03 Sep 10 The Issue Of Overtime, And How To Make Sure You Are Paid Reasonably When You Work It
Employers seem to hold widely varying views on the subject of overtime. There are relatively few jobs in which you only work a normal day without needing to put in some extra time on occasions. Many employers ask workers for a reasonable overtime commitment, but make a reasonable payment for it. Others expect many extra hours of service from their employees, but don’t pay without providing any compensation. For employees who work from home, the position can be more flexible, but even there employers will require workers to put in a lot of extra time. Nevertheless, in the numerous online jobs that are now available in Internet business, workers are much more free to decide on their own work timetable, and decide how many extra hours they they put in.
One company I was employed by, asked staff to stay late on numerous occasions, but made clear that it was their policy not to pay any extra money. Initially, the bosses there had a fairly relaxed attitude to start and end times, so you were not expected to be on time every day. That was the explanation for not paying overtime; it was difficult to monitor hours worked. After a while they started to be very concerned about timekeeping – workers were asked to be at their desks at 8:30 exactly. By contrast, when it came to leaving time their policy shifted. Staff were not permitted to leave at five o’clock. The managers even used to stand around by the doors to the building, making critical comments about staff who elected not to work late.
Their contention was that overtime pay was bad since it would permit staff to spin out the time it took them to complete their work. In truth, staff had to work many extra hours to complete projects in time for deadlines. Effectively the extra hours done by staff constituted a decrease, in real terms, of the hourly rate for the job, and that was not marvellous in the first place.
I worked there nearly twenty years ago, at a time when Internet business was still tiny. The technology enabling people to work from home in online jobs where you could determine the amount of overtime you did, had yet to take shape.
Another argument that has been put forward for not giving overtime pay is that companies must provide holiday and sick pay. The argument is basically disingenuous since holiday and sick pay are calculated as part of the worker’s rate of pay at the outset. When somebody self-employed is hired to perform the same task as an employee, they can be expected to ask for a much higher rate per hour; but they do not qualify for holiday or sick pay.
The number of days each year a worker will be unable to work due to illness is difficult to predict, but one company I worked for told me that in a year a worker would normally be off sick for seven days. That is undoubtedly many more than the number I have ever taken. Obviously if a worker is constantly phoning in sick, this needs to be dealt with through disciplinary procedures.
Tags: business, career, jobs, jobs online, online jobs
03 Sep 10 Enjoying An Interesting Career In Games Testing
The games industry is a constantly growing thing, over the years it has become very successful, in some cases rivalling profits and/or sales of Hollywood movies. Many people play games now, it’s no longer just for kids, families can all join in and play party games and the keen gamers can enjoy high definition epics that will always impress. With the industry growing so much, so do the Careers that are available, but wouldn’t it be amazing if you could play games as your job. You could no doubt aim to become a professional gamer and with any luck earn your living from competitions, but this is no easy accomplishment. Thankfully, there are also New careers as a games tester, which could be just the role you were searching for.
Yes, Careers in games testing allow you to play games all day every day. However these Career ideas aren’t just a walk in the park, there is difficulties involved and you have to remember that you can’t choose the game to play. Let’s get the hard parts clarified first. To begin, you need to have a good eye for detail, it’s your job to find the problems with the game so that the developers can patch them. You also have to be persistent and patient as you would be playing the same game constantly for many hours in a day. The greatest challenge however is trying to work out how other individuals would play the game, not all people have the same method as you and you need to find the many ways the game can play out so that you can discover as many glitches as possible.
What makes these Career ideas so great is the fact that they have no formal requirements the majority of the time. Anybody with good GCSE grades in English and Maths can be in with a decent chance. Having a degree in computing or learning programming can highten your chance of success, but to be frank, the most crucial thing is good communication skills and a love for gaming. In regards to actually locating Careers in this field of work, you can find roles at outsourcing companies, publishers and even the developers themselves can provide positions. New careers in games testing are quite uncommon however, so you will need to keep watch for any opportunities and don’t be afraid to send your CV to many employers, even if they aren’t looking for new staff it doesn’t hurt to make yourself known.
These Careers don’t provide the best of salaries, usually between £14,000 and £18,000, but the main benefit is more the fact that you’d be working a job that you love doing. It’s safe to believe if you’re looking at these Career ideas, then you’re already an enthusiastic gamer and being asked to carry out your hobby while at work can’t ever be a bad thing. It’s also entirely possible that if you’re good at the job, you may be requested to join the development team carrying out a role such as level design by using the knowledge you picked up during the testing role.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
02 Sep 10 Starting A New Job As A Sales Person, And The Various Difficulties Faced By Sales People In The Sales Career.
There are many New careers offered for people to contemplate doing when they leave school or university, or even just as a change to their present career. One area on offer, which entails many hundreds of different Careers, is sales. Taking on a career within sales opens up a whole world of opportunities for people. Almost every single business out there involves selling products, and getting people to buy your own products over the products which are offered by your key rivals. This means there is a huge amount of scope for different Careers within a sales environment, and you may end up working for pretty much any company. Here we are going to view just a tiny selection at some of the Careers which are available to people, so hopefully if you are searching for a New career this article may be of some help to you, and help supply you with a few ideas of the different Careers which are on offer within the sales environment.
Firstly, within sales, personality and charisma are pretty important, so some individuals are genuinely more suitable for the sales role than others. Some people, like myself, don’t have much charisma, and sometimes find it tough to make conversations with new people. People who are good at striking up rapports and conversations with new people on a daily basis are the type of people who are better suited for sales Careers. You might probably have noticed when shopping in certain shops, particularly where large amounts of money are spent in one or two transactions, there will always be a pleasant sales assistant on hand to provide you with the help and assistance you need. Quite often in sales there will be targets to be achieved, however, so not only do you have to be open and easy to talk to, you also must be persistent in order to convince people to make sales. Of course, you aren’t asked to stand there and insist that people make purchases from your store, but a great sales person will notice early on the proper buttons to push in people, and steer them towards making a purchases without ever once making them feel forced into a purchase. That is a major point to becoming a great sales person.
As mentioned, due to the nature of sales you may end up working in just about any industry in which you have a key interest. Myself for example, my main interests lie in computer games, but also electronics and things, so TVs, blu-ray players, basically big flashy gadgets. So for me, if I were looking at New careers within a sales environment, I would be hoping to work somewhere like GAME, or Comet, so I could work beside products I already have a sound understanding of. Similarly though, if you have an interest in fashion, there are several high-street shops with which career development is possible. You might hope to go for something rather more high value, such as selling cars in a car showroom. With sales, as long as you have a flare for it, you can get a New career in just about any area that attracts you as an individual.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
02 Sep 10 Finding Alternative Work In A Downturn How To Spot Good And Bad Opportunities
The existing global downturn has parallels with the situation in the period 1980-85, when there were the same elevated levels of joblessness as today. Thirty years ago there was a sharp retrenchment in our industrial base, so that many engineering and related jobs went abroad or no longer employed significant numbers. It is instructive to study the points of similarity between that period, and now, looking at the kinds of bogus positions that were on offer, and are offered again now, a high proportion of them in sales positions, that nobody would dream of applying for, if employment opportunities were not subject to such intense competition.
And yet, there are contrasts between the two downturns, due to the emergence of Internet business and a wide range of genuine online jobs obtainable at the current time, that were not available a quarter of a century ago. While the idea that people can work from home has not only just emerged, the World Wide Web greatly increases the possibilities for doing this.
Certainly, there exist lucrative opportunities in sales and marketing, but it is important to distinguish good from bad jobs, and shun jobs promoting a questionable product. Once in the eighties I was invited for interview with a company trying to establish a new business directory. They were looking for salesmen to visit companies asking them to buy an entry in this. I suspected that this supposed directory was something of a sham, and did not pursue the position. I never heard of the directory again.
On one occasion I applied for a vacancy marketing investment products, and was requested to attend an interview at a hotel. It is quite common for companies to rent rooms in hotels to conduct interviews. However, when I got there, I discovered this company actually used the hotel as an office. Before I would even be taken on by them, I would have to sell 5 investment plans, to my friends and family. In other words, I was simply being used as a way of getting leads from my circle of contacts. Needless to say I decided not to take that up.
Then I did various so-called jobs trying to sell things at the door. The majority of people find doorstep canvassers irritating, and I found it a markedly dispiriting episode. Householders will think of various unpleasant ways to inform you they don’t want to buy your product. I also tried my hand at phone selling, which had the advantage that I was able to work from home, however that just as bad. It’s much easier to hang up on a salesman than to shut a door in their face.
The door-to-door job adverts are less common today as a lot of neighbourhoods have signs up saying they are ‘no cold calling’ districts, and most of the telephone sales positions have been exported to India. Even so, recently I applied for a job as a market researcher, which I thought would be better as I was not asking people to buy something. However, I discovered that remarkably few people were willing to spare time for a few questions, and some just hung up on me as soon as I introduced myself. I gave that up after a day.
But with employment opportunities continuing to be scarce, what other types of opportunity are worthwhile? After trying out a lot of non-starters I finally took a look at Internet business opportunities. There are some publicized on various online jobs sites, but in addition there are websites focussing on the field of Internet business itself. Positions like these allow people to work from home, so you will not need to move to another part of the country. Some opportunities may require a reasonable investment, but I know from my own experience that online jobs are certainly better than trying to sell something on the doorstep or phone. Since I started in this field myself, I have never personally looked back.
Tags: business, career, jobs, jobs online, online jobs
01 Sep 10 If You Are Considering Taking On A Big Change In Your Life And Wish To Move Location And Start Over, Then Here Are Some Of The Best Rated Cities You Could Contemplate Moving To.
One thing that can have a key impact on people’s Career ideas is the location of said Careers. The better the location, the nicer your standard of living, and the better your overall wellbeing and happiness. So making sure you pick a city that is going to help make sure you have the best standard of living existing to you is essential. If you are wishing to change Careers and start over in a new city, and aren’t sure where best to go, then here are some facts which may help you choose.
You may want to contemplate moving away from the UK if you’re wanting to move to a city that has the best quality of life – London was the only city to be listed in the top 50 cities worldwide for quality of life, and it ranked a rather lowly 39th place. The study, named The Mercer Quality of Living, looks at several cities and considers numerous aspects that contribute to a person’s quality of life. There are a wide variety of factors monitored, including crime levels, hospitals, transport accessibility, leisure facilities available and even political stability. These are all aspects which can influence the availability of New careers to you, so this study is well worth taking note of. It might even help supply you with new Career ideas as you look at moving to cities you may never have thought about working at before.
The number one city to reside in according to this survey is Vienna, in Austria. So if you are thinking about New careers you could maybe take on, and you’d like a nice place to move to so you can take on these new Career ideas you’ve had, then Vienna would undoubtedly seem like a good choice. Vienna is a city packed with history and culture, and would surely suit an ambitious person looking to expand their horizons. The other top grade cities were Zurich which came second, and Geneva came third, both of course within Switzerland. Moving to one of these cities means you are looking at a much greater quality of life than in other places. This is information worth knowing as if you’re in doubt about where you would like to live, perhaps you don’t have any real ties to your current location or you really do wish to go out into the big wide world on your own, then what greater way to start than by going to one of the worlds top-ranking cities?
If you would like something a bit further out (and with much nicer weather!) then you should also think about Sydney, Australia. This exciting city was placed 10th in the world, so again is a good choice. Australia is already a popular alternative with individuals anyway, with fantastic weather all year round – the knowledge that you know you can look forward to a good standard of living there as well really helps sweeten the deal.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
01 Sep 10 Pushing Towards The Ambition Of A Better Career
Have you ever considered your options for Careers and truly wished you were able to get into something you really love? A lot of us possess some Career Ideas of things that we will only dream of achieving, and it can be rather disappointing to then look back on what you’re stuck in now and ask yourself if you can ever actually enjoy it. A lot of people will never genuinely enjoy their jobs, wishing they could come across New Careers to have a go at, but many of these individuals will give up and live life with the glass only half full. We’re going to have a look at some of my dream Careers and see why they don’t necessarily have to be just a dream.
At one stage in my life, I had hopes of becoming a games developer, preferably on the graphics and animation side of things. At the time I had good A-Level scores and would have acquired a spot on a university course, being taught computer programming and learning design methods in 3D animation and rendering packages. However, I decided against this, as I was quite stubborn and said I hated maths. Now for those who don’t know, computer programming involves heavy mathematical work and I chose not to go along this path, a decision based purely on the maths work alone. A foolish choice I now realise, but the focus here is not about the bad decision, but the fact that these options never fully close off from you. It’s not too late to go to university, or even pick up college grades for that matter. If you decide to go back on your choices, you can always chase after your Career Ideas by taking on a course somewhere.
The following and more current aspiration I had for New Careers was to work as a manga artist. I love mangas and animes, I feel the art style incredible and fascinating and I wish I was able to do it myself. I have always liked drawing, but never been very talented at it, but why should that stop me from pursuing the goal? The choice is always there for me to practice my sketching and again, even take on a course to study new techniques. Careers like these aren’t bothered about qualifications, but off your own ability, so if I decided to put the effort in, who’s to say I couldn’t achieve this goal in the future. Certainly it would take a lot of practice and a lot of time spent doing it, possibly years before I could earn money from it, but again the main point here is the fact that’s achievable.
If there’s something you should take away from this, it would be to remember that if you have a go-al and you are serious about that goal, then why not go for it? Chances are you can achieve it if you put the work in, and if it really is something you love, then it definitely will be worth the investment in the end. Not all Career Ideas need a natural talent, a talent can be something that you work for and accomplish over time.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
31 Aug 10 Saying Farewell To The Daily Commute To Work: What You Need For A Successful Home Office
Imagine this. A hectic working day at the office. The telephone is ringing, your printer is whirring, your fax machine is busy, you’re absorbed with the emails on your computer. At the end of a long day of hard slog, you choose to take a rest, and walk out of your office … into your bedroom.
Actually, with the availability of modern technologies and Internet business, it is now quite feasible to work from home . The outlook from your window is not a congested street, but your back garden. The sounds there are not revving engines and honking horns, but birds singing.
If that seems to youan attractive proposition, then you should bear in mind that the appearance of online jobs means that this is a completely realistic aspiration. It’s possible to start up a successful Internet business from the surroundings of your home, without the worry and bother of travelling to a faraway office.
However, there are a few points that you should take into account in order to successfully work from home. It is essential at the outset that create a ‘home office’, a location in your house reserved for your work and containing all the appropriate facilities you must have to do your job, no less than if you are in an office away from home.
Some time ago, I was doing temporary work assignments for various companies, and was sent to one organisation by the agency. When I got there, I found a standard suburban house, and assumed I had been given an incorrect address. Nonetheless, somebody came out of the house and reassured me that I was in the right place. This company had turned the entire lower floor of the house into office space. Rest assured that you won’t have to use up that much space to work from home; but nonetheless it’s advisable to to reserve a room for use in your business. For instance, I live in a three-bedroomed property, but the smallest of these is not slept in as I have made it into a fully-equipped office for business and studying.
It is also advisable that those you live with appreciate you have to work without interruptions. There is a convention that personal phone calls, unless for emergencies, are not allowed in an office environment. Why should this be scrapped when working in online jobs running an Internet business? Your spouse and your children must be made to realise that they should not disturb you. This may be a troublesome matter should you have young kids who constantly demand your attention!
There is another form of distraction which you can’t do much about – the callers at your door. They could be somebody wanting you to buy something, doing surveys, offering to clean your drains, or wishing to impart religious advice. Even if you say no thankyou, their visit can break your train of thought and make you irritated and distracted. A poster in your window saying you won’t accept whatever the callers are selling may dissuade a few, but at the end of the day you won’t stop them all. This drawback must be considered against the much more numerous advantages if you work from home.
Self-discipline is also vital if you work in online jobs. Without a boss to answer to, it is essential that you concentrate on the Internet business you are paid for instead of following the latest gossip networking sites. You are free to choose your own working timetable, but you must observe them for the work at hand.
And should you be perchance you are similar to me, make sure you have a plentiful supply of coffee to help you through your working day!
Tags: business, career, jobs, jobs online, online jobs
31 Aug 10 Reasons For Carrying On Your Existing Position And The Difficulties Of Entering A New One
There are countless reasons why people may choose to depart their current Careers, perhaps they’ve located something more fitting or maybe the job just isn’t what they’d hoped for. Choosing to quit is typically the easy way out of a troublesome situation, there’s a lot of New careers to be found out there, so why endure a bad one? But why not stop and look at the other side of the coin, reasons why you could stay in the job. This is typically something overlooked due to what was said earlier, it’s often easier to simply quit. Continuing in your existing job can have its advantages though, no doubt it does differ depending on your situation, but you shouldn’t be so quick to disregard it. Let’s take a look at a couple of the reasons why you may decide to give it a second chance, it would surely be easier than searching for new Career ideas.
The first possible reason for keeping at a job is the possibility of development. No doubt this is very situational, but if you’ve worked in the job a while, you may have gained some recognition, putting you in a decent position to look at furthering your career. If you start looking at New careers, you’ll be right back at the beginning and have to build your way up again, whereas if you continue your existing role and put the effort in, you have potential to end up in a better paid position. Even if you don’t see yourself employed in the company long term, development to a better role will look excellent on your CV and increase your chances at getting a better career later in life.
Another reason people may choose to stay in their existing Careers is for the familiarity. If you’ve worked there a while, chances are you have made a few decent friends and are familiar with the work. It can sometimes be difficult trying to fit in with a new job, both the employees and the work are unfamiliar and it can take a while to settle in. By remaining at your existing job you know what you’re doing and you almost certainly have someone to turn to if you ever wanted help. People generally don’t like change, so it’s no surprise that this is one of the main reasons people keep at a job.
Lastly, another big reason for staying in a job and evading the search for New careers is job security. This is a important reason for anybody with a family, as you can’t be sure a new job will work out and you may end up failing a probationary period and being out of a job all together. This is a big downside to thinking about new Career ideas as the work could be entirely different to what you were used to before and have a tough learning curve. If you can’t adapt to the new job you’ll be right back at the start searching for new work. If you’ve been in your existing role for a while you’re possibly considered valuable, it makes business sense to keep experienced members of staff rather than train new ones.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
29 Aug 10 Becoming a Lawyer – What Do You Need To Do?
Whenever you see all these handsome Attorneys in Television series like LA Regulation, sitting in their fancy offices, driving these flashy cars, have you ever realized what they are already by way of in terms of time, decades of training, cash, certifications, etc..<br>.
Let me Describe for you the Attorneys course of instruction. Formal educational needs for attorneys include a 4-year college diploma, three decades in law education, along with the passing of your written bar examination.
Competition for admission to most law educational facilities is intense. prospective attorneys need to develop proficiency in writing and speaking, reading, researching, analyzing, and thinking logically–skills needed to succeed each in law education and in the profession.
Regardless of important, a multidisciplinary background is encouraged. Courses in English, foreign languages, public speaking, govt, philosophy, history, economics, mathematics, and personal computer science, among others, are beneficial. Pupils interested inside a unique element of law may possibly locate related classes very helpful. For example, prospective patent attorneys will need a strong background in engineering or science, and long term tax attorneys have to have extensive information of accounting.
Acceptance by most law educational facilities is determined by the applicant’s capability to demonstrate an aptitude for the study of law, normally by way of excellent undergraduate grades, the Regulation Education Admission Test (LSAT), the high quality on the applicant’s undergraduate education, any prior do the job knowledge, and, sometimes, a private interview.
During the first 12 months or 12 months along with a half of law education, students normally study core classes, these kinds of as constitutional law, contracts, property law, torts, civil process, and legal writing. Inside the remaining time, they may possibly elect specialized classes in fields these kinds of as tax, labor, or corporate law. Regulation students generally acquire practical knowledge by participating in school-sponsored legal clinic activities; in the school’s moot court competitions, in which students carry out appellate arguments; in practice trials under the supervision of experienced attorneys and judges; and by way of research and writing on legal issues for the school’s law journal.
Regulation education graduates obtain the diploma of juris doctor (J.D.) as the initial expert diploma. Superior law degrees may possibly be desirable for individuals considering to specialize, research, or teach. Some law students pursue joint diploma programs, which normally require an additional semester or 12 months of study. Joint diploma programs are provided inside a number of places, which include law and small business administration or public administration.
Right after graduation, attorneys have to preserve informed about legal and nonlegal improvements that affect their practice. At this time, 40 States and jurisdictions mandate continuing legal training (CLE).<br> Several law educational facilities and State and neighborhood bar associations provide continuing training classes that help attorneys remain abreast of latest improvements.
The practice of law entails a excellent deal of responsibility. Individuals considering careers in law need to like to do the job with men and women and be able to win the respect and confidence of their clients, associates, along with the public. Perseverance, creativity, and reasoning capability also are vital to attorneys, who generally analyze complicated situations and manage new and distinctive legal problems.
Attorneys held about 695,000 jobs in 2002. About three out of four attorneys practiced privately, either in law firms or in solo practices. Most on the remaining attorneys held positions in govt and with corporations and nonprofit organizations. There are also quite a few lawyers in Stockton, Tampa lawyers and lawyers in Toledo.
Tags: career, job, jobs, law, lawyers
28 Aug 10 The Various New Career Ideas Available In Driving
Are you searching for fresh Career Ideas? Do you have a driving license and want to put it to more use? Why not look into trying one of the numerous New Careers in driving. Millions of people have driving licenses in the UK, many of them love to drive and some only do so for the convenience. Of those who do love driving, the majority of them still really only use their cars to drive to work, but why not contemplate using your car or driving license for work? There are numerous chances to use driving skills in Careers, yet most people don’t even think to put their driving license on their CVs. Let’s take a brief look at some of the choices to get you going.
Probably one of the most ordinary Career Ideas within driving would be the many forms of delivery. These roles are reasonably simple, demanding you to pick up and deliver various forms of goods. These positions can be obtained in most supermarkets delivering customers online shopping or maybe working for one of the several courier services delivering packages. Equally you could work for one of the numerous vending machine companies, replenishing stock in the machines as the greater part of your work requires driving between the different sites. These Careers probably aren’t the most fascinating or unique options to be had, but they are a good start for anyone looking to be a driver.
The next option we have for your New Careers is working as a driving instructor. Anyone who drives will have come across one before, these are the people who show you how to drive. These Careers aren’t suitable for everyone, as you have to be confident in teaching and being able to take control of the car if anything were to go wrong. The people you would be teaching have often never driven a car before, they may have difficulties steering, problems regulating speed or they could even be scared around other drivers. You need to be able to handle any of these situations that come up and be able to keep close eye on the road and the student at all times. Unquestionably it is a challenging job, but the rewards are worthwhile; both pay and job satisfaction can be very appealing. These Careers of course require additional training, you won’t be able to jump straight in with a standard license. Normally the instructor training can take 6-12 months depending on the course you take.
The last role we will look at is perhaps the most exciting, but also the most complicated to achieve. Countless people dream of becoming race drivers. Whether on a track, off-road rally or even formula one, there are various options on offer for these Careers. The trouble with these Career Ideas however, is that it isn’t something you can just apply for, to make it as a race driver, you need to have your skills recognised and gain sponsorship, which can take an awfully long time and until you get good at it, you may not be making much at first. Also what can be hard for most people, is the fact that most of these Careers start at young age. Normally, a lot of the finest drivers would have began driving in karts at a young age, before they’re even teens. With these years of preparation, they generally have a much better chance than most people. If it’s your dream though, don’t give up, keep up your skills at different race tracks and with a bit of luck one day, good things will happen.
Tags: career, Career Change, Career opportunities, career training, new career
