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By Fay Wallis
How to answer the interview question, “What are your weaknesses?”
Out of all the interview questions I'm asked to help with, “What are your weaknesses?” is one that often worries people the most. I completely understand why it makes people nervous. It's a tricky question because interviews are your opportunity to impress the interviewer and convince them that [...]
How to become a career coach
Are you thinking of becoming a career coach? Perhaps you're an experienced coach and have decided you'd like to specialise in career coaching, or maybe you have never done any coaching before. Recently, I’ve been contacted by more and more people asking for advice on [...]
How to find out if you’re being paid what you’re worth
Your next one-to-one with your line manager is coming up soon. Is it time to negotiate a pay rise? Or maybe you're considering a career change or have just been offered an exciting new role and would like to know how much you should expect. How do you know [...]
Career change – 4 tips to prepare for your next job interview
You’re looking for a career change. You have your eyes on a role that looks perfect for you and you've managed to land an interview. There's only one person standing between you and your dream job now - the interviewer. How are you going to convince them that you're [...]
What is career coaching and how can it help me?
Has your career stalled? Are you stuck in a job that doesn’t satisfy you? Are you dealing with redundancy? Are you planning a job or career change and wanting to give yourself the best chance of success? Have you recently moved into a more senior role but feel like [...]
How to Easily Improve Your IT Skills For Your Career
Technology doesn’t stand still – the pace of change is faster than ever. So what do you do when it’s left you behind? What do you need to look out for when you’ve taken a career break, or you’re gearing up for a modern working environment? Sylvie Garvey [...]
7 Tips to Make Your CV as Good as It Can Be
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” His point being that if the axe is sharp enough the task of cutting down the tree is much quicker and easier. [...]
Making your CV stand out: Adding a Key Skills section
Putting together a CV which will do its best for you is a science as much as an art. You need a document which is searchable by automated systems, but it also needs to look presentable and professional when it is seen as a whole by a recruiter. [...]
How to Include a Link to Your LinkedIn Profile in Your CV
If you have spent time working on your LinkedIn profile and have it at a standard you're happy with, it's a really good idea to include a link to it in your CV. There are two main reasons for doing this. The first reason is to do with [...]
How to Cut Your CV Down to Two Pages
One of the golden rules of CV writing is to make sure that the CV isn’t too long. The ideal length is two pages and there are good reasons for this. The average recruiter or hiring manager will skim read your CV to begin with. The longer the CV [...]
Setting up Your Own Business – Answers to Your Top 7 Questions About Money and Tax
Are you thinking about becoming a freelancer, or setting up your own business? If you are, you probably have lots of questions swirling around your mind about how to set up, what you need to tell HMRC and how to run your finances. [...]
The 6 Most Popular Types of Flexible Working
Do you want to work more flexibly? Or, do you already work flexibly and are bored in your current job but worried that it will be difficult to find another flexible role? If the answer to either of these questions is, 'yes', you are not alone. Research from [...]
The 7 Best TED Talks for Career Success
No matter what your career challenge is, there will be a TED talk to help. They are short, engaging talks given by experts on a wide range of topics. The talks are delivered to a live audience but are filmed and free for anyone to watch. [...]
Flexible Careers – Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a VA
Have you ever thought of becoming a Virtual Assistant? It's becoming an increasingly popular career choice due to its ability to work flexibly from the comfort of your own home. So, what exactly is a Virtual Assistant? A Virtual Assistant is a highly-skilled, independent professional who provides administrative business [...]
Recruiters and Job Boards That Specialise in Flexible Jobs
Recruiters and Job Boards That Specialise in Flexible Jobs Are you worried that it will be difficult to find a flexible role? Maybe you think that the only flexible jobs advertised are ones that require taking a step down the career ladder? I'm not going to lie to you.... [...]
Want to Get More Done at Work? Try Using These 7 Simple Steps
Do you feel like you’ve been busy at work all day but haven’t achieved as much as you want to? Or maybe you feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done at work. These 7 tips will help you be more productive at [...]
Boost Your Career by Understanding Your Strengths
What are strengths? Do you find it hard to talk about what your strengths are? Is it because it’s too embarrassing to sing your own praises (we’re British after all)? Or is it because you’re not sure what they are? Perhaps you have an awareness of ‘being good with [...]
7 Podcasts to Enhance Your Career
Listening to podcasts is an easy way to get motivated about your career and learn tips and tactics from experts. The beauty of podcasts is that they are (usually) free and you can multi-task while listening to them. Find yourself being inspired while you do the cooking, walk the dog, [...]
A Simple Way to Improve Your Work-Life Balance
Do you feel like your work-life balance isn't right but you're not sure what's wrong, or how to improve it? Having balance in our lives is a deeply personal thing; what makes my life feel balanced may be completely different to what makes yours feel balanced because we all [...]
How to Prepare for a Competency Based Interview
If you have a job interview coming up, there is a strong chance that part of it will include competency based questions. Competencies are skills, knowledge or behaviours that you have and that you can apply at work to be successful in a role. The most popular competencies that [...]
Are Your Email Habits Damaging Your Career?
Your email habits can unintentionally damage your career in many ways, by affecting your productivity, health, work relationships and professional reputation. See if any of the email habits below look familiar and learn how to overcome them with quick, easy and practical solutions. Productivity The problem You’re distracted from focusing on an [...]
How to Answer the Two Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions
“Why do you want to work here?” and “what do you know about this company?” are two of the most common questions you will be asked in a job interview. Use the seven steps below to boost your knowledge and insights about the company, so that you can show [...]
Unleash the Power of Your Network
The word “networking” can be terrifying. For many of us, it elicits visions of being sent into a room full of strangers, armed with nothing more than a pack of business cards, a cheap glass of wine and a nervous smile. But it doesn’t have to be this way. [...]
Be More Confident at Work
We all suffer from a lack of confidence at certain times during our working life. Lack of confidence rears its ugly head in a variety of ways. One person might be terrified of public speaking, while another person can feel inadequate and that they have got their job [...]