It has become evident in the last 6 months that the search for jobs in science has become much more difficult. There are fewer jobs and more competition – two forces which combine to make the task of even getting an interview a challenge. Here we explore some tactics which may give you an edge in the job search.
Tag Archives: Recruitment
Lessons learned from Jack White
Last night I had the pleasure of attending an interview with Jack White, guitarist form the White Stripes in Trinity College. A rock star in every sense of the word, he arrived exactly as one might expect him to, all black clothes, white rockstar boots and top hat. Some (I think!) white make up and Dylan-esque pencil moustache topped off the look.
He gave a superb insight into his apprenticeship as an upholsterer in Detroit, lessons learned and how he always believed his calling was in art / music (stitching poetry and putting vinyl discs inside couches, writing receipts in crayon!). Current muses and thoughts on his marriage / family were also interesting. Jack fielding some questions from the audience about finding the “lost” America and comparing Britney Spears to Dylan, Bowie and himself – apparantly in some ways he feels she is being truer to herself than they are!
When asked what advice he would give to up and coming musicians, he tied the interview together nicely with the theme of night – authenticity. New musicians need to love what they’re doing, if they don’t love their work then how can anyone else? I think this is a concept that can be applied different areas in life. He advised to stay away from sites like myspace to promote themselves, instead to focus on creativity and getting out to the fans.
As a company focussed on Web 2.0, of course we will not take his advice literally! However, I think the substance is relevant – love what you do, be authentic, differentiate and people will naturally be attracted to you. Stretching this out somewhat and applying it to canddiates on the job hunt, I would suggest it means getting “out there” more, don’t just send out 10s of CVs out to various recruiters and potential employers, focus on quality. Pick up the phone, get to the right people and project your value and personality upon them.
Note: this postwould like to doff its cap to a couple of other business / ideas blogs: Robin @ Bytesurgery, the guys @ Contrast and to a lesser extent, the 37signals signal v. noise blog, all of which are superb.
-Brian (brian dot c at lifescience dot ie)
The Web 2.0 Recruitment Era
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs, Technorati, MySpace, Social Media…. the list in endless… but what is all the fuss about and how can it find me a job, i hear you ask…
Web 2.0 is simply the catchy term for the next generation of internet technologies. In the same way mobile phones evolved from Analogue (088) to GSM (087) to GPRS the to 3G and HSPDA; from just making a standard call to making a video call, the internet is in a state of flux. A tidal wave of new rich applications are now available, enhancing the internet for the end-user. This has been made possible by the widespread peretration of broadband to the masses, combined with a reduction in the cost of computer hardware.
So how does it increase my chances of getting a job???
Web 2.0 gives you instant access to information; information and knowledge are essential resources in the job search. Twitter is a good case study to use here; instant updates on twitter, affectionately termed “tweets” in the cybersky, allow you to recieve information immediately. Imagine the scenario: Recruitment company A gets a call from Employer B who requests to see a shortlist of candidates for Job C. The job is tweeted immediately and simultaenously sent to the administration dept. for dissemination to the job boards. 5 suitable candidates reply to the Recruitment Company via Twitter before the job is even advertised. The employer recieves these applicants and is happy with the response and asks to see no more applicants. The job doesnt even go up on the job boards, hence you have lost your chance. Some analyst say that 70% of open positions are not advertised on the major job boards.
Web 2.0 facilitates networking. Facebook and LinkedIn are good case studies in this example. Imagine you became a fan of the Life Science Recruitment page on FaceBook. Consultant A sees that you became a fan and checks out your profile and sees that in your professional info (which you obviously have filled out!!!) you work as a QC Analyst. Ten minutes later Consultant A gets a call from Employer B regarding a new QC Analyst vacancy – guess who is fresh in the consultants mind??? Furthermore, finding a good recruitment consultant on LinkedIn and adding the personal touch by sending a message via this medium, makes you stand out…
Web 2.0 increases your exposure in the online world, increased exposure correlates with increased opportunity. One of the most difficult tasks these days is getting recognised. Why ride a bicycle on the information superhighway when you can drive a tank??? The more you put yourself out there, the greater your chances of finding a job. However, a note of caution, be careful with sensitive information such as addresses and date of birth. Don’t put these on your Web 2.0 profiles. A handy tip to avoid spam is to put your email in this format: myname [at] myisp {dot} com, as oppossed to [email protected] - spam email scrapers don’t recognise the former, and many people are savvy to this format.
Blogs can often give you access to ‘off the cuff’ or insider information – this information can often give you an edge over your competitors, as this blog post will probably do!
The secret is not to be afraid of Web 2.0;Â people in the past were hesitant of DVD’s, Electric Cars and Online Banking – now they are here to stay, and guess what, so is Web 2.0.
– Eamonn (Email: eor [at] lifescience [dot] ie ) jg7baqve9t