Candidate Tips

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.

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.

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.