| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
There is nobody with a job in one sixth of all homes. That figure is likely to increase over the next few months. If you are one the many unemployed, what can you do short of waiting for things to improve? (more…)
BT’s announcement that it is to discontinue its graduate training scheme is the latest blow to what is becoming known as the ‘lost generation’. The number of young people (18-24 year olds) not in work or education is now 835,000, one hundred thousand more than even a year ago.
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Sometimes it pays to take a contrarian view, to look at things in the opposite way to the norm. So, whilst redundancy is an all consuming disaster on so many levels, it can also be an opportunity if acted upon in the right way. And treating redundancy as an opportunity can often resolve the situation and allow us to move our careers forward.
The tragedy of one in six young people being unemployed is compounded by the inadequate official response. The knee jerk reaction from all agencies involved is to offer them some sort of training, in the hope that this will qualify them for whatever job they stumble across in the future. There is rarely any discussion about what training, and in any event the skills they will learn through conventional training are far less important than the skills they will fail to pick up by not being in work.
Reading the financial press this weekend left me somewhat confused. The sharp rise in share and commodity prices over the past month seems to have all commentators in agreement that the recession is entering a new phase. But they are split down the middle on whether we are at the beginning of an economic revival, or whether the recent rises are a ‘bear market rally’, meaning a temporary respite before another steep fall. There does however seem to be a general consensus that unemployment will continue to rise. And that is the most confusing prediction of all. (more…)
Response to Redundancy is a government funded initiative to help people who have lost their jobs to find new work. It is aimed both at individuals and at the organisations who are forced to make them redundant. It sounds like a good idea. Yet it seems that many providers of the service are having difficulty finding participants to take advantage of it. (more…)
July and August are always lean times for job hunting and this year promises to be even leaner. If you are out of work and the imperative to find a job is urgent then this promises to be a difficult period. Unless you recognise the constraints of the season and adjust your job hunting routine accordingly.
New research shows that one in five workers are putting in an additional 25 hours, or the equivalent of three days work a week. And 49% of employees have either taken a pay cut or a pay freeze since the recession started. Although on the face of it this seems unfair, it is in fact a win-win situation for both employees and employers. (more…)
One initiative being touted in influential circles is known as Alternatives to Redundancy, or ATR. Under this scheme, rather than making staff redundant, employers will pay them them the equivalent of Job Seekers Allowance, in addition to the benefits they receive from the government, for up to six months. After six months they will get their job back. (more…)
Over the past few days we have been exploring how you can protect your job if redundancy is looming. This is the third and final article in the series. All three articles will be circulated shortly to our mailing list, so if you would like a copy please go to careerenergy.co.uk and enter your name and e-mail address in the boxes on the right hand side. (more…)