Cigars. What does the word bring to mind? Gentlemen's clubs, leather Chesterfield chairs, huge boxes of havanas being opened and inhaled, celebration, sophistication, signs of wealth... and Fidel Castro. So, essentially, only found in a male domain, along with beards, dodgy underpants and single malt. Aha, but you see, that's where you're wrong. Habanas Cuban Cigars, in a joint venture with our own tobacco giant British Imperial Tobacco, have come up with a new cigar - especially for women. The Julieta, as it is called, is smaller and milder than traditional cigars, and the manufacturers hope that it will widen the circle of cigar-smoking chicks, which already include famous faces such as Jodie Foster, Whoopi Goldberg, Madonna and Sharon Stone. Well, it's an interesting concept, and one way to fight back in the face of the smoking bans which have severely knocked profits for the tobacco industry in recent years. Personally, I'm not sure how popular cigars are going to be for the ladies, but then I used to smoke roll-ups back in my teenage days, so perhaps style and sophistication aren't exactly my strong point... I am prepared to concede that, if women do like a smoke - particularly of the cigar-y persuasion - then the Julieta will probably beat a Hamlet any day of the week. It is, however, worrying to see tobacco products being aimed specifically at women, when UK female smoking death figures are still rising.
And it seems that tobacco is not the only vice being marketed towards women nowadays. The pub chain Green King has launched a "Public Housewives" recruitment drive, as they are desperate to get more women involved with the licensing industry. Parallel to this, they are working on plans to offer larger wine glasses, glossy magazines, free toiletries and flowers on the tables in their pubs - to get more women to socialise with each other whilst enjoying a drink and a meal. Not just any women, sorry - only SWAGS need apply. Sassy, Wise And Grown-up ladies in the 35 yr plus bracket. That's almost me! Well, I'm certainly sassy, and 35 this year, but as for the rest.. Hey, two outta four ain't bad. I can even become a "fan" on Green King's Facebook Fan page, or apply for a job with them via Twitter. The pub industry is quickly latching on to the social networking trend in women, and to their advantage. It's all a bit of a cause for concern, though, in view of the constant reports coming through of increased risk of certain cancers in women who drink... although I'm all for larger measures of sauvignon and a copy of Heat! whilst I guzzle.
Perhaps it's just a cunning ploy by male marketers to like going to the pub for the sole purpose of making mens' lives easier... if the missus fancies a jar, then they're home and dry for the evening. On a practical side, pushing up sales of pints of Stella and pork scratchings as well as those of a cheeky merlot. And on the old cigar front, well, if a woman likes to light one up, she can hardly complain about her better half's smoking habit, can she? The couple who indulge together, stay together... Luckily for us, girls, Coca Cola are launching a multi-million pound marketing campaign to get us to "Love it Light", rather than smoke and drink ourselves into an early grave.
Timed to coincide with the start of London Fashion week next month, Diet Coke will be launching its strike offensive against Pepsi, who are also going to be heavily promoting their own sugar-free ranges this spring. Coke are really going all out this time, partnering with Asos.com to offer the chance to win an outfit every 30 minutes, as well as money-off vouchers... plus letting us girlies collect Coke Zone points with each purchase that can be swapped for copies of mags like Grazia, Closer and More! All good so far. And there is even a new TV ad campaign starring three girl puppets who are going to tempt us into "loving it light". So it's 'da boch chi' to the cycling songstress Duffy, and hello puppets. Er... surely something's wrong with this picture? I can't be the only one who is still devastated at the sudden disappearance of the Diet Coke Break Man! Is he still resident in the US ads do you think - or have Coca Cola decided to go all politically correct on us and deprive us of hard, muscular and semi-clad sexgods? I'm all for equality, and cessation of sexism and gender stereotype in the media - but this is going a step too far, by golly.
Obviously, re-engineering or creating products for women is big business, as is female-targetted marketing for existing ones. It shows the huge shift in attitude both towards and from women, as well as the socio-economic impact of more professional and working women, and our disposable income is now being fought over by big name brands. I wonder what will be next to try and win us over to the dark (male) side... Pink Pot Noodles? Diamante spanners? Who knows. I'm not that interested to be honest. I'm off to YouTube to do a quick search under "diet coke break man please". Sweet.
Friday 26 February 2010
Friday 19 February 2010
When is a buzzword not a dirty word?
We've all sat in management meetings playing Buzzword Bingo, or tried to have a quiet drink in a bar over-populated by noisy execs braying out their favourite cliches and laughed at them. We all hate hearing the same overused, somehow popular phrases over and over until they become meaningless. But - as much as we hate to admit it - we do all find ourselves, from time to time, giving in to the lure of the magic words and using them ourselves. Not you? I don't believe you. However, fear not. It's time to grasp the nettle, folks - because, in Jobseeker Land, buzzwords are not always dirty words.
Job seeking has changed immensely since the days of buying your local paper and sending off your CV and cover letter by snail mail. Nowadays, applications are made with the click of a mouse, and job websites hold huge databases of CVs that candidates have uploaded for viewing by recruiters. So, your CV's up on Monster (for example), now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring, right? Sort of. Recruiters search for CVs using key words specific to the roles they are looking to fill. We use a Boolean search string to sift out any CVs that don't list the requisite skills or words. An example of this is a string we might use to find a Marketing Analyst who needs to have experience in using SAS or SPSS. So the string is: marketing and (sas or spss). The location is specified elsewhere in the search form, for anyone interested. Or, the analyst may have to have Excel as well, so we'd add this into the search (marketing and (sas or spss) and excel). Recruiters have to scan through hundreds of CVs a day, so by filtering out ones that don't contain key words is a must. If they're not in the CV, the CV doesn't reach the recruiter.
The same rule applies to job applications. If you apply for a role that states you must, for example, have skills in SEO, PPC and social networking, then you must make sure they are all mentioned on your CV. Sounds obvious, but I have seen plenty of applications where the boxes on the cover sheet are ticked (e.g. Do you have social networking skills? YES), but there is nothing on the CV to back this up. The candidate genuinely has the skill, but hasn't mentioned it as it may not be a "proper" or "major" part of their job role. If the CV is good, we will call candidates to check on the "missing" skills, but many recruiters don't have the time - or inclination - to chase it up... after all, there are other candidates out there who have made sure their CVs are properly matched to the roles they are applying for. Even if the recruiter is happy that you do have the skills, if the employer can't see them listed on the CV straightaway, then they have to spend their time following it up - or worse, just completely overlook you for shortlisting.
It goes without saying that you should only write on your CV things that you CAN do - there's no gain in using buzzwords for effect rather than an enhancement. However, don't overlook some of the things that you do that you may assume everyone does... and so don't bother listing. Excel is one, as is some of the other MS packages - Projects and Vision for example. Don't hide your light under a bushel - if you've got it, flaunt it! So then, what are going to be the buzzwords for 2010? Logicalis have listed Web 2.0, cloud computing, social media, virtual desktop, security, Microsoft and Twitter as some of their top technical buzzwords for 2009, and these are set to grow in popularity in 2010. Inflecto say that SEO, custom CMS, mobile web development and frameworks (e.g. .net MVC) are being looked for in techie CVs. Technical people tend to use a lot of key words in their CVs anyway - listing programming languages, applications, frameworks, databases etc, so they are already ahead of the game. Brand Republic have reported that social media is overlooked in marketing CVs - of 4500 CVs looked at over the past 2 years, only 6% referenced social media, 9% Twitter and 2% blogging. There is also a shortfall in SEO (4.7%). These skills are some of the most sought after at the moment - so make sure you tell people if you can blog, Tweet or socially network! Jody at Marketing Jive has compiled a list of 100 top marketing buzzwords... I'm not going to list them all, but some may be worth thinking about - mobile, microblogging, lean, ROI, real-time.
Obviously, using buzzwords in your CV can't guarantee you get a phone call, an interview or a job offer - but it does help! The flip side of this is, people being people and all, some of them can get a little carried away and write their CVs almost completely with buzzwords. Watch yourselves... this may attract recruiter phone calls but if there is no substance in the CV to back up your claims of "online evangelism" or "augmented reality", then you won't get far. Everything in moderation, I say.
Anyway, I'm off to polish up my CV. Now, where can I fit "low-hanging fruit" into it?
Job seeking has changed immensely since the days of buying your local paper and sending off your CV and cover letter by snail mail. Nowadays, applications are made with the click of a mouse, and job websites hold huge databases of CVs that candidates have uploaded for viewing by recruiters. So, your CV's up on Monster (for example), now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring, right? Sort of. Recruiters search for CVs using key words specific to the roles they are looking to fill. We use a Boolean search string to sift out any CVs that don't list the requisite skills or words. An example of this is a string we might use to find a Marketing Analyst who needs to have experience in using SAS or SPSS. So the string is: marketing and (sas or spss). The location is specified elsewhere in the search form, for anyone interested. Or, the analyst may have to have Excel as well, so we'd add this into the search (marketing and (sas or spss) and excel). Recruiters have to scan through hundreds of CVs a day, so by filtering out ones that don't contain key words is a must. If they're not in the CV, the CV doesn't reach the recruiter.
The same rule applies to job applications. If you apply for a role that states you must, for example, have skills in SEO, PPC and social networking, then you must make sure they are all mentioned on your CV. Sounds obvious, but I have seen plenty of applications where the boxes on the cover sheet are ticked (e.g. Do you have social networking skills? YES), but there is nothing on the CV to back this up. The candidate genuinely has the skill, but hasn't mentioned it as it may not be a "proper" or "major" part of their job role. If the CV is good, we will call candidates to check on the "missing" skills, but many recruiters don't have the time - or inclination - to chase it up... after all, there are other candidates out there who have made sure their CVs are properly matched to the roles they are applying for. Even if the recruiter is happy that you do have the skills, if the employer can't see them listed on the CV straightaway, then they have to spend their time following it up - or worse, just completely overlook you for shortlisting.
It goes without saying that you should only write on your CV things that you CAN do - there's no gain in using buzzwords for effect rather than an enhancement. However, don't overlook some of the things that you do that you may assume everyone does... and so don't bother listing. Excel is one, as is some of the other MS packages - Projects and Vision for example. Don't hide your light under a bushel - if you've got it, flaunt it! So then, what are going to be the buzzwords for 2010? Logicalis have listed Web 2.0, cloud computing, social media, virtual desktop, security, Microsoft and Twitter as some of their top technical buzzwords for 2009, and these are set to grow in popularity in 2010. Inflecto say that SEO, custom CMS, mobile web development and frameworks (e.g. .net MVC) are being looked for in techie CVs. Technical people tend to use a lot of key words in their CVs anyway - listing programming languages, applications, frameworks, databases etc, so they are already ahead of the game. Brand Republic have reported that social media is overlooked in marketing CVs - of 4500 CVs looked at over the past 2 years, only 6% referenced social media, 9% Twitter and 2% blogging. There is also a shortfall in SEO (4.7%). These skills are some of the most sought after at the moment - so make sure you tell people if you can blog, Tweet or socially network! Jody at Marketing Jive has compiled a list of 100 top marketing buzzwords... I'm not going to list them all, but some may be worth thinking about - mobile, microblogging, lean, ROI, real-time.
Obviously, using buzzwords in your CV can't guarantee you get a phone call, an interview or a job offer - but it does help! The flip side of this is, people being people and all, some of them can get a little carried away and write their CVs almost completely with buzzwords. Watch yourselves... this may attract recruiter phone calls but if there is no substance in the CV to back up your claims of "online evangelism" or "augmented reality", then you won't get far. Everything in moderation, I say.
Anyway, I'm off to polish up my CV. Now, where can I fit "low-hanging fruit" into it?
Friday 12 February 2010
Police recruitment cops out...
And you thought it was tough applying for jobs in your industry! According to BBC News, North Yorkshire Police's recruitment phone lines crashed on Monday, after receiving 20,000 calls during the first day of their recruitment campaign. Following a new number being issued, they have since taken over 200,000 calls from interested parties. And the number of vacancies available? 60. Last month, Lincolnshire Police had to close its recruitment drive after running out of application forms - 1000 were requested in the first 2 hours of a campaign expected to last a week. Their number of available jobs? 60. Seeing a pattern here?
Public sector jobs have become more and more difficult to get into, the most notorious being the police force. It can take years from the initial application to be offered a position. It seems amazing to me that there is such demand for police work, especially in these times when we hear so much about poor police relations, sexual and racial discrimination cases within the force, and the worsening risks of attacks on policemen and women in the rougher areas of society. But it's a good thing that people DO want to keep applying - after all, someone's got to look after the rest of us! And, police work does offer a stable salary, the chance of some overtime, and a great pension. Plus a uniform.
With this immense demand for a place with Britain's finest boys and girls in blue, how ironic then that many forces are implementing recruitment freezes - meaning that applicants who have already passed through the recruitment process successfully are now put on a waiting list for the next available job. West Midlands Police have 240 officer applicants currently in this position, with another 500 waiting to be assessed. In Gloucestershire, almost 100 successful candidates have now been told that their job offers will be put on hold until 2011. And the Met have 2000 applicants hanging around in the system waiting for a job offer and start date. Apparently, recruitment drives have been more successful than anticipated, and less officers left the force last year, leaving fewer vacancies. Greater Manchester Police have announced a complete recruitment freeze from April, as have other forces. Avon and Somerset Police, though, are still advertising available vacancies and it is possible that candidates put on deferral from other forces may apply to them instead.
All down to economics, unsurprisingly. Retention of staff is higher as people haven't been prepared to leave their roles in times of such economic instability. And of course the government are all about cost-cutting wherever they can - all 43 police forces in England and Wales are expected to find combined savings of £545m by 2014. So we need more police, and more people want to join the police, but nobody wants to pay for it. And seriously, who in their right minds would be happy to apply for a job, undertake a rigorous recruitment procedure, be offered the job and accept it and THEN be told that they will have to wait 12-18 months for the position to be available? Because that's what the police force are doing. It's like winning The Apprentice only to be told to sod off back to your crappy old job (or your unfulfilling million pound turnover business if some of the previous candidates are to be believed)and wait a year before Siralan will take you on. Although, personally, I think I'd prefer a 12 month cooling down period to give me time to think of an excuse not to bother turning up in the end.
So, the moral of the tale is this - if you need a job this year, forget the force and look around for acceptable alternatives. Perhaps consider applying for The Apprentice... After all, it's a solid 12 month contract, by which time your police application might even have been looked at.
That, or move to Bristol...
Public sector jobs have become more and more difficult to get into, the most notorious being the police force. It can take years from the initial application to be offered a position. It seems amazing to me that there is such demand for police work, especially in these times when we hear so much about poor police relations, sexual and racial discrimination cases within the force, and the worsening risks of attacks on policemen and women in the rougher areas of society. But it's a good thing that people DO want to keep applying - after all, someone's got to look after the rest of us! And, police work does offer a stable salary, the chance of some overtime, and a great pension. Plus a uniform.
With this immense demand for a place with Britain's finest boys and girls in blue, how ironic then that many forces are implementing recruitment freezes - meaning that applicants who have already passed through the recruitment process successfully are now put on a waiting list for the next available job. West Midlands Police have 240 officer applicants currently in this position, with another 500 waiting to be assessed. In Gloucestershire, almost 100 successful candidates have now been told that their job offers will be put on hold until 2011. And the Met have 2000 applicants hanging around in the system waiting for a job offer and start date. Apparently, recruitment drives have been more successful than anticipated, and less officers left the force last year, leaving fewer vacancies. Greater Manchester Police have announced a complete recruitment freeze from April, as have other forces. Avon and Somerset Police, though, are still advertising available vacancies and it is possible that candidates put on deferral from other forces may apply to them instead.
All down to economics, unsurprisingly. Retention of staff is higher as people haven't been prepared to leave their roles in times of such economic instability. And of course the government are all about cost-cutting wherever they can - all 43 police forces in England and Wales are expected to find combined savings of £545m by 2014. So we need more police, and more people want to join the police, but nobody wants to pay for it. And seriously, who in their right minds would be happy to apply for a job, undertake a rigorous recruitment procedure, be offered the job and accept it and THEN be told that they will have to wait 12-18 months for the position to be available? Because that's what the police force are doing. It's like winning The Apprentice only to be told to sod off back to your crappy old job (or your unfulfilling million pound turnover business if some of the previous candidates are to be believed)and wait a year before Siralan will take you on. Although, personally, I think I'd prefer a 12 month cooling down period to give me time to think of an excuse not to bother turning up in the end.
So, the moral of the tale is this - if you need a job this year, forget the force and look around for acceptable alternatives. Perhaps consider applying for The Apprentice... After all, it's a solid 12 month contract, by which time your police application might even have been looked at.
That, or move to Bristol...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
