Sunday, October 26, 2008

Keeping your skills up to date while on parental leave

During parental leave, many parents often experience a lack of self confidence when it comes to their career and the prospect of returning to work. It is so common, and happens simply because you are removed from the workplace for a period of time.

Experience has shown that women who have returned to work are pleasantly surprised at how quickly they fit back in, and how much knowledge they have actually retained and gained.

In order to make the transition back to work as smooth as possible, it’s important to maintain your skills while you’re on leave. Be proactive. Seek out opportunities that enable you to retain and build on your current skills.

Visit the following URL to get some ideas on how to keep your skills current:
http://www.careermums.com.au/uploads/Keeping%20Your%20Skills%20Up%20To%20Date.pdf

Saturday, October 11, 2008

How employers can embrace flexible work arrangements in an economic downturn

Now is a great time to embrace flexible work arrangements to counter fluctuating business needs and performance.
Examples of employment strategies include:
1. Hiring people on a part time basis instead of full time;
2. Enhancing flexible work policies to allow for staff to take more unpaid leave; and
3. Allowing staff to reduce their normal working hours during peak holiday periods (eg: lead up to xmas, school holidays etc)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Selling yourself in an ecomonic downturn

Recent chaos in the financial markets has seen business confidence around the globe plummet, including Australia. Furthermore, many news services are reporting that jobs growth is slowing - see the following article: http://business.smh.com.au/business/jobs-growth-slows-20081009-4x4p.html

If you are currently looking for a job, it may be worth re-thinking your approach. There may be an impact on jobs growth but there is still a skills shortage that will get progressively worse over the next decade. There is still work to be done, but right now, employers may actually prefer to take someone on part time while they ride out the economic downturn. This is where you can come into play by offering your skills and expertise on a part time basis until business picks up. You are offering your flexibility in return for their flexibility.