Wednesday 29 December 2010

Healthy Eating Can Boost Your Job Search

A research paper published by the USA National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that unemployment tends to lead to a less healthy diet. This is not surprising news, when money is tight people tend to live more cheaply and it is very often less expensive to buy ready made junk food than to cook a fresh meal.

Tuesday 21 December 2010

4 Ways To Deal With A Cancelled Holiday

So you have been working hard all year and finally holiday time comes round. You are all set to go away, everything is packed. The kids are in the car, the suitcases in the boot, and you are on the way to the airport. But there’s a problem. The airport is closed. All the flights are cancelled. Familiar story? You’ve seen it on TV a hundred times. Now it’s happening to you.

Thursday 16 December 2010

Wishful Thinking Is No Way to Run A Country

This month’s rise in UK unemployment figures was not unexpected. The first round of public sector redundancies began in August and the consultation period is just ending. We can expect the unemployment figures to rise further. What is less likely to happen however is that the private sector will step in and create jobs, despite government assertions that they will.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Five Interview Tips To Be Treated With Caution

I just saw a website that gives job interview tips to graduates. It listed five key things that interviewees need to do to get the interviewer to ‘adore you’. All five things were to do with body language- maintaining eye contact, smiling, nodding, posture and standing close but not too close. It made me realise how easy it is to mislead people on the internet, even when there was no intention of doing so.

Monday 13 December 2010

Ethically Dubious Employers

An article in today’s Guardian newspaper highlights the suffering of miners in the Congo who extract the tin and tantalum used in our laptops and mobile phones. The author, Madeleine Bunting, highlights those technology companies which make the greatest effort to avoid using unethically sourced products, and those which don’t.

Friday 10 December 2010

What's The True Value Of Education?

I grew up at a time when education was not just free- we got paid for it! It’s true. Not only did University students not have to pay for their education, the government gave us grants. We were means tested, everybody got something. Even the very rich got £50 a year.

Thursday 9 December 2010

TITANIUM- The Ultimate in Career Management

I have been helping people with their careers for many years. I have had clients of all ages and at all levels of seniority. What I enjoy about my work is that everybody is unique, we all have different stories to tell. I have also learnt that no two clients have the same needs, that those career companies who offer one-size-fits-all solutions do not really understand  what it is their clients need.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Using Social Media in Your Job Search

I have been taking another look at the world of social media marketing. Those of us who use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the rest tend to live in blissful ignorance of the fact there is a whole industry out there dedicated to using these sites as marketing tools. Now,  if companies can use social marketing sites to promote their products, then job seekers should be able to do the same, to promote themselves.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

This Is How Yoodoo It

My good friend Mike Southon has just published This Is How Yoodoo It, a collection of sixty articles he wrote for the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph. Mike’s articles feature experts who give practical advice on a wide variety of business and work-related topics. His experts are always interesting and Mike is always generous in his praise of them. And although Mike’s columns are about entrepreneurship, I think that job seekers can learn a lot from him.

Monday 6 December 2010

Unemployment and Social Breakdown

The sixties saw the birth of the student protest movement. The Vietnam war was the catalyst. Students across the world rioted, most famously in Paris and on American campuses. British students and young people played their part, occupying campuses and university buildings across the country. They stayed in possession of the Hornsey College of Art for most of May and June.

Friday 3 December 2010

A Lesson For Job Seekers From The World Cup Bid.

The failure of England’s World Cup bid was, according to many commentators, because we were not sufficiently engaged with FIFA. The English were playing football long before FIFA was established and we always stood slightly aloof from the international game, never really taking the trouble to engage with FIFA, let alone taking much interest in what it did (other than to criticise).