2011 that is? With a shaky economy and doom and gloom emanating from all quarters it would be easy to dismiss the year and just look forward with some alarm. However, that’s not necessarily how it is – sure there are doom mongerers out there and always will be,  but the sun is shining somewhere!

The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 has 7 European countries in the top 10 countries worldwide – Switzerland at No. 1 and the UK at No.10 with Sweden, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark in between. The report is published annually by the World Economic Forum.

Now I agree that this is just one report and I certainly don’t want to get into macroeconomics (what?), but the year has been profitable and productive for many companies in the Audio Visual marketplace across Europe. When the number of jobs is increasing and the roles include Project Managers, Installers and Technical Architects, then that tells us sales have been made. New jobs coming in over December has been record breaking, with Sales & Marketing positions leading the way, suggesting a positive outlook for the New Year. Here at AV Jobs we saw an increase of over 70% in the number of job vacancies across the UK this year and even higher in Europe (where we have not marketed before).

So what will 2012 bring? Well the economic forecasters vary country by country but the Eurozone issue remains a major focus on whether there will be a “double dip”. Northern European countries (as can be seen in the GCI report above) are certainly better placed to avoid this,  with Business Week, confirming “ German business confidence unexpectedly rose for a second month in December as two economic institutes predicted Europe’s biggest economy will stave off the debt crisis and avoid a recession in 2012.”

However, the UK economy is predicted to shrink by 1.3% in 2012 and more likely to go into recession than Germany. This is clearly not great news but as a growing marketplace, the Audio Visual industry is better placed than most to overcome such obstacles. Some  UK companies are looking to profit from the expanding market for Audio Visual in China and Russia but the vast majority will still be working in the UK and closer to home in Europe.

Maybe we are all optimists  in the AV & Technology marketplace as a recent poll on InAVate shows that when asked “What are your expectations for business in 2012?” – 50% said conditions would improve and 50% said remain the same. No one believed that conditions would deteriorate. (Ok I don’t know the polling numbers!)

So my view for 2012? I believe the first half of the year will remain on a par with 2011 (which is not bad in my opinion) and will start to grow from the end of the 2nd quarter to see a positive outcome for the industry and the AV jobs market as a whole.

What are your thoughts?

Mark is a UK Sales Trainer and has helped Salespeople, Sales Managers,Sales Directors and Business Owners to increase their sales performance by an average of 30% within three months.
He has recently launched a sales training course called The Secret Sales Formula. It addresses three of the biggest challenges in the sales profession.

1.  Generating enough of the right kind of sales opportunities to create a strong pipeline.

2. Ensuring that the right people in the account are engaged, in particular those with the authority to place an order.
3. Closing a good percentage of the opportunities in the pipeline.

As you will know any increase (or decrease) in any one or more of these variables can dramatically affect sales results.

We realise that you may already have either in house or sub contracted sales training programmes in place,and will be constantly addressing those three big challenges that we all face in the sales profession.

However, we wanted to introduce you to a range of sales training programmes as they take a different approach to any type of training you will have experienced before. They address these three challenges in new and more effective ways than traditional sales courses.

Mark wrote The Secret Sales Formula after he had spent two years researching what the world’s best salespeople do differently to the rest.
One of the outstanding differences he found was how the top sales performers use specific sales techniques to generate far more sales opportunities than their peers.

Additionally, once they are in a sales cycle they use a selling system that gives them much more control over it. They get contact with the right people so that they close a much higher percentage of orders than their colleagues. Surprisingly the sales techniques are not complex. In fact they are very simple to learn and to implement. Any salesperson has the capability to use them.
Mark used the techniques in 2007 and his business profits almost doubled. That was when he decided to write the course and called it The Secret Sales Formula because many of  the sales techniques used by the world’s top performers are not to be found in any sales book or course you may find. In addition to using the sales formula himself he has trained individuals, teams and companies to use it.
One of his clients has over 200 salespeople and his sales increased by 42% in 3 months. Another one of his clients saw an increase in her sales pipeline of 70% in 6 months. They are his two best results – his average delivery across all clients is a 30% increase in sales within 3 months. The lowest figure is an 11% increase.

For information on our Sales Courses please email Pat or Mark quoting “AV Sales Training” for a special discount on any booking made before January 2012.

Do ask for us for details of our full range of services or check out our new website www.avjobs.co.uk Employer services

The number of times I have seen an application to a job where an applicant has clearly done a cut and paste job and not made it relevant to the job they are applying for – too many to count! Some examples just from today:

Applying for a Graduate Trainee Recruitment Consultant role:

I am an extremely responsible youth willing to accept position to gain experience within a realm of retail-banking customer services.

I am looking to further my knowledge within accounting or information systems.

Dear Miss Baker (we don’t have a Miss Baker!)

So not a good start.

Spelling mistakes – too numerous to mention. If you’re not a great speller then Spellchecker won’t always help as the spelling may be right but for a different word in a different context – so get someone who is good with words to check your CV before you send it.

Examples: There and their. Roll instead of Role. Loose instead of lose.

Affect and effect – affect is a verb as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” Effect is a noun as in “The effect of global warming is immeasurable.” You can’t put a “the” in front of a verb so this should help you decide which word you need.

Grammatical errors – now here I do accept that I am a big fan of Lynne Truss (Eats, Shoots and Leaves) and have even been called pedantic (moi?) but I do believe people should get these things right in something as important as a job application.

The apostrophe! There when it shouldn’t be and not there when it should. The apostrophe is a raised comma ‘ – it is used to show possession or contraction e.g. The dog’s tail (possession), it’s a lovely day (contraction).

Common misuses – It’s and its – It’s is a contraction of “it is” as in “it’s lovely and warm today”.  Its is a possessive pronoun as in “the car has lost its shine”.  An easy rule of thumb is to say your sentence out loud using it is and if this sounds ridiculous then use its (no apostrophe).

Your and you’re – again your is a possessive pronoun as in “your wife”, you’re is a contraction of “you are” as in “you’re messing up your CV if you use your when you really mean you are!”

It’s often incorrectly used when the word is a plural – job’s instead of jobs.

Using text speak in your letter or CV – this is fine when you are sending a text or emailing friends but has no place in business correspondence.

“i am sending u my cv 4 the job ad on AV Jobs ref AV8777.”

“I am sending you my CV regarding the job advertised on AV Jobs – Ref.AV8777″.

So end of rant – but I promise if you take more care with your CV and covering letter (if you enclose one) you will not fall at the first hurdle. Just take more time in reviewing what you have written and get someone else to check too.

What do you think?

Asking questions shows a sign of interest and when a hiring manager asks “What questions do you have for us?”, they won’t be impressed if you say none!

It’s a two way interview, you are assessing them as much as they are you – are they the sort of company you want to work for, can they offer you the career path you need, can you see yourself fitting in with the team? This is no time to be shy and reticent, the employer expects you to ask questions so don’t let yourself down. Always ask an open question – which will elicit a full answer rather than a closed one which can only be answered by a Yes or No. i.e. all open questions begin with How, What, When, Where, Who or Why.

And don’t leave your questions until the end of the interview – make sure you are really listening to the employer’s questions and where necessary ask them a question back i.e. to seek clarification and ensure your understanding.

Ask several questions on different topics i.e. the job, the company, the prospects, the process and really listen to the answers, show interest and ask another question leading from the answer if you want them to expand on this.

Here are some questions you can choose to ask at your next interview (but not all of them!) -

“How would you describe the responsibilities of this role?”

“How would you describe the company’s management style?”

“How would you describe the company culture?”

“What exactly are looking for in the successful candidate?” * If you ask this one early enough you can ensure you offer them the perfect candidate!

“What are the most important skills required in the job?”

“What are the prospects for career advancement?”

“What are the priorities in this job?”

“What are the most challenging aspects of the role?”

“What do you like about working here?”

“What don’t you like about working here and what would you change?”

“What are the company’s plans for growth & development?”

“What is the next stage in the recruitment process?”

“When are you looking for someone to start?”

“What would keep you from offering the job to me now?”

“Are there any other questions you need to ask me to convince you I am right for this role?”

Questions NOT to ask:

“What does your company do?” – you really should have done your research prior to the interview.

“I’ve got a holiday booked for next month – are you OK with that?” – discuss things like holidays etc., after you have been offered the job.

“How long is the lunch break?” -  :-/

“Are the working hours flexible?” – asking questions about the company benefits is not relevant at this stage, it’s about the job.

“How does you sickness benefit work?” – red flag alert – how are often do you expect to be sick?

This is obviously not a list of ALL questions you should or should not ask but hope they give you food for thought. Let us know if you have any other questions you feel are worth asking (or ones you should never ask).