| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
Unemployment fell slightly last month, by 3,000. The previous month’s figures had shown that that the rate of unemployment was slowing down, so the latest statistics seem to confirm that we are at a turning point. Things seem to be improving, though this is of little comfort if you are looking for a job; the competition is still immense and I have to say there are some funny attitudes out there. (more…)
We saw the new George Clooney film, Up In The Air, this weekend. It is a forgettable film but it intrigued me because it is apparently about an outplacement company in the United States. And it seemed to highlight glaring differences between the way outplacement is conducted in the United States and in the UK. Until I looked into it more closely. (more…)
Planning a career change is a very methodical and structured process, based on a thorough, objective understanding of one’s personal qualities, skills and need which are then matched against a range of potential career paths. (more…)
The past ten years or so have seen a remarkable growth in coaching as a technique to help us to do more, better. There are various forms of coaching- the most effective being workplace related, particularly career coaching, executive coaching and performance coaching. There are also others, like life coaches, financial coaches and relationship coaches. An analogy is often drawn between workplace of coaching and coaching on the sports field, but there is one major difference. (more…)
In a bid to reduce the demand on public funds the CBI are proposing that students personally contribute much more to the costs of their education. Students are arguing that this would result in far fewer people entering higher education. Both sides have a case. However the real issue is not the cost of higher education, but its purpose. (more…)
The engineering consultancy WSP have been running an innovative scheme to encourage staff to reduce their carbon footprint. The scheme will be welcomed by environmentalists and career professionals but less so by libertarians. Libertarian environmentalists will have something to think about.
What is it that makes someone throw a promising career away? Whether Damian McBride, Jonathan Ross or one of many other similar cases, what is it about the way they view their career that allows them to lose all sense of proportion? Is it an overwhelming passion for the work they day, such that they no longer see things in perspective? Or is it just madness, or stupidity? (more…)
A report issued today by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers says that four in ten teachers have faced verbal or physical aggression from a pupil’s parent or guardian. This is yet another reason why at Career Energy we are meeting disenchanted teachers in their droves. And yet another obstacle in the path of the Training and Development Agency’s campaign to recruit many more teachers into the educational system. (more…)
We have had the dire media predictions, the dramatic bank collapses, stimulus packages, interest rate slashes, company failures, job losses, bankruptcies and now the recession has become an established part of our lives. We are living with it. It no longer makes the front pages every day but for many people life is grim, with no sign of work on the horizon. For many others life is about to get that way, unemployment will reach three million no doubt before things start to improve. There are no new solutions. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the old ones. If you are job hunting you have to carry on, and in as positive a way as you can. (more…)
Something that all good career professionals notice, time and again, is a reluctance on the part of people who have been made redundant to take up the offer of outplacement services. What tends to happen is that an employer appoints Career Energy, or another outplacement consultancy, to to provide job search support services to a specified number of people whom they are making redundant. But the number who actually contact us to commence the service is always fewer than anticipated. Which is odd, given that there is no negative side to outplacement; it costs the employee nothing and can only increase and speed up their chances of getting a new job.