Member Article

NBSL supports eCVconsultancy to start job search service

Emma Thornhill was a Medical Microbiology graduate with a 2:1 degree when she stumbled into the field of recruitment and discovered she loved it. No two days were the same; the people she met were diverse and interesting with such differing needs, and whilst clients were demanding they were great to recruit for and the role gave Emma a tremendous buzz when matching the perfect candidate to the right job.

With over 10 years recruitment experience gained in London and the North East, dealing with all types of businesses from SME’s to leading FTSE companies; Emma has recruited people from entry level positions through to Board Level/Executive positions. Understanding what recruiters are looking for in a CV and what makes candidates stand out from the crowd means that Emma has a tremendous insight into how to find and win the perfect job.

However after taking a career break to raise two children Emma was herself keen to re-enter the job market but it was incredibly important for her to get a role that not only held her interest but offered her the flexibility to be a mum. Accordingly she decided to concentrate on the aspects of recruitment that she really loved (meeting new people) and on those which she felt added value to others, and realised that launching her own business would be the perfect platform to enable her to meet both her career and personal goals.

As Emma lacked previous experience of self employment she approached NBSL’s Hexham Business Advice Centre for support and met with Business Adviser Julia Weldon who helped her to develop her business skills and formulate a business model to structure her ‘enterprise journey’. Julia’s colleague Andy Brown another NBSL Business Adviser then worked with Emma to help her to develop a social media marketing strategy using Twitter, and finally eCVconsultancy was born late in 2011.

Emma is now also benefitting from continuing contact with her NBSL advisers through the Graduate Enterprise Northumberland (GEN) project which aims to encourage graduates to set up businesses in the county. The project provides on-going support and mentoring to graduates and graduate-level individuals to assist them in the pre-start and early stages of their enterprises.

Emma is now working hard to get eCVconsultancy securely ‘on the recruitment services map’ and her business which ‘helps you get the job you want’ now provides a variety of services including:

- CV Development | Writing – supporting people to position themselves as the perfect candidate for a job , teaching them how to write interview winning CV’s, cover letters and application forms

- Interview Advice- helping people to maximise their potential at an interview

- Job Searching Techniques- enabling people to conduct their own successful job search, find jobs through alternative channels and create their own job opportunities

Emma has recently joined forces with Hexham Job Centre Plus in order to reach the wider community and will be offering to work with individuals directly referred by the Job Centre, free of charge, on a monthly basis. As she said to Julia “I just wanted to thank you again for all your help and in particular the advice to contact Chris Howard at Hexham JCP. I have just had a superb meeting with Chris this morning which I am hoping is the start of a great business relationship.”

In the current economic climate Emma’s business is likely to be of great service to many people, and will doubtless go from strength to strength. To read Emma’s blog which is full of CV hints & tips, job searching advice and interview tips go to www.ecvconsultancy.co.uk/blog.html

Emma can also be found on Twitter: @EmmaThornhill and her website is at www.ecvconsultancy.co.uk

For more information and support from experienced accredited Business Advisers with local knowledge who can help you to start your own business or join the GEN programme, contact NBSL on 01670 813322 or visit our website at www.nbsl.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Phil Langton .