Link, share, join, listen ...
Link, share, join, listen ...
PricewaterhouseCoopers is on track to receive a record 30,000 applications for its graduate entry scheme with just 1200 places available - the latest indicator of the strains in the British labour market. That’s an amazing twenty-five applications for every one place.
This figure is 50% higher than the 20,000 applications received for its 2011 intake. Ian Powell, Chairman and Senior Partner, notes however that one of the “real challenges” of applications on this scale is the fear of quality candidates slipping through the cracks. That means you’re eliminating a lot of people on paper.
I have some sympathy with this view. Compared to this time last year, the Interim Partners financial services practice has seen an increase of approximately 40% in new candidates wishing to join our community. This is largely due to investment projects being abandoned or postponed, redundancy programmes and generally more candidates opting for the interim lifestyle. What becomes increasingly important, therefore, is the quality of each individual’s ability to market him or herself effectively. There is a variety of tools on hand to help nowadays, from the obvious Linkedin/comprehensive CV to less commonly used techniques such as Twitter/websites/thought leadership pieces.
But for my money, the main route to success is to stick to the basics. Well- presented (grammatically correct!) communication, flexibility and polite persistence will ultimately pay off.
I would be interested to hear what your best marketing tips are…
Liz Sinclair is Account Director for Interim Partners.
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January 17th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Liz, keeping aware of market movements and aligning, where possible, relevant skills and competencies and presenting these to prospective clients I believe is key.
As is continuous personal development, building on key skills to maintain relevance which will help candidates differentiate and specialise.
January 19th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Agreed with the sentiment. At the individual level, we can all do better……Nevertheless, I find that “Interim” resistance is often born of ignorance on the part of our potential clients of just what our value proposition is. That’s not a criticism of them but rather of ourselves.
We need to market our profession better and a good deal more than we do. Too often a company will opt for what they consider to be the relative safety of employing a “big 4″ firm when the Interim route would have been more appropriate, impactful and cost effective.