TipTopJob Blog

In a recent study, we found that 4 out of 5 individuals would take a demotion and pay cut to secure their dream job.

Taking a pay cut may not be a viable option with the current increase in the cost of living but IF it is affordable many would take the jump into a job of their dreams. Not only will moving into the perfect role help with overall job satisfaction and happiness moving forward, it could also help to path the way to further career progression in the future. At times, taking an initial step backwards can help to achieve a persons longer term goals.

This, however, can be a very difficult decision especially if you have a family, mortgage and other financial commitments. So, how can you make the decision? Here are 5 top tips to work out if you should take the leap.

1. Work out financially if it is a viable option and whether you can realistically cover the cost of living. If you can, then it is worth a shot!

2. Sit down with someone impartial and go over the pros and cons of staying at your current role versus moving on. Someone impartial will help you to think about things you may not have!

3. If the move is a total career change, then have you thought long and hard enough about whether you will enjoy the role you are going for. It is a huge decision so it is important to spend a good amount of time deciding if your skills will fit truly. Maybe consider volunteering to give yourself some practical experience.

4. If you are considering a location move, talk to your family and ensure they are all happy. This especially goes for the children, if any are involved. It may take some time for them to consider the move and come to terms with it but it is important to consider how everyone else will feel.

5. Be confident once the decision is made. Even if you have a small wobble it is important not to outwardly show these nerves or worry and to knock them on the head straight away. If you have spent enough time making the decision to change your role, this should not even be an issue.

Good luck!

Are you after a pay rise or promotion? 

Whilst employed in any job, there are several things you can do to impress your boss to increase the chances of receiving a pay rise, further responsibilities or even a promotion into a new job.

Learn about your boss

By knowing what makes your boss tick, what their goals are and how they work, it will help you relate to them and understand how to work to make them happy. In general, individuals will work better with others if they know and understand them.

Trust

Show your boss that you can deliver what you say you can. Make sure you meet your deadlines and that you consistently complete tasks on time to a high standard. If you can do this, your boss will begin to trust you and rely on your ability to do the tasks you are set. Ultimately, your boss will assign you further responsibilities and you may be offered a promotion.

Rapport

By building a good relationship with your employer, you are more likely to work more productively and make your boss like you. Being friends with him/her and talking about your interests and hobbies will help to build up a good relationship. Always remember though, that they are still your boss!

Make your boss's job easy

As well as doing your current role, try to take the pressure off your boss by helping with additional tasks. If necessary, you may need to work longer hours in order to highlight your skills and abilities and really impress your boss. Try to resolve any problems they face or suggest new methods to issues that arise.

Work out what you are good at & enjoy your work

By organising your day and identifying what you are good at, you can work cleverly to impress your boss. If you can do things very well, then try to get involved in these tasks more to show you are extremely capable of doing them. If you are performing tasks that you are good at, you will enjoy your work more and as a result naturally be more productive.

Appearance and Presentation

Always turn up to work well presented and dress appropriately. You do not want to upset your boss by dressing down, wearing too much make-up or not being clean in the morning. If you can dress up smartly, you look professional and therefore approach your work in a more professional manner.

Acquire new skills and further knowledge

By going on courses and showing you are keen to learn and develop your skills, you will really impress your employer. Not only will this initially create an impact, but also it will give your employer confidence in your future skills and abilities, recognizing your enthusiasm to learn and develop. One of the best ways to secure a promotion is to expand your knowledge and skill sets. Ask your boss about courses, training or such like that will help advance your learning.

Keep up to date with current industry news

It is also known that those who want to succeed should keep up to date with industry news and events as well as interesting trends outside their own speciality. This can prove to be very useful to the company and by showing you are keen to research and keep to date with trends in the industry, you will no doubt make an impression on your boss.

Ask for more responsibility

By asking for more work, more responsibility or volunteering to help out in the department shows interest and desire to be there and to help the company succeed. This in itself will impress the boss.

Be a team player

Teamwork is invaluable to companies and a very important skill to possess. By showing you are a good, effective team player, you will build your reputation and increase your value.

We hope this was useful to you! Why not head over to our Working Life articles in the Career Centre where you can find more related articles?

Office romances can quite often end in tears, with someone losing their job, friendships ending or someone getting hurt. Here are 8 top tips on how best to manage your office romance if one is blossoming for you:

1.

Keep the pillow talk to your personal time. You colleagues and managers do not want to witness the whispering of sweet nothings when they are trying to concentrate at work, in the kitchen or even in the corridor. It can make colleagues feel uncomfortable and it can be the start of the gossiping.

2.

Do not get involved with a married person as you will have additional consequences to deal with, especially when families are involved. As soon as you find this out, steer clear because even though you could end up happy, it may upset others in the process.

3.

Be careful who you tell, especially at the beginning. You never know who the office gossip is and who knows who. You do not want to be top of the gossip list and you certainly do not want your personal life being shared openly with those you are working with professionally. If you do not know colleagues very well, be careful, as their opinion about you can be quickly tainted and it could create jealousy.

4.

Check if your company has any rules or regulations about office relationships as you do not want to be fired because of liking someone. Check your contract. There are no laws around office romance but your company may have their own rules to abide to..

5.

Avoid emailing your romancer. Emails are traceable and easily forwarded or sent to unintended persons. Keep the personal stuff to phone messaging and talking outside of the workplace.

6.

Make sure that you are the only one. Sometimes people can be flirty and show as interest in someone but then a new recruit comes along and this behaviour transfers and they become flavour of the month. Be sure that he/she is not just having a bit of fun with flirty office banter but that they are really interested in you before you fall madly in love.

7.

 Do not change your appearance. This is a clear sign to many that you are interested in someone and if you are trying to keep it low key, this is definitely something to take note off. It is obvious to many when someone starts to make more effort and looks different all of a sudden! Wear similar clothes to what you normally do and for women avoid any extra make-up, perfume and hair-dressing.

8.

Take things slowly and make sure that person is right for you before you declare your love, move in, spread the word and become an official couple.

Our survey found that 50% of people have witnessed an office romance ending with long term love so it is clear that this could happen to you. With our useful tips, you can manage the process of a blossoming romance but also help yourself if you are not so fortunate enough for it to last, that it does not end with too much heartache and upset. Good luck.

Almost 9 out of 10 people have recently stated that their New Years resolution will be to find a new job. This is a huge number of people that are planning to change their job in the New Year!

People find changing jobs a stressful and pressing time and so it needs some planning and motivation. By making it a New Years resolution, some will find it easier to get themselves into the right frame of mind to actually do it. 

Updating a CV/Resume for each job application, researching jobs and companies, working out if it is the right step, preparing for Interviews all take a long of time and energy.

If you are one of the 87% of people who are planning to change their role in the New Year, then we wish you the best of luck. Do not forget, that you can set up Email Alerts on TipTopJob so we can notify you about relevant jobs when they are registered. We also have plenty of career advice on the site to help with many aspects of changing jobs.

Check out the available jobs right here...

A survey questioning 1000 jobseekers about how they deal with stress at work found that almost a third of people take a walk to instantly reduce stress at work. 27% of people revealed that going for a walk was how they dealt with stressful situations in the workplace.

Second to this, a quarter of the respondents “treated” themselves. This took the form of treating themselves with some food they do not normally eat or visiting the shop to buy themselves something to cheer them up! Who can deny retail therapy to lift the mood?

Surprisingly no-one reported reading as a de-stresser, only 10% went out to see their friends and luckily, only 3% sunk their heads in alcohol after work. 19% decided to take some time off from work to combat stress and 17% exercised.

Just as stress can affect people in different ways, handling and dealing with stress also varies from one person to another. What works for one person, may not for a colleague. It is about finding what makes you feel good and what reduces your stress and dealing with it in your own way.

Corinne Hutchinson, comments, “Stress is rife in today’s busy, complex lives. People have to work out their limits and find situations that make them feel less stressed. If not, the knock on effect on individuals can be severe and second to that can impact on performance at work which nobody wants. We have some articles in our Career Centre about dealing with stress to help people to get through difficult times.”

Today we have launched our TipTopDaddy campaign. This is the same as the TipTopMummy video but asking children what they think their daddy does for work. The children in the video have been asked the question whilst in their natural environment and have not been prepped. It is very cute!

You can see the video here or on YouTube itself.

Have you ever asked your child the question?

Why not try it today, video it and share it with us? We would love to see some of the videos you can capture as well. Do not forget to use the hashtag #TipTopDaddy.

Share your video with us on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ or Instagram.

You are sitting with your friends having a catch up when they start talking in riddles and using abbreviations or random words you have never heard before! Corporate jargon otherwise known as corporate lingo, workplace jargon, business speak to name a few is often commonplace among large corporate companies and especially those originating in the USA. For some, it can be frustrating to be lost among such language so we have collated some common terms and provided you with an explanation for each. There are many references to such jargon which include using abbreviations, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Here they are………. 

Abbreviations

COB – close of business

CSW – completed staff work

EOD – end of day

FTE – full-time equivalent

FY – fiscal year

HIBBIS – heads in beds, butts in seats

KPI – key performance indicators

NDA – non-disclosure agreement

PCP – previous corresponding period

POS – point of sale

PQQ - pre qualification questionnaire

RFP - Request for Proposal

RFQ - Request for quote

RIF – reduction in force

SBU – strategic business unit

SME – subject matter expert

TCO – total cost of ownership

TTT - this time tomorrow

WC – week commencing

WE – week ending

YTD – year to date  

Nouns

Blue sky thinking: Idealistic or visionary ideas 

Cascade: Array of possible actions to take in response to a problem: protocol

Check in the box: complete the task

Flavor of the month: the current popular activity/person as directed by the company/client/management

Hub: an idea which other ideas are linked to

Joined-up thinking: Discussing the viewpoints of each organization and coming to an agreement or compromise

Kill two birds with one stone: doing one action will result in achieving two goals

Low-hanging fruit: Tasks that have the greatest positive effect for the least effort, used when promoting new projects to show the advantages

One belly button to push: Reduced number of suppliers

Raft of measures: A collection of proposals or schemes

Tent pole: the task or item most likely to delay a project or consume the most resources

Silver bullet: One solution for everything

Under-pinning: The foundations of an idea, which helps another related scheme or proposal

Womb to tomb: An idea or program that is killed before it has a chance to grow or flourish 

Verbs

Baked In: Same as "included," in principle. Something which has been "baked in" is implied to be impossible to remove

Boil the Ocean: An effort or task which is perceived by the speaker to be impossible or impractical

Build Capacity: Take actions which produce no useful output immediately, but increase the amount of useful work which can be done in the future

Cover all directions of the compass: Try to make things acceptable for all stakeholders

Create the storyboard: Outline what the solution will look like

Deep dive: Get into the detail

Eating one's own dog food: Use the same product that is sold to your customers, especially if it's a bad product

Land and expand: To sell a small solution and then grow it within the client's environment

Moving forward: Making progress on an idea or scheme

Pick the low-hanging fruit: Go for the easiest option

Power to the elbow: Get additional backup information to make your case stronger

Pushing the envelope: Going outside normal boundaries to achieve a target or goal

Sing from the same hymn sheet: Show a united front or everyone understanding and saying the same thing to customers or service users

Touch base: To meet up with a colleague to discuss progress 

Adjectives

Cross-Functional: resume jargon, music to management's ears

In the loop: knowing what's going on and being kept informed

Off the shelf: buying in a product or service already completed 

You can also read this article on our website.

The Citizens Advice Bureau are currently recruiting for a Finance Manager in the Hammersmith & Fulham areas of London.

Hammersmith and Fulham CAB is an exciting and expanding bureau at the forefront of developing innovative service delivery models. HFCAB delivers multiple services (advice, call centre, library, digital and financial capability) through various channels and is located in an affluent borough but with some of the highest pockets of deprivation n the U.K coupled with a high demand for the service. They are continually looking at ways of developing new and relevant services that place us at the centre of meeting community needs. As a flagship bureaux, they continually seek out new ways of working to improve client experiences, quality of provision and our service offer. They are dynamic in their approach and embrace change and innovation.

They are looking for a highly motivated individual with excellent organisational skills, who have a working knowledge of the rules governing charitable accounts. The ideal candidate will:

-have the ability to produce an accurate record of the charity’s financial activities

-have a working knowledge of accounting software, particularly the QuickBooks software.

-Ideally be a qualified accountant

-have a can do attitude with proven ability to work well within paid and volunteer staff teams

-have the ability to work independently, to tight deadlines in a pressurised environment whilst maintaining attention to detail.

Does this sound good?

Read more on the job description HERE.

APPLY TODAY!!!!

Our latest findings on a survey asking what people dream about the most found that 34% dream of finding a new job that is better paid over a new role in a better company, a higher role, relocating to another Town or Country and even working for themselves.

26% dream about moving to a better company whether it is a better brand, larger/smaller number of staff or something similar. The third most popular response was moving to another Country with 17% selecting this option.

The fewest number of responses (1.4%) fell on moving to another Town showing that this option was the least attractive reason for changing a job.

14% dreamt about working for themselves and 7% moving to higher role.

What is your dream?
If you dream of moving to another Country, where is it?
Do you want to live on a beach, for example, in Thailand or a more bustling, lively City in a hot Country like Sydney, Australia? Or would you be happy with a better commission package, a 5% pay rise or a car allowance?

Let us know what your dream is……….

#dreams #careers #jobs #jobsearch #jobfairy #moremoney #recruitment #employment #opportunities