Most people who are job hunting will look in the Press or on the Internet for jobs which are advertised.   They may post their CV on some jobsites and register themselves with agencies.    They completely overlook the less direct approaches which can be equally effective.

Consider speculative approaches.  Do some research to identify firms that you would like to work for and then give them a ring to find out the best person to write to.   This is very important because research* has shown that incompletely or inaccurately addressed CV’s and CV cover letters are rejected immediately by 83% of HR departments.  

Having identified the correct person within the firm, you can then make a speculative approach.  Enclose your CV and ask whether there are any vacancies which might suit your skills and competencies.   Don’t forget to send an sae for their reply.   You have nothing to lose, only the cost of a postage stamp. 

Another important tool in the job hunt, which is often overlooked is the power of networking.  Don’t be embarrassed or afraid of launching a networking campaign among people you have met during your career.   Fear of rejection is quite unjustified.   

If you were actually asking people for a job then you might have reason to be embarrassed.  However, when you network properly you never ask for a job, only for advice, assistance or contacts.   Such requests are usually received very positively because if you make the approach carefully the person will feel flattered that you should value their opinion.    

It takes a little bit of courage to make the first approaches, but once you get used to it you will find out just how powerful networking can be in your job search.   Good luck! 

Peter

* 2004 UK survey by the Royal Mail postal service of HR departments in large organizations in the legal, retail, media and accounting sectors 

I was browsing the web and came across a website dedicated to bullying in the workplace.   It was fascinating to learn from this site that

‘half the population are bullied’ most people only realise it when they read this page."

Now this seems strange to me – if they don’t know they are being bullied then one might assume it is not causing them a problem – that is, until they read ‘this page’.   

I am certainly not one to condone bullying in any shape or form but I do believe that it is often a matter of perception or even misunderstanding.  People who would otherwise be comfortable in a particular situation should not be encouraged to imagine that they are displaying weakness and are putting up with something unacceptable.  

‘What is bullying ‘  now that is a very interesting question.   We all have different personalities both in what we give out and how we react to other people.   What, for example, do you make of Sir Alan Sugar’s relationship with his ‘Apprentices’ in the TV programme   To some Sir Alan’s attitude might certainly appear to be bullying.  

I personally think that everyone has to learn from people who have more experience than themselves and this can sometimes be mistaken for bullying.   If a particular employer or senior manager has an unfortunate way of delivering feedback then that is not necessarily bullying.   Surely it all comes down to the question – what is the intention of the ‘bully’.   Do they even realise that what they consider to be positive feedback is being misunderstood    

I do recognise that bullying exists and that everything possible should be done to eliminate it.  I believe that many people do need help and moral support in standing up for themselves in the workplace and learning to avoid harassment.    However, the particular website I was looking at doesn’t appear to have much advice about how to tackle bullying and what action to take.   I looked around this site for a long time trying to find such advice but unfortunately without success. 

Now a site which gave helpful advice on how to tell the difference between management styles, how to understand whether you are really the victim of bullying and how you should react and what support is available to you.   That would be very helpful. 

But surely a site dedicated to persuading people that they are being bullied when they themselves were blissfully unaware of it – that has got to be counter-productive at every level.

Peter

It seems that in October 2007 there will be further changes in employment law which will mean that British workers’ overall holiday entitlement will increase from 20 days to 24, rising to 28 days by autumn 2008. Surprisingly, although we in the UK have less holiday entitlement than our European neighbours it seems that we are known for having the longest hours and the lowest productivity in Europe.      

As I understand it, the main reason for the change is in 1999 the UK did as little as they could to comply with the European directive.   This meant that although the law said that employees were entitled to four weeks holiday, many employers included public holidays in that entitlement.  This new legislation means that each employee is entitled to four full weeks plus public holidays.  

Whichever way we look at it, this seems an awful lot of holiday to me, being one of the self-employed, but in fact we lag far behind other European Countries such as France which gives workers 36 days, Italy with 32, and Germany with 29.

Peter