| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
I keep meeting people at Career Energy who have a similar problem. They are motivated, committed and effective in their work. Yet their confidence has been shot to pieces and their self esteem is low. And it has all come about because they do their jobs too well, which unsettles their colleagues and bosses. (more…)
Several times a day for the past few weeks Career Energy has been receiving calls from HR professionals, all of whom have the same question: “My company is making people redundant. We would like to offer them outplacement. I have not done this before. Can you tell me about it?” Clearly outplacement is being talked about in HR circles as a new and essential component of the redundancy process. But why has it become essential now? (more…)
It may seem odd to discuss this when redundancies are rife and unemployment soaring but far sighted employers are already beginning to think about how they will be able to retain their key staff once the recession is over. Why? Because when the economy revives many new job opportunities will come on to the market and top staff may well be tempted by attractive packages offered by competitors.
We published the results of our job satisfaction survey yesterday. Our research reveals the true impact the recession is now having on sentiment among the UK’s workforce, and especially a worrying level of job insecurity. However the reality is not that bad and there are still many jobs out there. The difference is that recruitment has changed and competition is intense. If you fear for your job, or find yourself out of work, there is a lot you can do. A recession can be an opportunity, it is all about how you approach it.
The government will announce today that specialist recruitment firms are being called in to help job centre staff to place unemployed professionals and senior managers into new roles. The Employment Minister is quoted as saying that job centres are “dealing with people who haven’t presented before”. That is certainly the case. Which is why the solution is not a quick fix using a hurriedly drafted group of recruiters (who only have a limited number of jobs at their disposal) but a thorough and radical overhaul of state funded job seeker provision to bring it up to standard. (more…)
‘Not every good businessman is a good presenter’ was how the MC concluded the corporate fund raising event that Career Energy attended last night. It had been a carousel of small businessmen (I mean men, no women brought their companies along) who were piching to a group of investors for funds. As career professionals we often advise clients on how to start a business, and we thought that the event would be instructive for us. It was. (more…)
Many better behaved companies, the BBC apparently amongst them, are freezing salaries this year as a way of saving money and avoiding redundancies. It is good for the companies as well as for their staff; it means that when things pick up they will save money on recruitment costs as well. But will a salary freeze be enough? (more…)
Somewhere out there amongst the recession hit carnage of the British economy are highly talenteted entrepreneurs and business people. Who are planning to take advantage of the distressed stock and companies on offer to create themselves a new business empire. And somewhere out there amongst the ranks of the recently unemployed are the highly talented leaders and staff who they need to help them. You may be one of them. But before you can connect with them you have to know what they are looking for, and what you offer. (more…)
Pretend that you are considering enrolling with a career consultancy, like Career Energy. You know that professional career services involve a lot of consultancy time, you have looked into the costs and you are prepared to pay. You visit three different companies to see which one you like the most. Your question to each of them is: can you get me a job within six months. What do you expect them to say to you? (more…)
Politicians are so concerned about the threat of protectionism that we can be fairly confident that it it will increase. In fact there is already a creeping protectionism; Gordon Brown’s ‘British Jobs for British Workers’, Barack Obama’s ‘Buy American’ clause in his stimulus package and the proposed French bail out of the car industry in return for French jobs may all have been toned down, but they nevertheless indicate a trend. How would a protectionist economy, in which it is harder to export and hence to import, impact on your career? (more…)