3 Medical Careers You Might Want To Try

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Edna Crane

If you are thinking of getting a career where you can actively care for people, then one world which you are almost certainly considering is medicine. The world of healthcare is ideal for people who want to help others, but you might find yourself a little at a loss as to what job you should actually go for. There are, after all, thousands upon thousands of roles within healthcare alone, and it can be a challenge to pick out one or two that you think you might enjoy and be good at. To give you a helping hand here, we have put together a short list of some of the best medical careers you might want to try your hand at. Consider these if you are not sure what is right for you.

Healthcare Assistant

This is a great place to start out in medicine, especially if you are not confident on what you might want to do ultimately later on in your career path, or you find yourself flitting back and forth between different potential roles. A healthcare assistant doesn’t require much in the way of training beforehand, as you get most of the training on the job, and in the early first few weeks, you will already be learning basics such as taking blood, administering injections, performing ECGs and so on. This affords a great baseline experience for anyone who wants to get into medicine but isn’t sure exactly what they want to do, and it’s something that you should seriously consider for that purpose.

Nurse

If you want to make a little more of a career out of it, you could instead consider getting straight into nursing – or you could go straight from healthcare assistant to being a nurse. Either way, you are going to need some training and education, and there are many ways to get that, so you should never feel as though it is going to be out of your reach in any way. These days, you can even take online nursing masters programs to learn from home, so you should never feel that you can’t achieve what you want to here. Nursing can be highly rewarding, more than a little stressful, and ultimately a very satisfying career, so it’s well worth a shot.

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Doctor

Of course, you could work towards being a doctor, and this will depend on having a great degree of training and education beforehand – but there is absolutely no reason why you can’t hope to do just that. You will need to attend medical school with a background in a scientific degree, and then you will need to specialize in a particular area for your doctorate. All of this can take ten years or more, so you should be prepared to be patient – but if it’s what you really love, then it shouldn’t feel as though it is particularly out of your way to do these things. All in all, it means you will end up in one of the most respected careers on the planet, so it’s worth considering.

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Top Tips For Acing Your Next Job Interview

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Edna Crane

If you want to get hired at the next interview, then here are some tips to follow. To help you to ace your next interview, you’ll want to stand out from the crowd. It isn’t as difficult a process as you might imagine; you just want to focus on making a great first impression.

Research The Company

Unless you are going out on a blind date, you should know a little about the person that you are going to be meeting up with. If you’d do that for a date, then it is a huge mistake to not go to a job interview without any knowledge of the company. You could even look up the company on a site like LinkedIn to see the individuals that are likely to be interviewing you. You can easily ace a job interview when you have shown that you have taken time to research the company. If you know what has been going on recently in the company, then it can be a good idea to have some questions ready for them too. When you are prepared, it looks good; the interviewer will know that this job means a lot to you and that you have an interest in the company that is genuine.

Use Your Resume Well

As someone that is applying for a job, you should know your resume practically off by heart. It isn’t the interviewer’s job to know these kinds of things about you. They will want to hear about them all. Plus, through the application process, they are likely to have a copy that they can read from and ask you anything about. If you’ve forgotten that you did some express training a year ago, or forgotten that you wrote about a position of responsibility that you may have embellished, and they ask you to explain but you’re unable to, then it isn’t going to look good. If you are able to implement this kind of strategy, then it will definitely help you to be on the way to ace your job interview. The interview is the time that you use to convince the interviewer that you are able to do the advertised job. Have something intelligent to say about each aspect of your previous work and roles. It is one of the best things that you can be doing in an interview.

Understand the Job Description in Detail

After getting the offer of an interview, you need to go back and make sure that you have a copy of the job description that you have applied for. Just the role’s title isn’t going to be enough to help you through. Study what the role description is. It can really help you to understand what the interviewer is looking for in a candidate. There will be specific words that the job description uses, such as attention to detail. When you know this kind of thing, it can help you to make specific examples based on your resume. These can be used at the interview to demonstrate how you fit this role. If you can do this for all of the main qualities or traits that are listed in the job description, then you will be well on your way to acing the interview.

Be Friendly; Build Rapport

There is an old saying that there is no second chance to make a first impression. That is something that holds very true for jobs and job interviews. You need to know how to be friendly and build a rapport with your interviewer right from the start. If you get their back up, then they won’t be able to imagine you working there. Simple things like starting off by greeting the interviewer with a firm handshake and a smile is a good place to start. Making small talk before you get into things is also another step to showing some of your personality and that you are a friendly person that would fit into the office environment.

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Make Eye Contact

Along similar lines, building a rapport with someone is all about things like eye contact. Using it well is important as it is one of the biggest forms of nonverbal communication; a must for acing a job interview. Having eye contact also helps to show whether you are someone that is strong or weak. It is through that direct eye contact shows two qualities that employers will want; confidence and self-esteem. Even if you don’t think you fit into that category, fake it until you make it. Make sure you use eye contact. Look the interviewer in the eye as they greet you and when shaking hands. Having eye contact when you’re telling stories or answering questions will also help you to really exude confidence.

Follow Up After An Interview

Immediately after an interview, it is a good idea to send a note or an email to thank them for their time. By simply thanking the interviewer for their time and letting them know that it was great to meet them can be a wonderful thing for them to receive. The team may deliberate over who to get the job too, and something like that can help you to stand out in their memory. It can be a simple thing, but something that can help you to do well in a job interview, nonetheless. If you understand and take on board these strategies, then you can be well on your way to getting the job that you have been dreaming of.

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Creative Careers That Pay Well

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Edna Crane

In the past, the typical attitude was always that you can either have a well-paid job or a creative job. The truth is that creative careers do not mean working for free or living like a starving artist. Nowadays, especially thanks to the rise of technology, it’s even less so the case because the creative jobs that are needing to be done are heavily reliant on advanced technology which require a great deal of skill to be able to do effectively. Do you feel like you’re someone who’s very creative, but you still need to be able to earn good money? In this post, we’re going to share some tips for some of the best creative careers you can have and also pay well.

Copywriting:

Copywriting is a highly creative job that requires a certain skill set. You need to be able to use words, persuasion, and psychology to understand people and what makes them tick. You can lead people to take a specific action – usually, this means buying something. It stands to reason that companies understand the value that a copywriter brings to their company. Especially if their own strong suit doesn’t extend to selling, they will be happy to pay well for this. Although the salaries for copywriting will vary depending on things like location, experience and also if you work for an employer or if you’re self-employed, the earning potential is pretty great with the average salary for a mid-weight copywriter being around $60K per year.

Graphic Design:

If you’re someone who has a keen eye for design, drawing and bringing messages together in a visually appealing way, then a career as a graphic designer could be perfect for you. Not only is this something that requires a highly specialized and creative skillset, but it’s got very good earning potential. Again, like copywriting, the amount you’ll earn as a graphic designer will really depend on various factors and is also something you can do whilst working for an employer such as a company within their marketing department, a creative agency like TLC Creative or by working as a self-employed freelancer.

Chef:

Whilst the vast majority of chefs are never going to reach the celebrity status of people like Jamie Oliver, it’s a great career to have if you’re passionate about food. If you’re willing to work hard at making a name for yourself, it can pay very well and also open up a lot of different opportunities to work in amazing places all over the world. There’s no doubt that being a chef is hard going and requires a certain type of lifestyle. You’ll have to be a certain type of person, but it’s worth it if you’re okay with the work involved.

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Personal Trainer:

If you’re a fitness lover, then you could make a great name and career for yourself as a personal trainer. Many people may not consider this to be the most creative of careers, but it definitely is. You’ll be doing things like creating fitness plans for your clients and working with them on a personal level. You’ll need a deep understanding of the human body, nutrition and be able to use creative thinking.

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How To Create A Great Personal Brand

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Edna Crane

Personal branding is one of the most important things that you can focus on as a professional. It’s not so different to having a business brand. What it essentially means is that you have a good reputation. It means people know you for being associated with something positive within business (or whatever it is that you do). A personal brand also extends into your online presence. It’s about how you present yourself across the various platforms on the web. There are some things to keep in mind if you want to have a strong, impressive personal brand, and we’ve noted them down here for those looking to secure one!

Be Honest

Whilst it’s important to make sure that you’re selling yourself well, there is nothing more vital to your personal branding than being honest. In fact, being false and not delivering what you’ve promised could lead to the complete ruination of your personal brand. Think about the traits that you pride yourself on, and how you want people to see you as a professional in light of this. The worst thing that you can do is adjusting your personal brand depending on who you’re talking to. Make sure that you’re consistent and honest in everything that you do. This will make or break your reputation!

Do It Now

You may look at the personal brands of your peers, and those higher up than you, and think, ‘how am I ever going to be able to create something like that?’ However, when it comes to forming your image online, it’s never too late to start putting the work in to make it happen. Buy a domain name and everything necessary for a personal website, and get to work on it. If you’re using a platform like WordPress, it’s not hard to do these things yourself (as they offer themes that are easy to use), and giving your LinkedIn profile a bit of TLC is also a good idea. Ultimately, the sooner you start on your personal brand, the better.

Be a Team Player

The biggest thing that will help you to build your personal brand is your ability to be a team player, and to help other people to build up their reputations, too. Perhaps you’ve worked with somebody who did a great job for you, and you could help them to grow their personal brand by giving them an endorsement through LinkedIn, or a reference for them, so that their potential clients consider their services. Although you shouldn’t solely do it for this reason, it also means that they will give you the same support in return, and you’ll be able to build up your personal brand with the help of others.

Be Careful What You Post Online

OK, so this is probably the most important thing to note about a personal brand. Building one up over time is relatively easy, but ripping one down extremely quickly can happen within a flash. One inappropriate photo, or an article that’s pretty damning, can ruin your personal brand in a matter of hours. You need to be extremely careful about what you’re posting on the web, so that you don’t live to regret it in the future. A politically-charged tweet may not seem like the worst thing in the world at the time, but it can ruin your reputation. Old, drunken photos should also be kept out of the public eye.

Get Negative Content Taken Down

If there is content out there that isn’t exactly desirable or useful for your personal brand, then do your best to get it taken down. If it’s on Google, you can either ask Google to remove it (which is the harder way to go about this) or you can ask the site that posted it to take it down, which is the best way to get rid of it quickly. Assuming your friend has posted the picture or comment somewhere, then get in touch with them and ask them to delete it. You’ll find that most people (and sites) will remove the image if you request this. Some may be more difficult to reason with, and you may need to use legal action.

Don’t Focus On Too Much

Creating a personal brand is all about what your main marketing point is, rather than putting a wide range of skills out there to entice an employer. It’s a lot better if you just focus on a few things, rather than trying to make yourself an all-rounder. Let’s be honest, most people know a wide range of skills to a basic level. However, there are a few select skills that they can really use to make a big difference to a business. Think about what your top skills are, and what you can do to really showcase them throughout your personal brand. Don’t try to spin too many plates here, or you could live to regret it.

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Show That You’re Consistent

Something else that employers look for is consistency, and this is an integral part of your personal brand. If you have the commitment to show that you’ve tirelessly worked on building up your brand for the last few years, then it means that you’re going to show a similar commitment to the next stage of your career. Perhaps you’ve posted regular and professional updates across the various platforms? Or you’ve made sure that you’re always posting a well-informed commentary when something big happens in your field? Whatever it is, be consistent and show your commitment.

So, if you want to create a good personal brand, both online and in person, make sure that you keep these things in mind. Building up a reputation, and a profile of yourself online, can be a difficult task. It takes time, but it is certainly rewarding in the end. When your potential employer looks you up, they should see a professionally branded individual. If you follow these tips, then this could be you! Good luck!

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3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Looking for Your Dream Job

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Edna Crane

A lot of people, when they think of their dream jobs, imagine some half-thought-out fantasies that involve them lounging around on a beach drinking Pina coladas for most of the day, and then spending a bit of time teaching a surfing class, or checking in with their remote business empire via their laptops, before getting back to the party again.

Everyone should take steps to work towards their dream job. And for that matter, to discover what their dream job might be via an ongoing process of trial and error. But that doesn’t mean that you should be naïve about things.

When you’re looking for your dream job, it’s important to ask yourself certain relevant questions. If you were a registered nurse, for example, and were planning your future. Would you be happy staying in your current role, or would you prefer to become a family nurse practitioner?

Here are a few of the sorts of questions you should ask yourself, on your quest to find your dream job.

Could you fall in love with the work itself, and not just the results?

A dangerous mistake to make when thinking of your “dream job” is to visualize the results and benefits of the work, and fall in love with those, without taking into consideration the nature of the work itself.

When all is said and done, however, money is unlikely to bring you happiness or satisfaction if it comes at the cost of you spending the majority of your waking hours doing something that you more or less hate.

The first question to ask yourself when wondering whether a certain career path could lead you to your dream job is, “could I fall in love with the work itself, or might I just interested in the results?”

Does the job “scale” well?

It’s one thing to think that a job seems meaningful, interesting, and potentially fulfilling in the here and now. But if you’re considering what your “dream job” would be, you also need to consider how your job develops your skills across time.

When assessing a particular career path, ask yourself whether there’s enough of a ladder to climb there for you to keep increasing your level of responsibility, and your pay grade, over the years—or not.

If your would-be career of choice caps out at a pay level that you couldn’t ever be content with, that’s not a great sign.

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Does the job expand your options in different areas?

Here’s a useful thing to realize about “dream jobs”; you’re very unlikely to enter a particular job role in your youth, find that it’s the perfect fit for you, and stick with it for your entire life.

What actually happens, if you’re motivated, is that you keep amassing skills, exploring new and parallel job roles until you find one that is a good fit for you.

An ideal “dream job” should therefore be one which expands your skill set and maximizes your options in different areas, so that you can always expand laterally in your professional development, down the line.

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Is It Possible To Survive In A Low-Paying Job?

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Edna Crane

We all go to work every day so we can earn a salary or wage. This is the money that we need to live off and support our family with. As you no doubt already know, there are many well-paid jobs out there, such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants. However, there are also many jobs and careers that don’t pay quite as well as what we think they should. In fact, some are so low-paying that their employees can end up struggling to get by.

Thankfully, most of us will be able to move up to a higher position by getting a promotion and working our way up through a career. It’s usually possible to move beyond low-paying entry-level jobs in this way. But what if you seem to be stuck in a job that doesn’t pay enough with no way out? It may be getting you down, but you can hold onto the hope that it is usually possible to make your working situation better for yourself. Here are some ways you can survive your low-paying job.

Keep on Job Hunting

First of all, it’s important to note that you should always be job hunting. Even if you aren’t actively applying for the positions you find, you will find it very useful to keep a constant eye on your local job market. You’ll then be able to jump on any opportunity that is an improvement on your current situation. You never know when you will find a completely new role in a different career that shouldn’t be too difficult for you to transfer your skills and experience over to.

Switch to a Company that Pays Better

Of course, it could also be worth looking for a similar job to the one you currently do but at a company that will pay you a higher wage. Not all companies pay the same. It’s always worth having an ear to the ground to see if you can find a position for which you would earn a larger salary package. When you do look for open positions with other companies, it’s worth comparing the other financial benefits that you would gain, such as paid days off for vacations and illness as well as pension payments and annual bonuses. Even though a different company might be able to pay you slightly more, they may offer benefits that aren’t quite as good as the ones you currently get. So, you’ll have to weigh up whether it really is worth going for the higher salary.

Improve Your Transferable Skills

It’s always important to continue working on your transferable skills. It’s even necessary for those who are in solid jobs to keep on honing these crucial skills. These are key skills like good communication, analytical skills, and excellent customer service. They are known as transferable because you’ll be able to transfer them to various different areas of your life. As well as using them in your private life, you’ll also be able to use them in the majority of jobs as well. So, they should help you find a completely new job, even if it means moving into a completely different career. As long as these transferable skills are strong, they should help you bag a better job even if you don’t have any direct experience of working in the industry or sector.

See if there are any Funding Options for Your Career Path

It’s worth researching any potential funding opportunities that there might be for your specific career. There are sometimes charitable funds set up for employees in careers that are known to be quite poorly paid. For instance, teachers can sometimes struggle to get by on their low salaries and long hours. Thankfully, there are now a few programs in place to help a teacher who is really struggling. These kinds of programs are also used to financially reward teachers who have done particularly well in their job. There are quite a few traditional careers, such as teaching, that have these charitable pots and funds available for workers in need.

Start Networking More

Start trying to network more so you can meet as many people as possible. You never know who you might meet when you are at a local business networking event. There are always a lot of different entrepreneurs and business owners at them. You could get chatting to someone who is looking to hire someone with your exact set of skills and knowledge. Even if you don’t find someone who is hiring, you might start talking to someone who knows of an open position that might be a good match for you.

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Consider Changing Your Position in the Company

You might be able to increase your pay packet if you simply move into a different position in your current company. For instance, if you are able to work your way up to a leadership position then you would be in line for a nice pay rise. It could also be worth trying to position yourself as a mentor within the company. Lots of companies are now realizing how beneficial it is to have a mentor in the company who their workforce can reach out to for help and advice whenever they need it. You’d probably be able to continue your current position while doing a few extra mentoring sessions a week. As you’d be taking on extra responsibility, you will likely be able to request some extra pay.

Join a Union

It might be worth joining a union. These are groups and organizations that are created with the main aim to protect workers’ rights. If you believe that you are being paid a lot less than what you think you should be, it could be worth approaching your union about it. They will approach your company and attempt to negotiate a pay rise. If they are unable to do so, and you are paying significantly less than what other companies pay employees in similar roles, the union could help you take the issue to an employment tribunal.

Hopefully, these tips help you survive!

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3 Things that new Construction Businesses get Wrong

Posted on March 26, 2019March 26, 2019 by Edna Crane

People often say that the construction industry is one of the safest options for people that want to start a business of their own. It’s true that there is always going to be demand for construction companies. You can make good money once you’ve got a base group of loyal customers, but a lot of people underestimate just how hard it is. Starting a construction industry can be a great idea but only if you get it right.

It costs a lot of money to get started in construction. You have to invest so much before you can even start taking on jobs and seeing any kind of a return on that investment. A lot of construction companies fail before they even get to that point because they get some fundamental things completely wrong. If you’re thinking about starting your own construction company, make sure that you avoid these common mistakes.

Not Getting Insurance

The startup costs are so high for construction companies. You need to find a way to manage that properly if you’re going to survive long enough to start making a profit. But there are some things that you can’t cut corners with, especially your insurance. It’s important that you have liability insurance to cover you if anything goes wrong. Liability insurance will pay out if you make a mistake and accidentally damage a customers property. If you don’t have insurance, you’ll have to cover the cost of that damage yourself and that will probably sink the business entirely.

Liability insurance is also important if somebody is injured during the job. There is a high chance that somebody will try to make a compensation claim against you and the payouts for those cases can be incredibly high. If you’ve got liability insurance, that will cover the settlement. If you don’t have insurance though, you’re going to have to pay for it yourself and, chances are, you won’t have that money. Insurance is an extra cost but it’s a necessary one so don’t try to cut corners.

Spending Too Much On Equipment

It’s important that you do good quality work because word of mouth is a powerful thing. That means you need to invest money in good quality tools and machinery. However, if you go overboard, your costs will spiral out of control. If you need to buy any heavy machinery, you should always look for plant machinery finance options rather than paying for it all upfront. That way, you can spread the cost out and start paying it back once you’re bringing more money in.

A lot of companies struggle because they try to buy all of their tools at the beginning. There are a lot of basic tools that you’ll need for most jobs. The more specific tools that you only use for certain jobs should be bought on a use by use basis. If you take on a job that requires specific tools, you can fund them with the deposit that you get from the customer. By doing it that way, you can build up your equipment over time when you can afford it, rather than spending all of your money right at the beginning.

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Expanding Too Quickly

Most construction companies will start out with fairly small scale residential work and then eventually graduate on to larger projects. That business growth is important if you’re going to succeed in the long term, but you’ve got to make sure that you do it at the right time. One of the biggest mistakes that construction companies make is trying to expand too quickly. They finish a few jobs and start making a bit of money. They decide that they’re going to expand their operation and start taking on much bigger projects. The overheads for those projects are so much larger. They end up putting all of their money into new equipment and material costs. In some cases, it might work out if you get enough jobs to sustain those increased overheads. But more often than not, it doesn’t happen that way and they can’t earn back the money that they’ve spent.

If you want to expand, you should start putting money aside from every job. Wait until you can comfortably afford to take on those large projects without putting yourself in financial difficulty. You should also look for investment to help you cover some of those increased overheads.

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How to Show Your Boss Your Potential

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Edna Crane

Whether you are just starting out in a new position, or you have been in your role for a while and are beginning to feel that it’s time you receive a promotion, you are going to want to take active steps to ensure that your employer sees your potential. This tends to be easier said than done, especially if you are working within a particularly large organization. Chances are that your employer has a whole host of tasks to focus on and you’re going to have to do a lot to stand out from the crowd. But it is possible and you could greatly benefit from recognition and acknowledgment of your achievements. Here are a few steps that you can do to help your employer to see your potential!

Request Progress Meetings

Most companies will offer progression meetings through your probation period. The purpose of these meetings is to ensure that you are settling into your role properly, that you correctly understand what is expected of you, and that you are keeping up with your workload. If you haven’t received these, now is a better time than ever to request them. They help you to keep a track of how things are going and ensure that you and your employer are on the same page. If you have finished your probation period, you may want to continue these meetings on a more informal basis. Put in a request with your employer—they may be able to accommodate this.

Understand OKRs

OKR stands for “objectives and key results.” When you begin any project, your employer should set out OKRs. These will help you to understand what you should be aiming to do within your position and with your work, as well as what results are expected to exemplify that you have reached the objectives that have been set out. When you are provided with OKR objectives and key results, you should do your utmost to meet them. Most companies will have specialist software that allows you, your manager, and your employer to track your progress. This ensures that your hard work will be acknowledged and recognized, as it will be laid out for everyone to see.

Undertake Extra Training

Training in areas pertaining to your role shows dedication and commitment to your position. Short courses, or even extensive courses, can also provide you with knowledge, skills, and an in-depth understanding of your field that can greatly benefit the business that you’re working for. A qualification on your resume can also officially qualify you for positions higher up in the chain of the corporation you may be working for. So, why not engage in a little education or pursue higher education associated with your role? Sure, this will be intense. Especially if you are currently working full time. But it’s a pretty effective means of climbing the career ladder.

Dedicate Yourself to Presentations

If you have to give a presentation, don’t engage with it in a half-hearted manner. Very few of us actively enjoy giving presentations. But it’s a great opportunity to showcase your talent, project yourself as a confident and competent individual, and carve a space for yourself in your employer’s memory. So, go all out and really make an effort. This is a great opportunity!

Steer Clear of Office Politics and Gossip

Office culture generates tensions, friction, rivalries, and gossip. But avoid this at all costs. While you may spend a lot of time with the people you work with, you should remain professional at all times. Getting involved in arguments, pettiness, or becoming problematic in the workplace can lower your employers’ opinion of you. Just remember that serious problems do not fall within this category – if you have experienced harm at another’s hands or if you feel that someone is treating you in an inappropriate manner, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact HR.

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Request a Promotion

As the old saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get! So, if you feel that you are capable of taking on a promotion and that you deserve a promotion, you can simply ask for one. There is, of course, etiquette surrounding this type of interaction. You can find out more about this here!
It can be extremely frustrating to work hard and feel that your potential is going unrecognized. But you do have to play an active role in making yourself noticeable to your employer. Hopefully, the above advice and information will help you to stand out to your employer!

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