A Job You Love

Now with the new social networking trends, I can see a whole bunch of articles stating “Finding a job through twitter” or “easy steps to find a job with twitter” or “5 rules for job seekers on Twitter”.

No, finding a job on twitter is not an easy job and even brings a lot of misconception.

1 – It takes time

Twitter follows certain rules, a specific etiquette and to understand this etiquette you need to spend some time on it

At first, you are going to listen and observe, and then may be … Continue Reading

Why did you come first on Linkedin?

Because all my contacts are on it! or Because I have been invited…

But really, why are you using Linkedin?

Generally people don’t even know the answer.

So you act as a headless chicken using Linkedin without really knowing why you are there and what you should be doing.

What are the consequences of this?

1 – Lack of focus on your profile:

Your profile is just a copy and paste of your CV without any specific focus. On Linkedin profiles need to be … Continue Reading

As a best of for this summer, I gathered all the most controversial and most commented articles of this blog…

People can be harsh but some comments are really interesting!

Recruiters are not creative (15 comments)

People don’t care about you (18 comments)

Don’t put “Looking for a job” on your linkedin status (19 comments)

Recruiters don’t look for desperate people (22 comments)

I have been dumped by a recruiter (36 comments)

What do I do before meeting with new people?

I google their name, I type their name in google.

And according to the occurences on Google, I will form an idea of who they are and what they have been doing.

So now, test it for yourself, what appears on Google when you put your name in?

When I give conferences, I often google names of students…and all the time, the first link is their facebook page (with some weird pictures).

So yes, google is becoming your CV, google … Continue Reading

Here is the social network of Jesus designed using the bible and especially the new testament.

What I mean by “social network of Jesus” is the fact that Jesus lays at the centre of the network, he is the hub of the network, the person who knows everyone, the point of contact for all the relationships.

Definition

A social network is made of nodes (people) and ties (relationships), and the sum of all these nodes and ties, is a social network.

It can be ego centered (around a specific person) or community … Continue Reading

Sorry for my English Followers, but today the article is in…French!

Voilà, je me lance pour mon 1er article en Français sur ce Blog,  allez c’est le grand plongeon!

Il y a 2 semaines, voilà le mail que j’ai reçu:

“Bonjour Mr BROUAT Laurent,
Je suis actuellement un élève de l’école …., dans le programme International.
Je me permets de vous écrire car j’ai trouvé vos coordonnées dans le livre des anciens de…. J’ai donc vu que vous étiez Career Consultant chez SMP SOLUTIONS à Londres.

Etant étudiant en xe année de Master de … Continue Reading

I usually realize that people are in great danger when they are good at interviews.

What I mean by Good is “really good”, whatever the context and the job.

They can adapt their pitch and their presentation  to the company they are applying for. They did so many interviews that they know all the questions in advance and look like professional interviewers.

But what I am seeing in that case are people choosing the wrong jobs. They sell and even oversell themselves and end up taking a job that does not … Continue Reading

You know what? Luck is crucial in your job search and career.

To succeed you need work, talent and skills, but you also need luck.

Luck is not something that happens randomly, luck is something you can develop and work on, Luck is a skill!

And luck in job search plays a huge part…you meet with someone in the lift and this person happens to be looking for someone with your skills.

The friend of your friend you met at a party mentions to you that he is looking for a partnership … Continue Reading

In the Uk and now in France, recruiters organisations and governing bodies have tried to avoid discrimination through different measures. In the UK, you don’t have to put a photo, your address, your age or your marital status on your CV.

In France, in 2006, the Anonymous CV has been created to prevent any discrimination but it has not been used so far or only on a small scale by some French corporations (Loreal, Axa…).

All these efforts have been made to avoid precisely any kind of discrimination whether it … Continue Reading

On this blog, I have never talked about myself…and for the first time, I am about to do it.

I have been living in London for about 3 years, and I have decided to move back to France.

I am quite happy even if I still have a lot of work in the UK and I do love working here…a lot of career and job expertise books are written in English so I must say that today I am heavily influenced by the Anglosaxon way … Continue Reading

When you look for a job, you go through a 7 step process. It is comparable to the loss of someone when you go through 5 phases.

And consistently, I have seen people going through theses steps if they do it alone…

• 1st phase = after losing your job, you jump straight away to send a couple of CVs without having your CV really ready, the 1st negative replies come in.
• 2nd phase = In this phase, as you are a new job seeker (you have looked for … Continue Reading
  

Outplacement is the service which consists in helping people to achieve a career transition (looking for a job or changing of job).

I must say that this title is obviously provocative…but at the same time, the industry is facing new challenges that really question its foundations.

Is Outplacement working for career changers?

Outplacement has been questioned for a long time about its efficiency in helping true career changers.

Herminia Ibarra explains in “Working Identity” that career changers change in a lengthy process where they meet with people on their target market, where … Continue Reading

The other day I came across an article in the Sunday Times talking about social networking and recruitment.

And what amazed me is the fact that recruiters were all saying that Social networks are really useful but it is not that great.

” Linkedin is a great networking tool and research tool. However it is not a panacea.” Toby Fowlston, Robert Walters

“Linkedin isn’t the phone book and even if it was, who would want to look through the entire phone book to find the right candidate?” Eamon Collins Michael … Continue Reading

With this picture (Knowing what we know), I hope you will understand the huge difference between a social network and a formal structure.

A formal structure

It is a rigid organization chart which explains who does what and where.

You can understand in which department people work, who is their boss and what is their job title.

But this formal structure does not say anything about the relationships within the organization and who knows who, who is friend with who…

Formal structure: rigid, informational, structured, 1.0

Cole

For example, looking … Continue Reading

Do you work to pay your bills?

This very clever cartoon presents us with an interesting issue…if we have food, clothes, health care…what is the point of working?

Dan Pink and Malcolm Gladwell would say: to create meaning.

Finding meaning and purpose is one of the most powerful way of being happy at work.

Gladwell identified 3 caracteristics of a meaningful job:

1) clear relationship between reward and effort

2) complex work

3) autonomous

Is your job ticking all these boxes? Do you have a meaningful job?

Are you like this person asking “What do we need … Continue Reading