With one in seven people in the UK workforce now working as a contractor rather than permanent employee, what are the pros and cons of working interim? Can you successfully have a career which includes both types of working, or if you’ve chosen to work in interim roles is there no way back to permanent ones?
Continue reading “The benefits and drawbacks of working interim”
How do you know you need a new job? Do you dread going in to work every day? Do you feel low on energy and unenthusiastic about the work you have to do and completing even the smallest of tasks feels like walking through treacle? Do you consistently talk about looking for a new role but never actually do anything about it?
If you do, it’s probably time you looked for a new challenge! Whether you want an internal promotion or a new job in a new company, deciding you want another new job and securing one can be pretty far apart, so what’s the best way to get started? Continue reading “New job – stop thinking, start doing”
Life requires resilience. We all need an ability to roll with the punches, to get up again when we get knocked down. In two areas of life, that can be harder than in others: dating and jobseeking.
The key with resilience in dating is to not settle. If you’re looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, it really should be the right someone, not just the available someone.
When it comes to finding the right job, the temptation to take anything, particularly if you’re out of work, can be overwhelming. And the impact of rejection can be soul destroying. So how do you stay resilient and make sure the job you get is one that makes you spend Sunday nights celebrating instead of dreading Monday morning? Continue reading “Your job search is your opportunity to sharpen your resilience and come out stronger”
When we’re working hard at work and at home and trying to make time for our loved ones and ourselves, it can be easy to think there’s no time for anything else, but what if something else could fast track your career and help you feel more satisfied and balanced in every aspect of your life?
I’m talking, of course, about volunteering. Continue reading “Volunteering for the career of your dreams”
Researchers estimate that 85% of the jobs available in 2030 don’t yet exist. With the jobs market changing so rapidly, having your heart set on a particular job could close off paths that could be equally or even more rewarding.
But what can you do about making sure you’re in prime position for a job that doesn’t even exist yet?
If you’ve ever heard that little voice inside your head saying you can’t do something, aren’t good enough or there’s someone better than you, there’s a good chance you’re suffering from imposter syndrome.
The good news is, you’re in excellent company. Some very familiar faces have admitted to the fear of being “found out”, not least of all Maya Angelou. Her career spanned 50 years, winning critical acclaim and legions of fans. She was awarded multiple honorary degrees and industry awards but still felt “Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.”
I think most of us have probably had a bad boss at one time or another. Mercifully, most of us won’t have had to deal with Harvey Weinstein levels of bad boss-ness, but we don’t have to be getting groped at work for our managers to make us feel worthless, stressed out or to generally suck the fun out of work.
As graduates all over the UK start their search for a job, graduate development schemes are becoming increasingly popular options. A cornerstone of the recruitment process for these schemes, the assessment centre has a reputation for being difficult to come through unscathed.
But they don’t have to be tricky. As with all things, forewarned is forearmed, so here are my top tips for acing assessment centres.
Continue reading “Acing a graduate scheme assessment centre”
At this time of year, a large number of teens (and their parents!) are travelling the country visiting universities and thinking about their options for courses and locations.
A big challenge for many young people is how to stand out with a personal statement which truly represents them and gives the universities a reason to consider their application seriously. As a parent it can be stressful when trying to help, so here is my guidance to help you support your son/daughter.
Continue reading “Supporting your teen with their personal statement for uni”
Many job hunters don’t think of themselves as a brand, simply a person with a bundle of skills and experience to offer. But you could be selling yourself short if you don’t.
If you have ever run a business you’ll know that reputation is everything. But your reputation is more than your logo, your funky website or any of the other things that spring to mind when you think of the word brand, it’s as Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon says: “Personal brand is what people say about you when you aren’t in the room.”
Continue reading “Using personal branding to give you the edge in your job search”
Having a career break – whether because of maternity leave, caring for someone, going travelling or ill-health – can result in a serious loss of confidence when you start to think about your return to work.
This feeling is the same regardless of whether you’re returning to the same place or starting somewhere new. You haven’t lost any of your skills, but perhaps they are a bit rusty, or (if you’ve had a long break) your industry has moved on and you feel like you’ve missed some of the more recent developments.
Maybe you want to start a whole new career, having had time to reflect on what you’d like to do. So how do you beat those self-doubt demons and ease yourself back into your return to work with confidence? Here are my top tips.
Recruiting is time-hungry work and finding ways to slim down the process while still getting the right people into jobs is the Holy Grail for HR people.
For candidates this has created quite a lot of changes in the recruitment and job interview process. Recently I’ve heard many people talking about recorded video interviews becoming used more often. This technique takes advantage of improvements in technology and provides a more cost and time effective way to screen applicants for job roles.
So what do you need to do to prepare for a video interview? When would you expect one and how can you perform at your best? Here’s all you need to know.
Continue reading “How to impress a robot – the new kind of job interview style”
