Find out what employers are looking for to beat the September jobs rush

September marks the start of the busiest job hunting season of the year and with competition high, understanding what employers are looking for can make it easier to secure a role.

Whether new graduates or established professionals, those who are successful in their search will have more than their CV to hand, they will understand the value of their reputation and leverage it to create advantage.

What type of skills are employers looking for?

“A polished CV, rich in skills and experience is the minimum expected but you need to be clear about your future aspirations and why you believe you can achieve them,” said Jason Miller from Tinder-Box Business Coaching.

“Employers are looking beyond qualifications to the sort of person you are as much as what you have achieved, making your RV - your reputational value –as important to a prospective employer as your CV.”

Jason has worked with some of the UK’s large organisations to design graduate recruitment and talent management strategies and believes there are five things that an individual should consider to enhance their reputational value.

1 Understand your current reputation. Get curious as to what you are known for now. Ask friends, colleagues, bosses or even your old teachers to get as broad a view as possible. This will help you to understand who you are and why you are already successful.

2 Understand what drives you and let people know. Look at your list of achievements and understand what it is about you that enabled you to achieve them. Understand what motivates you and gives you the edge. Be ready and proud to present your values and personal motivations as much as your academic track record.

3 Check your social media presence reflects you. Consider Google as an immediate reflection of your online reputation. Type your name in and see what words and images appear. Does your reputation in social media reflect the person written on your CV? Is what you see consistent with who you are and how you wish to present yourself?

4 Embrace your new identity. Be ready to present yourself as the person you’ll be when you secure the position, not as the person you have been until now. This is a new chapter and employers want to employ someone who they are confident will be a competent future leader, not a student. Ensure that you present your future self.

5 Be clear about what you’re striving for. Be really clear about your future aspirations are and be prepared to articulate these clearly to any potential employers. Employers will be interested in not only what you’ve done to date but the potential return on the investment that they make in hiring you.

Choose a workplace you love and you will never have to work a day in your life

Being happy in the workplace is very important. People who enjoy their jobs and office environments will be more determined to work to the best of their abilities and keep procrastination to a minimum. It is true to say that a happy worker who feels valued and appreciated will invest time to get the job right.

But how do you achieve happiness in the workplace? First of all you have to find a job you love, but often this is not enough. If your offices are depressing, gloomy, dysfunctional and deeply uninspiring - the job you love might sadly become the job you hate.

Creativity, hard work and bright ideas come from positive and happy workplace environments where the people are allowed freedom to think, develop and express themselves. It should be a place where they can feel truly worthwhile. So does happiness need to be built-in to the fabric of an office place?

Peldon Rose is a very successful award-winning, workplace solutions company that has been dedicated to producing happiness in the workplace for over 25 years. It designs enviable places to work including creating spaces for major brand names and blue-chip companies such as Platina Partners, Google, World Gold Council and Tullow Oil.

Fun for them is paramount. They understand that personnel morale can transform a company into a successful business. So here are some top tips from the company in ensuring a happy work environment.

Let yourself go: Be spontaneous and have the right state of mind to enjoy work. Create breakout areas where people can socialise, network, play games, discuss ideas and relax during office hours.

At Tullow Oil for example, large seating booths are designed to enjoy a meal or have semi enclosed meetings with a high acoustic property. Each of the pods is totally wrapped in fabric panels forming the seat and back pads as well as the ceiling. They are a complete escapism from the rest of the space and are used throughout the day for informal meetings, as well as catching up with work friends at lunch times

My office desk: hot desking is a good solution for busy offices where space is limited and people come and go but in most working environments, personal desks are a great way of making your employees feel more comfortable when at work. Thanks to smart desk designs, desks can be fitted taking minimal space whilst still providing a friendly and efficient working environment.

Places to think: creativity and bright ideas cannot be produced at will but have to be nurtured and encouraged. Positive and calming environments especially designed to facilitate thinking time, with soft colour tones, can facilitate creativity.

In the World Gold Council offices an innovation room was created. Peldon Rose was conscious about the importance of creating a room that was completely different from the rest of the formal office space. This area has been furnished with off the wall iconic pieces of furniture and has an electronic wall that will digitally copy anything that has been written down, capturing spur of the moment brain storm ideas.

Places to breathe: designing green areas in the office where plants can flourish, can be a great morale booster. Parks and green areas have a natural relaxing effect on the human psyche so why not bring some green to the office. Plants can literally bring an office to life by increasing the oxygen levels, purifying the air, and creating a calming, happier and more productive environment.

A green terrace with outdoor seating areas for Capsticks, the leading provider of legal services to the healthcare sector, has been designed by Peldon Rose, where staff can meet, eat, wind down and enjoy a break in the fresh air just inches away from their office desks.

Places to eat: there is an increasing trend of people having lunch at their desk due to time constraints but also due to lack of space or designated eating areas. This results in workers not taking any breaks with a rise in stress levels and feelings of discomfort. The creation of friendly spaces that offer a change of scenery where employees feel they can take a break from their desk and sit down for a meal is therefore very important and can have a great impact on staff morale.

At Tullow Oil, each of the four floor plates is designed with a relaxation point in each corner of the building. These spaces hold tea, coffee and food making facilities and are decorated with African Art and soft sofas and bar stools so people can really unwind.

Lighting: lighting can have a huge effect on people’s moods and productivity and therefore in an office environment it is a very important design factor to get right. When offices are lit too harshly, it can anger people, cause headaches and lead to a lack in creativity or concentration. Aside from appropriate roof lighting, giving people control of their desk lighting can make them feel happier.

Peldon Rose carried out the fit out operations for Sapient Nitro, a global marketing and technology firm and assisted it to relocate to the City of London. The office design was to be unconventional and innovative while still being client-focused. To achieve this Peldon Rose used a dynamic lighting solution that can be tailored to any colour within a spectrum of thousands such as the colour-changing lighting feature in the foyer.

In the UK, we spend more time working than any other nation. For sanity alone, employees should be providing spaces that allow people to perform at their best. As Jitesh Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Peldon Rose Workplace Consultants, said:
“Investing in people is so much more than providing job training. Companies need to offer the proper environments for employees to work to the best of their ability and to enjoy their day. A workspace that has a wow factor, doesn’t need to be expensive and it can save a company so many costs, from attracting and keeping the best personnel to providing the best base from which to be successful”.

Source Telepgraph UK

Economists and other experts outline how to create jobs

More than two years after the Great Recession ended, some 14 million Americans are out of work, nearly half of them for six months or longer.

August's unemployment rate remained at 9.1%, unchanged from July.

And so for the second time since early 2009, the government is looking to jump-start a job market caught between tight-fisted consumers and wary businesses. President Obama on Thursday is expected to propose more government spending on construction projects, aid to budget-strapped states and new tax credits to encourage hiring, among other strategies.

Republicans have signaled they're firmly opposed to another large economic stimulus that adds to the $1.3 trillion deficit. They prefer less-costly steps to promote job growth long term, such as cutting the corporate tax rate and streamlining regulations.

USA TODAY decided to look past the partisan crossfire and ask more than a dozen think tanks, economists, industry groups and lawmakers a simple question: What can Washington do to get America back to work again?

Repair roads, bridges, schools

Fixing the nation's aging infrastructure would create jobs more quickly than tax cuts — in as little as a few months — and meet critical needs that must be addressed eventually. Transportation bottlenecks are costing the country about $200 billion a year, or 1.6% of economic output, according to a study by a bipartisan coalition of state and local politicians. It would take $2.2 trillion over the next five years to upgrade the USA's roads, highways, seaports, rail lines and bridges, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates.

With yields on 10-year Treasury bonds at about 2%, borrowing costs for the U.S. government are as low as they've ever been. "There's never been a more opportune time to invest in infrastructure," says Andrew Fieldhouse, policy analyst for the liberal Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

To make a tangible impact, Congress could go big, spending $200 billion each of the next two years. Fieldhouse says that would create more than 2 million jobs and reduce unemployment about 0.8 percentage points. While that may seem ambitious in an era of fiscal austerity, each dollar spent generates $1.44 in economic output, according to EPI and Moody's Analytics. As a result, about half the money would come back to the government through increased tax revenue. Some funds also could be used to build out a smart electric grid, bring broadband to rural areas and upgrade water systems.

Political and budget realities, of course, may mean shrinking grand visions. A growing chorus of economists are calling for a more targeted plan to upgrade the nation's schools with projects such as fixing up playgrounds, removing mold and installing solar panels. Unlike highway or rail improvements that take months to launch, cash could be funneled to states and school districts within 30 days through existing funding formulas, and much of the work could be done in the winter. And since the projects are more labor-intensive, they would largely pay for salaries rather than heavy capital equipment.

Such a plan could draw wide public support, says Jared Bernstein, former economic policy adviser for Vice President Biden and now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "These are the public schools in our communities where we drop our kids off."

A broad jobs bill by Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., calls for spending $100 billion to create 650,000 school construction and maintenance jobs in two years.

Yet anything that looks even remotely like the $800 billion economic stimulus might face an uphill fight in Congress.

A more politically palatable option that's gaining some traction is an infrastructure bank that would provide loans and loan guarantees to private firms that could recoup their investments through highway tolls or local sales taxes. Obama has pushed the idea. And a bill by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, would leverage $10 billion to $160 billion in public financing to generate up to four times as much in private investment.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue this week said, "There is lots of private money there" to invest in infrastructure improvement.

Here's the rub: Such a bank could take at least a year or two to get up and running, so it wouldn't provide the kind of short-term stimulus needed to quickly jump-start the anemic job market.

Give states ahelping hand

Since early 2010, budget-crunched state and local governments have cut 425,000 jobs even while private employers have added 2.3 million. States face budget shortfalls totaling $103 billion in the current fiscal year, helping to force an additional 300,000 state and local layoffs by the end of 2012, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

The government could provide up to $20 billion to states to save about 200,000 teaching and other government jobs. That's probably the quickest way to prop up payrolls, says Michael Ettlinger, vice president for public policy at the liberal Center for American Progress. A $50 billion program would close half the $97 billion deficit states face for Medicaid payments, saving about 500,000 jobs, Fieldhouse says.

Schakowsky's bill would spend $227 billion to create 2.2 million jobs in two years, at a per-job cost of about $50,000 a year, all through existing funding programs that can disburse the money within weeks to states and localities. Besides the school repair projects, her plan would hire about 350,000 teachers, police officers and firefighters, 40,000 health care workers and 100,000 youths to spruce up parks.

Add workers, at a discount

If you want to boost sales, cut the price. That's basically the idea behind a tax credit for each new employee a business hires over its staffing level the previous year. To make an impact, the government should offer a per-employee credit of $10,000 as well as 10% of increased wages for two years, says Michael Greenstone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

"This is most directly targeted at the thing you want: more employment," he says.

A similar tax credit last year didn't appear to light a fire under employers. Those that hired people who were jobless at least eight weeks were exempt from the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax. Employers of 10.6 million workers from February through October 2010 were eligible for the credit, which saved as much as $3,480 for the addition of a $40,000-a-year worker. But the Treasury Department acknowledges it doesn't know how many of those workers would have been hired anyway.

Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business oppose a hiring tax credit, saying companies add workers because of increased sales, not temporary windfalls.

Yet a sizable credit could nudge companies thinking of hiring but hesitant to pull the trigger amid economic uncertainty, Greenstone says, adding that last year's credit was too small. He also would not limit hiring to employees who've been jobless for a minimum period as that discouraged businesses that simply wanted to recruit the best workers.

Studies found a $4,500 tax credit in 1977 — $14,400 in 2008 dollars — increased employment by 3% at firms that knew of the program vs. others that didn't, creating 700,000 jobs. Greenstone estimates that under his plan, employers would add about 6 million jobs that would be eligible for a tax credit, about 900,000 of which would not have been created otherwise.

Share jobs to save jobs

Perhaps the least expensive way to bolster payrolls is through work sharing, a program that encourages employers to avoid layoffs by cutting all workers' hours instead. For example, instead of laying off 20% of its staff, a company could trim all workers' hours by 20%. The government then would make up half the workers' lost pay with unemployment insurance — so it's basically a wash or a small expense for state and federal coffers.

"It keeps people employed and at very little cost," says Dean Baker, chief economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Twenty-two states have work-sharing programs, but they're sparsely used. Baker says a federal initiative would be better publicized and could give employers more flexibility during the program to modify the number of employees getting reduced pay.

Although the recession's widespread job cuts are over, businesses are always laying off some workers, even when total payrolls are growing. An average of about 650,000 workers a month this year have been temporarily laid off, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If 10% of their employers adopted work sharing, 65,000 jobs a month could be saved.

In Germany, widespread adoption of work sharing helped lower unemployment to 6.7% from 7.1% before the global downturn despite economic growth that has lagged behind the U.S.

Lower corporate taxes

Many economists call for cutting the average 35% federal corporate tax rate to make the U.S. more competitive in a global economy. The average tax rate in Europe is 23%. Chris Edwards, senior fellow at the conservative Cato Institute, calls cutting the rate to 25% "the single best thing we could do" to grow jobs. Obama has said he wants to reduce tax rates while eliminating loopholes and deductions.

Trimming the rate to 22% would cost the government $81 billion in lost revenue but create 350,000 manufacturing jobs directly by 2019 as it prompts U.S. and foreign companies to open factories here instead of overseas, the non-partisan Milken Institute says. An additional 1.7 million jobs would be added as benefits ripple through the economy, Milken says.

Economists say it could take a few years for any tax cuts to grow jobs. But Aparna Mathur, an economist for the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says creating certainty about tax policies could lead firms to hire in the short term.

Train the jobless

At least part of the reason for the high jobless rate is that many laid-off construction and manufacturing workers, for example, lack the skills for growing jobs in heath care and technology. Thirty percent of companies surveyed by McKinsey Global Institute say they have had positions unfilled for six months or longer.

Darlene Miller, CEO of Permac Industries and a member of Obama's Jobs and Competitiveness Council, is helping spearhead a 16-week course in advanced manufacturing at two Minnesota colleges. The program, she says, aims to promote better coordination among colleges, businesses and area career centers to identify and train workers. Officials hope to expand the initiative across the country in three to six months, Miller says.

The council, she says, also wants to help schools graduate 10,000 more engineering students each year to meet a dire shortage of engineers. The panel aims to raise $100 million in private funding for scholarships, launch a media campaign to trumpet engineering careers and encourage schools with high graduation rates to share their strategies.

Cut red tape

The Chamber of Commerce calls regulatory roadblocks that delay construction, environmental and other permits "the most significant obstacles to new hiring."

McKinsey says "inconsistent and sometimes lengthy" reviews can add months or years to project development, discouraging foreign firms from locating in the U.S.

Susan Lund, McKinsey's research head, says the government should allow one-stop shopping so companies can secure various permits from a single agency as well as enterprise zones in which many permits would be pre-approved.

It would be no surprise if the job-creation debate bogs down in political wrangling, with Democrats favoring new stimulus and Republicans supporting tax cuts. But Ross DeVol, Milken's chief research officer, says any viable plan must include both.

"We can't allow ourselves just to be in one or two camps and believe those are the only prescriptions that will work," he says. "Think of it as portfolio of stocks and bonds. You wouldn't want to have all your investments in one particular area."

Source: USA Today, By Paul Davidson

Find out what employers are looking for to beat the September jobs rush

September marks the start of the busiest job hunting season of the year and with competition high, understanding what employers are looking for can make it easier to secure a role.

Whether new graduates or established professionals, those who are successful in their search will have more than their CV to hand, they will understand the value of their reputation and leverage it to create advantage.

What type of skills are employers looking for?

“A polished CV, rich in skills and experience is the minimum expected but you need to be clear about your future aspirations and why you believe you can achieve them,” said Jason Miller from Tinder-Box Business Coaching.

“Employers are looking beyond qualifications to the sort of person you are as much as what you have achieved, making your RV - your reputational value –as important to a prospective employer as your CV.”

Jason has worked with some of the UK’s large organisations to design graduate recruitment and talent management strategies and believes there are five things that an individual should consider to enhance their reputational value.

1 Understand your current reputation. Get curious as to what you are known for now. Ask friends, colleagues, bosses or even your old teachers to get as broad a view as possible. This will help you to understand who you are and why you are already successful.

2 Understand what drives you and let people know. Look at your list of achievements and understand what it is about you that enabled you to achieve them. Understand what motivates you and gives you the edge. Be ready and proud to present your values and personal motivations as much as your academic track record.

3 Check your social media presence reflects you. Consider Google as an immediate reflection of your online reputation. Type your name in and see what words and images appear. Does your reputation in social media reflect the person written on your CV? Is what you see consistent with who you are and how you wish to present yourself?

4 Embrace your new identity. Be ready to present yourself as the person you’ll be when you secure the position, not as the person you have been until now. This is a new chapter and employers want to employ someone who they are confident will be a competent future leader, not a student. Ensure that you present your future self.

5 Be clear about what you’re striving for. Be really clear about your future aspirations are and be prepared to articulate these clearly to any potential employers. Employers will be interested in not only what you’ve done to date but the potential return on the investment that they make in hiring you.

Source: telegraph Jobs.co.uk By Louisa Peacock

Asia needs more high quality jobs to maintain growth

Developing Asia needs to create more high quality jobs if the region is to sustain the rapid economic expansion seen over the past two decades, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.

"Asia has outstripped other regions in growth and employment creation since 1990," ADB Chief Economist Changyong Rhee said at a press conference in Singapore. But "Asia still remains home to most of the world's poor."

"I don't want to downplay the importance of economic growth, but on the quality job front, progress has been less impressive," he added.

Citing figures compiled by the Manila-based development bank, Rhee said the two-thirds of workers in developing Asia, which excludes Japan, were employed in the informal sector in 2008, little changed from 1990.

In India, the proportion of informal workers rose to 82 percent of the workforce, from 80 percent between 1991 and 2008. However, Thailand's percentage of informal workers dropped to 54 percent in 2008 from 70 percent in 1990, while Malaysia saw a drop to 22 percent from 31 percent over the same period.

In contrast, informal workers made up 12 percent of the workforce in developing Europe in 2008, and 33 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

ADB said informal work is usually a sign of underemployment and lower incomes as well as the absence of social safety nets.

The bank urged low-income Asian countries to make it easier for workers to move from rural to urban areas in search of higher-paying jobs, as well as support activities to increase productivity in the rural non-farm sector.

It also recommended extending basic levels of social protection to informal workers.

Looking ahead, Rhee said Asia will be able to ride out the slowdown in the United States and Europe so long as there's no repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

"We believe that Asian economic growth at this moment is robust and resilient enough to cope with a slowdown in the advanced economies unless this becomes a full-blown crisis which is very unlikely," he said.

Source : SINGAPORE (Reuters)(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Ed Lane)

Singapore Tightens Rules on Hiring Foreigners

Singapore’s government, facing complaints from residents having to compete with foreigners for jobs, tightened rules on Tuesday for firms hiring overseas workers in mid-level positions.

The ruling People’s Action Party is under pressure to restrict the number of foreigners seeking work in the rich city-state after May parliamentary elections that saw the opposition make historic gains.

Labor shortages mean the country has to rely on immigrant workers for many jobs. The unhappiness voiced by voters in the run-up to elections included competition for jobs and places in schools.

Starting in January next year, a foreigner must earn S$3,000 ($2,493) or more a month before he can qualify for an employment pass that will let him work in Singapore.

Singapore in July raised the minimum qualifying salary to S$2,800 from S$2,500.

“Our aim is to avoid increasing dependence on foreign workers over the long term, by keeping the foreign share of the workforce at about one-third,” the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.

Source: GMAnews.com

Six ways to work well with recruiters

1) More is not better
Contact a minimum of three and an absolute maximum of six recruiters – any more and you risk losing control of your job search, with different recruiters sending out your CV for the same vacancy. That’s something banks really hate.

2) Get specialist
The recruiters you deal with should specialise in your job function and have solid experience. Don’t think someone is an expert in, say, risk management, just because the job title says so – he or she may have only recently been assigned to the sector. Choose someone who has been recruiting in risk for a number of years. Look at recruiter biographies on the firm’s website, or on LinkedIn.

3) Consider niche firms
Also remember that although it’s probably the large, mass-market agencies who will show up on a Google search, niche firms may be just as good. Leading consultants from the big players often end up opening their own boutiques, some of which will focus on your job function. So don’t rush your research of the recruiter market – take the time to see who’s really out there.

4) Ask them who they work for
It’s important to discover from the outset which banks your recruiters represent and which they do not. If someone says “every bank”, walk away: it’s just not true. They should be able to name a few key employers and answer your questions about them.

5) Test their knowledge
Have a chat about your job function to see if they can talk the talk and understand current issues, both technically and from an employment perspective. Ideally try to find recruiters who have worked in the financial sector themselves.

6) If they're good, stick with them
Just like bankers, recruiters are prone to changing companies. As a general rule, if you have a good relationship with a recruiter, stay with the person, rather than his or her firm. It's the individual consultants who usually have the industry contacts and the knowledge that you need.

Source: efinanciacareers.com By Simon Mortlock

How to Find a Job in a “Jobless Economy”

Job seekers may be very surprised to learn that human resources pros and recruiters attend conferences to talk about “the war for talent.”

Ironically, when so many people are looking for work, many hiring managers still have a difficult time connecting with the right candidates. They pay consulting firms a lot of money to teach them how their organizations can use Facebook to connect with potential applicants, and they hope Google+ is the next great social network to tap for professional information about new hires.

In the meantime, the average job seeker continues to plug away, applying for position after position, with little to no success in many cases. Jackie Bassett, the CEO of BT Industrials, Inc., works with the CEOs of a variety of global companies that are in growth mode. She acknowledges, “They all tell me their number-one constraint to growth is finding the right talent.” While many lost jobs are not coming back, “brand new needs have appeared that have yet to be met. The opportunity to fill any of those needs is everywhere. They just won’t be found where we used to go to look for them.”

Bassett collaborates with CEOs and with Joel Abraham, a talent manager at EMM Holdings and the author of Hired: Networking to Land the Job You Want, to help get the word out that all job seekers—from new college graduates to executives seeking jobs earning six figures—can get hired, even in today’s economy.

She explains, “CEOs, CFOs and community leaders everywhere aren’t waiting for Congress to find you a job. They are taking action now in many innovative ways. They know there are jobs out there. They know how they got where they are today. They got themselves hired and went on to create jobs they need to hire for. They are sharing their advice via career events town by town, family by family, college grad by college grad, to do whatever it takes to find the right talent they need to grow their companies and grow the economy.”

You can still land a job in a stubborn market. The trick is to avoid relying entirely on old-school mechanisms and to embrace new ways to get the word out about what you offer a hiring manager.

Curious how CEOs view the “jobless economy” that we seem to be stuck in? Some working with Bassett comment on concerns that are top-of-mind for many job seekers today. For example, some economists and “futurists” are predicting a shift to a contract-based work economy, where most workers will not be employees of organizations, but rather will be hired on a project-by-project basis. Steve Hill, the CFO of Burst Media, points out, "Over the last five years, we have seen a major move from traditional media to digital media. Now all media-related businesses recognize this, from newspaper, book, and magazine publishers to advertising agencies and all their clients. There are and will continue to be tremendous opportunities for creative and talented people with experience in the digital world, despite the current state of the economy. The trick for job seekers will be to gain that first experience working in this area. Schools, colleges, and start-up companies can provide those opportunities for people willing and able to work for free or part time on a contract basis."

Another difficult factor for many job seekers, whose homes may be worth less than what they owe on their mortgages, is relocating for opportunities, or being willing to retrain in growth fields. Jim Sheehan, the CFO of Ember, acknowledges that the “unemployment levels are not evenly distributed across geographic and market segments. In the Boston area, where Ember is located, we are experiencing shortages in qualified candidates for several technical positions we are looking to fill, which supports the statistic of 3 percent or lower unemployment for some segments of the job market."

While many job seekers want “safe” and “stable” opportunities and resist uncertainty, Brad Casper, the executive chairman of the board and interim CEO of Dymatize, suggests succeeding by pursuing a less-traveled path. He explains, “When looking for new opportunities for advancement, conventional wisdom normally suggests to 'follow your passions' or 'build on your strengths.’ An alternative would be to leave your comfort zone and pursue a new career path that is less traveled and perhaps a little more uncertain; . . . to leave the comfort zone and take on an opportunity that may be just slightly beyond what you think you are ready for. Intelligent risk-taking can lead to fantastic career growth."

[See A Recruiter's Tips for Job-Hunting.]

Meanwhile, not everyone resists the pull of a passionate fit with an organization. Virginia Rybski, the CEO of Regenesis Biomedical, Inc., advises, “During the job search process, it is essential to look beyond the basic criteria of location and compensation; you must follow your passion. Success in a new role is clearly dependent upon your fit within the existing culture and the level of passion and commitment you are willing to bring. At Regenesis Biomedical, we identified a real need to help diabetes patients suffering from disease-related skin wounds and pain. The satisfaction of helping these patients and their caregivers helps fuel that fire within each of us to create passion-filled jobs for others.”

Of course, no one advisor (even from a panel of successful professionals) has the answer for every job seeker. There’s no doubt that an important ingredient in any job seeker’s arsenal of tools is a willingness to work hard to move in the chosen career path’s direction. Consider this thought from Sarah Coppinger, a 2010 college graduate who is now a journalist working for Hometown Publications, LLC: “One thing I've learned after talking with distinguished media professionals, artists, and writers is that success only comes after discovering a passion, and then committing yourself to the hard work that follows. This takes time, as well as sacrifice. But, if you're passionate enough, the opportunities you take will outweigh the sacrifices you make.”

Source: money.usnews.com by Miriam Salpeter

Using LinkedIn to source a new job when you are already in one

Most LinkedIn tips and advice are geared towards jobseekers between jobs. LinkedIn can be a valuable tool to support jobseekers in active employment too. This post examines how current employees can use LinkedIn to source a new job.

Get over your fear and start using LinkedIn – Using LinkedIn does not automatically mean you are job hunting. Many business and professions use LinkedIn for other reasons.

Create a strong LinkedIn Profile – A LinkedIn profile is your own personal sales brochure. Some compare it to an online CV but I think it offers more. Build a full and up-to-date profile ensuring impact content and achievements, keywords and recommendations.

Your Headline/Status updates – Many job hunters between jobs use this to tell the world they are actively seeking employment. Use your headline to indicate what you do and who you do it for. Avoid putting information about your job hunt on your status.

Manage your account settings – Adjust settings so that your connections are not informed when make changes to your profile or status. If they can see you are connecting with recruiters it might give the game away. Use the settings to indicate that they are interested in career opportunities and that you accept messages from other members. Help recruiters/opportunities get in touch.

Ensure your profile is keyword rich – In US 85% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find talent and Ireland is following fast. Identify the keywords that recruiters may use to search for your skills.

Join relevant groups – Join groups in your specific field or industry. Recruiters and potential hiring managers will be monitoring. Contribute to the groups by posting meaningfully comments. This will help increase visibility and draw potential opportunities to your profile. Remember that everyone can read your comments so don’t give the game away.

Expand your network – The more people you connect to the more you expand your reach. Remember it is about quality and not numbers. Actively hunt down and build relationships with relevant recruiters through your group membership.

Comment on Blogs/Forums – When you comment on an industry forum or blog it is important to post your Linkedin URL. This can draw people to view your profile.

Email signature – Place your Linkedin URL on your email signature. When you send emails you are opening yourself up to potential viewers. Use your personal email and depending on your role you may be able to add to your work email.

Source Paula Mullan.ie

Permanent Jobs rise in UK In August

The Report on Jobs published today by the REC and KPMG shows that permanent staff placements rose in August at a modest pace that was identical to that recorded in the previous month. Similarly, growth of temporary staff billings held broadly steady since July.

The key points in the Report this month are:
•Further moderate increases in permanent placements and temporary billings
•Growth of vacancies continues to ease
•Weakest rise in permanent salaries for 22 months
•Strongest rise in permanent candidate availability since January 2010

Although demand for staff continued to rise in August, the latest increase in overall vacancies was the slowest in nine months. Weaker rates of expansion were signalled for both permanent and temporary vacancies.

Permanent staff salaries increased only marginally and at the slowest pace for 22 months in August. Inflation of temporary staff hourly pay rates quickened to a three-month high, but remained weak compared with the survey’s historical trend.

Recruiters indicated another rise in the availability of staff during August. Permanent candidate supply improved at the fastest pace since January 2010,

Kevin Green, the REC's Chief Executive says:

“The latest Report on Jobs from the REC and KPMG highlights the robustness of the UK jobs market. In the face of a slowing economy, falling consumer confidence and high inflation, private sector employers continue to hire staff. The numbers are lower than three months ago but placements continued to rise in August, which was the twenty-fifth consecutive month of growth. The figures also show that with a month to go before the introduction of new regulations covering agency workers that businesses continue to depend on and use this flexible resource.

“The UK jobs market is being incredibly resilient. Even with increasing job losses in the public sector and a new influx of school-leavers it is performing much better than many predicted. We are confident that this trend is set to continue and that the Agency Workers Regulations will not undermine the UK’s flexible labour market given that our members and their clients seem well prepared for the impact of the AWR next month.”

Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG comments:

“Although the jobs market has held up relatively well, it remains in the summer doldrums and, worryingly, there seem to be early signs of trends similar to those of 2008. Whether this is a blip or a return to a familiar and unwelcome pattern will emerge over the next few months.

“Permanent and temporary staff appointments rose again in August but only at the same relatively low rates seen last month. And whilst it’s good that we are still seeing some growth in appointments, whether this can continue in the face of a decline in the rate of growth of vacancies remains to be seen.

“Employers continue to take a cautious approach to hiring decisions amid an uncertain economic climate. Whether this will persist as the summer holidays draw to a close is an open question. Much will depend on macro-economic factors and their effect on overall confidence, especially where permanent hiring decisions are concerned. With candidate availability continuing to grow – notably permanent staff availability has improved at the fastest pace since January 2010 – it’s a buyers’ market should employers choose to step up their recruitment in the autumn.”

Report on Jobs provides the most comprehensive guide to the UK labour market drawing from original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies.

Source: www. Rek.uk.com

Working break entitlements in Ireland

Your employer is required to give you adequate breaks during your working day. If they fail to provide you with enough or any breaks during your working day then they are in breach of Irish employment law. It’s important that you know your rights when it comes to taking breaks at work, and hopefully after reading this article you will feel more confident on this topic. These rules have been outlined in the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

Break Entitlements Chart
Under 4.5 hours : there is no legal requirement for employees to be provided with a break if they are only working a short shift
Between 4.5 – 6 hours : you are entitled a 15 minute break (unpaid).
Over 6 hours : you are entitled to a 30 minute break (unpaid).
Further to these legal requirements for breaks during your working day there are also rules for time off outside work

Between 2 shifts / working days you should have at least 11 hours of a recovery period after your last shift.
In a 7 day period there should be 24 hours between shifts (after the above recovery period of 11 hours).

These are of course guidelines, and in certain jobs you may be ask by your employer to take longer or more frequent breaks. Depending on your job this might reduce the risk of RSI (Repetitive Strain Industry) or other occupational injuries.