Reed Job Index - Q1 2013 Highlights

Reed Job Index - Q1 2013 Highlights by Tom Bunkham With the first quarter of 2013 behind us, we take a look at the industries and regions demonstrating the strongest signs of growth in the jobs market.Cant see your area of interest below? For more information surrounding your industry, view the latest Reed Job Index to see what is happening.ConstructionSince March 2012 the number of jobs available in the sector has increased by 54.05%.February to March 2013 saw a 9.12% increase in job opportunities across the UK.East MidlandsOver the past 12 months the number of job opportunities in the East Midlands has grown by 14.85%.The security and safety sector has fared particularly well, with a significant 236% increase over the same time period.Hospitality CateringThe UKs hospitality and catering jobs market has boomed in 2013, with job opportunities growing by 9.47% since March last year.East Anglia is the best place to live if you want to work in hospitality and catering and has seen a 31.4% increase in job vacancie s since March 2012.IT TelecomsThe UKs IT and telecoms jobs market has accelerated in 2013, with job opportunities growing by 11.46% since March 2012Regionally, Scotland comes out on top, with a significant increase of 72.5% in the past year. Job opportunities in Yorkshire and the Humber have grown by 33.6% over the same period.PR MarketingPR and marketing job opportunities are up 13.39% over the last year, according to latest figures from the Reed Job Index.Yorkshire has seen the biggest difference, with a significant 95% increase in opportunities since March 2012. Job vacancies in Scotland were up by 87.5% in the same period.ScotlandIn March 2013 the number of job opportunities in Scotland had increased by 33.5% compared with one year ago and 11.67% since February. Comparatively, job opportunities across the UK are up by 9.84% since March 2012.The construction property, and security safety sectors, have in particular shown significant growth since the beginning of 2013, with a 58.3% and 60% rise in job opportunities respectively.WalesThe strongest performing sector in Wales is estate agency, which has seen a significant 36.6% rise in job opportunities in 2013.The IT and telecoms, and transport and logistics sectors, are also faring well in Wales with a 13.9% and 11.1% increase in job opportunities respectively.West MidlandsSince March last year the number of job opportunities in the West Midlands has grown by 19.49%, with the charity voluntary sector performing particularly well and surging by 277% in the last 12 months.The motoring and automotive industry is the second most buoyant job market in the region, with an increase of 64.5% over the past year, closely followed by leisure and tourism which has experienced sharp growth of 181.2% in the same time period.Yorkshire HumbersideThe Yorkshire Humberside jobs market continues to strengthen, growing by 8.16% in the past year according to the latest Reed Job Index.The strongest performing sector is trans port and logistics, offering 30% more job opportunities compared to January 2013.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Features

3 career paths to keep you wholly satisfied

3 career paths to keep you wholly satisfied Career Paths Can you remember what your five-year-old self’s career aspirations were? Maybe you wanted to be an astronaut, the first woman to set foot on Mars. Or maybe you pegged your coat to a career in science, becoming the Marie Curie of the modern age. As we get older, our career aspirations tend to change. Would-be astronauts become administrative assistants and supposed scientists turn into humble bank clerks. And there’s nothing wrong with that â€" as long as you can attain a certain level of job satisfaction. According to the Wall Street Journal, job satisfaction is at its highest since 2005. Business research group The Conference Board polled 1,500 workers and found that 51 per cent were happy with their chosen careers. The Wall Street Journal wrote, ‘Over the past seven years, Americans report feeling better about their pay along with a greater sense of job security, both features of an economy with a low unemployment rate and a long decline in layoffs.’ ‘In July, jobless claims continued an extended post-recession slide and hit their  lowest level in nearly 50 years.’ It’s an impressive series of statistics â€" but where does it leave you? To help you achieve peak job satisfaction, here are a few career paths you might not think of. Parking valet Do you love that fresh car smell? Or are you a whizz in a customer-facing environment? If the answer is, ‘why yes, I love both of these concepts’ then becoming a parking valet might be exactly the road to drive. A huge number of employers are searching for parking valets, including Looking4.com’s Orlando branch. This is the chance to put your driving skills to the test, and make sure you can keep customers happy with speed and precision. For the valet with keen eyes and team spirit, you could end up managing an entire branch of an international airport’s valet firm. Tech While the lights of Silicon Valley might not shine as brightly for tech nerds as they did a decade ago, this is still a vital place in the world of technology. Home to Google, Facebook, YouTube and a slew of other corporate behemoths, a career in tech could net you a major salary and a number of perks if you play your cards right. The downsides? Long hours and continuous pressure to innovate. But if that sounds like no-sweat to you then this is the perfect path to travel. Marketing specialist The US is the home of marketing. We know how to do things bigger, better and gutsier than everyone else. It’s why Mad Men could only be set in America â€" we’re its leading proponents. And that’s still as true a statement today as it was 50 years ago. Marketing specialists are needed across the States, and you can make a whole load of dollars if you cut the mustard. That’s our list! Can you think of anymore? Then let us know in the comments below!

The Music-Resume Approach to Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Music-Resume Approach to Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The problem In mid-July, I was being smothered by the metaphorical unemployment mosh-pit at this summers hottest event for recent graduates: The Post-College Job Search. Its a chaotic cluster of potential employees scrambling atop one another in hopes of landing a career launching entry-level position. Its claustrophobic. Theres pandemonium. You might get stepped on if youre not careful. Amid the pushing, shoving and ducking of the unemployment mosh-pit exists a cut-throat environment of competition. Unless youre the guy who thinks its a good idea to start stage-diving (not recommended) or one of the occasional crowd-surfers (somewhat recommended), theres little luck in standing out from the horde. I was caught up in this mosh-pit for several weeks (an unemployment Woodstock, if you will) and although I managed to get noticed several times with a few results, I felt no different than the average mosher. So, battered and beaten by the overwhelming crowd, I decided to retreat, pick up my guitar and join the band onstage. The idea Us marketing majors are a unique breed. We say that were creativea claim thats just dripping with ambiguity, typically raises an eyebrow and always results in a follow-up please explain question during a job interview. Plus, its an even harder trait to convey on a typical paper résumé. With the job market so tough, the applicant pool heavily saturated and the hindering vagueness of my proposed creative marketing talent on a piece of paper, I realized that I might need to try something new. So to get my voice heard, I sat down and sang a tune about my skills and accomplishments. I initially wrote the Musical Cover Letter to send out to prospective employers as a supplement to my paper résumé. Because I was looking for a job where I could exploit my creative nature and utilize my work experience with social media, I decided to develop a creative Musical Cover Letter and utilize social media networks to help its distribution. In other words, showcasing what I can do for the job that I want to do. I figured it would be like hitting two chords with one strum (okay, that joke was bad). The Good: The exposure was fantastic. I owe the initial success of the video to my friends on Facebook who passed it around. Soon after it was released on Youtube, my Gmail inbox was exploding with mail and I was subject to a dramatic increase in Twitter followers. In hindsight, Im incredibly satisfied that I decided to include my Twitter name in the video Ive landed several job referrals and subsequent interviews from the micro-blogging tool. Its really remarkable. Overall, the video got my name out there and bolstered my networking base, two aspects which will be worthwhile and lasting. Plus, now that Ive got a significant audience, blogging and tweeting becomes more significant and valuable for myself in the future. The Bad: In a way, I lost control of the video as it began to spread. I had to try to find a happy medium between micro-fame and actually using it as a means for reaching out to employers to eventually land a job. Maybe somebody important from a marketing agency that I would kill to work for got a kick out of the movie and might consider interviewing me. But, since the video was received virally, he or she might just chuckle, pass it on or forget about it. Since I wasnt able to express interest in this Marketing Agency by sending the video to them directly, I lose the perceived interest in applying there in the first place. Of course, I had no idea who was watching it (although Youtube Insights demographics informed me that Im HUGE in Latvia and Korea) but judging by several Tweets that mentioned me, I think the video climbed up several corporate ladders. Obviously, I cant make a music video cover letter for every company I applied for, but I can still show incentive by seeking out p ositions that interest me, actively apply for them and attach my Musical Cover letter as a supplement. The resolution Altogether, it was refreshing to step out of the mosh-pit and tackle my unemployment problem from a new perspective. Inevitably, the musical cover letter has lost some steam over the past week, but it doesnt make it ineffective in the long run. The video is still great portfolio material and a convenient example to pull out in an interview when Im subject of the dreaded how-are-you-creative followup question. Although I never explicitly stated what type of job Im looking for in my musical cover letter, I recently built my website to help ameliorate that issue. Ive had several interviews (both phone and face-to-face) in the past month, about half of them from positions I directly applied for and the other half from those who enjoyed my video and wanted to see what I have to offer. Several very kind people provided referrals and some folks even inquired about freelance work. With the rate Ive been applying to positions and networking, Im confident that Ill have a job very soon. If not, I can always take some time off to write the off-Broadway musical, Hired! It shouldnt be too difficult besides, I already have the first song figured out. Guest Author: Al Biedrzycki is a Marketing Graduate of Bentley University. He is the creator of Hire Me, the Musical Cover Letter and his own website, www.albiedrzycki.com. He is an avid blogger, Twitter user and graphic designer.

How We Plan and Create Content at Classy Career Girl Part 2 - Classy Career Girl

How We Plan and Create Content at Classy Career Girl Part 2 Todays post is Part 2 in a series about how we plan and create content here at Classy Career Girl. We have been creating and publishing content consistently for the past almost 9 years, so I really wanted to share what is working for us! Read Part 1 here if you havent! Secret Weapon: Batching Content This has been a total game changer for me. Batching is when you sit down and do similar work all at once. The book Deep Work really changed how I spend my time. Batching work helps me stay focused and get more done in less time. It really will change your life! Here is the thing: content creation isnt always going to make you money, at least not in the short term. You have a lot of work to do and creating content is important, as it helps you build trust and relationships with your audience. But it isnt going to make you sales, at least not right away. Protect Your Time By Working More Effectively So you, need to protect your revenue-generating time, whether that is your day job or other work for your business. Batching work helps you do this more effectively. Choose just one of the steps below and see how much easier it is to publish better quality content more consistently. Give yourself one hour to schedule out all your social media posts for the week. Just one hour! The point here is to limit your time so you work more efficiently. Spend just two hours writing blog posts, then schedule them. Dont worry about if they are perfect, just make sure they are valuable and get them scheduled. Spend an hour writing down all the topics you want to cover in the next six weeks. Get them plugged into your editorial calendar and write an outline if you have time. Answer emails at one specific time a day. Dont keep going back to your inbox, it will just distract you! Block off 4 hours to record videos for a whole month. They can be short, that is okay. Just get them done and you will feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Start Slow ­ ­ If you are getting overwhelmed by all the details, take a deep breath. You have to start somewhere. Even one Instagram post a week will get you started towards building your dream business. If you have half an hour, you can sit down and schedule one Instagram post a week for the next month. Just half an hour and youve taken one baby step towards your dream. Related Post: How to Create an Instagram Schedule Plan   Dont feel like you need to do what everyone else is doing. I spent way too long feeling like I had to do certain things to succeed. In reality? Things grew when I stopped listening to other people and started doing what works for me. So, commit to taking that first baby step. Maybe that is writing one blog post a month, or scheduling one Instagram post a week. That is okay. A baby step will get you closer to your goal, not doing anything at all leaves you stuck. Avoid Perfectionism I used to drive myself crazy trying to make sure everything was perfect before Id turn in work to a client or launch a new project. I didnt realize that being perfect can actually be a negative. It can hold you back, feed self-doubt, and keep you stuck. You only get better if you practice. And not everything is going to be perfect, and that is okay. If you wait to publish a post until it is perfect, you might never publish it! You can help people, but you cant do that if you never hit publish. If being perfect is holding you back, give yourself permission to be terrible. You will never get good at something if you dont give yourself permission to e terrible. It is a process. Honestly, when I look back at my content from five or six years ago, I can see how imperfect it was. But I got it out there, and over time I got better. How to Break Out of the Need-To-Be-Perfect Trap Set a hard deadline for your task. Maybe that is two hours for a blog post or 30 minutes for social media posts. Setting a deadline will motivate you and keep you focused. Set realistic expectations and goals for yourself. No, you arent going to be able to write a 5,000-word ebook in 30 minutes. But, you can write one blog post in an hour or two. And, if you need to adjust, that is okay! Hit publish. If you wait until your post is perfect you will never publish it. There is always going to be a sentence you could tweak or a story you can add. Let your content out in the world where it can do good. Dont keep it trapped because you think it isnt perfect. Stop Make Excuses; Start Doing It is easy to get stuck in your mind, to start over thinking it, to feel like there is just too much to do. The secret to creating content consistently is really simple. You have to get started and just keep doing it. I know that probably sounds a bit silly. It is so easy to make up excuses in our heads, to tell ourselves we arent good enough or that no one will read our content. Will that happen? Maybe. But what if it works? What if you are able to help just one person? What if you can build the most amazing business, the most amazing life? It could be even more amazing than you can imagine. Stop making excuses. Stop trying to be perfect. Stop telling yourself you dont have time. Get started. Today. Even if it is just spending 15 minutes outlining a blog post or creating your editorial calendar for the week. Then, share your progress on Instagram with @classycareergirl! I will be there to cheer you on! Tools for Creating Consistent Content Temi Transcribing Content Find Stock Photos WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin CCG Google Doc Editorial Calendar Tomato Timer Asana Trello Grammarly

How to Train Your Staff on Phone Etiquette CareerMetis.com

How to Train Your Staff on Phone Etiquette Phone etiquette has fallen to the wayside, despite there being more phones on earth than people at this point in our history.This problem is especially evident in the workplace where employees, particularly younger, inexperienced employees, don’t know how to interact with people on the phone. With so much of our communication coming in the form of text these days, it’s no wonder people are struggling to “talk” to one another on the phone. It’s become almost acceptable at this point to just send emails and text messages for everything from job applications to emergency messages.evalIf you run an organization and you want to stand out against the competition, consider improving the way your staff answers the phone and how they treat callers on the other end.To help you do this, here are some employee training tipson how to train your staff without insulting them or upsetting them. It’s a good reminder that we are meant to talk to one another, not type to one another.1) Rall y the TroopsevalRather than confront people on an individual basis or single anyone out, it’s better to take a bottom-up approach to any training in your company. Not only does this help staff feel like they are contributing to the overall improvement of the company, but it avoids having people feel like they are being attacked, which can just add fuel to the fire.As the CEO or owner of the company, it’s your job to express concern for the way communication and technology seem to be clashing. Just because messages are being sent doesn’t mean they are being understood. With a little care and consideration, everyone could make a great impact on the way customers and callers perceive the company. That means everyone wins.You can see how this approach makes the initiative a company-wide value, rather than a disciplinary action or punishment. Taking a positive approach to improving, rather than “changing” the way people use the phone, will go a long way in getting participation and execution of such ideas.Ask everyone for their ideas on how to improve the phone systems, interactions between departments, and of course, how staff can improve interacting with the public, customers, and callers. It might be worth considering what can be done to improve email communications as well, but that can be a conversation for another time. It’s important to roll out new initiatives one at a time so people understand what is expected of them and can focus on making that part of the company better with their full attention.2) Create a PlanOnce you have collected all of the suggestions from team members and staff, make a point to write down all of the information and format it into some kind of report that you can distribute to everyone for review. Ask staff to provide feedback on the report and offer another chance for them to provide more input at this time.evalOnce you’re satisfied that everyone has read and understood what is expected to improve over the course of a set time frame, you can set about creating a plan for rolling out the new communication efforts.To do this, start with one department of your organization and ask them to take notes of how the different interactions occur and what might change over time as they work to improve their efforts.Some of the expectations you might have set may include a value such as answering the phonewithin a certain number of rings, not putting customers on hold for longer than 2 minutes, never transferring a call without knowing who is calling first, don’t tell people to call back â€" serve them now. Improving telephone etiquette is not so much about what people say, but how they say it and how fast customers can get a response.If someone is on hold for 10 minutes after getting an answer on the first ring, their hopes are dashed by the quick and efficient customer servers that the answer on the first ring provided. That leaves people feeling tired and overlooked.evalImproving your staff’s phone etiquette can also be achieved by paying attention to “what” people are saying, of course. In your report, you might provide some examples of how you’ve observed people answering the phone and engaging with customers.Rather than scold people for their behavior, which is never effective anyway, provide examples of better ways to answer the phone.For example, rather than tell a customer they are being put on hold, making it a company rule that you always ask for permission to place someone on hold. It’s a simple action, but it’s one that will be felt in a remarkably different way for customers who have no way of knowing what’s going on at your place of business. Making them feel like they are part of the conversation, and not a nuisance goes a long way.3) Follow up with StaffAfter some time of rolling out the new phone etiquette values, hold another meeting to talk about how the staff feels about the changes.Again, the best way to train your staff on everything from phone calls to applying for internal positions is to approach it from a team perspective and a learning perspective.As the boss, it’s your job to help employees learnto be better at their jobs. Providing people with a platform to talk about how they want to be better gets them more invested and involved in the initiatives that grow your company.As you continue to follow up, always ask for new suggestions and test those suggestions in smaller groups before rolling it out to the larger groups.This also makes individuals feel important and like they are part of the decision-making process. It also takes the weight off your shoulders and gets more hands on deck to make choices that impact the workers and their work.4) Pivot as You GoOne of the benefits of working with your staff on how they want to be trained and what areas need to be improved upon is that they will take more ownership of the approach and result. This also means that you will get access to more insight and ideas as your st aff works through training and implementation.evalWhen training staff for the first time, even on something as commonplace as how to use the phone, it’s important to be flexible and open-minded. Meaning, the way you think it might all go down is not necessarily the way it will happen in the end â€" which maybe for the better.Given that there are standard practices for how many businesses answer the phone, that seems like a good place to start, but you may find that those standards or commonplace way of doing things might not suit your needs, personality, or staff. Forcing people to act a certain way when it’s not the culture of the company can mean that people won’t invest as much time or energy into learning something new or implementing it.eval5) What to Train Staff On?When it comes to training your staff on proper phone etiquette, there are some areas that you’ll want to consider and consult with your staff on; for example, you’ll want to find an agreed-upon salutation when you or anyone else picks up the phone at the office. The salutation should be positive, upbeat and inform the caller of the company name and the name of the person answering the phone. It is also courteous to ask the caller how you can help.It might sound something like this, “Thank you for calling ABC Company, this is Julie. How can I help you today?” If everyone answers the phone the same way, consistently, then callers know what to expect when they call and will come to associate your brand with friendly, helpful service.Another area to consider is when a customer claims to have been wronged. Your company might have the policy to apologize first and get to the bottom of the issue second. Rather than try to correct the customer â€" which many organizations do â€" your company might adopt the policy that it takes responsibility for its wrong-doing, even if it’s just the customer’s opinion.evalHow you handle these issues internally can be different from how you handle t hem externally. Ensuring that your customer has a positive experience in complaining about an issue will become more important than the issue. Customers can be disarmed when they receive an apology and then the real work of fixing the issue can begin.6) Moving ForwardFrom time to time, you might come to find that you need to alter your approach or retrain your staff to meet the changing needs of your company, but for now, start with agreeing on a place to start and a positive approach to your staff’s needs.Training your staff on phone etiquette is something that many organizations overlook, and it is a conversation that happens in passing when a receptionist or front desk person is brought on. “Just say the company name and ask for which department the caller is looking for” is often all that is given as advice or “training.” But when you take the time to collaborate and you treat phone etiquette as something as important as the rest of your operation, it shows.As for what a staff member should say when they answer the phone, a friendly greeting, followed by an invitation to help is enough to make your company stand out. These days, many organizations overlook the importance of how people answer the phone because cell phones make everything feel much less formal than a phone call did years ago.Take the extra step of providing a proper salutation and keep your staff involved in going changes and improvements to see a drastic change in how people view your company, your values, and your workers.

68 Get a Job - Personal Branding - Jane Jackson Career

68 Get a Job - Personal Branding - Jane Jackson Career HOW TO GET YOUR DREAM JOB BrandingWhy is personal branding so important in your job search? Many listeners ask me about specifics regarding the job search or career transition process so, from Episode 65 through to Episode 71 I’ll discuss each of the essential steps to take control of your career or your job hunt. This episode is all about personal branding.Each episode will cover one step of the process and you can listen to two steps a week for the next three and a half weeks.I was recently honoured to be interviewed by podcaster and branding specialist, Ryan Rhoten on his Brand New You Podcast and we talked about my book, Navigating Career Crossroads in great detail. The 7 episodes of this JOB SEARCH SERIES feature our in depth discussions about each step.Listen to this episode and find out what to do about your personal brand and professional image.For comprehensive training on how to build your Personal Brand for Career Success check out this program

Tips to Write Your Resume in French

Tips to Write Your Resume in FrenchYour resume French should be as attractive as possible, to show your potential employer that you are well versed in French. When writing a resume, you need to make sure that it is a short yet effective one. There are many tips and tricks that can help you compose a resume that will make an immediate impression on the employers you interview.Before you start writing your resume, make sure that you check all the grammatical errors and mistakes that might be present. It is very important to proofread your resume to make sure that it is as professional looking as possible. You also need to ensure that the information you include is accurate and clear.Make sure that the title of your resume is written in simple English. Use of any long words in your resume can ruin the overall effect of your resume. The language of your resume needs to be conversational and not formal. If the employer sees that you have used proper grammar and structure, they will feel m ore comfortable hiring you.Even before you sit down to write your resume, make sure that you know a few words in French. Knowing the vocabulary will help you with your resume writing. You may want to practice the words by reading books or using online vocab tests. The more you know, the easier it will be for you to write your resume.Try to avoid using technical words on your resume. Using technical words will make you seem much more fluent. On the other hand, if you use too much of technical language, it will look artificial and you will not get a good impression from the employer.Writing your resume French is a great way to communicate. It also helps to make a good first impression. It will also help in getting you the job you want. It is no longer necessary to travel abroad to look for a job because you can do it right at home. Therefore, you need to make sure that your resume French is impressive and you stand out from the rest.As you are writing your resume, make sure that you c an answer questions. Before you take the interview, make sure that you are prepared to answer any question that the interviewer might ask. This will help you show your willingness to work and be flexible at the same time. You need to prepare ahead of time to give yourself the best chance to land the job you want.Make sure that your resume French is impeccable and professional looking. Keep these tips in mind to help you write your resume French in no time.