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8 Tips to Boost Your Happiness at Work

It’s time to talk about happiness at work!

We spend most of our time within the workplace and with that being said, it’s always worth taking time to invest in new ways to improve your productivity, success and (mainly) happiness at work.

Today we’re going to go over 8 different ways to boost your happiness at work and how they affect your feelings, how we act inside and outside of work, and more:

1. Hit the gym

Exercising has been scientifically proven to increase endorphins and other chemicals in our brain that makes us feel good, you’ll also feel a great sense of accomplishment at the end.

These benefits of just 20 minutes exercising can last for up to 12 hours, so try to get in a workout before your working day begins!

2. Make your desk your own

Adding a bit of personality to your desk will always help. Items like pictures of your family and / or friends, plants, lucky mascots will always help your mood.

3. Have a break

Don’t get burnt out over your work, take a few minutes break here and there to re-focus your mind.

4. Plan your day

There’s nothing worse than getting into work and not knowing which tasks you should work on. Plan your time the day before so you can avoid sitting at your desk stressing out about what needs to happen.

5. Switch up your day

If your day has become repetitive and boring, then don’t be afraid to ask for some more / alternative tasks to complete. Doing the same thing every single day will not help your happiness at work whatsoever.

6. Have a chat

Having a friendly chat or ‘banter’ with your colleagues can remove stress or upset almost instantly.

7. Take some time off

Use up some of your annual leave and go on a short holiday / break.

8. Find a new job

If you’ve already tried the above and still can’t find happiness at work, then it might be time to just find a new, more exciting / interesting job. We can help!

Maybe it’s your colleagues, the hours, or the location. Have a good think about what could be causing your discomfort and start a job search if need be!

What can a recruitment company do for your job search?

Looking for a job can be a very frustrating and often time-consuming experience. As a job seeker, why should you be making use of a recruitment company (such as ourselves)?

There are a number of benefits you might not have realised to using a recruitment company in your job search, here are a few of the main points:

Using an agency saves A LOT of time

The process if having to update your CV, registering with job boards and finding vacancies to apply for often takes up an enormous amount of time. An agency will often ask you to send an updated CV and will then put it into their own format. They will also take care of sending it round their contacts, organising interviews, etc.

The hidden job market is revealed

That’s right, there really is a hidden job market that you didn’t know about! More often than not, a company will choose NOT to advertise their positions publicly and will just go straight to an agency and ask them to search for it (this saves them time and money).

By registering with a recruitment company, you will instantly gain access to this huge market.

They have contacts. Powerful contacts

By choosing a good recruitment company, you will often find that they have an incredibly wide and varied list of contacts and projects that they can market your CV out to.

Choosing a specialist agency over a high street one will mean that your CV is only sent to the most relevant companies and Hiring Managers around.

They will also proactively go out and search for companies that they can cold call and send your CV to, if you have a particular skillset.

Advice, tips and tricks

A Recruiter only wants to see you succeed during your job search. More often than not, they will provide you with advice on your CV, interviews, knowledge / useful facts about the company you’re interviewing at, feedback afterwards and more.

Everything is free of charge

A recruitment company will NEVER charge you a fee for the use of their services. We’re working on behalf of and are paid by our clients to search for their jobs, therefore, there aren’t any costs or charges to you.

Hopefully, this list has convinced you as to why you should use a recruitment company in your job search. Of course, you should keep on networking and sending applications directly to employers as and when you can, but do not forget about recruitment companies and what they could be doing for you!

10 of the Most Common Interview Questions & How to Answer

One can never be too prepared for a job interview, that’s what you should always tell yourself. It’s the key to success and will put you ahead of all the other candidates.

Here’s another way you can prepare for your interview, by practicing the 10 most common interview questions asked, along with some ways to answer them.

1. “Tell me about yourself”

Talk about yourself and your career in a summary fashion. Do your best to avoid rambling and ‘going on’ about absolutely everything you’ve ever done, just focus on your achievements and what you’re most proud of.

2. “What are your strengths?”

Focus on discussing what you’re particularly good at, and be prepared to back them up with solid evidence / instances of how you’ve used them.

Try to avoid using a load of adjectives like ‘dynamic’, ‘team player’, ‘synergy’, as they won’t portray the real you at all.

3. “What are your weaknesses?”

The first thing to never do with this question is say “I have no weaknesses”. If you do, it’ll seem like you haven’t prepared for the interview at all.

At the same time, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by ‘under-complementing’ and saying “I work way too hard”.

Try to think about a genuine weakness that you’re making an effort to fix / resolve. The interviewer will be impressed that you’re being honest with yourself and that you’re trying to improve.

4. “Why should we hire you?”

Demonstrate how driven you are to be hired for this role. If you have everything that the Hiring Manager is looking for, then point it out, immediately! Talk about the other things you can ‘bring to the table’ and what they could do for the company.

Do NOT compare yourself with the other applicants.

5. “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”

Take this opportunity to talk about your goals and future plans. Speak to them as if your a person with vision.

6. “Why are you looking for a new job? / Why did you leave your previous job?”

Keep this one as positive as you can, even if you’ve had a negative experience (such as getting fired), don’t go into drama, that’s not going to impress anyone. Discuss how you want to develop yourself and your career, not get more money (definitely don’t mention that).

7. “What do you know about our company?”

This can be an incredibly easy question to answer and impress on IF you do your homework. Try and learn as much as you can about the company and their offering, have they received any awards recently? Been in the news? Who are their main players? (same previous two questions apply to them as well).

By answering this effectively and confidently, you’ll show that you really do have a genuine interest in them.

8. “What do you consider your biggest achievement to date?”

This is a tricky one and requires an answer which is relevant to the job.

Sure, talking about how you decreased the companies IT costs by 21% is interesting, but pretty irrelevant if you’ve gone in for a Sales Manager role…

Talk about how you developed a fantastic sales offering / package which increased company profits by **%, that’s going to impress them!

9. “What are your salary expectations?”

A very tricky and dangerous question to answer during an interview. If you’ve researched the position enough and are confident you could give the company what they want, then it may be worth putting a figure on the table.

Then again, if you want to avoid talking about it, then say money isn’t really a motivator and you’re just looking to develop yourself and your career. You might also try an approach that Liz Ryan (Forbes – Human Workplace) recommends, which is by saying “I’m focusing on jobs in the $50k range” Is this position in that range?”.

10. “Do you have any questions for me?”

The grand finale! This one comes up almost every time unless the interviewer just forgets to ask it.

Make sure you have some questions prepared, as this will (once again) show that you have done some research and are keen to know / learn more about them and the job.

But really, ask some questions that you genuinely want answers for. You’re interested in this position, right?

Keep in mind that this is only a very small offering of interview questions that might come up. Interviewers and Hiring Managers are getting more and more creative by the day with what they ask, so make sure you go armed with good answers.

5 Ways to Scare Away Your Pre-Interview Nerves

Even the best of us have been there. We’ve fully prepped ourselves for a job interview and are on our way to it and then….the dreaded pre-interview nerves work their way into your system to wreak havoc!

You’re certainly not alone though. In a survey taken in 2013, 92% of respondents (American) stressed over one or more aspects of a job interview, with 17% feeling nervousness dealt the most stress, so you are most certainly not alone.

In today’s post, we’re going to discuss 5 of the very best ways to banish those pre-interview nerves and worries.

1. Laughter really is the best medicine

Laughing has been scientifically proven to help cure various illnesses and diseases, but it’s especially effective at reducing your cortisol levels (stress hormone) and anxiety.

Think about the last time you had a really good laugh and try to repeat whatever caused it! Was it a good movie? Something a friend said? Anything! Try to get yourself laughing a few hours before your interview to beat down those nerves.

2. Music, music, music!

Just like laughter, music can have an incredible effect on how we feel right before an interview. Music will either put you into a low-stress state or will give you a huge confidence boost or ‘pumped up’.

Choosing the right song can also help you to feel a sense of inspiration, which will help you out enormously during the interview!

3. Eat away the nerves

Most times, nerves leave us feeling nauseous or sick and the worst possible thing you can do to exasperate this is by going into the interview on an empty stomach.

Eating the right foods before your interview will give you energy and help your brain to function correctly. It’ll also make you feel good if you eat something particularly ‘yummy’; just try to avoid sugary snacks and treats!

4. Have you done your homework?

The worst, worst, WORST thing you can do is arrive at an interview without having done any research or homework beforehand.

By learning about the company, you’ll be able to talk confidently about them and what they do, and by learning some common interview questions and answers, you’ll hopefully be able to answer (almost) everything they throw at you.

5. You are a boss!

Take this into account, why have you got this interview? Why are they giving you their valuable time to interview you for this job? It’s easy…because you earned it! These people want to talk to you!

Your strengths and skills have got you this interview, that’s an excellent accomplishment, whatever the job.

If taking this into account doesn’t fill you with a sense of achievement and confidence, as well as ANNIHILATING those pre-interview nerves, then I don’t know what will.

Being nervous and anxious is a part of life, which we can come face to face with at any time. However, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot get over your nerves with ease.

Heed these tips and make that interview yours!

2017’s Most Requested Skills – #HowToGetHired

So what are the top skills of 2016?

It’s nearing the end of October and according to LinkedIn and their vast data resources, there’s a good chance that you or someone you know is looking for a new job! This is the month that they see the highest amount of job applications made.

In today’s post, we’re going to be revealing the top skills of 2016 for you, as well as comparing them with last years results.

If you’re preparing yourself for a job search (or are already in one) then maybe it’s time to focus on learning / improving your knowledge of one of the following skills. Who knows, it might even land you a job!

Cloud and Distributed Computing – no change
Statistical Analysis and Data Mining – no change
Web Architecture and Development Framework – up 6 places
Middleware and Integration Software – up 1 place
User Interface Design – up 5 places
Network and Information Security – up 1 place
Mobile Development – down 1 place
Data Presentation – not recorded in 2015
SEO / SEM Marketing – down 5 places
Storage Systems and Management – down 2 places

2015:

Cloud and Distributed Computing
Statistical Analysis and Data Mining
Marketing Campaign Management
SEO / SEM Marketing
Middleware and Integration Software
Mobile Development
Network and Information Security
Storage Systems and Management
Web Architecture and Development Frameworks
User Interface Design

So as you can see, there were quite a few changes, both positive and negative.

A demand for SEO / SEM Marketers has slowed down quite a bit, with its rank being dropped from 4th to a worrying 9th. Marketing Campaign Management (seen in the 2015 list) has completely dropped off! LinkedIn says:

Demand for marketing skills is slowing because the supply of people with marketing skills has caught up with employers’ demand for people with marketing skills

Data and cloud continue to clutch the top spot, being comfortably planted at #1 for the last two years.

These skills are in such high demand because they’re at the cutting edge of technology. Employers need employees with cloud and distributed computing, statistical analysis and data mining skills to stay competitive.

Data Presentation has made a first-time appearance on the list, achieving spot #8. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining didn’t move from its second spot either:

employers need employees who can organize data so it’s easy for people to understand

User Interface Design is absolutely smashing these ranks, being placed at #14 in 2014, #10 last year and #5 this year, that’s the second largest jump on this year’s top skills list!

Data has become central to many products, which has created a need for people with user interface design skills who can make those products easy for customers to use

That’s the end of this years look at LinkedIn’s top skills of 2016 data breakdown, you can view the entire report here, which even features statistics for top skills by country (including the UK).

If you have any of these skills, then make sure you’re featuring them on your LinkedIn profile. That’s going to be the best way of telling Recruiters and Hiring Managers what you’re capable of and (more importantly) you’ll up show in their search results!

If however, you don’t have any of these skills, but some of them stand out to you and sound interesting, then why not take some time to learn about them, and invest in some paid for training / certifications.

7 signs that it’s time to quit your job…as told through GIFS

Do you even realise your stuck in a job you don’t enjoy? If you do, then you’re part of the apparently 60% (yes, 60!) of UK workers that are unhappy in their current jobs.

If you find yourself matching up with any of the below, then it’s seriously time to start thinking about moving on.

Your clock watching ‘skills’ are off the charts

It’s perfectly normal to regularly check the clock around an ‘important’ part of the day, be that a break, lunchtime or home time. However, if you’ve found yourself counting down the minutes till your next kitchen trip, then you’re definitely not happy in your job!

You’re (now) only interested in working for money

Lost interest in the work you’re carrying out, and are only making the effort to get through the day for money? Well then, you dislike your job!

You dread the thought of getting into and getting out of bed…

You should be looking forward to the upcoming working week, not looking like this poor job-hating chap above!

You despise your commute and everything about it

I should add that before quitting your job because of your commute, you should try another form of transportation first, just in case it makes it a bit more bearable. If not, then quit your job!

Promotion? Ah, who cares….

The thought of a promotion and a pay rise doesn’t interest you? You’re still in your job why…?

Daydreaming about more ‘exciting’ things…

Daydreaming for an extended period of time when in the office just screams “FIND A NEW JOB!!!”

You genuinely don’t enjoy your job!

This one doesn’t need an explanation. Quit your job.

If you match up with any of the above, then trust me, it’s time to find yourself a new job.

If you need help with that, then why not let us do the hard work for you by registering your CV at https://www.mansell.co.uk.

How to Create a Winning LinkedIn Summary

Your LinkedIn Summary – Your Best Weapon

Working on your LinkedIn profile can be quite overwhelming at times, there’s just so many different elements you can add to it which can have different (and mostly positive) effects to it.

But, the one that people should really give care and attention to is the LinkedIn summary section. This is a part of your profile that is really going to help your LinkedIn ranking and get you profile views!

So whether you’re brand new to LinkedIn, or just updating your profile and need some new ideas, here are some tips to help you out.

Don’t Leave It Blank – Never, ever leave the summary section blank! Unless you want the reader to see your work experience first, then get something in there. Give your profile an introduction and tell the reader about yourself.

Save That Space – Ensure that you fill your summary with the correct words and not just a load of generic phrases that a Recruiter has seen a thousand times over. These words and phrases aren’t going to do a thing for your profile and certainly isn’t going to make you stand out from the crowd. Use your summary to showcase your impressive skills and achievements, not to tell the reader that you’re an “enthusiastic team player” with “remarkable typing skills”.

That being said, you should fill it with some words to excite the reader and keep them on your profile, just make sure you’re choosing the right ones.

Tidy It Up – Space it out with paragraphs, headers / sub-headers and links! Think about it, would you enjoy reading through an unformatted 2000 character block of text?

Sell Yourself – Just as you would with your CV introduction, sell yourself to the Recruiter / Hiring Manager reading. Tell them a story, share your achievements, make it interesting and engaging! The summary is your opportunity to grab their attention and get them interested in you, don’t mess it up.

Keywords – I’ve discussed this topic quite a few times, and it’s certainly something you can’t afford to ignore. The best keywords for your profile are going to be things like skills and tools that you’ve used in the past, for example:

“I’m a very experienced Mechanical Design Engineer, who has worked extensively on AutoCAD Inventor and Solidworks Visualize Professional. I also have skills in PLC programming, automotive engineering, powertrain design.”

Don’t overfill this section with keywords though, that will become obvious very quickly if you have and will most likely turn the reader away.

Making use of these tips will result in a much more successful and attractive profile, which will lead to more opportunities for your career!

Which Employability Skills Are Favoured The Most?

Whatever your age or experience level, you should make it a regular task to try and learn new skills and capabilities that can help you.

Careers are changing more and more every day, and you need to demonstrate a willingness to adapt any new task’s that might be given to you.

You need employability skills to ensure success in the workplace, and can be learned, developed and kept with you over your career.

In today’s post, we’re going to discuss 10 of the most important and sought after employability skills you’ll need if you want to succeed in your job search.

Communication / Interpersonal – You need to be able to explain what you mean in a precise and clear way, written and spoken. You also need to be able to listen and relate.

Problem Solving – You must be able to demonstrate a logical and analytical approach to solving issues.

Self-Motivation / Own Initiative – For this, you must be able to identify opportunities, act on initiative, come up with new ideas which can become a reality.

Working Under Pressure / Meeting Deadlines – If working to tight deadlines and under pressure, you must be able to take control of the stress that comes with these tasks.

Organisational – Employers will want you to be able to plan and organise your work, ensuring that it meets targets.

Team Working – You’ll need to show that you’re a team player, but can also manage, delegate, and take on responsibilities. You need to show that you can build positive, professional relationships.

Negotiation – You need to be able to put forward your ideas, but also be able to understand what the other person is saying, should there be any disagreements or suggestions.

Flexibility – For this, you should be able to demonstrate a willingness to adapt successfully in a changing environment, and to changing situations / tasks.

Computer / Technical Literacy – Most employers now require some sort of basic knowledge of computer software and hardware. Use of word processing software, spreadsheets, email and social media are the main things they will look for.

Commercial Awareness – This one is about knowing your industry and business inside out. You should be able to know how they both work and what commercial realities can affect them.

There are loads more employability skills that we could cover, but these are just the main ones we decided to feature.

We’ll have more on this subject for you soon!

Job Scams – How To Spot & Avoid Them

Is It Too Good To Be True?

So you’re browsing the job boards and an advert catches your eye. It’s got fantastic pay, work from home and it’s work you’re already doing! This sounds almost too good to be true, right?

As you read the advert a bit more carefully, you might spot a few things that just don’t add up; maybe it’s some typos or the reply-to email address.

There are hundreds of job scams posted on the internet every week, maybe even thousands! Today, we’re going to talk about how to spot these and make sure you don’t fall victim to them, let’s go:

No Experience Needed – Right off the bat, if the advert you’re looking at says “no experience needed, even if you’re a recent graduate”, then alarm bells should be going off in your head.

They might also try to lure you in by offering large salaries, bonuses, training and instant job offers.

If the advert is insisting that anyone can do the job, then you should be treading carefully.

You Need To Give THEM Money – So you’ve applied and received an email back saying “we need you to put £500 into this bank account for expenses and certificates”, this is when you should delete and block this ’employer’ completely. A real employer would never ask for your bank details, money or personal information up front.

Their Communications – Received an email from davidjon3s@yahoo.co.uk? It’s most likely a spoof address. Take a closer look at the way they spell their company names and website (e.g. Pay pal instead of PayPal).

As previously mentioned, re-read the job advert and scan it closely for spelling mistakes, scammers usually post adverts with very poorly written English.

SMS Interview – Skype and telephone interviews have become an incredibly common and effective way for recruiters to conduct interviews these days. If a recruiter has contacted you and wants to interview you via SMS (text messaging) or by via an IM service like Facebook, then that might be enough to prove that this is a scam.

What’s The Time Mr Scammer? – Take note of when this ‘recruiter’ contacts you. If you find yourself receiving emails and calls at 3am, then approach with caution. Generally, emails and calls will almost always be during normal business hours.

Research – Google the company or the contact name to see what you can dig up on them. Check their website (if one is available) and the contact information (again, if it’s available). Compare these details with the ones in their emails and Google Local / Maps results

If you’re struggling to find them, then I would highly recommend trying some of the Google Search Operators; if you can’t find them using these, then you’re never going to find them!

Try stitching a sentence together like “*Example Name*” AND “*Example Company*”, placing those quotation marks around the words tells Google to search exactly this word or phrase. The ‘AND’ will include both results within a close proximity of each other.

The consequences of falling for these scammers tricks and cons can be very severe, don’t fall victim to them.

Hopefully, you’re now a job scams spotting superhero and will be able to keep yourself safe when conducting a job search.

Lost Your Career Motivation? Let’s Get It Back!

So the time has come again, it’s time for….Monday!!!

A lot of you might absolutely hate me for saying that and genuinely hate Mondays with a passion, I apologise, it was uncalled for to mention…Monday.

However, some of you might absolutely love Mondays, and jump out of your bed every morning with enthusiasm and energy. Congratulations, this article isn’t for you!

If you’ve found yourself at a crossroads in you’re career where you wish the week away, and only want it to be Friday afternoon, then you’ve definitely lost your motivation.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, you can actually change this feeling right now and turn it all around! Take control of your career and life again with these tips we’ve put together:

Appreciate – This is probably the most important point on this list. People often lose career motivation due to not appreciating what they have, and what they’ve achieved.

You might feel that you’re not achieving anything worthwhile in your current position, or maybe you’re not earning enough, however, there’s got to be something that you’re grateful for!

Take a look back on what you have achieved / accomplished, and all of the good things that have happened in your career. How did you get into your current position? Was it because you did something fantastic in the past which was praised by your employers?

This will really make you feel better, and give you that boost you needed.

Do Something About It – Sure, you might have experienced some disappointments in your career, but is that an excuse just to sit back and give up? No! Absolutely not!

You can take the ‘helm of your career’ again by doing two things. You either find a new career, one where you know you’ll be able to accomplish tasks and feel good about yourself. Or, by putting yourself into overdrive in your current position.

The worst thing you can do is…nothing at all, your career motivation will plummet even further if you do this.

When you try one of these two things you will escape this hole that you’ve found yourself in, you’ll have something new and exciting to focus on.

New Challenges – Another way to escape this rut you’ve found yourself in is by challenging yourself with new skills and tasks.

If boredom at work is damaging you, then ask your boss or manager for some new responsibilities. Get trained in a new skill, apply for a new position (internally or externally), try something new that will make your work exciting again.

Gooooaaaaals – A lack of career motivation is often due to not having any goals or direction. Think about what would make you spring out of bed in the morning with a smile on your face and set that as your goal.

Get a plan in place as to how your going to achieve this; you have to set SMART goals if you haven’t already, they will help you out immensely.

Feedback – This is another huuuuge motivator which you must, must, must push for in your career if you’re not receiving it already. You’ll get an amazing boost when you know you’ve done a good job, and the feedback can also help you to focus on skills that need working on.

It’s incredibly easy to lose your motivation without feedback, as you have no idea whether what you’re doing is up to scratch or not.

Ask your manager for a monthly meeting to discuss your progress and what needs working on and what’s doing well.

I could go on for quite a while about this subject, but I’m going to unfortunately have to end it there!

I hope you’ve found this useful and now have a plan of action to get your career motivation back.