| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
According to a report published this week, 28% of managers are unlikely to hire someone whom they consider to be long term unemployed. But 84% of managers would have no concerns if the unemployment period was less than six months. This is more encouraging than one might have expected, but it does leave some important questions to be addressed by those who find it is taking a long time to get a job.
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…)
Unemployment is affecting young people more than any other group, according to a new BBC report. The unemployment rate among under 25-year-olds is more than double that of any group over 30. This is no surprise, youth unemployment is nearly always higher than any other group. The question is what to do about it, and indeed how to solve the problem with a positive strategy. (more…)
Watching the TV news can be a depressing experience for an old careers consultant. Two remarks last night brought that home to me. The first was the Prime Minister encouraging employers to notify the Job Centres of their vacancies. The other was a former manager from Woolworths, now unemployed, complaining about the competition for jobs; in his words thousands of people are all going for the same job. In the words of the Pete Seeger song: When will they ever learn? (more…)
Yesterday’s news that benefit claimants including single parents must “play their part” in the economy or lose payments is no surprise. But the way in which the proposals have been presented seems to be designed to fail.
Unemployment is rising, heading for 2.5 million. Yet Monster claims to have ‘thousands of jobs’, with nearly 4,000 being posted yesterday alone. Really? What’s going on?
The government yesterday announced measures to tackle unemployment and increase the responsibility of those on benefits to return to work. Benefit sanctions will be introduced for those who who refuse to attend Job Centres. But will these measures work? Indeed, do Job centres work? Or is the whole approach to the long term unemployed, and other socially excluded groups, misplaced and bound to fail? (more…)