Job sharing in many workplaces is popular currently as employees attempt to get a better work life balance whilst still working. If you are finding it difficult to keep up with working full time but do not want to give up the role completely it is certainly worth approaching employers to see whether they are open to such a job arrangement which can benefit employer and employee.

Mutual respect and an equal workload are essential for a job share to work successfully and for each party to benefit by the arrangement. It is ideal if the person you are job sharing with is a colleague that is known to you as you may already have a good working relationship. If this is not the case you may need to decide whether you will each have specific areas of the job as your responsibility or whether you will simply carry on where the first person left off.

Good communication is essential for the job share to run smoothly and if you do not see each other between workdays then a note pad should be used to write down any messages that you need to relate to each other. A monthly catch up either in person or online is useful to discuss how things are going and if there are any issues that need sorting out.

Many industries are now taking on extra staff in readiness for the Christmas period. Over the last few years, due to Covid, Christmas has been quite different, but many are hoping that this year will be more back to normal and that there will be no restrictions on who we are allowed to meet up with and where we are allowed to go.

If you are currently looking for employment, then now would be a great place to start. There are many industries that will be looking to hire people such as the retail industry such as working in shops and also in hospitality, in restaurants, cafes or pubs.

You may find that there is a high level of competition for these sorts of jobs so you will have to get in quick. If you are applying for a job with a small business, then you may find that you have to send off your CV but if you are applying for a job within a larger organisation or a chain employer then they most likely will have their own recruitment forms they will want you to complete. You will also most likely need to give details of a someone they can contact as a reference.

Head hunting is a term used within the recruitment industry and it means to hunt down someone that is usually already employed and try and get them to work for you or the company you are representing (if you are an agency). It happens throughout a number of industries and seems to becoming more and more common – but is it ok to get members of staff this way? There is certainly no law against approaching people and asking them if they would like a job with your business but you do need to think about who they are and where you are potentially taking them from. For example if they work for a company that you have dealings with then you may find that it can make things very awkward and they may even be breaking a contract if they come and work for you straight after leaving their pervious role.

It is best to try and advertise the job and allow people to come to you but if you do have a friend or ex colleague in mind then you may well contact them and let them know what is available. Even if you are head hunting someone but sure to check their credentials to make sure that they are who you are looking for before offering them a job.

When applying for jobs the first thing that you’ll need to do is update your CV. Your CV and cover letter is the first bit of information that a prospective employer gets about you so it really needs to make an impact.

It’s always a good idea to tailor your CV and cover letter specifically to the job you’re applying for. This means looking up the job role and the key characteristics the employer wants and ensuring that you can evidence those in the previous roles that you have carried out.

It can be tempting to over explain past experience on a CV but you have to remember that for any one role an employer may have received hundreds of applications and therefore they need to be able to scan read your CV and get all the relevant information quickly.

Using bullet points under each job role highlighting your key responsibilities and skill set is a great idea to give lots of information quickly. You could also list key achievements whilst in that role and any recognition you received whilst in that job.

Always have someone else check through your CV to ensure you’ve not made any grammatical mistakes or errors which may negatively impact your job application.

Many people had to resort to working from home quite a bit during the lock downs over the last few years. This may have been very new for some people and as workplaces start to open up again, it is likely that some will return to their office environment. Other businesses may of decided that actually they don’t need an office space and can allow their staff to continue to work from home. Others may of gone self employed and set up a business that they can run from their house. If this is the case you do need to think carefully about working from home and what that entails. Unlike at a work place, at home there are a lot of distractions. You may have phone calls, people ringing your door bell and the big pile of ironing that is calling you from across the room. In order to make working from home a success you need to be very disciplined and make sure that you set times when you need to be working. It is important to try and schedule in breaks and times for work. This will allow you to keep a good home work life balance.

Flexible working is a term that you may hear a fair bit within the jobs industry – but what exactly is it and it is something that you should be looking for? Flexible working is basically when a job is adapted to suit the employee’s needs. For example, it may be that you need to start a bit later after dropping the children off at school or that they need to work from home certain days a week. This is something that has become more common over the past few years especially since Covid restriction were put in place. Many employers had to get used to a new way of working and allowing their staff to work from home or work shifts to ensure there were less people in the office.

It used to be that if you were not able to work the hours need for the job or that were advertised on the job post then you need not even apply but with employers having to be show willingness and be flexible where possible this is not always the case. Some jobs may require people to be in the office and therefore working from home may simply not even be possible, but they may instead be able to offer staggered working times to fit in with the employee’s lifestyle and family life more.