The most important aspect of going for an interview is to be prepared and maintain a positive attitude.  If you are positive it will be reflected in your manner and your responses during the interview. 

A really good idea is to research the web site of the Company you are applying for a job with.  Your knowledge will be sure to impress at interview.

Review the position description thoroughly so you have a clear understanding of the duties and key skills required.  Remember, try and dress in a neat and tidy business-like manner – you want to create the right impression.  Save the fish net stockings, short mini skirts, thongs, shorts or excessive jewellery for the weekend.  If you are applying for trades positions it’s fine to wear a polo shirt and pants.

Most people are a little nervous at interviews and this is usually taken into account by the prospective employer.  It may be useful to remember that if the employer does not recruit staff very often they are probably a little nervous too.  Try to smile and make some small talk after introductions have taken place as this usually helps relax the situation and remember just be you.

Be prepared for some stock standard questions ie.  What are your strengths and weaknesses?  Try and think about answers to these types of questions prior to attending the interview.  Never say you don’t have any weaknesses, we all have them and it is better to be aware of them so you can demonstrate how you overcome them and work around them.

Also be prepared for questions about your past employment so that you are able to relate this experience easily to the required skills and experience of the job you are applying for.   Try and have some examples in mind of where you have excelled in your previous employment history.

Where your skills may be missing a certain aspect required for the position try and think of other transferable skills that you possess that would be an advantage to the position.  As long as you have most of the skills required for the position most employers are happy to train you on one or two aspects required for the role.  Even if you have not used a certain skill on the job you may have utilised it in your personal life or in voluntary work.

Don’t forget at the end of the interview to thank the employer for giving you the opportunity.  Ask them when you can expect to be notified of the outcome.  If you don’t receive a phone call in that timeframe you should contact them.   Following up demonstrates you are still keen, interested and motivated in the position.

Oh and one last reminder, turn your mobile phone off during the interview!

Organisations will need to fully embrace diversity and look to other segments of the employment pool to fill positions.

EEO can be regarded as a component of diversity management; but in real terms diversity management is a broader, proactive approach which extends beyond a commitment to legal responsibility.  The three main components of diversity are:

• Primary personal characteristics ie. race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, mental and physical ability
• Personal characteristics – eg. Marital status, education, values, beliefs
• Organisation-related characteristics – eg. Position in hierarchy, tenure, casual/part-time/full time status.

Diversity management is of strategic importance in contributing to future growth and success of companies.

As society is becoming more diverse an organisation’s customer base is becoming more diverse.  An organization with diverse employees can therefore better match their customer’s needs and therefore have a competitive advantage.

Over the past six years Australia has enjoyed uninterrupted growth, and historically has had strong labour market conditions.  The unemployment rate at below five percent is the lowest in thirty years.  Projections however, show a slowing in economic growth in coming decades due to the effect of our aging population on the labour force.

Organisations need to continue to increase productivity by finding new source of labour.  Companies can no longer only look to one pool of the workforce as this places limitations on them trying to attract employees.

Organisations will need to fully embrace diversity and look to other segments of the workforce to fill roles.  This will mean promoting job-share opportunities, creating flexible hours to enable parents with school-aged children to work, enticing single parents back into the workforce, utilising skills of disabled workers, employing international candidates and utilising skills of retirees.

Companies are going to have to be more flexible and innovative in order to try and overcome labour shortages.  This can include job design to permit part-time or job sharing, looking at transferable skills, offering benefits to employees such as child care, education, health programs and gyms.

Employers are going to have to build a reputation as an ‘employer of choice’ thereby making it easier to attract and retain good staff.

Today’s diverse workforce poses challenges and opportunities.  Diversity can offer energy, creativity and new approaches to solving problems.

A large percentage of businesses have documented occupational health and safety and equal opportunity policies, however only one third of businesses have a documented diversity policy.

Diversity management allows organisations to perform better by improving the efficiency of human resource management (HRM) functions.

It also enables new product and service development and sales/marketing strategies for their customers.

Organisation’s are also able to develop a cross-cultural approach to facilitate operations in culturally complex environments.

Diversity management however, should not be left solely in the HRM area and must be embraced by senior management for it to grow from the functional level to the strategic level.

Managing diversity allows organisations to produce a diversity dividend and improve their bottom line and in the current employment climate of skills shortages and low unemployment, will be the key to an organisation’s continued growth and competitive advantage.

There is now more than ever a crucial need for Australian business to understand the value of diversity.

There has been much economic and social debate over the past decade focusing on the issues associated with Australia’s ageing workforce.

Between 2011 and 2030, the large generation born between 1946 and 1965, known as 'baby boomers', will reach 65. This means a huge volume of Australia’s workforce will retire.  This will impact the labour market causing a substantial shortage of skilled labour available to meet growing economic demands.

Not only are mature age workers, (workers aged 45-64 years) a solution to labour shortages but they have a lower incidence of absenteeism; have proved to be more flexible than their younger counterparts, are more reliable and are often more productive.  They also tend to have more stable work histories staying far longer in each job than younger age groups.   

However, some managers still miss out on potentially valuable employees because of common misconceptions about the value of mature age workers in the workplace.

People aged 45-64 years were more likely than in the past to be labour force participants. Participation rates for this group increased from 57% in 1984 to 68% in 2004 and by all accounts are growing.

This increase in participation has been driven largely by the increased participation of women in the labour force, reflecting a range of social changes, including greater acceptance of, and opportunities for, women in the workforce. In 2004 the participation rate for women aged 45-64 years was 60%, well above the proportion participating in the labour force in 1984 (36%).

In comparison, participation for men has decreased slightly over the last two decades in almost all age groups, although the participation rate for men aged 45-64 years remained stable at 77% between 1984 and 2004).

Generally, there is no compulsory retirement age in Australia. However, compulsory retirement does apply in a few specific industries in some states. In general, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of age. 

The government have also realised the benefit to the workforce of encouraging and rewarding mature age workers to keep working.  Since July 1, 2004 they have offered several tax offset schemes as an incentive to workers aged 55 and over to stay in the work force.

Mature age workers bring both work and life experience to an organisation, so it is ideal, as an employer you capture these skills to help develop other staff in the organisation. Some mature age workers may have moved off the career ladder and are often looking for flexibility and job satisfaction rather than career development.

Interestingly Permanent Placements on the Sunshine Coast for the past twelve months have been filled 60% of the time with mature age candidates and 40% of the temporary workforce have been mature age.  Employers on the Sunshine Coast must realise the benefits!

New Year can be a great time to review your career goals and put plans and steps in place to get you started on the way to achieving your goals and aspirations.

Goal setting is a great way of maximizing your opportunities and performance.  It is useful to have both short and long term goals as part of your overall career plan. 

Bear in mind that effective goals need to:

• Be Realistic and Achievable
• Need to be specific and measurable
• Include Timelines and Target dates
• Be prioritised – you can rate them a, b or c and this will help you focus on the most important ones
• Be Broken down into Smaller Goals – a goal can be broken down into a series of smaller more manageable goals that you can complete one by one to achieve the larger goal – they are a step by step way to reach your final goal.
• Be written down
• Be periodically monitored so you realize the goals you have achieved and you can track where you are in terms of achieving the larger goals.

Goals help you to stay focused on your objective and help you to be in control of your life.  They also help us to separate what is important from what is irrelevant and increase your motivation and self confidence.

Some of the questions you need to ask yourself along the way when setting your goals are:

• What skills and knowledge do I need to reach this goal?
• What barriers do I need to overcome?
• Is there a more effective way I can achieve this?
• What help and resources will I need?

Once you have a plan you can work towards achieving it…….so get started, what are you waiting for?

If you are a small business on the Sunshine Coast you are probably aware of the tremendous opportunities for growth – but are you in a position to take advantage of them?

Small businesses don’t have the luxury of having corporate updates on legislation and policy, nor do they have the benefit of a Human Resource (HR) Department to keep you up to date on employment trends and law.

Many industries and professions are already experiencing shortages of suitable qualified and skilled people and this will be a drawback to business growth in coming years.  With the enormous drop in the unemployment rate, this is a problem that is going to continue to worsen.  Being able to employ staff with the right skills certainly contribute positively to your company’s growth and productivity.

Partnering with a professional Recruitment agency will give you a greater ability to find staff where there are skills shortages and keep them allowing your business to grow. 

A professional recruitment firm can also provide advice on other HR aspects that require your compliance ie. Work Choices legislation, EEO, Discrimination, Work Place Health and Safety.  Sound advice can also be given on current employment trends, market salaries across broad categories of jobs and diversity.

Consulting a professional for advice on Position Descriptions, Advertising, Selection Criteria, Behavioural Interviewing/reference checking and performance appraisals can all be of great benefit and culminate in your recruiting the right staff and retaining them.

A professional agency can also assess prospective candidates on a range of skills:  Safety Awareness, various software skills, typing, data entry, call centre skills, customer service and psychometric profiling.  All this assists you in making the right recruitment decision based on all the facts.

The greatest costs and inhibitors to productivity in any organisation is either not being able to find the right staff and/or staff attrition.

To be competitive and grow in today’s ‘employee market’ you need to become an ‘employer of choice’ in order to attract and retain excellent employees.  Remember your employees are your greatest asset and without the right people your company may not be able to maintain its competitive edge.

If you have just moved to the Sunshine Coast or are currently between jobs, have you considered temporary employment?

It can certainly lead to bigger and better things and it is definitely worth considering the advantages.

• While working in various temporary roles, you are gaining a variety of different skills and experience
• Temporary employment is now recognized as an acceptable career choice and is viewed favourably on your resume and by financial institutions

• If you have had periods of unemployment perhaps through illness, raising a family or traveling, temporary positions can improve your confidence and ease you back into the workforce
• It helps to improve and maintain your skills at a high level

• Temporary positions can lead to the offer of permanent employment

• Temping gives you the flexibility to choose where and when you work

• You are paid at a competitive casual hourly rate on a weekly basis for the hours you work

• Temping can offer the flexibility of full time or part time work hours

It gives you the opportunity of “trying before you buy” with potential employers.  You get to test out whether the Company is the right fit for you.

Temporary employment is available in a wide variety of fields such as administration, secretarial, management, human resources, light industrial and trades, customer service, information technology both in the private and government sectors.

So consider the benefits of temping.

These days organizations are busy and receive a large volume of job applications therefore have limited time to read copious amounts of information so if I could stress the most important aspect of your resume is to ‘keep it simple’.

Your resume is a map of your career/job history.

Your resume needs to include firstly your contact details, qualifications/licences, memberships and professional affiliations, your work history, and telephone/email contact details for at least three referees (these should be direct supervisors or managers that you have directly reported to within the last five years), technical experience (a list of commonly used equipment or software).

Most of these points are self explanatory but I would like to expand on the ‘job history’ section of your resume.  This needs to be in reverse chronological order commencing with your most recent job and moving backwards to your first employer.

This section of your resume requires the following detail:

• Dates and duration of employment, eg: April 2002 to May 2007
• Name of Employer and their location, eg: ABC Company, Maroochydore
• Position Title, eg: Secretary
• Duties, eg: Secretarial support to two managers, meeting Minutes, typing correspondence, diary management, travel bookings etc.

You need to list the duties as detailed above for the last couple of positions covering the last five years.  As you move back in your employment history you don’t need to list the duties. 

Lastly one more simple word of advice…..don’t forget to run a spell check to ensure there are no typing errors, you want to create a great first impression & get that job interview!