Sector Watch

10 Ways to Fast Track your Career

• "10 Ways to Fast Track Your Career"
• By Gabriella Goddard
• CD RRP: £8.99, Download Price: £6.29

GOOD KARMA MEDIA has teamed up with Audible.co.uk to launch the range of career development audio books aimed at busy professionals with hectic lifestyles who want to advance their career but don't have time to read a book.

The first title,"10 Ways to Fast Track Your Career", is ideal for people who feel stuck in their current job, frustrated with their lack of progress at work or who are at a career crossroads.

Written and narrated by Gabriella Goddard, Executive Coach to FSTE 100 senior managers, self-help author and career columnist, it covers ten practical strategies including how to create a clear career vision, how to play to one's strengths, how to prioritise and stay focused, how to say "no" without feeling guilty and how to overcome procrastination and turn ideas into action.

"Many people just don't have time to read a book or don't want to be seen swotting up", says author Gabriella Goddard. "This is a crash course on career success ideal for "multi-taskers"; people who want to listen and learn while they're travelling to work, sweating at the gym or even while munching on their lunch. They could be managers, new starters, graduates, freelancers or mums returning to work. With me in their ear, it'll be just like having their own personal career coach!"

"10 Ways to Fast Track Your Career" can be purchased from www.audible.co.uk/fasttrack or Apple iTunes and can be downloaded onto iPods, MP3 players, mobile phones, PDAs and laptops.

Secondment

Secondment is becoming increasingly common and the term has extended somewhat beyond its original bounds which concerned the transfer of an employee from one department to another within the same organisation. These days the term spans the "loan" of an employee to another part of an organisation or to a completely different entity.

Let's say, for example, that company A has acquired the business and the assets of company B and prior to its consolidation of the operations of the two entities wants first to evaluate company B's entire business processes. It opts to second its second tier operations manager to company B for an initial period of six months following which it can evaluate whether there will be advantages to be gained in adopting certain of company B's methods and processes; whether it is feasible or advantageous to retain company B's premises and systems; and which of company B's employees would be of most value to company A were it able to continue to employ them. Company A could, of course, retain an external consultant to conduct the study but by deploying one of its own salaried managers it will provide that manager with additional, valuable experience as well as develop that manager to assume greater responsibility in the future.

Another example could be of a senior staff member seeking to take a form of career break where rather than take the full plunge and risk associated with leaving their job they opt instead to be seconded to another organisation – perhaps a charity or educational foundation – for a pre-agreed period. In these instances it may be that the employee will take a reduction in salary for the period of secondment or some of their cost be cross-charged to the host organisation.

Secondment can help employees to develop new skills and accrue experience that would not otherwise be accessible to them in their primary role. Adopted mostly by larger organisations including public services, charities are proving to be major beneficiaries with often fairly senior business managers opting for external secondment in organisations where they feel they can make a defined contribution. In the specific case of charities, secondments can often be measured in durations of hours or weeks with the employer funding the entire cost from its own budget. A form of charitable donation that may suit its desire to be seen to be practising its corporate social responsibilities. Instances might, for example, include the co-ordination of major charitable appeals where skilled input into areas like marketing strategy or response management would prove to be of major benefit to the good cause. In the same manner teams of senior managers are often sought to help in third world relief and construction projects where their skills can be directly applied to bring about swift results.

The important aspects of any planned secondment are that all parties – the originating employer, the employee and the host organisation – understand exactly what their respective responsibilities are to each other.

Obesity could join the web of secret discrimination as work

While we may be encouraged never to judge a book by its cover, a recent Nuffield Proactive Health survey found that 7 in 10 employers associate an overweight employee with laziness and lack of self control. And according to specialist office support recruiter la crème, it's surveys like this that could lead to obesity becoming part of a list of unspoken prejudices affecting recruitment at home and abroad.

"There is a perception that prejudices against how you look – and the lifestyle choices that you make – are on the increase", says UK Director of la crème, Jo Stuteley. "Issues such as weight, whether you smoke and how much you drink seem to be saying things about your personality and lifestyle choices that they never did before. And while there is plenty of legislation protecting employees from discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation – there's nothing to stop an employer discriminating against you on the basis of indulgences that may affect your health."

Stuteley says that this may be down to the fact that increasingly, the burden of responsibility for an individual's health is being pushed onto employers. "With smoking in the workplace becoming unlawful in July, organisations are being encouraged to give staff time off to attend no smoking clinics. How long will it be before they are being asked to provide the treadmill workstations that we saw being trialled in the press last week? While everyone appreciates the benefits of encouraging a healthy workforce, there is a view in some quarters that we may be in danger of giving birth to the 'nanny employer.'"

Employers warned as EU plans crackdown on illegal workers

As the EU plans a crackdown on firms hiring illegal immigrants, law firm DWF is warning employers to ensure that new recruits have the right to work in the UK. The proposal, which must be agreed by a majority of the 27 EU countries, may impose tougher penalties on employers who take on black market workers. Ansar Ali of DWF says: "As well as the risk of a fine or even a jail sentence, employers may be liable for any unpaid taxes and social security payments, as well as the cost of repatriating the worker. Firms could also be barred from tendering for public sector contracts."

It is estimated that there are 3 to 8 million illegal immigrants in the EU, a figure increasing by up to 500,000 every year because of easy access to illegal work.

Currently, employers hiring staff who do not have permission to work in the UK face fines of up to £5,000 per worker. However the law has already been tightened up and changes to be introduced soon include 'on the spot fines' of up to £2,000 per worker and a new criminal offence for employers or others in positions of responsibility who knowingly take on an illegal immigrants. If found guilty, they could face imprisonment.

Applicant Screening

According to recent research by Experian some 28 per cent of all CVs contain significant errors – and a percentage of those concern exaggerated qualifications, non-disclosure of problems with previous employers and, in some cases, non-disclosure of criminal convictions. Businesses are strongly advised to introduce thorough background checking as routine. This is most important when recruiting individuals for positions where honesty and trust are key; for example employees who have access to passwords, data, banking, business plans, forecasts and other sensitive information, but should, in any case, be routinely undertaken in order to protect the business and its other employees.

The fact that a business always undertakes background checks should be clearly stated on all of its recruitment advertising, on job descriptions, in its application forms and in the recruitment area of its website. This will serve both deter those whose backgrounds or claims will not stand up to scrutiny therefore saving the business time and resources.. as well as inform all applicants of the business' policy. With employment law so heavily weighted in favour of employees these precautions are not merely a nicety but a necessity as even those individuals who have lied and cheated their way into employment can be very costly to dismiss.

E-recruitment – the future of building great teams

These days businesses are run on a much leaner basis than ever before and are therefore unlikely to have successors waiting in the wings to graduate to more senior roles in their organisations. Employees are also more likely to want to gain experience in a number of different organisations before settling down and seeking to develop their careers. This has led to something of a crisis, not least in the multi-channel, retail and direct marketing fields. Here, many of the skill sets that are now required simply did not exist a mere decade ago, yet whilst the more youthful applicants may possess the newer skills they often lack a good grounding in other vital areas. With employment legislation stacked heavily in favour of the employee, it is vital that the interviewing and verification processes leaves no turn unturned as it is all too easy to commit to errors. Employment errors can be extremely costly and highly disruptive. Businesses may find that they have little recourse even if they later discover that the individual selected has omitted to divulge key information that would have negatively affected their application.

So how do businesses recruit the right mix of people?

One of the most important aspects is to ensure that the people a business takes on to work will fit in with the business' ethos and stage of development... as well as get along with the characters that make up its existing team. Too great a gulf in personality type, outlook and expectations can create huge problems as can weak or ineffectual line management. Small business experience frequently does not fit well in a larger organisation with highly pre-defined roles and individual limitations... and very definitely this applies in reverse where the skill sets of a big business applicant will, be too specific and often wholly confined to one discipline when the smaller businesses needs more of the generalist as its stage of development. The intra-preneur type will find great challenges and opportunities to make his/her mark in smaller organisations where the rewards are immediate recognition and a big fish small pond ; this character will not find it easy to conform to the rules or work within the restraints of a larger organisation.