For many women going back to work after having a baby can be quite a challenge. The cost of childcare can be astronomical and unless the job you are in is well paid you may well ask yourself whether it is worthwhile working for a small amount whilst paying someone else to look after your child.

An ideal solution to this dilemma is to find a way to work from home so that you can be at home with your young child and also earn a wage. Perhaps you have a skill that could be adapted to enable you to work in this way such as secretarial skills or marketing. These jobs could be carried out at home on a computer with meetings organised to coordinate work via online conference calls.

There may be a hobby that you have that can be used to earn a wage from such as sewing, baking or playing an instrument. Many people would be interested in employing someone to make or alter clothes or make celebration cakes and as long as you advertise your business well this type of business can be a success. If you are a musician, you could promote yourself as a music tutor teaching both children and adults to play a musical instrument.

When you retire from a chosen career such as teaching or nursing life can feel very different. The days of rushing out to work in the morning or working shifts are not missed but the companionship of work colleagues and the structure to your day often is something that many retirees comment on and want to change.

Finding a job that is suitable for someone who is retired can be problematic as some employers do not offer part time roles and it may be that you do not want to spend all your time at work at this stage in your life. It is wise to seek out a job that is as stress free as possible such as a retail position. Some more forward-thinking companies encourage older people to apply for roles as they have seen the benefits of a more mature approach to working.

Call centre roles are another possibility for retirees as most of the work will be carried out seated while some companies allow employees to work from home.

If you enjoy working with children, then a job as a teaching assistant or childcare worker can be a good solution as often children respond well to older people in the community.

Often when people first start up their own business, they must do a lot of the work themselves. Once the business starts to grow, there may come a time when they need to look to either employee someone or use a sub contractor to work with them.  This could be for anything from marketing through to managing all the accounts and doing the books etc.

As a business owner it can be extremely daunting taking someone on to work with you if you have never done it before. You are having to let someone else into your business and therefore you need to be able to trust them and know that you can rely on them to do a good job.

It may be that they will be customer facing, so what they say or do will have a big effect on your reputation. Ideally you may want to find someone that you already know or have worked with before, but this may not always be possible. When you come to choose what type of person to take on you need to have a clear idea of what responsibilities you will be giving them. Take some time to interview them properly and never skimp on getting references.

If you have a job where you work from home then you will probably already know the issues that surround it. Everyone has the opinion that working from hoe must be great as you can lazy about and watch tv, making cups of tea when you want to, but the fact is, if you do this then you will probably not get your work done. When working from home you need to set yourself strict working hours and try and stick to them. Giving yourself a start time, a few breaks in the day and a finish time. If you have to take time out of work to go food shopping etc. then you should try and make this time up another day or in an evening to allow you to stay on top of everything. 

Not only do you have the issues of organising your working hours, but also you may miss the interaction with others. Try and make sure that you have some time away from work, whether it be an hour a day for lunch or time in the evening when you can get out of the house for a bit and meet up with family and friends. 

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.

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.

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.