Liven up your lunch

Are your lunchtimes lacklustre? If you yearn for more than marmite on white, read on… You are what you eat, so they say. Unfortunately, in the cafeteria of life, most of us spend our working days as tuna-mayo baguettes. Of course, there’s nothing so wrong with that. Sandwiches are lean and efficient, and their ability

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Enjoying your commute

  It’s a Monday morning. You’ve fought off the guy with the 3ft brolly, pushed the little old lady down the gap and are now pinioned beneath the untreated armpit of a fellow commuter. Rush hour rage has been known to transform respectable M&S shoppers into savage beasts. It’s true. A friend recently told a

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Fighting stress

The 1990s will be remembered for giving us the Teletubbies and stress. After the workaholism of the eighties, stress-related illness broke into our vocabulary and our workplace. Along with repetitive strain injury, cases of stressed-out workers made headline news and the western world became more aware of the physical dangers of overwork.

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Going freelance

For many people, going freelance seems an attractive idea but an impracticable reality. The benefits – no-one to complain if you need a lie-in, for instance – are overshadowed by the uncertainties. You might be able to give up your monthly pay packet, but could you survive without an office Christmas party? Catherine Masterman, a

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When the going gets tough

She earns a fat salary for reading the ITN news. But believe it or not Cambridge graduate Katie Derham hasn’t always been so successful – and she’s got a huge pile of rejection letters to prove it. ‘It took me a year after university to get my first break,’ she once said. Derham had her

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Focussing on promotion

Want a great career move? Try standing still, says award-winning writer Adeline Iziren Are you a young graduate with a good job? Have you found that you’re not really giving it your all because you’re too busy planning your next career move? If this sounds like you or someone you know read on……

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Finding accommodation

Finding suitable accommodation can be expensive and time consuming, especially in an unfamiliar city. Not so long ago, low interest rates and competitive mortgage deals led to a shortage of decent rental property. Today, home owning is more expensive and has released property onto the rental market.

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Taking a year out

Taking a year out to travel before, during or after college is an excellent way to gain maturity through the experience of handling a wide variety of different people and situations. Employers look favourably on people who have taken some time out before settling down if you can demonstrate at interview that you have picked

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Managing debt

Going to college these days entails a serious financial commitment. Students graduating this year face average debts of 286, according to a survey conducted by Barclays. The research found that 80% of graduates owed money to the Student Loan Company, 61% to banks and 28% to credit card companies. The rising cost of tuition fees,

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Dotcomming it: what are entrepreneurs looking for?

Graduates’ attraction to dotcoms is as much to do with the freedom and scope that the new economy offers, as it is to do with making money quickly. So, how can the big companies make their corporate cultures more attractive to budding entrepreneurs? Tony Vickers, an expert in organizational behavior, assesses which cultures attract entrepreneurs

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Beating those post-finals blues

  The year after your finals can often be an incredibly depressing experience for which nothing has prepared you. So what can you do to keep your chin up during those dark days? Emma John and Catherine Courtney lift the lid on post-finals blues Putting off the time-consuming chore of job hunting while you’re knuckling

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Writing a cover letter

The covering letter     While your CV (resume) is a summary of your qualifications and achievements, your covering letter is essentially a sales pitch. The aim is to demonstrate why your skills and background are a perfect match for the advertised position. The letter should be concise, written in the same positive and vigorous

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Key ways to apply for jobs

There are many ways of applying for that prized job, none perfect and most designed to make it easier for the employer. Here forum talks through how candidates can maximize their chances of success Anything that makes it easier for employers to find the perfect employee should be good news for the candidate, because each should

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Let your CV do the talking

Have you ever wished your CV (resume) showed employers the ‘real’ you? In the current recruitment climate, getting the right message across on a CV is serious business. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could just tell it as it is? Well, believe it or not, that wish is fast becoming fact. Videotaped CVs are giving job

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Faking it on your CV

Richard Li, the Hong Kong tycoon, has had a spot of bother with investors recently. They are claming they invested with a man they believed to have a degree from ivy-league university Stanford. Mr Li has admitted having no such qualification, and now faces a potential suit over allegations of misrepresentation. It seems strange that

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Tactics of selection: the psychometric test

With ever increasing competition for the best undergraduates, companies are introducing ever more sophisticated techniques to identify the top candidates for their annual intake quotas. Employers are increasingly looking towards psychometric testing to assist in achieving the closet possible fit between their needs and the candidate’s qualities

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Different types of personality test

  The world of personality (or psychometric) tests is rich with models. Not the Naomi Campbell variety, but theories that govern an approach to asking candidates and employees about how they make decisions, live their lives and behave in certain situations. This article looks at some of the models and explains their rationale

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