Posts Tagged ‘Recession’

Cool Jobs

You can be pretty sure that there are cooler jobs out there than the one that you are in right now - especially if you are facing a cubicle wall right now!  Some jobs were created to just make everyone else jealous it would seem…don’t you wish you had a cool job?

You will at the end of this list - the following is a few of the coolest jobs out there that you can change to if you really want to - perhaps after reading this list you’ll email in to quit your job and change career…

Foley Artist

Foley artists spend their days looking for ways to make cool sounding sounds that they can record and then sell to film makers and production houses.  Every time you hear footsteps, thunder, rain or whatever it has most likely been created by a Foley artist.

Food Critic

This position is perfect for anyone who loves their food - if you have even gone into a restaurant and had an opinion about the food you have been served then you already have the training you need to be a food critic!

The best part of the job is that you’ll be fed for free - it’s like you are being provided with the means to both a happy existence and a happy career all in one!

Pet Psychologist

Who’s going to know if the pet psychologist is doing a real job or not?  Does your pet cry itself to sleep at night or does it have an eating disorder?  If you think it does then you need a Pet Psychologist to come in and sort its problems out.

However, don’t mistake the position for that of a pet trainer - to become a pet trainer you need to go through a large amount of training yourself to have the skills needed to teach animals how to follow your lead.

Shoe Designer

Millions of people around the world love only one thing - feet.  Feet fetishes are a big thing around the world so you can imagine how many people would be happy designing the homes for shoes on a daily basis.

Be responsible for what the celebs are putting on their feet down the red carpet - worst case scenario you’ll be designing Abidabs or some other knock off but you’ll still be having fun in the process.

Storm Chaser

Imagine spending your life living on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next tornado to swoop past you so you can drive after it and study their behaviour - yes these exciting jobs do indeed exist and you can get one!  Don’t forget that it’s a pretty dangerous job and people have died in the process - think hard before sending in your applications…

Going Cool?

Are you thinking about ditching your boring job for one that gives you a reason to get up in the morning once again?  Can you see yourself in one of these jobs?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

Top CV Issues You Can Overcome

Looking for a job can be a tough deal - we’re fighting our way through a recession as we speak and unemployment rates have shot through the sky.  You need an edge above everyone else and you aren’t going to get it with a CV full of issues.

If you have any of the issues listed below then don’t worry because we’re going to tell you how to overcome them and apply for a job without and worries or fretting!

Gaps

Gaps in your employment history can be a nightmare and can bring a world of worrying.  If this is something you have to deal with then try to use a CV format that looks more at your skills.  You can do this by making a strong summary of your skills followed by a brief list of your work.

A Lot Of Jobs

If you’ve been in a lot of positions through a very short time period then you should think about being completely honest.  Although tons of jobs in a short period of time can be a bit of a flag for some employers, it is a good policy to remain honest.

If you have good reasons for the amount of jobs then feel free to explain so in your CV - maybe you were searching for a better pay packet, the businesses you worked for crashed in the recession.

Only One Company

Working in only one company will obviously show off your loyalty to a potential employer, but it will also show that career growth wasn’t a big issue in your life which is not an attractive feature.

Highlight the different positions you’ve held, rather than simply the fact you were at the business for a long time.  A potential employer will pick up on the fact that you have been in a number of positions and gained skills.

Little Experience

You may have just graduated from university and you have little experience on your CV.  If this is the case you should make sure that you are adding any internship work, part-time work and volunteer work to beef up your CV.

Temping

If you have a lot of temporary work listed on your CV then you shouldn’t worry too much.  More than half of executives actually see temporary work in the same way as full-time work.

You should list the temp work in reverse chronological order in the same way you would with full time work - don’t forget to write that the employment was temporary so potential employers can be clear about your history.

CV Issues?

Have you had any CV issues?  Has our advice helped?  Are you feeling a little less worried about your CV thanks to our tips?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

CV Writing - What To Keep In Mind

It’s that time of the year once again when the University year comes to an end and poor old students are thrown out into the real world with the sole task of looking for a job - it’s not an easy time for everyone…

Recessions aren’t exactly the most exciting periods of time to start searching for a job - you’re up against tons of people for a tiny amount of positions.  Do the math…not everyone’s going to be successful.

CVs - They’re important in case you didn’t know…

So you need to work on your CV - your CV will be your way of getting your personality and experience through to the potential employee through a simple piece of paper.  You have to get it right if you want to be called in for an interview…

You have just a few seconds of browsing time to convince the employer that you’re the right person for the job - this is what you should be keeping in mind when writing your CV.

Be Basic

When you write your CV, the first piece of information on the piece of paper should be your details like your name, email address, phone number, etc…

Make sure you use a permanent address - straight out of university you can find that you will be moving around a lot trying to find affordable accommodation in new cities - use a stable address that you will always be able to get access to.

You should also make sure you don’t put ridiculous email address accounts on your CV - spank21@hotmail.com doesn’t really interest potential employers.  Keep it professional.

Objective

You should include a section devoted to your objectives and skills directly following your personal information.  Remember to keep your writing directly to the point and don’t blah your way through…this will just turn potential employers off…

Style

Choose a style and stick to it - there are three main styles: chronological, functional and combination.

Chronological - emphasis on work experience listed from most recent to least recent.
Functional - a more skills based style.
Combination - more useful for first-time job seekers where you can actually list both experiences and skills rather than choosing one or the other.

Experience

Remember that any experience you have gained over the years is important, no matter what it is.  It can be volunteer experience, academic experience or professional experience - it all shows that you are a hard worker looking for a chance…

These opportunities will also be a good way to highlight any skills that you might have in a sly way - this is a great way to show what you can do through real experiences.

First Job?

Are you looking for your first, real job?  Are you worried with regards to the economic climate?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re thinking…

Advice For Working Mums - 2 Jobs Rolled Into 1 Body…

Being a working mum can be an absolute nightmare to even think about - especially a single, working mum…you have so much responsibility and you have to get it all done in a successful working/life balance you will be working at for years…

The question is what advice can we provide for working mums that struggle to keep it all together?  How indeed do you get that balance to work successfully?  How do you manage to spend enough time with your kids while still bringing in the pennies?

A more perfect life involves a better balance so how do you manage to get more time out of the office without forfeiting your job.  Follow our advice to get a little closer to a perfect life…

Plan

You need to talk to your boss about getting more time off to spend with your children but this obviously won’t be a simply talk to start - after all we’re in the middle of a recession where people are losing their jobs left, right and centre…

Come up with a plan to show how more time off will actually benefit the business - after all a happier employee works more efficiently.  Try and throw statistics into the argument tastefully and make it appear as though it’s the best possible idea for everyone involved.

If anything you’re showing that you have thought the idea through and you should be taken seriously.

Stages

Don’t create a plan that jumps directly into a new system of working - businesses by far prefer new programs that are taken up over time.  If a new direction is taken immediately then a business is likely to struggle and fail.

Show how the business can accomplish the change in stages over a period of time - this will make the move more of a possibility than an idea.

Prepare

Don’t go into the meeting with your boss without anticipating anything - you should understand your own argument thoroughly but you should also be ready for opposing arguments - try and cover all aspects of a comeback argument.

You should also be prepared to be in a position to negotiate the plan - don’t give up everything by not being flexible.

Still A Struggle?

If you’re still finding that you are spending your time struggling to balance your home life with your work life then there are a few things you should keep in mind to make the whole process a little easier.

For a start you should be working from one single calendar - you need to be aware of everything that is happening in your life from one easy format.  This was you can look for any scheduling clashes between work and home.

Furthermore remember not to take your work home with you because this will just damage your home life and you might as well have stayed in the office - when you go home, be home…

Interview Tips and Advice - Techniques For Being A Winner!

Through a recession it is even more daunting when the thought of job-hunting comes along - there is one job and about 10,000 people after it.  You need to have an edge to take you further than all the rest…

Having a great CV is one thing but once you get to the interview you really don’t want to mess up and give the wrong impression.  Instead you should be following these simple yet effective tips to make sure each interview you attend is a winner!

Ask

Don’t be afraid to ask some of the big questions that you wouldn’t usually ask - one of the most important questions to ask towards the end of an interview is if you have given the interviewers reasons for them to believe that you are not suitable for the role.

If you ask the question and they give you an answer you will be able to talk through their thoughts together and most probably clear up any issues - even more you get a better chance to win them over by tackling their worries.

Job Before Yourself

Don’t rattle on endlessly about yourself, instead you should be talking about the position.  You have been brought in to fill a job and to see if you are able to fill the role perfectly.  You haven’t been brought in because the employer wants to get to know your personal life better.

Involve the job in your answers and how you would fit in given the opportunity.  By doing this you will be able to help the employer visualise you in the position which obviously isn’t a bad thing!  When talking about yourself make it about you in the job not you in the world…

Research

You should never walk into an interview knowing nothing about the job and the company you are applying to.  You should spend a good amount of time looking into what the company does and its place in whichever market it is involved with.

You can then incorporate what you have learnt into the interview allowing the employer to know that you do your homework and you know what you’re talking about.

Accomplishments

You should make a note of five of your main accomplishments from your previous job that you can incorporate into your interview.  You will find that accomplishments transpose well from job to job and an employer will be able to recognise how accomplishments can benefit their business.

Make sure you highlight how your accomplishments managed to aid the business and how they would aid this business if you were hired.  You’ll turn into an attractive investment…

Working Aid?

Are you looking for a job?  Have you had any luck with our interview techniques?  Do you have advice for other interviewees?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

Recession-Proof Your CV

This is one of the worst times in recent history to start looking for a job - a recession isn’t exactly a job market where everyone wants to hire millions of people.  You have to fight for your job…

But how can you make sure that your CV doesn’t get thrown out with the recession…instead of finding yourself at the bottom of the CV pile, find out how you can move up the top of the stack.

Spring Clear

If you haven’t used your CV for a while you will notice that it is a bit ancient and out of date.  You’ll need to do more than simply up date it.  You won’t be tricking anyone by simply adding on your latest couple of jobs..it’ll still feel old.

Instead, freshen it up any way you can think.  Read through it and reinvent each section where necessary.  Remove any information that isn’t specific to this job as well otherwise it’ll just be thrown away…employers don’t want to read through a mess of words that have nothing to do with the job you’re applying for.

Change It Up

If you want to stand out in the crowd, perhaps it’s not the best option to become a sheep when it comes to your CV.  Although we’re all taught to place our work experiences in chronological order, you will find that you will just be conforming with everyone else.

You want to break free of the norm - instead of having a section specifically designed for work experience try breaking it down into sections making the whole CV easier to read and navigate through and more interesting.

Promote Your Benefits

You should be highlighting how you have managed to change the financial outlooks for previous businesses wherever possible.  Always try and put a positive spin on everything you have done.

If you introduced coloured stickies at your previous employment then make sure your potential employer is aware that you implemented an efficient organisation system that improved the running of the business.

Give Each CV A Direction

You won’t be applying to one job at a time - you will be sending your CV to a number of different jobs around the place.  For each application you should make sure your CV is angled to impress the employer specifically.

Don’t send out a generic CV to every job application, whether it’s McDonalds or a PR agency - instead you should spend time working through your CV making sure every version is aimed at the employer.  Do this by changing the main accomplishments for example depending on the employer.  Target your employer!

Looking for a job?

Are you looking to get a job and finding it a massive struggle due to the recession?  Have you found our advice useful?  Do you believe in recession-proofed CVs?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

University Leavers - Did you know…

Although you may think that all you have to do to get a job now-a-days is to simply go to uni for three years, get pretty drunk and then pick your degree up at the end of your time there.  I’m afraid that just isn’t the case.

Despite what you might think the path after university is just as tough as any other and you need to be aware of what steps you should take to make sure you make the most of your time after university.

You should know that;

Being First Isn’t Necessary

When you see a job advertised on a website you should necessarily act quickly and fill out an online application to make sure you are one of the first to be considered.

There isn’t a little man at the other end waiting for applications to come flooding in like a radio competition waiting to pick a winner.  It is key to take your time and mull over your answer to make sure your application is as good as it should be.

There Is A Hidden Job Market

That’s right, there is a hidden job market.  It’s not a number of stalls in a dodgy back alley that you need a secret password to get in to.  The hidden job market refers to all the jobs that you won’t find on a career site but instead jobs that manage to advertise themselves through friends, family, newspapers or university for example.

One of the best ways to get a job is to simply get your plans out there and hope for someone to bite - if you tell someone you want to work at a hospital, they might know someone that works at the hospital for example.

You Should Know What To Look For

You should spend some time researching your intended field and place of work to see whether you would feel comfortable working there.  If you just go after the almighty pound without looking at the actual work then you will probably spend the rest of your working life unhappy and that isn’t what anyone wants.

Does you employer care about their employees?  Are there any team-building activities?  Is there any sort of emphasis on team building?  Is there any medical insurance provided?  You should be aware of all of this if possible…

You Shouldn’t Start In A Fury

You shouldn’t get straight to work straight from university working all out, every minute of the day, as hard as you can never letting yourself stop for a breathe.  By doing this you’ll just knacker yourself out and after a short time you won’t be good for anyone or anything.

Instead, don’t be scared to pace yourself - don’t go to slow as you might get fired for under working but don’t work to hard that you drive yourself into a stupor.  Find a healthy balance.

Class of ’09?

Have you just finished university this summer and about to step out into the wide world to look for a job?  Are you nervous about starting your career?  Let us know…

You don’t always need a degree, you know…

From an early age, all we are told is that we need to get through school and find our way to university so we can get a degree and get a good job - don’t worry, you don’t always need a degree to get ahead in life.

Millions of people around the globe climb there way up from school to earn tons of money in prestigious positions.  But which way should you turn after school or college to make sure you land a good job…read on to find out;

Automotive Service Technician

We know them as mechanics, but automotive service technician is such a nicer term - an automotive service technician checks out vehicles and fixes them if necessary.

Today mechanics use anything from spanners to computers to fix vehicles and if you have a car you know they can charge the Earth.

Carpenter

You might associate carpenters with kitchen cupboards and tables but carpenters are also responsible for larger jobs like highways and bridges.

A carpenter creates, installs and repairs structures of all sizes out of a number of different materials such as wood.

Dental Assistant

If teeth are your thing then this is the job for you - you won’t find yourself drilling teeth any time soon but you will be working in the vicinity of the person who does do the drilling so you won’t be short of a bit of action.

Dental assistants do a number of jobs, from sterilising equipment to organising records and preparing the patients, particularly when they are sweating before the dreaded visit.

Fitness Trainer

If you are fit and you love sports then this is the position for you - you spend your days instructing people and leading them in exercise activities and you could find yourself in a number of different settings ranging from hospitals to universities, gyms or even client’s homes.

Manicurist and Pedicurist

Some people can’t live without a creative flare in their life - if you are one of these people then perhaps you should become a nail technician.

You can spend your time grooming and polishing nails on client’s fingers and toes bringing a splash of beauty to everyone that comes to visit…

Restaurant Cook

You won’t be able to slide in to your local Michelin starred restaurant, pop on a chefs hat and call yourself Gordon Ramsay - however, what you will be able to do is start out measuring and cooking ingredients by following recipes.

This is a great position if you find that you like cooking at home and you want to get paid for it - after no time and a lot of hard work you could one day find yourself opening your own restaurant in Paris…

Saying “No” to a degree?

Are you planning on leaving school or college without taking the step to university?  Do you think you could do just as well, if not better, without a degree?  Let us know your thoughts…

Job-hunting in the 21st Century…

As the unemployment rate surges past the 2.2 million mark and the recession rages on through the Spring months, it’s time to start thinking about all the possibilities you have to look for new jobs.

Gone are the times where your only options to find a new job were either through the newspaper or at the local Job Centre.  Those days are long behind us…

Today we can turn to more modern and effective methods of job hunting that simply didn’t exist at the start of the century.  For a start, there are fewer jobs and more graduates - do the math…there’s a problem there.

Blog

Bogging can drive you crazy if you aren’t doing it.  Sometimes it’s the only thing people talk about and you can really feel as though you’re missing out.  That’s because you might just be missing out…

Start a blog if you want to find a new job.  Don’t just go on and on about any old subject - pick a subject you’re knowledgeable about and get to it.  Create a series of articles that not only go into detail about the subject but that someone would be able to use as a resource.

Facebook

You may not associate job searching with social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or BrightFuse, all this has changed as these sites are managing to bring opportunities to the masses along with your friend’s pictures of their drunken antics.

Facebook is a great example of how we can create more modern CVs that can be accessed by anyone around the world - use the education and work history fields to act in the same way as your CV but you will save a small forest by filling out the sections online.

Furthermore you can join professional networks through the social networking site and you can even talk to friends in the same industry you are looking to enter who might be able to find you a job.

Twitter

The evolution social networking sites has taken has brought us to Twitter, the home of the mini-blog.  Everyone seems to have tried Twitter, whether they liked it or not is a different story!  Whether you like Twitter or not, it doesn’t matter - it’s a great tool to find jobs.

You can tweet about looking for a new job and then people can stumble on your tweet - you can also go further by linking your tweets with your personal website which will show the world what you can do.

Virtual Career Fairs

This option needs little explanation as the name kind of gives the whole thing away - if you like to socialise and go to career fairs but you can’t be bothered to leave your house then this is for you.  Talk about useful and lazy at the same time…

Looking for a job?

Are you looking for a job and have found some of our advice useful?  Are you planning on acting on out advice?  Let us know…

Spring - The Jobs That Don’t Need To Worry

Spring is most definitely here - the sun is shining, the barbeques are out and we’re all getting sunburnt once again…but when the weekend is over do you really want to head back to the office to sit in your little cubicle away from the spring atmosphere where you can’t stop worrying about whether you’re going to get fired because of the recession?

Instead why don’t you check out these ideas for some spring time jobs that you should be thinking about if the thought of getting back into that cubicle is just too much to manage…

Florist

Flowers are great things, aren’t they?  They can be beautiful and small great…the spring is a great time for flowers as the weather is perfect for them and as people are walking around they are seeing the flowers blooming all around them and they are even more inclined to take a trip to the florist to buy some flowers for their houses or partners.

Florists will be enjoying a booming service through the spring months so if you want to be around nature while still bringing in the money this is the job for you.  Flowers will not bow down to recession woes…

Housekeeper

As the name suggests, this is the time for spring-cleaning!  When the sun is shining you have an urge to have a clean house - however most people can’t actually be bothered to do it…they’ll want to hire someone else to do it…

If you want a ton of extra work through the spring months then this is what you should be doing.  If anything cleaning can be a great de-stresser and the money can be great.  The thing to remember though is that the demand is there right now!

Fashion Buyer

Spring and fashion go hand in hand…and if you love shopping then perhaps this is your dream job?  Fashion buyers go around buying clothes - most women would kill for a job like this.  In the spring months, jobs like these are in bloom!

Get a job where you spend your time looking for dresses and skirts, belts and boots rather than typing up press releases and calculating finances.

Landscaping Worker

The gardens are going from brown to green as the sun starts to show more and more of it’s bright yellow face.  What better job could you have than being in a position to control how these gardens grow over the next few months - if ever there was a time and need for landscape workers then this would be the season!

Spring Up Your Career?

Are you looking to get out of the dreary office and finally throw a bit of fun into your life and career or are you too scared to make a move through the recession?  Leave us a comment and let us know…