Finding work after time abroad

Formula Won is a Heron Quays-based recruitment agency which deals with media jobs in the UK and in locations such as Dubai, Vienna and the United States.

CEO Sam Blake offers some advice to people who may be returning from time abroad.

Be realistic on your return: "Everybody travels, whether it's in Australia for a few months or around the world for a year.

"But your job will be dependent on your previous background and how many years experience you had before you went travelling.

"Applicants need to be realistic. If you were earning £30K when you left, you might not secure that wage on your return because you've been out of the workforce for something like a year, and because of the current climate."

Concentrate on your CV: "Writing a CV is absolutely crucial. For example, if you're working in sales, you need to put down the revenues you've personally generated and what your major achievements are in pushing this forward.

"Bullet points are a good way of demonstrating this, rather than writing War And Peace. A CV should be no more than two pages because people lose interest. It needs to be concise.

"Put a couple of sentences about your profile at the beginning. Write your last job at the top and work backwards. And be very careful about keeping your list of interests minimal. You'd be surprised what gets in. Look carefully at any particular interests you might have.."

Be careful where you put your CV: "When you're doing your research into agencies, look at who's most prominent and who has the most jobs. Then it's a question of calling the agency to see how they look after you and manage you.

"There are a lot of agencies out there that aren't particularly good in that area, and who might just send your CV off without discussing it with you first.

"Don't just put your CV on all these great big job sites. It's not a good approach, because you'll be inundated with calls from god-knows-who and you won't know who's looking at your CV.

"It's always best to go with one or two agencies that you feel quite comfortable with, that will look after your needs and find you the right job."