When managers are asked to define the most challenging part of their job, the answer, regardless of the industry, is often, “Finding and keeping good people.”

Recruit well and both the company and your team will reap rewards; but get it wrong and there are costs for all involved, be that time, money or morale.

There are plenty of life hacks when it comes to job hunting, and if you’re a job seeker you need to take advantage of them. They’re easy, and they may be obvious, but they’re also effective.

Here are some of the simple steps you can take towards job seeking success.

They say that first impressions are lasting, and nowhere is this more relevant than in the interview room. Richard Branson says he tends to make up his mind about people within 30 seconds of meeting them.

While interviewers use many methods to assess candidates, it pays to make an effort to impress from the moment you walk in the door. Here are some tips to help you work your magic from the first hello.

Are you feeling bored, burnt out or just indifferent to the job you’re currently in? A complete career change may well be the answer to your work blues.

In my line of work, people often ask me whether it’s possible to make a career change. The answer, of course, is yes – but the key is knowing where to start and how to get there – smartly.

Interviews are a two-way street. To really impress an interviewer, you need to come prepared to have an intelligent conversation – and that means coming with well thought-out questions to ensure it’s not just one-way traffic.

Asking questions in your interview will not only give you a better insight into the job you’re applying for, but will show your interviewer that you’ve done your homework and have the curiosity and initiative to seek more information.

Should organisations spend time and effort to build their own talent pipelines – or just buy in talent when they need it?

Hudson recently launched a Supply Chain and Procurement Roundtable series with a lunch event at the Grand Shanghai Restaurant in Singapore. Attended by senior regional leaders in procurement and supply chain, conversation quickly turned to talent – specifically, the problem of whether to build or buy it.

It’s not just nerves that can shake an interview. Classic interview mistakes include acting arrogantly or overly emotional, talking too much or refusing to answer certain questions.

Here are seven interview tips to ensure you don’t trip up in the vital face-to-face meeting.

If you were looking for the elephant in the room when it comes to recruitment, he would be standing right next to the problem of unconscious bias.

A 2012 survey on social class discrimination and unconscious bias by Manchester law firm Pannone found 79 per cent of human resource professionals still report unconscious basis as a widespread issue.

Once upon a time, when job applications were sent in the post, a cover letter was the icing on the cake. A carefully crafted one-pager, it acted as the ultimate sales pitch, giving employers their first impression of a candidate and making a case for why someone belonged on the ‘maybe’ rather than the ‘no’ pile.

But these days, not everyone’s sold on the cover letter.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” So said Henry Ford on why he used his own initiative to develop the mass produced automobile – and the same logic can be applied to the issue of diversity across organisations.

The reason Mr Ford didn’t ask the American people what they wanted was because he knew it was the wrong question. Roughly 100 years on the same logic can be applied to managing diversity in the workplace.