A Job You Love

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

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

I have been giving workshops on how to use Linkedin for professionals and one of the main benefit of Linkedin is to raise your reputation and your brand.

But how to do that?

I have identified 5 reputation building tools on Linkedin.

1) Status updates

Everytime you post a status update, you communicate about what you are doing…you can really use the status update to communicate your brand and mentioning the things you are developing according to your target. For example if I want to be known as the expert in the marketing … Continue Reading

Do you have recommendations on your Linkedin profile?

I have been noticing a growing trend of people exchanging favors on Linkedin of this kind:

“You write a recommendation on Linkedin for me and I will write one for you”.

They worked in the same company or exchanged information but never really worked together to be able to recommend each other. You only talked to the person twice and had a nice drink with this guy, but on that basis how can you recommend him?

These people don’t understand the principles of recommendations: they are … Continue Reading

Do you still send Linkedin (or viadeo) invitations without personal message?

So you get it wrong!

Networking and social networking is all about quality and not quantity.

In their brilliant article, Networking Reconsidered, the authors go even further and explain that Networking is about genuine relationships where you exchange issues and real knowledge. And only time and trust will ensure this kind of relationship.

By building long term relationships and getting the trust of your contacts you will be able to develop collaborative work.

I know that I don’t share the philosophy … Continue Reading

Everyday I receive emails from people asking for free advice. I don’t know them, they don’t know me but they hope to get something for free.

Even if time is short, I always try to reply back to all the emails…Sometimes I just say I won’t be able to help you (if it is something too big as reviewing a CV or a profile).

But the worst case is when someone ask for a piece of advice and once I send an email does not reply back.

It happened to me … Continue Reading

I have been receiving dozens of emails wishing me a happy new year and a merry Xmas from clients, providers, or contacts. But it is highly impersonal, I am just one of them.

Handwritten cards are a much more efficient way to let you contact remember you, it is a polite and delicate way of paying attention to someone. In this world of automation and paperless, a handwritten card is another way of communicating how much this person is important to you.

I must say that it is not green … Continue Reading

2+2+1 what does that mean ? What is that strange formula in networking ?

It is a proper networking tool or even a concept invented by one friend and colleague in France, Hervé Bommelaer, the French expert in networking.

So what is that 2+2+1?

It is a way of optimizing your lunches, or make the most of them.

When you work, you don’t have time to network. So one one of the option is to use your lunch time to meet with people.

• The principles of the 2+2+1 are to

1)    … Continue Reading

ON a regular basis, I receive this kind of emails :

“Dear Laurent,

I am an engineering graduate in the area of Electronics & Communications and is looking forward to start my career.

I am looking for a position leading to further enhancement of my knowledge and skills.
Should you require any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Warm regards,
Tar***”

This is the kind of email I call “unsolicited and annoying” emails.

This person sent me an email without even knowing exactly what I am doing (I am a career consultant and not a recruiter) … Continue Reading

This is the 2nd article about networking. In the 1st we saw Why networking is important to any job search, in this one we see what kind of beliefs can prevent you from networking.

Everytime I run a workshop about networking I hear the same sentences and beliefs about networking.
And my job is to make people think about their beliefs…”Are you sure it is true?”
So let’s have a look at this list of beliefs about networking:

“Networking is manipulation” (it is a classic)
“Networking is for extraverts” (so all the shy … Continue Reading

I have reposted the video of this article…to give more information about Keith Ferrazzi.

Keith Ferrazzi is known as the guru of networking worldwide and is the author of the Famous book, “never eat alone”. If there is one book to buy about networking, this is the one!!

This video is slighlty americanised (catchy and emphatic) in the style but it is so true

And you, what do you think?

Everybody talk about networking…but at the end of the day, we don’t know exactly why we should network.

Here are some good reasons why you should network.

Why networking ?

-        It is the only gateway in job markets inundated with CVs or in job markets that have no advertised positions

-        To obtain information about your industry and the companies

-        To check if your professional project is feasible

-        To develop useful contacts for your business or future employment

-        To get closer to your targeted companies and people

-        To get through the selection process even if you have an unusual profile

-        To pep up your … Continue Reading