Considering a career move?
They say that changing job is one of the most stressful things that anybody does in their lifetime. Perhaps that is why so many people stay where they are, unhappy in their jobs and feeling as if they are wasting their lives. The truth is, there is nothing more exhilarating than deciding to change your job. Different events allow different people to make that snap decision, nevertheless once that initial step is made the hardest part of the task is over. Often people have found that once they have made their mind up to leave their current employer they begin to enjoy work more!

At The Tipperary Recruitment Company we are here to alleviate the initial stress and to provide relevant and up to date advice about the employment market. We welcome telephone calls or e-mails from any individual considering a career move. Our proximity to our candidates is a major advantage to us and we are available to meet with you to discuss potential opportunities, just contact us!

Our website is regularly updated with all the latest jobs that we have to offer. For the latest jobs click here.

Based on our own experience, we have prepared some guidelines for you on CV compilation and interview tips and techniques:

Preparing Your CV

In compiling a CV, there are some standard guidelines that should be adhered to as closely as possible, but at the end of the day, it is your marketing tool and you should feel comfortable that what you are presenting to potential employers is the best possible representation of you, so don’t feel obliged to constrain your own personal touch as long as you still convey a neat, professional manner.

To ensure that potential employers can quickly and easily find the information they want, it is best to stick to the standard layout of a CV. This format puts your personal and contact details at the top, followed by your educational achievements, then your professional experience.

Always include your email address (if you have one) in your contact details as most employers and agencies use computerised databases and may prefer to communicate with you via email rather than post. It is a good idea to provide a landline number as an alternative to your mobile as there are times when bad coverage or dead batteries hinder contact, however, do not give a work phone number as a contact number if you cannot talk freely about future career options whilst at work.

Your educational profile need not include every detail from start to finish, however, you should expressly state your highest level of educational qualification, for example, if you are a Degree holder, specify the exact Degree title and your result (e.g. Honours Bachelor Degree in Business Studies, overall grade: 2.1/Second Class Honours). If you do not have a third-level qualification, you should list your Leaving Certificate subjects and results.

When detailing your professional or work experience, always begin with your current or most recent position. If it’s appropriate, you can use bullet points to condense the main responsibilities of your role; this method avoids the repetition of using the same phrases such as “I was responsible for” or “my main duties were” and the bullet points also draw the reader’s eye to your capabilities. If you have had irrelevant or numerous part-time jobs, you don’t necessarily have to list them all or to include details of each one.

CVs generally conclude with a section detailing personal achievements and interests and this can often cause people to rack their brains trying to think of ways to impress the reader. For people with lots of social interests such as sport or voluntary work, this section is a great opportunity to display their personal and social skills to future employers, but for candidates who are content to watch TV or go out to the cinema or the pub some nights, it can be very difficult to put an interesting spin on their pastimes.
While personal characteristics are an important aspect of a person’s CV, keep them to a minimum if you find you’ve resorted to listing achievements from your childhood; keep everything relevant and up-to-date.

Referee’s contact details can be included on your CV only if you have obtained permission from the people in question and remember, only include referees whom you know for sure will speak positively about you.

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Interview Tips

Attending interviews can be a daunting experience for many people. There are some who relish the opportunity to “sell” themselves and excel at interacting with interviewers, but for many, it is an intimidating experience that can cause an anxious sleepless night pre-interview and result in feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment post-interview.

At The Tipperary Recruitment Company, we know how it feels to be on both sides of the equation, so we have put together a few pointers and tips based on our own experiences and some “insider knowledge”!

To start at the very beginning may seem a bit unnecessary but it can make all the difference to your frame of mind and your success in the interview, so the first tip we have is one of the most important, and that is to make sure that you

Do your homework on the company

While you will not be expected to know every last detail about the organisation you hope to work in, it is expected that if you are interested enough to apply to them, you should be interested enough to know a bit about them. Most interviewers will ask what you already know about the company, ostensibly by way of ensuring that they don’t waste time explaining the basic principles of their business to someone who already knows, but it also makes a distinction between candidates who exhibit initiative and enthusiasm by researching the company and those who do not.
The vast majority of businesses today have websites where you can usually find a section entitled “About us” full of general information about company structure, history and mission. At the very least, read through this section the night before your interview, and if the position you are applying for is in a specific department, try to find something relevant to that department on the site that you can talk about during the interview.

Read your own CV
This may seem pointless but it is actually very important to be 100% confident and familiar with what you have written in your CV, particularly if you composed it a few weeks or more before your interview. Make sure exam results, dates and job descriptions are accurate and fresh in your head so that when the interviewer refers to something on your CV, you don’t look surprised or have to correct the interviewer. Also, the interviewer may try to lighten the mood by discussing your hobbies and the last thing you want is to stammer your way through an excuse about only really doing one scuba-diving lesson on holidays as opposed to being a “keen deep-sea-diver”!

Dress appropriately
While it is important to be comfortable in an interview, it is more important to present yourself in as professional and neat a manner as possible, so it is advisable to wear a suit or equivalent apparel. Casual or revealing clothes are never acceptable; even if you believe the company to be laid-back or regard the interview as quite informal, it would be a mistake to arrive under-dressed, as it could convey the impression that you do not take the company or the interview seriously enough to dress appropriately.

Plan to arrive ten minutes early
Traffic nowadays can seriously hamper progress on any given day and the last thing you want is to get delayed unexpectedly en-route to your interview, adding to your nerves and stress levels! If you aim to be there ten minutes before you’re scheduled to begin your interview, it allows for any minor delays or it gives you a few minutes to freshen up before you meet your interviewer. If the interview is being held at an unfamiliar place then it would be advisable to drive the route some days before your interview, or at the very least, have your route pre-planned, either with someone who knows the way, or you could log onto the AA route planner website or to view maps of a particular area you are unfamiliar with, you can log onto the MapQuest site.

During the interview:
Once you have entered the room and shaken hands with your interviewer/s try to be conscious of your appearance and your body language; when you take your seat, don’t slouch in your chair or shift around as a result of sitting in an uncomfortable position, as these mannerisms could make you appear inattentive, uninterested or fidgety.

No interviewer will penalise a candidate for being nervous, but at the same time, most employers are looking for confident, capable people to join their organisation, so maintaining eye-contact and avoiding “yes” and “no” answers are fundamental necessities.
Interviewers are only human too, so there’s no need to feel intimidated.
They do not always ask questions in a way that is instantly meaningful to the candidate, so if you are asked a question that does not seem to make sense to you, or could have multiple answers, it is quite alright to ask the interviewer to clarify the question, or to put the question into your own words and ask the interviewer if you have understood the question correctly. On the other hand, if the question is meaningful but you are just unsure of how to answer it, take a breather – either indicate that you’re thinking about the answer, or if you have been provided with a glass of water or cup of coffee, lift the cup as the interviewer is nearing the end of their question and mull over your answer as you take a sip. Taking a moment to gather your thoughts is perfectly acceptable and may even demonstrate that you are quite relaxed and earnest about the whole process.

Ask questions at the end of the interview
This is an important aspect of interviews that can very often set a candidate apart from the rest. An interview is primarily focused on the employer asking questions about the candidate; in order to redress the balance, candidates can have some questions prepared that will display a genuine interest in the position and the company. This is another reason why you should do some research on the company prior to your interview; there may be something on their website that indicates, for example, future expansion plans or takeovers that you can ask about or discuss with your interviewer.

Remember, an interview is primarily to find out about you – you will have already detailed your technical skills and abilities in your CV, so while the interview is undoubtedly a chance for employers to delve further into your professional background, overall, it is a questions and answers session about you and what better person to answer than you! You are an expert on you.

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