Morning all - here is the second in our series of blogposts from Peter in CPL - some great advice regarding writing your CV and what NOT to do... 

A candidate’s cv is the first thing a recruiter sees, so make this count!

Your cv has one purpose, not to get you a job but to get you an interview. These 2/3 pages are your primary selling tool so why do so many people take insufficient time to put the work into their cv?

The obvious mistakes are grammar and spelling - over 80% of cvs would still have grammar, spelling or formatting errors which is unbelievable. If you get past this the biggest frustration regarding cvs is that they are written as a list of responsibilities not achievements. Think about this from an agency perspective, how can they differentiate on paper between two candidates who write down the duties of the job even though one may have been a stellar employee and one may have been fired!

You need to ensure an employer sees what you have done well, not what you have done.

So when a recruiter looks at your cv is it full of achievements, measurables or does it look the same as the previous cv? In this marketplace you have to give the recruiter a reason to pick up the phone and talk to you as there are so many cvs coming in, they need to want to talk to you.

This is not just the cv but also how you email it in. Phrases like “I am desperate for a job” or “ I will do anything” may be written with a well intentioned mindset but do not endear you to any recruiter. Employers are not looking for an employee who would take any job, they want one who wants their job. So have a world class cv and be clear that you are applying for a specific  job/ job type not just any job.

Feel free to comment below.

Morning all

Here is the first in our series of blogposts from Peter Cosgrove of CPL.

Even more frustrating than someone who has a job telling you that “it is tough out there” is not getting any response from recruitment agencies when you send in your cv. Why is this, are they that unprofessional? that laissez faire? – well, the answer in the main is no!

The challenge that recruitment agencies have is the volume of cvs that come through to their inbox. There is a story that Google receive over 1.5 million unsolicited cvs every year in a company that employs less than 20,000, would this still be the case if every one of those cvs had to be sent as a hard copy letter – absolutely not. I am not advocating a move back to snail mail just trying to highlight that with the growth in online technology many many more cvs come in and often with a lot less thought put into where they are sending them or why they are sending them.

A recruiter needs to differentiate between appropriate, thought out cvs versus those sent out on a whim because the candidate thought “ah sure why not give it a try”.

So one of the challenges of a recruiter  is not having the right cv, it is trawling through many cvs to understand those that are both right for a role and interested in that role specifically. It also amazes me the amount of people who are called about their cv and do not answer their phone – guess what, recruiters are working 8 – 7pm in many cases – they expect you to be available as the market moves very quickly even for permanent roles, so ensure you have your phone on and if not at least a professional voicemail message.

Finally remember this - a recruiter only gets commission if they place the right candidate, if you are the right candidate and you are not getting the job or interview – ask yourself what could you improve about your cv, first impression, interview technique – there is always room for improvement.

Some quality advice from Peter here I think - feel free to feed back below...

Morning all

Peter Cosgrove from CPL has kindly agreed to write some guest blog posts for us and we will be featuring these and blog posts from other recruiters offering invaluable advice for candidates over the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled. We will also be tweeting and linking to these posts on our Facebook page.

We asked Peter to focus on the permanent job market and how best to approach agencies and we also asked him to address some of the issues candidates have with agencies at the moment the main one I think being (correct me if I am wrong), that agencies don’t respond to candidates. 

Peter started his career in banking with JP Morgan before working with PWC in London as a management consultant. He began his career in recruitment in 2000 with Robert Walters, subsequently with Hudson in 2003 and currently is a Director with CPL.  Peter is a regular contributor to the national media on areas of recruitment, assessment and retention as well as a speaker at industry events.  Peter is also a Board member of the not for profit organisation Junior Achievement, an organisation targeted at keeping students in schools to improve their education. 

So if there is anything in particular you would like us to cover pop a comment in the box below or feel free to email us. 

It’s time for good news Friday.

It’s a Long Weekend and it looks like it’s going to be a hot one too, time to dust off the BBQ.

AXA to create 200 jobs in Dublin

More than 50 Jobs for Kerry, 30 roles in Enercon and 25 at Straker.

The Gardai are set for Recruitment drive, more than 100 new trainees could be taken on by the end of the year.

Only 7 days to the World Cup.

That’s all folks, have a great weekend!

This week's good news is much varied...

Rebecca has achieved nail success thanks to @beautie - here's a pic;

Good news for Galway - 200 new jobs if you're into games

50 Internet security jobs in Dublin

We are off on a night out tonight which is fantastic news we feel - Cork city beware, chicken wings will be consumed at some stage so Soho beware...

@ccrossan is delighted she got to go to Chic last night and free entry always a winner

@sciencejobs are having a BBQ on their balcony for lunch today = good weather = good news

That's about it this week - if anyone else has good news they want to share comment below

Lots of good news this week on the job front.

SAP Business Objects in Dublin hiring up to 75 new staff

Telefonica and O2 announced they are hiring up to 100 people for its people services centre in the Docklands area in Dublin

In Cork (see it's not all DUblin) new jobs in Nualight thanks to a big deal with Tesco

Airtricity announced a whopping 200 new jobs, 100 of these will be all over the country

Other good news, the SUN came out again for more than 4 minutes - yay

Conjoined twins Hassan and Hussein are home in Cork

Last but not least, for Lost fanatics the finale is going to be screened on Sky at 5am Monday morning to coincide with the States.

How was your week?

If you are one of these people (like me) who is constantly Tweeting or Facebooking or lurking on some social media or professional networking site our survey results will be of interest.

It revealed that nearly half of all recruiters check their applicants online before hiring them. To be a bit more precise, 46% of recruiters surveyed check up on their candidates, so that means they Google your name and see what comes back, they check your Facebook page, your tweets and your blogs. They also cross check your LinkedIn page with your CV so make sure you are being honest in both places.

What it boils down to is this, if you do tweet or Facebook or whatever and don't protect your updates then at least make sure that anything you do post isn't likely to put off a potential employer or you are ruling out 46% of your applications before you even get to interview stage. A bit of advice, go and Google your name and see what comes back.

Read the full survey results here

ooops almost forgot Good News Friday this week...

First off my good news is that I'm getting a new phone on Monday, after mucho trouble with my current one I cant wait and neither can everyone else here I reckon, no more ranting from me... well about phones anyways.

We had cake today for Tom's birthday - always good news in my mind - here's what's left

Good news on the job front for teachers

And more from Merck

and Bord Gais

Good news for us in here, we ran a survey with some candidates and 85% would recommend us to a friend. Oh and we hit 400 friends on Facebook - yippeeee

Good news Friday is here again -

For first time buyers some good news - now is a good time to climb onto the property ladder apparently

According to IBEC the economy has started to grow again

We integrated the Facebook Like Button with our website so now its on all jobs - Thanks to Ronan for the idea (he made me give him credit)

Sinead's good news is she's off to a party tonight - mine is that it's Friday pretty much, it's been a long week.

Diarmuid's good news is thanks to Ronan today, Eddie Rocket's are apparently doing some great new deals.

Charlie and his black eye won a karate yoke last Sunday - great news for him aside from the black eye - he had some help with the winning bit too.

Liam's good news is that despite drinking 6 pints last night he is in tip top form today.

Damien's good news everyday is that he is from Cork, never fails to make him happy apparently (we know the feeling like)

Ronan's good news thanks to Diarmuid is that the East Village have a special offer running on their chicken wings at the moment - we are all big fans of their wings, those of you in Dublin will have a similar feeling for Elephant and Castle wings - yum.

Good news for Gaga fans as another date is announced

If you have any good news pop it in the comments below

Afternoon all

Well it's been a busy busy development week here, a quick note to let you know about some nice new features on the site.

Firstly when you view a job now you can also see up to 5 other jobs that candidates who applied for that job also applied for which hopefully will simplify your jobhunt further.

And breaking news, we just added the Facebook like button on all jobs so if you see something on the site you want to post to Facebook or alert a friend to go ahead and "like" it. Also if you're an advertiser you can like your jobs on RecruitIreland.com and post them to your Facebook profile - it's all about becoming more interactive guys...

Good news Friday this week is going to be a busy one so be sure and get your good news into me either on Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below or you can use the old-fashioned email way...