Meet Julie Cressey

Julie joined Madison in 2005 and is now the Chief Operating Officer. She started her recruitment career in 1998 where she found temporary and permanent staff for her clients in a variety of industries. Her teaching background coupled with her recruitment experience has led to her being viewed as the Recruitment Expert both internally at Madison and externally amongst our clients and candidates. Originally from England, Julie married a kiwi and they now live with their daughter in Auckland. Besides her busy working life, Julie and her family take time to enjoy the wonderful outdoors that New Zealand has to offer.

Episode 1 - Allan McMurdo

What stood out for you about this episode?

What really stood out was the change in Allan as the episode progressed, he was keen and willing to take on board all of the advice that was levelled at him and it made a real difference. His confidence levels increased and this was evident in his final interview.

How do you think Allan will fare in future interviews?

He will do well, he thoroughly understood all that we were trying to achieve and once he was able to articulate his work history clearly and provide some strong examples of past behaviour he was away.

What’s the biggest downfall for applicants?

The “just wing it” attitude - I was talking with someone recently who said that applying for roles and doing it well was virtually a full time job. If you are serious about finding a job then you do need to take the time to investigate the role, work out what you think they want, tailor your resume and cover letter accordingly and then in regards to an interview, prepare as thoroughly as possible. In a competitive job market you need to ensure that you maximise every possible opportunity provided.

Click here to watch episode 1 on TVNZ on demand

Click here to listen to Radio NZ’s review of the show

Episode 2 - Paula Hancock

Are the issues any different for job applicants compared to when you first started recruiting?

Most definitely. The internet has made a huge difference (I'm showing my age!) - it has made information accessible for everyone but also in many ways has raised the bar in regards to the quality of resumes that we see and in many cases expect to see. Job boards have allowed applicants national reach as opposed to only local reach which was previously provided by print advertising - it has also provided smaller businesses with a cost effective way of tapping into the market place, again providing applicants with access to roles which previously they may not have known about. The biggest change however has been in the type of interview questions asked, in the past they were mainly simple open questions in order to get a feel for the person, as opposed to the targeted behaviorally specific questions that you can expect to be asked in today's interviews.

What in your view, was the biggest thing that Paula had to overcome?

Paula's biggest challenge was ensuring that she provided succinct behavioural answers to the questions asked. She is a bubbly, lovely lady who has a propensity to over describe her past experiences. Her biggest learning was cutting down on the amount of information that she needed to give to the interviewer. This took time, but once she understood that all she needed to do was provide a context for her behaviour, describe what she did to respond to that context and finish with outlining what the outcome was, it then became easier for her to know how to position her answers.

What's a major thing that applicants have to be mindful of?

At the front end of the process it would be to tailor their resume to clearly demonstrate why they are suitable for that specific role they are applying for, as opposed to just sending through a generic resume and expecting the reader to decipher through the information to ascertain synergy between the resume and the role. It is so important to use reflective language in a cover letter or resume, to ensure that as soon as the reader sees the resume they fully understand why the applicant applied for the job and not get the impression that the applicant was just sending in a resume in the hope that they may be suitable.

Click here to watch episode 2 on TVNZ on demand

Episode 3 - Aaron Salmon

What stood out for you about this episode?

This episode was all about harnessing your transferable skills, the recession forced many individuals to re-evaluate their career choice and work out where they should put their energies moving forward. This can be a very difficult thing to do, what we were aiming to show Aaron was that his time as a Farmer had equipped him with many skills that he could uplift into a corporate environment and that he just needed to be able to articulate these in an interview situation.

Did Aaron have any plus points that you think will be easy for an interviewer to miss?

It can be hard to interview someone when you have no understanding of what their previous role entailed, therefore my advice is to get them to walkthrough the role for you to provide clarity as to the real day to day behaviours they had to exhibit in order to be successful, this way you can pick up traits and behaviours that you may have otherwise missed.

What’s your top tip from this episode?

Think about your transferrable skills, just because you haven’t been in that role before doesn’t mean you can’t demonstrate your ability to be successful. Use solid behavioural examples that clearly demonstrate your ability in the areas that they are after. If the only information that you have is the job advert then read through this thoroughly and work out exactly what they are looking for and then reflect on your work history to find alignment.

Click here to watch episode 3 on TVNZ on demand