Source: About Careers

Your boss just discovered that you’re interviewing for a new job or are making applications to different jobs. What do you do then? How you react to being caught will depend solely on the situation.

The first thing you need to understand is, it’s time for damage control and you’ll need to act quickly. Start by assessing the situation, were you caught on the phone talking to your employer, were you interviewing on Skype, or was it an email inviting you to a job interview?

What you do next will depend on what you were doing exactly at the time of being caught, and how much your boss has discovered or seen.

What To Do If The Boss Catches You Job Searching

This will depend on various situations.

1.You weren’t actively seeking employment, but have been invited to an interview

Tell your boss that you love your job, you want to stay, and you were simply interested in hearing what the company had to say.

Make it very clear that you don’t have plans to leave in the near future, if, in fact, that’s the case.

2.You were considering a Job Change

Were you considering a job change?  If so, explain to your supervisor that your standard operating procedure for career management is to do continual assessment of your short and long-term career goals.

If you present your participation in an interview as a chance to learn more about your marketability and competitiveness in the job marketplace rather than a rejection of your current job, your boss may (hopefully) take it less personally.

3.You hate your job and really want to move
Do you hate your job and can’t wait to find a new one? Then maybe getting caught isn’t such a bad thing. This might be a good opportunity to review the issues you have and perhaps even resolve them.

At the very least, it will clear the air and get the problems on the table. Your boss could then change the situation for the better and you just might decide to stay.

Your boss catching you job searching could have different results, it will be helpful if you have an explanation ready.

By Selipha Kihagi

Just because your CV was crafted for success and you did well in your job interview does not always mean you will get the job, especially if you are competing against equally qualified candidates. Employers and recruiting officials will want to call your referees to confirm the information you provided in your CV and during the interview is true.

For this reason, it is important that job seekers provide reliable referees. While this may seem like a simple duty to many, job seekers are still losing on jobs because of these referee mistakes.

Common Referee Mistakes That Might Not Get You Hired

1. You did not ask permission to include someone as your referee

You may have gone to school or worked under a person who believes you are good at what you do, but that does not give them a free ticket to your referee section. Before you include someone as your referee, you need to first ask their permission so you can know if they will be available to potential employers or not.

Not everyone who knows you and congratulates you will say yes to being included as referee, so always confirm.

2. You did not prepare your referee before hand

Having your referee on paper and having their contacts ready does not guarantee their reference for you will be useful. Once you are called to an interview, it is important you call your referees to let them know the job you applied for and update them on what you had been doing prior.

Tell them to expect a call, even if you do not know when or if your employer or recruiting company will call them. This way, they will be in a position to recommend you better.

3. You provided referee contacts that are hard to reach

While knowing your referees number is a good thing, most people will have different numbers or contacts for how they want to be reached.

Always ask your referees which number they should provide, and if you can get different numbers that he/she uses. You may also include an email or even their LinkedIn profiles.

4. You provided referees that are not that helpful

When you are not sure who to include in the referee section, panic can lead you to include friends or relatives that can speak well about you. The problem however, is that these friends and relatives have not worked with you directly and may have very little to speak on your experience or line of work.

Also including top managers who are way up the hierarchy in the company you worked for may work against you. Include people you have worked with directly.

As a job seeker, you must know that the referee section in your CV is of great importance in getting the job and must be addressed with caution.

Source : Lifehack

Do you find yourself saying to people how busy you are or how you cannot make time for coffee or to share in a celebration because you will be busy working on something. Most people can confirm having said this one time or the other.

While everyone may want to convey how busy they are, this does not always result to a successful individual. You may be busy all the time but at the end of the day, have no results to show for. Why? Because there is busy people and then there is productive people.

So, What’s the difference ?

1.Busy people want to look like they have a mission.Productive people have a mission for their lives.

Busy people hide their doubt about the destination of their lives by acting confident in their little steps.
Productive people allow others to see the doubt in their little steps because they are clear on the destination.

2.Busy people have many priorities. Productive people have few priorities

Nobody is ever too busy, if they care they will make time. Life is a question of priorities. If you have 3 priorities, you have priorities. If you have 25 priorities, you have a mess.The pareto priniciple is that 80% of your desired results come from 20% of your activity.

Henry Ford built a fortune not by building better cars, but by building a better system for making cars. Busy people try to make better cars, productive people develop better systems for making cars.

3.Busy people say yes quickly. Productive people say yes slowly

Warren Buffet’s definition of integrity is: “You say no to most things”.
If you don’t say “no” to most things, you are diving your life up into millions of little pieces spread out amongst other people’s priorities. Integrity is that your values are clear and that your time is going to serve those values.

4.Busy people focus on action. Productive people focus on clarity before action

To focus on the top 20% of activities, you must gain clarity about what those activities are for yourself. The greatest resource you will ever have to guide you to live a good life is your own personal experience.

Sadly, most people only document their life in Facebook status updates. Keep a diary and take 5 minutes every day to reflect on the past day, on what worked, on what didn’t work; and some time on what inspires you.

5.Busy people keep all doors open. Productive people close doors

As a young person it is good to open options. It is good to want to travel, to learn languages, to climb mountains, togo to university, to work in tech, to live in another country. However, there comes a point in life where one must let go of most options and focus on what they must do.

6.Busy people talk about how little time they have. Productive people make time for what is important

Any time we spend on excuses is time not spent on creation. If you allow yourself to practice excuses, you will get better and better at excuses. Productive people don’t use time as an excuse. An action either supports their highest values and mission, or it does not. If it does not, they don’t do it – even if they have a whole day off.

7.Busy people multitask. Productive people focus

Productive people know about focus. Identify a task to be done,.Set a timer to 20 minutes. Work on the task until the time sounds. Any distraction (I must check email, I must get some water, I must go to the bathroom) and you reset the timer to 20. How much will you have done at the end of the day?

8.Busy people respond quickly to emails. Productive people take their time

Email is a handy list of priorities. The problem: they are other people’s priorities, not yours. If you respond to every email, you are dividing up your life into a thousand tiny bits that serve other people’s priorities.
There are 3 choices when you first review your email inbox: Delete, Do, Defer.

9.Busy people want other people to be busy. Productive people want others to be effective

Busy managers measure hours of activity, frustrated by others looking relaxed, looking like they have time or looking like they are enjoying their work. Productive managers measure output, love seeing others enjoy their work and love creating an environment in which others can excel.

Busy people are frustrated. They want to be valued for their effort, not for their results. Productivity is about valuing the journey towards excellence.

10.Busy people talk about how they will change. Productive people are making those changes.

Spend less time talking about what you will do and dedicate that time to creating the first step. What can you do with the resources, knowledge and support that you have now? Do that. It is amazing how the universe rewards the person who stops talking and begins.

Choose to become a productive person and success will come to you.

By Sera Kazungu

“I have been job searching for five straight years. Since I graduated in 2010, I have never gotten formal employment. I am at that point where I just want to give up,” says Davis Gitau via email.

Do you find yourself in a similar situation? The Kenyan job market may be a very unforgiving one, especially for fresh graduates and those with no clear or marketable skills. Job seekers will usually tarmac for long periods of time with no success.

According to Mr. Perminus Wainaina, a Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services, getting a job can take you at least a month and at most a year, depending on your procedure or job searching tactics.

If this is the case, then why are you still jobless? Why has it taken you so long to land your dream job?

Reasons For Unemployment In Kenya

1. Lack of planning

Having a plan is usually key to achieving goals and getting things done efficiently. You could be going into the job search unaware of what exactly you are hoping to find. This will ensure that you wander around aimlessly for a long time.

Absence of a plan will usually be characterized by one or all of the following;

• Applying for the wrong jobs
• Not following application instructions
• Casual approach to applying( typos, forwarding string emails e.t.c)
• Being too choosy about the jobs you apply for

Before embarking on a job search, ensure you have a clear plan of what you want, then make a list of all the things you are hoping to achieve. Give yourself a time period to achieve these things. This will ensure that you remain focused.

2. Not having the right documents

The current job market in Kenya is a competitive one. As such, the job qualifications and specifications are much higher than they ever were. Keeping your documents neat and in order is an important part of securing yourself that job.

The right documents will include the following;

• A well written and formatted CV
• Academic Certificates
• Cover Letter
• Any other document that supports whatever skills you have acquired over time

 3. You are no longer competitive.

The truth is that the job market is evolving. You have to strive to remain at par with the current market trends. Do your research and see what is expected of someone in your particular field. Whether it is in terms of skills, education, etc, ensure that you remain on the same page with all other professionals like you.

4. You came into the job market too late.

Are you that fresh graduate who waits to job search months after graduation? Or are you that professional who waits until they are fired or the company shuts down to start job searching? Timing matters. There is no ‘too soon when t comes to job searching, but there is definitely a ‘too late’.

Start your job search early enough to avoid frustration and desperation. If you start early enough, you will not have the sense of urgency where you feel like you are already out of time. This will give you ample time to research, make a plan and set goals.

5. You have a bad attitude

The importance of having the right attitude cannot be overemphasized enough. Your attitude plays a big part in your life, whether you are willing to admit it or not.

Having a bad attitude in the job market will slowly lead you to depression. This is because you will be searching frantically for a job that might never come.

The following are bad attitudes in a job search;

• Having unreasonable expectations- e.g. an entry level job seeker seeking a salary of 50K and above
• Focusing on landing a job only with a specific company- Start somewhere!
• Expecting to get a job at the snap of a finger- Job searches may take some time.

The key to a successful job search is in your hands. Strive to be a smart, efficient job seeking Kenyan today. The market is all yours to conquer.

Wishing you the best in your job search.

By Selipha Kihagi

Being laid off from your job is probably the worst fear for most employees in Kenya. You never know when your company has been hard hit by the economy and is now cutting down on staff to save itself.

Earlier in June, it was reported that Standard Group would be laying off over 200 employees following a performance review. Such situations are bound to cause anxiety among the staff and may result to dire consequences; everyone reacts differently to bad situations.

To get through the lay off phase in your company, here is what you should do.

4 Things To Do When Your Company Is Laying Off Employees

1. Always assume you are on the list

The common mistake that most employees make is believing they are not among the people being cut off from the company. This assumption could ruin your career when you get the surprise notice that your time at the organization is finished.

To avoid this, always believe you are on the list and plan your exit. It may be tough but having a strategy on the go will be better than not having any.

2. Become a little more valuable than your co-worker

Do not just work at being the best at what you do,but ascertain you are the best among your colleagues. Knowing for sure might give you the edge you need during the lay off, so try and do as much as you can even when you think the job is not part of your duties.

When you become more valuable than the rest, it is easy for your name to be crossed off the list.

3. Keep your attitude in check

A bad attitude is a sure recipe to get you fired. You may have been hired because you were extremely qualified for the position and you passed your aptitude and personality test, but if you developed a bad attitude along the way, then expect to be on the list.

Sometimes being the best is not enough when your attitude is at risk of putting the company’s reputation at risk.

4. Work for an extra hour every day

Do you always check in and leave work at the exact time stipulated in your contract? Do you meet a full house when you get to the office and clock out among the first? If you do, chances are you are at the top of the list despite you finishing your tasks in time.

Employers will keep the staff they know can work extra time when need be and you don’t meet the profile.

Being laid off can be tough but make sure you have an exit plan for when your company stops depending on you.

Source: Monster.Com

The wisdom expressed in the adage “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is applicable to job seekers. It is  easier to find another job if you’re already employed.

But how can you ensure that the worst never happens to you — that you’re never left without a job and possibilities for your next opportunity?

Here are five suggestions to keep your career on the move

1. Keep Thinking Positive
It sounds deceptively simple, but try embracing the power of positive thinking when you’re thinking about your career.
When you tell yourself something bad will happen to your job, something bad will probably happen.

If you tell yourself that you are marketable and confident and that you will always be working, your words can make this true.

2. Keep Thinking Ahead
If you’re not following trends within your particular industry, you could be caught off-guard by a layoff. Is your position or division vulnerable to outsourcing, further automation or elimination?

If your job is being eliminated or outsourced, you will want to know about it before you are in the room with the human resources person telling you that your job is going away

Look for trends and then train yourself in growth areas. Having the right skills at the right time ensures that no matter what is happening around you, you will be needed and employable

3. Keep Your CV Ready
Having your resume at the ready gives you confidence. You always know that if opportunity casually knocks, you’re prepared to answer.

Even if you are not looking for work, your resume reminds you of the contributions you make on a regular basis, something you can easily forget when you are immersed in the day-to-day

Whether you are looking for a job, or you already have one, an updated CV is essential for your career.

4. Keep Cultivating Your Network
Networking should always be a part of your professional life. If you start to network only when you need something, you will have a lot of catching up to do.

Wherever there are people, there is an opportunity to network,

5. Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open
You’re up on the trends. You’re networking. You’ve got a current resume. You’re thinking positive thoughts. Now it’s time to get creative — by creating your own opportunities.
Read up on what your peers are doing and what you aren’t. Consider how you might strike out on your own — or on the side.

Rather than thinking, ‘It cannot happen,’ believe that what you want is possible and is within your reach

Source: Jobs.ac.uk

You probably have dozens or even hundreds of CVs to shift and sort. So you’ll be lucky if your CV is read for more than 10 seconds.

Here then are ten ‘CV clangers’ to avoid that will help keep your CV in the in-tray and OUT of the bin:

1. Applying for a position for which you’re not qualified

You may look at a job advert and think, ‘I like the sound of that! I think I’ll apply!’ However, if you don’t have the right qualifications or experience, then it’s probably not the right fit.

Make sure you read the job description carefully and any other additional information that may be available.
Ask yourself, ‘I might like the sound of the job, but do I really have the right skill set and experience?’

If the answer to your question is still ‘yes’ then go ahead and apply, but if you don’t fit the bill then please don’t go any further. Save yourself the heartache of rejection.

2. Providing irrelevant personal information
You may be very proud of your personal achievements,but unless your personal information is relevant to the job you’re applying for, do not include it on your CV.

3. Burying important information
Remember, your CV will have little time to impress. The recruiter will look at your CV and think ‘Why should I interview this person? What will they bring to the organization?’

So when compiling your CV think ‘Benefits and make them obvious. That doesn’t mean putting them in all CAPS. It means making what you’d bring to the role easy to find, easy to understand and, above all, compelling.

4. Spelling errors, typos and poor grammar
This should be obvious. But it obviously isn’t. The number of CVs that recruiters see on a daily basis with spelling errors and other mistakes is terrible.

You’ve got a spell checker. Use it!

5. Unexplained gaps in employment
Having unexplained gaps in your employment history is a big ‘no no’. It makes recruiters nervous. If you’re lucky, they’ll briefly wonder what you were doing during that mystery period as your CV is folded and thrown towards the trash can.

6. Lying or misleading information
Recruiters are not stupid. They can spot information that doesn’t add up. For example, they’re always on the look out for inflated:Qualifications, Salaries, Job titles, Achievements.

Employers are conducting increasingly vigorous background checks on candidates. This can range from conducting a Google search on you to employing a specialist candidate checking service. Something that you think is just ‘bending the truth’ could really cost you.

7. A long CV
Keep your CV short, punchy and to the point. This means it shouldn’t be more than 2 pages of A4. When your CV is too long ,then this suggests that you’ve been either job hopping or you can’t write concisely.

For the older job seeker, focus on your recent experience and achievements. If you must refer to a job(s) from a while back, then you could create a separate ‘Previous Employment’ document and refer to it in your cover letter. This will show you’ve thought about your application and will put you in a good light.

8. Badly formatted CV
Format your CV so that it is easy to read on a screen.Stick with fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman at font size 10 or 12. Use italics sparingly and don’t use any colours, crazy backgrounds or, heaven forbid, flowery page borders.

9. Meaningless introductions
Your CV has got to make the recruiter get on the phone to call you and appoint you on the spot. Your CV has got to get you noticed and invited in for interview. So an opening paragraph that says everything and nothing at the same time is not going to do it.

10. The ‘So What’ CV
To give yourself the best chance of it actually being read, make sure that it ‘looks right’. Make sure that it’s not too long, that it’s laid out correctly, is properly formatted and so on. If you do all of these things then you have a chance.

Your CV has to sell you. It has to make you sound interesting. It has to make you sound as though you’ll fit into the organization and that you’ll make a quick and substantial difference.

Because if all your CV does is make the recruiter think, ‘so what?’ you’ll have dropped the biggest CV clanger of all.