Five benefits of flexi time working

Five benefits of flexi time working by Amber Rolfe Want to choose when you work? It might actually be possible…From nightmare commutes and dealing with childcare issues, through to paying for gym memberships that you never get to use, working set shift patterns can sometimes be a struggle.The good news is, adopting a flexi time work schedule could be a genuine option for you â€" not to mention help you regain control over your career.We’ve already covered the basics of what you need to know about flexi time working, but here’s a quick rundown of how it could benefit you:You might be able to avoid a busy commuteStressful journey to work? Always stuck in traffic? Fellow commuters invading your personal space?If you feel like your commute is the worst part of the day, you might benefit from changing your start and finish time. Even by simply making it an hour later/earlier, you could be able to avoid the crowds and/or traffic, and make your journey that little bit better.Not only could this help with your st ress/heat/annoyance levels, it could also cut your journey down in length. Because excessive amounts of people can cause delays…  School pick-ups/drop-offs can be scheduled inIf you’re a working parent, juggling a full-time job with your family commitments isn’t always easy. Especially when it comes to the school run.Even if your job doesn’t demand that you work the traditional hours of 9-5, with other jobs often involving varied shift work or afternoon starts, finding free time around the specific times of 9am and 3pm can be a challenge.But, it might not need to be. Working on a flexi time schedule could allow you the time you need to do those all-important school runs â€" without affecting your work. Simply alternate your hours so they suit you, and pick up the extra when you have the time (with your boss’s approval).  You could have better control over your workloadIt’s not just your family life that could benefit from finding better hours.By controlling your own sche dule, you could fit things in on your own terms, rather than potentially having to rush tasks or do too many things at once. As a result, you’ll have greater control over your workload and start meeting your deadlines with ease.Additionally, if you decide to make up the extra hours working from home, the absence of office distractions could be just what you need to keep your head down and actually get your work done.Because as much as your co-workers telling you that there’s cake in the kitchen is great news, racing each other there probably isn’t the most productive use of your time.  You can deal with personal matters without taking time offGone are the days of using your precious holiday days for non-holiday things. If you adapt your working hours, you’ll be able to go in later (or earlier) â€" so you can make your appointments and get the same amount of work done.So whether you need to book a dentist’s appointment, you want a haircut, or that house you’re interested in buying only has one mid-morning viewing available, working flexi time could make these small life-admin tasks possible.Heads up: morning dentist appointments may not be a good idea. Unless you’re a fan of the ‘numb mouth’ look.You’ll have spare time for hobbiesKeep meaning to join the gym? Write more? Take up a hobby? No more excuses.Although some people manage to drag themselves out of bed at 5am to do a quick run on the treadmill before work â€" not all of us are that motivated. If you’re more of an 8am person, switching your working hours around could help.Alternatively, having to attend an evening activity that doesn’t start till 7pm, then not getting home until after 9PM isn’t ideal for those who like to be tucked up in bed by 10.So, whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, alternating your working hours could mean you’d get to do whatever hobby you want â€" without it being an inconvenience.How to: Ask for flexible working hours  Looking for a job with more flexible hours?  Have a look at all of our current vacancies now.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Flexible working Work-life balance

Youve Accepted the Job Now What

Youve Accepted the Job â€" Now What Great news! Youve been offered the role of your dreams, youve accepted, and you start next week. This is an exciting time, and if youve been out of work for a while it might feel like the hard work is over. Of course, its really just beginning. Soon your new job will begin, bringing many challenges, and between now and your start date you might suddenly find a big empty space in your schedule ahead. Rather than twiddling your thumbs and crossing days off your calendar, you might think about how you could prepare to commence your new role. Turning up unprepared on your first day will probably not turn out to be the best option â€" while you might meet expectations youll probably fail to make the great impression youd hope for among your new co-workers. So what can you do in advance of the big day to be sure of starting your new position in top form? Think of this as your checklist to make sure everything goes as well as it can. Refresh your skills: This may not be strictly necessary, but if youve been out of work for some time, you will want to make sure you can hit the ground running as far as your understanding of the work and knowledge of the industry go.  If youre moving into a new industry, or into a much more senior position, its virtually essential to be extra, doubly, triply sure you know your stuff. Learn names: No doubt youll have done a ton of research for the interview, but now that youre in, you can know that its worth spending even longer finding out about the company and the role. Itll be especially valuable to find out about the people youll be working with â€" if you can find staff profiles on the website, it will be beneficial to learn to put the faces with the names of management and the others in your department. While its not an absolute necessity, those who are bad with names will now find it easier to introduce themselves to others when that start as, rightly or wrongly, first impressions count for everything and a part of making that impression includes whether you can recall your new bosss name. If there is no meet the team section of the site, try searching LinkedIn instead. Take a break: This might sound like a bit of a contradiction. Shouldnt you be spending the time between the offer and your start date as productively as possible? Well, yes â€" and sometimes the best way to prepare yourself for a new challenge is to clear your mind beforehand. Especially if you have an interval before the job that can be measured in weeks or months, you will probably want a break at some point to rest up from the stressful task of searching for work. Whats more, if youre determined to put in the hours to impress in your new vocation, it might be some time before you get to take a vacation again â€" whether mentally or physically. Take some time out then you can turn up on your first day refreshed and ready to make waves. Look the part: There are all kinds of things you should bring with you on your first day, even if you havent explicitly been told that this is the case. For example, you need to make sure youre wearing the right clothes, and that means not waking up on the morning of your first day to find all your pants are in the laundry. If youre not sure what to wear, the days prior to starting are your opportunity to find out. The question of what else youll be expected to bring depends on the type of work, but for an office job youll want to carry a notepad and pen as youll no doubt have plenty to take note of. Some documentation to set up payroll would be a good idea. Bring your lunch money and youre ready to go! Arrive on time: On the list of ways to jeopardise your position early on, there are few things you could do on your first day that are more catastrophic than turning up lateso make sure you leave home in plenty of time. Its obvious enough that we shouldnt have to say it, but common enough that we feel we do. Yes, this applies even if you know where youre going. You might find theres more traffic in the mornings than there was the day of your interview, and of course it always pays to be a few minutes early as well (but not by more than about ten minutes). Its important to save the phone number of your contact at some point prior to your start date â€" that way, if you are late you can call, explain, and still hope to make the best impression possible on your first day. Author: Paul Breton is Marketing Executive with online recruitment specialists Blue Octopus Recruitment in Otley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Time to Resign NOT When Hiring Manager Offers Job! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Time to Resign NOT When Hiring Manager Offers Job! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Editor’s Note: This blog is a modified excerpt from professional “headhunter” and bestselling job-hunting book author Skip Freeman’s next book in the “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets series of job-hunting books, Career Stalled? Publication is scheduled for late fall. ________________________________________________________ You finally get the call you’ve been waiting for! The hiring manager you just interviewed with last week, at that GREAT company you would absolutely love to work for, calls and offers you the position you competed for. The salary, starting date and all the other pertinent details the hiring manager discusses with you over the phone are generally acceptable to you, so you tell him you are pleased to accept the offer. He says, “Great! You should get the written offer in the mail in a couple of days.” Yes! Now you can finally go in and resign from your current, dreadful job, right? Well, not exactly. As baseball legend  Yogi Berra is so often quoted as saying, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” and believe me, at this point, it certainly isn’t “over”! While your candidacy could never have gone forward unless and until the hiring manager actually offered you the position, a verbal offer by the hiring manager really is not worth the paper it’s (not) written on! Until you actually receive the written offer, usually from the hiring company’s Human Resources Department, you do NOT yet have a bona fide new job offer. But wait, there is even more! The written offer itself does not necessarily guarantee you that you have the job, either. Why? Because almost always there are “contingencies” included in the written offer, and until ALL of these contingencies are met, i.e., cleared, you have no valid job offer. Almost every written job offer Ive ever seen indicates somewhere in the copy that “this offer is contingent upon. . . .” The most common types of contingencies are the following: Drug screen â€" Virtually every company today requires you to pass a drug screen, regardless of the job level. Background check â€" This is another requirement that has essentially become institutionalized in recent years. During this check the company will be verifying your education, employment history, and many companies will also include a criminal background check. Motor vehicle check â€" If you are going to be assigned a company car, or even if you are to have periodic access to one, you can be guaranteed the company will conduct this check. Obviously, companies are also interested in learning if you have recently had a DUI or other serious infraction. Credit check â€" If the position you’re being offered involves handling money, controlling a budget, authorizing vendor payments, etc., it is extremely likely that the company will conduct a credit check on you. Professional licensing/designations â€" If you have indicated that you hold a professional license, such as “Professional Engineer” (PE), or if you have stated that you are a Ph.D., or hold a professional designation, such as “Chartered Life Underwriter” (CLU), the company is going to verify this information. (Good news for job seekers who may have had their credit rating negatively affected though no fault of their own during the Great Recession: According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resources Management, there has been somewhat of a decrease in the number of companies routinely conducting credit checksâ€"and criminal background checksâ€"on potential new hires. Forty-seven percent of employers surveyed said they continue to use credit checks when hiring, compared to 60 percent who used them in 2010. Plus, even in those companies that continue to conduct credit checks, the major emphasis is usually on recent credit history.) Once ALL ‘Contingencies’ are Cleared OK, then. After all the various “checks” you’re deemed “cleared,” i.e., no problems popped up during the various third-party contacts, or at least none that would keep you from being employed by the company. What now? Do you now have a bona fide job offer? Can you now go in and resign from your current employer? Well, provided you and the hiring company successfully negotiated any lingering “sticking points,” e. g., salary, benefits, start date, etc., and you have the final, complete written offer in hand, the answer is “yes”! Call me a paranoid cynic, but until you actually walk through the front door of your new company to begin your new job, I strongly advise that you do not summarily cancel any pending, ongoing job search activities. Don’t initiate any new job search activities, just don’t cancel any existing activities. Why? Because, until you do actually begin your new job, virtually anything could happen to change the whole scenario. Although (thankfully!) it is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence, during the Great Recession, when the economy was really “tanking,” I had candidates who were actually offered positions, accepted them, went in and resigned from their current jobs, only to have the hiring companies either cancel hiring plans or put them “on hold.” You guessed it . . . the candidates were left “hanging”! Obviously, you would want to avoid this happening to you, if at all possible. At some point, of course, you are going to have to trust that the new job offer is made in earnest. Just make sure that the hiring company (and the hiring manager) are worthy of such trustâ€"before you go in to resign from your current job. The point is, you can fully expect virtually any hiring company today, particularly the larger ones, to “dot all the i’s” and “cross all the t’s” before extending a bona fide job offer to you. The hiring manager’s initial offer is an important factor in the equation, but it is not the most important part, as I’ve shown you in this blog. Never has the saying, “get it in writing” been more applicable or more important that when it comes to accepting a new job offer. I am going to assume that, during your search activities with the hiring company, you clearly and unmistakably branded yourself as being among the best candidates available for the position or you wouldn’t have been offered the position in the first place. Make sure that your professional brand also reflects that you are also a savvy professional, one who also “dots all the i’s” and “crosses all the t’s” before resigning from your current position and accepting a new one. Author: Skip Freeman  is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!  and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of  The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

5 Common New Entrepreneur Roadblocks that Stop You from Growing a Business - Classy Career Girl

5 Common New Entrepreneur Roadblocks that Stop You from Growing a Business I’m sure you’ll agree, trying to start a successful business that matches your purpose and makes a difference, isn’t always as simple as people sometimes make it seem. When you are a new entrepreneur, everyone else makes it look so easy but it’s just not. What Being a New Entrepreneur is REALLY Like? Here’s the thing. Entrepreneurship is HARD, right? And it’s so easy to get distracted by the pretty photos on Facebook where it looks like entrepreneurs fly to Paris last minute, drink champagne in Italy and live a luxurious laptop lifestyle from the beach. They make it look so easy so why is it so hard for us! I am often hustling in my bedroom in a messy house with my daughter running around and dishes piled in the sink. So, I decided to create a movement around the REAL experiences of starting a business. The truth is, entrepreneurship comes with a lot of challenges. Subscribe  on  your favorite platform below: iTunes Google Play Music Stitcher Radio TuneIn iHeartRadio Sound Cloud 5 Entrepreneur Roadblocks How to Overcome Them We cant grow our business if we have roadblocks. Ive definitely had a lot of roadblocks in my way, theres just a lot of come up. So, today I wanted to share what I have faced growing my business over the last few years. 1. Common New Entrepreneur Roadblock: How Will I Stand Out? How do I stand out from the competition? I am afraid to create a service or product in markets that are already flooded. It is so easy in the digital world to get consumed by all the other stuff out there. If there are other people in the market, that is good; you know it is a profitable market! Switch your fear into a positive makes you think this is possible. You have your  own strengths, and no one else has that. Many clients come to me because of my background in corporate, they know I understand where they are coming from and I can connect with them better. 2. Common New Entrepreneur Roadblock: I Am Afraid I Won’t be Able to Monetize I am afraid I won’t be able to monetize what I am doing for business. I am afraid that I will put my family into financial uncertainty and not be able to pay my bills. Take that first step to see if people will purchase your product. You have to be willing to take the imperfect step and focus on solving peoples problem.  Not everything you do will work, you may have to pivot  and you might fail. 3. Common New Entrepreneur Roadblock:  I Am Scared of What Others Will Think I am scared of what other people will think of me. I am on the fence about putting myself out there. We all have these people in our lives telling us these things that might not be true. If I had listened, I would not be where I am today. Make sure you are listening to the right people, the people who can help you. When you ask for advice, make sure you are asking the right people for advice. 4. Common  New Entrepreneur  Roadblock: Technology I have no idea how to build a website. Does anyone relate to this? I hate tech. I know this held me back a long time. In this day and age, most of the tech stuff has been figured out for you. Most of the time you can figure out how to do this stuff for free or very cheap. You can also outsource the tech, dont let this stuff hold you back. Dont be afraid of it, and try not to worry about the finances. There are simple tutorials and cheat sheets you can find. I really dont recommend spending thousands of dollars on your website at first, because it will change! My site and my messaging have changed so much over the years. 5. Common New Entrepreneur Roadblock: Personal Finances I am scared that I won’t be able to contribute enough to the family budget. Some people grow really fast, others take their time. Start by trying to live on less. If you have a paycheck, try living on half. Here is the thing, when you want to grow you need to be able to reinvest in your business. Start by figuring out how much you need to make each month, then figure out how many clients you need to make that. If you want to start a business you love, make sure you register for our Freedom Workshop.

So You Want To Be An Accountant - CareerMetis.com

So You Want To Be An Accountant Despite how essential it is for a business to have a firm grasp on its finances, it’s not a skill that all business owners and all managers have at their disposal. For good reason, too. It takes a long time to keep one’s’ accounts straightened out and it can be difficult to deal with the multiple facets of it all.That’s why all kinds of businesses and individuals have need of accountants. So, what do you have to do to become one?Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.com1. Get your educationIt’s not mandatory for all accounting roles, but the truth is that most employers are going to want to see a degree relating to the job under your belt.evalWhich major you choose might offer a little more wiggle room, however. There are plenty of accounting-specific majors which offer the kind of market-ready skills you need.However, a good grasp on business or mathematics, paired with an internship with an accountant, can work just as well.2. Decide what you want to doBefore you go any further, you n eed to think about what exactly you want your career to be. There are differences between bookkeeping, accounting, and becoming a certified public accountant.Bookkeepers mostly maintain records, take care of credit and debit, generate invoices, and smooth over the financial transitions of the business.Accountants tend to take a deeper look, working with accounting clerks and handling billing. More often than not they offer in-depth financial advice to their employer, too.CPAs are an entirely different kettle of fish and are going to require an extra step than the other two.3. Get certifiedCPAs have a different level of responsibility from accountants who aren’t certified. For one, they can perform auditing and tax services legally while others cannot. Becoming a CPA means sitting the CPA review, which is reviewable every two years.evalCPAs must get used to the exam, often with further education like Surgent CPA Review helping them keep their expertise sharp. It’s a career that r equires a much deeper level of engagement, but also comes with it added marketability and a higher salary in the majority of cases.4. Get workingThere’s no one set career path for any of the careers mentioned above, either. Sure, you might work in accounting, but how you do that can vary wildly. It’s a good idea to start by getting the right experience working your way up from an entry-level job.Many accountants can spend a career in one company and can be happy. Others will work for an accounting firm. Or you might even consider outsourcing and working as a freelancer. This means you have a lot more control over the kind of clients and allow yourself access to more work opportunities.Accounting might seem like a fairly simple career path with very little variation in roles, but the truth is that it can end up sending you in a lot of different directions. You need to make sure of what you want before you spend the money getting all those qualifications.

Is The Customer Always Right

Is The Customer Always Right You may have heard the phrase that the customer is always right. And as much as we may want to use that when we are a customer, is it going to be the case in your business? Customer service is something that we all need to be working on, whatever industry we are in. That is all about providing a great customer journey, and helping them with their needs. There is a subtle difference between customer service and the customer always being right. But they do work together, to help you to get the most out of your business. After all, without customers, you would not have a business anyway. For customer service, you might be looking at things that you can do to help them have a better journey. For example, a doctor’s office looking into how they can improve wait times, if there isn’t someone at the reception desk the whole time is customer service. They could look into latest tech for buzzers, including things like a Piezo transducer so that it is effective. But what about the customer always being right? How can we apply that into our work and business? Here are a few things to be thinking about. Damaging Backlash We have all heard the horror stories that hit social media sites, and even the news, when a customer was not made to feel like they are owed what they are owed. And for a small business, you need to be able to grow your business, and not have a connection with something negative. If something happened and it went ‘viral’, your brand name is connected to it, and it can have a damaging knock on effect. So knowing how to deal with customer issues and resolving them well, is an important part of your business. Customers Make Your Business As has been said, if you don’t have any customers, then you don’t have a business. The businesses that stand by the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ are the businesses that are going to grow, as they understand and value their customers. As businesses grow and are successful it can be easy to lose sight of that fact, so focusing on your customers all the time, it ultimately what will help your business to keep growing and doing well; you can only do so much alone. Good Business Ethic If you focus on your customers and that they are always right, then it is going to be a good ethic for your business. It will trickle down to everyone involved, and it will really show in all that you do. Business students are taught all about business ethics and codes of conduct, because they are the things that will hold your business together. Love and loyalty to your customers should be part of that, and it will help them to be loyal to you as a business too. So although there can be some tricky situations with customers, we do need to make sure that we are focusing on them, and helping them to have the best experience with our brand as possible.

Looking For A College Resume Example?

Looking For A College Resume Example?The college resume example is not something that you want to use until you have applied for and received an interview. A job search can be very exhausting and you may be tired of watching interviews on television or attending others while you are trying to find employment.If you have sent your resume example to various employers, however, there is a good chance that you will hear back from some of them. By asking about the sample and whether they would like to see it before making a decision about hiring you, you may be able to reduce the number of interviews you need to attend.College resume example resumes have become a common way for many employers to get an idea of what a job applicant looks like. Many large corporations use these examples for a variety of reasons. First, they can quickly tell if an applicant is cut out for a position based on how well they have prepared their resume.Often times, they will examine the resume based on how long it has been since the applicant worked for their previous employer. By sending a resume example to an employer, they can quickly see if the information is adequate or if it needs to be updated to reflect a more recent resume.One of the biggest advantages to using a college resumes for job hunting is that they do not take up too much space. Using a resume example allows for an applicant to create a quick and professional document with all of the information they need about themselves.For example, when an employer receives a resume example, they will get to see the most recent experience and education that applicant has received. The document may also contain educational information that is specific to the particular field in which the applicant has signed up to work.When using a college resume example, it is important to make sure that all of the information included is accurate. The applicant should make sure that the correct information is included and keep the information current as far as possible.Using a college resume example will help you meet employers halfway and find employment. In order to get the most out of your career search, use the sample provided and make sure to update it at least once a year.