It starts before you get to reception! I had feedback recently that a candidate was rude to the lady on the front desk; unsurprisingly the interview was a waste of time. I had another client who didn’t like the candidate’s Porsche. I had a candidate who had different colour buttons on his jacket cuff. And a salesman cribbing names out of the visitors book. They were all "nos".

When you are going for an interview you need to be on your best behavior and "High Receive" before you get to the car park.

You have a set of skills that are relevant to the job; if you leave the interview without talking about these skills then you will not get the job. You will be asked questions about why you left all your jobs, about your education and about your previous roles. Of course you need to answer those questions, but you need to think about how you can use these questions to your advantage.

When you get asked about a particular role, as an interviewee you are duty bound to talk about the skills you gained there that are relevant to the job. The tricky part is to do this without launching into a lecture and waffling away for 5 minutes. So when you get your chance:

• Answer the question
• Talk about what you want to say
• Smile and stop talking

As a recruiter I need to get your CV loaded on to the our recruitment software, then when a job comes up I can find your details, call you and discuss the role.

After more than 20 years IT recruitment experience, I know that clients want local candidates and candidates want local jobs. So 99 times out of 100 I start with a postcode search and I look for local people, with the right skills.

Unfortunately with identity fraud people are more and more reluctant to put their address and postcode on their CVs. I understand this, but it makes my life difficult and it reduces the chances of me finding your CV. I would recommend that you put your city or town, country and postcode but not your street and house number. I am not sure if this is good security advice but it seems to solve the problem.

Some candidates don't put their phone numbers or email addresses on the CV. I find this unforgiveable; it is like leaving the house without trousers. There is simply no excuse for not putting all of your contact details on your CV. If I can't contact you right now, I am going to contact someone else.

Your working career will be about 40 years, so you need to be able to work through differences in any job and come out on top, otherwise you will be changing jobs 40 times and end up as un-hireable.

Too often people change jobs over something quite minor that could have been sorted out. Before even thinking about looking for another job, ask your boss for a pay rise, for training, or a change in job role or new projects. You never know until you ask, and you don't want to find out when you resign.

Often candidates are so delighted to speak to a recruiter in person (rather than leave a message) that they blow it. The most important thing is to answer any questions with relevant quick answers, be positive and stick to facts. At all costs avoid going through your whole CV on the phone or moaning about the job market.
 
Be ready to answer the money question, "What are you pitching yourself at money wise?" 
 
9 out of 10 people get their next job based on the experience gained in their last job, so talk about that. Try to avoid talking about your early career at IBM or Texas Instruments in 1970.
 
If you live near a major train station it might be worth saying what areas are commutable.

60% of the candidates Ambis find have registered their CVs on job boards, and through our daily searching we find them. To get the best out of job boards you need to:

1. Optimise the use of key technical skills, think about what words will be searched on and use them frequently in your CV. This is the most important aspect of uploading your details to a Job Board, or your CV will never come up on a search.
2. Sign up for jobs by email – you will receive regularly updates on new jobs. Make sure you use plenty of keywords in to ensure you get a good match on jobs.
3. Use your post code (but you don’t need to list your house number or street name) – most agents use the post code search facility – if you are moving to a new location, put the new post code.
4. Make sure you post a decent CV with all your relevant technical and functional skills – not just skills you think are relevant for one particular job you have spotted – there may be agents with a better role for you – who won’t find you if you haven't listed all your technical skills.
5. You should use common software to create your CV such as Microsoft Word. Remember that Microsoft Word 2003 cannot open documents created in Word 2007 so always save your files using the Word 2003 option.

If you are asked about money, it is best to go with the following: "It is the job, not the money." And then, if you are brave enough, you can say "And I want this job".

If you talk about money in your interview there are a few ways it can go:

• You sell yourself too cheaply and lose out on a pay rise.
• You sell yourself too high and look greedy.
• You get it absolutely right and get the best figure for you.

Talking about money at interview can be awkward and it can make you greedy. Everyone knows we want to earn as much as possible, but the rule is that you can't say so.

If you are interviewing through Ambis, your CV will have a salary figure on it. Let us handle the negotiation and avoid you having to cheapen the interview by haggling. But if the client really wants to haggle, then you have to, so be prepared to talk about money.