Tag Archives: Advice

Careers Advice, guest blogger, News, Recruitment

Standing Out To Employers In These Economic Times

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Getting on to the employment ladder is a very tough task for a lot of people nowadays. The economy finds itself in a state of continued difficulty and there is little argument to be had regarding the assertion that the credit crunch has separated the weak and the strong in terms of supposedly simple things such as having a job.

The days of employees being able to casually amble on through their working lives, doing the bare minimum and spending half of the day watching the clock and waiting for the glorious moment when the little hand hits 5pm seem to have come to an end. In fact, to some people’s horror, it is quite the opposite; now there simply are not enough hours in the day and most people find themselves taking their work home with them.

The truth of the matter is that this is exactly what separates people in the employment game. Companies can no longer afford to hire staff that simply will not pull their weight any more. Of course they would not have wanted to in the first place, but financing for businesses is now at a situation where a few wrong moves in the recruitment sector and the business could be facing severe difficulties. Nowadays, companies demand the most from their employees and rightly so. A lot of companies can demand employees that are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in their roles; they want employees that are willing to stay behind after hours to ensure that the work gets done.

This new found expectation from employers has no doubt come as a bit of a shock for some people and may be a factor that is directly attributed towards the high unemployment figures that seem to be reported every other day.

What is the solution for those people who would not exactly classify themselves as the dedicated type when it comes to giving their all in the name of employment? The only thing those people can do is either adopt a working pattern to make an employer sit up and take notice or alternatively they can join the millions of other people in the Job Centre. The tough economic times are certainly not what anyone wanted or envisaged but they are still here and they are affecting people so the only solution is to, as with most things, get your head down and work.

This blog post was written by Kelvin Whittaker, a specialist in the recruitment field, particularly accounting and tax recruitment writing on behalf of www.pro-tax.co.uk.

Fundraising, guest blogger, News, Planning, project teams

4 Tips For Aspiring Fundraisers – guest blog

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So you have this idea that you are passionate about, and you want to share that idea with the rest of the world.  You have all these ideas about how this idea that you are passionate about can change the world and make it a better place, but you have one small problem, and that is that you do not have any money.  Raising funds to get an idea of yours off the ground is doable, but before you go out and start your fundraising project, there are certainly some things that you need to take into consideration, and here are a few of them:

Are You Up For The Task?

Fundraising, while exciting, is a very time-consuming and tedious process, to say the least.  You will also be spending lots and lots of time and even money without seeing any money in return.  In fact, your fundraiser could be a complete flop, and all your efforts could go down the drain.  I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but it’s important to know what you are getting yourself into.

Establish a Solid Leadership Team

Once you decide that you are willing to take the risk and invest the time and energy, you need to put together a strong, mature leadership team.  This may be one of the most vital steps in the fundraising process.  You need a team who is experienced, but more importantly a team that shares your same passion and vision.  Afterall, that is the only way you are going to find free labor.

Develop Very Specific Goals

You need goals and you need to make sure that they are clear for everyone to understand.  Developing mile markers and short term goals to achieve will help give you team a sense of accomplishment in the short-term and will help to keep morale high.  Your long term goals need to be especially clear to those that you are seeking get money from.  Anyone donating to a fundraiser is going to want to know exactly how and when their contributions are going to be applied.

Know Your Audience

Your fundraiser, no matter how properly planned, will go nowhere if it does not attract the interest of anyone with money to give.  So you need to know where to find these people.  Well, do some brainstorming.  If you are raising money to cure cancer, then ask yourself, “What are cancer survivors involved in?  Social clubs, health organizations, other fundraising venues, etc.  can be great ways to get the word out about your fundraiser.  Even organization like the Chamber of Commerce can be resources as well.

Brandon Jones enjoys writing about school fundraising companies.

Happy work environment, News, No, Training

Hotel GB – an experiment

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Last week Channel 4 presented us with a weeklong show called Hotel GB which essentially was a hotel set up taking on 14 trainees from all different walks of life who had previously had difficulty in securing jobs, Gordon Ramsay and Mary Portas took the joint general manager roles and worked with the trainees to run the hotel. The aim of the show was to demonstrate that people often overlooked for jobs could be nurtured into successful candidates moving forward and instil some confidence back into the individuals with the hope of infusing some self worth and purpose too. To add some incentive to the show a competition was set for each team to go into contest and secure the biggest turnover and tips – customers from celebrities to service industry executives were invited to dine, engage in services, have events and stay at the hotel, they only had to pay for services if they were happy and all proceeds are being distributed to charities.

The program was not only entertaining, it also proved to be a great way of showcasing individuals who for whatever reasons had not been given opportunities to flourish in the work environment. A good number of the trainees demonstrated fantastic skills and determination to succeed and although a few struggled with the stress of being thrown in at the deep end – with the encouragement of all the team leaders they harvested success.

At the end of the show one lucky trainee from each team was offered a job with each Co General Manager Mary and Gordon. However what the trainees weren’t aware of was that hoteliers and leaders in the service industry were customers too and each trainee was offered a job at the end.

What a fantastic way to demonstrate to employers and employees alike that with a little effort, and some empowerment that even those with no work experience really can succeed.

As the media reports high volumes of unemployment for under skilled young people this program really facilitated some hope for all currently struggling to get their foot on the first rung of a career and really inspired the trainees.

It would be wonderful if other organisations embraced such opportunities to take on trainees from underprivileged backgrounds – reminding people as a whole that sometimes being given a sense of worth and encouragement that they can actually do it and turn their lives around.

The show also played a key reminder to everyone that we all had to start out working somewhere and didn’t just drop into high flying professional positions, but with hard work and determination we can achieve a whole lot more.

 

News, Project Management, project management jobs, project management recruitment, Q&A

Project Management job market insight – Q&A

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This week we have a great question from a client looking to get an insight into the reality of the job market during reported “troubled times” with the economy.

Hi Nicola, do you know what is happening with jobs in project management at the moment? I’ve noticed a distinct drop in advertised positions over the summer holiday period, is this normal as I saw a healthier jobs board over the same period last year?

Judith; Programme Consultant – Bristol

Hi Judith, thanks you for your question – yes it has been a quiet summer for advertised jobs in the PM field. There are a number of reasons for this and the obvious ones are the Olympics and Paralympics taking over a great deal of attention, however the media were finally reporting upbeat news which normally tends to have a positive effect on recruitment. Once the doom and gloom stories of the economy shrink back – a sense of confidence from hiring managers’ emerges. To be fair I haven’t noticed a huge dip in project management roles across the board, a number of independent job boards seem to be publishing a healthy volume of new PM related roles on a daily basis and having been in touch with a fair few senior managers at large blue chips, I can confirm that hiring personnel is not on hold generally. In fact I have discussed many fantastic positions with these clients and noticed a trend of recruitment being taken in-house. This cuts back on the fees for engaging recruitment firms and in their opinion saves them time and money – they have in-house recruiters / HR who can do the job so why look outside. I can see their point and for roles which are not so niche and are well paid, they shouldn’t struggle to attract strong applications. However the harder to fill positions will still be dished out to recruitment specialists eventually; however they will try to fill the roles themselves, sometimes for months before taking external services.

Businesses are turning away from the major job boards and relying on their own websites, twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to advertise / attract talent. This makes your job a little bit more challenging as you need to research organisations in your field, find roles and apply direct. Of course a great deal of the in-house recruitment teams are being trained up to use LinkedIn as a tool for finding talent too – clearly a time to dust off your profile and make sure it is up to date and searchable. The specialised job boards are offering very competitive fees for advertising roles on them so it is important to keep an eye on them too.

The advertised roles are certainly picking up now we are heading into autumn and speaking with a number of specialist PM recruiters – there is a positive impression that the recruitment market is picking up.