Company Updates

Used properly, LinkedIn is one of the best ways to establish your professional identity, grow your network and exchange insights and opportunities with other professionals. Consider it a living, breathing version of your CV; available for other professionals to discover, even when you're busy elsewhere.

It's been six months since you started your new role, and everything has gone well so far...you think. However, the only way you will really know, is once you've had your first performance review with your new boss.

Whether you were actively looking for a new position or not, you have found yourself in a situation where you have been offered a new role. What's more, the role pays far more than your current one for doing pretty much the same thing, so on the face of it, the choice seems obvious - go where the money is.

If you were asked what your favourite aspect of contracting was, I'm guessing you would say it's the freedom. That is, the freedom to choose which contracts you get involved with, the freedom to work from wherever, and for whomever you want, and the freedom to manage your own time.

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Mindfulness, which has its origins in Buddhist traditions, is usually practised in the form of meditation exercises.

In my role, I train ambitious new starters on a daily basis. Most of them walk into the training room bright eyed, smile on their face and eager know all there is to know. But at some point or another during their first few weeks, I will see their enthusiasm start to wane as they come to realise just how much they don't know.

Everyone with ambition needs a good career mentor. It's as simple as that. Your career mentor is that confidential advisor who can objectively help you to overcome your professional hurdles in order to meet your goals. And yet you still don't have one. Why not?

When was the last time you saw a boss demanding to review even the most basic of emails or memos before sending, barking orders or timing people's lunch breaks down to the last minute? This was an all-too-common scene when I first started out in my career.

As an employer, it should come as no surprise that as soon as a candidate has an interview scheduled with you, they will automatically do three things: 1. Visit your website 2. Scour the employee reviews on sites such as Glassdoor and 3. Ask their recruiter and contacts what you are like to work for.

You know when you've bought new shoes which looked great and fitted perfectly in the shop, only to find that they have pinched, rubbed, and slowly given you a nasty blister ever since? Well this is how you feel about your current job.