What IE recruiters say you need to be successful in your career

You are invited to register for the 2012 LSE SU Alternative Investments Conference (www.lseaic.com) – the world’s largest student conference on hedge funds and private equity, bringing together over 50 speakers and 350 delegates from across the world. The 2012 Conference will take place at the Marriott Hotel London Grosvenor Square on January 23rd and 24th 2012.
Speakers for AIC 2012 include:
* Gillian Tett, US Managing Editor, Financial Times
* Peter Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, Man Group
* Randall Dillard, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Liongate Capital Management

To see the entire the agenda and speakers of the Hedge Fund (January 23^rd) day click here and for the Private Equity day (January 24^th) click here

Registration
You can register by going to www.lseaic.com and click “Register”

Registration is open until midnight EST on Sunday, 4 December of 2011. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application during the second week of December. To register you must complete the application form on the website and submit your CV (in pdf).

Why Register?
If you are interested in Private Equity or Hedge Funds, you should register! The opportunity to hear from leading industry luminaries as well as the opportunity to increase job opportunities makes AIC the place to be! Some of last year’s attendees got interviews and even jobs thanks to the networking provided by the Conference.

Join the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AlternativeInvestmentsConference

and you can watch a video of last year’s conference: http://www.lseaic.com/PastConferences/Default.aspx

The Fall 2011 TopMBA Career eGuide is ready

Find out about the latest on global recruitment and salary trends, including regional focus in North America, Europe and Asia and how to work social media to leverage careers and other interesting articles.

Kent (IMBA) talks about his experience at IE

Resume

by Elizabeth Lowman — October 18, 2011

If you’ve applied for a job recently, you’ve probably looked over that 8½  x 11” summary of your career more times than you can count—and tweaked it just as often—in pursuit of the perfect resume.

But before you add another bullet point, consider this: It’s not always about what you add in—the best changes you can make may lie in what you take out.

The average resume is chock-full of sorely outdated, essentially meaningless phrases that take up valuable space on the page. Eliminate them, and you’ll come off as a better, more substantial candidate—and your resume won’t smack of that same generic, mind-numbing quality found on everyone else’s.

Every word—yes, every word—on that page should be working hard to highlight your talents and skills. If it’s not, it shouldn’t be on there. So grab a red pen, and banish these words from your resume for good.

Career Objective

My first few resumes had a statement like this emblazoned top and center: “Career objective: To obtain a position as a [insert job title here] that leverages my skills and experience as well as provides a challenging environment that promotes growth.”

Yawn. This is not only boring, it’s ineffective (and sounds a little juvenile, to boot). The top of your resume is prime real estate, and it needs to grab a hiring manager’s attention with a list of your top accomplishments, not a summary of what you hope to get out of your next position.

Experienced

You can be “experienced” in something after you’ve done it once—or every day for the past 10 years. So drop this nebulous term and be specific. If, for example, you’re a Client Report Specialist, using a phrase such as “Experienced in developing client reports” is both vague and redundant. But sharing that you “Created five customized weekly reports to analyze repeat client sales activity”—now that gives the reader a better idea of where exactly this so-called experience lies, with some actual results attached.

Also eliminate: seasoned, well-versed

Team Player

If you’ve ever created an online dating profile, you know that you don’t just say that you’re nice and funny—you craft a fun, witty profile that shows it. Same goes for your resume: It’s much more effective to list activities or accomplishments that portray your good qualities in action than to simply claim to have them.

Instead of “team player,” say “Led project team of 10 to develop a new system for distributing reports that reduced the time for managers to receive reports by 25%.” Using a specific example, you show what you can actually accomplish. But simply labeling yourself with a quality? Not so much.

Also eliminate: people person, customer-focused

Dynamic

While resumes are meant to highlight your best attributes, some personality traits are better left to the hiring manager to decide upon for herself. There is a difference between appropriately and accurately describing your work skills and just tooting your own horn. Plus, even the most introverted wallflower will claim to be “dynamic” on a piece of paper because, well, why not? When it comes to resumes, keep the content quantifiable, show tangible results and successes, and wait until the interview to show off your “dynamism,” “enthusiasm,” or “energy.”

Also eliminate: energetic, enthusiastic

References Available Upon Request

All this phrase really does is take up valuable space. If a company wants to hire you, they will ask you for references—and they will assume that you have them. There’s no need to address the obvious (and doing so might even make you look a little presumptuous!). Use the space to give more details about your talents and accomplishments instead.

In a crummy job market with a record number of people applying for the same positions, it takes more than a list of desirable-sounding qualities to warrant an interview. Specific examples pack a punch, whereas anything too dependent on a list of buzzwords will sound just like everyone else’s cookie-cutter resume. So, give your resume a good once-over, and make sure every word on that page is working hard for you.

About the Author

Elizabeth Lowman is a proud word nerd, happy to silently correct your grammar as you speak. A life-long passion for language parlayed into a career in writing and editing on topics ranging from court reporting to natural ways to boost your immunity. When not busy feeding her addiction to pop culture, sushi and/or cupcakes, you can find her trying to be a good wife, daughter and friend.

Job Hunting? The Best Online Job Boards

Skip the big sites and head for these targeted spots.

By Kate Ashford

Your computer wherever it is is one of your most valuable job hunting tools.

Online job boards are a great way to find out about openings, but you can’t assume that every posting is legit. These days, job sites abound with listings by scam artists hunting for financial info. “You wouldn’t believe the number of calls we’ve gotten from people who’ve fallen for this,” says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. Warning signs: Ads that are incredibly vague (no company name, extremely broad job requirements), or an “employer” who pushes aggressively for you to sign a contract and furnish financial information without an in-person interview.

It’s also time to look past the big, catch-all job sites. “Monster.com is a great site if you’re entry level and don’t have a lot of experience,” says Michael Mellone, a senior consultant at outplacement firm ClearRock. For senior-level professionals, he says, industry- or executive-specific sites are the way to go.

Some to try for jobs in…

Nonprofit: Bridgestar (bridgestar.org).

Financial services: eFinancialCareers (efinancialcareers.com).

Higher education: HigherEdJobs (higheredjobs.com).

Human resources: Society for Human Resource Management (shrm.org).

Marketing: MarketingJobs (marketingjobs.com).

Biotech and pharmaceutical: BioSpace (biospace.com).

Media: JournalismJobs (journalismjobs.com) or MediaBistro (mediabistro.com).

Various industries: ExecuNet (execunet.com): This site for senior-level executives requires a membership fee (pricing varies by plan), but experts recommend it above other sites.

Miguel (IMBA) talks about his experience at IE