Many people get into IT roles starting off in a junior position such as a Junior IT technician or support role. Over time as you gain more experience you should be able to progress up the ranks to move into a more senior or management role.

You may have a lot of experience in IT but you also need to gain management experience. This may include how to manage a team, meeting with prospective and existing clients and liaising with suppliers. You may be able to go on courses or complete a management NVQ whilst working to gain these skills.

Always make sure that your company is aware that you would like to progress into a management role. It may seem obvious to you, but many bosses won’t necessarily assume that you want to move out of your current position unless you tell them and therefore may not consider you should a vacancy come up.

It may be that you outgrow the company that you currently work for and in order to progress you need to move to a different company. This can be hard if you like who you work for but sometimes it is essential if you want to progress.

As an employer you may find the whole recruitment process quite stressful let alone costly.

It is thought that on average it can cost a business around four to five thousand pounds to fill a vacancy.

When advertising a job, you may be inundated with CV’s which someone will need to go through in order to shortlist applicants that you want to invite in for interviews. All of this takes time and often means a member of staff can’t do the job they normally do as all their time is taken up with this. You may have to do more multiple rounds of interviews to find the applicants, meaning more admin time. If you decide to use an agency, they can take a lot of the hassle away from you by doing all the advertising for the position, filtering through CV’s that are sent in and then pre assessing people that you wish to attend an interview to find out if they are really suitable.

Agencies usually make their money from employers by charging a set fee for their service which is usually based on a percentage of the annual salary being offered to the successful applicate. Often you can ask more than one agency to look for a candidate for you and will only pay the one that fills the vacancy.   

If you are considering going it alone and setting up your own business, there is a lot you need to think about. It can be a worrying time and knowing where and how you can get advice and help is essential.

You will want to know that you have all the legal requirements covered as well as your business strategy and marketing in place before you start as otherwise your business can fail before it has even begun.

In the UK, there is a very supportive environment for start-ups, with a flourishing wealth of networks, groups and organisations for all types and style of new businesses. There are many places you can go for help and advice and much of it is free, so before you go forking out a lot of money on a business advisor, see what information you can find yourself.

When looking into legal requirements you may need the help of a solicitor. If you are selling goods or services, then you will often need contracts or legal documents that must be displayed or accessible to your customer.

When it comes to finances, you may want to look after this yourself if you expect your turnover to be small or you may want to use an accountant to manage it for you.

Mental health is a big thing at the moment. Historically there was a lot of stigma regarding mental health and people were put down if they displayed signs of not being able to cope with situations or feeling overwhelmed. Over the past decade more and more is being done to raise awareness of mental health in adults and in children but also in the work place. Working environments can be very stressful and issues that are going on at home can often be bought in to work. Some jobs require long working hours, too much work, dealing with disgruntled customers and not having the correct level of support or equipment to carry out the job properly. All of these types of factors can contribute to metal health issues for workers and employers need to be on the lookout for signs of this and offer help when needed.

Having a group of employees whose mental health is suffering at work is not productive for anyone. There are now a number of companies that offer help with combatting this and also ensuring there are preventative measures put in place to try and stop issues occurring in the future. As an employer, you have a duty of care to your employees and should try and work with them to resolve any issues they may have.

As an employer, filling a job vacancy can take up a lot of time and often mean that productivity goes down. If you have a lot of applications to get through and have to do more than one round of interviews then you can expect the application and interview process to take a good few weeks.

Firstly you need to go through the pile of CV’s that have been sent in by potential applicants.  After you have narrowed the CV’s down you then have to run a round of interviews possibly even two or three rounds, quizzing candidates before finding the right one.

On average it is said to cost approximately £4000-£4500 to fill a vacancy, this is including the advertising costs and wages cost of the people carrying out the interviews and managing the recruitment process.

Another option you have as an employer is to use a recruitment agency to help you fill the position. They can take a lot of the hassle away from you by doing all the advertising of the job, going through CV’s and selecting only candidates that are suitable and then carrying out a basic interview. The interview may be done over the phone.

Agencies will charge a fee for this service which is often calculated as a percentage of the job roles’ annual salary.

Often the task of finding a new job is not enjoyable. You may be under pressure to get a job quickly or may not really be sure what you want to do. This can make the task seem much harder and you may feel like you don’t really know where to start.
Regardless of if you know the type of job role you wish to apply for the internet is a great place to start. There are a number of job boards, many of which allow you to register for free and start browsing for jobs that you feel you have the relevant experience or qualifications for immediately.
If you don’t have any idea of what industry or job you want to go in for then you can often filter jobs by location and/or salary if this is important to you. The other way is to upload your CV and create a profile on a job agency site and allow them to find work for you. This is often less stressful but you may be waiting longer to find a vacancy.
Some jobs boards allow you to take a questionnaire, which will then give you a list of jobs that may be suited to you based on the answers you have given.

With many A level and GCSE students completing their exams over the next few weeks, you can expect that the number of people applying for jobs over the next few months is set to rise. Some students will have already decided that once they have completed their exams they want to go in to employment rather than carry on with their education. Rules now state that a child must stay in full time education, start an apprenticeship or traineeship or spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training.

Many of these students will start applying for jobs as soon as they finish school or they may already be working, but for the students who were hoping on going to university or college, their results may mean they have to rethink what they are doing.

If a student does not get the relevant exam results that they need to get on to their chosen course, then they may have to look at going straight in to employment as an option or retaking their exams.

Finding a job can be hard at the best of times, but for someone with little or no experience it can be a huge challenge.

Whether you are employed or self-employed, managing your work load is essential. It is important to ensure that you understand what work needs to be done and have the time to do it all. If you do not do this then not only will your under perform in your job but you may also suffer from anxiety or stress due to the pressure.

The best way to manage workloads are to ensure that you have a schedule in place. Week to week planners is great for being able to plan out your day and move tasks on to other days if not complete. Some people prefer to use an electronic diary and others prefer pen and paper. Often people say that prefer to write it down (rather than in putting it in to a computer) as it is quicker to update and to keep a track of what you are doing rather than having to flick between screens.

If you find that you have too much work on to possibly complete in the time frames then you need to think carefully about how you can either cut down on time spent on certain tasks, work more hours or off load some work to others.

Temporary work can be a great way to get you earning money quickly, but the risk is the lack of security that comes with these types of positions.

Some employers offer temporary jobs due to cover of maternity leave or illness or just to see them through a busy period. The job may be on a fixed term such as 3 or 6 months, after which time you may know the job will come to an end or it could be on a flexible contract where it is reviewed after three months for example.

Often temporary jobs can lead to permanent positions, especially if you show your worth and work hard. Even if the company you work for doesn’t have any current vacancies, they are likely to invite you to apply for jobs that come up in the future as it can serve you well if they already know you how you work.

It is important to continue to look for work whilst in a temporary job as there is no assurance that you will have further employment at the end of it. You could register with an agency who will attempt to find you work, but you may have to go to a different place of work every day in order to ensure you have employment.

We all need to take time off work whether it be for medical reasons, vacations with the family or just to use your holiday entitlement up. Most jobs require some if not all of your work to be passed on to other people in your absence. This can put added pressure of your co-workers, so it is important to try and make it as easy for them as possible.

You may just need to set up an out of office email and divert your calls to someone else, but if there is something that is likely to crop up while you are away it is important to inform someone else who can take responsibility for it in your absence.

If you need someone to actually do your work on a daily basis then it is vital that you have some times with them prior to going on leave to ensure they understand what needs to be done. Sometimes it is helpful to create a list of tasks or to give those notes on your clients that they can look in to should they need to.

Always allow enough time to train your replacement and make sure that you have got up to date with all our work so that you are not leaving them in the deep end straight away.