225+
5 reviews
MikeMike
16:04 13 Mar 23
Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.
C R.C R.
10:45 27 Jan 23
Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊
ChristineChristine
10:32 20 Dec 22
Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!
Helen PinegarHelen Pinegar
16:19 18 Dec 22
Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!
Lisa LeighLisa Leigh
11:56 30 Nov 22
I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.
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Derby
Suite 1, Ground Floor West,Cardinal Square,10 Nottingham Road,Derby. DE1 3QT
Nottingham
Stanford House,19 Castle Gate, Nottingham, NG1 7AQ
Have you got the right PPE for your career?
Have you got the right PPE for your career?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is the job paying the most, the best one to go for? Why PPE is the true currency when looking for staff or a new job.

 

The current job market is so different to any other situation. In the last economic crisis back in 2008/2009, job boards were just starting to become ‘a thing’.

 

People’s individual brands were mainly about their cv, with LinkedIn and other social media just a useful addition for those in the know!

 

Now, for the first time, we have a fully digitised job market. Of companies vying for the best talent, recruitment agencies swamped with applications using anonymous algorithms to ‘sift’ candidates. Job seekers, desperate to make their experience shine above lots of others.

 

The result?

 

An often jaded customer experience by everyone from hiring managers to recruitment professionals and of course those looking for work.

 

Here at Astute, there is a new way forward. It doesn’t involve anonymous emails and forgotten banks of candidates.

 

During the Lockdown, we heard first hand, the power of the spoken word. Talking directly to people. From CFOs to HR professionals. From credit control clerks to aspiring part qualified and experienced management professionals in accountancy and finance.

 

Was our team expecting to pick up jobs? No. But funnily enough, we did!

 

Our strategy, as always, was to simply keep in touch with as many candidates and business contacts as possible.

 

How?

 

By a simple phone call!

 

That personal interaction, and conversation, was not about Recruitment. It was often just chatting about how people felt, giving reassuring advice, help, and support.

 

There were laughs. There were tears. But every call was an opportunity to say we are here and we are here to listen and help.

 

So, back to my original question. The best paying job isn’t the criteria to judge a potential new employer by or on which agency or advert to apply to.

 

No!

 

The best jobs should be judged on the company’s social and interpersonal currency. Ask yourself, “Do you get a personal connection with that company?”

 

This is where good recruiters come in!

 

As brand ambassadors and knowledge experts, we can advise our customers on the hidden things you never see on a job description.

 

  • What’s the culture like?
  • Does the company treat people fairly?
  • Will they be a really supportive employer?
  • What’s the real reason for the role?
  • What’s the real working hours expected in that business?

 

Equally, for employers, and hiring managers, we can steer them to the right person for their team. It could be someone more experienced than they thought they needed. It could be the overlooked up and coming person. Lacking experience but with that ‘something special about them’ who will be a star.

 

The trust, honesty, and relationships with all our people, our team, our customers, and the brands we represent, are about going back to the future.

 

Using the latest technology but never forgetting we are dealing with people.

 

Thats the true currency of recruitment, business and life.

Proper Personal Engagement.

PPE.

 

 

An article by Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

E:  [email protected]

W: www.astuterecruitment.com

LI:  https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astute Recruitment's Top CV Tips To Make YOUR CV Stand Out
Astute Recruitment’s Top CV Tips To Make YOUR CV Stand Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the latest top tips and suggestions to help ensure your CV is destined to help steer you to the job of your dreams.

 

 

1/ Highlight your affinity with technology.

Nearly all jobs now require some interface with IT, especially jobs in accountancy, where there are myriad CRMs, ERPs and other systems which need to have their data migrated to Excel to produce the best financial reporting and analysis. One of the Big 4 firms recently stated that nearly 80% of CEO’s regard abilities around AI to be THE number one asset of a business.

 

2/ Showcase your SOFT SKILLS. Nearly 60% of senior leaders state soft skills as being more important than ‘hard skills’.

Examples of soft skills: –

 

  • Ability to adapt i.e. How can you embrace change?
    • Think of examples where you have successfully adapted to change and include these on your CV.

 

  • Your ability to be creative in thought & deed.
    • AI is only as good as the programming it has been given. It cannot ‘think ahead’. People can. The ideas of tomorrow are what the bosses of today need from their teams and employees. Highlight how you are an ‘ideas’ person and how your creativity has: –

“made positive changes in your work/ or for your team/ or in your business to the company’s performance”

 

  • Talking for Success – Ability to communicate;
    • Employers now need employees who can collaborate better, build stronger relationships, motivate more effectively to ultimately drive increased productivity and performance. SO, in your CV you need to showcase your verbal dexterity across negotiation, collaboration, and presentation. Just don’t forget to listen!
    • Don’t forget to include your latest Skills Learned! In your second job, you may have mastered world-class skills in the IT package of the day, but the employee of tomorrow needs their CV to show an affinity with the current and emerging technologies and software. Always showcase new skills learned over the last couple of years or even in the last few months! These new skills may be the very ones that make you stand out from the crowd and secure an interview.!

 

So, now you have an idea of the content for your CV – you now need to hotwire it with the ‘keywords’ that many search firms program their algorithms to pick out. Yep – your CV won’t be picked out by a human being – more likely,  if you are applying to one of the larger, national and international recruitment agencies – your CV will need to stand out in a sea of applicants screened by non-human eyes.

Increasingly, even smaller search and recruitment agencies are turning to algorithms to ‘sift’ through CVs. However, at Astute Recruitment, we offer the human touch and always will, to pick up the nuances of individuals. But this point in general about larger recruitment agencies is key.

 

How can you ‘proof’ your CV and application to overcome these algorithms?

 

1/ Keywords all the way!

Not just any keywords, but the ones that are specific for the targeted jobs that you are applying for. So, if you are an accountant, make sure you include keywords relevant. So for example, if you are looking for a role as a financial accountant – keywords like Balance Sheet, Consolidations, Audit, Group Accounts may well be worth you including in your skillset! Equally, if you are a Management Accountant, keywords including Variance Analysis, Profit & Loss, Cost Centres, Cost of Sales, Gross Margin Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement may be wise to include!

 

2/ Softskills

Again think about the soft skills that your potential boss will be looking for… “Communication” “within budget and “deadlines”. Now for the big tip. Most people include the former – but don’t qualify what they mean. i.e. “OK – you completed X, Y, Z but how much did you bring this in less than budget?” or  “How much faster did you achieve your project than the original deadline? 10% faster? 30% faster?” Define your achievements with definite numbers and percentages. Make your achievements quantifiable. Show how they are continuous and year on year rather than just something achieved several years ago in a role since which you have received several promotions.

 

3/ Check your profile is good on social media. (Hint: This doesn’t mean having a great photo of you at the trendiest wine bar on Instagram (unless you are going for a bar job! 😊)

Instead – LinkedIn is now one of THE main online spaces for any professional employee to showcase their skills. Use the summary field, for short, succinct snippets to showcase your key attributes in work. And to do this – again use our new friends, ‘keywords’. Keep job titles straightforward. In-house recruitment specialists, HR professionals, and recruitment agencies and search firms will conduct ‘keyword’ searches on LinkedIn to identify as narrow a shortlist with the most relevant profiles for their roles. You need to try and make sure your profile is the one that appears in their searches. Avoid glitzy, busy icons, anything too ‘random’ and ‘out there’.

Yes, you want to come across as someone with ideas and creativity of thought, but you need to also come across as someone who can fit into the professional, flexible, 21st century working world.

 

For personal, one on one advice about your CV, or anything to help you take the next step in your career, contact our team for

confidential and tailored advice on 01332 346 100

or by email to Mary Maguire