How To
l an d YOUR
Dream Job
Professional Representation Network Introduction Contracting can be very lucrative. Often you can earn far more as a contractor than you could as an employee and have a lot more say about how you actually “live“ your life. You can often negotiate rates that are far higher than you would‘ve been able to attain as an employee and can take advantage of your valuable skill sets. Yet when you become a contractor you have got to ensure that you know all the
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implications. You have got to prepare, plan and ensure that you‘re legally compliant. You have to always be looking down the road as well and prepare your future for when you decide to eventually hang up your hat. We aim to give you an insight into the world of contracting, to help you understand what lies ahead of you and how you can realistically prepare.
Why Choose
A Professional Representation Network Choosing a Professional Representation Network can be one of the smartest decisions that you ever make as a contractor. We set up this organisation with the aim of providing much-needed support across a wide spectrum of industries for contractors. We‘re very aware that contractors come in all shapes and sizes so to speak, can be brandnew to the idea of contracting, or can be tested industry veterans. We have products, services and solutions that are tailor-made for you, wherever you‘re placed on that spectrum.
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You‘re Not Alone When you set up to be a contractor you may feel as if you‘re setting out on a long and winding road by yourself. This can be a scary proposition if you‘ve never done it before and even if you have, you should know that there will be many ups and downs and potential pitfalls ahead. As a contractor you have some specific skills to bring to the table and undoubtedly have considerable value in the marketplace. It‘s not necessarily going to be easy for you to advertise and market those skills, nor to persuade other parties that they should invest in you. As you worry about negotiations there are a number of other things to be concerned about as well including your legal status, your tax affairs and how you‘re going to look after yourself and your family without any perceived “safety net“ that may be provided by an employer / employee relationship of old.
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We‘re fully aware what lies in front of you and the obstacles and difficult situations that you‘re likely to face.
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It‘s important to realise that you don‘t have to be alone, however. Organisations such as Professional Representation Network are there for you. We‘re fully aware what lies in front of you and the obstacles and difficult situations that you‘re likely to face. When you come on board as part of our network we‘re there to help you and advise you throughout your professional career. Knowing that you have people in your corner has to give you a feeling of strength and can certainly only be advantageous. It may well make the difference when it comes to the employer‘s decision to contract with you rather than somebody else who may be determined to go it alone.
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How To Find Contractor Jobs These days the Internet is the preferred way to search for contractor jobs. There are a number of sites that are dedicated to this task, where you‘ll often find vacancies that have been posted by recruitment agencies. It‘s also possible to talk directly with clients rather than through their appointed agencies, but the savvy contractor today will look for help from a professional representation network such as us.
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If you do choose to use the Internet your first port of call will likely be a job board, where you‘ll see a large number of contract vacancies posted in relation to individual positions. You‘ll generally be able to search using specific keywords in relation to the type of job you‘re looking for. You will also usually be able to search by location to come up with a list of positions that are available to you.
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Of course you need to ensure that you don‘t have “all your eggs in one basket“ when going through this process. There is a chance that the type of position you‘re looking for is highly specific, either in terms of qualifications or experience, or indeed location. However, where at all possible you should try and apply to a number of similar jobs at the same time, improving your chances of getting something within the timeframe you‘re looking for.
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Due to ease of access and the popularity of the Internet, the recruitment agencies are often swamped with applications for some of the more popular positions. Ensure that you get a telephone contact for the individual in relation to this application and don‘t be afraid to follow up with a phone call. Several calls over a reasonable period of time can help to mark you down as someone who‘s not only persistent but very keen on the job in question.
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Search to see what forums are in existence in relation to the type of work you‘re looking for, the type of company you‘re looking to work with or the industry in general.
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In addition to those central repositories, you can do a Web search for a client‘s name or go directly to the client website(s) to see what they have to say. While the client may invariably use a recruitment agency and positions will be circulated to those job boards, it is possible that a new position would be posted on the client website first, and that might give you a little bit of a head start.
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You should use Google for another reason. Search to see what forums are in existence in relation to the type of work you‘re looking for, the type of company you‘re looking to work with or the industry in general. Be specific when choosing the keywords to help you search for forums or groups. You may well be able to find groups on Facebook as well. Make sure you‘re a member of these forums or groups as you may well be able to come across news about a position, or pick up some valuable information about a company you‘re actively considering. Remember, the more ammunition or intelligence that you have, the better.
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There are some important things to remember when you‘re looking for jobs online. Sometimes, some less than scrupulous agencies will try to harvest a large number of new applicant details by posting spurious job vacancies that are, shall we say, not based entirely on fact. This gives them a lot of raw material information, to provide them with a potential advantage over other recruitment agencies in the market.
As there are typically a number of different agencies acting for individual clients, it‘s not unusual for you to come across a number of vacancies that are in fact pointing back to the same job. Given that you‘ll usually be able to spot the similarities if you‘re looking for them, you can simply mark these down as duplicates before you duplicate your efforts by applying twice for the same position.
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If you‘re relatively new to the field of contracting you have to use this process to educate yourself as much as possible. Perhaps you were not entirely aware of the salary range in relation to the position. As you search online, or interact with those forums and groups you‘ll be able to pick up some valuable information to help you consolidate and prepare.
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If you have the advantage of time on your side, go through the motions without actually applying. If you find that many of the jobs posted require a certain skill or two that you might not have, then this will give you the time to brush up on that skill so that when you do apply, you‘re perfectly positioned.
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It‘s important to be strong and confident in your own ability. Don‘t feel that you have to conform or fit in to every eventuality if you believe that your experience or direct knowledge could and should give you a significant advantage. Employers are willing to pay the right price for the right person, so don‘t think that you have to settle for “average,“ necessarily. In the same vein try and be as flexible as you can with regard to the location of your job. Of course, commuting is not all that fun and there can be additional difficulties associated with moving yourself and maybe your family to another city. Remember that an employer won‘t pay for your relocation in the vast ma jority of cases as a contractor versus an employee, so you have to tailor all of that into your thought process if it becomes an issue.
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You may find that your patience is tested during this process. If the company itself is hiring multiple contractors “in one go“ then they may leave the position “open“ for quite a long time until they‘ve been able to harvest as many good applications as they can.
Also, you should be careful not to go through burnout in this process. Searching all day, every day can be a time consuming and tiring process, which can lead to feelings of rejection and / or overall burnout. Why not set up an automatic e-mail messaging service, to notify you when jobs that fit in with your requirements become available?
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Having Someone In Your Corner As we‘ve outlined, a search for contracting positions can be lengthy and rather challenging. It would be far better for you to have somebody working in your corner to give you an advantage over the rest. Working with a professional representation network has significant advantages. Our organisation has advanced and professional people management services that are designed to support you - not just through this process, but through your entire professional life. We want to be invested in you and will endeavour to fully understand who you are and what you want. We will understand what your “dream position“ looks like and will help you to attain it. Based on the information that we gather from you as well as our extensive experience within your industry, we can assist you with intelligently negotiating your contracts. Then, when you have the position we can help you with investment and financial management advice to help you enjoy your lifestyle to the fullest.
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We have more than 400 specialist recruiters within our network. We will put forward the best representation of your unique abilities and skills to help ensure that you get noticed for all the right reasons.
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When we work within your industry, we work on a personal level with contractors who are based in cities and countries around the globe. It doesn‘t matter whether you‘re new to our ranks or are one of the most seasoned professionals in your industry; each member is of equal importance and receives maximum attention. It‘s in our interest to foster a long-term relationship with you and we go out of our way to be supportive and to provide a “start to finish service“ that encompasses all areas of your professional life.
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Negotiations The Process When you come across a position that‘s of interest to you this is where the negotiating process can start. Remember that there are two sides to this equation. Certainly, you‘re looking for a contractor position, but the other party - the employer - is looking for the right person for the job. While the ultimate goal is the same, either side may have somewhat different priorities and a different view from their side of the bargaining table. Here are some things you should bear in mind when you‘re negotiating.
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First and foremost you should be as prepared as possible before opening the conversation. In other words, you should not “wing it.“ Do your market research to see what other people in similar positions are earning on a contractual basis for this work. Ensure that you‘re up-to-date with all the information that you need in relation to specific elements of the job you are being sought to do. Understand the requirements and ensure that you can comply. If the job calls for travel to particular places at certain times of year, or maybe international travel, you should ensure that you‘re going to be available to do so and have the ability to enter such countries. You should know this information in advance.
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Secondly, don‘t set your position in stone before you come to the table. You should give yourself some wiggle room to allow yourself to compromise if necessary. Some people see any talk of compromise as weak willed, but it can be an important negotiating tool. If the other side is willing to compromise on any particular issue then an indication from your side that you‘re willing to do so in other areas can be a valuable tool.
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Thirdly, don‘t be afraid to aim higher. You should have lofty aspirations in regard to what you‘re going to get for this position. That doesn‘t mean that it should be all take and no give from your point of view, but you should be confident in your ability to provide, as well as your ability to negotiate very good remuneration and conditions for your contribution.
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Fourth, always be honest but likewise take care not to paint any picture of weakness. You should not be volunteering any information that could be in any way detrimental to your cause. This does not mean that you should be dishonest in any way. It does mean that you should be very careful in relation to how you respond to particular questions and you need not elaborate further than is necessary. The employer will likely be careful to avoid any picture of desperation in relation to the position they‘re trying to fill, as it may give you a bargaining position to raise your rates, for example. On the flip side, perhaps you shouldn‘t indicate that you really do need this position for one financial reason or another as that could drive down your value in the eyes of the negotiator.
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Fifth, be strong and confident, polite and respectful. This may sound like common sense to you, but it is remarkable how many people go into a negotiating situation with an aggressive stance. No matter how the other party acts, perhaps in relation to some rather sensitive questions, when you take the high road at all costs you usually win in such situations. Emphasise that you‘re there to help the organisation aspire to new heights.
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Lastly, be cool. Whether it‘s the situation or not you have to project the impression that you have plenty of time and have other options to look at. This can be difficult to do, especially if this isn‘t the case! However, you don‘t want to compromise and accept any position just because it‘s there. By portraying strength here you may well persuade the other party to offer you the position, together with better-thanexpected rates and conditions.
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Legal Guidance -
The Minefield When you decide to become an independent contractor you have to address a whole new world of legal requirements. Your success will be based on the contract that you sign and you need to understand the implications therein. Make sure that you have a written contract and never work based on verbal agreements.
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Be very careful as you read through that contract, especially if you‘re not used to this. Always bear in mind that you‘re not an employee anymore and as such the service that you will provide should be strictly defined within the contract. However, the contract should not go into precise detail about how you provide that service. It needs to be up to you how you provide the service, where it‘s provided, how you finance your activities, how you provide your own equipment, etc.
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These days, the government looks very carefully at your tax situation if you‘re a contractor. You only need to know about “IR 35“ and you don‘t want to become intimately aware of its implications. IR 35 is a piece of legislation enacted by the government that seeks to determine whether contractors are in fact disguised employees. If they look at the contract and find that the employer is in effect telling you exactly what to do as well as how you should do it, or providing circumstances or materials that might suggest that you are indeed more of an employee, then you‘re going to suffer financially. That‘s not the end of it either. Even though the government may determine that you are an employee based on their IR 35 test of your situation, this doesn‘t mean that you necessarily have any employment rights. In other words, you won’t have recourse to rights that the regular employee would receive such as sickness pay, holiday pay or other, even if the government “adjusted“ your tax situation for you.
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Know that your contract is most certainly worth the paper that it‘s written on. You need to know how to approach the situation if the employer decides that they want to alter some of the conditions or information within the contract.
Hopefully, you don‘t suffer from a late payment situation and you should take a firm line if and when it happens. You may not know that you have recourse to interest on a debt that‘s older than 30 days under legislation that was passed in 1998. Have a look at the fine print of the contract to see whether late payment is grounds for termination of the contract. On a similar vein, if you‘re not happy with your position for any reason, how can you take advantage of any early termination clauses that may be within? All of these details are part of your due diligence phase as you look through contracts and consider your legal positioning.
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Wealth Management The Broader Picture From a broader perspective when you become an independent contractor you need to take steps to ensure that all your bases are covered. When you‘re an employee, after all, your employer often takes care of a lot of these issues for you. Tailor-made financial solutions can be made available to you using a variety of providers who are experienced in dealing with individuals working in your situation and within your industry.
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Ideally, as a contractor you‘re enhancing your general financial position by determining to become a contractor versus employee. Nevertheless, when you‘re in permanent employment you may find that your salaried income has a number of enhancements. For example, you might find that you‘re enrolled in a company pension scheme to help look after your needs following your retirement. You might find that you have medical insurance and life insurance policies. You may find that you qualify for sick pay should you be taken ill. You need to be able to replace these benefits as a contractor as soon as possible, so that you guard against every potential situation before it happens. Remember that as a contractor these costs can be classified as legitimate expenses and therefore qualify for tax relief.
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When you have taken care of “rainy day“ situations and short-term financial needs you then need to focus on your long-term financial security. You will need to consider savings and investment options, including perhaps the purchase of shares or assets and how an investment portfolio could be set up. You should ideally be contributing to these investment options on a monthly basis. The more regular you make your contributions the better the rate of return you‘re going to receive. Of course, you‘ll need to determine your attitude to risk as this is often determined by your age and by your responsibilities.
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Our Reach Networks And Partners When you consider whether to engage with a network to help you make the most of your time as a contractor, choose your partner very carefully. You should know that at the Professional Representation Network we have a very wide network of partners across a raft of different industries.
We have more than 400 recruitment partners across the world. We have more than 40 years of experience in representing others and in consultation. Our contacts are in a wide range of industries including - but not by any means limited to security, energy, aviation, finance, medicine, IT and law.
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Management Not so long ago it would‘ve been inconceivable for a contractor to have a management representative. You were expected to go it alone, or at least that‘s what society in general had led us to believe. You had to negotiate all your particulars including salary rates and contract. You had to figure out by yourself what you needed to do in relation to pensions or investments and insurance policies. It‘s little wonder that many contractors who weren‘t particularly versed in the art of negotiation would have trouble here. They may eventually get everything “sorted out,“ but at what cost? They wouldn‘t necessarily have negotiated the right deals and may have missed other opportunities available to them. Worse still, they may just have given up when it came to the important subjects, such as securing health insurance.
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When you‘re a contractor and essentially working for yourself you have specific skills to bring to the table. You need to focus on those skills so that you can provide the best service possible and get the best reputation in the marketplace. You may need to use all of your spare time to keep up with education and research, so that you‘re up-todate with developments in your industry, training courses and so on. Of course quite apart from that you‘ll want to devote some of that spare time to leisure activities. You may be away from your family a lot as it is as you undertake your contracting duties, so you obviously don‘t want to be spending the precious little additional spare time that you have working on “management“ issues.
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Luckily for you the concept of personal and lifestyle management is now quite wellestablished. Contractors can take advantage of organisations such as Professional Representation Network to help them deal with a wide variety of issues not directly associated with the provision of this service.
We‘re here to help you manage one of your most precious commodities, which is time. This is why we try to put together as complete and comprehensive a lifestyle management solution as we can.
When we first get to know you we gather a lot of details through interviews. This will provide our specialists with a thorough understanding of who you are, what you want to achieve, what‘s important in your life and your lifestyle objectives. We gather this information so that we‘ll be clear about your short-term and long-term goals.
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Personal Management From that point we‘ll be able to customise a personal lifestyle management plan that‘s essentially a kind of a roadmap. Your lifestyle manager will be able to manage responsibilities with your best interests at heart at all times.
You might think that lifestyle management of this kind is only available to executives or celebrities, or otherwise those with a considerable resource to be able to “afford“ it. Nothing could be further from the truth. We want to make sure that you‘re successful by marketing your capabilities, so that you get noticed by the right people for all the right reasons. Once you‘ve secured a new position as a contractor, we then get to work on a raft of lifestyle management services.
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You could look at management responsibilities in two ways. Firstly, we use our professional insight to make sure that you‘re being marketed correctly when selecting the best possible contract out there. Secondly, we want to ensure that everything else is taken care of so that you‘re able to focus on your contract and other personal issues, rather than other tedious elements related to the enjoyment of your new lifestyle.
To start with we‘ll work on critical areas like your CV, to make sure that it‘s as professionally produced as possible and will have maximum impact for you. Next, we make sure that you have a very strong online presence.
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We must remember that the Internet is a primary tool these days for anyone who wants to find out anything about anybody else. This will certainly be a tool used by recruitment agencies and clients as they seek to find out as much about you as possible. This means that your social media profiles must be up-to-date, interesting and insightful. These profiles must present a uniform picture of you as the individual. We will do a thorough assessment of your online visibility.
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Once your CV is ready and we‘ve analysed your online presence then we‘ll help you to perfect an interview technique. This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of the entire process. You have provided a large amount of information in advance of an interview but those personal first impressions will count. Essentially, you need to put your best foot forward here and we will certainly help you with your techniques. Remember also that an interview is a two-way conversation and we‘ll help you to look at this process collectively and aggressively, as needed.
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Lifestyle Management Once you have your foot in the door we‘ll continue to help you develop your professional lifestyle. It may well be that we need to provide you with specialist support in terms of finalising the contract and negotiating those all-important terms. These areas can be something of a legal minefield, but we‘re ready with the appropriate guidance to help you make sure that you don‘t make any critical mistakes. The goal here is to make sure that you get the best deal financially. But our service doesn‘t stop there as we‘re ready to provide you with assistance in wealth management too. You need to consider how to put money away for a rainy day, how to invest properly in the stock market, how to consolidate your expenses. The ultimate goal is to help you take home as much of your earnings as possible, each and every month.
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Your Online Presence And Visibility Unless you‘ve been living under a rock for the past five years you know just how much social media has grown. It‘s now basically an essential part of life for the ma jority of people in this country. Yet it‘s not simply a pleasurable distraction, allowing you to keep in touch with long-lost friends and acquaintances. Today, social media is being used in a commercial sense just as much as it is otherwise. It‘s very definitely a consideration for anyone who‘s looking for a new position and especially if you‘re a contractor.
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Did you know that 92% of recruiters tap into social networks as they‘re looking for information about prospects? This is according to a Jobvite Social Recruiting survey conducted in 2012. In addition, fully 73% of those recruitment agencies have used social media directly to help them hire a candidate.
It seems that LinkedIn, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the site that‘s used most by recruiters. This is after all known as the professional social media network and is a place where every contractor should have a profile.
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Next up is Facebook, which is cited by 66% of recruiters as being a treasure trove of information. Twitter comes up next with 54%. Interestingly, one in five put an emphasis on a personal blog, a YouTube presence also being of value. It‘s also interesting to see how this is trending over the last few years. Emphasis on Twitter increased from 45% to 54% over three years, on Facebook from 55 to 66% over that time and on LinkedIn from 78% up to the whopping 93% now.
There‘s some additional information to be gleaned from these results as well. Due to the advent of social media it appears that the overall time from job posting to hire has decreased, while the number of employee referrals has increased. It‘s very interesting to note that since the implementation of social recruiting the quality of job seekers in the eyes of the recruitment agencies has significantly improved.
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Can you believe that people who didn‘t have Facebook accounts were classified, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek report by Forbes, as being “suspicious,“ as if they had something to hide!
Now we know that companies are falling over themselves to have a very strong social media presence but you as the individual need to treat yourself as a “brand“ as well. If you want to be standing out in a pile of applicants for the next contract, what do you need to do?
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Perhaps you should consider creating a personal website. A quick search can reveal whether or not a domain name is available based on your first and last name. That would be an ideal situation, but in any way a website dedicated to you can be the hub of your entire presence online. Within that website you can have all kinds of links to other personal and social media presences including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Start to think of yourself as the expert in your field. This way of thinking may be a little bit alien to you, as many people seem to think that they should never “brag“ about their abilities. Today you need to have a different mindset though. You know what type of value you can bring to the table, but you have to broadcast this to the people on the other end of the spectrum, the people who will be hiring you based on that expertise.
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Within your own personal website can be a blog area and as you know, a blog post is generally a way of providing information or opinion in the form of written online content. You can establish yourself as a thought leader in your particular field. If you do this properly, you can come across as an authority in your niche given time and persistence. Start to think about your subject and expertise and come up with a list of potential blog post topics.
Don‘t underestimate the strength of this approach. Put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter. If they can find a website that‘s dedicated to you, your expertise and your ability, don‘t you think that it can be very advantageous when it comes to placing you above the rest in the field?
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Some people think that it‘s okay simply to set up a Facebook account, a presence on Twitter and the basic presence on LinkedIn. They seem to think that you can simply show that you‘re there and that would be good enough. Perhaps it‘s better than nothing, but you really need to be proactive here.
For example, if you did create your own personal blog then you need to link your blog to Twitter and Facebook. You need to search for other people who are active in your industry on Twitter and start following them. In turn many of them will follow you. Now you have started to build an audience and can interact with other people or other influencers in your field.
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Join relevant professional groups on LinkedIn. Ensure first that your LinkedIn profile has been completed fully and correctly. Include a professionally taken photograph of yourself. Now you can interact in those group settings and make sure that you have something to say about the subject matter. Remember you‘re building the case that you‘re an expert in your field. The more evidence that you leave in group settings such as this, within your blog and so on, the better.
It doesn‘t matter that you‘re looking for a contractual position in a field that may be unrelated to IT or communications. The fact that you‘re able to provide such an online presence and tie it all together quite skilfully speaks volumes about your ability. It shows your potential to a certain degree and that you understand how important it is to leverage. It also shows that you‘re willing to go above and beyond and that can tell a prospective employer a lot about you. Then, the prospective employer can begin to imagine what you‘d be able to do as a contractor when working with them on important projects.
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So you can see that rather than treating an online presence as an afterthought, it should be a primary consideration as you venture out into the marketplace. If you already have a Facebook account or a basic LinkedIn presence, take the time to tidy it all up. Don‘t worry that much if the information contained on your Facebook page is personal in terms of what you might do in your leisure time, or has photographs of you that might‘ve been taken with your family and friends. All of this information is valuable and shows that you‘re a wellrounded individual. Just be sure that the information contained about you online is uniform and appealing to a prospective employer or recruitment agency.
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Understanding The Importance Of The CV 6 seconds. This is said to be the amount of time that a recruiter will spend when scanning a CV upon first exposure. This is a very scant amount of time but research also shows that a ma jority of that time is spent looking at the candidate‘s name, current and previous title, company and appropriate dates, together with education.
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You might wonder why it‘s necessary to spend your time developing a comprehensive and hard-hitting CV in the first place, if all they‘ll do is have a look at a little bit of information at the top. It‘s certainly worthwhile taking time to formulate the information “at the top“ carefully, but your goal is to ensure that they focus on your CV and not flip the page to look at the next one. So, even though you need to spend time to make sure that every one of those 6 seconds counts, your entire CV must be very well put together as well.
Now it‘s possible that you‘re applying for a number of different contract opportunities with different employers. It is further possible that you‘ll want to tailor each of your CV applications appropriately. A good idea here is to start with a master CV and make sure that this is well put together before modifying it appropriately for the individual applications. It may well be that you have a broad range of skills but that you don‘t need to bring all of these to the table for certain applications. You should certainly focus on the right skills for the job and where certain skills are really not appropriate, you simply don‘t need to list them.
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Note that these days much of this entire process is done online. Recruitment agencies and clients will therefore be using specific words, called keywords, to determine whether you‘re in the mix or not. You could also call these words “buzzwords“ if you want to. In your industry it‘s likely that you‘re fully aware of what these buzzwords are, but it‘s nevertheless a good idea to look at the information that‘s been put out into the marketplace by the recruiter. The description of the position will include these words so you should make sure that you include them within your CV appropriately. Another good place to find out if you‘ve included the right keywords is the employer‘s website. This is important, as in the worst-case scenario if you‘ve missed these keywords altogether they may never come across your CV in the first place through whatever search process that they‘re using.
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To be 100% sure that you‘re not missing out here go back to your favourite social media site, LinkedIn. Do some research in relation to people who work in the exact same field and see what they mention in terms of skills and expertise. There‘s a specific section within each LinkedIn profile for this. Have a look to see what they‘re most endorsed in. You should be proficient in those skills and should include this information in your CV. You may even come across an area that you need to brush up on and can conduct the necessary research or skill attainment from here on.
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Remember that we talked earlier about how to craft an online presence that should put you above and beyond other people who are applying for the same position. Really, don‘t underestimate this. Other research has shown that when faced with a number of CVs that are inherently similar, and where a number of people are theoretically qualified for a job position, recruitment agencies will often break the tie by determining which of these candidates “gets things done.“ In other words, if they can see that you‘ve made a considerable effort to show your value by creating your website, your blog posts and your well manicured social presence then this can only be in your favour. It shows quite clearly that you‘re a finisher, someone who‘s not just skilled but also has a work ethic that can only be of value to them in the long run.
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How To Get It Right Ask yourself what a CV is for. Many people seem to think that it‘s the CV that gets you a job or a contract, whereas what it effectively does is gets you that interview in the first place. It‘s not necessary for you to tell the reader of your CV everything that they need to know about you and there‘s every reason not to do that. You need to keep it succinct, but hard-hitting.
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Remember that it may be necessary for you to tailor make your CV. We advised earlier on that you should start off with a master CV and then it should be relatively straightforward for you to fine-tune it according to the position you‘re applying for.
People often make the mistake of making their CV very pretty to look at. They seem to think that if they use the most exotic font and a variety of different colours then it‘ll stand out from a pile of generic black and white versions and that the recruiter will automatically be attracted to it. The recruiter will not fall for this gimmick and in fact is likely to be repelled by it. Remember that they have a large number of CVs to look through and this process can be somewhat tiring on the eyes to start off with. You should use only fonts that are widely accepted across the Web because it‘s likely that your CV will be stored in a database. Not all systems can read all types of fonts. It would be a disaster if your attempts to make your CV look “pretty“ end up making it unreadable in digital format.
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Put the important information toward the top of your CV. Even though the recruiter may have spent more than the nominal 6 seconds we referred to earlier so far on your CV, it doesn‘t mean that they‘re going to read it thoroughly all the way through. Essentially meaning, don‘t leave something that‘s of primary importance toward the end.
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While you should always reference your important academic qualifications, those that are relevant to your line of work, you don‘t need to include a lot of finite detail about your basic academia and your earlier job positions or activities.
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Responsibilities can tell a lot about you. If you were responsible for supervising a number of staff, or you were charged with the responsibility of maintaining a budget, make sure that this information is emphasised.
It makes a great deal of sense to work with organisations such as the Professional Representation Network to help you craft a CV. This is a highly important document and it stands to reason that people who are experienced in developing these documents and working with others, can help you to do this properly. Work with people who can look at your CV from the point of view of the recruiter, know what needs to be there and what needs to be emphasised.
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Once you‘ve created your master CV and gone to great lengths to develop your online presence, you then need to ensure that you maintain it as time goes by. While you might “score“ a position and a great contract as a consequence of all this work, keep up with things. Many contracts only last 6 or 12 months and you may well be looking for something else rather soon. If you have kept up with the maintenance of your online presence and CV documents you‘ll be in great shape when it comes to the next process.
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Interviews -
Preparing For Them No matter how tempting it can be to think that you can simply “wing it“ when it comes to interview time, you must understand how important it is to prepare. Many people seem to think they can simply show up and that their natural ability to sell themselves will be enough to get them to that prized contract. Somebody said that 80% of success is just “showing up“ but that doesn‘t apply when it comes to the interview process.
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A thorough preparation can leave you with the upper hand. Deep down inside you will know, if you haven‘t bothered to allocate time to get ready, that you might not be adequately prepared and that a question or two might trip you up. Whether you can suppress those feelings or not, even a hint of uncertainty can come across maybe in a subtle piece of body language picked up by the other party.
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Even the best of us get nervous when we feel that we‘ve something substantial on the line. We‘re all used to talking to others on a daily basis without any issue, but when it comes to formality as is the case in an interview, all bets are off.
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Some interviewees are scared of the unknown. It‘s as if the interviewer is going to dredge up some long-lost secrets from the past to confront you. It‘s as if they will “catch you out“ in relation to an inconsistency in your presentation, inaccurate dates detailed in your CV or something else entirely. Is an interview process as mysterious as this? In reality, if you take an adequate amount of time to prepare and imagine just what the other party is looking to achieve at the end of the interview, you can make life a whole lot easier for yourself.
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Let‘s start by talking about that fear of the unknown. Remove as much of the uncertainty as possible by getting to know all there is to know about the client. Yet it‘s still amazing how many people enter the interview process without knowing even the basic details about the employing organisation. If nothing else it‘s inconsiderate, but practically it‘s essential if you‘re going to be able to show that you really care about working for this firm.
You will not be expected to sit there and deliver a soliloquy about the company, but a lack of knowledge will certainly come across within the course of the entire interview. Certain key questions may arise calling for an answer that includes detail about the company. For example, you should know how many locations the company has, where they are and what each location is responsible for doing as part of the bigger picture. Some people might classify details such as this as operational and something that only needs to be delved into when you‘re “on board.“ Yet much of this information is readily available and could be a core part of the organisation‘s absolute functionality.
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Where do you go to find out about the employer? The first place you should start is their website. Read through this carefully and get a full grasp for their mission statement. Understand who‘s at the helm, who‘s responsible for each department and spend much more time on the department relevant to your position. Take notes to go through during the build up to the interview so that it appears that you‘ve this information at your fingertips. You don‘t want to come across as being uncertain or ask for any kind of prompt from the interviewer when referring to an organisational element.
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Take some additional time to fully absorb the mission statement. You will often find this in the “about us“ section of the website. Employers are essentially looking for somebody who has the same type of vision, who is expecting to be a team player and will help them to achieve their goals. Likewise, you need to feel happy yourself that you can walk toward those goals without any reservation.
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Determine what makes this organisation different from the competition in this marketplace. If you have worked for any organisation that could be classified as a competitor then you should have an advantage here. Remember, you may need to dovetail your experience and ability into an answer to one or more questions during the interview, in relation to the competition and their mission statement.
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Next, consider some positive affirmations. This may be a little controversial as not everybody believes in this approach, but you may want to try visualising yourself in the position you‘re applying for. Imagine that you‘ve already been successful and that you are working for the organisation. How do you feel you could approach the contract? What challenges are you likely to come across and how could you bring your unique approach to bear on solving these challenges? Try not to think of this as “overkill“ but understand that you can include some of the answers likely to arise in your responses as you go through the interview.
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Go through the job application description with a fine tooth comb. Read and absorb it word for word. The client organisation has taken a lot of time to ensure that this wording is highly specific, as they only want to generate the right leads here. You would be amazed how many interviewees gloss over this situation and perhaps have not put enough emphasis on a point or two included therein. In fact, in a rush to apply to try and get “something“ they may find that they‘re applying for a job that‘s not wholly suitable. Don‘t let that person be you, as that spells disaster in the middle of the interview. During the course of the interview it‘s likely that the other person will ask questions that are related to the job description. If you‘ve taken the time to fully understand how you could fit in to the picture based on this terminology, you‘re on the right course.
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In fact, a good way to prepare here is to ask yourself questions based on each point raised in the job description. Commit your answers to paper and take time to fine tune them. You can include evidence from your past positions within any answers that you make, rubberstamping the fact that you‘re the perfect person for this position.
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If you can anticipate what the other party is likely to ask you, you could be ahead of the game. In almost every interview situation the interviewer will include what are essentially some standard questions, so it pays to be aware of what you‘re almost certain is likely to come up.
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• For example, they‘re going to want to know what interests you about the position and why you feel motivated to apply for it, or in other words, why you want to work for this organisation specifically. Take time to think about this and write down your answer ahead of time, so that you can look at your answer periodically and fine-tune it.
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• They‘re going to ask you the generic favourite, “Tell me about yourself.“ Some people approach this question like a deer in the headlights, as if they‘re going to be asked to tell some hidden secrets. Try to practice this so that you come off as being unflappable and fully confident. This can often be the opening question, so don‘t let it set you off on the wrong foot.
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• We talked earlier on about your preparatory work in finding out all about this company. Expect one of the stock questions to be along those lines, prompting you to impress the interviewer with your detailed knowledge about this.
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• Employers are always interested in staying power, or in other words are you going to hang around to justify their investment in taking you on? Therefore, they will be interested in finding out why you left your previous position. Obviously as a contractor this may be a not infrequent occurrence, but what they‘re looking for is an individual who‘s able to seek out each and every contract and where not, to try and get to the bottom of it, if there are mitigating circumstances.
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• When it comes to specificity the interviewer is likely to ask you about your experience in relation to each principal aspect of the contract. Anticipate this so that you have the information readily available to deliver. They may augment this question with further questions in relation to problem solving. In the previous experience, what did you do when such and such a situation arose, for example?
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• It‘s not unusual for a question to be tabled in relation to the remuneration for a contract. Where such remuneration is flexible, they‘re certainly going to want to see what you‘re comfortable with. Again, due preparation can be highly advantageous here. You should know what‘s reasonable and what‘s not, what other people may have been paid in certain situations and what your level of skill means when it comes to your market value.
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While these may be some of the key questions to be expected, there may also be some questions which can be considered to be controversial, or somewhat difficult to answer. Don‘t worry, there‘s a limit to what the interviewer is allowed to ask you in these situations without getting into hot water, but there may yet be potential questions that you feel a little bit nervous about for some reason. Don‘t just hope that such a situation isn‘t going to arise and be fully ready just in case it does. In these situations do practice your answers so you can deliver with ease and without hesitation.
Many people fall down when it comes to a critical part of the interview process. They treat an interview as essentially one-sided. They feel as if they‘re coming into a room to be grilled about themselves by the person on the other side of the table. They don‘t understand that the interview is supposed to be a two-way process. While you‘re being interviewed for a position as a contractor, you should be interviewing the representative of the organisation to determine whether or not they‘re suitable from your perspective. It‘s amazing just how many people don‘t understand this crucial element.
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Therefore, you should come up with as many questions as you can and be as specific as you want to be in order to have your turn when the moment arises. Normally at the end of the interview the interviewer will ask you whether you have any questions for them. Sometimes, this can arise at the beginning of an interview, as it could give the other party more information upon which to base questions as the process continues. Obviously, if something has already been covered earlier on during the interview, then you don‘t have to go over it again just because it happens to be one of your prepared questions. This is also generally a good time to clarify a situation about your position and will at the very least provide you with some good answers in relation to the delivery of your work once you‘re hired.
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Always project yourself from a position of strength, as if you already have the contract in your grasp. Underline your questions with further indications of how you‘d be such an incredible asset to the organisation. Don‘t forget to ask them when you can expect a reply and what the next steps in the process are expected to be. If, following the interview, you‘re still keen to get this contract, then you shouldn‘t leave the interviewer with any uncertainty about this whatsoever.
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What To Do On The Day
So, the big day arrives and it‘s time to go to the interview. What should you do to prepare yourself here?
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Assuming that you‘ve done your homework as we outlined in the previous section you should now be fully aware of the makeup of the organisation, what makes them tick and what they‘re looking for in broadest terms. You should be aware of the type of person they‘re looking for specifically as a contractor and what the role entails. You should have practiced answers in relation to how your specific experience and ability fits in. You should‘ve anticipated many of the questions that they‘re likely to ask, including some of those awkward ones and you should be aware of your real value in terms of remuneration. One other point we didn‘t cover earlier. In so far as you can, find out what format the interview is likely to take. In other words, are you going to be meeting one-on-one or will it be a panel of people? Who are these individuals and what will they be responsible for, specifically? In that way you will know, when addressing them individually, what you should focus on. 87
In advance of the big day ensure that you have a plan of attack ready. How are you going to get to the location? If you want to rely on public transportation, leave plenty of time in the event of Murphy‘s Law. Today we can use the Internet to help us prepare and we‘re not going into any geographical area “blind“ necessarily. You can use Google Street view within their Maps functionality to have a look at the actual building itself, so that there can be no possibility of getting lost with those minutes ticking away.
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Ensure that you have chosen what you‘re going to wear the night before. In the ma jority of situations an interview will be formal or at least semi formal, although this isn‘t always the case in some contractual positions. Dress appropriately however at all times. Ensure you get plenty of sleep the night before and don‘t be tempted to go out with some friends to get a bit of Dutch courage, as many tend to do pre-interview!
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When you head out on the day make sure that you have everything with you in terms of your CV, your notes, examples of what contracts you have done previously and everything should be neatly contained in a folder. If you might need to refer to some notes in the middle of the interview ensure that you know exactly where they are. There‘s nothing worse than fumbling about in a file full of jumbled papers, as that hardly creates a good impression.
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When you arrive at the interview take some time to make sure that you‘re “present.“ This means that you should focus on the matter at hand only. Remember that communication can be multidimensional. Body language can tell experienced interviewers a great deal. By focusing on being present, you clearly understand how important it is to maintain appropriate eye contact, particularly so while leaning forward slightly in an attentive manner. And remember, don‘t ever fidget. You need to speak audibly and clearly, listening to the questions you‘re asked and answering them precisely without “waffling.“
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In interview situations some people may have a tendency to feel inferior for reasons that aren‘t practical or valid. This can be especially the case if this contract is of high importance to you. In other words, in a situation where you may come across as being more in need of them than they‘re in need of you, this could put you at a disadvantage. You need to guard against that situation ever arising, as it could certainly come across in nonverbal communication.
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The more time that you spend preparing for the interview, the better off you‘ll be. It‘s usually the unprepared interviewee who will start to flounder when it comes to crucial questioning. If a difficult question is tailored to you it‘s perfectly acceptable to pause for a moment or two to consider your answer. Always have confidence in yourself and your abilities, particularly what you can bring to the table. This confidence shouldn‘t be overdone but is nevertheless part of what the interviewers are looking for anyway.
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If you truly do find interviews to be a difficult proposition there‘s nothing wrong with doing a dry run of sorts beforehand. During the preparation phase you‘ve come up with a list of most of the questions that you‘re likely to be asked. Why not give this information to a trusted, professional friend and ask them to conduct a dummy interview with you? Did you know that it‘s also possible to engage with organisations that provide such a service to interviewees as well?
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These days an initial interview may be conducted digitally or online, or on the phone. Prepare for these interviews just as thoroughly as you would for a personto-person alternative. As you get ready for a phone interview do ensure that your mobile phone is adequately charged and that you‘re in a location where you‘ll get good reception. Also, ensure that you‘re not in a noisy area where there‘s danger that the other party will hear distractions in the background, or you‘ll be distracted yourself by the third party.
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If you‘re going to be conducting an interview via Web cam then you need to take the time to prepare. Dress as if you were engaging in a face-toface interview and have a look to see what‘s in the background. It‘s best to sit in front of a bare wall so that there are no distractions for the other party. Likewise, if you‘re doing this from home make sure that other people around such as members of your family are aware of what‘s going on. Tell them that your location is out of bounds for the time being, as you don‘t want somebody coming into the room and disrupting the flow of your thoughts.
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Dress as if you were engaging in a face-toface interview and have a look to see what‘s in the background. It‘s best to sit in front of a bare wall so that there are no distractions for the other party.
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Following Up So, how did the interview go? Do you feel confident about your prospects? At the conclusion of the interview you should have asked them to clarify what will happen next. In any case you need to be pro-active about this and follow up within a reasonable interval to see how things are progressing. Always portray yourself from a position of confidence and strength and if the interview actually did go well, then you need to retain that thought in your mind. Once again, visualise yourself in receipt of that contract and fully expect to hear from them imminently about your start date.
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Once you‘ve secured your position, have received confirmation together with details about your start date, location and other information then take time to pat yourself on the back! Once you do this understand that the contractor‘s work is never done in relation to how they market themselves and prepare for the next position. You should be always working on your marketing, your online presence and forward planning. With the typical 6 to 12 month contract, time can fly by. You want to ensure that you‘re always prepared for any eventuality and that you have initiated the sequence well ahead of time in relation to your next contractual position.
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Summary Remember that at the Professional Representation Network, we aim to be with you at every stage of your evolution. We can help you to look for that contract and prepare for those interviews. Then once you‘ve secured the position we can help you with your lifestyle management and financial preparations. Don‘t think for a moment that you have to go it alone when we can bring our extensive experience and vast network of contacts to bear in an attempt to find you the best contracts out there.
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