I hate being introspective. But I'm told it's good for me. A few months ago, I handed in my notice to Cabinet Office. And now I'm no longer a Civil Servant. It's hard to sum up those 2,462 days. Every day brought new challenges. I saw my work presented to the highest offices in the land, discussed on the nightly news, cancelled due to General Elections, and implemented across the nation. I represented my country across the world, helped protect it from attacks both digital and biological,…
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I've just finished reviewing a few dozen CVs and Covering Letters. Almost all of them were awful! Candidates - I beg you - make this easy for me! I have been given a fixed set of scoring criteria and you've given me a 2,000 word essay on your life, loves, and hopes for the future. I've only got a few minutes per candidate to read, digest, rank, and score each application. Here's my 100% guaranteed method for maximising the impact of your cover letter. Address the selection criteria. …
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I'm going to let you in to three TOP SECRET rules for getting hired. These are the hidden techniques used by TOP interviewers… Never Tell The Candidates The Rules Of Success I read an infuriating blog post recently: "If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". This is a great way to limit your talent pool. Personally, I've been hiring for a dozen years, and I've never received a thank-you email. So we can already show there is a cultural disparity here. Did you tell the c…
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Welcome to my yearly NaBloPoMo - where I attempt to publish a new blog post every day in November. This year is likely to be challenging as I've just started a new job. As of last month, I am the Open Standards Lead at Government Digital Service - part of Cabinet Office. As ever, this blog is personal - and never reflects the views of my employers, past-, present-, or future! I am also now bound by the Civil Service Code which, hopefully, won't cause any issues considering the nonsense I…
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Last week I ran a mentoring session with a young woman working in technology. She's smart, capable, dedicated, confident and utterly un-ambitious. She was incredibly frustrated that all of the training courses and women's networks she had found were fixated on her becoming a manager, an executive, or a CEO. We were both in agreement that our industry needs diverse representation at all levels - but that doesn't mean that everyone wants to reach those levels. In her case, she was loving work …
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If you haven't already heard, I've joined the award winning team at Touchnote ltd. I was overwhelmed by the support of my friends on Twitter and by the excellent bloggers at Mobile Industry Review and The Really Mobile Project. http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2010/04/vodafones-terence-eden-joins-touchnote.html http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/04/terence-eden-joins-touchnote/ Starting a new job is never easy - but you guys have given me wind in my sails. My first week has just …
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