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How to secure your first Professional opportunity!

Simon Winston

Simon Winston has been one of the leading Financial Planning consultants in Adelaide since 2016. In 2024 Simon was voted 'Sourcr's' best recruiter for Banking and Financial Services in Australia. He's also won the South Australian Award in the same category in 2023 and 2024. Simon works with the best Financial Planning companies in Adelaide and Perth and is well placed to support your business with future growth. 


If you're a professional within the industry, and you're interested to learn more, please get in contact with Simon Winston on 0452 520 776 for a confidential discussion


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9 years ago this week I arrived in Perth full of hope and dreams. I’d heard from a friend you could “earn as much as $1,000 a week” which sounded crazy to me. From a low income/working class background in Manchester I was on the equivalent of $25,000 a year so the opportunity to double my income in a country that’s sunny 300 days a year seemed like a golden ticket to me.


Once I arrived in Perth, I set out to complete my 88 days of regional farm work. I hated every minute of it. Trading an office life for the strawberry fields of Bullsbrook. After a miscalculation, I resigned on day 89 of my regional work which was just before Christmas. I took time to enjoy my first Sunny Christmas, and on January 1, I began to apply for every opportunity possible.


I had worked in Finance back in the UK, and really wanted to carve out a career in this space, but with lack of relevant Australian Qualifications, and the fact you couldn’t study on the working holiday visa, I was left looking at different industries. 


I applied for 45 jobs a day between January 1 and the Middle of March (no exaggeration) and I fully relied on Seek for each of these job opportunities. I rarely heard back from anyone, and if I did, it was always a rejection. As time went on, I became more frustrated and would phone the relevant person for an update. I was always told “you’re not right for this role, but we’ll be in touch if something comes up”…I’m still waiting for a call now.


It was at a social soccer game that I spoke with a recruiter who told me the company he worked for was hiring for a recruitment consultant. Two weeks later, I was hired and started on $50,000 inclusive of super with a commission structure. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world, and finally felt like I was on track to a bigger and better life in this beautiful country.


I start with my own personal journey as I have been in your shoes as a job seeker. Unfortunately, it was only once I became a Recruitment Consultant that it became apparent relying solely on your CV and job boards wasn’t the way to get noticed. 


In my first few weeks in Recruitment, I was posting job adverts and receiving 100+ applicants on every low level position. If you’re inexperienced, you are judged and a decision is made within the first 6 seconds of your CV being read.


Before I got a job, I so badly wanted someone to notice my drive and determination as well as my willingness to be the best in my field, but nobody gave me a chance because I didn’t meet the initial requirements. On paper, I was just an applicant and an irrelevant applicant at that. The human behind the applicant was a driven and determined individual who was becoming increasingly upset that he was apparently unemployable. 


Since starting my own agency, I’ve been able to focus a lot more on giving advice to job seekers and in the last few months I’ve been receiving multiple calls a day from inexperienced candidates, graduates and undergraduates who want my help to secure a new position. 


I’m extremely honest about how the recruitment process works. I thought recruiters were most likely government funded and were just charitable individuals…. How naive was I? 


For those who don’t know. Recruiters charge a fee based on your salary which can be quite expensive so typically but not always, when a company utilises the services of a recruiter, they’re looking for experienced candidates with a proven track record.


So when you think about it from a financial perspective, business owners have three options.


Find someone through their own network - $0

Advertise on a job board - $500

Use a Recruiter - $10,000 


Which option would you take? Not the latter.


So, how do you get noticed?

I try to give every person who enquires the tools to succeed. For me, recruitment is now my chosen career and I’ll be around for another 20+ years. Just because I may not be able to personally help you right now, it doesn’t mean we can’t work together in the future.


There’s a 6 step process I advise on all my calls:


  1. Update your LinkedIn

  2. Find Business Owners in your field through company websites

  3. Connect with these professionals on LinkedIn Premium

  4. Send a message asking for a meeting / phone if you’re brave! 

  5. Secure interview(s)

  6. Accept a job offer


Update your LinkedIn

The first thing I tell job seekers is update your LinkedIn profile. A nice professional photo of you means we can humanise you. You don’t need to pay for a photoshoot, but a professional looking picture of you. This picture could be from your formal, a wedding you’ve attended, or even if your proud mum has taken a picture of you because you scrubbed up well before a wine tour (not after)!


Once you have your education and any work experience updated as well as a head shot, it’s time to get strategic about your job search. 


Find Business Owners in your field through company websites

Jump onto Google and type in “Financial Planning companies, Adelaide” if you’re in a different industry or state, adjust accordingly. Click on the Yellow pages and it’ll give you an extremely long list of companies. From here begin clicking through to company websites and find the “Team” Page if the company website has one. 


Connect with these professionals on LinkedIn Premium

You can connect with people via your normal LinkedIn account, but it’s quite limited. LinkedIn Premium gives you a lot more searches per month. Usually you can get a 30 day free trial of LinkedIn Premium which is great to utilise whilst you build up your network. If you don’t want to get charged, just set a reminder before the end of the 30 days to cancel. (Sorry LinkedIn). 


From the Team Page of the Company Website, now send the Business Owner or relevant person a connection request on LinkedIn. Try to connect with as many industry professionals as you can. A scatter gun approach is best in this scenario! 


Send a message asking for a meeting or opportunity / phone if you’re brave! 

If you’re brave, you can phone the business directly but the easiest for traction would be to send the new connection a personal message on LinkedIn asking for a meeting to discuss potential job opportunities.


Try to keep your first message between 350-500 characters. Too short and it doesn’t make you look all that interested, but more than that can become long winded - like this article! 


You may not get many responses to begin with. The law of averages states if you make 100 calls/emails, 80% will not be interested, the rest will be somewhat interested, but it’s up to you to convince them.


Hopefully from here you can secure a couple of interviews and receive a job offer. If so, you’ve completed your mission and you’re officially an employed professional in your field.


Why is this method effective?

If you are phoning or emailing a business owner as an inexperienced candidate, you’re showing you think outside the box, you’re proactive and you’re not just relying on an opportunity to come to you. You’re taking matters in to your own hands and you’re forward thinking.


These are great traits for a successful Financial Planner, and the successful business owners will most likely respect and appreciate your forward manner as they most likely had to do similar things in their career to get where they are today! 


Also, your odds of an interview have increased significantly. With the proactive approach, you may find a business is thinking to hire and with your timely message they may not interview any other candidates or view any other applicants as you’re there. 


If you wait until a job advert goes live, you’re now going up against 100 other applicants. 


Working with Cadence Recruitment

Once you secure that first job and gain experience, a world of opportunities should open up to you. I will have a much better chance of finding you your next opportunity, if it’s needed!


If you strike gold first time, you may find a business for life but often there will be bigger and better opportunity that could be worth exploring in the future and the first place you work, doesn’t have to be your forever home.


Once you’re in Full Time work, it will be much harder to dedicate additional effort or time to a job search, so I will be much better placed to bring opportunities to you, and if you work with Cadence Recruitment, that will be with a reputable firm in the job market. 


Of course this isn’t the only way to find a job opportunity. You can apply through job boards, attend networking events, attend career days or just turn up to a workplace and wait to see if anyone notices. 


This is just one method to gaining real life experience in a professional practice.


I know how hard it is to be a job seeker, and mentally it can really damage your self esteem but you just need one person to take a chance on you and it could be the start of a long and successful career! 


If you would like to discuss further, or would just like a chat about how you’re finding the job search, feel free to give me a call on 0452 520 776.

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