Author Archives: Dasha Amrom
What should I write in an internship application letter to a bank?
An internship application letter (or cover letter) is different in a number of aspects from a cover letter for a full-time position at a bank. First and foremost, a banking internship cover letter should be short and to the point whereas a ‘full-blown’ cover letter should use up the whole page. I recommend the banking internship cover letter to span maximum three paragraphs – in some cases and for some banks, one succinct paragraph would be enough.
In an internship application, your CV matters more than your letter so spend more time on the former to make it easy to read, highlight all your relevant academic and work achievement and extra-curricular pursuits. The internship cover letter should explain briefly who you are and why you are applying for this particular internship in this particular bank. You should use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your excellent networking abilities and include the names of people who you have spoken to and know at the bank (don’t forget to mention their positions as well!). The more names you mention, the better, as this is one of the key variables that will determine whether you are going to get an interview.
Make sure you highlight just the most relevant academic and work qualifications relevant to the field of banking. You may want to mention courses you have taken concentrating on valuation, statistical analysis, M&A, strategy, financial accounting and if you were part of a finance society at your university, it is worth specifying that as well.
Ensure you re-read your letter a few times before pressing the ‘send’ button to make sure there are no typos as otherwise, your cover letter accompanied by your CV will be added to the ‘trash’ pile. Write in simple sentences that deliver the main point directly – remember the banker is most likely to be super busy and will skim through your letter looking for the key points (this is the best case scenario of course!).
In summary, when preparing banking internship application letter, simplicity, relevance and concision are your best friends!
What is the single most important piece of career advice you have ever received?
My clients often ask me, ‘What is the most important piece of career advice you have ever received?’ and I always find it very hard to pinpoint one particular example, as I have had so many useful nuggets of advice that have helped to shape my career path to date.
However, I remember clearly one of my former managers pointing out one day after a team meeting that the key variable in ensuring a fast and successful (or slow and cumbersome) career progression is the quality of the relationship you have with your boss or immediate supervisor. Your manager is the main driver of your career development within your company and can ensure your ideas get heard, you are portrayed in the most favourable light and that you are introduced to the senior management. He or she can also be detrimental to your success if there are feelings of competition, jealousy and general negativity between the two of you. Since then, I have always been conscious of the importance of working on and improving relationships with my managers. And I would like to pass on this advice to everybody looking to strengthen their status and ranking within the company and ensure a smooth climb up the internal career ladder.
Another useful piece of advice was given to me by one of my mentors – “Get to know people in your target (current) company but get to know them well. Learn when their birthday is, how many children they have, the name of their partner, their hobbies – do everything in your power to avoid knowing somebody superficially”. I think it is critical to acquire knowledge about your contacts to nurture a stronger relationship with them, and get them to like you.
It’s also crucial not to project an impression of using someone simply to achieve your own goals. How many times I see people asking others for favours connected to their employment and never offering to do anything back. Don’t just get– try to give back too.
I have also asked some experienced contacts of mine about their own experience and the best piece of career advice they have ever received. Here are a couple of quotes that I hope you find useful and thought-provoking:
One person I spoke to recalled being told “Don’t leave school – you should go to university”, and followed this advice all the way to PhD level, emphasising the importance of education to achieving your career goals.
Another man I spoke to shared a quote that he follows in his career and with which I truly agree: “If you are average and unimaginative, do what the others do and pursue a decent career. If you are brilliant and smart, try to think deep, be bold and take professional risks." (Gerd Gigerenzer)
One of my friends mentioned she was advised not to ‘put all her eggs in my basket’ and make sure she considers various career paths within her industry of choice. I would completely agree that similarly to financial markets, diversification plays an important role in achieving success in your job search (but within reason of course!)
“Don’t give up even if you get rejections at first”– is another great example from somebody I spoke to who faced a lot of disappointments during their initial job search phase and then re-grouped and ended up getting an attractive offer. I would add here that rejections (not matter how disappointing they can be) teach you resilience and make you thick-skinned – two of the most important variables determining your future career success.
Another career insight, this time from my husband who now works at a large think tank, "I remember after starting a new job my manager telling me that I had been chosen over an alternative candidate who had a more relevant background and expertise. The reason I was successful was not that I knew more than him, but that I knew more than they had expected given my lack of experience. So ultimately what won me the job was my preparation for the interview, and the fact that I demonstrated the desire and the potential to learn quickly. That is a lesson that has stayed with me".
A friend of mine who is a senior director in one of the biggest global media conglomerates shared something her first boss said to her on the first day of her internship, "You don't look like a wallflower. I hope you are not one. If you have questions or want something, ask for it. I won't have time to read your mind and figure out what is wrong." "It was hard to hear and even harder to implement coming from a culture (my friend is originally from India) where you don't really ask but I learned that it was necessary to ask and be heard in the US to be remotely successful".
Two other people I spoke to have shared their career wisdom: "Work smart - not hard" and "Be fearless and without limitations!"
I would love it if you share some key pieces of career advice you have received in your life from your managers, mentors or anybody else.
Update on what was happening in the world of Career Coaching Ventures in October
Dear all,
November is upon is and this means the autumn recruitment cycle is gradually coming to an end for a lot of companies. But there is still time to get onto the job ladder before Christmas so it is still worth putting in the effort to identify one of the many open and ‘hidden’ job openings that still exist.
Since our company’s mantra is that getting a job is all about successful and targeted networking, we published an article on Three Networking Mistakes to Avoid and hope it will provide you with some useful insight on how to structure your networking campaign. Have a look here.
We also recently launched a new and very popular service – arranging informational interviews on clients’ behalf with senior people in their target companies.
A lot of our clients sat psychometric ability tests in October, including the dreaded numerical and situational judgement tests. To provide some useful tips and advice, we interviewed Ellen Bard, an occupational psychologist who has actually designed a number of these tests for large companies during her employment at SHL. You can read through the interview here. If you are faced with a test and need some assistance, give us a shout.
And of course, with a lot of you interviewing at the moment, we thought it would be useful to write up a summary of Dasha’s participation on the expert panel of the Guardian Careers Twitter discussion on the most difficult interview questions and how to tackle them – the write-up can be found here and contains a number of tips on addressing challenging questions.
And our new special edition blog for women returning to work after a spell of maternity leave, based on interviews conducted with a number of women who have recently gone through this process, can be found here.
Last month we also assisted our clients in designing video resumes, interview preparation, CV and Cover Letter optimisation and setting up informational interviews across the banking, management consultancy and marketing industries.
This month case study: Following our sessions and work together, one of my clients has made a lot of contacts in the management consultancy industry and is due to start interviewing for one of the biggest management consultancy firms next week. As a result of our guidance, he has now recorded a successful video resume in addition to his standard CV+Cover Letter document pack.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest updates at https://twitter.com/CareerCoachingVand you can ‘like’ our Facebook page here:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Career-Coaching-Ventures/98359860475.
Going back to work part-time after maternity leave: overcoming the challenges
Going back to work after maternity leave has always been full of challenges for women (and their partners and children!). Not only can it be hard to ‘re-acclimatise’ to the company and work itself after a spell at home with your baby but in addition, a lot of mothers struggle with feelings of guilt about leaving their children in somebody else’s care while they are out there making a living.
This article addresses some of the challenges facing mothers of small children in part-time employment. We also offer some suggestions about how best to manage the transition back into paid employment and to find the ideal balance between work and home life. In writing this article, we talked to several women who have returned to work on a part-time basis about their experiences, and we are very grateful to all of them for their invaluable contributions.
On being in the right job…
First of all, one of the women pointed out, being in the right job is crucial, both in the sense of how interesting you find your work and whether the employer is willing to cooperate and understand your situation. “I initially went back to my pre-baby job three days a week but it didn't work out well as my employers were not fully supportive of me working part time. I was lucky enough to find a different job for three days a week which has been a lot better - though this is only a maternity cover contact”.
A balance that can benefit both you and your baby…
She went on to stress that going back to work has reinforced her self-confidence and created a good balance in her life – spending some days at work and the rest of the week together with her daughter attending baby groups and spending time together. “I also think my daughter has benefited from having a varied weekly routine and going to nursery”.
Compressing the working week into four days…
Some women mentioned that compressing the working week into four days could also be a good solution. This allows them to spend the fifth days with their children and work on a full-time basis. This has a financial logic, but of course poses some organisational and logistical challenges: “Relying on partner doing drop off, good hours at nursery (open early till late), alarms on the phone for setting off in time, an understanding boss for when it goes pearshaped from time to time...”. One should beware of overload when working compressed weeks as you still have the same amount of work to accomplish in fewer hours. A lot of women I spoke to complained that they end up working at the weekends and in the evenings after their children go to bed to make up for the work they didn’t manage to do.
Being well-prepared and organised…
If you are working part-time, being organised and well-prepared assumes an even greater importance. Not being late and establishing an appropriate and efficient morning routine are both critical factors for reducing stress and setting you off for a productive day at work. Overall, “It is important to find an employer or clients (if you are self-employed) who have a clear understanding of your situation so that if you do have to dash off and pick up your child, you aren't penalised for it. However, in return, try to demonstrate as much flexibility within your job so it's not all take take take”.
Not pushing yourself …
One of the women we spoke to suggested that one of the best ways to combine working and raising a baby is to “to teach yourself that you don’t have to push yourself to do EVERYTHING. Do what is important and achievable and do it well. Don't beat yourself up for no longer being able to do everything you would like”.
And avoid packing too much in your day with your child when you are not at work. De-compress, relax and have fun together! “Don’t treat your day with a baby as a day to do a million and one things…”
Challenges of finding suitable part-time work…
A number of women stressed the difficulty of finding the right part-time job as they are relatively rare and are often not advertised externally. This makes is even more important to keep your skill base up to date and attend networking events to uncover ‘hidden’ job opportunities. It may take a while to arrive at your ideal job so be patient, persistent and don’t give up along the way: “Hang in there - arriving at your ideal part-time job (or combination of part-time jobs) could take a while but it is worth-while when you achieve your ideal workl/life balance”.
As a mother and company owner myself, I would like to add that the biggest challenge for me has been learning to use the time effectively throughout the day, evenings and weekends and prioritise the work-related tasks that need to be done in the first instance, in order of urgency. It has not been easy but months of juggling childcare responsibilities and demands of my business have taught me a lot about planning ahead, spreading the work evenly across the week and weekend and allowing time for some relaxation as well.
I would love to hear your comments and opinions on working part-time and balancing it with early pick ups from school or nursery and other childcare responsibilities.
How to prepare for situational judgement tests? An interview with Ellen Bard
Today we are talking to Ellen Bard - a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who has been working in Talent Management Consultancy for 13 years. She currently lives, works and travels in SE Asia, and runs a popular blog about management development, ManageDevelopInspire.com.
In your experience, how effective are psychometric ability tests at predicting the future performance of a candidate?
Very. The critical reason employers use psychometric ability tests is that many scientific studies have show they are valid and they predict success in the job. This translates into business success, which can be seen by the many case studies here http://www.shl.com/uk/results/client-results/ at one of the biggest test publishers. Of course, ability tests only predict part of the job, and so whilst there is no perfect way to predict a candidate’s success, research suggests that a combination of ability tests and a structured (for example, Competency-Based, or Behavioural Event) interview are the best at predicting success in a role, with well-designed assessment centres also being very predictive. CVs, references and unstructured interviews are ranked much lower in terms of predicting job success – which means they are more likely to put the wrong person in role.
Employers also have pragmatic reasons for using psychometric tests. With the advent of online recruitment, plus an economic downturn, employers are seeing huge increases in applications. Psychometric tests are a great way to ‘sift out’ those who don’t have the cognitive ability to perform well in the role at early stages. CV sifting is time-consuming, but more importantly from a candidate’s point of view, can be influenced by the mood of the reviewer, rather than clear, consistent, objective criteria.
Why do employers conduct situational judgement tests? What are the specific benefits of this form of test?
Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs), add something extra for organisations about applicants over pure ability, as they ask a candidate to put themselves into a specific situation and make a judgement about the correct answer. This shows the employer the kind of behaviours the candidate is likely to perform in those situations.
One note here is that although there will be a right and wrong answer for that organisation, what’s right for one organisation might not be right for another. For example, whilst at SHL I worked creating SJTs for a number of retailers, such as the John Lewis Partnership, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. Whilst you might see similar questions in their graduate SJTs, the answer that is correct for one organisation might not be the same for another. This is because the cultures, values and their way of doing things might differ. Employers are looking for not just can do, but will do (from competencies and motivation for example) and will fit (from SJTs, values questionnaires etc.). Thus it is very important not to try and ‘second-guess’ answers from SJTs.
Are there any risks of relying too much on psychometric tests to inform recruitment decisions?
Certainly, I would recommend that organisations don’t employ someone only on the results of a psychometric test, but in the whole recruitment process to use several methods. Many firms are including SJTs along with ability in their screening processes to capture more than ‘just’ ability, ensuring that when they see the candidate face to face, in an interview or assessment centre, they have more well-rounded candidates. I have worked with a global Law Firm in the last couple of years where this had become an issue for them – employing very bright candidates, but who couldn’t interact with clients, which was a critical part of the role. Thus they revamped their assessment process, ensuring that as well as cognitive ability they also looked at behavioural traits, via an SJT and their assessment centre.
What would be your top tips on how to succeed in these tests?
Ensure you are prepared – know what the test is, take practice tests, understand the structure and style of the test you are taking. You can prepare for verbal reasoning for example by reading the Financial Times and getting someone to quiz you on it. Take your time when answering the questions – really read the questions, as this is often where candidates make mistakes, by trying to go too quickly and not properly reading the answers. Don’t try and second guess the scoring system – work quickly but accurately through the test.
In your opinion, what is the most effective way to prepare for situational judgement tests?
The best way to prepare for SJTs is to read up about the organisation and really understand what makes them tick – their values, their culture, their way of doing things. And understand the role you are applying for as the questions in the SJT will likely be modelled on the actual job – try and talk to people who work there, and understand what they do day to day, and how they deal with situations.
SJTs have another benefit – they provide a ‘realistic job preview’ as they show you the kind of situations you are likely to be in. So after the test, consider whether you are still interested in the role. Some candidates choose to self-select out of the process at this stage. If you don’t pass, ask for feedback – remember under data protection laws you are entitled to ‘meaningful feedback’ (i.e., not the answers to every question in the test, but the areas where you scored well and poorly).
Lastly, and even more than this, I would advise candidates to consider the three aspects of can do, will do and will fit. Do you feel you can do the job? Do you have the drive and motivation so that you will do the job? And crucially, do you feel that the organisation will fit your own style and way of doing things?
Three networking mistakes to avoid
Have you been trying to network to get a job for a while but have not seen the results you expected? Perhaps you have started doubting yourself and whether you are approaching job networking (this is the phrase I use to describe networking with an end goal of securing a job/internship) in the right way.
We have worked and helped many people secure interviews, jobs and internships through a targeted and concentrated networking effort. We have collected some case studies of successes and challenges faced by candidates during the job networking process. The result is this article outlining three networking mistakes that can inhibit and slow down your job search process.
- Getting a job is largely a game of numbers – so if you get to know one person from a department in your target company, this may not be enough. In fact, I would suggest aiming to get to know 6 or 7 people at a minimum in your target company (and ideally across a number of departments). The more people you know the better your chances are of securing interviews with that company. And by getting to know someone I mean more than having had a brief email exchange – ideally you should establish at least 3-4 ‘touch points’. So please avoid mistake number 1 – not throwing your net wide enough within the target company.
- A number of our clients have made useful connections within companies, had a meeting/call with their contacts but then never got in touch again after being informed that there was no suitable opportunity at the time. This is mistake number 2. Make people like you – don’t merely use them to get an interview, build lasting relationships. And the time will come when they may call you saying there is a new interesting role you might be suited to. Send them updates, your thoughts on the latest developments in the industry, actively engage with them on social media with the aim of establishing rapport.
- And finally, impress your contacts with your knowledge of their industry and company. Too many people show up to informational interviews and networking appointments not being up to speed on the latest developments in their field of interest, the deals their target company has made, the clients it has won. They wrongly believe that these meetings will concentrate purely on discussion of available positions – and this is a complete fallacy. You need to impress your contact and the best way to do it is through demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the industry and the key players (and the contact’s personal history if possible!)
Interview questions and questions about interviews…
Recently I was invited to participate in the Guardian Careers Twitter ‘panel’ on interviews and assessment centres where I advised candidates on how to tackle certain challenging interview questions. If interested, you can access the discussion on Twitter at #jobinaweek.
In this article, I would like to outline suggested answers to some difficults questions that arose during the discussion.
- “What are your weaknesses?” I already provided a recommended answer to this tricky question in one of my previous blogs. I would just like to add that as in all interview answers, honesty is your best policy and preparation is the key to avoid being caught unawares. Prepare a bullet point answer to this question and identify up to three real weaknesses of yours with examples of how you have worked to improve them. You can source these examples from your work history or education – it doesn’t really matter which as long as they illustrate a concrete and clear case of self-improvement.
- “Can I ever criticise my former employer in an interview?” I would strongly recommend against using any negative comments or criticisms of your previous employers as this may put your new potential boss on alert. If you were really disappointed with something your previous employer may have done, try to skip over it and not to dwell on the details during the interview. The image you want to project of yourself is of a hard-working, positive and enthusiastic person who can get along with all different kinds of people and deal with difficult situations.
- “How can I prepare for a phone interview?” In many ways, preparation for phone interviews will be very similar to face-to-face ones: lots of homework on the company, your interviewer, the specifics of the job. However, phone interviews are in some ways harder due to the fact that your interviewer cannot see you and forms their impression of you solely from what you say and – importantly – how you say it. Which means you have to be even more polished and prepared than for a face-to-face interview. Practice answering some hard questions using a voice recorder to listen back to how you sound, practice with your friends or family, write down the main bullet points for each potential question and you should be fine. Phone interviews are normally conducted at the early stages of the recruitment process and usually by HR so the questions are most likely to be ‘fit’ rather than technical ones. Skype interviews are becoming more common, however, in some sectors, such as investment banking or management consultancy, they are still rarely used and people tend to resort to their usual medium – the phone.
- “How do I conquer nerves during my interview?” This is a hard one to advise on as it is very personal and each candidate may create their own techniques for calming themself down before an interview. I would suggest doing some breathing exercises, going for a run or to the gym the morning before the interview and just being well-prepared.
Overall, thorough preparation is the key to success at any kind of interview. Knowing as many people from the department/company you are target is also of great help as they can share ‘insider information’ about the company, such as on the internal culture, progression structure, current challenges, and can also introduce you to the management.
I would love to hear you thoughts on what you find most challenging about interviews and which questions you find most difficult. Please post in the comments box below and we will endeavour to address them.
Our October Newsletter is out now!
Dear all,
The time has come for another monthly installment of news from Career Coaching Ventures. Not surprisingly, September saw a pick up in recruitment across industries and companies, including banking, consultancies, marketing companies and many other small and large businesses.
A number of you sat numerical and verbal numeracy tests over the past few weeks, while others preparing to go face to face with them in October. To help all those taking such tests – particularly in banking/consultancy – interviews, we have written a blog post outlining five key strategies to success with some examples. Have a read of the article here (https://www.ukcareercoaching.com/five-things-to-remember-to-succeed-at-psychometric-tests/) and don’t forget that careful preparation is critical.
As a lot of you are currently in the process of networking in your target companies to avoid the black hole of applying online (or indeed, combining both strategies), you may benefit from our proprietary networking matrix of contacts in your target industry/companies, customised for each individual client and complete with email addresses. Networking has never been more important so get organised and start getting in touch with people in your companies and get in touch with us for further information on how we can help you.
Dasha is due to present a webinar at Warwick Business School in October on Content Marketing and has written a short blog post ahead of the online lecture concentrating on effective content marketing strategies, which you can access here (https://www.ukcareercoaching.com/870/) . We hope it will be useful both for individuals hoping to strengthen their personal branding and website and for businesses contemplating advancing into the world of content marketing.
For those of your thinking of changing careers, our article on career transitions will hopefully be useful and relevant – please have a look here (https://www.ukcareercoaching.com/three-ways-to-navigate-a-career-transition/) . We also discussed influencing strategies (https://www.ukcareercoaching.com/five-techniques-for-successful-influencing-when-looking-for-a-job/) applied in the job search process, and interviewed Dr. Jill Stuart on her personal experience of getting a post-study visa in the UK (https://www.ukcareercoaching.com/the-perils-and-eventual-success-of-getting-a-work-visa-in-the-uk-a-real-life-story/) .
Dasha Amrom
Three steps to an effective content marketing strategy
Effective marketing has never been more important for both small and large companies. The economic downturn has put businesses and entrepreneurs under greater pressure with tough competition for a share of an economic pie that is still smaller than it was in late 2007.
Content marketing is a particularly important part of many companies’ strategies, though people sometimes miss the simple things in doing content marketing effectively. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing refers to the “the marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience”.
So how to do this successfully? Here are the three steps to help you improve your content marketing strategies and convert more customers:
- Produce and post quality content. Just posting content to your blog to increase your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and increase traffic to your website is far from enough. You need to create unique and diverse content specifically targeted to your clients’ needs. For this you should undertake an in-depth target customer base assessment to make sure content published on your website is there to answer questions your clients are actually asking or issues they are facing. It is not good posting a quote or an insight piece consisting of just a few sentences – you should put enough thought into your article, combining primary customer research and a review of public Internet sources. It may be worth making a list of all the different ideas for your posts in advance and the form they may take so that you can plan ahead.
- It goes without saying that blog posts are the most popular and most widely-utilised form of content marketing. However, keep in mind people like (and often prefer) visual or audio cues, which means that even a single video post on YouTube for instance or a podcast can make more difference to your campaign than several blog articles. So I strongly recommend you incorporate a video/audio strategy into your content marketing campaigns. But of course, make your video of the highest quality and possibly even include a transcript. Before creating a video, have a look what thought leaders in your industry do as part of their video marketing, what standards your industry require so that you can produce as best a video piece as possible. Another ‘hot’ part of content marketing is infographics, which can be used as a nice quick summary of the main points you would like to deliver on a specific topic.
- Promote your content marketing across a wide range of social media channels. It is no use to create good content and promote it just once or twice. Use the key snippets of already published content, re-package it and re-use it in different forms through such platforms as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn. Make sure you analyse when people are most likely to read your updates on different platforms not to waste your time and energy. It is also worth planning how often you will be posting on each social network of your choice. In my experience, it is best to post updates at least 3 times a week on Facebook and at least once a day on Twitter for instance.
Five things to remember to succeed at psychometric tests
All of us dread numerical, verbal and logical reasoning psychometric tests but they are becoming more popular with large companies, especially in the areas of banking and management consulting. In fact, even before a bank sets up a time to have a quick phone chat with you, you will need to have successfully passed three of their tests in a short space of time!
This puts a lot of pressure on applicants and unfortunately a lot of talented people miss out on amazing job opportunities just because they didn’t follow some basic steps in preparing for and taking the actual test. So here they are:
- Prepare, prepare, prepare. There is no avoiding it – you should dedicate at least a couple of weeks (the longer the better) to thorough practice and preparation. Success in psychometric tests is most often just a numbers game: the more tests you have crunched in preparation, the higher your odds of success on test day. I would suggest allocating at least an hour per day to this task and sticking to this consistently.
- Make sure you revise basic maths, such as percentages, and practise mental arithmetic. I understand how hard it is to programme your brain to do calculations in your head when you are so used to performing them on a calculator but you just have to try. So many candidates lose a lot of time typing basic figures in their calculators when they could have used those valuable seconds to quickly calculate the number in their heads (and often you only need an approximate calculation to pick the right answer).
- Collate a list of numerical shortcuts and memorise them, for instance, how to convert basic percentages into fractions, decimals and back. Or how to multiply two digit numbers by 11 – add the two digits together and stick the result in the middle. Try it: 53 x 11 = 583 (thanks to my husband for this example)
- When looking at graphs, make sure you pay attention to the smallest detail, such as denominations used (millions, thousands etc). Many candidates are in such a rush to crack an actual problem as fast as they can that they miss out crucial pieces of information and make avoidable mistakes.
- And finally, keep your cool. It is so easy to get flustered during the test (or practice tests) as the clock is constantly ticking and distracting you. You do of course have to keep your eye on the clock and use your time sensibly, but don’t let the clock ruin your concentration. And if you can’t get your head around a particular problem, don’t worry – it is ok to skip it and move onto the next one. You can always go back to it at the end of the test if the time allows.
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