2. A little bit about us…
Northern Irish
&
Opened international
in Belfast client base
2001
Shared Many language
Services speakers in our
specialists 75 employees
4. How we work...
We work with job
seekers to find the
best fit for them for
Our clients their career.
engage us to find
the very best
talent in the
market from
graduate right up
to senior level.
5.
6. IT
Accounts
Engineering Work Abroad
Logistics/Supply Chain
Travel & Tourism
Research & Analysis
Social Media
Recruitment Customer Service
Media & Journalism
Human Resources
7. French Cantonese & Mandarin Norwegian German Spanish
Czech Swiss German Dutch Russian Portuguese
Finnish Austrian German French Canadian Swedish Danish
Italian Flemish Brazilian Mexican Turkish Polish
Portuguese Spanish
9. Stand out from the crowd...
Network
Volunteer Build
YOUR
Tutor
personal
Part-time Expand your brand
Work horizons High
Student Be informed Grades
Societies
10. How to get the job you want...
The right CV...
An open 1
mind... 2
3
4
Top-notch Interview
research... know-how...
11. What next?
Click to like us on Facebook
Facebook.com/BWrecruitmentNI
Follow us on Twitter!
Twitter.com/BrightwaterNI
Join the Multilingual Skills
Network UK & Ireland
c.mccorry@brightwaterNI.com
or call 02890 325 325
Leaf 1 - Brightwater NI is part of the Brightwater Group Opened in Dublin 1998 and then in Belfast 2001 Leaf 2 - Work with clients from small owner-managed businesses and tech start-ups right through to NI Top 100 companies and global Fortune 500 companies Leaf 3 - Over the past 2 years Brightwater has been solely responsible for some of the largest scale recruitment campaigns for professional roles. This has been due to an increasing trend in Belfast being chosen as an ideal base for Shared Service Centres for international companies. i.e. one central location for all back-office support functions, such as finance, HR, marketing, IT, business support across multiple geographical areas e.g. recruited over 200 people for international law firm Allen & Overy as well as other international companies investing in Northern Ireland. Leaf 4 – Many of our recruiters are multilingual – for example in Belfast alone some of recruiters speak French, German & Spanish to business standard.
Brightwater is a specialist recruiter Each of our consultants focuses on a specific area of the recruitment market ensuring that they are expert in their field Our multilingual division has been created due to the number of clients who are struggling to find multilingual candidates in Belfast mainly but also in Co Antrim, Co Down etc These roles require a high standard of education with professional approach and desire to progress There are relatively few local candidates who speak a foreign language to the standards clients need so in studying a modern language at 3 rd level you are putting yourselves in an exclusive club! In one of our recent surveys of the local accountancy sector, we found that 74% of respondents said they weren’t proficient or fluent in any language other than English!
If you’re new to job hunting you might have questions about how recruitment consultancies work. Box 1 – Companies/Employers engage with us to find the very best talent in the market on their behalf We then: advertise screen Interview assess on their behalf We then introduce the shortlist of the best people to them and help with interviews, salary negotiations etc Once this is all done the company pays the recruitment company Box 2 – Candidates/Job Seekers – we work closely with job seekers to find the role which is best for them based on: Career aspirations & honest market advice Personality fit Long term options CV preparation Detailed interview preparation to give you the best chance of standing out
So in which careers does being multilingual give you an advantage? It’s not just teaching and translation! IT – many international software companies have operations in Belfast and this is only going to rise further. Communicating with other offices across the globe is important but also highly skilled software support / troubleshooters are in high demand to provide assistance to customers worldwide Accountancy – increasing number of financial shared service centres across NI e.g. Co Tyrone, Belfast, South Down, Co Antrim, North West Working abroad Hospitality and tourism Social media monitoring / marketing Human Resources – workplace is becoming ever more globalised with contracts and legal nuances in different regions where HR need to be on the ball Call centre and customer service roles – some of these are much more interesting/skilled than the normal perception – e.g. with technical, gaming, fashion slants etc Recruitment International sales & marketing Media and journalism Analysis and reporting Supply chain & logistics – moving goods all over the world Engineering – eg one of my colleagues recently recruited for an engineering role in China for a 2 year contract
Pic 1 – Shared Services – huge growth in this for the NI region. Currently there are around 15 global employers in the province who have regular requirements for multilingual candidates. This is continuing at pace. Pic 2 – Invest NI is doing a huge amount to attract an increasingly multinational client base to Northern Ireland. Every week we hear about new companies who are seriously considering opening offices here. These companies are headquartered all over the world so speaking a foreign language will always be viewed as a plus Pic 3 – Corporation Tax is currently under review in NI and David Cameron will be making the ultimate decision within the next 2 months. Should the corporation tax be lowered in line with the Rep of Ireland, you can expect to see a considerable influx of foreign investors for which the NI workforce is very attractive Pic 4 – The future of the global economy is outside of traditional markets. For the future, growth will come from the BRICs i.e. Brazil, Russia, India & China. Smart move is to study these languages Pic 5 – The NI economy has to be less public sector oriented so future growth will come from export sales. To sell effectively to foreign markets, languages are a huge plus Pic 6 – Belfast was recently chosen as one of only 10 UK cities to be “super connected” - £13.7M investment including digital hub for Belfast, £8M business park in Co Antrim Pic 7 – Our geography makes us an ideal hub between EU and Americas
Network – never too early to make a good impression. Get to know your “hidden network” such as students in the years above you, connect with alumni – what have they done? Volunteer – work abroad, do voluntary work at home but build your personal skill-set Personal brand – be aware of what you put out via Social Media and be mindful that nothing is private! Instead use Social Media to increase your worth e.g. write a blog, start a Facebook group for your peers, follow and interact with industry contacts on Twitter and most importantly start to build a network on LinkedIn Part time work – build your CV be it by working in a café, bar, cinema, office etc. All of the above will give you experience to draw on when it comes to interviews – e.g. working in a bar = coping under pressure, working in a café = strong communication and customer focus etc Expand your horizons – take off for the summer and see the world. This again will give you life experience to draw on Uni societies – get involved! Being on a committee will look great on your CV and again be really useful when it comes to interviews Be informed – keep up to date with current affairs & what’s going on in the world. Have opinions and be able to discuss your point of view High grades – it’s not the only thing that matters but it goes without saying that the higher your grades the higher your potential to get in front of an interviewer
An open mind – the job you’ve always thought was for you might not be. Have you considered all your options? What are your personal strengths and characteristics? Do they lend themselves to any career paths? The right CV – language skills and academics will only go part of the way to you being successful. Think about all the things you’ve done in terms of student societies, part time work, living/working abroad etc. A specialist recruiter will be able to tell you if you’ve hit the mark or if you need to take a fresh look at thing. One CV doesn’t fit all roles! Top notch research – Know the company you’re applying to…what is their interview process? Who works there? Are they in the news? What’s the background of the people interviewing you? Why did you apply to them specifically? Again, a specialist recruiter can help you with what research you need to do Crack the interview – this can be daunting but with the right research and preparation it can be easier than it sounds but it does take practice! It’s not just tell me about yourself anymore. Interviews are now mainly based around competencies/behavioural traits. This is where your part time jobs and your university experience will come into play. Get help from your specialist recruter
