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If you are toying with the idea of becoming self employed and are currently in an employed position then there are many points to consider before taking the plunge.

With employment, although your job is not guaranteed you have a certain amount of rights which means that you usually will not be laid off without adequate notice or adequate pay. This obviously is not the case in situations of gross misconduct. With self employments you do lose a certain amount of rights, or it is harder to get them. For example you can still claim statutory sick pay and maternity pay if you are self employed but will have to apply for it direct rather than your employer doing it for you. You also lose the right to holiday pay but do have the flexibility to take your holiday when you want when your self employed.

There are pros and cons for being an employee and self employed but you need to weigh up what is right for you in your current situation. If you need the stability of a guaranteed wage then employment may be the best option.

Following on from the recession, people often still complain that there are too few jobs available to them and that getting a job has become a hard task. When looking for a new job you need to make sure that you have your CV up to date and that you write a good cover letter to send in. Some employers will not have the time to read through all of the CV’s so may make their initial eliminations based on the covering letter.

So where’s the best place to look to find these jobs? Well they are listed in a number of different places and a large percentage of them are online only. You can register to have access to a jobs board that will show a number of jobs privately advertised and through recruitment agencies. Some companies will only employ people who have come through a recruitment agency, so it is worth looking at these types of jobs too if you are serious about finding employment. Most agencies do not charge you when looking for a permanent position, as they take their cut from the employers but do be sure to always read terms and conditions in full.

Finding work in the current climate can be very hard and many people quickly get disheartened with applying for job after job with little success. If you have very limited qualifications or experience then you will often find it even harder to land the job you want and may be very restricted in to what you can apply for.

If you are looking to train towards a career but want to be able to earn a small wages whilst doing so then an apprenticeship could be the way forward. An apprenticeship can be taken in a number of job roles within a wide range of industries and each course will vary in terms of time to complete and hours you will work during a week. For example, you may find an electrician apprenticeship that you wish to apply for that will take between 3 and 4 years to complete working four days a week, but some web developer apprenticeships only last 1 to 2 years.

There are some fantastic opportunities for apprentices and although to start with you will be on a lot wage, you can often quickly move up once you are qualified and start earning some decent money.

It can be hard trying to get work, especially if you need to try and find a job quickly as you may not be able to be too fussy about what you apply for. People that have been made redundant, had to leave a job due to relocation or have been off work for a while and need to return, often need help in finding a job role that they are suited to as it may be they have little experience in any other job roles.

With competition at a high for jobs, you need to be on top of your game to be able to compete against other candidates. Relevant experience and good qualifications are often the main reasons for an employer choosing a particular candidate but even if you are not as qualified as others, you can still land a decent job.

Your CV and cover letter is often the first impression your potential employer will have of you, so it is vital that this is correct and that you have written it in such a way as to highlight your assets. Not only should you ensure that all the information is accurate but also that it is written and displayed in the correct way.

Many businesses are now looking to hire apprentices to help grow their business. The government has given businesses a number of incentives to hire apprentices to help with the shortfall of jobs and to allow businesses to start to build again following the recession.

Many employers have stated that taking on apprentices has allowed them to grow their own talent. They get to teach people how they want the job to be done and how their company works. As the apprentice becomes more qualified they are able to move up within the company and take on more responsibility.

Often there is an employment gap within a certain industry, taking on apprentices and training them in these areas will allow this gap to be filled. Many apprentices bring with them barrels full of enthusiasm and are very willing to learn.

It often allows a business to take on additional staff without having to fork out on a full salary straight away, which previously prevented a business from growing.

There are many ways in which to get involved in an apprentice scheme and your local job centre will be able to advise you of places within your area.

Many people find interviews very stressful and panic about what questions they are going to be asked. The best way to calm nerves for an interview is to be prepared. Have a good understanding about the job you are going for, know your own CV and try and pre-empt what they might question you on and take some time to research the company that you are applying for the job with.

Often during an interview the interviewer will ask you some questions, some of which you may feel worried about what the right answer is and how to answer them.

A popular question which often comes up is the interviewing asking what the candidates weaknesses are. IF this questions does arise, there are a few pointers you should bear in mind. Many people end up making costly mistakes when answering this question which could end up to them not being offered the job. Common mistakes include the candidate saying that they are too much of a perfectionist or that they work too hard sometimes. They may also say that they cannot think of a single weakness which often doesn’t go down well as the interviewer will be able to tell they are not being truthful. Being too honest and saying something like you find it hard getting to work on time, will raise red flags.

You need to be truthful but fair to yourself so could mention a weakness that you have that is not going to limit your ability in the job, but state that you are aware of it and what you do to try and combat it.

With some many people still on the hunt for work, the competition for jobs is high meaning you need to be ahead of your game to land that job role that you have always wanted. Following the recession, many employers had to cut back on staff and as their business started to pick up again they started to look to recruit more people again. This has made some employers very wary and often leading them to only employ people that already have the skills and unnecessary training needed to do the job. For those employees who have little or no experience in similar roles, this can make it extremely difficult for them to find work.

Ideally to have the best chance of getting a job you need to ensure that you give yourself the best chance and this may include going on additional training courses, obtaining further qualifications or even doing some voluntary work to gain experience. You may also need to start slightly further down the ladder and work your way up to the position you want over time or start off on a lower wage whist you are undergoing training either in house or from an outside company.

We’ve all been there mid interview waiting for the compulsory difficult questions that most employers seem to ask in an attempt to wrong foot an interview candidate to try to get an idea of how you react in a difficult situation. However with the right preparation these questions needn’t leave you feeling flummoxed, instead you can answer calmly and collectedly allowing the interview to go as smoothly as possible.

One of the questions often asked is ‘What do you think is your worse attribute?’ now this can be a tricky one as you certainly don’t want to be reeling off a list of negative points about yourself that will then be used against you but you also cannot answer in a manner that would make you appear arrogant. A good safe option is to say that you tend to be a perfectionist and that you push yourself more than necessary as you take pride in what you do so don’t like to rush a task until its completed properly. This allows the interviewer to then ask whether you can keep to deadlines in which case you can answer that you can but insist on delivering the best possible outcome in the time allocated for the task.

Many employees think that being an employers is easy and that they have a great time bossing everyone about but this is simply not the case. Any good employer will know the difficulties between keeping your employees happy but also ensuring that work gets completed on time and to standard whilst still making a profit. Being an employer is a very careful balancing act and you constantly need to be in touch with what is happening within the business without micro managing.

If you give your employee’s too much freedom you may find that work quality and also production is reduced but if you try to get too involved you may cause employees to lose moral and confidence in themselves and therefore not perform as well as they could do.

As an employer, always try and employee people that you can trust and that have a passion for your business as these are the people that will most likely help your business to succeed.

Social media is now a massive part of our lives and is used by many of us on a daily basis. Social media can be used in a number of ways by different people but many businesses are starting to see the advantages of it and jumping on board. If you are looking for a new job then historically you may have looked in the local paper, the Job Centre or even on an online jobs board, but now many people are turning to social media sites.

Facebook and Twitter are often places where jobs are posted for the public to see. It may be that you join a group specifically for job postings in your area or that you search local businesses to see if any of them are currently recruiting.

LinkedIn is also a good way to find new opportunities and often many companies will use this to search for potential employees they may wish to try and recruit.