First Post

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the Picture More blog. On this page we’ll be providing a mixture of content including industry trends, a flavour of what’s happening in our office and advice for candidates and recruiting organisations. If you’re looking for our latest roles please look at the job board at www.picturemore.co.uk you can also pick them up via the RSS link on the site.

On this inaugural blog we’d like to start with some good news and look at the lessons that can be learned from the story.

Good News

This week Picture More placed a candidate into a Head of Architecture role with a major professional services organisation where he will have a genuine opportunity to shape the global business. “Lucky him!” you might be thinking, we think the recruiting company has done well too. Well we all make our own luck, so what did our candidate and his new employer do right?

Get Recruited

The candidate did well at school and took maths at university before starting his career in a programming role. His career has slowly moved focus from pure technology to team leadership to stakeholder management to strategic business management. His CV shows a clear progression and covers the areas the employer was looking for. It demonstrates the right expertise, experience and skills with concise examples and fits 22 working years neatly inside 3 pages.
Graduates in tough disciplines like science and maths will always stand out to recruiting organisations.

Well Rounded Package

Unfortunately we can’t change the past so what can be done to bolster a CV in terms of qualifications and skills? Our candidate wrapped layers of people management, influencing skills and business knowhow around his core strength of technology. These days technologists need to be business savvy and have developed people skills even in the early stages of their careers, make sure to highlight these in your CV. Backing up experience with qualifications in management, marketing, accounting or even HR can help a candidate demonstrate that he or she is developing a more rounded package for future employers.

Network for Success

Our candidate did something very simple that helped him stand out. He developed a network and wasn’t afraid to let that network know he was looking for a new role. He was referred to Picture More by a friend of his who we had spoken to following a Linkedin search. A referral of this kind is a very powerful catalyst to getting a new job. A solid network, including peers, colleagues and at least one trusted, professional recruitment consultant is well worth maintaining, even in the good times.

Relationships

What did the recruiting company get right? They took the time to build a relationship with a specialist recruitment agency who has taken the time to build a clear understanding of what is functionally and culturally required. They have made their job specs clear and detailed and have highlighted the skills which are essential and those which are “nice to have.” They gave us the time to locate the right people and gave us swift feedback on the people we submitted.

Hobbies

Any other points to look out for? Well our candidate listed hobbies including wine tasting, rugby and hill walking. He avoided the temptation to make all of his hobbies mirror his career. Employers are looking for rounded, multi-dimensional candidates who have a life outside their work so why not put down one hobby which involves teamwork, one that stands out as more interesting and one more that you genuinely enjoy. Make sure they’re all for real though, it would be a shame to blow the interview by floundering on a question about your invented pastimes!