How Far Would You Go To Get Hired?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Euro London

After the first let say, ten job searches (?) it can quite easily become a tedious, tiring and mind-numbing process. For many, job searching can include filling out endless application forms, composing multiple cover letters to suit your search and thinking of diverse answers, which could hopefully make you to stand out from the other fifty people that applied for the same job position. As a result of this, some job seekers have now chosen to use different tactics in order to get noticed by potential future employers. Here are some of the craziest ways unemployed people have tried to get noticed within the job market.

One job seeker enhanced his CV layout in order for it to look as though it was a Google search engine results page; he then advertised it on his personal LinkedIn profile. Amazingly, an employee at Google came across the Google mock up CV which then led to a job interview.

Another fantastic example which hit the UK headlines at the rear end of 2012 was a recent graduate’s billboard advertisement. A graduate who was finding it a struggle to find a job after applying to countless jobs decided to rent a billboard for £500. The board stated “I spent my last £500 on this billboard, please give me a job.” [1] The billboard also advertised a website (www.employadam.com) which directed possible employers to go onto it in order to find out more about the creative grad. Within only 24 hours this campaign went viral, spreading across a number of social media sites including Twitter and also features in National UK newspapers.

A final example comes from a copywriter who decided to pay for advertising space on Google in order to get noticed. The adverts promoted himself ad also sponsored five chief creative officers at companies in which he wanted to work for. Mr Brownstein admitted to Googling himself on a number of occasions and believed that at some point so would these chief officers – once they would do so they would find his sponsored advertisements. The advertisements would pop up at the top of the search engines page saying “Hey [creative director’s name]: Goooogling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too” with a link to Brownstein’s website (www.alecbrownstein.com). Not surprisingly a few months later Mr Brownstein was contacted by all five directors and consequently offered a job. [2]

Being creative might not always result in a job offering straight away, or even at all. However a number of cases have led to opportunities which may have not been available without thinking outside of the box. What is the most innovative idea you have had when it comes to applying for a job role?

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256527/Employ-Adam-Pacitti-Unemployed-graduate-24-spends-500-billboard-advert-job.html#axzz2JwFnu3ZL

[2] http://mashable.com/2010/05/13/job-google-ad-words/

English Language is Business Gold

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Euro London

Chinese Mandarin is not only the number one speaking language in the world with over 1.2 billion speakers, but China has the second largest economy in the entire world. Despite these facts, Mandarin is not a required business skill in the workplace in China; surprisingly English is as it is considered to be the ‘marker of the elite’.

In today’s economic world, the English language is thought to be the primary tool for international communication. Without English a number of resources would be unattainable to countries worldwide – the English language has an undeniable impact on the global economy. Dorie Clark believes that English will maintain and grow its dominance as years past to “a basic skill needed for the entire workforce”.[1] The British Council Further suggests that by 2020 a billion people will be studying English, possibly to fit into the growing trend of English spoken in business.

At present, English continues to remain the number one language for businesses. Hafrey, a senior lecturer in communications and ethics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, stated that English “will remain the preferred language for the foreseeable future” when speaking in an interview. However is the English language thriving in the business world due to what the world believes the English language symbolises. In a recent study among students in the United Arab Emirate English “is symbolic of modernity, work, higher education, commerce, economics and science and technology”.

Mandarin Chinese is the most useful language for business after English, followed by French at number 2, Arabic at number 3, then followed by, Spanish ranking fourth, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German, Italian, Korean, and Turkish following. [2]
Why do you think the English language is so successful worldwide?

Do you think English as a language will continue to dominate the economy, what are your views?

[1] http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/english-as-essential-language-of-business/4030

[2] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/09/top-3-useful-foreign-languages-for-business-excludes-spanish/

Interview Tips

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Euro London

So, you’ve impressed with your CV and landed yourself an interview even though the odds haven’t truly been in your favour. As previously mentioned in our blog (Invest in Your Future Career By Using A CV Clinic); a staggering 53.7% of CV’s are thrown away [1] so ideally you want to continue in the winning streak by impressing your potential employer.

The next crucial stage is here – the interview! Now you may be confident in your approach when it comes to the interview process therefore leading you to have a successful interview. However there are some candidates that even though they have all the skills and qualifications needed for a job role they choke on the interview stage. The interview stage although initially positive can leave candidates to feel anxious, leave them with a blank mind or in some extreme cases even physically faint.

Is this you? Well don’t worry because we’ve decided to give you a few interview tips which will help you fly through your interview without all of the turbulence.

Do Your Research – Make sure you are entirely prepared for your interview. It’s almost a certainty that specific questions will be asked during interviews so make sure you expect these questions and you have a unique way of answering them in order to stand out. It is also important to know the ins and outs of a company before you attend an interview. Therefore why not look into the company’s history, what the company is currently up to and if there are any developments that are planning to become reality. Most importantly expect the unexpected. Employers can sometimes like to put interviewees on the spot to see how they cope in under pressure or in certain situations.

Practice Your Answers – As we all know interviews can be daunting leading us to develop a sudden case of temporary amnesia. However if you practice your answers you are more likely to remember what it is you want to convey. Remember to be careful though and do not make yourself sound like a robot, the interviewer will pick up on this and it won’t work in your favour.

Look The Part – Believe it or not your personal appearance does count for a lot in an interview. Just a few tips to take into consideration; tattoos should be hidden so your image looks professional, have a shower so you are looking and smelling clean and deter yourself from using too much aftershave or perfume as you don’t want to make the interviewer pass out. Further to this make sure you are groomed and dressed in a presentable manner (even if the job role you are applying for is informal).

Be Positive – Positivity will put you in a better frame of mind and can even alter your answers in an interview. If you go into an interview believing in yourself this will come across in not only your answers but your body language too which can have a positive effect on your interviewer.

Are there any tips that have worked for you in an interview, if so what?

[1] http://www.thecvclinic.com/

Invest in Your Future Career By Using A CV Clinic

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Euro London

Do you realise 53.7% of CVs are tossed straight into the bin without more than a 30 second glance from recruiters? Your CV should be your marketing tool that showcases your relevant skills, abilities, and accomplishments, expressing your credentials in a way that allows employers to truly notice you. The professional job market is highly competitive hence why you should refrain from using CV templates as it’s unlikely to help you in your application. Some may argue that CV templates are a good idea but why you would want to have a document that looks exactly like everyone else’s is beyond us.

The negatives of using a CV template can include:
Your CV will not be unique enough as hundreds of people have access to the same template. A unique and individuality needs to be expressed via your CV as it is the first impression an employer will receive of you.

By using a template it simply communicates to a potential employer that you are unable to format a document yourself which in many cases will not work in your favour as it may imply that you have a poor work ethic.

There are a few websites that offer help when it comes to writing up a CV that offer their own qualifications. For example if you are a bilingual speaker they rate the level of your language. Now when you hear this you may think ‘What a brilliant idea’ however this is not the case as employers do not know the marking criteria or what each level even truly means which can be off putting and time wasting.

However it’s not all doom and gloom when it comes to CV templates, they do offer the absolute basics when it comes to writing a CV – something which might be a lot of help to people. On the other hand we highly suggest CV clinics are used. CV clinics can indeed be the better option when it comes to your CV. Not only are clinics better than a generic template but they offer a personal touch, an opportunity that allows the clinic to see the type of person you really are when it comes to the working world and are able to put this across via your CV.

Euro London Appointments is attending the language live show from the 19^th October until the 21^st October [1] where we will be holding our very own CV clinic for language candidates. So why not come and join us – it’s free!

[1] http://www.languageshowconnect.co.uk/Content/Welcome-LS-LIVE-Homepage

Why A Recruitment Consultancy Is Better Than Flying Solo.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Euro London

Technology VS Human Interaction.

Technology, what would we do without it? The vast development of technology has enabled businesses to accomplish what was once considered unthinkable. With travelling being more accessible than it’s ever been, to the invention of the internet; the rise in global technology is allowing businesses to connect at an easier rate than ever. Nevertheless, the power of technology can be lost in value almost instantly in virtual space if you aren’t articulating human interaction alongside it.

As a multilingual recruitment consultancy we liaise with candidates and clients across the world so technology is something we value greatly. However, in saying this it does not detract our attention from having real human interaction. Whether communication is over the telephone, via email or face to face meetings with clients or candidates we as a consultancy can provide it.

There are further downfalls with the rise of technology which is automated services; having to speak to a robot like voice rather than a real person. Recent research from our candidate’s shows that they believe the ‘human touch’ is a necessity in today’s job market rather than CV’s collecting dust virtually online. If recruitment consultancies articulate the balance of technology and human interaction everyone (businesses and applicants) can benefit. Further to this consultancies can (particularly in the on going economic crisis) be a great asset to companies and candidates looking for the right person to hire. In August 2012 Eurostat estimates that 25.466 million men and women in the EU-27, of whom 18.196 million in the euro area (EA-17), were unemployed. [1] With the current economic crisis employment rates are at their highest in Europe making it very difficult to find a job. It could be argued that with the help of consultancies unemployment rates could drop as recruiters can filter the right candidates with the skills and attributes needed for job positions while the business hiring can focus on the interview process.

Top tips when working with a recruitment consultancy; be truthful about your experiences, credentials, income, career goals and reasons for leaving your prior employment.

[1] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics

So you want to be a…?

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

You don't have to be a teacher!

At Euro London, every day we’re recruiting for a wide range of jobs involving languages. Yet we’re often surprised at the fact that many people don’t really know what opportunities are out there. Time and time again, we hear that people think their only option is to become a translator or teacher. We have run workshops with school students who didn’t realise what great jobs they could do if they continued to study languages and this proved to be one of the most popular discussion points among graduates at the Language Show, which we recently attended. Plus in our recent poll you told us what you wanted to hear about most was what jobs you could do with languages.

If there was more awareness about what exciting jobs multilingual people can do, in which you can really make a difference and more importantly earn good money, would it encourage more young people to learn languages? Well, we hope so, which is why we’re starting a series of blogs profiling some of the interesting jobs we’ve recruited for. If there are any you have in mind and would like more information on, just leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to cover it!

Look out for the “so you want to be a…” posts coming soon. We’ll also be posting links to the blogs on Twitter and Facebook to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

Japanese speaking roles on the rise

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

You may have read in the news recently that we have seen a sharp rise in the number of Japanese speaking roles in the financial services sector. We have found that the roles we recruit for in this sector are largely determined by the stability of the market, to see so many coming our way is a clear indication that the recovery is in full swing. We are also hearing from our Japanese clients that the strength of the Yen is encouraging more companies to invest in Europe.

However it is apparent that Japanese companies are not just looking for employees that can speak the language; equally as important is the ability to understand the culture and the way business operates. Candidates are now required to understand the pace of business in Japan and also how to interact with people. In fact there is a well known story of a multi million pound business deal in which an American supplier did not present business cards to Japanese managers in the correct manner, and toyed with them throughout the meeting. A major sign of disrespect in Japanese business culture, the deal fell through!

It is important therefore for applicants to understand a country’s culture– just speaking a language will not always get you the job.

Life as a recruitment consultant

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Fancy a career in recruitment? Two of Euro London’s new graduate trainees Phil and Liz talk about life as a recruitment consultant.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjiramsX4rI]

Fancy working in recruitment?

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Check out our latest video of two of our new recruits – Rebecca and Fiona. See what life is like at EuroLondon and why they chose to step into recruitment.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IerubIIW04]

Euro London works with ‘toy of the century’!

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We’ve got some exciting news we thought would be nice to share with our readers. We have secured a contract with the LEGO Company to provide them with staff for their European Contact Centre. The LEGO Company is looking for approximately 50 staff to work during their high season.

We will be providing the LEGO Company with Customer Service staff to work in their Customer Service centre in Slough which will deal with customers across the whole of Europe. So that means we are looking for candidates that speak a variety of languages including German, Danish, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.

This is great news for us and we are excited to be working with the LEGO Company to help them deliver an excellent level of service across Europe. If you are interested in one of these positions and have the necessary skills or know of someone who you think fits the bill then be sure to get in touch with Sarah Oades at s.oades@eurolondon.com – and don’t waste any time – we are looking for candidates who can start in the Autumn!