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- 28 2月
Candidate Newsletter – February 2019
RECRUITMENT MARKET UPDATE
This month in the Legal market has seen an uptick in opportunities, mostly for junior to mid-level hires. Manufacturing and technology lead the way for industries and we are seeing more candidates start to consider making a move. Many candidates are looking towards an April start or after the extended Golden Week this year, and this depends a lot on when bonus payments are due.
In Accounting and Finance, market activity in February continues to increase compared with January. Especially, the healthcare sector is very active but we are handling many opportunities in management accounting across industries. Most of our clients have been focusing on candidates in their mid-thirties but, due to the lack of available talent in this area, they have shifted and have started to consider more senior candidates.
In Human Resources, we are currently dealing with several very exciting Internal & Corporate Communications roles – aimed at supporting human resources in areas such as employee engagement and recruiting branding – at senior and Director levels. As a continuing trend, there still is a very strong demand for strategic HR Generalists / Business Partners. Another noticeable trend is that especially our Japanese clients are not rushing to make their hiring decisions nor compromise on their hiring requirements.
The following are some examples of offers out in February 2019:
Legal
- US Logistics – Legal Counsel – 14M
- European Pharmaceutical – General Counsel – 23M
- US Medical Devices – Legal Manager – 10M
Accounting & Finance
- Retail Company – Finance Manager – 12M
- US Pharmaceutical – Senior Accountant – 8M
- European Manufacturer – Controlling – 9M
Human Resources/General Affairs
- Multinational Healthcare Firm – Corporate Training Specialist – 10M
- Sports Apparel Brand – Human Resources / C&B specialist – 6M
- Japan-based Technology Start-up – Senior Recruiter – 8M
Recruitment Focus
What we look for in a CV
Despite all the advances in recruitment technology and candidate sourcing technology we still rely heavily on resumes or CVs, in use for centuries and old enough to have a Latin name!
It is possible you will be sending our resume to HR teams who have a large number of positions to fill, and have as little as 30 seconds to screen each resume – you need to make sure that passes this first test. We have seen literally thousands of résumés and can offer some practical tips on what recruiters look out for in a strong profile.
Formatting
The resume should be clearly laid out, with the relevant information about your education and job history in reverse chronological order and easy to access on first reading, you should not make the recruiter have to jump around the page to find the details they need. There should be a maximum of 2 different fonts and font sizes and it should really be no longer than 3 pages at the most.
A longer resume than this will likely contain some ‘filler’ or experience which is not relevant to the position and may give the impression that you have has some weakness at communicating information in a concise way.
Tailored
The best CVs will be focused tightly on the job description and you should always take the time to match your experience and achievements to what is required. As a rule, if the last 2 positions you have held do not match up, you will probably be rejected at this stage.
Achievements
The best resumes will show not only an outline of responsibilities but will also highlight achievements. For example, you may have managed a team of 10, but what did that team do? Did they hit their targets? Complete projects on time? Stay under budget? What positive contribution did they make to the company? The best resumes will go into detail about these points.
Perfection
It should be obvious but a resume with spelling or grammar mistakes shows that you are not someone who pays attention to detail or who cares about the standard of their work product. Resumes are your best effort to sell yourself in the eyes of a potential employer and should be double and triple-checked and proofread before being sent anywhere.
Logical and Consistent
Ideally, we would be able to read the resume like a short story with a clear and understandable path from the beginning of your career to the present day. These days, it is likely there will be more moves than in the past, but the best profiles will have longer stays and logical reasons for any moves. Of course, there should be very few, if any, unexplained gaps.
Beyond the resume
Hopefully, your resume will be strong enough to get you to an interview, and recruiters and HR will be looking at things like your presentation and ‘soft skills’, and whether you would fit in well with your team. These days it can be guaranteed that recruiters will be checking your social media presence and online information so please be aware of what can be found. You may wish you check your privacy settings so that only what is appropriate is made public.
A resume can be seen largely as a method to eliminate anyone who doesn’t match or gives the wrong impression from the process. We will be happy to help with reviewing resumes and present you in the best possible light to any opportunity.
We provide a free consultation and training session to help clients improve recruitment activity and perfect their agency relations.
For further information on this topic or any other recruitment-related questions, please contact ken@alberto-recruitment.comComments are closed.
