Recruitment and jobs blog

After months of hard work, you’ve finally made an offer to the perfect person. But their current employer is digging in and they’re not ready to let them go without a fight. So, they counter. All of a sudden, you’re back in the trenches. How do you counter this counteroffer? In this blog, we share five top tips to help you win the battle for top talent. 1.Understand Unless they’re a strategic mastermind, if a candidate is contemplating an offer from a new company, there must be a reason why. After all when there’s smoke there’s fire. As the potential new suitor, you need to understand this reason.  Talent changes jobs for a myriad of reasons, with 40% expected to do so during the ‘great resignation’ in the coming months, so pinpointing this can be challenging. But ultimately, most candidates are contemplating a move because they want something better. With this in mind, you need to dig a little deeper to uncover the wants, needs and motivations driving this decision. Why do they want to leave? What are their goals? What value can you offer them? Your ability to answer these questions will give you more intel about a particular candidate, helping you come up with a better strategy to secure them. 2.Align With this newfound understanding, you need to capitalise by aligning it with your counteroffer.  Knowledge is power, and using it correctly gives you more firepower to suppress any enemy that approaches. Does the candidate want flexibility? Give them the option to work-from-home or choose their hours. Does the candidate want more money? Add some financial incentives for strong performance. Does the candidate want career progression? Share a clear pathway for their advancement. Be agile and adaptable in what you’re willing to offer, and make sure it aligns with what the individual is actually looking for. 3.Relationships Relationships underpin all recruitment activity. In a one-on-one battle with a current employer, building a strong relationship with a candidate is very beneficial. Obviously, time isn’t on your side, and you won’t have the same depth of history as your opponent. But this can work for or against you depending on the status of current relationships. Either way, a good rule of thumb is that you’ll probably need to work twice as hard. The building blocks of any relationship is honesty, trust, responsiveness and communication. Recruitment is no different, and successfully building strong relationships with people will make it significantly harder for prospective hires to turn you down. 4.Support Changing employers for many is a daunting task. When your current employer throws in their counteroffer, sticking with what you know is sometimes far more appealing than what you don’t know. People tend to be risk averse, so you naturally face an uphill battle trying to convince them to jump ship. In this situation, you need to do all you can to minimise any anxiety a candidate may feel. How do you do this? You support them end-to-end through the hiring process, making it as seamless as possible. Offer them the support and advice they need to guide them through uncertainty. What does resignation look like? What does transitioning jobs look like? Be as detailed as possible. The more comfortable a candidate feels with the idea of changing jobs, the more likely they may actually follow through with it. 5. Agility The old saying that a ‘quick game is a good game’ certainly rings true when it comes to recruitment. With talent so scarce and demand so high, it’s only a matter of time before more players enter the arena. So you need to move quickly. The best way to counter a counteroffer is to be so agile that current employers don’t have time to propose a counteroffer in the first place. This means from the moment you first contact a candidate; you need to have a plan in place from beginning to end to expedite the process. Companies who equivocate for weeks and months, will undoubtedly lose the talent they crave. The battle for talent has never been more hotly contested, with offers for good people coming from left, right and centre. To come out on top, and counter these offers, you need to provide talent with the best employment option. How? By understanding them, being strategic, building relationships, supporting them and being agile. At Ignite, we incorporate all these elements into our candidate experience to ensure our clients secure the best talent possible.

Do you buy your vegetables from the supermarket? Or do you grow them at home? Sure, growing it takes more effort, it’s laborious, it’s probably less convenient and slower than visiting your local store. But on the other hand, you control what you grow, how much of it you grow, have more say in the produce that comes out at the end and you then have exclusive access to it. So, with this in mind, when it comes to our long-term workforce plan, do we buy for today (go to the supermarket) or build for tomorrow (grow it ourselves)? In this blog, we share five reasons why you should build for tomorrow by reskilling and upskilling your current staff. 1.Business Agility In recent times, the importance of business agility has never been clearer. The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to pivot how they operate quickly, reshaping demand for particular skillsets to survive unprecedented disruption. Add in more common fluctuations in sociological, economic, political, legal, environmental and technological trends, businesses need to be agile. Traditionally companies have simply bought the talent they need, but in an environment of rising skill shortages and recruitment difficulty, building your own talent is a far more steadfast solution. Why? Because you can cover skill gaps by retraining existing staff and redeploying them elsewhere (reskilling), or you can simply equip them with new skills to take on more senior roles (upskilling). Having these options at your disposal makes your business far more agile in a volatile macroenvironment. Furthermore, building your talent lets you mould people into ideal employees and reduces your dependence on who is available in the local talent market. 2.Talent Shortages How do you make a great bolognaise sauce if there are no tomatoes left in the store? The answer is simple, harvest the bountiful crop of tomatoes you’ve grown over time in your backyard that you’ve carefully cultivated to perfection. Bon Appetit! Talent shortages are rife in most key sectors: technology, engineering, hospitality and construction just to name a few. The current jobs market has been described as a ‘war for talent’ with companies battling to secure increasingly finite resources. For example, specific roles in data, IT security and software development are attracting price tags 30% above where they were one year ago. Consequently, for companies with budget constraints (most of them), solely buying talent in this candidate-led environment is expensive, challenging and more than likely unsustainable long-term. Fortunately, there is another option. If you build your own talent by training them with the hard-to-find technical and soft skills you crave, your resiliency to talent shortages is enhanced. Training your own staff to accommodate future is a far more sustainable approach than buying a future-ready workforce in this talent market. 3.Engagement and Retention Not only does upskilling and reskilling help you create the talent you need, but it also helps you engage and retain them. A core motivator for many professionals is learning and development. People want to work for companies that are willing to invest in them. According to research by LinkedIn, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if they invested in their careers. Put simply, upskilling and reskilling should be a fundamental part of your L&D program, which in turn bolsters your employee value proposition making talent want to stay in your company. Some industry experts predict that Australia is on the verge of the ‘great resignation’, where a large proportion of talent plan to leave their company in the near future. According to PwC, the cost of annual turnover in Australia is already at $3.8 billion. This figure will only increase as attrition rises and talent shortages intensify, meaning retention is paramount. Therefore, your willingness to invest in your own talent (i.e., by reskilling and upskilling) could be what keeps talent engaged and loyal to your business through this tricky period. 4.Buying has risks There’s no doubt that buying talent has its place. However, it does have associated risks. Firstly, there’s no guarantee you’ll find the skills you need. Secondly, you may waste significant time and energy only to come up with a mediocre shortlist of candidates. Finally, there is always the chance you make a poor hiring decision which negatively impacts your broader business. Furthermore, Another advantage of building over buying is that half of your work is already done for you, since theoretically you already have employees in your company that have capability, cultural fit and value alignment. They just need reskilling or upskilling to be redeployed or promoted. Remember, supermarket vegetables aren’t always handled with care, they can come with imperfections, and they’re often grown using harmful chemicals that detract from the overall flavour. Ask any person who grows their own vegetables, they will likely tell you theirs taste better. 5. Be future-ready One thing that’s for sure is that demand for particular skillsets is constantly evolving, and what’s in demand today may be superfluous tomorrow. It wasn’t so long ago that manufacturers had people running their factories, or banks used administrators to complete all there mundane tasks. Building your own pipeline of talent enables you to keep one eye on the future, and build towards skills that perhaps you don’t need now, but will need in 10-20 years-time. Technology is moving at such a rapid rate that you need to be future-ready, and building your talent pipeline can be a better method to prepare for future talent needs. Therefore, should we buy our vegetables or grow them at home? Honestly, there are merits of doing both. Reskilling and upskilling should be a key ingredient in your long-term workforce plan because it improves your adaptability, increases your control, reduces your risk, boosts your engagement and retention and helps you be more future-ready. At Ignite, our Talent Solutions division provides training solutions customised to your business needs to ensure your workforce strategy flourishes now and into the future.

“I got the job” - The four words all jobseekers strive for in their job search. How do you get there? The secret is organisation. The average jobseeker will apply for 10-15 jobs per week. As the CVs, cover letters, assessments, interviews, background checks and other requirements pile up, the result is often a complicated process difficult for talent to navigate effectively. In this blog, we share our top tips to help talent organise their job search to help secure a new job. 1. Understand your goals Ask yourself this simple question – What is your end-goal? Maybe you want to be CEO of multi-national company, a small business owner or thought leader in you specialised field. Whatever it may be, once you know what your end-goal is, you can focus your job search on the industries, companies and positions that will ultimately help you to get there. By understanding your goals, you can streamline your job search and work towards reaching your end-goal faster. 2. Do your research Many candidates tend to over-complicate their job search by applying for every single role they see. They will apply for 50 jobs when in reality they’re only truly interested in five of them. We recommend using a far more selective approach in your job search by minimising the roles you apply for. Research will allow you to simplify your search and focus on specific opportunities. In today’s digital world you have more tools and resources to inform your job search than ever before. Company websites, review platforms, ASX announcements, market research and job boards are just some of the resources at your disposal. Research companies within your chosen industry. What type of company are they? What work do they do? What are their values? Who works there? Are they hiring? What skills are they looking for? Are there any benefits? etc. Research will help you uncover the companies you want to work for and the roles that align with your goals and needs. This means you can focus on the jobs you actually want rather than juggle the chaos of superfluous applications. 3. Create a schedule An application process is a lot like a hurdles race. To win the race you need to overcome a series of hurdles. In a hiring process, these hurdles can get higher the further down the track you go. To overcome these obstacles, you need to be prepared for each one. How do you do this in your job search? You create a schedule. Scheduling is a key component of an organised job search, and is often where some talent let themselves down. Sending CVs, attending assessment centres and doing interviews all compound when applying for multiple roles simultaneously. The application process is designed to test prospective hires including your ability to be organised and overcome each hurdle seamlessly. This is much easier to achieve when you’ve created a detailed schedule to organise your job search. How do you do this? Utilise tools you have available to you. This can be done via an Excel spreadsheet, a word document, a Google calendar, a smartphone app or even physical sticky notes. Whatever medium you choose, you need to note the what, where, who, when and why of each hurdle to ensure your job search is organised and effective. 4. Track your Progress Once your schedule is created, you need to track your progress. Relying on memory for one application process might be acceptable, but it’s a risky strategy across multiple application processes. Imagine the optics of confusing a final interview at company A with the second interview at company B. Or inadvertently discussing the assessment centre you did at company C during your final interview at company D. These errors are innocent, but it tells an employer you lack organisational skills which could translate if you were to be given the job. So, to ensure this doesn’t happen, track your progress. Use detailed notes throughout each application step and refer back to these when you’re ready to move forward. These notes might detail what you did, when you did it, who was involved, how it went, what worked well, what didn’t, what is next and how should you prepare for it? Jobseekers who track their progress throughout their job search will be far more organised and less likely to make a mistake that costs them a job opportunity. 5. Set up alerts Another simple tactic to stay organised in your job search is to create job alerts. Seek, LinkedIn and Indeed all allow jobseekers to set alerts for new ads that meet your pre-selected criteria. You can also use alerts to help stick to your job search schedule. This will save you hours of times scouring job boards and help keep you organised while searching for a new job. 6. Stay positive Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is to stay positive in your job search and not give up. Whether it takes 1, 5, 10 or 50 applications to secure the job you want, it’s important to be resilient, persistent and consistent. Don’t look at an unsuccessful application as a failure but as an opportunity to learn for future success. Your efforts will eventually pay off and having the right attitude along the way will likely enhance your outcome. Job searching can sometimes feel more strenuous than an actual job itself. It requires a concentrated effort and an organised approach to be successful. In this blog, we’ve shared some top tips to help you do just this to help secure a new role. At Ignite, we are passionate about helping individuals complete their job search. We've been facilitating employee-employer connections across multiple industries for almost four decades. Our Specialist Recruitment consultants are ready to support you in your job search and help you finally say “I got the job”.

Three months into a new job, and the regret of leaving your previous position is starting to hit hard. The promises made in your interviews haven’t been delivered, you don’t feel motivated, included or engaged and you're even struggling with the work. You quickly realise the devil you knew was far greater than the one you’re facing now, and you don’t know what to do next. You may think the simple solution is to pack your bags and give up now. But, this may not be your best option. In this blog, we share six reasons why you shouldn’t give up your new job immediately even if you’re struggling. Logic trumps emotion We’ve all had those days at work where the two words “I quit” dance on the tip of our tongues. This feeling, particularly in a new job, can easily tip over the edge and take control. While this is an intrinsically human response, it’s often not the best way to make an important career decision. In these situations, it’s best to add logic into the decision-making mix. Ask yourself, What’s the best long-term decision for myself and the people I care about? Take your time to answer this question, sleep on it, decompress, and try to incorporate logic and rationale into your decision. Swallow the urge to quit right away and give yourself the opportunity to uncover the right solution for you. Then, whether you then decide to stay or leave, you’ll know you’ve made the best decision possible for yourself. Employment has advantages Irrespective of how you feel about your new job, it’s important to remember that employment has some advantages. Firstly, you’ll have money coming in to maintain your lifestyle. Secondly, it’s easier to network with professional contacts when their perception is that you’re not just looking for a job (even though you might be). Thirdly and finally, looking for a new job is much harder when unemployed because the burden of rising bills can soon force you into a desperate and more dire situation. This doesn’t mean you are trapped; it simply means that being employed is usually better than being unemployed until you have a concrete career plan. You don’t have a career plan If there is one thing your recent move has demonstrated, it’s that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. If you hastily move again, chances are you’ll likely end up in a similar or worse position. All career moves strike an unpredictable balance between risk and reward. That’s why, to attain the rewards you seek, it’s important you have a plan in place. Consider you’re end goal, what you need to get there, and who can help you reach it. Do you due diligence and spend time putting together this career plan, or risk repeating history when you decide it’s time to move again. The job may not be the problem If you’re career is starting to resemble somewhat of a pinball machine, chances are the problem may be more dispositional than situational, meaning it might be time to look inwards. Particularly in recent times, the pressures on our mental health and physical wellbeing have heightened. This means the issues you’re experiencing in your current or previous job may in-fact not even be job-related. As such, giving up and moving on won’t remedy this situation. We recommend you check-in on yourself to identify the root of your problems, and find additional support mechanisms elsewhere if you need them (family, friends, professional support, etc.).  If you discover that the job is not the actual problem, then the situation might be salvageable. The situation is salvageable If the situation is salvageable, then packing your bags is probably premature. After all, you’ve joined this company for a reason, and there may still be an opportunity to reap the benefits you were originally promised. Good things take time, and by sticking with it you give yourself an opportunity to turn things around. First, Identify the issues you’ve experienced and bring them up with the right people in your new organisation. Propose a solution and work cohesively with these people to address them. In a new job this can feel daunting, but if your only other option is to give up, what do you have to lose? As you spend more https://bes.org/ changed my attitude toward online pharmacies forever. The customer service is an absolute top here. Online consultants are super patient and willing to help. I also love that there is a pharmacist for remote consultations. It’s very convenient for anyone who lacks time for a doctor’s appointment or offline consultation with a specialist. Job hopping impacts reputation Moving jobs should not be discouraged if you’re leaving a bad environment or reaching for a better one. However, it’s important to consider the impact that continuous job hopping can have on your professional reputation. You may have valid reasons for each move, but in the eyes of a new employer, bulk movements can suggest a lack of loyalty, adaptability and even ability. Put it this way, an employer is less likely to bring someone onboard if history tells them they’ll only jump ship soon after. If you’re getting towards this point, it could be worth enduring some short-term pain to maximise your long-term prospects. This may entail sticking around for a certain period of time, learning key lessons along the way, until you can showcase to a prospective employer the ideal qualities and attributes they look for in a new recruit. New jobs can be intimidating, especially when they don’t live up to your initial expectations. In these situations, sometimes there is merit in sticking at it rather than giving up right away. Working in the right environment is crucial for your wellbeing and success, so, consider the above before you decide to make another move. The Company Values Align with Yours When you decided to move to your current job, the values and culture of the company were likely some of the factors you considered. These elements can have a significant impact on your job satisfaction. Even if things aren't going exactly as planned right now, remember why you were attracted to this organization in the first place. It's worth considering whether the issues you're facing are temporary or indicative of deeper cultural problems. If the values that attracted you still hold true, it could be worth sticking it out and trying to work through the current challenges. Room for Growth and Learning One of the major reasons people switch jobs is the opportunity for growth and learning. These aspects can take time to realize in a new job. If you're facing challenges, it could be a great learning experience, shaping you into a more versatile and adaptable professional. Keep in mind that every job comes with its own set of challenges and the current struggles might be the stepping stones to your professional development. Try to approach the difficulties from a learning perspective and see how you can grow from them. Change Takes Time Change is hard and often uncomfortable. Stepping into a new role or a new company is a major change that comes with its own set of difficulties. Initially, everything can seem challenging - from fitting into the company culture, understanding the job role, to dealing with new colleagues. This is a phase everyone goes through. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and likewise, feeling at home in a new job takes time. Give yourself this time to adjust to the new environment, tasks, and people. Leaving Might Not Solve the Problem Before deciding to leave, it's crucial to identify what exactly is making you unhappy. Is it the work pressure, colleagues, or a boss? Or is it something within you? If you find that it's external factors related to your job, there's a chance that they might follow you to your next role. No job is perfect. If the problems you're facing are bearable and can be resolved, consider staying and addressing them instead of moving to a new job where you might encounter similar or even new challenges. Reputation Matters Lastly, frequent job hopping can damage your professional reputation. While changing jobs for better opportunities is perfectly fine, doing so too often might paint a picture of you being unstable or indecisive to prospective employers. Unless the job is extremely unbearable or harmful to your mental or physical health, it might be beneficial for your career to stay a little longer. Remember, a job should not only provide financial stability but should also contribute to your overall happiness and growth. If you've tried to address your concerns and are still unhappy, don't hesitate to reach out to Ignite. We're here to help you find the right job that aligns with your aspirations, values, and skills. However, if you've hit the point of no return in your new job, our specialist recruitment consultants at Ignite are here to help. We are passionate about people, and ensuring we facilitate the best employer connections to optimise your work experience is of upmost importance to us. We're here to help you find your dream job and work environment so you don't struggle in the first place.  

The current IT employment market is rich in jobs but poor in available talent. The number of tech roles across Australia’s corporate landscape far exceeds the number of local talent capable of filling them. This imbalance has created a growing talent shortage, meaning some employers now need IT candidates more than those candidates need employers. Research suggests that 69% of Australian companies are already feeling the bite of shortages on their hiring strategy. Furthermore, Australia needs 200,000 additional IT professionals over the next five years to remain globally competitive. These statistics tell a compelling story, we are in a candidate driven market. Consequently, relevant technology candidates now have far more power at the hiring negotiation table than ever before. In this blog, we share our top tips to help technology candidates capitalise on this opportunity in a way that doesn’t impact their long-term prospects. Define your value proposition If you are contemplating a career change, it’s important to understand your strengths and weaknesses that differentiate you from your peers. Your value proposition includes both your technical expertise and soft skills, demonstrated through experience and reinforced by your personality, that in combination will increase your desirability by employers. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, make it clear to the employer what they’re getting and why they should invest significant resources to attain your services. The clearer your value proposition, in this market, the more roles and companies you will be able to choose from in your job search. Understand your motivations and end goal What drives you to work hard? Is it money, is it flexibility, is it work-life balance or is it something else? Likewise, what is your end goal? Do you want to be a CIO, or start a business, or simply maintain a healthy wage to support your loved ones? Whatever your answers might be, In a candidate driven market, knowing your needs and wants are crucial to maximising your job search. We tend to believe the grass is always greener on the other side, however, if you don’t truly understand your motivations and end-goal, you always risk taking a backwards step. Ask yourself, how does this new job opportunity help me reach my end-goal, and what benefits do I need from a company to stay motivated and be successful? Once you find a job and a company that can satisfy these desires, you can be more confident you’re on the right track. Know your worth and negotiate… Once you know who you are and what you want, in a candidate driven market, you have the unique ability to negotiate your true market value. Companies will always want the best, and those with the capital capacity, will be willing to open their wallets to secure you. This is why in the past 12 months alone, we have seen demand for talent in sub-categories like IT security, data and cloud technology boost salaries upwards of 30%. The macro-environmental trends are currently in your favour; from closed international borders to expensive digital transformation projects, companies are scrambling to attract top IT talent. In response, you can exploit this demand by negotiating a contract that meets both your financial and non-financial needs. …But do the right thing While you should absolutely negotiate a great deal for yourself and capitalise on current market conditions, it’s also important you don’t push employers too far. Career progression is a marathon not a sprint, If you negotiate beyond reasonable expectations, then you risk falling into the greedy category impacting current and future employer relationships. How you act now will influence how you are treated in return further down the track. Australia has a small IT community, meaning your professional reputation is important. When you activate your job search, make sure you consider the long-term working relationships you have with employers should the market turn against you. Do your research and stay informed Australia’s IT market is constantly evolving, meaning if you are serious about your job search, you need to stay informed about current and future trends that could impact or disrupt your work specialisation. The employment market can always change, particularly in a highly dynamic environment like technology where employers are continually adopting new technologies and seeking new types of talent to manage them. To keep on top of this, we recommend you do your research. How? By monitoring job boards to see what opportunities are out there. To attend industry events and network with valuable contacts to keep on top of hiring trends. To continually upskill yourself within your specialisation to remain employable and highly sought after. These activities will help you maximise your job search and mitigate any potential risk that may pop up in the future. Yes, Australia’s IT jobs market is candidate driven, meaning now is a great time to activate your job search and capitalise on current opportunities. While we recommend you take advantage of these conditions in your job search, it's also important you consider your long term prospects as well. At Ignite, we specialise in technology recruitment and can help you optimise your job search in this candidate driven market. Contact the team today for more information.

Most of us have a resume (CV). A list of our experiences, qualifications and personal information to impress a prospective employer. Some spend hours writing theirs, others get it professionally done to try and stand out from the increasingly competitive crowd. Yet, despite this effort, so laborious and monotonous is the process of reviewing resumes, that a recruiter will devote on average only 6-7 seconds to the task. You may be wondering how 6-7 seconds is enough time to fairly identify the best talent. The secret is the ability of recruitment professionals to see past what’s written on the page and read between the lines. This skill, learned by mass repetition, allows them to quickly identify subtle clues that can make an otherwise average CV stand out, or see an otherwise outstanding CV fall down. Why is this important? Because reading between the lines of a resume helps you build a far clearer picture of the person it represents, and saves you time and money in finding your next hire by helping you settle quicker on the best option available. In this blog, we reveal what clues you should look for when reviewing resumes to help you identify the best talent. 1. Errors Does the resume have lots of spelling mistakes or grammatical errors? Does their work history have incorrect dates? Is there missing information, or holding text that hasn’t been replaced? CVs are important documents, often the first stepping stone to a new job. If a candidate can’t take the time to check their errors, either they lack attention to detail, have limited interest in the role or could be lazy, all of which are traits worth avoiding when selecting a new hire. 2. Formatting Does the resume follow a logical structure? Does it look nice? Does everything fit well within the lines? Does it have a consistent font? Does it reflect the role at hand? Formatting tells you a lot about a candidate including their technical proficiency and ability to present information. If a marketing professional has a poorly designed CV, or a data scientist uses a non-logical structure, they’re red flags to a recruiter. CV formatting will vary per role-type, but each hints something about the candidate’s ability to perform in a particular role. 3. Writing The purpose of a resume is to communicate a candidate’s relevance to an open role as succinctly and compellingly as possible. A candidate is selling themself to you through their writing. So how did they do? Good writing won’t necessarily mean you’re the best candidate for a role, unless it’s a writing job. However, it does confirm to an employer that you can communicate well which is a critical soft skill in almost all jobs. 4. Personality All information presented in a resume is fair game for analysis and helps recruiters paint a comprehensive picture of a candidates personality. From employment history to personal information, rightly or wrongly, employers will attribute particular information on a CV to the attitudes, behaviours and traits an individual may have to better understand who they are. A candidate with many jobs is less likely to be loyal. A candidate who leaves an organisation after a merger is less likely to be adaptable to change. A candidate who has worked in multiple countries may value adventure and stimulating work more than job security and stability. By reading through the lines of information presented in CVs, you can better understand the personality a candidate is likely to bring to your business. Information is power in the eyes of the recruiter. 5. Motivation Do they get promoted or stay where they are? Have they undertaken additional training? Who are there referees? How old are they and what was their last position? Do they name mentors? Answering these questions will help you understand if a candidate is ambitious and motivated. Someone with back-to-back promotions are likely to be highly proficient Conversely, someone in the same role for many years may be content with their position in the corporate ladder. A motivated candidate is typically a more valuable asset, likely to work hard to continue their progression and development. In some cases, you may not want an ambitious employee, particularly if you're offering a role with limited opportunities for upward movement. 6. The prominence of ‘fluff’ Does the CV include hobbies, interests and school achievement? How much information is irrelevant to the job they are applying for? Fearing their CV is too short, candidates often use ‘fluff’ to bolster the length of their CV. While it might be a useful conversation starter in an interview, in most cases, the truth is that they are of limited value and relevance when deciding the appropriateness of a candidate to a job. Too much fluff comes across as a lack of substance in work-related information. This might be understandable for entry-level jobseekers, but is a significant red flag for older candidates; Your time is valuable, and so is that of your candidates.Don’t waste time spending hours reviewing CV’s when you can use the 6 tips above to efficiently and effectively understand who the document represents. By reading between the lines, you will interview higher quality candidates, and make better hiring decisions to help your business thrive. At Ignite, we review thousands of CVs everyday to find the best candidates for our clients. If you need support, our team is ready to assist.