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Archive for the ‘Job Hunting’ Category
The UK Benefits System for the Unemployed Workers
Unemployment has been a hot topic for debate for as long as most can remember; it is an issue that has long overshadowed this country with periods of unemployment causing great concern. With state of the current economic climate, unemployment is at an all time high. More people are being made redundant, struggling to find employment and are having to resort to applying for benefits. Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) is applicable to those aged 18+ and that are able to work. For those who are not in employment, JSA is the only source of income into a household and enables them to stay afloat.
The benefits system in this country has not always been considered a success.
For those who have spent many years in employment, paying their taxes, it is the perfect support system in a time of financial need and is a monetary stopgap whilst new employment is sought. For these people, the system is ideal.
However, there are those that consistently apply for benefits without any intention of becoming employed. There are those that for some reason genuinely cannot work, whether it is due to health reasons or having to care for another family member. But there are those that simply do not want to work for no real reason other than they prefer to be at home and receive a weekly payment of around £56.
Around 2 million UK residents are currently claiming JSA, and many of those are actively seeking work. But there are those who are long-term claimants with no desire to work and it is these that cause the greatest upset amongst society.
The job centre is the place that decides whether or not a claim is acceptable, if you will receive your payments each fortnight and whether or not you are actively seeking work. In order to receive your payments on time, claimants must attend the job centre every other week to ‘sign on’. They must sit with an advisor, discuss what they have been doing to look for work and then sign a booklet, which then results in them receiving their money. It is all very simple.
Although there is a lot of emphasis on not committing benefit fraud, on actively seeking work and preventing people from being on benefits long term, there seems to be no real redress on any. There are no real penalties for those that get caught committing benefit fraud, no motivation for long-term claimants and no check up on those that claim they are applying for jobs.
The job centre and its policies are responsible for those who claim JSA and if their systems and procedures were stronger than it would dramatically reduce the number of people that spend their lives on benefits.
There are a number of ways to look for and apply for jobs and although the competition is fierce, it is not impossible to become employed. The Internet is probably the best way to look for positions of interest and with so many having access to the Internet there is no reason not to utilise this source.
4 Suggestions To Get Your CV or Resume Discovered Online
Though government statistics and media will continue telling us that unemployment in the USA is around 8 percent, the real number is actually closer to 22 percent. As a result, the job market is more competitive than ever. Recruiters are getting hundreds of resumes and CVs for each job posted, most of which are tossed into the round file immediately. Your resume must immediately catch the eye of recruiters and human resources personnel for you to have any chance at landing an interview. The traditional methods of simply listing your previous employers, educational background, and e-mailing the resume, are no longer enough to advance to the next step in landing your dream job.
Video Resume
A new and clever way to impress recruiters is to ditch the paper document altogether and create a short introductory video about yourself. A video resume is especially effective when the position you seek requires personality, such as a public relations job. You should wear business professional attire and speak about your work experience and goals in a natural way. Recruiters will be able to tell if you’re reading, so its best to just speak off the top of your head and film several takes before settling on the final product. Your video can be posted on Youtube and the link sent to potential employers.
Infographic Resume
A resume can’t only inform a potential employer of your experience and education, but can put on display your creativity and imagination. An infographic resume can include timelines, graphs and other colourful visuals that are sure to make it stand out from the rest. Companies that are resource management conscious could make you a higher priority because they determine you have additional skills and could cross-train in other departments. A versatile candidate is an attractive one, especially with companies downsizing and eliminating dead weight.
New Job, New CV!
Nobody particularly likes writing a resume. But in today’s market, job-specific resumes can give you an upper hand over the other applicants who used a one-size-fits-all document. After reading the job description and requirements, find the company’s website and read their mission statement and “about us” section. You can find buzzwords about the company here and include them in your resume. This will let recruiters know you’ve done your homework and will make you sound like someone who really wants to work for them.
Searchability
A typical day of job searching generally includes reading through Craigslist and help wanted ads, then emailing your resume to those you think would be a good fit. But optimising your resume so recruiters can find you will make your search that much easier. There are several methods, besides posting your resume on Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com, that can bring employers to you. Stumbleupon.com has a “pay-per-click” service called Paid Discovery that can help bring employers to you using the site’s 25 million registered users. Video resumes on Youtube should include relevant keywords, specifically your name and descriptive, searchable terms regarding your skill set. A tweet stating your desire to find employment, along with trending relevant hash tags, is another way to bring recruiters to you.
Jobs that Never Existed 15 Years Ago
Job titles seem to remain fairly consistent, but due to advancements in technology, the Internet, and other evolutions of society, there have been a number of new job titles popping up in the last decade or so. Some are due to societal changes, others because of worldly shifts in business, or perhaps, increased social responsibility. Regardless of the variable that may cause a new job to be created, here are 10 job titles that simply did not exist 15 years ago:
Professional CV writing services for new jobs.
- Social Media Manager: The emergence of social media as the cultural and now even commerce-driven fixture that it is today was not even possible 15 years ago. Social media was nearly non-existent until the early 2000s with the emergence of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and now more than 200 well-known social media sites. Now companies see the role of a social media manager/strategist to serve in the frontlines of their messaging and customer service battlefield. A social media managers are key members of any marketing department, and drive brand awareness for their company, one Tweet at a time.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategist:With over 400 million searches per day and 25 billion indexed web pages, search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing have created a high demand for SEO specialists. Someone with the job of SEO strategist is focused on getting their company’s web page(s) to appear at the top of search engine rankings. As more and more websites are added to the interwebs each day, this role becomes increasingly important for companies who bring in business through their websites.
- Online Marketing Specialist: Fifteen years ago, online marketing was not yet a fixture in the advertising industry, primarily because internet connections were not fast enough to accurately produce the flash banners and pop-up ads we see online today. An online marketing specialist is given the duty of effectively marketing a company’s products or services through various online forms of advertising. Traditional and online schools are now offering Online Marketing degrees to meet the demand of this growing profession.
- Talent Manager: A talent manager, headhunter, recruiter, or whatever else this role is affectionately called is a branch human resources that has become a very popular field within the last 15 years. They are the ones in charge of finding the most qualified employees for a certain job, and then, making sure they stick around. Talent managers are popular in fields that have a high demand and low supply of talent like IT, various sales positions, medical jobs, and even Internet marketing.
- Customer Feedback Manager: A customer feedback manager’s job is all about user satisfaction and the experience that a company provides for its customers. This position is designed to compile feedback on how that experience rates among competitors and how to possibly improve upon it. A customer feedback manager is also concerned with the overall image and atmosphere that a company shows to its customers. The growth of social media has spawned popularity in this role.
- Company Sustainability Supervisor: With environmentally friendly practices and social responsibility having a bigger impact on today’s business, many companies now designate a position to oversee the company’s sustainability. A sustainability supervisor’s job is to ultimately see that the company has an eco-friendliness and connection to the environment.
- IT Disaster Prevention Specialist: With the magnitude that Internet technology holds with companies these days, the possibility of its computer system coming crashing down is always lurking. For such reason, companies have designed IT disaster prevention specialist positions to prevent such catastrophe from occurring.
- IT Recovery Specialist: Similar to IT disaster prevention, a recovery specialist has the duty of restoring all of the information lost in a systems failure. This position came about with the vast amount of data that companies have had to keep protected, and the subsequent need to recoup such data after an IT disaster. This position has been around for a while, although it has gained traction as every business’ assets are stored digitally.
- Educational Consultant: This position is typically an independent contractor role designed for students to find the best educational fit. Educational consultants work with children and their families to get students into the educational environments best suited to their learning needs. This field provides students and their parents with more information and better options for helping students find . Think of it as a glorified college concierge, or 2.0 tutor…
- Web Content Managers: Due to the increasing use of the Internet in commerce, many companies have hired web content mangers for their web sites and to correspond with customers. Content marketing and blogging has become the big push for companies these days, and a web content manager orchestrates all of those efforts.
Hopefully the aforementioned jobs offer insight into the nature of how jobs come about, and what jobs are new and exciting to the market. What the future will bring is uncertain; we can only imagine what creative job roles may start showing up on business cards in the next decade and a half.
About the Author: This article was written by Allie Gray Freeland, Editor in Chief of CollegeOnline.org, a website that offers college options and resources for prospective college students.
Getting a job is one of the hardest tasks known to man. You go through all the hard work of gaining qualifications and sitting down and searching through the web or newspapers looking for jobs only to suffer knock back after knock back and slowly getting increasingly downhearted.
A lot of the time, the reason why job applications are unsuccessful is down to the initial application. We hear so much from career advisors and recruitment agencies about the importance of a standout application, one that really jumps out at the employer and ensures that yours doesn’t become just another application in the pile on the desk.
The obvious thought that goes through many minds at this stage is “right, bright colours and images” but this can work against some because they go too far and the application becomes unprofessional – it’s a real catch 22 situation.
So what do you do? Get noticed, but don’t be in your face – that just adds to the confusion – so here are five tips for creating a standout job application that will stand you in good stead for earning yourself an interview at the very least, (hopefully!)
- Do your research. When you start to fill out an application, you need to consider who it is you’re applying for a job with. You need to tell the employer about everything that is relevant to the position in question, which includes your qualifications and all the details that show why you meet their criteria. To do this, go through the company website, or even pop in and get a feel for it if possible, and you can then show a thorough understanding of the business and why you’re perfect for a job there.
- Read the instructions. Many people go wrong when they don’t read the questions on the application form properly. They glance at it once, get an idea and begin to fill in their response and without realizing it they’ve gone off topic and not answered the question sufficiently. Check, check, check again and then begin to write. Even try writing your answers on a separate piece of paper to make sure you’re happy with your response before writing on the application form.
- Answer all of the questions. Don’t leave any questions unanswered, as this will automatically indicate a lack of understanding or ability. Before sending your application off you need to make sure everything that requires an answer has one, and not just one to ensure it’s filled in, one that is good enough to get you an interview or the job itself.
- Be consistent throughout your application. When you send in a CV, you need to include all of the dates. Where a number of applicants for jobs fall is when they then talk about their qualifications and get the dates wrong, which shows inconsistencies to the employer who may feel that you are lying in your application. Make sure every date you mention is correct and backed up with evidence.
- Proofread it! After taking the time to get your application right, don’t fall at the final hurdle by allowing spelling or grammar mistakes to be your downfall. Proofread everything you’ve written to ensure it is correct and makes sense.
Thanks to Chris White for this article.