If you own a recruitment business then you may have had to adapt your way of working to continue to place members of staff in jobs during the pandemic. Although many businesses have had to put recruitment on hold due to the pandemic, others are thriving and have had to take more staff on. They may also have to take staff on with different skill sets such as online marketing to cope with the new ways of trading.

It is important that you adapt your recruitment business to keep up with the current climate. Many recruitment firms are having to venture out in to different areas to find more jobs that they can advertise. You may also have to start to do more online as face to face appointments are not possible at the moment. Having a good website is key but you may want to also have an app. An app will allow you to communicate with people all over the UK at the click of a button. You can create an app where they can uploaded their CV, you can send them jobs they may be interested in and keep them up to date with jobs applications they have submitted. You can also send out notifications instantly and allow for online chatting or instant messaging if needed.

For many people, the prospect of staying in the same role with the same company for years is not an attractive one but gaining promotion either within the current department or changing to a different one often brings a fresh outlook.

It is important to be proactive in your approach to promotion and make it clear to your employer that you are interested in any opportunities that would be available to you. A meeting with your line manager to discuss your ambitions and ask about any further training that you could undertake to make promotion more likely is advisable because if your employer is not able to offer you promotion either because a position is not available, or they are unwilling to consider you it may be necessary to seek alternative employment that offers better progression prospects.

Many companies have mentoring programs running where a junior employee is mentored by a more senior member of staff. This is useful as the mentor can act as an advocate in any promotion bid and can offer valuable career guidance and training.

Evidence of any achievements that have been made during employment, especially if they have benefitted the company should be kept and provided to support any promotion bid.

At the moment unemployment is rising rapidly so it is important to give yourself the best possible chance when you are applying for a job. One of the first requirements is usually to fill in an application form and possibly submit a CV so it is important that your CV is up to date and relevant to the job you want to get.

Updating a CV need not be onerous if it is done regularly and should certainly be updated after any new training is undertaken or any new experience is gained. It is wise to tailor the CV to the role you are applying for it may even be worth having slightly different copies depending on the jobs. It is however always important to be truthful in a CV as employers could check your qualifications and training record with previous employers.

If you want to maximise your chances of getting a job you could send your current CV out to potential employers with a covering letter stating that you would be interested to hear of any vacancies in their company. This is a good way to get yourself known to business owners and may result in them keeping your details on file.

Recruitment firms are typically happy to receive copies of your CV to keep on file and should a suitable job come available they may forward it to a potential employer.

Job hunting can be a nightmare at the best of times but at present it is even harder than usual. Many businesses are not looking to take additional staff members on at present as the future is still very much unknown and they are worried about if they will have enough work to keep the staff they currently have busy.

If you are in apposition where you need to look for employment but don’t know how or where to start, then do not stress, there is help out there. You may have to apply for more jobs that previous and you may have to expect it to take longer to find a vacancy but there are still jobs outs there. Depending on your age, younger people can go to careers advisors that are often based in schools or colleges or may have their own offices. These advisors should not charge a fee and will offer impartial advice on what you need to do get employment and where you can look to start to apply for positions.

If you are an older person looking for employment, then the Job centre can offer a similar service. They will usually ask you to take a questionnaire to find out what skills, experience and qualifications you have so they can advise you on what may suit you best.

One of the most popular types of jobs in the UK is an office-based role. This covers a huge selection of jobs from reception work to an accountant. Students who have just finished education often apply for office-based jobs as there are often a number of them that require little experience as long as you have a good knowledge of computer programs such as Word and Excel.

Working in an office is a good way to gain experience and see how a business is run from behind the scenes. You will often get to liaise with different departments and get to understand how the company works. You may be able to work within a number of different departments which will give you an insight in to what type of career you may like to follow.

For some people they are able to land the job of an office junior straight out of school or college. This can often allow them to quickly gain experience to allow them to progress to other more skilled roles over time. In order to progress up the ladder, they need to show a positive attitude, be reliable and hard working in their current role. The salary for working in an office varies depending on who you are working for and what your job role is. An office junior may get around £10,000 per annum where as an accountant may be getting more like £50,000 plus.

If you are then you are not alone as recent studies have shown that there has been a huge increase in employability anxiety over the last decade and this hits students more so than other groups of people. Students often spend a good number of years at college or university before graduating, and during this time they may well rack up thousands of pounds worth of debt. When the time finally comes and they graduate and start to look for work, the worry and stress of it all can be too much for some.

Interviews with students suggest that many of them feel anxious as the time approaches where they finish their course and must look for work. Some students have described the feeling from a knot in their stomach to a full blown anxiety attach with leaves them struggling for breath and feeling extremely over whelmed. It is important to talk to people about how you are feeling – you may want to confide in a friend or family member or even a lecturer. You can also speak to specialist career advisors or seek help from a councillor who will be able to give you some coping skills for dealing with stress and amenity.

Many people face a battle very day in looking for work. It may be that you are out of work due to being made redundant, just finished education or because you have left your previous job without having anything else lined up. You may have had to move to another area or give up work to look after a loved one. When the times comes to start the job hunting process again people often feel pressured into rushing into a job that they don’t really want to do. This can be essential if you are desperate for work and need an income instantly, but if you are able to spend a little bit more time job hunting then you may not always take the first job you are offered.

When looking to apply for a new job position, not only should you consider if you have the relevant experience and qualifications but also if you think you will get satisfaction out of the role? If the answer is no then you probably shouldn’t even apply.

Low job satisfaction can have a massive impact on how productive you are at work but also a negative impact on your home life.

Job satisfaction is very important but many of us sacrifice it often for money.

There may come a time when you find yourself out of work, often this can bring on a lot of worry as you may have to secure another job due to financial commitments.  You may not be able to afford to wait around to find the perfect job and therefore have to settle for something that is not really what you want to be doing or for working for a company that you didn’t want to just to bring in the pennies.

It is important to think carefully about the pros and cons of a job when searching for new employment. It may be that you find a vacancy but it is miles away from where you live. You need to make sure you know how you will get there and ideally wok out how much the travel will cost you each day as this can really have an impact on the wage that you are going to be left with after.

Although you may need to find a job quickly, job satisfaction can have a massive knock on effect on job performance and therefore can make a huge difference in how well you complete tasks within your job. Although money is work, if you take a job purely for the money benefit and do not enjoy it at all this will affect how well you do the job and you may find that you cannot perform as you should.  

Some businesses have what’s called seasonal trends. Meaning that at certain times in the year they are generally busier or quieter than others. For many retail industries these peak times often happen a few months of so in the run up to holidays such as Christmas. For other businesses they may find that the summer months are their busiest time and winter tends to be quieter.
It is important to assess whether your business has seasonal trends as this will allow you to get ready for these times.
You may need extra help around your busier periods but not be able to keep employees on throughout the year. If this is the case then you need to look in to hiring seasonal staff. This is usually done by offering a temporary contract of say 3 months. After which time you do not have to renew their contract if you do not have a need to do so.
If you’re in an industry where your busiest times fall in line with many other companies then you need to start early to be able to fill your vacancies before the competition snaps them all up. The earlier you get ahead and start advertising your vacancies, the sooner you can secure candidates and begin organising work rotas or shifts.

If your business is getting to the stage when you need to employ more people or if you have a member of staff leaving and need to fill the position, then you need to try and find the best possible candidates.

Many companies stipulate strict criteria that needs to be met in order for someone to apply for a job. This may be essential, where the job requires you to have certain qualifications by law, but if this is not the case then you may be missing out on an ideal candidate. 

Sometimes a candidate may not have all the qualifications or experience that you think you would like but that doesn’t mean that they are not the perfect person for the job. With any job role, personality plays a big part. You need to ensure that the person has the right work ethic and can mesh well with the rest of your team. Someone who is friendly, hardworking and willing to go the extra mile may be more suitable that someone who is more qualified.

You will need to analyse CV’s to be able to create a short list of people you want to invite in for an interview, but it is often only during the interview stage that you will really know if they are the right person for you.