Chris Eilers’ blog


Articles on CV/career topics:

How to answer common job interview questions
Some job interview questions come up time and again, such as “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”, “Tell me about yourself” and “Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?”. Interview preparation on these questions can be a worthwhile exercise.

Don’t let your referees wreck your job applications
Select your referees with care, have a chat with them whenever you’re seeking a new job and make sure they’ll support your job applications.

How to shine in structured recruitment interviews
If you’ll be interviewed by a panel, gather together some narratives of incidents at your work, each of which can be used to answer to different questions, and practice your answers.

How to write powerful accomplishments in your CV
Select the accomplishments you write about with care and make them as powerful as possible by telling the reader how you achieved your results, and not just the fact that you achieved results.

Start your CV off on the right foot
Recruiters prefer CVs that stick to the facts and clearly articulate them. For CVs targeted to NZ recruiters, self-descriptions at the beginning of a CV can be seriously counterproductive.

Including personality profiles in your CV
Well-chosen personality profiles can powerfully strengthen your CV for many vacancies, especially ones advertised by executive recruitment agencies or corporates.

Work your way into a new job
Before investing time and money in a training programme targeted to a specific industry sector, check out the jobs in the industry by offering employers unpaid work experience — or use unpaid work experience as a way to leapfrog ahead of other applicants in a competitive industry sector.

Take a proactive approach to the job market
In some situations, it can pay immediate dividends if you take the initiative by directly approaching prospective employers and presenting them with a complete skills package.

Networking and cold calling
Make use of your referees in your job search, contact other people in your industry at events such as trade fairs, and use informational interviewing to canvas employment opportunities.

What sort of job do you want?
If you want to change the employment field you’ve been working in, investigate the options, assess your talents, and take advantage of opportunities to extend your skills and discover new talents.