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There are several possible ways for a company to approach a round of redundancies. They can ask for people to step forward for voluntary redundancy. They can implement a policy of last in first out, or concentrate the cuts on one particular department or team which has become surplus to requirements. They do have legal constraints on what does and what does not constitute redundancy. But at the end of the day, irrespective of the law, many companies will use personal, subjective methods to determine who to let go and who to keep. Put bluntly they will try to get rid of those who are underperforming or who do not fit it. So how do you guard against possible redundancy yourself? (more…)

Nearly 30 per cent of City finance professionals are so worried about the future that they are planning to leave London. This is according to a survey by the City website eFinancialCareers. The report has given rise to fears that the the loss of talent will lead to a downward spiral in the number of jobs available after the recession and that the City of London will lose its status as a major world financial centre.

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Two surveys out today offer encouraging news for those who love their jobs and dread the thought of retirement. A joint report by Help the Aged and Age Concern says that 60% of people surveyed thought they would have to delay their retirement due to deficits in their pension. And a Financial Times survey found that 60% of people would support working beyond state retirement age in order to receive a bigger pension.

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I frequently meet people in their fifites or sixties who need, or want, to find a new job. Many of them say that although the career path that they have been on to date has served them well, it is not enough for them, they feel as if they could achieve more. But they also feel that their age makes it difficult for them to implement a significant career change and that they ought to take any job that comes along, irrespective of how much they will enjoy it.

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Watching a TV clip of a Buckingham palace garden party last night I was reminded of something a journalist had asked me earlier in the day. He wanted to know what a company needed to do to motivate and support staff following a round of redundancies. It occured to me that many of the people attending the garden party would have been representing companies which had gone out of their way to procure invitations for them. Companies that wished to be known as good places to work. (more…)

There have been indications recently that the economic contraction could lead to reversals in some of the social progress in the employment sector over the last twenty or thirty years. It is not surprising. When jobs are short and money tight, the natural impulse is for the dominant social group to close ranks, to the exclusion of those who are more vulnerable. But if left unchecked these murmurings- for that is all they are at the moment- could herald a worrying change. Which may be one of the reasons for the government seeking to bring in a new law to tackle inequality in the workplace.

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Compare these two statements, taken from the BBC web site:

“I’m not saying green shoots or anything like that by any means but I am saying that whilst we have not reached the bottom, the rate of decline appears to have slowed”

“Unemployment is the country’s number one emergency and the government must use all possible means to address it.”

Which one was made by a government minister? (more…)

What do you do when you have devoted your life to one successful career and it all blows up in your face? Take the example of someone who started work in the UK, joined a global company, was promoted to senior level, relocated to the New York office then sent to Singapore to head up the South East Asia division. The global recession caused the company to hit the rocks and he lost his job. Now at the age of 55 he is a global traveller, living in a country he does not want to be in, he wants to go home but no longer knows where that is, his networks in the UK are long dissolved, he feels his industry is now dominated by younger, sharper people and he does not know where to turn. (more…)

One of the reasons why the principles that underly conventional CVs are are out of date and in need of a major overhaul is the mythology about what or what not ought to be included in them. Over the years many misconceptions have developed about a CV’s essential content, and in time these have become hallowed as essential by recruiters, employers and candidates alike. it is time to address these misunderstandings. (more…)

Passion is just one of many words that business that is misused in contemporary business-speak. Nobody watching Didier Drogba’s reaction to the perceived injustices of the Chelsea-Barcelona game can doubt his passion for the game or his career. But this is far beyond what is meant when employers use the word in job adverts, e.g. we are seeking a candidate who is  passionate about quantitative analysis. So what does passion mean in a working context and how do we communicate it to employers and to our teams? (more…)