Salary Negotiation: How to Handle It

So you have endured the interview and now it’s time to discuss salary expectations. A thought preys in the back of your mind; what if I could come across as greedy or rude in asking for too much? Relax. Salary discussions are simply another part of the hiring process similar to the interview.

alary discussions during an interview center around what you have made in prior positions and/or what you are seeking to earn in your next position. It’s important to note that a salary discussion is not a salary negotiation. It can, however, lay the foundation for a salary negotiation.

Towards the end of the Interview Employers tend to ask salary questions to see if a close match exists between the salary likely to be offered and your expectations. Naturally, the closer you are to the employer’s salary range, the more likely you will accept an offer and remain with the company.

Salary Discussion Vs Salary Negotiation. Know the difference and Read More

The Importance of Being Honest or Pre-Employment  Screening

When you start a new job, your employer may wish to carry out a number of checks. The number and type of checks will normally depend on the type of a job you are going to do and the sector you will be employed in. The more senior your role is, the more enhanced the checks are likely to be.

No matter what role you have applied for, the key to a successful background screening is 100% honesty and disclosure of all required information. Hide a few facts and be prepared to face new challenges or even risk your job offer withdrawal. Unfortunately, in our recruitment career we had to withdraw offers on a number of occasions and every time it was a painful process for all parties, not to mention the consequences for the candidate.

Employment Screening

Identity Checks and Identity Verification

The aim of these checks is to:

- Verify the individual’s details against those on the Electoral Roll

- Provide confidence that the candidate the firm is dealing with is who they say they are

- Ensure all subsequent reference checks are viable

- Verify a candidate's current and up to two previous addresses 

Employment Checks

These checks are one of the core ones and it’s important to get them right. The check would normally include verification of employment/work activity for the previous 5 years for permanent jobs, and 3 years for temp/contract jobs. These checks aim to verify the place of work, date and capacity of employment of a prospective hire.

Education Checks

Education verification removes doubts over qualifications and ensures that the new recruits have the correct credentials for the job. This check will include verification of the main education and professional / additional qualification the new hire has obtained to date.

Criminal records checks

Criminal record checks are important, whether they are mandatory for the role or not. A Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosure will reveal if a person has convictions that would make an employer consider them unsuitable to do a specific job, such as a criminal history, convictions of theft, fraud or dishonesty.

Health Screening

This check would normally require a prospective employee to fill in a straightforward questionnaire and declare any medical conditions they might have. Disclosure of these conditions would not lead to discrimination of a future employee but would assist an employer to make reasonable adjustments to work station / work patterns of the new hire.

Credit Checks

This data can highlight any financial red flags, such as bankruptcies and other adverse data, which can provide valuable warning signs into a candidate’s character and suitability. This is particularly vital for the roles in financial and professional services sector (eg. Banking, legal etc).  

Failure to pass any of the above mentioned checks may result in the job offer withdrawal.

Employee Pre-Employment Screening

How does one prepare for background checks? 

• Ensure that information on your CV is 100% accurate with no qualification or employment “enhancements”. Pay particular attention to education, professional qualifications and job titles.
• Only specify current memberships with professional bodies or provide further information if you are no longer a member.
• Ensure that information you submit in the Pre-employment questionnaire matches the information on your CV. If at the moment of receiving a job offer you’ve realised that your CV is not an accurate representation of yourself and your past activities, offer any clarifying information to your employer.
• Make sure the job titles for your previous employments are accurate. Be prepared to clarify the discrepancy if found, as many employers use vague or generic job titles in their HR systems. You can be employed as a Senior Business Analyst but your official job title can be a humble “ Analyst”.
• Make sure you declare any criminal records you have had over the period of time covered by screening, even if the charges against you have been dropped or you’ve served the sentence. Hide a tiny detail here and you are most likely to lose the job as your honesty and integrity will be questioned. This is particularly important if you are applying for jobs in Financial or Professional Services sectors. Once your offer is withdrawn, your reputation will suffer, so 100% disclosure and honesty is a must when filling in this section in the screening questionnaire.
• If you had financial problems in the past, ensure you provide full details in the credit checks section and offer further information if required.
• If employment history has gaps of 6 months or more, you will need to provide information for those periods. The best and most used explanations “Career break”, “Study leave”, “Travel”. You are likely to be asked to provide a character reference for this period. You can ask your accountant or bank manager to do so.
• Salary checks: most of the companies will not confirm your previous salary to your future employer. However, you need to be 100% sure that this is the company’s policy before “inflating” your salary by 10- 25%.
• Majority of the companies will not provide any information on your past performance, attendance etc. However, more often, than not, hiring managers obtain this sort of intelligence through their professional networks or personal contacts.

Blue Fox Recruit is flat fee recruitment provider with years of experience in the UK and EMEA markets. We will be happy to provide further advice to all our candidates and clients.

How To Write A CV That Works

Blue Fox Recruit are flat fee recruitment specialists who deliver quality recruitment service. Having worked for many years in the industry we have helped a lot of clients to fill the roles and candidates to get their desired jobs. These days majority of employers recruit online and with so many candidates in the market the competition for every role is high.

So, how can you stand out from the crowd?

The first step is to write an effective CV that will showcase your skills, experience, interests and aspirations. On average a recruiter will spend 30 sec skimming through a CV, so it’s pivotal to get it right!

This is one of the most crucial parts of the job seeking process, but for many candidates it is also the most difficult one. Blue Fox Recruit have experience of both writing professional CVs and coaching for Interviews, so below are just some tips on how to write a great CV.

Draw on Your Skills

Once you have the basics of work history and education down, start to think about your skills. While experience will also be important, employers increasingly want to know not just what you have done before but what else you can do. Emphasise skills that are relevant to the jobs you want to apply for, but don't be afraid to put down some other skills. They will show that you are a rounded individual, and may be able to step outside your remit when required.

Presentation

When submitting a CV as part of a job application, it is important to ensure it is well presented.

• Pay close attention to the layout when writing a CV, and ensure that it looks neat and professional. While there will be a lot of information you want to get across, it is important not to let it look crowded, so you may have to prioritise and cut less important things out.
• Ensure your CV is no longer than two A-4 size pages. To free up some space don’t include such personal information as D.O.B., marital status as this is not required.
• Consider using bullet points as they help reader to get the key facts from your CV fast.
• When submitting a physical CV, print it on good-quality white paper. However, most roles now recruit online. In this case, a PDF can look more professional than a Word document.
• Do not include photos or any graphics (unless you are applying for a job in a creative sector).
• Do a spell check of your document.

Include Your Interests

Employers increasingly want to get an overview of a candidate as a person as well as just seeing a list of their skills, education and experience. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, a person's interests are a rich source of transferable skills, so this can help employers get a more complete view of a candidate's suitability for the role. Secondly, it will help them get a glimpse of your personality, which will make it easier for them to decide how you will fit in with a team and with the company culture.

Consider Professional CV Writing

If you are stuck in the process of CV writing or simply pressed for time, consider using professional CV writing service offered by Blue Fox Recruit.

We can either review and improve your current CV or create one from scratch after having a telephone consultation with you. In both cases, you will get a professional written CV that can significantly boost your chances of landing an interview and bring you one step closer to getting a job offer.

Contact us to discuss your requirements mail@bluefoxrecruit.com