ZA
How to ensure your CV is read by the robots
Recruiters report that due to the overwhelming supply of talent today, desperate job seekers are flooding every position—but that 50% or more of applicants are unqualified for the position to which they are applying. To save companies time and money, the hiring process has been almost entirely automated. Most large firms will now use software [...]
GUEST COMMENT: How to send out three hundred job applications for an equity trading job, and still get nowhere
I have a friend who was a junior equities trader. He joined the bank straight out of university, worked there for a few years and was made redundant. Four months into his redundancy, we spoke and he mentioned to me that he’d submitted more than 300 job applications. I didn’t totally believe this and asked [...]
GUEST COMMENT: What happens when your investment banking CV sends the wrong message
Mixed messages in CVs usually derive from the writer’s own mind set and that rule applies to investment bankers, fund managers, private bankers, traders of any age or nationality. From my City experience I find there are usually two mind sets which create mixed messages: Superhero and scarecrow. What are these and how can they be [...]
Do you genuinely want to get a new job? Try this, this and this
If you, like our guest columnist last week, have been sending out applications and CVs and getting no response, you may be feeling annoyed. Worse: you may be feeling apathetic. Don’t. And don’t be. As John Lees, career strategist and author of How to Get a Job You’ll Love, explains in this particular Harvard Business [...]
How many applications must you make before you get a job?
Last week Channel 4 News reported on the case of a visually impaired man who finally found a job after making 2,000 applications. Stephen Stubbs had reportedly considered himself unemployable and was delighted and astonished to discover this not to be the case after all. “If I can do it anyone can do it, just [...]
What South African recruiters want to see on your CV
The importance of a CV cannot be overestimated: it is your calling card to a prospective employer who does not know you. Get it right, and doors will open. Get it wrong, and you will be stuck at square one. We have asked some o fSouth Africa’s most respected recruitment firms what they look for [...]
GUEST COMMENT: How to rework your CV for roles outside the financial services industry
In the current environment, many of you may be thinking of broadening your job search so that it’s not restricted to financial services. If so, it is advisable to bear the following points in mind. 1. Research before you rush in Carefully research what your target companies(s) and target sector value – what skills do [...]
Things to bear in mind if you happen to be updating your CV over Christmas
It’s nearly Christmas. Needless to say, you may be thinking of using this valuable family time to update your CV. In the event that you are, we’ve asked some CV writing professionals to provide a few very quick tips to prevent any terrible mistakes. This is what they suggest: 1. Don’t be a perfectionist “You’re [...]
GUEST COMMENT: Why you should send your CV to me, an external recruiter, instead of to banks’ own recruiters in-house
Recently, a candidate asked me if I feared competition from in-house recruiters. Although it was tempting to make all the standard jibes about in-house recruiters being agents who didn’t make it in a proper recruitment firm like mine, I decided it was better to demonstrate to the candidate precisely how their banks despise their in-house recruiters [...]
Techniques for turning on employers when you are massively overqualified
There’s a growing possibility that a lot of very talented, very highly qualified financial services professionals might be looking for jobs in the next 6 months. What should you do if you are among them? 1) Make it absolutely clear that you really want the job If you are applying for a job you could [...]
Follow eFinancialCareers
What is RSS?
Advice
