One such move is to start spending money on expensive training courses in the hope that this will lead to the creation of a more desirable skills set.  There are two problems with this approach, the first is that time spent in training is not time spent looking for a job.  The second problem is that the choice of skill may do nothing to enhance your CV and hence your attractiveness to a potential recruiter.

If you are at a crossroads and you want to take training then there are a few things I would suggest:

• Ask yourself – do I like doing what I was doing in my previous job? 
• If so then what skills set do I need to enhance to make myself more attractive to a potential recruiter? 
• If not then what do I want to do in the future and how do I get the skills needed to move me in that direction?
• Now write down four lists for your work activities; what do I like doing, what don’t I enjoy, what am I good at and finally what am I weak at.
• From those lists identify areas that you enjoy doing but may be a little weak.  These are good areas in which to gain extra training especially if they are core skills that are relevant to your job.

On the other hand you could decide that you like the outdoors and want to become a lumberjack (previous job junior solicitor) so you take a course in how to use a chainsaw. 

Perhaps it might come in handy in the future but have you really thought through what you want to do?  If so, either you got your first choice badly wrong and have wasted a number of years or you are panicking and think that this new job will offer more opportunities – and that is very risky!

He had even been told that he was the only remaining candidate, so the job was in the bag.  Then he and his wife were invited to have dinner with the Managing Director and his wife.

The following day he was told that they had decided not to pursue his application.  So he had to start all over again.  He was angry – with them and with himself for stopping his job hunt.  His morale went through the floor and his confidence nearly went the same way except for a lot of hard work by our team to get him re-focussed.

Recently the same thing was about to happen with another client.  Fortunately I now had this anecdote to tell and was able to dissuade him of closing down his job search.

In both cases there was a happy ending.  The first person found another and better opportunity a few weeks later.  Although the selection process was very long and involved numerous interviews, he didn’t stop looking and that made him more confident as he went through each stage.  Today he is prospering in his new position and very grateful that he didn’t get the first job.

The second person hasn’t yet secured a job, but he is still getting lots of interviews whilst this other process continues.  I have no doubt that he will be back in work very soon.

So the advice is simple.  Never stop looking until the contract for your next job has been signed.  It is easy to tell a recruitment agency or potential employer that you will have to withdraw from the process because you have found a position.  No sensible person will blame you provided you thank them and offer the explanation.

Even when you have been offered a job, remember there is still the business of negotiating the package and things could go wrong, so don’t stop until the ink is drying on the page.

Yesterday I was working with a client who has been made redundant and is seeking work within his particular speciality. His type of work is unique and he is very senior. That means that the pond of potential jobs/companies he can approach is very small; equally the number of jobs of his type is also very limited.

Apart from reviewing the most obvious companies to approach, we tried to look at other ways in which he could enlarge the pond to bring in more potential jobs.

Naturally the first thing he had to do was ensure that the few companies that were likely to employ him knew that he was available for work. That meant getting in contact with head-hunters, talking to his network and perhaps contacting the companies directly.

Our second solution was to look at all those companies who did business with his specialist group of companies. In some cases these may be suppliers, but in this case they were companies and law firms that worked directly as part of the ‘supply chain’ for that particular service industry product.

By the time we had considered all these other companies we had come up with a list of consultancies, law firms, accountants and financial services specialists. In each case the role was likely to be advisory or in the case of the consultancies, acting as a hire out back to the small pond of original companies.

We finished with a list that was double the original pond of companies. That in turn meant that his chances of getting a new job quickly were greatly enhanced.

Several years ago ASDA decided that they wanted to improve their own recruitment process and become less reliant on recruitment agencies (bad news for members of the Recruitment Society!!). So they brought in Euro RSCG Riley, specialist recruitment advisers to help.

Perhaps most interesting about the process they entered into was a change in the thinking pattern for recruitment. They asked themselves not what ASDA needed, i.e. new recruits, but what did the potential recruit need. Their answer was a lot more information about ASDA and the people that already work at ASDA.

Their new recruitment website (www.asda.jobs) is bright, easy to read and headlines the people working at all levels whether in their stores, at George, the pharmacy or a number of other jobs you wouldn’t automatically associate with a shop.

There are some whizzy bits such as videos to brighten the website up even further. They have also experimented with QR codes and mobile phones as well as Twitter For me the disappointment was that the site is heavily informational but very low on engagement and interactivity. I saw no evidence of a blog (although they say there is one in the graduate section), RSS feeds or a LinkedIn community. Nor could I find an area where people could ask questions other than through the traditional comments/contact us page.

In that respect the ASDA jobs website is disappointing; it remains firmly in the Web 1.0 camp. In many other respects it is innovative, fresh and enjoyable to navigate (although curiously there are no links back to the Home Page as you go deeper into the site).

Undoubtedly the ASDA approach is one that is growing amongst large employers, sidelining adverts and agencies and moving to a more direct engagement with potential recruits. They are very clear though, this is a journey they have entered into and not the final product.

Have a look at the ASDA jobs site and let us know what you think.

When an employer is looking for someone to fill a post, what they are interested in is the skills set, experience and achievements that you can bring to the job. None of these are determined by how you look.

Your CV, therefore is a marketing document to get you that all important interview. It should contain all the information needed for the employer to determine your suitability for the job.

The one exception? Models or other people who use their looks in their work such as actors.

As with all interview questions, the place to start is to imagine what it is they are trying to discover. Contrary to what most people think – interview questions are not designed to torture us – but to get important information.

So an awareness of your weaknesses would show a general self-awareness, and also the desire to develop and change. Anyone who thinks they have no weaknesses is not going to be great at taking feedback.

It is important though to select your weakness with care. “I steal things” is not going to put you to the top of the list of candiates…

So think of a weakness that could also be seen as a covert strength. And also make sure you say how you are working at overcoming the weakness. For example:

‘I pay a great attention to detail which sometimes in the past has meant I’ve lost a sense of the bigger picture. So now I make sure I always keep the big picture clear in my mind.’

‘I work very fast and demand a great deal of myself. Sometimes this has caused conflict with colleagues when they have struggled to keep up to my pace. I realise now that everyone has their own speed and style of working and that working in a team means that people contribute in different ways.’

So make sure you have taken some time to brainstorm your qualities – both positive and negative, so that you will never be thrown by the ‘What’s your weakness?’ question again.

This was confirmed recently by an article in Personnel Today when a survey of 400 employers showed that nearly half (48%) said that they had reduced their recruitment agency budget since last year.

It would appear that for many generalist jobs these firms have decided that they can save money and still get good quality people.

Where agencies, executive search firms and head-hunters still come into their own is where the recruitment of specialists or very senior people is required.

From a job seeker’s point of view there still remain four ways to find a job, through Agencies, Adverts, Networking and Prospecting. The key change has been in the way the internet is influencing how these methodologies are used.

Most agencies now have websites and display their advertised vacancies on them. Adverts can be found on websites as varied as Monster, Total Jobs and Executive Appointments as well as the traditional means. Networking utilises the Outlook folder and email addresses extracted from business cards; whilst prospecting is done through marketing lists and detailed research of company websites.