Tag Archives: employment

Nearly Half of Women Make Up STEM Employment

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Over the past few decades, there has been a massive rise in the female workforce, with the employment rate of women aged 25 to 54 up from 57% in 1975 to a record high of 78% in 2017. In fact, recent reports collected by http://freshstudentliving.co.uk/ found women in the UK are 35% more likely to go to university than men.
While women make up 47% of employees in ‘male dominated’ STEM subjects, they now represent a quarter of the jobs in mathematical sciences and 13% of engineering positions. Women may still dominate traditional roles like nurse practitioners, flight attendants and social workers, however there has been an increase in female students entering less traditional career paths like computer programmers, aircraft pilots and even firefighters, to name a few.

Flipping Gender Roles 

According to the latest findings from UCAS, women in the UK are 35% more likely to go to university than men. Women attending uni outnumber men in 112 of a total of 180 subjects, with women charging ahead in subjects like psychology (81.7%), social work (88.3%) and academic studies (88.7%). Nursing remains the most female-dominated subject with 90.5% female students in 2017.

Due to encouragement and some strong female role models, female students are taking on traditionally male-dominated subjects like computer science and engineering. As it stands, there are 66,840 more women now on degree courses than men, compared with 34,035 in 2007.

Where Women are Thriving 

Although women continue to be under-represented in STEM sectors like computer science and engineering, there are other areas in which women have made significant progress. The 2017 WES survey found that 11% of the engineering workforce is female, up from 9% in 2015.

STEM sectors like nurse practitioners and data entry have traditionally been dominated by women and continue to remain so. Below is a list of sectors in which women are thriving and the percentage of women employed:

  • Registered nurses – 90%
  • Health practitioner support technologists and technicians – 81.4%
  • Clinical laboratory technologists – 74%
  • Medical scientists – 53.7%
  • Financial managers – 53.2%

The Science of It All 

Ground-breaking research by Microsoft surveyed 11,500 women between the ages of 11 and 30 in 12 countries across Europe about their attitudes to STEM. The unique insight found that most girls become interested in STEM at the age of 11-and-a-half, although most lose interest by age 15. Reasons for this include a lack of female role models in the industry and not enough practical, hands-on experience in primary and high school.

Just 42% of girls surveyed said they would consider a STEM-related career while 60% admitted they would feel more confident pursuing a career in STEM fields if they knew men and women were equally employed in those professions.

According to UCAS data, the number of women studying law has been steadily increasing for years. In fact, there is more than double the number of female law students than men who have been accepted a place to study law.  To put this into perspective, of the 26,075 students accepted to study law in 2017, 33% were men and 67% were women. According to Law Society statistics, 62% of solicitors admitted to the roll in 2016 are female.

Women Have Become the More Qualified Sex 

The hourly gender pay gap for full-time workers dropped by 8.3% from 1997 to 2017, with the gap for all workers dropping by about 9.1%.  The IFS suggests the reason for the decline is that, overall, educational qualifications for women have increased more quickly than men’s, and as from the late 2000s, women have become the more qualified sex.

How to Attract More Females to Typically Male-Dominated Subjects and Industries

It is important to tackle the stereotypes girls are exposed to in order to attract them to study male-dominated subjects in university.

Get to them early – Most girls state a lack of confidence and skills as a reason for opting out of typically ‘male’ subjects at a high school level. Changing this perception early in the girls’ school career and introducing hands-on learning opportunities, workshops and peer interactions can open the door to more young girls feeling confident in their abilities to enter the vibrant and rewarding STEM workforce.

Bust the stereotypes – It is important to dispel the myths that dissuade young girls from studying ‘male’

subjects in school and pursuing careers in these sectors. One of the main misconceptions is that IT careers are restricted to coding and development. In fact, a strong technical background can be used to enter a vast range of career paths, including medicine, education and communications, to name a few.

Female role models – Young women are put off careers in STEM and IT due to so few role models, and the mentality that it is a ‘boys club’. This is why mentorship plays an important role in setting females on a path to success and confidence. By pairing young women with accomplished female professionals, they can not only offer one-on-one attention and guidance but also act as living proof that women can achieve success in these types of industries.

 

Work From Home Week 2015 – 19th to 25th January

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working from home, work, home workingAs someone who works from home I can vouch for its good points and its bad ones. Mostly it is great, offering flexibility and the chance to work to the best of your potential. No nasty commute needed so it is good for your bank account and the environment too. In fact, this is Work From Home Week and in June 2014, new rights to flexible working laws were introduced in the UK, declaring that all employees – who have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks – are eligible to request flexible working, including the option of working from home. In fact, most recent figures now show that around 14% of people in employment are working from home, highlighting the idea that it’s increasingly becoming a viable and attractive alternative for businesses.

Launched in 2003, Work From Home Week, running from the 19th to 25th of January, puts a spotlight on this rising figure, raising awareness of working from home for both employers and employees alike.

In a time of constantly evolving technology, it’s never been easier to access information away from the office, so we’re calling on employers to embrace the opportunity as a way to boost happiness and productivity among their employees.

Graham Long, Vice President of the Enterprise Business Team at Samsung UK supports working from home.

‘’At Samsung, we believe it’s vital for people to be given the option and the tools to work flexibly, which is why we view Work from Home Week as an important and worthwhile initiative.

“Our own research reveals over a quarter of workers would opt for flexible working over a pay rise, and more than four in 10 (42%) employees strongly agree with the idea of being able to access work emails and apps outside of official working hours. Despite this, many businesses still don’t trust their employees to do so, highlighting the need to educate enterprises on the benefits of working from home. The option to work more flexibly can have a huge impact on productivity and wellbeing and with advancements in mobile technology, it is now possible for employees to work beyond the confines of the office, making working from home a choice that should be open to all rather than a select few.’’

Of course, for many across the UK, working from home isn’t just for a week. For the hundreds of single parents, carers, injured veterans and those living with disabilities, working from home is a necessity.

To celebrate working from home, the team behind the campaign have compiled the top 5 reasons to consider it!

Money – Not only would you save money on travel costs – train tickets, petrol, parking, etc. – but not eating out for lunch on a regular basis is bound to save you some pennies too. For parents, it gives the opportunity to radically reduce the costs of childcare.

Commute – Forget about delayed trains or road traffic dampening your spirits.

Comfort – Rather than donning a power suit or being restricted to a desk all day, choose your own dress code and working environment.

Green Living – Working from home can help reduce your carbon footprint, conserve office space for your employer, and perhaps most importantly, allow you to be the master of your own environment!

Freedom/Flexibility – Having the freedom to choose your hours and coffee breaks, while not being dragged in and out of corporate meetings all day is something that could potentially boost your overall moral and work ethic. Not to mention it allows you to create that ideal work/life balance.

Work From Home Week runs from the 19th – 25th January 2015. Twitter @WorkFromHomeWK  #WFHW

 

Mothers Face Employment Struggles After Having Children

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keeping children entertained on car journeysNew mothers are reluctant to return to work after having a child, with new statistics revealing that 28 per cent did not go back to their previous employer and only 6% felt the desire to start their own business (6%).

The research comes from a brand new study conducted on behalf of Diddi Dance, a pre-school dance company. It has highlighted that mothers are often faced with the tough decision of whether to return to employment – 12 per cent of mothers said that their career was restricted after having a child/children, and a third (34%) did not want to spend time away from their child/children.

Concerns of mothers about returning to work are flexibility, which is vital with the very spontaneous nature of parenting (17%), and location, as travelling up to two hours a day is not a feasible option for some parents

This being said the research showed there were also aspects that mothers were not concerned about, as of those who returned to work only 8 per cent felt they were treated differently, and even less (6%) felt they were not treated fairly by their employer.

Anne-Marie Martin is a Diddi Dance franchise owner and mother of 2 young children – she explained the troubles of mothers like herself who she speaks with on a daily basis:

“There are so many factors when thinking about returning to work practically, but also emotionally. Childcare is one of these issues, as it’s not only very expensive, but the waiting lists tend to be quite long. In addition, not all providers are flexible with long or antisocial working hours. Commuting long distances means the time away from your child/ren can build up. It also makes you think about whether you should be leaving them for long periods of time from such young ages. Needs must though and returning to work is sometimes not an option a lot of parents are able to turn down.”

Do you have children and want to return to work or do you want to work for yourself?

 

 

 

 

Seven Steps To Job Seeking Success

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madetomeasuresuitThe New Year is traditionally a time when we take stock of our lives and strive for change. For many people, that means a new job. However, with competition for that dream role at its fiercest in January, Arran Stewart, director at MyJobMatcher.com, offers jobseekers a head start with his seven top tips for success:

Make sure your CV will make the ”yes” pile

Your CV is still one of the most important tools you’ll ever have to clinch that job.  It’s your responsibility, and no one else’s, to make sure that you maximise your chances of catching the eye of employers and recruiters.

It sounds obvious, but take the time to ensure that your CV accurately reflects the required skills of the job you are applying for.  Bring out your relevant experience and relate it to the job – also craft a quick, clear and concise covering note to accompany your application.  All it takes is a little bit of effort to tweak your CV and it could be the key to opening the door to your next job.

Put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter and ask yourself what they want to see and how your CV will get them excited about you?

Tread carefully online – without a traffic cone on your head.

Most employers and recruiters will have a look at your digital footprint – sometimes before ever contacting you about your application. If you have a million selfies sporting a traffic cone on your head as your Facebook front page what conclusion do you think someone will draw?

 

It is both positive and negative that our digital footprint impacts first impressions of who people really think we are – the best candidates use this to their advantage and tailor their online profiles to the sector they are targeting.

Get your personal “in the pub” profile locked down to your mates on Facebook, don’t be a twitter twit and keep your professional profile on LinkedIn in tip top shape as. The latest industry research suggests that 50% of Fortune 100 companies hire here.

Job seeking can be a numbers game but don’t get trigger happy

You won’t simply apply for your dream job one day and get it the next.  Unquestionably, job seeking is about setting a number of good horses running and making sure you get the right ones home!

 

By all means apply for the jobs you think are best and most relevant to you, but be mindful not to simply apply for everything and anything you find as you can ultimately end up reducing your chances of finding a job.

 

You don’t want to devalue yourself by landing on every desk at the same time or, even worse, the same desk more than once.

 

Nothing puts an employer off like the smell of desperation.  Stay proud in your search; remain sensibly selective in your job applications and never devalue yourself by getting trigger happy and firing your CV out everywhere.

 Be careful of recruiter jargon and buzzwords

Like it or not, online jobs have inevitably been written by recruiters who are working in sales-driven environments and who are rightfully desperate to fill roles for their clients.  As a result of this they quite often succumb to the desire to, shall we say, “over-egg” a role as highlighted in this recent quiz in the Guardian.

The danger here is that although you may consider yourself, say, a “Marketing Manager” and not a “Growth Hacker” – you need to invest the time to understand some of the en vogue terms being used by recruiters in order to ensure that you open yourself up to the best and most relevant roles.

 

It is also sensible to mention these terms in the content of your CV – even if only in the summary.  The reason?  Well a lot of recruiters search for people online and obviously key words drive a lot of databases – and after all, if it’s a great job with the right package do you really care if you are called a “Growth Hacker”?

Let technology shorten your odds

Always let technology shorten your odds and do the leg work for you – you wouldn’t go out to get 15 separate insurance quotes in order to find the best one – so where it exists, use technology to make your job seeking simpler.

 

Remember that when you search a traditional search engine such as Google or Bing you will only find what is rated and ranked by that search engine – this is often affected by clever SEO and the amount of budget someone can spend on PPC or adwords to “get found”, so the results are invariably biased.

 

Take the time to go through to pages three and four, rather than just the top ranked page, as you normally would. Even better, let technology do all the searching for you.  Sites like MyJobMatcher.com receive hundreds of thousands of jobs from all the best job boards and then match your CV to the most relevant, eliminating bias and sending you daily alerts with relevant new job matches.

Don’t forget, it’s all about people

At the end of the day, people hire people.  Your CV will only take you so far and where applications are flying in thick and fast a quick phone call to a hirer to confirm receipt of your CV and willing to answer any immediate questions will find you elevated to the top of the list. At the very least they will be aware that you are willing and able to become their next great hire!

Don’t ever give up!

Finally, job seeking can at times be a dark and depressing place.  But, like all things in life, don’t give up – not ever, and always keep true to your motives.  In the end, perseverance, savvy and helping hand from technology will get you there – happy job seeking!

For more information on jobseeking follow @MyJobMatcher for helpful tips via Twitter.

Two-thirds take less than an hour to apply for a job

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Two-thirds take less than an hour to apply for a job.

A new survey has shown that  two-thirds of people applying for jobs take less than an hour to fill in the application forms.

 

The survey of over 1,000 jobseekers undertaken by recruitment specialist staffbay.com showed that the days of taking a whole day filling in forms and writing covering letters to try and impress prospective employers could be at an end. Less than 10 per cent of respondents to the survey said they spend a day on a job application, with a mere 5 per cent saying they take more than a day.

 

According to staffbay.com co-founder Tony Wilmot, employers shouldn’t be alarmed at the figures, and should recognise that, these days, quality is better than quantity when it comes to jobseekers showing off their talents.

 

“I’m not surprised by these results at all,” he said. “These days, HR departments don’t have the time to plough their way through hundreds of pages of paper CVs. What they want is to be able to see if the person applying for the job is worth bringing in for an interview, and that’s why social media and video CVs have become so popular amongst jobseekers.

 

“It takes just ten minutes to build a profile on staffbay.com, and what we say to people looking to show off their abilities is: focus on what will truly set yourself apart from the competition, and don’t just concentrate on the quick and easy options or resort to box-ticking. Using the power of social media and video CVs, it should take less than an hour to make a prospective employer sit up and take notice, in which time you can leap to the front of the interview queue.”

 

The simple things work best, says Tony: “The message we hear from employers is that staff don’t have to be qualified to the hilt, just that they’ll invest some time and effort in their new job. However, not everyone has a strategy in place to identify good talent. Small businesses in particular don’t want to wade through hundreds of applications.”
According to Tony, now is the time to act if you are looking for a new career. He said: “There are definitely green shoots of growth in the employment market. At staffbay.com we have the ability to see behind the scenes, and we’re aware that employers are being very proactive at interacting with candidates and building a network and a rapport for when the economy truly recovers. Furthermore, the number of job applications via our website has doubled over the last six months.”

 

Slamming that Summer Job Interview

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Whether you are earning spare cash in the local supermarket this summer or applying for a once-in-a-lifetime overseas temporary job, you’ll need to know some crucial techniques for smashing that summer job interview.

First impressions count

It may be your first time in an interview but don’t let this rattle you. Wearing the right clothes will boost your confidence and tell your future employer a bit about you. Remember to match your clothes to the job.

So for girls who are going to be spending summer supervising children in an American camp denim skirts are fun yet smart. If you’re a guy hoping for a temporary office job, a suit, shirt and tie tick all the right boxes.

Be open and friendly

In the 21st century, no employer is going to object to a summer temp being open and friendly, which is his is by far the best approach to take. They know a young person won’t have years of professional experience behind them so won’t be expecting a seasoned pro. Instead, the most they are hoping for is a happy and outgoing young person who’ll be a positive and enthusiastic addition to their workforce for the short amount of time they’ll be around.

Let your personality loose

The interviewer will likely have lots of people to see both before and after you. You’ll want them to remember you, so try to stand out from the crowd by letting them know who you are.

This doesn’t mean going over-the-top and being informal to the point of inappropriate. Instead stay relaxed, let them talk and lean forward to show engagement with what they are saying. When it’s your turn to speak be bright and positive.

Facts not fiction

Be careful not to oversell yourself, or feel the need to resort to outright lying. You may be so keen to make the right impression that you talk yourself into a corner you can’t get out of. Instead, when you’re asked questions about your experience, concentrate on what you have done and confidently talk about it.

Once you’re into the flow remember to keep what you are saying relevant and exciting. If you’re enthusiastic about what you’ve achieved, the employer will believe you can do an equally great job for them.

Seal the deal

Now you’ve made a great impression and made it clear to your future boss that you can do the job, it’s time to leave them with the right memory: stand-up, make eye-contact and shake hands firmly in a business-like way. Say goodbye as if you’ll be seeing them soon, while remaining upbeat and confident.

When it comes to an interview, the parting impression you leave can be just as important as the first one.

 

Stand Out In An Interview

During your job interview, you will probably get asked: “What makes you different?” Take this opportunity to highlight the skills that would make you stand out from the dozens of applicants also trying out for the job. Keep your composure and talk about your strengths to impress your interviewer

 

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Super Secrets of the Successful Jobseeker by Simon Gray

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 Keeping ahead of the competition in 2013 From ‘Super Secrets of the Successful Jobseeker’  Author

Getting yourself to market

“Knowledge is power” might be a cliché these days, but the stark fact of the matter is that it’s never been more of a truism. When you know more about the environment you’re about to enter, then the better you can market yourself, and adapt.

I have interviewed a number of people recently who have been in secure jobs but have been thrown into the hustle and bustle of the jobs market because of redundancy. To be frank, some of their expectations have been unrealistic. They often think that the jobs market is exactly the same as when they last looked for a position –  but times have changed.

I often equate this to a prisoner who has been newly released from prison after serving a 10-stretch. Their surroundings are unfamiliar, and time, people and technology has moved on. It’s no wonder they’re confused.

In my experience, jobseekers react to this in two different ways: they bury their head in the sand and try and pretend nothing has changed; or they take a more enlightened approach and try to gain more understanding of the modern job market and how best to place themselves within in it.

It’s no secret that there are now more people applying for the same job than ever before. With this comes a downward pressure on salaries, and, as far as employers are concerned, it’s most definitely a “buyer’s market”.

Employers are under the impression that they don’t have to try too hard to find great candidates with the skills they need because there appears to be so many out there looking for jobs. They’re also in no rush to make snap decisions when it comes to appointments – nor will they hire unless completely necessary because of the cost risk that taking someone on incurs. In short: employers believe they sit in the seat of power.

Jobseekers, meanwhile, are going into the jobs market believing it’s going to be tough to land a role. They’re thinking to themselves: “I’m going to have to work really hard to find a job and I’m not guaranteed to find one – is there any point?” They also believe they should be grateful for any job that’s offered to them at whatever salary. But the main thing they believe is that they have absolutely no power in the jobs market at all.

I think this is misguided. Why? Because you simply can’t control what is out of your reach. The mindset of employers is beyond a jobseekers capability to alter, and so trying to do so will only waste time and lead to a dead end. The jobseeker would be better spending their time and effort trying to understand what their future potential employer is thinking, and how you can tailor your skills and experience to meet their requirements. In doing this, you’ll be instantly rebalancing the relationship.

The first thing any jobseeker should do is remember who their competition is. Make sure you differentiate yourself from other jobseekers; instantly falling in-line with what the competition is doing will put you at a distinct advantage. Arm yourself with the weapons you need to make you stand out from the crowd.

This can seem like a daunting task, but it needn’t be. Research is vital, and this can be done at a local level rather than trying to ascertain what’s happening nationally.

The local press is a good place to start. Find out what’s happening in the regional economy, and basic steps such as measuring the thickness of the local jobs paper is a good place to start if you want to take stock of hiring activity in the market.

Recent figures show that as many as 20 per cent of people online at any time are looking for a job. Use this time to take a look at jobs boards and search for skills that employers are looking for.

Talk to the professionals – set up meetings with local recruitment businesses. Ask their advice on what’s happening, skills sought after and salary levels.

Do your homework on your local business scene; who are the larger businesses and who are the up and coming SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises)?

By undertaking these simple steps, you the jobseeker, will have a more realistic handle on the jobs market and a better of the times on the times your are living in.

With a clear picture of how things are, you are far better informed and more empowered to plan your attack and find your next position.