Candidate Tips

Once your interview is arranged, make sure you are properly prepared. Differentiate yourself from the other candidates so that you leave no doubt in the interviewer’s mind that you are the person they should hire.

Research the company and provide evidence that you have done your homework and have thought about why you want to work there. See if the person you are meeting has a profile on LinkedIn and read up on their background and experience.

Plan ahead with a location map, telephone numbers if you are late or lost and always give yourself extra time for unforeseen delays.

Think about the type of questions you are likely to be asked. Interviews tend to follow a similar pattern and include questions designed to establish your specific skill set, motivation and team fit. Look the part, check your appearance and get it right.

Enter the room confidently, offer a strong handshake and remember to introduce yourself. During the interview, smile and make eye contact, and be aware of your body language.

And don’t forget to say thank you at the end of the interview!

Please don't bother with attaching cover letters for your recruiter.

I get about 100 CVs each day, 2,000 a month, so all I care about is the CV and its contents.

I will ask you all the relevant questions to qualify what you are looking for and what your strengths are and you will have the opportunity to talk about your perfect role.

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.

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.

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