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
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.
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.
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
You’ve seen your ideal job and sent off for the application form only to find it leaves a big dent on your doorstep when it arrives. It’s huge and you’re having second thoughts about applying. Don’t be daunted. Read it through slowly and carefully. Chances are it’s not as horrendous as it looks at first
Are you stuck in a job that really doesn’t suit you? Do you long to reinvent yourself professionally? A career overhaul can seem a daunting step but, with careful planning, you can achieve those unfulfilled ambitions
Clueless and confused? You are confused or just plainly at a loss about what career to choose. You know you have certain strengths, but you can’t make sense of your likes and dislikes, and the pressure is piling on to choose something Deadline – breakdown your plan of action into thinking time, research and
Lady Howe’s career has been something of a contradiction. A politician’s wife who left her job to play a supporting role, she is a vehement campaigner for women in the workplace. A Tory advocate of the Open University, she took her own degree at the famously left-of-centre London School of Economics. Over 20 years into
When Richard Handover took over as WH Smith chief executive in 1997, few people expected the 53-year old to last long. Handover, who had been with the retailer for more than three decades, was regarded by critics as a time-server ill equiped to lead WH Smith into the Internet age. But Handover has confounded the
Mansur Khawar, 30, had tried his hand at a number of things – including writing, decorating, and pupil barrister – before joining headhunting firm Armstrong International in February 1998. He tells us why the headhunting business is the one that really stimulates him
Working in a political organisation Wesley Ball, 22, works for Britain in Europe, a cross-party coalition that exists to promote the European Union, the single currency and Britain’s part in European affairs. It also co-operates with Trade Unions in the voluntary sector. Members include Tony Blair, Robin Cook, Charles Kennedy and Michael Heseltine
John Steele, Human Resources director at British Telecommunications, talks about graduate entry at BT, and what it takes to be a successful HR professional
What’s your official title? Head of the Radical Multimedia Lab, BT. What do you do all day? I lead a small research lab looking at virtual reality and multimedia graphics.
Vicki Field, 23, is a graduate human resources (HR) officer on a two-year graduate training scheme with Vodafone AirTouch. She joined the company in October 1998 after graduating from Durham University, where she studied combined social sciences. Vodafone employs 100 HR professionals across the UK
Mark Zaleski, 37, is senior vice-president of area operations for US online grocery company Webvan. The firm, which has a net income of more than $231m, is currently spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a national delivery infra-structure with the aim of becoming the dominant door-to-door retailer in America. Zaleski lives in the heart
Rob Corney, 22, works as a graduate management trainee at Carlton Television.
Laura Hamilton-Wargent has wanted to be in TV since she was 15. Since August she has been working as a runner at Channel 4, whose trainee scheme has been so popular it is already completely oversubscribed. She gives her perspective on how to break into a fashionable but crowded arena
Toby Watson left Oxford University, where he was a blue in rugby, to balance playing professional rugby for London Scottish, while holding down a full-time job at Deutsche Bank. He was recently headhunted from there by global investment bank Goldman Sachs. We interviewed him about his recent move and how to succeed at the highest level
Richard Parker, 21, is a trainee at KPMG having joined straight from Cambridge University, and has now been working there four months
Adrian Cornwall, 24, is a graduate trainee institutional stockbroker with private UK bank Robert Fleming & Co. He works in their European Equity Sales team. The bank is in the throes of change with US banking giant Chase Manhattan in the process of consolidating a takeover
