TipTopJob Blog

Welcome to the TipTopJob blog where you will be kept up to date with news, reviews, survey results, press releases, statistics, offers and more...

Skills in the workplace

We came across an article in the news today about the top skills that employers are looking for. Within the piece it states that the number one skill is verbal communication. Whether this is needed or not in the actual role, it is felt that this skill is the most important over any of other. Do you agree?

Second in the research is teamwork. Although teamwork is paramount when working alongside others, there are jobs that probably require other more important skills over teamwork, so it really does depend on the industry and job role.

Some of the other skills within the top 10 include; commercial awareness, analysis and investigation, initiative and self-motivation, drive, written communication, planning, organisation and time management. Although this list is not exhaustive, it does cover some of the most important skills needed for many roles. As already mentioned some skills may be more important for specific roles that are not highlighted here so although the above are thought to be the most important based on a number of surveys, it is not set in stone. 

For example, an IT Software Developers' most important skills may be programming, logical thinking, structured thinking and attention to detail whereas a Sales Managers' most important skills may be verbal communication, teamwork, leadership and negotiation skills etc.

You can see the latest article in the news here

Love to hear your thoughts on what skill is the most important in your role? 

Senior Lab Technician in Nottingham

Fab new role has been posted on the site today for a Senior Lab Technician in Nottingham. They are looking for someone to start as soon as possible.

The role is a 37 hours per week in term time plus 2 extra weeks with a salary of between £15,999 - £17,830.

You will join a very successful science department consisting of 15 teaching staff, 1 assistant technician, and 12 laboratories.

The successful applicant will benefit from enhanced professional development opportunities through their partnership with other local schools. The Academy has an ethos of aspiration, ambition and high achievement for all.

To read more and apply for this role, please CLICK HERE.

Huge thanks from us

We have almost completed the aftermath analysis of National Hug Your Boss Day - what brilliant and far-reaching involvement we had this year. We saw mentions including pictures and videos of hugging with bosses and colleagues spanning around the Globe, from Australia to The USA, from The Phillippines to Germany and many more. It really was fantastic to see some many people having fun with the day and hopefully thinking about the serious side of it too :)

You can now see some of the pictures we managed to capture up on the website here.

If we did not publish yours and you want to see it here, please do email us and we would be glad to include your picture.

So, until next year, do remember that your working relationships are hugely important to your everyday happiness at work so please do invest some time in developing them.

If you want to read any of our articles, head over to the website where we provide some ideas for motivating staff, building relationships and more.......

 

Putting a CV together for ex-military personnel

One of the most daunting experiences for you right now is making the transition from military to civilian life. Not only will it seem like an uphill battle trying to fit back into this daily life but trying to find a new career can further complicate the situation. We have put together a few words of advice when faced with the task of putting together a CV.

What career?
If you know what kind of job you are going to go for, then you are half way there. Trying to decide what kind of job you want to do is difficult and it may be that you do not just decide on one job but several options. To get to this point, you need to sit down and list ALL of the skills you have developed pre-military and whilst within the military and cross-check this list with the skills required in an array of careers. This is the time to research all kinds of job opportunities, speak to your network of friends, family and acquaintances and get some first-hand feedback to work out if it is something you may be interested in doing. It is important to invest time in reading around all kinds of careers to see if something interests you! The internet is a great place to start and there are many sites out there with great explanations of what is involved in different job roles.

More than one CV?
It is highly likely that you may be interested in several kinds of jobs so it is very common to have more than one CV. We allow up to 5 CV’s to be saved into a jobseekers account on TipTopJob so that they can be used to apply to different kinds of jobs and this is the same for other job boards. Each can include different skills and experiences that relate to the role you are applying to. Each CV needs to be kept to under 2 pages.

Skills and achievements
As someone who has no direct experience in the role you are going to be applying for, it is important to pick out the “transferable” skills that you have picked up in the military and that can be used in civilian life. Some of these skills may include team work, decision making, leadership, IT and communication. You are likely to have some good quality and varied achievements that you can use to your advantage so try to pick out those most relevant to the role you are going to be applying for.

Language
Try to minimise any military jargon, acronyms, slang etc from your CV as this can be confusing for a recruiter. If you are describing specific military terms, try to explain and elaborate. You can always ask a friend to read over your CV to make sure they understand it before applying to a job.

Personal Development Record
This is something that civilians will not have so it is a good idea to use this to your advantage. You can quantify each of the areas and be specific with what you have done, who you have managed, what you achieved, what equipment you used etc For example, say that you managed over 20 soldiers, explain that you managed a budget of over £1 million and describe a situation that resulted in saving your department over £50K.

To finish
When putting your CV together, remember to keep it simple, not too wordy and relevant. There are companies that can help you to put a CV together or provide a review on what you already have. Invest some time in getting this right as it can help you to get your foot in the door. If you are rejected for a role, always ask for feedback as this can help you to tweak the content on your CV before applying for another job.

New milestone reached - 4.5 million jobseekers

We are delighted to announce that we have now hit the 4.5 million mark for jobseeker registrations. These are the total number of candidates that are actively looking for a job. Our figures span the 172 Countries around the World and within the 61 industry sectors.

If you know of anyone looking to recruit and after a new avenue for job advertising, then why not recommend TipTopJob to them. Depending on their location and job numbers, we gladly offer job advertising trials. You can get in touch via email by clicking here.

To browse our locations, click this link and to see our industry sectors, visit this page.

More could be done to improve working relationships

The reason we set up National Hug Your Boss Day in the first place is because we felt that working relationships between managers/bosses and employees as well as co-worker relationships could always be improved. We realised how important it is to get along with the people around you at work considering the time spent with them. Not only this but also that if you are happy with your surroundings you are more likely to be more productive :)

To back up this theory, we recently found out that 75% of people felt that their relationship with their co-workers could improve to some extent! 61% of these people felt that they needed to improve A LOT and 14% A LITTLE. At the end of the day, this is a substantial number of people who think more could be done to help their relationships. 

17% did not think they could improve their relationships as they were already great and 8% did not want to even bother.

This leads us on to thinking about what people think could be done to better the relations. We will be asking you this question shortly but for now, you can read our other blog post about what employees think could be done to improve their relationship with their boss by clicking here.

Trainee Mortgage & Protection Adviser Job in Newcastle

We have a fantastic role being advertised on the site by London and Country. It is a Trainee Mortgage and Protection Adviser Job based in Newcastle with the potential to earn over £45,000.

London and Country are looking for 20 advisers in total and are offering benefits that include a pension scheme, permanent health insurance and childcare vouchers.

What you’ll get:-
•Lots of quality enquiries
•Full training including industry exams
•An excellent level of sales and post-sales support
•Award-winning technology
•Unbeatable market knowledge and exclusive mortgage deals not available elsewhere
•Credibility of the most quoted mortgage broker in the national press

What London and Country want from you:-
•Motivation and drive to succeed in a sales environment
•Desire to provide the highest standard of advice and service to your clients
•Eagerness to join and be a part of a dynamic, fast-growing company
•The academic ability to pass challenging industry exams
•Previous sales experience welcomed

If this is something of interest to you, you can find out more HERE and APPLY ONLINE.

If you know someone that would fit perfectly into this role, why not let them know?

41% grow to love their boss more and more

A great result found here that employees who join a company grow to LOVE their boss more than when they first joined the company. It shows that sometimes those arrogant, bossy, bullish, selfish, micro-manager type qualities that are first displayed, fade away and the real "nice" qualities start to glow. Maybe it is just time that is required to get to know their boss which allows their true personality to shine and allows employees to feel comfortable to work along side them.

Our latest findings found the following stats:

- 41% loved their boss more
- 29% liked them more
- 23% felt the same at the beginning of their employment to today
- 4% dislike them more
- 4% hate them more

At least we only have a small number of people that grow to dislike or hate their boss more than when they first started but we wonder what exactly they dislike/hate. Any responders out there that can let us know?

 

Relationships with colleagues

With National Hug Your Boss Day being celebrated next month, we are now gathering data around relationships at work so we can share new statistics and facts.

We are currently asking our users, if they think their relationships with their colleagues could be improved. Do you think they could? Even just a little? Or are they either fine as they are or do you think they are so bad you do not even want to bother to try to improve them? 

Whatever situation you find yourself in, let us know and help us build a picture of the current state of relationships at work today.

You can find the survey on our homepage of the website or you can CLICK HERE through to the page. Thank you in advance. We appreciate your input :)