An irreverent (but somewhat serious ) look at the recruitment process

OR :

What you wont hear from other agencies :

Before compiling our list of do’s and don’t’s we read through lots of other agency websites to see what they had to say :

Most said : Arrive early,get the right date, dress smart , research the company, and many many more obvious things that we believe don’t need to be said. In fact at action blue we take it as read that you will do this.…..hopefully ours will add a little more value.

Your CV :
We read hundreds of CV’s a week….make it stand out……and lastly if you are going to write Curriculum Vitae on your CV spell it correctly (you will be amazed by the amount of people that get this wrong…..its the first line , its often in bold and its spelt incorrectly.

Keep it brief : there is nothing worse than reading about your part time job in 1969

Originality : its only a bit of paper but try to make it stand out by putting something on there that might make someone want to talk to you.

Foreign languages : If your French/Spanish/Italian etc extends to “una cerveza” or speaking loudly and slowly when in Magaluf don’t put this on your CV.

Passwords : Remove them !! We are good at getting people jobs not guessing passwords.

Tailor it : Its so easy in this day and age to apply over the net and there is nothing worse than receiving a copied and pasted application (addressed to someone else ) that you know the person has put no thought into.

Contact information : This may sound obvious but we have seen it before. If you send us a CV and you don’t put a number we cant get hold of you to call you in for an interview.

Do not use txt spk : This hasn’t quite reached the professional environment yet and is still considered unacceptable. U will nt get an intervU lol.

Show your CV to someone : Fresh eyes often spot glaring errors.

Interviews :
Our consultants will have fully prepared you by letting you know the who’s , where’s, why’s and when’s but once you are there you are on your own.

You may be ideal for the job, it may be your dream job but sadly until someone somewhere comes up with a better way you are still going to have to survive the dreaded interview. You are probably not a sales person but this is your moment to “sell yourself”….for the next 45 minutes you need to pretend that you are a sales person and “sell” yourself in the best possible light…..once you are in the interview there is nobody else to do this for you…..your Grandma may think you are the best thing since sliced bread but the person sitting opposite doesn’t know this and its down to you to convince him/her.

Get off to a good start : Most interviewers form an initial opinion : positive or negative : either way this opinion is very difficult to change during the course of an interview. ( This is only good news if the opinion formed is positive )

55% - the way we dress, act and walk through the door
38% - the quality of our voice grammar and overall confidence, and a mere...
7% - from what we actually say
78% of statistics are innacurate

Put some credit on your phone : Traffic jams, not being able to find the car park, last minute questions……no credit = no phone calls. ( Perhaps we also need to remind you to turn your phone onto silent….interviews are tough enough without having to explain embarrassing ring tones.)

Smile : The person opposite you is looking for technical ability but also is probably going to have to spend 8 hours a day sitting with you. This is more time than we spend with our loved ones so we recruit people we get on with.

Keep to the truth : You will be caught out, Mostly because your nose will grow but also because a trained interviewer will spot you a mile off. This aside if you pretend you can type at 100 words a minute you will get caught on your first day with very embarrassing consequences.

Nerves : How often have you prepared in great detail for an interview only to fall apart at the first hurdle and get the first question totally wrong ? It’s a nightmare and sadly there is no magic formula for nerves (apart from imagining the interviewer naked and we do not recommend this ) Remember that an interview is a two way process, yes you want the job but you also have something to offer the person sitting opposite you….this normally helps. ( ask for a glass of water this sometimes helps too )

The toughest question : What is your biggest weakness ???
Please don’t answer as follows : I am lazy , I am always late, I don’t respect authority , I have no weaknesses. This is a slightly unfair question as ,as we have mentioned above, you are here to sell yourself not point out your weaknesses. If pushed the traditional way to answer this is to turn a weakness into a strength. Eg : I am impatient. Whilst this is a weakness it can also be perceived as a good thing as it will mean you want to get things done quickly.

And lastly :

ASK US …..its why we are here and its what we are good at. So from the moment you ask us to find you work to the moment you ask us to stop we are here for you. Our consultants will have fully prepared you by letting you know the who’s , where’s, why’s and when’s but once you are there you are on your own.

And that’s it : The job is as good as yours. Now all you need to do is buy your new suit and celebrate in style (and we are sure you wont need any tips for that ).