You have just come out of a job interview which has gone really well. You’re excited about the position because you can see yourself working at a great company with a great team of people.

So what do you do next?

You can sit around and wait, OR you can follow up with the company and thank them for their time and reiterate your interest in the position.

To re-affirm why you are the best individual for the job, following up can help you stand out from the crowd and can reinforce the fact that you’re a strong contender to the hiring manager. It is also a good opportunity to say anything that you may have forgotten to mention in the interview.

Surveys have shown that 15% of managers wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t follow up after their interview and a further 32% have stated that they would think less of a possible candidate who didn’t follow up with them after an interview, clearly highlighting the fact that a post interview follow up is a must.

What is the best way to follow up after an interview?

It is really good if you can get all the names and contact details of the people involved in the interview process. Business cards will have all the contact information you need or prior to the interview ask for the names of the people who you will be meeting with.

We recommend you follow up within 24 hours with a clear and concise thank you email and perhaps even a handwritten note. Reiterate your interest, your skills and anything you may have forgotten to say in the interview.

Don’t forget before you send your follow up email or note, ensure you proof read it as it could have an impact on whether or not you receive another interview and ultimately land your dream job.

Developing Resilience and a Positive Focus

It’s inevitable that we will fall short in achieving our objectives from time to time or be faced with circumstances that are beyond our control. How we view adversity and stress strongly affects how we succeed. There are countless numbers of people around the world that have fallen short and then have gone on to become extremely successful.

The incandescent light bulb was the result of unwavering persistence and determination. Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”, which is a pretty amazing outlook. His story is one of amazing strength and fortitude to overcome adversity. Edison never let his ‘failures’ get the better of him and as a result gave the world some of the most amazing inventions of the early 20th century.

Whether you are looking for a new job or perhaps thinking about starting up your own business, we can draw inspiration from Edison and take a look at how developing resilience will help you to keep moving forward towards your dreams and goals. So what is resilience and why is it so important?

Resilience is our ability to adapt and bounce back when things don’t go as planned. Resilient people will acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward. They view a difficulty as a challenge to be overcome, not an obstacle that stops the achievement of an objective. Richard Branson is another great example of someone who dared to try something different and along the way has lost more money than most people will earn in their whole life time. This contemporary business leader has never allowed his failures to stop him from trying again and today he is one of the most successful business people of our time.

Whatever their motivation may be, a resilient person is committed to their goals. Commitment isn’t just restricted to their work – they commit to their relationships, their friendships, the causes they care about, and their religious or spiritual beliefs. According to psychologist Susan Kobasa, there are three essential elements to developing resilience:

1. Challenge – Looking at stress as a challenge to be overcome, rather than seeing it as paralysing and overwhelming. Embrace the setback with a positive attitude, address the issue and then do something about it.
2. Commitment – Adopting an active, engaged approach towards life, buoyed up by a sense of purpose. Having purpose motivates a resilient person to actively attempt to influence their surroundings and to persevere even when those attempts don’t appear to be working out.
3. Personal Control –Resilient people spend their time and energy focusing on situations and events that they have control over. Because they put their efforts where they can have the most impact, they feel empowered and confident. Those who spend time worrying about uncontrollable events can often feel overwhelmed, helpless, and powerless to take action.

Having resilience in everything we do is important, but if you’re not naturally a resilient person, here are some ways to help develop your mindset:

• A healthy mind and body will help you cope with challenges in life, so exercise regularly and ensure you get enough sleep.
• Set achievable goals and maintain the momentum to achieve those goals.
• Change your mindset to view set backs as opportunities to learn.
• Practice in positive thinking and picture a positive image of the future – don’t let negative thoughts derail your efforts.
• Maintain perspective and try to keep things in context.
• Practice responding to situations in a calm and positive manner – we all have ‘bad’ days.
• Don’t think of yourself as the victim – focus on changing things you have control over.
• Believe in yourself and your abilities – when you develop confidence and a strong sense of self, you have the strength to keep moving forward, and to take risks.
• Build strong relationships with colleagues and friends, so that you have a support network to fall back on.

During hard times it is important to focus on thinking positively and not give up. Life is full of ups and downs and when you feel like you are in a dark tunnel and you can’t see the light, keep putting one foot in front of the other as the light could be just around the corner. Have the courage to take risks and pursue your dreams.

So you see a job advertisement for a role that you know you’d be great for. You get your resume and covering letter together and click apply.

You wait with anticipation to hear back so that you can explain how perfect you are for this job, but instead you are left wondering what happened.

Now think of your resume like a sales catalogue, how often would you flick through a whole catalogue if you can’t find what you are looking for in the first couple pages? The front page of your resume should be a showcase of your experience and achievements and how your strengths relate to the role you’re applying for. This is your opportunity to sell yourself and demonstrate that you have what it takes to succeed in this role.

How can you communicate that you have what it takes?

• Make your experience visible. Don’t make it a challenge for the reader to draw out the relevant experiences and accomplishments. Don’t just write your duty statement but rather a broad statement which describes your role. Follow this with 3-4 bullet points describing your key achievements. Too many bullet points can make your duties blur together, similarly writing it as paragraphs can also make it difficult to identify the key points. Try using a combination of concise bullet points for your duties and possibly a sentence or two for your achievements during the role.
• Make it relevant. This is an important aspect of your experience section as you can take the time to ensure your skills, knowledge and attitude link to what the position requires. Try to list as many relevant achievements as you can and not just a list of your duties or every aspect of your role if it is not relevant.
• Use Verbs. Try to start every new point with an action work i.e. strengthened, developed, delivered etc. Avoid using phrases like “responsible for” as this does not demonstrate your competency. eg ‘I was responsible for the safety management system’ could be replaced with ‘I developed and implemented a safety management system for the organisation’.
• Show your value. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself and highlight your key achievements. Remember to keep them concise and quantify any achievements to back up your results with facts, figures, percentages etc eg if you managed a budget, approximately what was the budget worth, or if you managed a team, how many were in the team.

Remember most people will very rarely look through a catalogue to the last page so make sure it easy for the hiring manager to find the information they need to verify that you have what it takes.

Contact Safety Recruitment Australia today to find out how we can help you to improve your resume.

Interviewing can be nerve-racking, even for a seasoned professional. The main point of the interview process is to provide hiring managers with the opportunity to see if you have the required skills and competencies for the role.

Most interviews will encompass an aspect of behavioural questioning for example “Can you tell me about a time you encountered a complex hazard. What controls did you implement and what was the outcome?”

While this question can seem either irrelevant to the role or a little too specific, the reasoning behind such behavioural questions is that past behaviours are the best predictor of future behaviour.

When answering behavioural questions ensure you have relevant practical examples ready to draw upon. Keep in mind the key competencies of the role and think about a situation you have experienced that you can use as an example. Areas to focus on could include the ability to influence, conflict resolution, teamwork, time management, problem solving, risk identification and mitigation, decision making and leadership and initiative.

Because answering behavioural questions can be like telling a story the best way to tackle the answer is to follow this simple format:

• Situation. What context did your example take place in?
• Task. What is it you were doing or asked to do?
• Action. What steps did you take?
• Results. What was the outcome of your actions?

By preparing yourself with a range of examples you can easily adapt these stories to answer quite a few different behavioural questions. Just remember not to use negative examples or examples that do not have positive outcomes as you want to leave the interviewer with the impression that you are a STAR candidate.

Looking for work can be a full time job in itself and it’s hard to know if you’re doing it well.

Sure, when you get call backs and interviews you have a general indication of how you’re going in the m

arket, but what happens when you’re in a candidate rich, job poor market?

We have prepared a self-audit checklist to help you employ the right tactics for a successful job hunt.

Congratulations! You have been successful in gaining a telephone interview with your potential new employer and now it’s time to prepare. Telephone interviews can be tricky because you can’t rely on visual cues during the interview.

So while it may have been your qualifications and experience that landed you the interview it will be your communication skills during the interview that leaves the organisation with that lasting impression.

As hiring managers we find that many candidates sabotage their chances of a successful interview because they are not prepared and leave a less than positive first impression. So to help you, we have put together seven deadly phone interview sins to avoid:

• Unorganised: Be ready for your interview; know the time, date, duration and who the interviewer is. Also don’t forget to ensure you have sufficient reception and charge on your mobile phone prior to the interview commencing. Ensure you phone is not on silent to avoid missing the phone call.
• Tardiness: Timing is everything, so make sure you are in a quiet location 10 minutes prior to the interview allowing enough time to review your notes and de-stress prior to the interview.
• Complacency: Research the organisation to understand who they are, what their values are and what the job entails. Revisit your own resume and have relevant work examples. Feel free to have a note pad and some notes in front of you as prompts.
• Insecurity: Be confident in yourself as a potential employee, engage with the interviewer by providing confident and well delivered answers. Try not to pause for too long prior to answering the question as the interviewer cannot see your body language so it may appear that you are unsure.
• Silence: The interview is your opportunity to shine and demonstrate your interest in and awareness of the organisation. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and have a genuine conversation with the interviewer. Try to avoid a discussion about remuneration or rates, this is best left to us to negotiate on your behalf.
• Obliviousness: Remember to actively listen to what the interviewer is saying and don’t cut them short or speak over the top. Answer the questions directly and succinctly. Stick to the point and never reply with a simple yes or no answer.
• Nervousness: The interviewer will be listening to the tone and pitch of your voice while assessing your communication skills. Try to relax and not let your nerves get in the way.

Join in the discussion 

Sometimes breaking into the workplace health & safety industry can feel like a fairytale far from reality.

It can be frustrating and seem hopeless at times, but you must remember that these things take planning, determination and most of all it takes time.

Everybody has to start somewhere so we have prepared our top start up tips to help turn your dreams into reality:

• Differentiation– One of the most important parts of breaking into a market is differentiating yourself from the crowd. While every candidate brings their own strength to the table you need to find yours and highlight this to your potential new employer. This could be anything from your practical workplace experience, to your awareness of the market. Past graduates have been offered jobs on the back of volunteer work. So is there an opportunity to gain WHS experience by doing volunteer work?
• Demonstrate your ability – Look at the industries that you have worked in previously and focus your transferable skills. Everyone has to start somewhere but show the Hiring Manager that you have the skills necessary to succeed in this role. Highlight your strengths in an easy to read and well-structured resume and cover letter.
• Confidence– Put your best foot forward. Your confidence and drive to succeed will be one of your greatest attributes in a market full of entry-level and graduate candidates. Don’t forget to follow up on any applications you put forward as making a phone call could differentiate yourself from being just another applicant. If you call prior to submitting your application you may also get more information that will allow you to customise your application.
• Knowledge– Ensure you have the right qualification for the industry you want to break into. In looking at becoming a safety professional in today’s market it is an expectation that you are tertiary qualified in the area of safety. Tertiary qualifications in safety typically start with the Cert IV in Work Health and Safety followed by the; Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Bachelor, Post Graduate Certificate through to a Masters in Safety.
• Tenacity– Be prepared to put in the hard yards and treat job hunting as a full time role. It will be the dedicated and hardworking candidates that find themselves landing those entry level or graduate roles, so make this an opportunity to rise above the rest.

Most importantly a potential employer will hire someone who has loads of energy and enthusiasm. The right attitude is just as important as a qualification.