Just Spreading It Around...

Jobs In Credit is advertising four senior credit positions working for Shop Direct based at Liverpool.

Salaries are between £37K and £80K - so they look almost too good to be true (or failing which they want you to live on site!) - but they are for SENIOR Credit Management positions. You can contact brett.marlow@jobsincredit.com to find out more about them for yourself.

You can also find Brett Marlow on LinkedIn - where I found the jobs advertised on the World Credit Management & Risk Forum Group site.

Just spreading it around...

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com/

Look at TwitterJobDeck!

If you haven't seen this - you need to.

TwitterJobSearch indexes Tweets that are jobs and screens out the rest - thus providing jobseekers with the tools that are necesssary to find meaningful, relevant job opportunities.

Now TweetDeck and TwitterJobSearch have teamed up to provide a dedicated Twitter JobDeck . It's designed to make it easier to look for jobs - and to stay in touch with what's happening and connect you with your contacts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social and professional networking sites.

There's an awful lot out there about how to use the internet to find a job. You can find more information in the various blogs on Secrets of the Job Hunt or on Interview Angel or in a hundred and one other places.

The most important thing is to embrace the technology, and learn to use it. A lot of jobs now get filled through networking. Obviously, you still need a CV - and it still needs to be the best you can make it - and you still need to polish your interview techniques. But you also need to look further than agencies, newspapers and Job Centres and work on your website, your on-line profile - and learn to network.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Network, Network and Join The Groups

I'm getting more and more interested in what internet Groups and sites like Twitter have to offer to people who are looking for a job.

Three of us contribute to this blog. We all belong to various professional networking sites, and we've all joined Groups on those sites - so we get a lot of mail from the various professional networking sites and the Groups we've subscribed to over a period.

During the course of this week alone, we've seen jobs advertised by credit groups, wine groups, sales groups, and on Twitter. Most of them, I have to say, came via LinkedIn - but some of them came in on Naymz or Xing . I think we focused on the one came in on Twitter so you probably know all about that one.

The point is - if you don't join professional networking sites and work hard at making them work for you, then you won't hear about the jobs that are on offer.

One Group we know of on LinkedIn sends a very good message: "I will encourage you to use the Discussions, News and Job Panels as they are constantly updated by our members . Be active and you will benefit from everybody in the group." No surprise that that Group has almost 10,000 members.

It doesn't matter what you do, or how far up the ladder you are with what you do. Joining professional networking sites, and looking for Groups that suit you, can only help you get where you want to go.

Bill - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

It's Worthwhile to Bother with Twitter...

...because if you follow enough companies and enough people, you may find what you're looking for.

At the moment, for example, Enigma Marketing is recruiting.

Ad on Twitter reads "We're RECRUITING. Fancy a job at a cutting edge marketing agency?".

The url given on Twitter doesn't work here, but if you're interested in the job, just click on the Enigma Marketing link above, or (if you use Twitter) go to http://twitter.com/EnigmaMarketing.

In the meantime, if you aren't using Twitter - maybe you should. I was really doubtful about it at first - and Bill definitely decided against it - but I think it has a lot more plus than minus points, because this isn't the only recruiting ad I've seen there - and neither Geoffrey nor I have bothered as yet to make too many contacts there.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Monster France and Other Useful Places to Get New Ideas

A friend invited me to join 'Monster France' on LinkedIn, and I did it because I've known Fred for quite a long time, and he insisted that it was going to useful to what we are all trying to do here.

He was right.

'Monster France' led me, by various roundabout routes, to a site called Secrets of the Job Hunt . It's an American Site sponsored by a radio show called Job Radio fm - and despite the fact that neither one is aimed at the UK, both sites are worth looking at, firstly because being unemployed presents more or less the same problems wherever you happen to live, and secondly because there is so much on offer there.

I was particularly struck by the podcasts that were available on the 'Secrets of the Job Hunt' site - like 'LinkedIn Tips for the Unemployed', for example - and the fact that there were so many links to so many different sites and so many radio programmes, all of which were aimed at helping people to get back into employment.

Do take the time to look, and listen to whatever is available. It really doesn't matter that it's all happening several thousand miles away. Advice on what to do and how to do it when you are unemployed are pretty universal. Which is how I got to 'Monster France'...

What worries me is that I had to go to 'Monster France' - and then to America - to get the sort of supportive programmes that are very much needed and should be available in the UK.

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com/

Be Careful About What You Write and Where You Write It

Employers are increasingly looking for information about potential employees on social and professional networking sites prior to interviewing them - which means that you need to be careful about what you write.

People are generally very careful when they construct their profiles on professional networking sites like LinkedIn, Naymz or Xing, but when it comes social networking sites like Facebook they become much less reticent about what they say and the way that they say it.

And one unguarded Twitter can get you into trouble anywhere if you import your Tweets onto other sites.

If you have a busy Facebook-type account, are looking for a job, and want to continue speaking freely about anything and everything, then you might want to consider removing identifying markers like photographs, addresses and telephone numbers that would enable a prospective employer to find you easily. And Tweet discreetly.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com

One Angry Man Who Said it For Everyone

I was looking through my old e-emails yesterday - clearing out 2009, really - when I came across something that I'd received from a very old friend last April who had just started up on his own. I can't quote it all - but I think what I can quote says it all about being middle-aged, middle-management, and redundant:

...as you can see after years of working for morons and idiots I decided I wanted some say as to my future. After being made redundant for the 4th time in my life I realised I was fed up with people deciding my future and fate behind closed doors.

I did absolutely nothing for the first six months and looked at just about everything other than credit control! Finally it hit me that I knew nothing other so I started to channel my efforts into a subject that I at least has some knowledge of...

The e-mail went on to talk about the Company he had set up, his website, and the fact that although he had originally set out to do outsource credit control he was getting other kinds of work - primarily debt collection - and that his new clients were sticking with him. 'I must be doing something right', he said at the time.

I'd say so, too. He's now been trading successfully for eight months plus in a cut-throat market that has seen other, much larger, organisations in the same trade go to the wall.

I don't want to mention his name, but you can see his website by clicking on the link.

Age, skill, and experience are valuable. Don't waste yours.

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com

Many More Than Twelve Angry Men

Last week Abe Walking Bear Sanchez , a man well-known and very much respected in the credit community, began a discussion on the World Credit Management & Risk Forum - which you can find on LinkedIn - entitled "Is Age a Determinant in Getting Hired - What is Wisdom Worth?"

It got a large and angry response from members of that Group who had been made redundant in middle age, and found it difficult or impossible to find employment that they didn't provide for themselves.

I don't have a solution to this problem, and I don't think anyone else has, because I don't think there is one.

Legislation against discrimination of any kind - however good and well-intentioned - is actually impossible to enforce. Employers can always come up with reasonable and legally acceptable reasons for making a person redundant, or failing to employ someone who is already redundant or unemployed, and the fact is that unless an employer (or its employee or agent) states that a person is being made redundant - or that they are unwilling to employ that person - because of that persons' age, race, or religion, then no Court or Tribunal will find that they have acted wrongly.

I think it's important, though, to appreciate that 'ageism' - which was the focus of Mr. Sanchez's discussion - may generally be rooted less in ignorance or prejudice than in pragmatism.

Middle-aged, middle-management, newly redundant men often have more experience, better or more impressive qualifications, and perhaps many more contacts in a specific trade than the people to whom they would have to report in the jobs they apply for. Consequently, their CV's are reluctantly - sometimes very reluctantly, I think - discarded, or they fail on interview, and companies settle for younger, less experienced, more malleable, second best, and a quiet life.

There are options to sticking with a job hunt and watching your capital and your determination and your confidence in yourself drain away.

'Going virtual' has become such a popular option for small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups these days that it's much easier to outsource skills and experience and build a business on that basis than it was even a couple of years ago. And it's possible to work your contacts and set up on that basis - as I did twenty odd years ago - or to change direction and retrain.

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com/

Debt Advice - on Prescription or at Any Time

The debt advice charity The UK Insolvency Helpline Debt Advice Service will be running a debt counselling service at fifty hospitals throughout the UK to support patients and families where illness has led to serious financial problems.

NHS and other hospital operators feel that the service will offer both a preventive and remedy-based service by getting people to access debt advice sooner.

Tony Roberts, who will be managing the new service, stated that stress-related illnesses which could cause high blood pressure and heart attacks were on the rise and were in many cases related to problems with debt.

Obviously, if you have financial problems - whether caused by illness in the family or not - you need to deal with them quickly. You can call 0800 074 6918, e-mail info@insolvencyhelpline.co.uk , or you can complete an on-line form sending your details or requesting a call back by clicking on the link in the first line of this post to get help.

The UK Insolvency Helpline Debt Advice Service is a charity - so it's free. If you have a problem with debt, they can help you to deal with it right away.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Some News on the Virtual Assistant Front

Firstly, Justine Curtis , the co-founder of the VA Success Group and chair of the UK Association of Virtual Assistants will be part of an expert panel discussing the virtual assistant's industry on Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Tuesday 12th January between 10:00 and 10:45 a.m. UK time. Don't be put off if you don't happen to be a woman. A lot of men are 'going virtual'.

Additionally, the Virtual Assistant Group is offering a mentoring package. As I understand it, the mentoring package will run March through August, and will take place by telephone for one hour once a month. This isn't a freebie - but if you're interested in going down the virtual assistant route you might want to have a look at what's on offer and decide whether or not you want to invest £57 a month in it. Main advantage is that you get advice and support from Justine and the other delegates.

If you don't want to spend that sort of money, or are not sure whether 'going virtual' is for you, there's also a downloadable e-book available. "So You Want to Become a Virtual Assistant" by Emma Walker is advertised as being a practical guide designed to help aspiring Virtual Assistants start up their business in the UK. At next door to £20.00 it isn't cheap, but if you look on Amazon.co.uk (and I did!) you won't find anything on the same subject very much cheaper.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

January - A Great Time to Start to Take a Course

A long time ago, when we first started this blog, we talked about the importance of imposing a work-like structure on your life and sticking to it - working regular hours five days a week to try to get another job; making weekends as normal as possible; getting some exercise every day; staying positive.

It's a good regime, but even under normal circumstances early January can be a depressing and disheartening time to try to follow it, because people are still 'gearing up' after the holidays and interviews are even thinner on the ground than usual. And this year the weather is so awful that circumstances are far from normal and the 'gearing-up' process is likely to take even longer than usual.

So if you've never thought about taking a course - this could be the time to do it. There are a lot of courses around that you take on-line on all sorts of subjects. Some of them are free - or cost very little - and some of them (like The Open University) - are relatively expensive.

The are several advantages to enrolling in a course, or just following one. Courses are stimulating. They can enable you to get in touch with other people; learn something new, and get new ideas. And they look very good on a CV...

Bill - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Believe in Yourself!

Sometimes looking at the things that other people have done when they've been confronted by really bad situations can do you a lot of favours.

• You get new ideas.
• You realise that people successfully drastically change direction all the time.
• You realise that you can start a new career despite the fact that you're over forty.
• You realise that you can overcome a lot more than just redundancy.

Years ago, when the Banks started shedding branches left and right (leaving us no one local to talk to in the process!) our friend David G. was a Bank Manager in a small town. He was made redundant. He became a market trader. It was a drastic change of direction - and it worked out very well.

Not so long ago, when life in the financial world became impossibly stressful, our friend Dianne M. - who was then over forty - got out of credit management and joined the Probation Service. She was always a brilliant cook and a very knowledgable gardener. Now she works at Halfway Houses teaching people how to cook for themselves, and designs gardens for other people in her spare time.

Some years ago, our friend Julia M. had a very unpleasant and life-threatening accident. You can read about it - and about what Julia does now - by going to her website and navigating to 'About - Julia's Story'. Quite apart from reading about her personal experience and how she turned her life around afterwards, you'll find many interesting things on her site - whether you ever wanted to write a book or not. And a lot of those things - and a good deal of very good advice - is free.

David and Dianne and Julia all achieved something against the odds - and so can you if you are very determined, and believe in yourself.

Have to believe in yourself!

In the meantime, Justin Curtis has very kindly given us a couple of other interesting places to go - The VA Successs Group and My Virtual Assistant . Can't hurt to go there!

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com

Could You Outsource Yourself & Your Skills?

Recently Emily has been talking about taking the decision to learn something new, change direction, or become self-employed, and her posts reminded me of something I'd been talking about in my own Blog way back in June or July of last year - skills outsourcing.

In the past businesses tended to outsource just one or two functions - bookkeeping was a favourite, along with payroll, receptionists and personal assistants - but these days people seem to be going much further and outsourcing (or virtualising) everything they possibly can.

I haven't done a lot of research, but The UK Association of Virtual Assistants might be a good place to begin to find out whether outsourcing your own skills might be a viable option.

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com/

Happy New Year!

Keep up with the news. Things ARE changing - and many of the changes that are taking place now or are due to take place in the near future could benefit you. Good luck! I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year and a brighter future.

Stay focused and positive. You CAN take control and change some things yourself. Good luck - and Happy New Year!

Take care of yourself. Some treats are not treats, they're essentials - and some exercise would be good, too, folks... Happy New Year!