The Workthing+ blog

Issue 11 - New Year's Career Resolutions

There’s a common event in the office at this time of year – no, I’m not referring to those Christmas party embarrassments – I’m talking about annual reviews and appraisals. It’s likely you’ll have sat down with your manager to discuss your performance, your salary, and your future at the company. Even if you held back the truth or are intending to abandon ship in the New Year, now’s the time to be honest with yourself.

For this reason, I advise adopting the time-honoured tradition of New Year’s Resolutions. Get on with these now, and you’ll be well-positioned to steer your career in the direction you want in 2010:

"I don't have any recent professional achievements...how can I market myself?"

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"I've been prevented from working due to long periods of illness...how do I deal with the CV gap?"

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Happy Christmas from Workthing+ ... and here's to 2010

In many ways, 2009 has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory for jobseekers. Jobs just haven’t been available in the same numbers that we’ve been used to for the past 10 years.

Earlier this year, we launched Workthing+ in response to the fact that jobseekers were conscious they needed to do even more to stand out. It’s proved to be a huge success, with thousands of members, fantastic feedback, and hundreds of attendees at our online career workshops.

Even though the market has been tough, there are some sectors where employers are finding it really difficult to find good candidates. People in work have simply been less willing to move jobs than in more normal times. As soon as we see real confidence returning to the employment market (hopefully in the second half of 2010), there will be a release of that pent-up demand; a wave of people moving roles and creating vacancies in their wake.

"Has anyone else experienced a lack of professionalism from financial recruitment agencies?"

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"I've been paid and treated like a full-time employee, even though I'm a contractor. Am I entitled to redundancy pay?"

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Hot sectors: November 2009

November signalled one of the most positive upturns in the job market for many months. The REC/KPMG Report on Jobs for November displayed a growth in both permanent and temporary appointments, pointing towards a brighter outlook for 2010.

Whether you’re a manager or executive wishing to target opportunities in your sector or whether you’re looking to explore new avenues, you’ll need to be aware of how the market is behaving. This month’s Management Moves report demonstrates some steady findings:

"We have found Workthing+ to be great value for money."

"Rexel has gone through much organisational change in 2009. Workthing+ helped us provide easily accessible outplacement support.

We chose Workthing+ in favour of traditional outplacement consultancies as we needed to provide support to geographically dispersed individuals and we had a limited budget.

We found Workthing+ great value for money."

Charni Davda, HR Project Manager, Rexel UK Limited

Advice from Jobcentre Plus – Preparing for an interview

Securing an interview is the crucial first step towards getting a job, but performing in the interview itself is a different ball game. To be invited for an interview you’ve obviously managed to impress the prospective employer on paper, but then you’ll want to do the same in person.

It’s natural to be nervous about interviews, but doing as much preparation as possible beforehand will give you the best possible chance of performing on the day. It’s amazing how many people overlook the most basic interview rules:

FREE online workshop - How to turn interviews into job offers

Are you getting interviews but not offers?

Don’t miss our next online career workshop where we’ll offer practical advice on how to succeed at job interviews, including:

• preparation and research tips;
• advice on what questions to expect; and
• how to handle tricky questions and salary negotiation.

Issue 10 - 800 applications and still no luck? Time to get networking

I got an email a few weeks ago from a chap who had made over 800 applications to job adverts, with no success – averaging 1 application per working hour! I think the big trick he’s missing is networking.

A couple of weeks ago, I joined over 260 people attending a free ‘Networking The Hidden Job Market’ online career workshop run by the Workthing+ team.