April 06 Newsletter

Terrific Temp

Outstanding performance from our temps doesn’t go unnoticed. We truly appreciate their efforts and therefore would like to acknowledge the great work they are doing for us.

Our March Temp of the Month award goes to Julie Berger. Julie is currently working at Digicall where she has received glowing reports.

Julie is pictured here whilst on assignment at Digicall. She gets a $100 voucher from the store of her choice.

Make sure you stand out

There is something quite excruciating about writing a resume. Maybe it's just the struggle of capturing your professional life on a few pages. For others, it's filling in the resume gaps or working out when embellishment becomes outright lying. When you write or update your resume here are a few things to keep in mind.

Every part of the resume should be a positive statement about you. It should be concise, to the point and show how your career has progressed but lay it out with your most recent job at the start. A short profile at the top providing an overview of your strengths, experience and training/education is a good way to get a hiring manager hooked quickly.

No silly email addresses when writing your contact details. Anyone who doubts the need to say this should see some of the silly emails that are left on resumes! One favourite would have to be one that included both the words "murder" and "killer". What is with that? Avoid waffling sentences filled with overused clichés like "proactive" or "highly focused on outcomes" as well as a "responsibilities" section that goes on forever. Also, review your hobbies and interests section or get someone else to. If you are going for a job in a risk-taking environment then don't list a bunch of risk adverse hobbies. Don't lie either, just don't list any.

The length of your resume depends on your profession/industry and or seniority but three to five pages is the general rule or up to two pages for a school leaver or grad.

Finally, and it does need to be said, check your resume for typos, spelling and grammatical errors. Check it again and then get someone else to check it.

Article from: Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au

Behavioural Interviewing

What is it?
Behavioural interviewing is a technique used by employers in which the questions asked assist the employer in making predictions about a potential employee's future success based on actual past behaviours, instead of based on responses to hypothetical questions.

In behaviour-based interviews, you are asked to give specific examples of when you demonstrated particular behaviours or skills.

General answers about behaviour are not what the employer is looking for. You must describe in detail a particular event, project, or experience and you dealt with the situation, and what the outcome was.

Examples of Behavioural Interviewing Questions
Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do?

Give me an example of an important goal you had to set and tell me about your progress in reaching that goal.

Give an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.

Give me an example of a problem you faced on the job, and tell me how you solved it.

Tell me about a situation in the past year in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker.

Responding well to these types of questions
Be specific, not general or vague. Don't describe how you would behave. Describe how you did actually behave. If you later decided you should have behaved differently, explain this. The employer will see that you learned something from experience.

A month in the life of a Beaumont

It is with sadness that I inform you of the loss of our fabulous office manager Debbie. Debbie has left us after 2 years of fun and frivolity with Beaumont Consulting. Anyway, enough tears because we have had Pip on board for the past 3 weeks and she has been doing a smashing job!

We also have added another recruiter to the Beaumont team! Joining the team is Claire Mahomet – welcome to you both Pip and Claire! Have a look at our “The Team” page to learn a bit more about the new 2.

Joke of the month

Top 15 things to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk

15. "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."

14. "This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in the last time management course you sent me to."

13. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper"

12. "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm!"

11. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"

10. "I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance"

9. "Actually I'm doing a "Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP) I learned it at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend.

8. "I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work related stress."

7. "Darn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."

6. "The coffee machine is broken...."

5. "Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot."

4. "Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won't wear off!"

3. "Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the workaholic!"

2. "I wasn't sleeping, I was trying to pick up contact lens without hands."

AND THE #1 BEST THING TO SAY IF YOU GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AT YOUR DESK:

"Amen"

Quote of the month

I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.

George Burns