Job Hunting News

I'm taking a small break for a couple of weeks. I will be back on deck on Monday, 16 March, 2020. I still keep my hand in as a journalist and I'm having a working holiday in Sri Lanka. I'm writing a story on ocean plastics for the Asian media. The amount of plastics...

Every now and then we get a client who not only has no results on a resume but can't remember what they have achieved in a job. This is much like a professional footballer playing a game and not remembering how many kicks he or she had or how many goals kicked. I'm...

The official Australian Bureaus of Statistics (ABS) figures aren’t telling a complete or accurate picture of unemployment and underemployment in Australia. This is a story I wrote last year for the media in Adelaide. This story examines how tight definitions of...

Every now and then a client will ask, "What are my chances in getting an interview for a job?" It's a good questions. Most resume writers will say, "Go for it," because they want the money. I'm far more circumspect. I will state what what I think the pros and cons are...

This is from Seek and it is good advice if you are writing your own resume. Take out the objective. Seeing that you're already applying for the job, it's obvious you want it. You can cover your desire for the role in your cover letter, or if you're changing...

This story is from The Age, written by James Adonis. It's a few years old but it's worth reading. Why are job ads so poor? One of the most demoralising aspects of job hunting isn't just the insufferable recruiters or the flawed interviews; it's also the tiresome...

I hammer this point so much, I apologise for becoming tedious. In the Employment/Career section of the resume, don’t just list duties and responsibilities. List what your results and achievements were against those duties. Employers want to know what you'll accomplish...

As a resume writer, I often get asked, "Should I apply for a job if I don't have all the experience and skills they list?" If you've got 80 per cent of what they want or listed in the job advertisement as 'essential', go for it. Keep in mind, if you've got ALL of the...

In the context of fierce competition, CV job referees can "make or break" an application. Unreliable or fake references can end up in court, as seen in the high profile case in 2018 of Andrew Flanagan, who was fired as a group manager at Myer, after one day when it...

While not a resume or employment story, the rise of Facebook is telling. Indeed, recruiters often check out candidate's Facebook pages to get inside information. But as a platform which hawks its relationship building credentials, how good it it.? This story appeared...

Nearly two decades ago, Roger Pugh unretired. He’s now 84. The Sydneysider had forged a long career in management at some of Australia’s top advertising agencies. At one point, it was his job to hand out the obligatory gold watch to employees who had turned 65. "I...

A new year and a new website! I had started building a minimalist website but I realised clients would want to know more about me, what I do, how I work and the results. I chose the owl image because they symbolise wisdom and strategy, which are two key ingredients in...

Message to Canberra Mums looking for a job. This story by Polly Dunning appeared in the Canberra Times recently (14 Feb 2019) and it struck a chord. The work Mum’s do isn’t counted in national productivity statistics, which is astounding. When they decide to re-enter...

The best time to look for a job is in Spring in Australia but there are more job searches in January than any other time of the year. Data from Indeed data shows December is the slowest for both job postings and job searches. In Adelaide and Canberra, recruiters start...