Following on from last week’s article, you have now refined your introduction and gained the recruiter’s attention.

The next step is your personal information, keep this short and to the point –

a) Full name
b) Area where you currently live (does not have to be the full street address)
c) Date of birth (you no longer need to provide your ID number)
d) Contact number
e) Email address
f) Gender
g) Marital Status (this is optional)
h) Dependants (this is optional)
i) Drivers Licence
j) Languages
k) Computer skills can also be included here – unless you are involved in the IT industry, then you will need a separate heading

You can follow your personal section with interests and hobbies but please be aware that this should tie in to your employment. For instance, if you are applying for a job in tourism – you can include travelling, cooking, etc. Do not include reading variety magazines or watching TV, this creates a negative image so rather do not include this portion in your CV.

Then you add a very important section that highlights your skills and competencies. Keep it to 10 or 15 lines, use one or two word points to describe:

a) Work related or hard skills (software development; electrical; law; etc)
b) Soft skills (leadership; communication; honest; etc).

As an example –
CORE SKILLS
Electrical                            Maintenance
Fault finding                     Wiring
Fire fighting                      First aid
Planning                            Computer literate
Adaptable                         Time management
Team player                     Multi-tasker

Now it’s time to look at your education. Start with the most recent courses and work your way back to Grade 12 and this should include:

a) The full name of the course / degree / diploma
b) The name of the training institute
c) The year in which you passed
d) Only include the subjects passed if they are relevant to the position or career you are involved in
e) If you have completed various courses, especially in-house, you can put these under one sub-heading.

For example –
QUALIFICATIONS & COURSES
Electrical Engineering N6 Certificate:  ABC College (2011)
Senior Certificate Grade 12:  ABC High School (2008)

Training Courses through In-house:
Fire Fighting
First Aid
Hazard Identification
OHS Act

That wraps up the personal side of your CV – next up is employment history, references and job hopping.

Stay safe.

Unemployment in South Africa is at an all-time high. Statistics South Africa reports that the unemployment rate stood at 32.5% in the October to December quarter, shockingly this means that 7.2 million people are unemployed.

With so many people looking for a job, where do you start and how do you stand out?

We will assist as much as possible with the steps, and the dos and don’ts of applying for a new job.

The first step is your curriculum vitae. We will cover this over two articles to ensure that you have an in-depth idea of how to structure a winning CV.

• Go through your CV very carefully and ensure that all your information is accurate. Carefully check that your information is factually correct, as lying on your CV is a criminal offence in South Africa. Employers and agents are also very thorough, if they uncover anything fraudulent they will discard your CV and potentially report your misconduct.

• Check your grammar and spelling, and try to avoid using cliché terms such as ‘Go-Getter; Think Outside of the Box; Go-To Person; Bottom Line; Rockstar; etc’. Do not word your CV in the 3rd person – She, He, Him, Her, for example “He led a marketing team.”

• Use an easy readable font, such as arial or verdana, as cursive and fancy fonts makes it difficult to read. The easier you make your CV to read, the better recruiters will be able to navigate it and pick out the information they need. Keep your CV writing to a three or four page document, do not send out a ten page CV as this will immediately put a recruiter off. Make sure that the formatting opens on all computers by using word or pdf, most employment agencies want CV documents in word format so they can apply their own software to the document. Employers and agency receive thousands of CV’s and they will not go through all the trouble to get your formatting to work.

• Tailor your CV towards a specific field or position. If you have experience in various roles, then edit your CV accordingly. For instance, if you have experience in administration and operations, do not apply as an administrator that highlights your operations skills. If you create a very broad CV in an attempt to fit many roles, you might find that you end up not with none.

• Make an instant impression with your CV, head your CV up with a punchy and persuasive executive summary that will capture readers attention and show them that your CV is worth reading in full. Recruiters will skip past your CV if they do not see the skills they need within the first few seconds so adapt the CV to reflect the requirements needed for the specific role but bearing in mind it must be with your skills set – do not misrepresent your abilities.

Next week we will touch on personal information and education.

Stay safe.

The answer will always be NO!

Asking a jobseeker for money is illegal in South Africa, so scammers use other traps to solicit money. To make it sound more legitimate, some even claim that the payments will be refunded with your first salary. If there is any form of payment involved, it is not a legitimate job.

Possible payment traps:

• Registration or administration fees – You should never pay for joining or registering with an employment agency, employer or online job portal. The claim that a minimal fee is charged for administration and the paperwork involved in getting you registered is entirely untrue. There are ‘recruitment’ agents that will guarantee you an interview or a job in exchange for a payment and once the payment is made, you never hear from them again.

• ITC or background checks – If a potential employer or agent wants to run background checks on you, it must be done at their cost. They cannot claim this back from you, even with the promise of a job.

• Uniforms – Do not put down a deposit or pay anything before you are legally employed.

• Training – Whether it is a payment for training, training material or online training, it is not legal.

• Visas or work permits – If the position you are applying for requires overboard travel, the employer may claim that you must pay for them to apply for your visa or work permit.

The list goes on … but the bottom line is, do not pay!

In closing, we would also like to add a very serious warning – be cautious about positions offered to you from outside South Africa. If you are not using an established company to help you find a job in another country, be extra careful. It has become common practice for people to be lured into smuggling drugs in and out of countries, the pay is very good but not only is it breaking the law, it is very dangerous. Human trafficking is also on the rise with very real life-or-death situations, especially for young adults who are promised modelling contracts and photo shoots. Investigate the company offering you the job, do research, check social media and if something doesn’t look right, rather walk away.

Stay safe!

Always go with your gut instincts, if something looks too good to be true – it is probably fake.

The same applies to jobs, scammers will do almost anything to get your attention and lure you in. Unfortunately they prey on the vulnerable and desperate jobseeker who may overlook the finer details just to get a job.

Telltale signs to look out for:

• If you receive a message stating that you were shortlisted for a job you haven’t applied for. Even if the message says that you were referred by a friend, without having sent a CV – this is highly unlikely.

• Without an interview, you are sent a contract or application form asking for personal information – especially bank account details, do not respond.

• Be mindful of verbal agreements and an eagerness for you to start immediately. Before you start, get a letter of appointment or contract that contains all your employment requirements. You need physical evidence of employment so the company can be held responsible if you are not paid after the first month or asked to leave for no apparent reason.

• Be wary of inflated salaries, unrealistic commissions or added perks that are not usually associated with your specific job title. These may include free trips, gifts, vouchers or cash incentives.

• Get rich quick schemes that promise a successful home business that brings in big money. This will usually involve you buying something to kick-start your business and once you’ve paid, you either never hear from them again, or you get a brochure on building a pyramid scheme business. Any form of pyramid or ponzi business is illegal in South Africa.

Good example:

Cleaner – R 17500 monthly + company incentives

Elite is seeking for 4 cleaners – Successful candidates will be placement in a permanent position.

Perform various cleaning actions such as dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning ceiling vents, restroom cleaning etc

Requirements:
Grade 10 with no experience needed

Speak English fluently

Able to travel abroad

Please remember to read the position carefully and always stay safe!