A smart double cuffed white shirt – half price at Marks & Spencer (if you are American, Marks & Spencer is like Maceys). Half price not bad – I’ll have one. Having paid, I thought that’s a lot and looked at the bill, I’ve been charged the full price – I had better go back. Anyway, I returned to the display area and there it was Half price, £ 39.50 – in clear BIG writing – sure that’s nice and clear – when I looked further, in very small writing (they’ve tried to obscure it) it said, buy one, get the second one half price.

My point being is that we read the headlines, we don’t read the small print / the finer detail and it’s the same when it comes to your CV.

So when writing your CV, make sure you include your really strong points (your headlines) but don’t obscure them by giving too much detail about insignificant ones – any value they may add is likely to be questionable, you may just end up camouflaging your strongest points with your weak ones.

I wouldn’t call him good lucking but he is persistent. Steve! He’s employed but his employer is in bad shape – they’ve filed for protection under Chapter 11. Nonetheless they continue to pay him and he’s interviewing everywhere. He doesn’t have to get a new job immediately but he must have interviewed with 20 companies and still no job offer. He doesn’t present well but if interviewed properly you’d see he’s a gem – some interviewers don’t know what they are looking for, they’re taken in by the superficial stuff; posh voice, a smart suit and a slick manner ~ gift of the gab and all that. On a separate note this is where a good HR person can add some real value. Anyway, I said to him a few weeks back – in what areas do you really have strengths and in what environment would you really like to be in. Well here we are a few weeks on and he has an offer, for a job he wants. My point being – is that your chances of success are higher when these two aspects come together i) what areas do you really have strengths and ii) in what environment would you really like to be in.

I had a call today from this chap living in Dubai. His current job is great job, high basic salary, a prestigious role with global responsibility for multi-country operations and with international travel, London, Paris, New York….

His only issue being, he was living out of a suitcase and didn’t see his family during the week and often not at a weekend – his role saw him working anywhere but home (Dubai) and always long distance London, New York, Sydney etc. He wanted to make his home Dubai, more of a permanent thing, spend more time with the family.

He called me seeking my advice – he’d been offered a new job but was in a dilemma should he accept.

I asked his motivations for a move – the main one, to spend more time with his family. What else, bigger responsibility and more money. Did this new job offer all of these things YES.

The reality of his predicament was simply, letting go of something familiar and safe.

He called me later in the day to say he would be accepting the new role.

I interviewed a chap the other day on an £ 85k basic ($ 140k), a good candidate however the benchmark salary for this type of role in this market is £ 65k ($ 105k) and this character doesn’t have as strong a track record as other people widely available with skills in this space. The following day I had a call from another person at the same employer with a stronger profile on much less money.

My point being, is why not, good for him and goes to show – often there will be wide differences between what two people doing the same job are paid.