Relay Jobs is a website that has been designed to help individual access 2012 Games-related jobs and training.

They provide links to different services within London that may be able to help you to gain employment in the build up to the Olympics.

In particular they specialise in providing training such as CSCS (Health and Safety) training for jobseekers keen to access vacancies on a construction site, as well as training in a range of modern construction methods and other skills such as plant, scaffolding, security, steel erecting and PTS (rail work).

They state: “It is very likely that graduates of these courses will secure employment on the Park, as employers actually visit the training centres and interview candidates.”

For more information visit their website: http://www.relaylondonjobs.co.uk/

 

 

Thursday 19 November 2009
4pm – 7pm
Senate House, Malet Street, University of London, WC1E 7HU

•  More than 2,000 postgraduate study programmes
• An internationally recognised degree, acclaimed for its quality and excellence
• Study full-time, part-time or by distance learning
• Access to world class research library resources

 The Postgraduate Open Evening is an opportunity for prospective students to gain an insight into studying at the University of London.

 Not only will you be able to explore the range of study options available at the Colleges within the University of London, you can also find out about student life in London.

 Participating Colleges/Institutions:

Birkbeck, The Central School of Speech &Drama, Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmiths, Heythrop College, Institute of Education, King’s College London, London Business School, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSE, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway, The School of Advanced Study, SOAS (including The Centre for Development, Environment and Policy and Centre for Financial & Management Studies), The School of Pharmacy, St George’s, UCL, University of London External System and University of London Institute in Paris.

 Also exhibiting:

The Careers Group, University of London, Senate House Library, University of London Housing Services and University of London Union (ULU).

 Click on the banner below to go to the event website and pre-register.

Following news that career advice would be made available to 7 year olds in the UK (see here for more info) a lot of discussion has been sparked.

In particular I like an article from the BBC which asks celebrities including Will Young, Sian Williams and Edwina Currie what they wanted to be when they were 7 years old. Click here to read more.

When I was 7 I wanted to be a milkman. My logic behind this was that I could finish work at lunch time and play with my friends. Sadly this career goal never became a reality!

What was your goal when you were 7, and how does this compare with the job that you actually have? Comments welcome…

There was news in the papers yesterday that children from the age of 7 would receive careers advice in schools.

The comments from the public following most of the articles that I have read generally concur that this is a ridiculous idea. I agree that the thought of making children decide what they want to do at such a young age is not a good idea- but this is not what the scheme is encouraging.

In fact the opposite is true; ministers want to introduce coaching to encourage children from poorer backgrounds to aim higher and have more ambitious career aspirations. According to an article in The Guardian “too often those from poorer backgrounds fall short of their ambitions, suggesting better guidance may be needed.”

If career coaching can help to inspire young people to aim high in their careers then it seems like a sensible idea. The only trouble is that many 7 year olds will change their plans on a daily basis.

Nonetheless encouraging aspirations is a great function of career coaching. We find at C2 that many people come to us with the potential to fulfil their career aspiration, but lack the confidence to do it. Perhaps if we start to instill in school children that they can aim big, and show them how to do it, then this will be a skill they can draw upon throughout their whole career.

You can read more about this story in the following articles: 

The Daily Mail: Pupils aged seven to get careers advice

The Guardian: Children as young as 10 to be given careers advice

The Telegraph: Primary school careers advice ‘designed to break middle class dominance’

The Careers Group has created a series of podcasts and videocasts. They cover diverse topics from difficult interview questions to networking to writing a CV.

On top of that there are recordings from workshops that we have run. This includes videocasts of the talks given by the speakers on the Arts Administration Course.

There are also recordings from he following workshops: Careers in Charity, Graduate Entry into Medicine: Entrance Exams and many more.

To watch/listen to these recordings please go to: http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page795.asp

Happy viewing!

On Wednesday the 14th of October LinkedIn announced that it had 50 million users. 1 million of which had joined within the last 12 days. Newsflash- LinkedIn is growing fast!

If you’ve thought about using LinkedIn but are not sure how or why then this website offers great tips on how to get started and why you should: http://learn.linkedin.com/

I’ve posted a few things about redundancy on this blog. The current economic client is unfortunately making it quite a relevant topic. Another major side-effect of the financial crisis is that many organisations are restructuring; this isn’t just leading to redundancy, but it also means that many individuals have had their job changed. This may involve them taking on more responsibility or an entirely different role.

This can prove equally as stressful as redundancy, if not more so. This has been brought to the media’s attention most dramatically by the company France Telecom. Recently 24 of their employees committed suicide – some in the workplace and others attributed taking their lives to management practice and restructuring (click here to read more about this case).  Of course this is an extreme example but it highlights the seriousness of the issue and how stress at work can spiral out of control.

A recent article in The Telegraph discusses how the economic client is increasingly putting pressure on individuals to take additional responsibility or take on a role at work that they do not want to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/tracycorrigan/6313304/Congratulations-you-didnt-get-the-job.html

This leads employees to feel out of control of their situation. Dramatic changes in the work place also cause a significant amount of stress and anxiety. Below I have compiled some sources that help individuals to deal with stress and change.

The World Mental Health Foundation’s website offers useful tips on handling stress in the workplace: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/wmhd/

They also recommend publications and podcasts that might be useful to you.

The Samaritans offer a 24 hour help line for those who would like to talk to an impartial listener: http://www.samaritans.org/

The 4th of November is National Stress Awareness Day – so it’s a great time to start thinking about tackling stress at working.

Here are some sites with stress busting tips:

How to Cope with Pressure:

http://c2careers.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/are-you-stressed-out/

Top tips to reduce stress at work:

http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/news/employment/5703861/top-tips-to-reduce-stress-at-work.thtml 

How Staying Logged on all day can ease stress levels:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1219919/How-staying-logged-day-ease-stress-levels.html

Mental Health: Taking Care of Each Other at Work:

http://www.straightgoods.ca/Utilities/CheckCookies.cfm?RefPage=/2009/ViewFeature.cfm?Ref=499

 Finally, taking your career into your own hands may help you to feel more in control. You could re-train or take an evening course in order to re-skill. Apply for different jobs. Whilst it may not be an idea time to job hunt, there are still opportunities out there.

On the 20th of October C2 will be at The London Graduate Fair.

Click here to see a list of employers who will be exhibiting at the fair. This is a great opportunity to find out more about these companies and what jobs and graduate schemes they have available.

C2 will also be there and will offer advice sessions at a discounted rate. A 25 minute session will cost £25. This is a great chance to meet with a C2 adviser on a one-to-one basis and ask them any questions you might have in your current career thinking.

There were two really positive articles today in the Independent and Mirror both drawing attention to the fact that companies are beginning to recruit more people onto their graduate schemes.

The title of the article in the Independent announces Graduate Job Market Bounces Back the article mentions that there has been a 7% rise in graduate jobs, however it is still early days; green root as opposed to green shoots.

The article in the mirror is entitled: Jobs! There are still great jobs up for grabs the article discusses how top employers have already started to accept applications for students wishing to start a graduate scheme in 2010. It encourages students to apply early to ensure they don’t miss the deadline. It also provides some useful job application and interview tips.

This is promising news for everyone and not just recent graduates. It implies that organisations are thinking about the long term future of their company and furthermore starting to invest in it. It’s great news that businesses are planning beyond the recession and still recruiting.

Lets hope these “green roots” start to turn into shoots soon!

 

A recent survey by Monster Worldwide Inc. revealed that 90% of job seekers would consider a career change in order to secure employment.

Norma Gaffin, director of content for Monster.com stated: “Changing careers, especially during difficult economic times, can be an empowering decision. Those struggling to find employment in their current industry could use this time to consider pursuing their passions or think about retraining,”

To read more about this see this article in the Boston Business Journal.

Being made redundant can act as a catalyst for change and encourage individuals, who had previously been in dead end job, or career they didn’t enjoy, to consider doing something new. If redundancy is leading people to pursue the career of their dreams then redundancy becomes a great opportunity. Fore more information about this click here.

However this survey reveals that it is the tight job market that is forcing people to broaden their career search and do “any job.” Changing career is hard work; you may need to retrain, take a pay cut  or gain an additional qualification. It’s crucial to consider all your options, and the implications of the change, before you start putting it into motion.

This article offers some useful advice for people considering a career change: http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=C9FBD313-1A64-6A71-CEF864C7783E25CC 

Here at C2 we offer bespoke advice for individuals who are considering a career change. See here for more info: http://www.c2careers.com/