Candidates

A good recruitment agency can do much more than introduce you to potential employers. It depends a lot on you. We recommend to have an open mind, be interested in feedback, be prepared to give feedback, and to generally treat a recruitment agency consultant as someone who can help you obtain more information to facilitate your decision making.

If you are invited to an interview at a recruitment agency, do not underestimate it. Considering that a recruitment agency consultant will represent you at potential employers, you will need to convince him or her about your qualities. Otherwise, they will not be able to, in the best of the cases, represent you well enough, and in the worst case, they won’t offer you any opportunity at all.

We offer a finders’ fee to people who help us find candidates for our clients. Recommend to us an acquaintance, a colleague or a friend who works in one of our fields of specialisation, or suggest someone suitable for a position we advertise. If we place them and they pass the trial period, you will receive a reward.

Your resume should be a well organised synopsis of the kind of information about you that will convince potential employers to invite you to an interview. If you know the details of the position you’re interested in, it’s good to modify your resume based on what’s relevant specifically for that particular opportunity.

The template below will help you create a basic resume as well as to check and modify any other version you have, since it includes information and criteria for writing a convincing resume.

There is a useful tool for creating a basic version of resume on Linkedin, too called “Build A Resume” (go to Me/View profile/More/Build a resume).                                                                                                                                        

Curriculum Vitae

Name:     ……………………………………………………………….

State your name and surname.

Telephone:     ……………………………………………………………….

Your mobile phone number will ensure it will be easy to contact you quickly.

E-Mail:     ……………………………………………………………….

Your e-mail address should support the professional impression you want to make. Nicknames and diminutives are not appropriate.

Social Networks;     ……………………………………………………………….

List links to the relevant profiles on social networks, especially the professional ones, or those that can supplement relevant information about your various activities,

Summary;     ……………………………………………………………….

This should be a short definition of your unique or particularly interesting experience, skills and abilities, achievements, personal traits etc. In short, a summary of who you are, as a professional and a person, and what makes you a candidate well worth consideration.

Professional Experience:     ……………………………………………………………….

Start with the most recent position and do not go more than 15 years back. The more recent the experience the more detailed your description should be and vice versa.

From – To  (or To – From):      ……………………………………………………………….

You can specify the exact dates or just a month and a year. As for the positions you held 10 or more years ago, it is sufficient to specify just years.

Name of the Employer and a Short Description of the Company:      ……………………………………………………………….

• If the company went through a merger or changed its name for other reasons include the old name, too.
• Describe the company – its field, its importance generally or within the industry, or other information that makes it understandable even to someone less familiar with the industry or the Czech market.
• You can add a link to the company’s web page, it will make the life of the person reviewing your CV simpler.

Name of the Employer and a Short Description of the Company:      ……………………………………………………………….

• Describe your position and your competencies (accounts you supervised, objectives you were responsible for) and your most significant achievements.
• Do not describe the individual tasks you performed, concentrate on competencies and responsibilities.
• Describe your achievements within context so that it is clear how objectively important they are: have you gained an impressively high number of social media followers thanks to a practicularly good communication campaign?; have you increased sales at the time when all of the competitors’ sales have dropped?; have you won a professional award within industry or your company?, etc.
• Use action, dynamic verbs to indicate you actively influenced the results: sold vs. responsible for sales, negotiated vs. led negotiations, etc.
• If you held several positions within one company describe them individually, including the dates, responsibilities and achievements.

Skills and Abilities;     ……………………………………………………………….

• List all that can be relevant for the particular position or your further professional development, e.g. languages, technical skills, understanding of modern marketing tools, etc.
• Describe them in a way that helps to understand your proficiency: “fluent verbal and written English”; “excellent practical experience with efficient usage of digital marketing tools”; etc.

Education and Training;     ……………………………………………………………….

List the highest-level education and relevant training, certificates and similar.

Interests;     ……………………………………………………………….

Mention those that complement the picture of your skills and particular personality traits. Do it in a way that helps the potential employer to see you as a real person: mentioning an unusual hobby may attract attention to you among others; listing your engagement as a captain of a local volleybal team emphasises your natural leadership skills and team playing personality; if you list sports, movies and other relatively usual hobbies, use  adjectives or other description that accords it a more personal note – ‘passionate’, ‘dedicated’, specify the gender etc.

 

Some Final Advice

• Length  – not more than 2 pages, if you have less than 10 years of experience, limit your CV to 1 page.
• Key-Words – IMPORTANT! Use specialised terminology and key-words used in your industry. It is particularly important in order to survive the first, rough preselection, which is often automated, using software based on searching for key-words, or it’s done by juniors withouth much experience, functioning on the same principle.
• Accuracy – spelling mistakes, typing errors and inaccurate information make your CV look unprofessional; use spelling check and make sure the information in your CV is correct and complete.
• Truthfulness – if the information stated in your CV turns out to be misleading or false, it will be damaging to your reputation.
• Overall Positive Tone – it would be hard to find a company looking for negative people lacking confidence. Your CV should convey a positive attitude and should focus on your strong points and scuccesses.
• Layout and Graphics – it’s the content not the form that is important, therefore make sure the layout is clean, clear and easy to read, without too many bullet-points, bold letters, italics, etc.
• Format – we recommend you to send both an MS Word as well as a pdf version of your CV. While in a pdf format your CV will look the same no matter what device and operational system it is open at, some ATS (applicant tracking systems) used by HR departments  to filter applicants can’t read pdf files .
• Photo – it is required on some markets and undesirable on others. The Czech market has no specific requirements regarding a photo on CV, it may be included but it does not have to be. If your CV includes a link to your social network profile which has your photo, it would seem redundant to have it on your CV, too.

If you’ve devoted adequate attention to writing your CV—thoroughly considering everything you as a professional can offer—the first step in preparing for an interview is complete. The interview can further enhance the impression made by your CV, or it can weaken it. Here is a list of things you should keep in mind:

before

1 | Thoroughly examine your experiences, skills, abilities, reasons for changing jobs and everything stated in your CV.
• Make sure you can substantiate and elaborate on them in detail.
• Think about specific examples—be careful not to disclose confidential information, but still be able to make a convincing argument.
• If you’re applying for a specific position, consider how the points mentioned here may be relevant in conjunction with that position.
2 | Prepare for questions concerning your plans for the future. You don’t need to have a 10-year plan however, you should be clear about your direction.
3 | Brush up on your knowledge of the marketplace and industry—What are some current developments? What caught your eye recently? etc.
4 | If an interview is with a potential employer, research information on the position and the company.
5 | Think about what questions you may want to ask. You should ask questions, too.
6 | Give it a practise run—ideally with someone who has prior experience with job interviews and understands your field.

during

1 | Don’t rush through your answers. Think it through and if you’re unsure you fully understand a question, ask for clarification. Use specialised vocabulary, yet remember to speak naturally and understandably.
2 | Articulate clearly—speak neither too quietly nor too loudly, quickly or slowly.
3 | Be positive and objective—talk about what you want, not what you don’t want, and if you talk about the points of your career in which you were not entirely successful, talk about how you’ve learned from this experience, too.
4 | Pay attention to non-verbal communication—don’t sit stiffly but don’t overdo it with casualness. Make eye contact with the person conducting the interview, and, if there are more people involved, address your words and turn your gaze to them equally.
5 | Remember that an interview is interactive—take careful note of how the other party reacts to what you say and adjust your speech accordingly.
6 | Be yourself—if, in an attempt to be perfect, you are devoid of emotion and a personnel clerk or general manager fails to get a sense of your capacity to be enthusiastic or your reactions to various circumstances, it will lower your chances in getting the position.

after

1 | Review how it went, what you were satisfied with and what you could have done differently.
2| Try to get feedback from the interview and learn from it.

…and finally

1 | Make sure to get to the interview on time. It’s ideal to arrive
5 minutes early but take into account that the journey from the building entrance to the office may also take a few minutes. Should you arrive too early, wait outside.
2 | If, unavoidably, you are running late, notify the interviewer in good time and confirm that your message has truly been delivered (call, or make certain your text was sent).
3 | Dress appropriately—not overly formal but not too casual—abide by the norms of the company or the type of position.
If you’re not entirely certain, it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed.
4 | Pay attention to hygiene and have an overall well groomed appearance.