Comprehensive Guide to Free Online CV Registration

A lot of candidates that I speak to find themselves in shock when I say that they don’t need to pay a recruitment fee when registering with Measured Ability.

The truth of the matter is, you should never need to pay a ‘sign up’ fee when you are going through a recruitment agency.  There should be NO HIDDEN COSTS. We as a recruitment agency, invest in you. We market you to our clients when a suitable job spec comes in.

The magic comes in with our online database. All you need to do is go to our jobseeker page, select your skill level, fill in a basic online application form and upload your CV. Please make sure your CV is in word format and less than 2MB. If you are not sure what is meant by that, please read here.

Here is a quick walk through of how the process looks:

First, you will need to visit our jobseeker page and select the skill level you fall under. 

free online registration process

 

Secondly, you will be taken to a page that looks like this. There is a disclaimer at the bottom that you should read.

free online registration process

 

Thirdly, scroll down and you will see the beginning of the online application form. Please try and fill out as much information as possible. The more information you have, the easier it is for our consultants to find your information when looking for suitable candidates. To learn more about the recruitment process and the search techniques we use, read our blogs on Boolean Logic and the overall recruitment process. 

free online registration process

 

Lastly, you will be asked to upload your CV and press submit. The program will ask you a few more question about your employment and education history. 

free online registration process

Once you have completed the free online registration process, you will be captured on our database forever, no payment needed, ever.

Looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your C.V  to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!

 

 

HOW ARE LEADERS BORN?

Leadership is something that is developed over time, it’s not something you are born with.

According to Bernard Bass, there are three ways a person can become a leader:

  1. Trait Theory: this is where personality traits lead people into leadership roles. There are only a few people out there who intrinsically have the traits to be a natural leader.
  2. Great Event Theory: Usually occurs through an event that forces greatness and leadership from an individual. This usually happens because the event made the person realise they had qualities they didn’t even know they had.
  3. Transformational Leadership Theory: This theory states that people choose to be leaders, and as a result, teach themselves leadership techniques. Thus being the most common of the three techniques.

Now that we understand how one can become a leader, what sort of qualities does a leader need to possess in order to be a great mentor?

  1. Before you can mentor an individual, you need to be sure of your plan. A vision! These need to inspire people, so much so that they are ready to believe in your vision and execute your plan.
  2. An effective mentor knows their strengths and weaknesses, and they also know how to maximise on all of them.
  3. You need to have a cool head on your shoulders. Be calm under pressure.
  4. Flexibility is a huge MUST HAVE.
  5. A mentor and leader needs to know how to easily diffuse conflict.

One also needs to realise that it is very hard to mentor, without being a leader.

Want to learn more about how to become a great leader and mentor? Why not check out our blog on Be a Mentor and a Leader, or How To Be An Effective Mentor?

Looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your C.V  to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!

 

BE A LEADER AND A MENTOR

Ever wondered what it takes to be a leader and a mentor? This blog article aims to help highlight how you can, in fact, be both.

I’m pretty sure that every human on this earth longs for a work environment that is conducive to progress. We all want to learn. We all want to be appreciated for putting in the effort to learn as well. The push and pull of leaders and their students is a two way street however. The mentor must be willing to teach, and mould. The student needs to be willing to learn, and apply what they have learnt.

I’ve always said the fundamentals to becoming a great leader is to learn how to mentor.

I have found, in my time, that your designated leaders in each job are often not well enough equipped to take on the ‘extra task’ of actually mentoring. Be it for reasons of time or energy, or the most common reason, not wanting to.

The truth of the matter is, you will not help anyone by just ‘managing’ them. By managing your staff, you are only telling them what they already know. That’s why they got the job. By mentoring, you may be surprised at how their performance increases! Your young employees, especially, are the future leaders, and why wouldn’t you want to be a part of what makes them great future leaders?

When you finally come around and realise how rewarding mentoring can actually be, there are a couple rules of thumb to follow:

  1. Always make sure your purpose is clear. There is no point in trying to mentor if you have no plan. What are you hoping to achieve? What sort of growth will you be facilitating?
  2. Learn how to read body language. Sometimes a discussion needs to be drawn out, for all points to be uncovered and further discussed. Your learners may be nervous at first, but if they know they are in safe hands, with ears that are always ready to listen, your lessons will be well received.
  3. Try not to leave important discussions for the last minute. Rather have small discussions frequently. Try not to give off the ‘we should have a chat’ vibe, as this may seem rather off-putting.
  4. Remember you have chosen to be a mentor. So walk the talk.
Looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your C.V  to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!

 

 

WRITTEN REFERENCES – WHY DO YOU NEED THEM?

Let’s cut to the chase. You either have a sweet heart of a boss, or one that is too busy for anyone or anything. When you apply for a job, and your recruitment consultant urgently needs references from previous employers to market you to their client, you don’t want to waste time. Your potential dream job could be on the line!

One sound piece of advice I can give you is; urge your bosses/person you report to to do written references for you.

The reason why I am emphasising this is; what if your referee is on holiday when your recruiter wants to contact them? Having written references saves time, and you know that your references are in order. Plus, you’ll know before the recruiter what your bosses and supervisors think of you. No surprises at the end of the road!

Now, when you request a written reference, there are definite DO’s and DON’Ts.

Choose your referee wisely.

Sometimes the director of the company doesn’t actually come into contact with you on a daily basis. Your supervisor or the person you directly report to may be the better choice to write your reference. You want someone who really knows you, as it clearly shows in a reference if the referee doesn’t know you.

Always let your referee of choice know they have been chosen.

Don’t just give out their number. Let them know. This gives them time to gather their own thoughts, instead of rushing through it.

Always ask politely, never expect a reference.

No one is obligated to agree to provide you with a written reference, so be careful how you ask for it. Always be courteous.

Want to know how to ask for a reference letter? Check out our next blog!

Looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your C.V  to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!

HOW DO RECRUITERS SEARCH FOR CANDIDATES?

So, how do recruiters search for their candidates?

BASIC GUIDE: BOOLEAN STRING SEARCH

Firstly, who was the brilliant person who came up with this search technique?

Mr George Boole, a well renowned British Mathematician, whose work on logic helped lay the foundation for the digital revolution we all live within today, left us with the amazing Boolean logic, a theory in which all variables are either ‘true’ or ‘false’, or ‘on’ or ‘off’.

Most of you may not know, but this logic is apparent in all digital devices, and exists in almost every line of computer code. It has also become the main logic that all recruiters use to find the perfect candidate.

SO HOW DOES BOOLEAN SEARCH WORK?

Boolean search uses three main operators:

  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT

And by using a combination of these three, you can produce more relative and accurate results when searching for your perfect candidate.

There are 5 elements of syntax to remember when using Boolean search:

  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT
  • ()
  • “”

AND:

AND is used to ‘narrow’ results down. Only profiles that have both of the keywords in them will be shown in the search results. AND is usually used between the required skills in a job spec. The things a candidate MUST have.

E.g.: Sales AND Manager (this search will only provide results that have both those words in it).

OR:

OR is used to expand the results of a search. It does not mean either/or, but rather ‘any one of’.

OR is usually used for synonyms, or for less important skills (not required, but an advantage or preferential).

E.g.: Sales OR Manager (produce all profiles that contain the word ‘sales’, the word ‘manager’ or both).

Only profiles that contain one or more of the keywords will appear in the results.

NOT:

NOT is used to exclude words from your search.

E.g.: You want to search for company directors, but you keep getting Artistic Directors, then you can search for Directors NOT Artistic.

The only danger with this, and why you need to be careful when using NOT, is that if there is the word artistic anywhere in a candidates profile, their profile will not show up in your results, and they may be the perfect candidate.

Here is an example of what a Boolean search string looks like: 

((“marketing strategy” OR “marketing” ) AND (“sales process” OR “sales operations” OR “sales management” OR “sales” OR “new business development” OR “negotiation” OR “direct sales” OR “account management” ) AND (“sales manager” OR “customer service” OR “business development” OR “solution selling” OR “presales consultant” OR “salesman” OR “presales manager” OR “area vice president” OR “commercial director” OR “solutions consultant” ) )

This is a basic overview on Boolean Search Logic, and there are more operators that you can use, including quotation marks and parenthesis. We will cover that in the next instalment. Stay tuned!

Looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your C.V  to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!

 

 

 

WHY DO WE HAVE AN ONLINE DATABASE?

A little lesson in how recruitment works: 

 

Let me debunk the myth that recruitment agencies’ sole purpose is to find a candidate a job, that is (most of the time) not the case. Recruitment agencies are called upon by a client who is looking to hire a new person, and they find the perfect candidate for that position. They are the middleman.

Recruiters do, however, keep good CVs on record, so that if they get a job spec that matches one of those CVs’ particular skill sets, they will call up that candidate and ‘market’ them to their client.

For more information on how recruitment agencies work, check out our blog.

HOW OUR APPLICATION PROCESS WORKS, AND WHY WE HAVE AN ONLINE DATABASE: 

We have an online application which we urge all candidates to use and upload their updated CVs.

The reason why we have this online database system in place is so that we can form a comprehensive database, that draws information from candidate skill sets. Our consultants scan the online database for skills that depend on the job spec they have been handed. For example, if they are looking for an accountant they might search for ‘SAIPA’ (depending on the role’s seniority) and those with that accreditation will show up first in their candidate pool search.

If you upload your C.V. to our online database, we will only contact you if a client requires your skill set and you are considered.

The method we use for finding our perfect candidate is done using BOOLEAN STRING SEARCH.

This method brings up exact matches for the skill set we need, so always remember to put as much of your experience, skill sets and qualifications on your C.V.

APPLYING FOR JOBS ONLINE:

We also have a page on our website that showcases all our current vacancies that you can go through. If you find a position you know would be perfect for you, you can apply directly. Our consultants never leave you wondering, we will always let you know if you have been considered, or regretted.

Please be mindful of applying for jobs outside your skill set. If you are a graphic designer, try not to apply for an HR position. You will find yourself constantly disappointed.

Are you looking for a job?

Please visit our jobseeker page, and upload your CV to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Are you looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hard-working team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and tell us what you are looking for!