negotiation begins, never be the first to name a specific number. Most, if not all, prospective employers already have a salary in mind for the position. If you offer up a number, you may accidentally under-sell yourself or scare them off by naming something out of their range. They may try to tempt you into giving one by asking questions such as “What sort of compensation did you have in mind?” The appropriate response to this is to reverse the question with something like “What sort of compensation would you say is fair for this role given my qualifications?”

Take your Time: Once they’ve named a number, it can feel as though you need to give your answer immediately. If you need time, let them know you will think about it. Then take that time to evaluate how this offer measures up to the numbers in your head. Some companies will actually purposely start low as a strategy so if you feel you should negotiate for more, then make sure to frame your response appropriately.

No Sob Stories: You may have student loans, children, car payments and/or expensive rent but these are not compelling reasons for a prospective employer to raise their offer. Make sure you frame your answer in terms of what you bring to the table. Remind them of the skill set that made you the ideal candidate and the challenges you will be taking on for them. Then suggest a counter-offer or salary range you would be comfortable with.

Don’t Blink First: This is the most important stage of the negotiation. Once you’ve stated the number you’re looking for in terms of salary, be pleasant but silent. No matter how long the silence drags on or how awkward it becomes, do not open your mouth until after the hiring manager has responded. Most importantly, do not backtrack and do not try to explain yourself further.

Find Other Angles: If you reach the point where you feel the hiring manager is unwilling to go higher and you are still unhappy with the numbers, suggest that you look at improving other forms of compensation, such as your retirement plan or vacation days.

Make a Decision: When all avenues have been discussed and there is no more leeway, think it over, talk to friends, family and your partner and then make your decision.

Withdraw from the Market: If you’ve chosen to accept the offer, remove your resume and job search information from any job boards you’ve been using. The last thing you want is for your new employer to see it and think you are still shopping around for a better offer.

Thank Your Helpers: Let those who helped you in your job search, such as a recruiter, friends or colleagues, know that you’ve accepted an offer and thank them for what they’ve done. But make sure it doesn’t get back to your current employer before you have the opportunity to take the steps in the next section.

Page 21: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

21 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

You’ve accepted an offer of employment and you’re excited to move forward with your career. But before you can, it’s important to make a professional exit from your current employer.

Follow our guide to help you leave on good terms and with your relationships intact

Maintaining positive relationships with former colleagues and employers is vital to a successful career. You never know who might become an important connection in the future.

THE PROFESSIONAL EXIT

08.

Page 22: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

22 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE PROFESSIONALEXIT

08. Don’t Burn Bridges: As I mentioned earlier in the Networking section, you never know when a contact will become useful. You should always maintain a professional and friendly attitude towards everyone. Take down contact information for your colleagues before you leave and make the effort to stay in touch. They could become valuable references in the future.

Prepare a Resignation Letter: A pleasant, well-written resignation letter can go a long way to smoothing over a transition. Express your gratitude for the opportunity and thank your supervisor for their support. Compliment the company and your colleagues but make sure to refer to how this decision helps you move forward with your career aspirations. Then give them the standard two weeks’ notice and indicate your last day.

Offer to Train Your Replacement: You know your duties better than anyone. When you leave, your supervisor and colleagues will have to pick up the slack and teach a new team member. Offering to train a replacement takes that weight off them and they will remember you fondly for it.

Prepare a Transition Plan: Training a replacement is great, but preparing a transition document as well is even better. You will undoubtedly be offloading a lot of information on your replacement. If the replacement remembers every process and step you take

to complete your tasks, it will be a miracle. So take some time to write up a guide to your duties so they can refer to it after you’re gone and avoid bothering your colleagues.

Contact HR: Make sure to find out from your HR department what your grace period and continuation provisions are.

Thank Everyone: Let your supervisor and colleagues know in person how much you enjoyed working with them. Regardless of the truth behind the words, it is a professional approach to the situation and will mean your colleagues remember you in a positive light. Bringing tasty snacks to sooth the blow, doesn’t hurt either!

Don’t Gloat: You may be excited about your new position but don’t gloat to your colleagues about your future prospects. You want them to understand and not resent that this is a positive step forwards for you. Giving the impression that you’re dying to get out of the door, won’t endear you to anyone.

Work Hard: Work as hard on your last day as you did on your first. It is vital that you maintain a professional demeanor and get the job done. When you leave, you want your colleagues to remember you as an asset rather than the person who spent their last two weeks on the job slacking off and giving them more work.

Page 23: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

23 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

THE PROFESSIONALEXIT

08.

Take Stock: Think about why you started to look elsewhere for employment (lack of a challenging work environment, weak compensation package, lack of positive career growth etc.). Then consider what your current employer is offering you. Does it really address the reasons why you began to look elsewhere?

Questions of Salary: If your current employer is offering a salary raise, it’s important to consider why they suddenly consider you more valuable. If they have the budget, why wasn’t it offered earlier? It may simply be the raise you were entitled to anyway at your next employment review or they may simply consider it cheaper to tempt you back with a salary increase than to train someone new. Worse still, they may just be buying time until a replacement can be found and you can be fired. Ultimately, none of these reasons are positive.

Questions of Perception: The cat is already out of the bag. Your supervisor and colleagues are aware you planned to move on to another

company, possibly even a competitor. If you choose to stay, this sense of betrayal can linger among your co-workers, impeding your chances of promotion and good teamwork in the future. Not to mention, if the company experiences a downturn, you may find yourself the first on the chopping block for your perceived disloyalty.

Questions of Commitment: Accepting a counteroffer after already committing to a new employer, will damage your chances of receiving an offer in the future. Not only have you proven yourself untrustworthy, but you’ve also negatively impacted your prospective employer, your recruiter and anyone else who has helped you secure the new position by wasting their time and resources. People talk and word will probably get around.

Stand Firm: There were reasons you chose to move on from your current employer and it is doubtful their counteroffer will really address those issues. Stand firm and graciously decline the counteroffer. You have a bright future ahead with your new company.

THE COUNTEROFFER CONUNDRUM

Once you’ve handed in your resignation, your current employer may try and tempt you to stay. A raise or promotion can sound enticing – why make the effort to move else-where when you can get what you want right here? – but these offers rarely address the issues which made you want to move on in the first place.

The following points will help you evaluate a counteroffer.

Page 24: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

24 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

WORKING WITH A RECRUITMENT AGENCY AND PREMIEREHIRE

09.

If you are new to working with an agency please know that agencies do not charge you a fee if you are referred to or placed at a company. The employer engages an agency to find the type of employee they are seeking and they pay a fee for doing so. Our role as a recruitment agency is to make a good fit to meet the employer’s objectives and the job seekers career goals.

Follow the steps below to get the most out of your recruitment agency from the very start

Page 25: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

25 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

WORKING WITH A RECRUITMENT AGENCY AND PREMIEREHIRE

09.

When you send this information to Premierehire, we will assess if you are a potential fit for any open positions, and our Staffing Manager or one of our Executive Recruiters will contact you to request an interview. You may review posted openings on our website at www.premierehire.com. Please note that some of our opportunities never get to our job board since we actively seek out qualified candidates to meet our clients’ needs as quickly as possible.

To ensure that we can find you when an opportunity arises please register at www.premierehire.com so that you are in our database.

The first step in engaging an agency is to find those that recruit for the type of position you are interested in. This should be evident from their website. Next, apply online at their site and/or e-mail your resume and a brief summary in the body of the e-mail with:

■ What you are looking for (be as specific as possible) ■ Key assets you have to offer ■ Geographic area you are willing to commute or move to ■ Pay range expectations ■ When you are available to work (start date, hours) ■ Are you open to short term or contract work ■ Examples of the companies you would like to work for, plus any you do

not want to work for

Our clients hire mostly on a permanent or contract to permanent basis. Occasionally our clients will have a short term need for a key project, peak work load, or employee leave coverage. These opportunities range from entry level to executive.

In addition to this e-guide, we have additional resources for job seekers on our website. Please go to our resource center at www.premierehire.com/resources.

Smart Start Career Coaching: At Premierehire, we also provide in depth career assessments & job search coaching. This program is designed help you better position yourself based on your strengths, gain some insight and ways to effectively describe and validate your aptitudes and leadership skills, better understand the type of work you will be most successful and satisfied in, and prepare for interviews. Included in this program is feedback on your resume and LinkedIn profile as well as as individualized coaching on your job search. Learn more at our website under Job Seekers and Career Coaching. Visit: http://www.premierehire.com/job-seekers/career-coaching-leadership-coaching

Page 26: Premierehire Career Guide - Jumpstart Your Career

26 | JOB SEEKERS E-GUIDE

09.WORKING WITH A RECRUITMENT AGENCY AND PREMIEREHIRE

At Premierehire, our purpose and passion is to create mutually rewarding career placements for the individual and the organization; helping each party find the right fit.

We follow a unique methodology called SmartStart for hiring and on-boarding in order to maximize individual potential, team synergy, organizational return, and employee retention.Ultimately, we put talented people and companies together. This happens every day at Premierehire – in just about every industry – with a talent roster that includes:

■ Engineers ■ IT/IS experts ■ Finance & Accounting ■ Human Resources ■ Call Center, Administrative, Clerical ■ Sales & Marketing ■ Project Managers ■ Executive Management - C-Suite

We wish you the best of success in your search and hope that our collective wisdom in this document will guide you to the job or the career you desire.

Best regards,

The Premierehire Team