January 12, 2017

How to Quit Your Job

2 min read

It is the beginning of a new year and you may want to change a few things:

Lose weight
Get fit
Travel to the Amazon in a canoe
Find a new job
Resign

While the first four may take a bit of effort, resigning needn’t be so hard.

We put together a short guide that will help to keep things professional if you are going to change jobs.

If you are going to work for another company make sure you have a signed job offer letter and a start date from your new employer in hand, a verbal offer is not good enough.

Review your employer contract to ensure that you know what your legal obligations and limitations are when you resign. Things to consider are notice periods, leave policy, non-compete clauses and your eligibility to receive a bonus/commission in a notice period.

Before you hand in your resignation letter, clean up your files and emails, personal items in your lockers or samples of your work that you may want to keep. Your employer can ask you to leave the premises before your notice period is up, so it is better to be prepared.

Write a resignation letter that states clearly that you are resigning, the active start date of your resignation period and your last day of employment.

In your letter:

Remember to thank your employer for the opportunity and the experience that you received. Depending on your circumstances you can go into details or just keep it short and civil.
Offer to help with the handover process but don’t promise anything you can’t deliver.

Remember, even if you are frustrated with your current manager to keep things professional and polite. It is never a good idea to burn your bridges. A good reference from your employer can be valuable in future and hurling accusations may come back to bite you later.

Aim to end as you started. Don’t slack off and become unproductive after you have given notice, leave with your most valuable assets – your dignity and your professional reputation.

It is a good idea to update your LinkedIn and Facebook connections with your colleagues and bosses to maintain your professional network. People change jobs and move to other locations, and social media channels make it easy to stay in touch.

On your last day at the office, take the opportunity to send a formal goodbye email to your colleagues. Let them know where you are moving to and if you want, you can include a personal email address and phone number where people can reach you to stay in touch.

Best of luck with your new job!

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Absolute IT

September 8, 2016

Easy CV Fixes to Get You From Graduated to Hired

2 min read

It is a conundrum that many graduates grapple with – they have the degree but not the experience and in order to get the experience, they need to get a job.
How do you get an employer to look beyond your lack of experience and give you a chance to prove your mettle?

It starts with a CV that shows that you have skills that would add value to their business, regardless of your official work experience.

Four tips to help you get your CV market ready

1. Let your CV focus on what you have done well during your studies, not what the course/degree expectations was.

You need to show you are conscientious, and can complete and achieve tasks and goals. It is a lot more powerful to see that a graduate candidate has constantly delivered projects to a high standard than reading that the course required four development projects to be completed over two years.

2. Use business language to describe your achievements as this will help to engage employers and highlight your potential as a rising star.

To use the example in point number one – if you consistently delivered projects to a high standard within a set time frame then use phrases such as ‘can work to a brief, prioritise tasks, efficient time management”.

3. Use your graduate experiences to showcase abilities that business owners would value.

Think of the skills you had to use when you completed tasks and projects within a certain timeframe (execution of tasks, efficient time management) organised a sporting or cultural event (project management, budgeting skills) or led a study group (leadership, team player, and communication).

4. Show your heart, not only your mind. Employers want to get a sense of the type of person they are hiring.

Ran a marathon to raise funds for a cause? Committed environmentalist that organises regular clean-ups? Remember that these personal achievements say a lot about your attitude and willingness to do beyond what is expected.

Need a CV Template? Download a CV template here (Word).

The next step is to write a cover letter that will help you stand out from the crowd – view our ‘how to write a kick-ass cover letter’ video for some helpful tips.

Absolute IT