Get some Accreditations – you know it makes sense.

Get some Accreditations – you know it makes sense.

If you’ve been selected for an interview you will have successfully negotiated several hurdles scattered in your path as part of the application process. To have survived the AI screening you will have provided evidence of any...

Robots Just Want to Have Fun

Robots Just Want to Have Fun

An FT article from 30th November https://on.ft.com/3xS4UVx highlights the fact that job-seekers can feel confused, dehumanised and exhausted by automated recruitment systems. This is almost certainly true, but if we assume that AI’s role in the application process is...

Earning or Learning

Earning or Learning

The benefits of work experience have never been in doubt but the importance has grown to the point where both words Work and Experience are now spelled with capitals and its enhanced curricular status is now known by the official abbreviation WEX.  Careers Leaders in...

Well begun is half done

Well begun is half done

For those setting out on a journey, if career advice represents the map and compass to help you navigate, your CV is the equivalent of a sensible pair of shoes. It’s a sad fact that Life isn’t in fact a beach, and whether or not you know where you’re headed, you’d be...

Calling all Job-Seekers …

Calling all Job-Seekers …

Don’t lose sight of what’s in it for you. It’s a full-time occupation looking for a job, and nobody is paying you for the time and energy that you dedicate to the process. In the current climate you can be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that your limitations...

Fake News

Fake News

IN THE BEGINNING There’s nothing new about fake news. After all it’s been part of subterfuge and deception ever since the serpent convinced Adam and Eve it was a good idea to eat that apple.   If they’d been a bit more thorough with their due diligence they would have...

Good to know

Good to know

Employers are very vocal about the qualities they’d like to find in job applicants. Let’s give them what they want. Mark Twain is quoted as saying: “I’ve never let my school interfere with my education”.  Michelle Obama brings us right up to date with a quote from her...

Missing reality

Missing reality

Current restrictions in the way that we communicate due to COVID-19 has forced us to forego face-to-face meetings and make the most of virtual reality. Unlike in the past, in settling for something that isn’t real we have no choice in the matter but it wasn’t always...

Pick up the phone, and not just when it rings

Pick up the phone, and not just when it rings

I’ve written before about how important it is that we don’t let our phone skills lapse, because there’s nothing like a live conversation for establishing clarity of  information, degree of urgency, tone of mood and (ultimately) the building of relationships.  A...

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Virtual meetings such as the ones enabled by the technology behind Zoom, Teams and Skype have proved their worth during lockdown, and if this was a trial for the effectiveness of online collaboration tools they would have passed with flying colours. Cheap and easy to...

Be prepared as normal

Be prepared as normal

The world’s trying to return to normal – or a different version of whatever that was pre-COVID. Radical changes to the working environment such as flexible hours, remote offices and virtual interaction have been talked about for a while but until now these practices...

Questions, questions …

Questions, questions …

The lockdown has inspired quiz-masters all around the country to dig deep into the world of fact/fiction and compile lists of questions to challenge the best at the game. With time on our hands, what might once have been considered ‘trivia’ has become rather...

Stay Tuned

Stay Tuned

While we weather the COVID-19 storm it’s tempting to sit back, watch a few box-sets and wait for things to normalise.  There are two ways of looking at this, both requiring some deliberate action: Make the most of it, use this period as proper down-time for all those...

Be human, it’s what we do best

Be human, it’s what we do best

If you worry for the threat to the traditional job market from AI and machine-learning, take heart from what you see happening right now.  It might have taken a viral pandemic to get us to this point, but have you noticed how it is that the ‘human’ element has stepped...

Evolve, or risk missing out

Evolve, or risk missing out

To follow on from a recent blog on soft skills (Softly, Softly does it), if you’re in any doubt as to their importance in the workplace, look no further than the graphic here:   What it shows so brilliantly (sadly, it’s not one of mine) is how employers’ needs have...

Careers Fairs … the role of Work Savvy

Careers Fairs … the role of Work Savvy

At a typical careers fair, alongside all the represented professions hoping to enlighten students on their possible career paths you will find people helping to spread awareness on apprenticeships, gap-year vocations and other higher educational routes to market....

Student Employability

Student Employability

It’s that time of year again. Expect a foggy start, but the mists will clear….once you’re Work Savvy The thrust of Sir Anthony Seldon’s article in yesterday’s Times was aimed at students’ lack of preparation for University, with the finger of blame pointed at the...