Flexible New Deal scandal has published 10 tips for Jobseekers to help them succeed. These tips are focused on the UK and assuming the jobseeker is receiving Jobseekers Allowance.

10 Jobseeker Tips

1. The Labour Market System (LMS) isn’t the be all or end all to find employment

The Jobcentre’s Labour Market System (LMS) is a requirement to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) when you have been submitted to jobs through a Jobseeker Direction (JSD) and for steps you have agreed on your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg). My advice would be, apart from when referred to by an adviser; avoid the LMS system. It is full of spoof jobs, agency jobs etc. and the genuine jobs are submitted to circa 150-299 people as Jobseeker Directions and of course many more apply directly from the website.

You are unlikely to secure a sustainable job through this system and searching it a few times a week will just get depressing and waste your resources. Statistically long-term unemployed people (although have looked elsewhere too) have made the mistake by focusing on this system as their primary source – the irony is – it is what probably makes them long term unemployed.

2. Focus on greater mediums (such as the job paper)

So, if you have been searching for jobs apart from them who advertise both in other mediums and the Labour Market System (LMS); it can say a lot about an employer whether they wish to put the money where their mouth is and get a newspaper advertisement or whether a free advert on the Labour Market System (LMS) is sufficient.
While applying common sense to this i.e. a lot of small businesses might find newspaper advertisements too expensive so the Labour Market System (LMS) might seem ideal, but when large businesses advertise solely on the Labour Market System (LMS) and not in the local newspaper it typically points out that a) have a high staff turnover and b) the reason for a high staff turnover is a lack of job satisfaction or mistreatment of staff.

So basically local job papers are the best medium for non-specialist employment opportunities. For most people this should be their primary source.

3. Anonymous Job Adverts are bad Job Adverts

So… you are an employer and you wish to advertise a new job position that has opened up.

Would you…

a) not mention your company name and

b) not state details of how to apply?

When you recruit for people to work for you it isn’t a sole invite for skilled people to get in touch – it also acts as an advertisement about your company with simple universal implied marketing messages i.e. “we are expanding”, “local company seeks local people”, “international company wants to bring it success to the area”, “national giant wants to invest in your community”.

So why would you be silent about these details?

Surely, you want to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible not to restrict any person who could be the ideal candidate with the skills you require?

Apart from agencies who obviously keep company names out of the advert to prevent people bypassing the agency by contacting the employer directly; why would you keep your name silent? Perhaps your company has a very bad reputation…

As for the Labour Market System (LMS) why would you keep details of how to apply quiet? Over the last 5 years an average of 29% of all advertised jobs on the system required you to contact Jobseeker Direct to find out how to apply. Almost 1 in 3. In the year 2004-05 the average monthly percentage of jobs was over half (54%) requiring jobseekers to phone Jobseekers Direct to apply. In August 2004 56% of jobs required this action accounting for just short of 200,000 jobs requiring such phone contact to simply find out the details.

4. Speculative letters hardly ever work

Instead of sending 20 speculative letters a week you might as well go on the lottery 6 times.

If an employer doesn’t advertise a job the chances are they aren’t looking. Of course, a lot of jobs aren’t advertised externally but a speculative letter and CV doesn’t upgrade you from an outsider to an insider.

• You might have discovered a name but you haven’t networked you don’t have a relationship with them.
• Businesses won’t invite jobseekers (who have sent them a speculative letter and CV) for an internal vacancy.

Internal vacancies generally are desirable because the employer knows how well you work – having “hard worker” on your CV doesn’t tell the employer anything apart from that *you* see yourself as a hard worker. S/he only knows if the person really is a hard worker from experience – external candidate have none with that business – a reference isn’t as good as an internal reference with the same boss. Hence the popularity.

If someone will supply you the paper, ink/toner, envelopes and postage…go for it! If not save your money, donate to charity, go on the lottery or treat yourself to a little something.

5. How to stand more of a chance to get the job!

(In no particular order…)
If you are invited for an interview – write back to say you accept! Then sell yourself.

Don’t just ring up and verbally confirm as although this tells more about you they won’t be including a tape to the recruitment panel or leaving a note of recommendation. If you send a letter (in addition) the chances are it will be included with your initial application. For a price of just over a postage stamp it will increase your chances over the candidates who haven’t done this. Always end the letter saying you look forward to meeting them and of course say you look forward to working for them. Don’t sound too arrogant though.

Arrive 5 minutes early.

Being late is a definite no so make sure you have enough time to spare – it doesn’t matter how genuine your excuse is and how they will seem to be fine with it – it will go against you as they will not believe your excuse. If you are stuck in traffic and you feel you might not make it 5 minutes earlier (Although you set off with enough time) make sure you phone up and make them aware.

This is the tricky bit – it is better early than late – but you can be too early. If you are earlier than 5 minutes… prepare for the interview. You should ideally come 15 minutes early, prepare for 10 minutes then go in the place 5 minutes early. If you arrive too early that’s poor time keeping. If you can’t regulate your time they will think you are unreliable; being so early is just because of the interview – normally you will attend late. Make sense?

Take control

Success will vary. If they don’t offer make sure you approach them and give the panel a handshake – create small talk too – welcome, thank etc. Whether you do this at the start, end or both will vary on the situation. A handshake at the start will create a good start and it will be less pressure on you when they first start asking questions. If however when you are brought in, if they offer you to sit down, taking the initiative to shake hands will be out of place and put you to a disadvantage. A handshake at the end will seal the interview but if the interview goes wrong, although it will seem professional, a handshake at the end will not have any benefit. If all goes extremely well a handshake at the end could secure you the job.

It is now not uncommon for candidates to come over equipped. For example, instead of taking a carrier bag with a plastic pocket for documentation, taking an entire briefcase. Some candidates like to hand out a copy of their CV – this is very much controversial – although it creates a scenario of an interaction transaction it’s likely they either already have a copy of your CV or they previously requested application form only, no CVs. So handing out your CV could be noted positively stating you are keen and proud of your achievements and experience however it could also mean ignorance to following previous instructions or a severe lack of attention to detail.

If you do hand out your CV (where they already have a copy) hope that the interview panel doesn’t decline you handing it out as if they respond with something along the lines of “No need, you might as well keep it. We already have a copy” instead of accepting a duplicate, that pretty much is the interview over. You might as well pick your phone out of your pocket, ring someone, have a conversation while leaving the room being as rude as possible and not saying anything to the interview panel while never going back.

Questions

You must take a notepad with you and ask ideally 2-3 questions at the interview panel. It would be best to brainstorm up to 20 questions. It is likely they will answer most queries but interviewers will see a lack of questions as a lack of interest. Make sure you note their answers too. I would advise that instead of just writing something like “4wk a/l” (I sincerely doubt they care unless it was a PA job), write anything down to make it seems like you are noting all of what they said in addition to your own short hand. Attention to detail etc. The best questions are those which can initiate a question back (as long it’s not too vague) to have a conversation instead of the… ask a question, “thank you… and just one more…” ask another question. “Thank you that’s all my queries answered” it doesn’t imply so much interest as a conversation. Remembering answers and writing them down after the interview isn’t good enough.

Quick fire!

You don’t get far if you answer questions with a lot of “erm…” or looking around the room. They will give you time to think but it makes it appear like you are making up answers and not being genuine. I won’t say think of the first thing in your head and say it as that won’t do. Sadly there are so many different questions they could ask so preparing isn’t that straightforward. I would suggest that you could mildly answer their question with something that doesn’t much relate to their question as long as it is short and you answer their question promptly afterwards. In most cases this won’t be specifically advantageous but it is better than a long silence where you are unsure of what to answer.

Some people will find repeating the question you are asked a good way of avoiding any “erms” or moments of silence although if you repetitively did that for every question it might become annoying for the interviewers.

Anything else you would like to add…

If anyone asks you this and you decline the opportunity you will destroy all hopes of getting the job. I would advise you to take over but remember about timescales… pick 3 areas and sell yourself to the employer.

Don’t say “I think I should get this job because 1) I am reliable 2) I have a lot of experience and 3) honest”. Always begin with something along the lines of “I consider myself to be the ideal candidate… ”, “I am best suited for this position” or “I am the best person for this position …” (only if you think you have won).

Avoid words like “job”, “should”, “get”, “think” and “because”.

Give examples or otherwise elaborate and keep it neat. “… because I am honest, reliable and trustworthy. I am an honest person because… I am reliable because… I am trustworthy because…” is a poor way of presenting the information. The information needs to be presented in almost seamless fashion. Feel free to use your hand and fingers as a visual prompt it also makes sure you don’t get tongue-tied in between your talk.

Note the number of questions!

This is a clever thing to do if you are told how many questions there will be. Some interview panels will skip (drop) questions if they feel that you haven’t done as well as they were expecting or if you are exceeding your allocated time.

If you manage to keep count successfully and clock on that the interview panel has missed questions out, make sure you alert them of the fact in a polite manner. This will show good attention to detail. You have every right to be asked the same questions as so do all the other candidates to stand a fair chance of succeeding in the recruitment process.

As for exceeding your time slot, interview panels will typically like to regulate the time so it’s fair on all candidates. If all candidates get the same amount of time they will get the same fair chance. I don’t think it’s too much of a big deal of exceeding your time slot by minor amounts. Most interview panels allocate a break in between each candidate for a little discussion and to finish note taking. This will mean slightly less time for a break. Most interview panels allocate enough time per candidate so normally have 5-10 minutes to spare.

You should be aware that some interview panels may try to shorten your time to make up for delays from previous candidates to bring later timeslots on schedule or because they want to go to lunch. This isn’t acceptable.

Prepare!

As stated earlier an important thing to remember is if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.

Focus on an ideology more than specific answers because it’s highly likely that the answers you have prepared for might not all be included or worded in a way which would make it more difficult to adapt. I also think brainstorming the previous day to work out how to market yourself is a very good idea.

Some interview panels are made up of people with the experience and knowledge that will catch and filter out the bullshitters… others are made up of people without any specific knowledge in the area. Sometimes interview panels just look for certain keywords rather than actual content. If you can stick a few keywords together in a sentence you might be able to fly through the interview.

You will be surprised how many interview panels are built around a checkbox on specific words and scored on the number of unique keywords spoken rather than the actual dynamics of what has been said. As a rule of thumb every candidate going to a job interview should mention “Equal Opportunities” somewhere in an answer (but not solely in an answer to an Equal Opportunity question – which is likely to be present these days).

Keywords will vary depending on the job vacancy.

Be Repetitive!

The best way for them to remember something about you is to be repetitive. Brainstorm what you consider an employer is looking for in respect to your chosen job position and prioritise the importance. Filter out the good qualities that they will presume the ideal candidate will be i.e. being honest, trustworthy etc. – you can mention these once backed up with an example but no need to keep mentioning it throughout.

Try to use a phrase or keyword that you consider most other candidates won’t use.

If you can add the phrase or keywords to every answer where it is both relevant to the question and advantageous, you will be in the top 3 candidates. This gives you two chances – one, being a job offer and two, being the second choice if the successful candidate declined.

Eye contact

Try to maintain eye contact with the person asking you the question at all times. There is no need to look at the others (until it’s their turn) apart from acknowledging any remarks made (or counter questions) to which you should revert back to the question asker afterwards.

It is a mistake to think generally sharing eye contact with all individuals is a positive thing. It only works for presentations or where you are having a conversation with a group of people where no one person was asking a question.

Panel members will take notes but remain confident!

Generally speaking notes are positive – but not always. Interviewers will write their opinions down. Half of the process is down to their points system and notes – the other half is down to your performance and appearance.
Most of the deciding power comes from the latter but typically candidates are ranked on their scores from the former first and the worst performing candidates are eliminated.

It is vitally important to remain as confident or become more confident than when you started. If you become paranoid about note taking when you think you didn’t answer a question as good as you could have done and lose your confidence this will show and in almost all cases lose you the job. If an interviewer think you have given up they will see it as you withdrawing your application and not bother including you in the final decision.

Focus on a good interview

You might have heard the phrase of “you are not going to an interview to get the job. You are going to the interview to get a second interview”. Not all jobs have a second interview – a lot don’t. The concept is similar – focus on a good interview and not the end result.

There is no points for attendance (if you didn’t turn up you wouldn’t be considered) – obviously attending means you want the job. I think it’s best to distant yourself from the final result – the job. Especially now in the credit crunch – you are desperate for the job and have the ability to do it – that’s not enough.

I think it’s a good idea to experiment with getting real mock interviews.

That is to apply for a job you are not that interested in and set yourself a task of doing well in the interview. Try a few techniques out; see what works and which doesn’t. Lie on the application form. Lie on the CV. Secure a place for an interview. If it’s a council job lie and say you have a disability. You will be guaranteed an interview. If you are successful decline their offer. Aim to get an interview every so often to keep it fresh in your mind and to keep your confidence.

Once you are good at an interview apply for something you really want then win the interview. Get the job!

6. Correspondence.

If you get a rejection letter without an interview don’t bother replying to them. A waste of money – the chances are they have delayed the response so much that they won’t have your application form any longer.

If you have an interview but are not successful but you genuinely feel it went well and that you like the company, make sure you write to them to thank them for the experience, ask for feedback and express your interest in future vacancies.

If you receive a letter stating that they are not considering your application because it was received after the deadline or some other excuse for their error (i.e. you delivered by hand but someone lost it or they sent the application form to the wrong department) don’t give up. Send them a letter back alerting them of the error declaring you are still interested in the job vacancy. Chances are they will offer you an interview after admitting their mistake. You will have to be very assertive but polite in the letter though.

7. Internet!

There are more jobs advertised on the internet other than the Jobcentre website and direct gov. Avoid Gumtree which is full of scams – ebay have done a lot however of combating this but is generally a poor site to trust.

8. Restrict your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg)

You must negotiate your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg) to prevent being messed about. (only applicable to those claiming Jobseekers Allowance)

9. Think outside the box

Always approach things from a different angle after your initial judgement. Make notes. Compare.

10. Avoid employment agencies

Do not register for an employment agency. The Labour Market System (LMS) works by employers placing an advert on the system. As far as sanctions etc. are applicable, when you are given a Jobseeker Direction it is from an Employment Officer. This is an indirect notification that you should apply for a job – failure to do so results in a sanction. This would be known as failure or refusal to apply.

With an employment agency, when you are on their books… if they invite you for an interview – that is you are only a candidate at this stage – this isn’t notification of a job advertisement. It becomes a “job offer” – although there is no guarantee at this stage that you will get the job. Declining this (if the Jobcentre found out) will be known as refusal or failure to accept a job offer or neglecting an employment opportunity.

With other mediums (job adverts in LMS, job paper, websites) your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg) is applicable and has restriction of what you can apply for. With employment agencies your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg) doesn’t apply. When you first registered with the agency, it is treated as if you applied directly for the job offered to you. Non-sustainability, small amount of hours and zero hour contracts do not hold good cause.

Rule of thumb is you can opt out applying for a job if your Jobseekers Agreement allows it but you can’t refuse a job offer regardless of how much the job conflicts with the JSAg. Some cases you may appeal for good cause or appeal to an Appeal Tribunal and win but unlikely in most cases. If you decided to apply for a job which conflicts with your Jobseeker’s Agreement, you have waivered the content of such agreement at your own discretion – so if you were offered the job you couldn’t refuse it. With an agency all notifications from the agency is effectively a job offer. When you registered for the agency in the eyes of the Jobcentre it is like you applied for a job – the agency being like a proxy for every job they have on their books. It is like apply once, win many.

Next time you consider it remember your registration with an agency is you applying for every future job of theirs regardless of the particulars of each. They will notify you if you reach the shortlist. It is best for Jobseekers to avoid recruitment agencies to prevent nasty unwarranted sanctions.