Undercover RecruiterMany of us need to rethink the way we ask for promotions and raises, because when we do ask, often it ain’t pretty. Just listen to the answers I hear when I ask, “Are there differences in the way men and women ask you for raises and promotions?” “I know you’re busy, I know you…
Remember Google? It’s that company that used to be the hottest thing since sliced bread. It’s still cool but perhaps not quite up there with Facebook or Apple. Anyway, Google has been one of the best companies to work for (more than once) according to Forbes, there are definitely a lot of perks to working…
Have you ever read Tim Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Work Week”? One takeaway from that book really stood out: Avoid meetings at all costs. Even if it is your own business, let others do the meetings while you get on with your work. Tim Ferriss writes that he always makes himself unavailable for meetings, simply because…
Your natural state is to be happy, peaceful, joyous, and full of excitement at being alive. In this natural state, you wake up each morning eager to start the day. You feel wonderful about yourself and your relationships with the people in your life. You enjoy your work and derive a great sense of satisfaction…
Recruitment is a thriving, multi-billion pound industry, satisfying the needs of 1000’s job seekers and employers each year. Despite this, the general perception of recruiters by job seekers appears to be quite negative. For example, the most ‘recommended’ comment (32 people) from a piece on using a recruitment consultant on the Guardian Careers page reads…
You might wonder why on earth you should speak to strangers in the first place. I mean after all, we’re taught by our parents never to speak to strangers and the only folks that do seem to be the village idiot and local yokels. I guess the reason I speak to strangers is to network,…
Facebook and LinkedIn are great places to find your next job, more so than you would think. Recruiters use social networks to post jobs, to source for candidates and to network with talent. Research shows that nearly 75% of companies check out potential candidates on social networks. And they’re not just digging for dirt. More…
We all know that the British economy is going through something of a troubled time right now. Unemployment is on the rise, growth prospects are shaky and youth unemployment is a particular concern, with more than 1 million youngsters currently classed as ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training).
This is a cause for concern, particularly as a recent survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found that 31% of private sector firms plan to make cuts to jobs during the current quarter. This is likely to result in the unemployment queues swelling further and, when you add in the public sector redundancies that are currently taking place too, it all adds up to a difficult picture.
But how does this affect job seekers? In many ways, it is easy to see how they are affected by redundancies due to business cut backs and slow industry growth. There are more people chasing after the jobs that are out there, meaning that competition can be fierce, particularly for the very best jobs or in very competitive industries. Another worry is the north-south divide: the CIPD study found that job prospects in the south are much better than they are in the north.
We also have to take into account issues such as apprenticeships, but we have yet to see whether the challenge will be met.
There are also recruitment challenges involved in all of this: some recruiters are finding it harder to get work themselves as businesses look to cut costs and take recruitment processes back in house. Others are overwhelmed with candidates for vacancies, which in some ways can be seen as a positive thing as it provides more choice, but it can also make it harder to place increasing numbers of unemployed people in jobs.
Overall, even though there are still some excellent employment and training opportunities out there, it seems as though the challenging conditions for job seekers and recruiters alike are set to continue for some time yet.
Related: Salary Trends for UK Start-Up and Tech Jobs (Infographic).
In a sea of resumes, it couldn’t be harder to stand out than it is right now. While your experience screams, “Hire me!” so does everyone else’s. In today’s job world, it’s a competition about who you know, and even then, the process of getting plucked out of 300 resumes can be an impossible task.…
