Help Us To Help You....

Future In Finance will do our best to ensure you have time infront of our clients to put yourself in the best light for your new challenge, the following are some useful recruitment tools to help you not only get the interview, but to anchor yourself in the memory of our clients enabling you to land your dream job.

Build The Perfect CV - To Download a Standard CV Layout Click Here - GB - NL

Maximise your chance of succes with the following CV building advice....

Whichever role you've chosen, be it in finance, engineering, IT or any other market bear in mind hundreds of others will have the same goal of getting that job. You need to write a CV to differentiate you from the pack. But having thought about your future, you now need to think about your past.

What were the turning points in your career? What have you really contributed? What will each organisation remember you for? What new experience did you gain in each role? It needs to be a good list.

Another issue is how many CVs do you need? If you are considering very diverse roles, for example, CIO versus partner in a consulting firm, you may need two CVs.

Both will, of course, present the facts but each will have a different slant and will emphasise different aspects of your career. You can't include everything you ever did, so any CV can only ever be edited highlights.

What you leave in or out will determine the whole flavour of the CV and ultimately the perception the reader will have of you. So what image are you trying to put across?

Strategic thinker and visionary leader? Trusted lieutenant? Dependable deliverer? Decide what elements of your broad experience to highlight to position you correctly.

Start with the easy bits: clearly laid-out personal and contact details. If your education is a highlight - a degree at 2:1 or above from a good university - put it here. Anything less, at the back please.

Then if you wish, a short, punchy profile and this should include no subjective schmaltz. If in doubt, remove all references to interpersonal skills or subjective views on your own abilities. This is equivalent to saying, 'Robert is a lovely boy and always keeps his desk tidy'.

A good profile contains only objective facts that clearly differentiate you. Suggestions include:
•    International experience
•    Mergers and acquisitions
•    Board or executive committee experience
•    Outsourcing and offshoring
•    Leadership of very large teams
•    Management of very large budgets
•    Delivery of business transformation

At this point, if you have worked for a sensible number of well-known companies a summary of company, date and role is a good idea. However, if you have hopped from one role to another - don't emphasise it by including such a summary.

Now the hard bit. Describe the companies you have worked for in terms of scale, market position and major challenges.
As a member of the IT leadership team, you are one of the few leading the strategy and shaping the company; think 'we' not 'they'. Then add one line on the scope and scale of your role or perhaps what problem you were brought in to solve.

And now the really hard bit. Distilling your five-year career into no more than six punchy bullets. Too much detail and you're long-winded, too little and it's impossible to make an impact.

In short, define the business opportunity or problem, how you and your team delivered an outstanding solution, measured the benefit and how it affected the business or better still, your customers - the real ones, not the internal ones.

Focus on how you - and your team - generated shareholder value and you won't go far wrong.
Reread your bullet points - have you mentioned specific technologies? Take them out. Have you used jargon that only your colleagues would understand? Take it out.

Above all, does every bullet pass the 'so-what test'. Do they prove beyond all doubt that you are outstanding or do you think anyone in your role would have done the same?

I could write a whole book entitled The Ridiculous Things I Have Seen in CVs but the section responsible for the most hilarity in our CIO practice is undoubtedly 'hobbies'.

Some clients are keen to know that you are an outstanding individual not only in the office but outside too. I'm not sure that including tortoise husbandry, collecting beer mats or, as one male CIO admitted, girl guides, hits the spot but, hey, each to their own.

Now the acid test. Reread the document and ask yourself whether it is an honest and beautifully written document that will grab attention and immediately compel the reader to call you.

If not, you'd better start again.

How To Conduct A Great Interview

Discover your strengths and learn to talk about them. Since employers estimate future successes by past accomplishments, learn to think of your experience in terms of goals achieved, abilities developed, lessons learned. A case study of your accomplishments will reveal the best of your skills.

Most people are uncomfortable promoting themselves or revealing their ambitions because as children many of us are taught not to brag. But though self-congratulating may be rude at a dinner party, it's expected at an interview. So get comfortable telling your "story" by sharing it with a sympathetic friend, because overcoming an ingrained reluctance to speak highly of yourself is essential if you hope to convince an employer to hire you.

Plan your interview story carefully. Most successful interviews follow a three-scene script. Cooperate with the script and you increase your chances of being hired. Fight it or ignore it and your interview may run aground.

Scene One: Lasting about three minutes, this scene consists of small talk and is really a compatibility contest. As you shake hands, make eye contact and smile. Show that you are courteous, friendly, and at ease with yourself and the situation. These "small" points are not trivial.

Scene Two: Lasting about 15 minutes to an hour or more, this scene is mainly you telling your story. You need to explain your skills, abilities, accomplishments, and ambitions. Emphasize your ability to add value to the employer. If you can claim credit for increasing sales, reducing costs, or improving quality, now is the time to do so. If you have any holes in your experience or blemishes on your record, handle them now. As you conclude this scene, stress your ability and willingness to perform at a high level.

Scene Three: Lasting only a minute or two, this scene closes the interview and sets up the next steps. Do not allow the interviewer to close with the usual, "We'll be in touch with you when we decide something." This statement leaves you powerless to influence the decision. Instead, you should end the interview by saying, "I'll keep you posted about developments in my job search." This comment keeps you in control, allowing you to follow up with additional information that may improve your chance of being hired.