CAREER

References: Are They Really Being Checked?
CAREER

References: Are They Really Being Checked?

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You’ve been through all the interviews. This is the job you want, now you are certain. They seem to think likewise and put an attractive offer on the table. Great! You are almost there! Almost?? Yes, there is just one more hurdle to jump and it can change a lot… References. Although references are very popular part of the recruitment process, I know that some people don’t feel comfortable with them. So here are the answers to references related questions I get most often. What are the references and how they are checked? References in the interviewing process are essentially testimonials on your professional performance, behaviour and style given by the people you worked with. They are most often gathered…

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How To Tackle an Exit Interview
CAREER

How To Tackle an Exit Interview

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So you decided to quit your job. You handed your notice and set things in motion. You agreed your last day in the office with your manager. And once it seems all sorted out, HR contacts you to set up “an exit interview”. “What is that?” you wonder. “Do they want to keep me? After all, I was clear that I am not interested. Should I agree to take part in this or can I refuse? It’s going to be a waste of time after all.” In the recent months, I got several questions about an exit interview. And as I changed jobs myself few times I’ve also taken part in some of those myself. So here is the compendium…

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Which Long-Term Career Strategy to Choose
CAREER

Which Long-Term Career Strategy to Choose

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You can choose different ways of building your career. You can move vertically in a classic manager way. Or horizontally as an expert. Or you can focus on a specific location or on a specific niche. There isn’t one correct way of building your professional life. The right path for you will depend on what do you want to achieve, what is your starting point, also where do you live and how much effort you are ready to invest. In our parents’ generation, it was all easier: you selected the approach and if you followed the route it was guaranteed that you achieve what was promised. Also, you didn’t have to worry about changing your chosen path. The world around…

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6 Things You Shouldn’t Say in an Interview
CAREER

6 Things You Shouldn’t Say in an Interview

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There are six major topics you should avoid during a job interview. From my experience, these are major issues better left untold when you are job searching. I heard stories listed below from several candidates I interviewed and let me tell you – they make a bad first impression. Before we move to details I want to clarify a distinction between being open and being honest. I advise you to be honest in an interview, but not to be fully open. By honest I mean sticking to the truth when you are asked about something. By open – telling all there is to share even when nobody asks you about it. So please get me right here: I don’t encourage…

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Why Your CV Won’t Be Read Properly
CAREER

Why Your CV Won’t Be Read Properly

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They don’t. Or rather they don’t read it in detail. Only yesterday I discussed this issue with my some of my friends working in the recruitment industry. All of them admitted that very rarely they take the time to read CV correctly before entering the room to interview the candidate. I wonder if that is typical for the search market or does it take place in internal HR team as well. I would argue that the only people reading CV properly are hiring managers. Those who will ultimately work with the selected candidate. They want to know what have you done before to judge whether you have relevant skills. Other people in the process have a different goal: they want…

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Living and working in Copenhagen - Interview with Laura
CAREER, NETWORKING

Living & working in Copenhagen – an interview with Laura

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During my short visit to Copenhagen a few weeks ago, I’ve met with lovely Laura, a German expat turned Copenhagen’s local. Laura is the blogger behind thecopenhagentales.com – a hyggelig lifestyle blog showcasing life in Denmark from the expat’s perspective. She is also a risk manager at an investment bank, so the perfect person to ask about living and working in Denmark. Laura has moved to Copenhagen to live with her Danish boyfriend four years ago. Working then as a financial consultant she was able to move from Frankfurt while keeping her job that made her travelling from Monday to Thursday around Europe. Three years ago though Laura has decided to look for a job on the Danish market and…

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How to prepare for interview
CAREER

My 8 Tips for Your Best Interview

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Are you going to an interview and wondering if you should prepare anything special? Do you know what to take with you? Are you nervous figuring out how to make your best impression without showing how desperately you want this job? I have been to many interviews. Several of them as a candidate and many more as the interviewer. I won’t tell you to dress well and to be on time – I’m sure you know this well enough yourself. But I can tell you what I saw people struggling with and how you can avoid feeling stressed. Remember the purpose It’s like with a CV or any presentation – if you don’t keep in mind what the purpose is,…

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CAREER

Don’t Make this 5 Common CV Mistakes

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If you are asking yourself whether your CV is well written or you are wondering if anything in it should be changed, allow me to tell you the five most common mistakes I come across in CVs. Let me be clear – these are not massive mistakes that will destroy your chances securing an interview. They will, though, affect the impression you make. And when you are competing with numerous other candidates for a recruiter’s attention, you want to make sure that the impact your CV has is completely positive. The five major (but easily corrected!) CV mistakes that I see time and time again are: 1. Trying to fit everything onto 1 or 2 pages This stems from career…

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CAREER

An Elusive Cover Letter – Is It Needed and How to Write

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A cover letter is perhaps the most baffling part of the recruitment process. Your motivation seems straightforward – you need to earn money. So what is the point of writing a separate letter about this? And yet everybody seem to expect it. What to do? I’ll focus today on why and when a cover letter is necessary, how to write one and what the most common mistakes are when drafting it Letter from the past Let us start by investigating the origin of the cover letter idea. Nowadays, it seems to be a totally unnecessary step, but cover letters start to make sense if you go back 10-15 years. In those ancient times, candidates had to physically post their applications,…

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