Red tape stops small firms hiring workers
Additional employment laws are deterring businesses from taking on staff. The weight and complexity of employment legislation is stopping small businesses from creating new jobs, according to new research.
Size of salary not the key to recruiting graduates
Tomorrow’s high-fliers put work-life balance before big pay cheques. Graduates looking for their first job are more interested in work-life balance, company image and career prospects than the initial salary that an employer offers, according to two new surveys.
Energy and Enthusiasm Can Help You Earn Offers
A story in my local newspaper last year quoted the provost of a local college responding to why a dean left after only 14 months with this statement: “Paul took charge of issues well, but was low-key. We wanted a more public leader at this time.”
Break From a Busy Life To Find Your Dream Job
“Why am I not happy?” “Why is life a struggle?” “Why doesn’t work work?”
How Careers Evolve With Personal Growth
How many of us secretly want to live a life different from the one we lead now? Relatively successful at what we do, we may be using our talents and deriving pleasure from our activities, but every once in a while, we hear a little nagging voice.
Economists Try to Crack The Compensation Puzzle
Seemingly irrelevant characteristics, including beauty, height, obesity, and even whether one keeps a clean house, are often robust predictors of earnings,” write three well-credentialed economics professors in the December issue of the Journal of Economic Literature.
Dispelling the Myths That Hold Back Seniors
Older workers are easy to typecast because the myths persevere:
Finding Family Support After Losing Your Job
If you’ve been downsized, you may have decided that you’ll just be able to survive what comes next. Congratulations. But your family may not have the same confidence. Anxiety, uncertainty and fear may be gripping your spouse at this moment. Partners try to put up a good front, but down deep they’ve been shaken. Knowing
Taking the first offer?
First, let’s get something straight. There’s nothing wrong with taking the first job you’re offered, as long as it’s the ‘right’ job. And what with parental pressures (“We’re not supporting you any more”, “It’s time you found your own place” etc), the burden of student debts and the desire to join your peers on the
Starting salary
“Can you give us some idea of your salary expectation?” is the question that strikes fear into the heart of every interviewee. Just how do you answer? Pitch it too high and you look unrealistic and overly confident, pitch it too low and you undervalue both yourself and your ability to do the job.
Relocation packages
If your skills and talents are much in demand, some of the biggest employers from around the country will be tripping over themselves to snap you up – and they may offer you more than a generous starting salary.
Perks
To truly assess a job offer, you need to look at the whole package rather than just the size of the first pay cheque. Are you being offered the following perks?
Multiple job offers
The good news is you’ve got a job offer. The bad news is you’re not sure if you should accept. There are interviews you are still waiting to hear back from. There are still more interviews at which you fancy your chances. What should you do? Take the bird in the hand? Wait to see
The basics of CV (Resume)
It’s time to rewrite your CV. What may feel like the world’s most tedious task – puffing yourself up and bragging about your accomplishments on paper – doesn’t have to be so painful. Just remember one thing: your CV needs to stand out. Employers, especially those who have posted openings on large websites, may receive
Do the right thing
Employees are increasingly taking ethical considerations into account when deciding where to work. The expansion of the non-profit-making, environmental and charitable sectors means there are plenty of options for those who want to make a difference
Interpreting rejections
You went as far as you could – all the way to final interview. You researched the organisation, showed your respect by arriving on time and in the right clothes, struck up a rapport with the interviewer, and felt you had given the best impression of yourself you could.
Handling rejection
It took JK Rowling a whole year to find a publisher willing to print her first Harry Potter book. Some of the rejection letters barely bothered to address her personally. It was, she admits, a very difficult time.
Application no-nos
Potential, experience, talent and enthusiasm are meaningless if you can’t fill in an application form properly, or submit a decent CV and covering letter. Read this guide to avoiding job application crimes and, with luck, you should stay out of trouble for the rest of your career.
Are gimmicks a good idea?
Enclosing a teabag with your application to encourage the recipient to make a cup of tea before they read it is one way to make sure they remember you. But will it ensure you pass that first big hurdle and get an interview? It may get you noticed but the content and presentation are more
Online applications
According to some surveys, nearly two-thirds of companies now accept online applications alongside paper forms. Email is fast and informal, qualities not normally associated with the filling out of application forms. But recruiters report that job-hunters can easily slip into the sort of bad email habits that do not impress. These include rambling (because space