Jobs & employment blog

  The decision you make when choosing which employer to work for, and which role to accept, has always been an important one – life changing in fact. It’s an intently personal thing, rooted in your values and hopes and dreams for the future. However, it’s likely that during the lockdown period, you’ve been afforded more time to think and ruminate on your career trajectory,...

Continuing physical distancing measures will see your former open-plan office layout replaced with a new seating plan, separated desks and dividers. It will likely lead to you returning to your workplace on a roster system with staggered start and finish times. There will also be fewer in-person meetings and informal brainstorming sessions around a colleague’s computer. In short, the...

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organisations to undergo significant change and adjust to an unexpected new reality. From adapting products or services to adopting new technology to run their business, in a matter of weeks organisations have undergone levels of change that, pre-crisis, we wouldn’t have thought possible in years. Consequently, the people working in these organisations have...

“I’m so nervous.” “I’m sure all the other candidates are better than me.” “I’ve never had a video interview before, it’ll probably go wrong.” “I feel worried about the impact of the virus, what if that negatively impacts my performance?” 80% of all the thoughts we have are negative. Yes, you read that right, 80% of the 12,000-16,000 thoughts we have every day are negative. And, of...

In these difficult times, most interviews are being conducted remotely either over the phone or by video call. So, in this Q&A, we’re joined by Gaelle Blake, Director of Permanent Employment at Hays UK and Ireland. Gaelle is here to share her expert advice for those who are worried about interviewing remotely, to help them overcome their fears and secure their next job. 1) Before...

We have all found ourselves having to adapt quickly, both in our personal and professional lives. In this way, the COVID-19 pandemic has served to highlight a key skillset which we all need to continually develop and nurture, in order to operate successfully in our role, no matter what that role may be. Change agility, the ability to quickly and successfully embrace and adopt change, will...

Social distancing rules aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus forced mass remote working onto a significant percentage of the world’s skilled professionals. While this was designed as a temporary stop-gap, many employees have come to appreciate the benefits of working from home and wish to retain some form of flexibility once they transition back into co-located workspaces. While the...

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally.” Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Practising mindfulness is not about avoiding all of the many thoughts (positive and negative) that are buzzing through our minds every day. It’s...

To say that 2020 hasn’t exactly got off to the best start for many of us would be the understatement of the century. Here in Australia, we were only just beginning to start the recovery from the devastating bushfires that wreaked havoc across the country, impacting massively on lives, businesses and wildlife. This wasn’t just happening in Australia, many other parts of the world have also had...

A crisis is often a powerful catalyst for change, creativity and innovation It has long been known that a crisis, or sense of urgency is a powerful catalyst for change and creativity. In the current situation, many organisations are having to innovate to survive and to continue to serve their customers. Restaurants have switched to offer home deliveries, lessons and...

How can you tackle the unique challenges that come with working in the comfort of your own home, whilst ensuring you’re as productive as possible?   I myself, am a seasoned remote worker, and tend to work from home on busy days like Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the present time, the challenge of ensuring high levels of productivity when working remotely is a very real one...

There are 300 million people using Skype each month. It’s no surprise then, that the video chat service has been deployed in the interview process. Using Skype allows employers to interview candidates from all over the world. These days, it is often the first step in an interview process, so it’s important it is a success. How to prepare for your Skype interview Skype interviews...

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has seen rapid and significant change sweep across the world of work, with organisations activating business continuity plans and transitioning their employees to remote working. For a large proportion of us, then, our day-to-day working lives now look very different to just a few weeks ago. Added to this is the requirement to help your department or...

Do you remember the days when jobseekers would to rush to buy a newspaper just so they could scope out all the newly published job adverts and quickly apply via post or fax? Once upon a time, searching for jobs was a far more time-consuming, arduous process. Jobseekers spent hours sifting through job advertisements, making calls and sending countless letters and faxes. However, today,...