Yearly Archives: 2019

Are you looking for work in an office?

Posted on December 15, 2019 at 11:57 am

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.

Posted in recruitment

Are you feeling anxious about finding work?

Posted on November 11, 2019 at 10:24 am

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.

Posted in recruitment

Should you use an accountancy firm for your own business

Posted on October 31, 2019 at 10:41 am

If you are self employed or run your own business, then you need to decide if you are going to do your own accounts or use an accountancy firm or a self-employed bookkeeper/ accountant.

Depending on how large your business is and how complicated may mean that you will struggle to do all the accounting yourself. If you have a lot of accounting, it may even be worth employing someone to look after this side of the business for you even if it’s only on a part time basis. You may have employees and therefore also must manage a payroll which can be a bit of a nightmare unless you have the experience in doing so.

There are a number of bookkeepers and accountancy firms out there that will do as much or as little as you want them to do so if you want to do all the accounting yourself but then have them audit you every few months to check that you are doing it correctly you can. You may decide it is worth paying the extra and have them to manage the whole thing, so you literally send all your invoices to them for them to input. They can also manage VAT returns as corporation tax and dividends.  They may well charge by the hour, but you can usually ask for a fixed monthly cost.

Posted in News

Should you turn down jobs when looking for work?

Posted on September 27, 2019 at 1:05 pm

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.

Posted in recruitment

Are you considering a change in career?

Posted on August 16, 2019 at 1:23 pm

The average person can expect to change careers at least once in his or her lifetime. Making an informed decision regarding your career will certainly increase the likelihood that you will be more satisfied with it, but even if you do everything right, there are no guarantees the career you choose when just starting out is the one that you will be happy with in the future.

There are many reasons for people deciding to have a career change; sometimes it’s due to wanting a job with different hours or that they can earn more money or it may be that you feel you get no satisfaction out of your current position. Giving up a paid job may be very daunting especial if you have a number of financial commitments. You may need to return to some sort of education to train for a new career often leaving you without a wage or a part time wage. This will impact you in terms of your financial situation and you need to check that you can still afford to support yourself. If you are going back in to education, you may have to find the course yourself or you may be eligible for a grant or a loan to help you out. This can have a massive effect on the household income and often is enough to put many people off.

Posted in Uncategorized

Help controlling your classroom

Posted on July 25, 2019 at 10:09 pm

If you are going to be teaching a new year group of class when you go back in September it is important that you start as you mean to go on. You need to establish ground rules immedialty but also show that you have a caring and funny side.

You do not have to go in shouting and screaming at everyone on the first day, but you do need them to know that you will not put up with bad behaviour and that you expect them to listen and work hard.

A good way to start on your first day back is to introduce yourself to the class and find out a little bit about them. Get each of them to stand up and say one thing they enjoyed doing in the summer holidays. After that get them all to sit back down and start to go through some house rules. Explain what behaviour you expect from them and what will happen should they break the rules. Children respond well to rewards, so introducing a rewards system can help pupils stay on target. If you find a group of children who are constantly misbehaving together then it is often a good idea to split them up straight away to avoid them getting into bad habits.

Posted in education

Working more than one job at a time

Posted on June 10, 2019 at 10:03 pm

Almost all of us have to work to allow us to pay the bills. People are often having to work longer hours in order to stay afloat and with job security, always a concern for many of us, you may consider getting two or more jobs.

It may be that you want to earn money fast and cannot find a full time job that pays enough. You may decide to take two part time jobs in order to make up your wage. Some people even decide to do a full time job and then additional work at the weekend of even in the evening. This is not ideal and it may be that you are working more hours than you are supposed to. It can have a serious knock on effect on your health and wellbeing. 

When considering working two or more jobs there are some points you should consider. Some employers will state in their terms of employment that you are not allowed to work for another company without their prior permission. If they find out you are working for another company you may find yourself sacked under gross misconduct.  You may also be taxed on both jobs, or have your tax free allowance used on one job so the other job you pay tax on every penny you earn. 

Posted in News

How to find employment in a job that you will enjoy

Posted on May 26, 2019 at 3:04 pm

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.  

Posted in recruitment

Finding employees for season job vacancies

Posted on April 8, 2019 at 12:30 pm

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.

Posted in recruitment

How to find the right employees

Posted on March 26, 2019 at 11:25 am

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.

Posted in recruitment

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