Most of my days were spent on the sun drenched snowy slopes with a general feeling of being able to get by on my skis.  Oakley goggles, Solomon helmet, Animal ski  jacket and salopettes, and lashings of thermal underwear, I was pretty much the embodiment of the saying “all the gear and not a lot of idea” on my winter holiday!  As time went by my confidence increased, my expertise developed, the slopes became more familiar day by day.  Most days the sun shone and the conditions were good.  My snow plough manoeuvres progressed to parallel turns and blue slopes turned into reds and then came the dreaded black runs.

Familiarity breeds contempt as they say, and as the week went on I became more acclimatised to the alpine ski slopes and then I noticed a subtle change.  On several occasions aided by my growing confidence, ambition definitely started to get the edge and cunningly outstripped my ability.  Suddenly, I would be half way down a slope when I would become painfully aware that I was in fact hurtling downhill, almost completely out of control and even more worryingly with ever increasing speed.  It’s at this point, as G forces started to take hold, that I quickly realised that I had two very stark choices.  I was faced with a dilemma, and one that needed addressing in less time than it takes to shout “where’s the brakes?”  All I needed was a nanosecond of clarity.

Here lies the conundrum:

Should I

a) Keep gathering speed either in a straight line down the hill or in a traverse across the slope, which would ultimately and certainly lead to a considerable and undoubtedly painful drop over the edge.  Or …

b) Put in a turn?

Putting in a turn would be the more obvious, sensible and from a spectator standpoint, apparently simple answer.  But the novice and lower intermediate skiers amongst you will recognise that there are occasions when this simple sounding manoeuvre is much more easily said than done.  Despite the lack of logic on the face of it, continuing on my existing course regardless of outcome sometimes seemed preferable to an unfamiliar and potentially tricky turn.  There is no need for answers on a postcard as more observant readers will notice that I am in fact here back in the office, and so must have managed the critical turns, despite the difficulty encountered, and mercifully with all my limbs intact! (or at least the two fingers required for typing.)

The analogy of course and the point of my article is that once on a course of employment, it can appear easier on the face of it, to continue in a role where in your heart you know that ultimately the course you are on is not the right one. You are familiar with your surroundings, your days are predictable, you may be relatively comfortable right now, but you are faced with unavoidable and all too familiar downsides to your job that hang heavy like a grey cloud.  Perhaps redundancy is looming or you know that your job is just plain wrong for you, but staying with the devil you know until your hand is forced, can often seem preferable to the deep blue sea alternative of willingly and deliberately initiating the action of changing course.  Changing your job seems possible in theory, but you might not be equipped with the practical skills and knowledge to make the leap of faith it will take to change your career direction.  You know getting a new job is possible, but just like carving a turn on the ski slope, making it happen is an entirely different matter.  It’s more the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar that is holding you back and the perceived effort of changing your job than anything else.

Now, here is the good bit.  I have some good news at this point for anyone who recognises this dilemma.  Unlike ski school which will cost you an arm and a leg (hopefully not literally), there is an abundance of completely free tuition available on the internet to help you make the transition.  Research will pay dividends and practice will make perfect in your preparation for job hunting.  Perfecting your CV, honing your interview technique, networking effectively with possible employers and recruiters, there is more careers advice on the internet than you can shake a stick or even a ski pole at.  Just like learning to ski I cannot guarantee you will get it right first time, and you might fall flat on your posterior a couple of times along your journey, but hopefully it will be a learning curve, and ultimately you will head off on a new direction to pastures or slopes new.  There are videos, articles, blogs, websites all completely free and written by those in the know, so if you really want to do it, fill your ski boots, take courage and put in the turn.

For those who would rather après ski than trawl the net, here are a few starting points.

Video 4 in a series of 4 on how to write a CV

Video 3 in a series of 4 on how to write a CV

How to answer competency based interview questions

http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk for many more useful articles

What is a Competency Based Question?

Competency based questioning is a technique used by interviewers to assess your suitability to the job you have applied for, by using questions based on the competencies required to perform the  job.  These competencies will relate to the job role and the values of the company.  Key competencies are specific skills you need for the job, i.e. decision making, leadership, problem solving, conflict resolution, customer service skills, management, project management, budgetary control or team working.

Why do Interviewers use Competency Based Interview Questions?

Faced with perhaps 6 good candidates who on paper may all have similar or equal attributes for the job, the hiring manager will have to make a decision based on a meeting with the candidates often lasting no more than an hour.  The outcome of this meeting will be the appointment of one of the candidates.  The hope is that the successful candidate will become a valuable and long lasting member of their staff.  This person will be able to fulfil the role, fit in with the company ethos, prove profitable, be happy in the role, and not present unexpected problems or require training and development above and beyond what the hiring manager had initially envisaged for the role.

Competency based questioning is an effective way to assess the suitability of candidates in a short time, and is an unbiased method of comparing one applicant against another.  The interviewer will ask a series of questions relating to the key competencies for the job.  The best indicator for the future performance of an applicant is to look at their previous performance in these key areas, this will demonstrate clearly if they have the required experience, behaviours and potential to fulfil the new role.

How to Answer Competency Based Interview Questions

You will be able to easily rehearse for this type of interview, and some good preparation at this stage will help you answer your interview questions fully and also reduce your interview nerves.  The first task is to identify the competencies for the job.  Look for the competencies for the particular job you are applying for, you should be able to spot these in the job description.  You may come up with a list something like this:  team working, project management, quality service, liaising with clients, working to deadlines, commercial awareness.  You should also identify the mission statement and values of the company as you will probably be questioned on these too, remember they are looking for a fit for the company as well as the role.  The type of areas company values and mission statements often cover are quality, team working and budgetary considerations, so be sure to revise these too.

The key to answering this type of question is to be specific in your response.  You should avoid generalisations, it is important to remember why they are using this technique and what they are looking for.  So do not generalise, use actual specific instances when you have demonstrated the competency they are questioning you on.

The STAR Technique

I would strongly advise you to use the STAR technique.  By sticking to this method of answer you will be able to keep your response to the point and structure your answer effectively.

To explain, your answer should incorporate the following elements:

S – Situation

T – Task

A – Action

R – Result

Situation

For the particular competency describe the background of a particular situation when you used the key competency in question.  For example if the competency is budgetary control , you may answer ” In my last job I was appointed to lead a project involving a £600,000k engineering factory shutdown lasting 2 weeks, and I had overall responsibility for the budget for this project. I did face some challenges on this project which required careful management to keep to budget.”

Task

Describe what you particular task was in relation to this, i.e. ” My responsibility was to ensure that the project came in on time and to budget, which required very close liaison with the discipline heads, maintenance managers and cost and planning team. As it was very important the project ran to timescale and costs were maintained as per estimates.  This was my ultimate responsibility.  Any overspend, delay or conflict had to be resolved immediately to keep the project to budget.  1 week into the project we were faced with unexpected delays due to unavailability of essential maintenance equipment which threatened the completion of the project on time and would ultimately have prevented the plant from becoming operational again on time.  This would have obviously created a loss in production and so revenue.”

Action

“I worked long hours with the buying and contracts manager, sourcing alternative suppliers and negotiating price, to keep to the original estimates.  I worked closely with the planning team to reschedule some of the other work to ensure no time was lost.  It was key that I kept in very close contact with the whole team throughout, as any delay would affect the budget.  I examined all aspects of the project to ensure that there were no wasted costs and that despite the tight budget safety standards were never compromised.”

Result

“I am pleased to say that through perseverance and my determination to deliver on time and to budget, the long hours paid off and a new supplier was found who have since proved to be a new and more effective supplier for us.  The project was completed to time and came in a little under budget, and the whole project was carried out without accident or injury.”

Remember the interviewer will probably score your response, and you will gain marks by giving a specific instance, quoting what the situation was, what you did and what your motivation was to do this.  Think about what did you say and what was the outcome?  You might also add your observations about what you learnt from the experience.  If you give a generalised answer it will be very difficult for the interviewers to award you any points on this part of the interview. Try not to use any scenarios which are too personal and which will cause any awkward moments in the interview. Try to think of a situation that you are quite familiar with, and one which involved interacting with other people, you may also be asked about your personal feelings in this situation, i.e. how did you feel about that? be prepared for this.

Finally, the interview may not be overtly competency based and if your interviewer is not very experienced may include questions such as:  This job deals with a lot of confidential information, have you done this before?  This question is in fact a closed question which could be answered with a yes or no.  However, in order to make the best of this opportunity to demonstrate your suitability, think of it as a competency based question and answer with a specific example of when you have dealt with confidential information.  Use the STAR technique and you will find that you will be able to stick to the question, demonstrate your suitability and present clear evidence to show you are capable of fulfilling the role.

Good Luck, although I’m sure using the STAR technique and with some good preparation into the key competencies and the mission statement of the company you will succeed.

Rowena

I was recently posed this question, which brought to mind all sorts of obvious connotations, which I’ll try to avoid in my response.  I pondered the ethical and potentially sordid implications of such a question for a nanosecond and then I got a grip of my rambling thought processes.

Now, I could be wrong, and perhaps the questioner was simply asking if they should enlist the services of an escort agency, however as this question had been posted in a forum for CV Writing, I will assume that the subtext of this question is more closely related to questioning whether investing money in your job search, will enhance your attractiveness to prospective employers.  Happily, it’s in the area of careers and job hunting that I feel more qualified to provide advice, rather than the more tricky territory of the birds and the bees.

Writing a resume can be crudely described as “selling yourself on paper”. This is a skill which may come easier to some more than others.  However, all is not lost to those who don’t even know where to start. Before you get your wallet out, I suggest you make use of the vast amount of quality free information related to writing a CV or resume readily available on the internet. A quick google around, and before you can say Yahoo! or perhaps more recently Google Chrome, you will find loads of free articles offering sound advice from professionals who know what they are talking about when it comes to showing your best side on paper.  At this point I am tempted to make a shameless plug of my own blog where you can find ample free CV advice to get you started, but I’ll make you wait a bit longer for this little nugget.

Which takes me nicely to time, and time is money so they say.  So I advise serious job seekers to invest as much time and effort into getting a new job as they would into actually working.  So if you’re serious it’s got to be a 9 to 5 job, or if you’re already working, you’ll have to take this second job in the evenings, or at the weekends to achieve your goal, and start by writing a winning CV.   I’ll allow you the odd duvet day, or perhaps a post lunch nap, but you get my drift, generally the amount of effort put into your job search will correlate to the success of your search.  And just like being at work, just turning up is not good enough, you’ve got to be proactive.

For those of you who are lacking the motivation or confidence to make a start, I’m sure there are many excellent careers coaches and resume / CV writers out there who for a fee will do a good job in promoting you.   However, I’m an advocate of DIY, or at least looking in your tool box and giving it a try yourself as a first stage attack.   So log on, Link In and look around for the abundant free advice that’s out there for the taking.

Finally, and here comes the shameless plug to my blog, which has been written just for you, as a free resource to help you in your job search, and where if you take the time to have a good poke around you’ll find plenty of articles to stimulate your resume writing senses, along with 4 short videos in which I talk you through writing a winning CV.  And all free of charge!

http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk

Take heed, keep your cash in your pocket or spend it on roses, and feel the prospective employer love!

Enjoy!
Rowena

When asked the question “What is the ideal length of a CV (number of pages) in your opinion and experience?”, the overwhelming response was 2 – 3 pages. I have seen articles saying a CV should be no more than 1 page long, which I consider too short. So I asked the question “What is your reaction to a CV of only one page?” Again the response was overwhelming in saying that this would be too short. Employers considered a CV of only one page to be vague, lacking in information, crammed, not enough experience to make a judgement on, and even graduate CVs were expected to contain more than one page demonstrating why they would make the ideal potential employee. I thought I would go the other way, as many people ask me if their CV is too many pages. I asked “What is your reaction to a CV of 5 or more pages?” Again the response was almost unanimous in the perception that a CV longer than 4 pages was waffling, contained too much information, irrelevant detail, was too long and that they would lose interest and perhaps even stop reading it before then end.

This led me to thinking what about the more experienced candidate who has been working for say 30 years, how should they detail their work experience and do justice to the vast knowledge they have amassed while not exceeding the 2 – 3 page rule? I asked the question “If you are reading a CV of someone with 10 years plus experience, how important is the detail about experience which is more than 10 – 15 years ago in your assessment of the candidate?” Most employers responded to this by saying that over 10 to 15 years you should only put dates, employer name and job title, they thought that you should omit the detail of the role. The information on jobs more than 10 – 15 years ago gives them insight into how your career has progressed but the detail was not at all important. This advice should help those with more work experience to shorten their CV without feeling that they are compromising their experience. Employers are most interested in what you have been doing recently, remember that as an applicant you are probably being assessed against a large number of other skilled and qualified candidates, so it will be those who most closely recently match the job requirements who will be shortlisted. This may be depressing news for some who feel that they have substantial and relevant experience albeit from 15 years ago, but I’m sharing inside information here about how it will be perceived. Incidentally for those looking for a change of career, perhaps back to something they did several years ago, you may be interested in another article I have written on this subject. Click here for career change advice.

The quality of CVs that come across my desk daily varies enormously, so as an afterthought I asked “How important is spelling and grammar to you when assessing a CV?”   Again the overwhelming response of the people who will typically be reading your CV or resume, and making a judgement on your suitability, responded that poor spelling and grammar reflected an applicant who couldn’t be bothered, lacked effort.  They replied that poor spelling and grammar on a CV generally gave the impression of someone who hadn’t put any real care or time into making their application.   I realise that spelling and grammar is not a strong point for many people, but you probably have spell check on your computer, you can buy a dictionary and you can ask someone else to proof read your CV for you…. I expect this last point will prompt a flood of eagle eyed Giraffe blog readers to respond with numerous errors on this very blog! I really must get round to reading Eat Shoots and Leaves one day!

For more advice on writing a winning CV you might like to watch the 4 short videos I have prepared offering further advice based on inside information on reactions from hiring managers and my own experience of spending the majority of my working day reading applicant’s CVs. http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk/inside-advice-on-how-to-write-a-great-cv-resume/

In this article I will try to provide some ground rules and guidance for you if you are thinking of changing your job and specifically having a complete change of direction.

If you are trying to change your direction and move into a new career, my general advice at this point in time is Don’t do it! However I would like to add a couple of clarifying points to this. If you are in a secure position where you are, consider the state of the world economy and the daily news of redundancies. There are at present large numbers of people losing their jobs due to the recession, many of these will be highly skilled and experienced in their area and will be joining the long list of job seekers looking for their next job. If you are trying to change your direction in your career you will be competing with an increasing number of experienced applicants for the same role. I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from looking for a new job, on the contrary there are lots of really exciting opportunities out there, even in this time of economic suppression, but right now it’s probably more realistic to look at career opportunities within your existing area of skill and expertise. This advice applies equally to you if you have been made redundant and are looking for a new role. If there was ever a time to play your joker and use your areas of greatest strength it is now.

A good example to illustrate my point was a recent applicant who was a Chemist in a pharmaceutical company, he approached me for advice about getting a job in the offshore industry. He wanted to know if I thought he would get an interview for an offshore Chemist job. My advice was that I thought it highly unlikely that he would progress to interview stage in the face of competition from applicants with offshore Chemist experience. He said that he would be happy to pay for his own offshore survival and medical. Again I had to advise that simply possessing these certificates may not increase his chances, as the key factor in short listing would be evidence of relevant experience in the sector. My advice was that he should look at moving into a petrochemical / oil and gas related chemist role onshore initially so that he gained experience in the right sector, and that once he had done this he might even find that a company may sponsor his offshore survival and medical. So keep your expectations realistic, set your goal and work out a set of steps that you need to take to reach your goal. It may be that you need to take a number of small steps rather than a giant leap of faith.

Have you thought of finding a new role using your existing skills and experience but in a new way or with a new company? I spoke to a candidate only yesterday who was completely unaware until very recently that his skills were very much in demand. He is a Mechanical Engineer with particular experience in Maintenance and Reliability engineering and he has good petrochemical experience. At present there are a number of companies looking for these skills and this person was delighted to find out that he could command a good salary or daily rate in a new and challenging role with a new employer. He had been feeling that his role had become stale, it had lost its challenge and he felt stuck in a rut. What better time to look for a fresh new start where he can use his 30 years of experience in a new and interesting job, and in this persons case one that will pay generously for his knowledge. I’m currently waiting for news of an interview, and he was under the misapprehension that no one else would be interested in him! Nothing could be further from the truth for this person.

So if you are feeling like you’d like a change of job, analyse whether it is your duties, your employer, your career aspirations or your colleagues that you want to change, and decide which of these factors is the most important to you? Do you really need to change your direction completely, perhaps you just need more of a slight deviation than a complete U-Turn. Tempering your desire for complete change may prove more lucrative too. Now look for your next role, contact your recruitment agent and take advice. Spend time polishing and honing your CV, it’s your key to change, and is a critical factor in your success. Advice on writing a CV is addressed elsewhere on this blog, and finally, keep your expectations realistic. (However being a glass half full kind of girl I always struggle with this last one myself!)

If you have found the information on this blog useful I welcome your feedback and would be pleased if you would pass my link on to others who it might benefit.

Thanks

Rowena

If we need an estimated 358 billion kilowatt hours to keep the lights on, perhaps you would favour advocating putting another jumper on, switching off your standby button and increasing the grants for home insulation to reduce the needs for fossil fuels, nuclear energy, renewables and imported energy.

Well now you can find out, with a great little interactive calculator from the BBC, would your decisions meet the emissions targets and keep the lights on.

Click on the link to take you to their energy calculator for instant feedback on the impact of your choices.

Let me know how you get on!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/06/electricity_calc/html/1.stm

If the question is a comparison between CVs which are in the written format, ie traditional resumes which can be printed out, vs the video CV, then I believe that there will be some sectors which will lean towards the video CV, for instance the creative industries or roles which rely more on personal presentation skills than academic or technical qualifications and experience.  In these roles I can envisage how a video CV may be useful as a show reel for personality and presentation skills, and I can see the potential for this medium particularly with the growth of personal use of video.  However knowing how many applications are generally received for job adverts and how few seconds are taken up on first sift reading of CVs, I wonder if the video CV might be a second stage CV after the more quickly read “paper” version.

There are many roles where personal presentation skills come secondary to a persons technical skills, qualifications and experience. For instance a senior mechanical design engineer working for an oil and gas producer in an engineering office would be judged almost entirely on his technical ability to fulfill the role.  He or she may have two heads (well not literally!) but I am not interested if they have the potential to be a news presenter or look good on a shopping channel.  My client will only be interested in seeing CVs from skilled, qualified and experienced mechanical engineers regardless of their personal appearance or ability to have the confidence to front a video.

I suppose the other factor is that like writing CVs, creating an effective video resume is an even taller order for most people, and whereas I can help my candidates to present themselves in the best way on paper, through interview and editing of their CV, it is a far more time consuming and costly process to produce a video.  I always recommend that candidates tailor their CV to each application, whilst this is easy using the electronic or paper format, editing different versions of a video would be again more difficult.

If the question relates purely to the comparison between an electronic and paper CV, then in this age most companies and recruiters are geared up to processing any documentation electronically, and so almost instantaneously.  A paper CV sent through the post may well have missed the boat, and certainly when being sent via internal post between departments often on remote sites would be at a disadvantage over an electronic copy.

A paper CV arriving through the traditional post will be at an instant disadvantage arriving at a recruitment agency whose clients expect them to present all candidates in electronic format and in a standardised presentation format.  A paper CV presents problems in that it would have to be either retyped or scanned and edited using character recognition software.  The electronic resume can be dispatched to multiple interested recipients within a company regardless of location, it can be edited quickly and easily, firstly by the recruiters to improve presentation and include extra content derived from initial interview, and it will arrive in perfect condition straight to the desk of the intended hiring manager or HR person.  The electronic CV will most likely only be printed out as a paper copy for interview purposes, as interviewers still like to put the old fashioned pen to paper to make notes during interview.

In conclusion my answer is that I believe there is a place for paper CVs, electronic written CVs and video resumes. For more information on how to create a good CV I have prepared written articles and short video presentations which you can view in other sections on this blog.  And before you write back and comment on my video presentation skills, I would like to point out that although I know I will never make a TV news presenter or shopping channel sales person, at least I don’t have two heads.  (Although the saying does go that 2 heads are better than one!)

This is a short article on one specialist area of mechanical engineering in the Oil and Gas industry – Subsea Seawater Lift Pumps.  This article  is aimed at giving an insight into the type of work a Mechanical Engineer might be involved in  when working in the Oil  & Gas industry.

One of the specialist areas that a Mechanical Engineer may be involved in when working in the Oil and Gas industry is the design, installation and maintenance of subsea submersible seawater lift pumps (SLP) on fixed platforms and FPSOs.

Submersible Seawater lift pumps are key to the safe and efficient running of production facilities offshore. The seawater lift pump supplies utility water with the pump lying approximately 10 metres below the deck and under the surface of the sea water. There are two main types of seawater lift pump, the conventional vertical line shaft pump which uses a diesel engine and 90 degree gearbox which the diesel engine drives. The other type is the ESPs which stands for Electrically Submersible Pump (and not Extra Sensory Perception!) The ESP helps to free up deck space and weighs less, other benefits include less noise and vibration and reduced, and less maintenance and capital expenditure. Both pumps can be used on fixed offshore platforms and FPSOs.  Vibration analysis, reliability and condition monitoring of such equipment is another specialist area you might choose to work in.  This work would be involved with ongoing assessment of the condition and operation of the equipment which has many moving and rotating parts, in order to ensure regular maintenance would prevent unnecessary and costly breakdowns.  Analysis of rotating equipment often uses high-tec methods such as laser alignment to check that vibration and movement out of alignment is not causing wear on the moving parts.

If you are thinking of following a career as a Mechanical Engineer you may choose to take a path which leads you to this interesting and lucrative area of oil and gas production engineering. The design and maintenance of the moving parts in this piece of mechanical rotating equipment would be within the remit of a mechanical engineer, and your work would be integral to the safe and efficient working of the oil rig.

We are currently seeking a Mechanical Engineer with specific SLP experience in UK waters, for a job description of this work go to our live vacancies page

http://www.girafferecruitment.co.uk/jobs/index.php/component/option,com_neorecruit/Itemid,158/id,298/task,offer_view/