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.

If you are in the process of looking for work then you may have heard about how LinkedIn can help you. LinkedIn is a social media site that allows people to create a profile and put on information about themselves, previous work experience, qualifications and skills. You can build up a network on the site of people that you know who can then endorse you for skills, stating that they agree you are skilful in a particular area.
If an employer or agency is looking for potential recruits they may use Linked in to contact people listed with the skill set they are looking for to see if they would be interested in applying. They may also use this to access candidates who apply for jobs with them.
Whether you post anything on social media it is important to remember that it may be looked at in the future by potential employers and they may make assumptions about you based on your profile.
If you are looking for work then you can now set your LinkedIn profile to show that you are open to offers and looking for work. This will make your profile stand out a little to recruiters.

If you have something that you are passionate about and want to set up your own business, then you will need to decide if you are going to go self employed – as a sole trader or if you are going to set up a limited company.

There are pros and cons to both, but most people start off self employed and if their business grows, then they will switch to a limited company. If you are going to be having employees then you will need to be a registered company.

You need to think very carefully before setting up your own business as it can be risky. You may need to invest a lot of your own time and money in to your venture and be prepared to wait a while before you can start to take a decent salary out of it. If you take too much out of the business you may find that you do not have enough to pay suppliers and keep your business afloat.

You need to have a sound business plan with cash flow forecasts so you can see how much you need to be taking in order to keep the business up and running.

Applying for jobs can be time consuming and sometimes it can end up leaving you feeling deflated and worried. You may have to apply for a number of jobs before you get offered an interview. You need to make sure that you come across well in your interview and have the opportunity to discuss everything you want to.

Preparation is vital when planning for an interview. You need to put aside some time to go through the company’s website and / or social media accounts to ensure that you can find out some background information about them.

Try and find out about the ethos of the company and also how it is structured. Find out about the products and/or services they sell and rough pricing. This will help you when it comes to the interview as you will not only feel more confident but if they ask you questions to find out how much you know about the company, it looks good if you can show that you have used your own time in order to research them.

Allow plenty of time to get to your interview as arriving late, is never a good start.