‘Unique Selling Point’ (or USP) is a marketing idea developed to help people in business improve their sales. As a job seeker, you also have something to sell: YOURSELF! By developing your USPs learn how to sell yourself when applying for a job and stand out from the crowd. These…>
Jobseeking and Interview Tips
Understanding a Job Advert: What is an Informal Contact?
Many job adverts, although not all, list the name of an informal contact. This is the name and email address or phone number of a member of the academic staff who can be very useful to you as a jobseeker and can help you put together a winning application. But…>
How To Succeed In Competency Interviews
What are competency-based interviews? Competency-based interviews use questions which aim to find out how you have used specific skills in your previous experience and how you approach problems, tasks and challenges. Also called behavioural or situational questions, they are often used in first interviews. These interviews are based on the…>
Top Tips for a Telephone Interview
Conducting a Telephone interview is becoming more and more common amongst recruiters, but that’s only half the story when it comes to job hunting. Find out why, when you’re looking for work, the phone can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Before Even in the days of online…>
Being Headhunted: 5 Ways to Cope with Being Approached by Other Employers
This article offers some advice on how to cope with such a situation when you are headhunted and how to make the best of the opportunities on offer. Headhunting, or employers recruiting third parties to offer jobs to employees of other companies, is common in the commercial sector but it…>
Academic Jobs: How to Complete an Application Form
It sounds a little odd that highly qualified applicants might need advice on filling in application forms, but according to feedback from employers including academics and human resources staff, applicants often overlook even the most obvious points when applying for a job, and therefore can do with all the help…>
Applying for a Job – Top Tips
Applying for a job can take over your life. We want to make it easier, so we have created some articles with inside information to guide you through the early stages. How do you go about applying for a job? How can you make your application successful? This article offers…>
Transferable Skills: The Secret of Success
Can you put over your point of view effectively? Would you be able to utilise your transferable skills to explain a complex technical point to someone with only basic English skills? Have you any idea what to do if a colleague trips over and knocks himself out? Are you any…>