Read my latest Blog pieces by clicking on the links below or visiting Your Career Matters.

19/05/2011

Antiquated resources and ineffective education establishments are killing graduate prospects

Let me start by saying that I’m no expert in Graduate recruitment, nor would I ever have the gumption to profess that I am. However, I like to think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to offering careers advice and I find myself increasingly alarmed and concerned over this whole issue of graduate recruitment per se. Let me explain a little more of what I mean.

06/12/2010

Brand Aid: How to get your employer branding right in recruitment advertising

In today’s cut-throat job marketplace with employment at an all-time high, employers are competing with one another to attract the best candidates for their vacancies. The unimaginative identikit recruitment adverts that once dominated the job pages for years are being replaced by skilfully crafted and well designed formats aimed at maximising employer branding in the quest to be an ‘employer of choice.’

04/12/2010

Job boards guilty of recycling careers advice

With almost 30% of job seekers visiting a job board to obtain careers advice and key industry information, isn’t it about time that job boards provide current and appropriate guidance to people rather than recycling the plethora of careers advice articles that have done the rounds since time and memorial?

29/11/2010
Job application fraud continues to rise as job seekers resort to desperate measures

It is universally agreed that the last two years have been the toughest and arguably most competitive jobs marketplace during the post-war era. But despite the proverbial ‘green shoots’ of recovery promising a better, more prosperous future it seems that some job seekers are still prepared to do whatever they can to gain a competitive advantage over the rivals – even if that means committing ‘job application fraud.’

03/10/2010
Record number of start-ups - stimulated by the recession

The recent economic downturn provided the catalyst for a record growth in the number of recruitment entrepreneurs eager to go it alone, according to MacKenzie-Cummins Communications, Wales’s leading specialist public relations consultancy for the recruitment industry.

03/10/2010
HR gets a creative make-over as employers up their game in the war on talent

Creative and digital media specialists are fast-becoming some of the most sought-after workers for human resources departments throughout Wales as employers struggle to keep up with the pace of technological advancements that are rapidly changing the way they attract and retain staff irrevocably.

01/10/2010
1 in 3 workers reveal redundancy fears

A new report published today has revealed that almost 1 in 3 (31 per cent) of all workers in the UK still fear the loss of their jobs through redundancy. Yet it would seem that many employees continue to put their own career at risk.

01/09/2010
Industry Guide Pt 2: Legal

Part 2 of our insight into the Legal profession takes a look at the qualifications and skills that employers look for in a candidate for a wide variety of roles, what makes a good legal CV, interview preperation, and what career goals you should set yourself in your new legal career.

24/08/2010
Industry Guide Pt 1: Legal

A career in the legal profession is not all about pacing up and down packed courtrooms, delivering dramatic speeches that would guarantee your place in the World’s Greatest Orators of all Time list and make even the great Sir Laurence Olivier in his heyday bow down to you in admiration. And then when you have finished banging the world to rights you slip off and enjoy your cognac and cigar.

24/08/2010
Industry Guides

In the wake of last week’s ‘A’ level results and today’s GCSE’s results many students will be deliberating their future direction. With some 200,000 students expected to miss out on a place at university this year and an increasing number of school leavers feeling relatively despondent and uncertain of their career prospects – even if they choose to continue with their education, many people will be re-evaluating their career choices and may even be re-considering what other options may be open to them.

19/07/2010
Are you getting the recognition you deserve?

When Ian Brown penned the lyrics to the Stone Roses’ atmospheric anthem I Wanna Be Adored, he was writing about how some people crave recognition and attention for everything that they do. Although we don’t all have delusions of grandeur or expect to be have lashings of praise thrust upon us for the work that we do, it wouldn’t hurt if our bosses gave us the recognition that we deserve, would it?

09/07/2010
How the UK works versus the rest of the world

With more than half of British workers claiming they have experienced symptoms of overwork and a further 4 million already working over 48 hours each week, the work-related stress and long-hours culture has encroached our society. But if you think that we have it bad in the UK, spare a thought for some of our colleagues around the world.

09/07/2010
Are you being unrealistic about your job search?

Throughout the application and interview process you have remained positive and confident that it will only be a matter of time before you get that all-important job offer. Instead, you get the dreaded ‘thanks but no thanks’ letter informing you that, ‘on this occasion’, your application has not been successful. And now you find yourself continuing to send off more applications to newly advertised jobs.

07/07/2010
Making waves in the desert

Log onto any of the jobs sites for journalists and you will be awash with a plethora of recruitment adverts attempting to lure you away from the UK to ply your trade in the UAE, with the promise of creative freedom, ultra-modern surroundings and of course, tax-free income. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be, and can the likes of Dubai and Abu Dhabi really live up to the expectations of ambitious hacks?

06/07/2010
Daily gripe: Graduates want to work, not train

The results of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) bi-annual survey released yesterday highlight what many commentators have been saying for several months: there simply aren’t enough graduate jobs around. While the survey reveals that there are some 69 graduates applying for each position, this compounded by the fact that – like it or not – graduates are by-and-large simply ill-equipped with the skills needed to ‘make it’ in today’s working environment.

01/07/2010
When the boss is on holiday, how to cope?

When Gordon Brown took his annual leave he left three senior Cabinet members to take of the country in his absence. It’s a scene oft repeated throughout the UK and none more so than at this time of year as our airports play centre stage for a mass exodus of millions of people escaping in earnest for their summer holiday. As the boss takes time off to recharge their batteries – soaking up the sun while holidaying at some exclusive resort, sipping a glass or two of Château Margaux or some other fine wine considered too valuable for their owners ever to uncork – their deputy steps up to the plate and assumes responsibility for the ensuing two weeks. But while the cat’s away, the mice won’t have too much time to play – especially in today’s ever-increasing no-room-for-error workplace.

29/06/2010
Daily gripe: Why Twitter is NOT a numbers game

For any forward-thinking business Twitter is unquestionably a must, irrespective of whether your customers are from the B2B or B2C sectors. It is the fastest growing and leading microblogging site being used today and over the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500%. But my gripe is the number of tweets I see every day from people offering tactics to increase the number of followers I’m getting or boast that they now have 1,000 people following them – you’re all missing the whole darn point of social media!!

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