Helping career professionals to pass more job interviews.
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This Months Guess Blog has been writen by Contact Law
No successful organisation will always be popular with its staff; the occasional bruising encounter with management is an inevitable part of working life for most.
Far worse is the experience of an unlucky few who are regularly undermined or bullied by managers and supervisors; repeatedly being overlooked for promotion, humiliation in front of clients, formal warnings for trivial misdemeanors. Your employer’s behavior can become intolerable and you may conclude that you are being forced out.
This situation can lead to a “constructive dismissal”; where an employee resigns due to a serious breach of contract by their employer that they believe left them no choice but to do so. The breach can be of an “implied term” of your employment contract, like the requirement that your employer should avoid damaging the relationship of trust and confidence with you. A serious breach might include your pay being withheld, being made to work in dangerous conditions, or harassment.
So, you believe your employer’s behavior is a serious breach of contract. Can you joyously hand in your notice, anticipating an award of damages for constructive dismissal?
Not yet; you should first try to resolve the problem internally, even if it seems futile and likely to prolong your misery. An Employment Tribunal is less likely to accept your claim for constructive dismissal if you resign without taking matters up with your employer first.
First, make a complaint on an “informal” basis (although technically informal make it a serious discussion and set aside a specific time). Ideally, have the meeting with neutral staff. For example, if your line manager is bullying you meet with their manager or with HR.
If this is unsuccessful initiate a formal grievance process. The standard procedure is normally in the company handbook, HR manual or your employment contract. If your employer’s procedure is unsatisfactory or nonexistent, consult the ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) Code of Practice. This document is frequently referred to in employment law and sets out the minimum standards that a grievance process should follow.
You’ll probably feel nervous and emotional during the meeting. You may want to write down what you intend to say, and if you wish you can read this out in the meeting. It’s often a good idea to invite a colleague for moral support and as a witness to the meeting.
Hopefully the internal process achieves the desired outcome. If not, now is the time to consider resigning. Needless to say, you should consult ACAS or your trade union and get independent legal advice before you hand in your notice. Once you have confirmed that you have exhausted the amicable resolution process and have a strong case for constructive dismissal don’t delay in resigning. The Employment Tribunal might consider that you “accepted” your employer’s breach of contract if you continue to work for some time after it takes place.
A final piece of advice: keep a diary of all the relevant incidents and retain your notes and correspondence from the grievance process. Constructive dismissal claims are known for being hard to prove. Make sure that if you have to resign, you are able to provide a detailed and convincing explanation of why your employer’s conduct left you no choice.
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Asking your boss for time off can be a tricky a situation. Employers hate to let you have more time off then the allocated 4 weeks a year, even though recent studies show that employees with a positive work/life perform better which can only increase profit. Most employees believe they need excuses for time of work, but an even better approach is using interview psychology.
1. Asking when the boss is busy. Many employees are nervous when asking their boss for time and think it will be easier and quicker to ask their both while they are walking to a meeting and bothered by some other time consuming task. But when flustered your boss doesn’t want to have to think about re-arranging your schedule, informing HR, etc as they have other things on their mind, so they answer with a quick “no”
Always plan your timing and ask your boss for a 5 minute meeting, whenever they are next free. This way the meeting is about you – nothing else will get in the way.
2. Asking with no reason. Many people will just ask for the time off without giving a reason, in some cases this is because they don’t want to tell their boss that they need a break. But we respond more positive to people who give us a reason “can I take 2 weeks of next week because…” always back your request with a reason why, as
studies have shown that people are more like to reply positive to your request when heard with an explanation why.
3. Not Getting on with the boss. In employment, employers should follow equal opportunity laws, but often if your boss likes you, they are more willing to give you time off. To get the employer to like you, all you need to do is make time each day to ask how your boss is; ask about their family, weekend, anything really just to show you are interested in them. Do theme a favour; when buying yourself a coke, buy them a coke and say “I know your busy so I thought I’d get you this while I got myself one – you have to keep hydrated you know!” and smile, people like happy, smiley and positive people. Become a friendly and professional person and your boss will have an automatic associate liking to you.
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With advancements in technology, we are now seeing a shift in the job interview with more interviewers investing in equipment to find the interview fakes and liars. On average large organisations spend around 40% of their profits on recruitment, often due to rehiring and re-interviewing due to an initial poor choice of candidates.
A lie detector machine can indicate when an interviewee has lied due to sensors picking up slight changes in a person’s breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure and perspiration. The days of lying to the interviewer, to cheat your way into a new position are fading. Employers want to recruit the best and a lie detector can assist employers to make the correct choice.
If you can’t lie to the interviewer, hypnotise them.
Why cheat and lie, when you can hypnotise the interviewer to offer you a job? Interviewers think they have the upper hand, and this is what a good interviewee wants the employer to believe – this way we can secretly influence, manipulate and persuade the employer to offer you a job without the interviewer knowing what you are doing.
Influencing the interview.
Conversational hypnosis has been created to hypnotise the interviewer through conversation using embedded commands, re-frames, negative commands, yes sets, sales psychology and hypnotic language. All of these techniques, many of which employers would be furious about if they found out how interviewers were using them during the job interview, come from the dark side of persuasion. The new book Influencing the interview has taken the best from psychology, nlp and hypnotic persuasion and made it relevant to the job interview – giving you the interviewee the power. Competition for jobs is at an all time high, candidates have to stand out during the job interview, you need to go above and beyond the old style interview skills used in the 1990’s to win job offer during the hard and competitive times in a recession.
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Cruise ship jobs are becoming for available and more popular, with new ships being put into service each year with a predicted 30 new ships to be launched between 2010-2013. An increase in new ships means increase in jobs, with each ship recruiting between 500-1500 employees.
Cruise ship job roles vary from cleaners to chefs, from disc jockeys to ship captain. The required entry qualifications required depends on the job you apply for, with many cruise ships recruiting both skilled and unskilled workers.
There are many benefits from working on a cruise ship, these can include living expenses, and medical insurance covered by the cruise line.
If you need support to gain your next cruise ship job click this link: Secrets of Employment
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This Months Guest Blog comes from Patrick from www.inspiringinterms.com
Internships have grown to be a significant portion of the graduate jobs market over recent years. Recent graduates are finding that they need to have experience to accompany their educational qualifications. Internships are the easiest way for someone to pick up experience. An internship is now a valid and effective route to gaining experience and, therefore, securing a full time position.
With internships being a new thing their quality and length can fluctuate. Therefore, it is important to acquire the maximum amount of
information regarding the internship position at the earliest opportunity. Finding the appropriate company before beginning an internship is essential.Here is a single inquiry you might want to ask the business just before you start:
When you have begun an internship you will find lots of steps you can take to ensure the practical experience will be beneficial,
helping you on your way to full time employment. The following is a single tip to help you carry out a effective internship:
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Many of us can relate to that Monday Morning feeling, snoozing the alarm repeatedly, fabricating possible excuses as to why we can’t make it into the office today. However, you should count yourself lucky and spare a thought as you catch your commuter train, with your Grande-Skinny-Latte-to-go in hand – for those working in jobs where the pain/pleasure balance is weighted down on the pain side of the scales.
Five jobs that make the Unemployment Line look more attractive…
A noble role in which volunteers offer up their bodies to science for the greater medical good..and an undisclosed fee *plus reimbursed transport costs… A seemingly perfect money making opportunity, pop a few pills and sit tight playing X-Box, whilst being monitored by men in white coats. But what are the costs for those not lucky enough to pick the placebo pill?
Mohammed Abdalla, 28, had jumped at the chance of a £2,000 fee for being a guinea pig, planning to use the money to make his family in Egypt financially secure. Things started to go wrong in the trial for a drug to treat Leukemia & Arthritis as Mohammed’s head started to balloon in size. Perhaps he should have heeded the scientist’s warnings as the told of the damage the drug could do to human flesh. No comfort to the man now likened by his own girlfriend to Elephant Man.
Top ranking make-up artists can expect to earn up to £3,000 per day for fashion shows, enjoying working with a range of glamorous models, performers and presenters, in a number of colourful setting including film & television sets, theatres, photographic shoots and a little more exotically on the coroner’s slab.
While working as a make-up artist to the deceased as opposed to the living may help you steer clear of client disagreements over make-up choices it can throw up a series of problems aside from the obvious morbidity of the role – specialist thermogenic makeup needs to be used as regular make-up crumbles on dead skin in the absence of body heat to break it down. Not to mention the emptying of bowels, bladder and vomiting of the corpses – grim.
Glamour, glitz, luxury, high pay, relaxed hours of work – about as far away as you can get from the typical perception of factory work – from working in a refrigerated environment day in day out as part of a team to produce…watercress (Yes, that sprinkling of grass like vegetation you sometimes see on supermarket cafe salads?) – or working as a Quality Controller in a chicken factory to separate the drumsticks from the thighs.
Chicken factory talent must not be sneered at, as abilities can thrive in the most unusual of places – Chicken Factory X Factor – No, not there.
The ability to survive in the workplace as your body is dragged through a five inch gap in a steel processing machine and to live to tell the tale – now that shows resilience and dedication to an organisation where he is now unbelievably planning to become a Site Supervisor.
An industry which averages on average claims one fatality a week and labour that leaves a stench on fish on you at the end of your working day? Sounds like a dream..working brutal 21 hour long shifts in Alaska, the freezing and stormy conditions meaning that injuries are common as well as the risk of falling overboard.
So what is the allure for these crab fishers? The hours? The risk of death? The potted shrimp to take home to the wife? Perhaps the earning potential as they are able to rake in up over an average annual salary of $100,000 over less than a week during the Alaskan crabbing season.
Animal care roles frequently top the list of desired careers for little girls and boys throughout the country as they tell Mummy and Daddy of their aspirations to become a Vet or to work in Pet Shop. A relatively unknown career in this field is that of the worker who is entrusted with the task of holding and tenderly stroking a cow’s head as they are artificially inseminated with bull sperm.
Interestingly enough, young boys in Africa can be seen here in a similar role as they are entrusted to blow up a cow’s bottom to encourage them to lactate – yes it is exactly as it sounds.
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Redundancy by Frank McCarthy Mr Handymanfranchise
Very often it comes out of the blue, delivered coldly in what appears to be a heartless manner and of course it is a big shock. This horror called Redundancy can leave you feeling hopeless that you have let everybody down and you have no idea what to do next.
What can you do, many thousands have been given this challenge in 2010/11 and yet unbelievably Redundancy can be a god send. You will remember the bird that was kicked out of the nest and then he flew. There is great opportunity in Redundancy for those who can grasp it, like a career change, do what you always wanted to do and that is to work for yourself, never let Redundancy happen to you again. There are many good opportunities for you now you have choice, your life can change greatly if you start your own business. Franchising is a good way to do this, why franchising you might ask . Let us take a look,
Remember whatever you choose to do, be real sure you like it, work is not hard when you like what you do and the hours are not long and of you will love your Job and maybe for the first time, so good luck at whatever you do
Frank McCarthy
Mr Handymanfranchise
www.Mr Handymanfranchise.co.uk
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We all know Volunteering is an advantage for anyone looking for a new job or career. From my own personal experience I enjoy volunteering as it gives you sense of satisfaction, accomplishment and for me a chance to give something back.
You can use volunteering to gain new experience and in some cases new qualifications, many professionals I have met have gained their career by starting as a volunteer.
CV
When recording volunteering on your CV, don’t, like many other job hunters, undersell your volunteering experience. Add your volunteering work under the Employment section and record it as you would with any past or current job position.
Interviews
A great opportunity to sell your volunteering experience is during the job interview. Most employers are impressed with a volunteer as it already proves you have dedication, your reliable and hard working – if you wasn’t you wouldn’t volunteer. Also employers will recognise that you have good time management skills and that you are able to take on new responsibility.
For your volunteering to gain a new job offer, you need discover the skills you have gain that are relevant to the position you are applying, even when apply for a job in a different sector.
Companies and employers value dedication and passion, as a volunteer you already have these qualities; you need to ensure they come across during the job interview as many good natured volunteers often undersell their skills.
Write down a list of all your skills and qualities you gain from volunteering
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Next read the job specification and if your skill or quality is needed, record an experience when you have used the particular skill as a volunteer in the second box; this is the starting point for answering your interview questions.
Many volunteers win awards, again the job interview is a time to sell yourself, don’t be shy mention anything that will help you gain a new job offer.
Being a volunteer is great for a number of reasons including meeting new people, new experiences and gaining new skills. As you have discovered volunteering can also help you find work, if you are not a volunteer start looking for a volunteering opportunity now.
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Congratulations – You passed your job interview and been offered a job.
Often you’re excitement can quickly turn to nerves as the first day approaches. Does this sound like you?
There are several things you can do to help prepare for your first day and a Career Coach can help you prepare. First try these 10 quick tip’s:
You need to make a good first impression; preparation is the key.
1. First, thank your referees as you may need to call upon them again, hopefully not in the near future. It is often good to ask your referees for a written reference, as by the time you next need a reference your referee may have moved or change company.
2. Check you know where you are going, in some cases the interview venue is different to that of your place of work, and turning up at the wrong venue will not give a very good first impression. Also check how long it will take you to travel to work, complete a mock run – you don’t want to be late.
3. Prepare what you are going to wear (what is appropriate to the job role) wash, shave and brush your teeth – all obvious I know, but some people will need a little reminder
4. Bring any documents, ID or bank details that the employer has requested and check you know who you are asking for on the first day.
5. You will be asked about your experience and knowledge during the first week of your new job role by many of your new colleagues, as you know you will be asked this question you can prepare your answer, to help give a positive impression of yourself.
6. Research the company, read the company annual report, press releases and website. You may be introduced to the MD or SEO, you can slip into the conversation your knowledge (only say positive things) of the company history and achievements.
7. Before you start your new job – Imagine yourself in your new job, doing well. If this image that you have just created in your mind, is a still picture, press play and turn the image into a movie;
In this movie, picture everyone you talk to being really interested in you and really liking how you present yourself. When you are asked a question you automatically know how to respond, you don’t know how you know, you just do and this creates a great feeling inside.
In the movie, you’re looking good, you look confident – you feel confident. Imagine yourself really excited about this new adventure, how does it feel to feel confident and excited? Where does this feeling start in your body? Imagine this feeling running quickly through your body; make this image large and colourful. As you feel the full emotion of this visualisation, squeeze your thumb and finger together creating a positive anchor and repeat the exercise 3 times for a fuller effect.
How does this work? If you imagine yourself being happy and confident, you will feel happy and confident, other people who imagine everything going wrong often end up having a bad first day. To be confident, you need to feel confident. An NLP Life Coach can help you improve your confidence and motivation.
8. Write a list of all your skills and qualities, record everything you know your good at, keep going until you can’t think of any more., then add one more to the list!
Write a second list of all the nice things past colleagues and employers have said about you, this can be in formal reviews and appraisals or just as a passing comment –remember how it felt at the time this was said to you.
And finally write a third list of what you can bring to this new company, what value will you add, how will your past experience help improve the company to help them achieve their goals?
9. Smile, you have been picked from (on average) over 300 other candidates. A smile goes a long way and creates a good first impression, also shake hands with everyone your introduced to.
10. On average the first day is spent being introduced to many people; mangers and colleagues, be prepared to answer repeated questions. You will be asked to sign a large amount of company documents and to read many of their procedures. Have a snack in your suitcase to help keep your energy up.
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