career decision

Why learning a thing or two about work and education from a generalist will ultimately help you to make an educated career decision.
Well, learning from this particular individual will give you an extensive, unbroken and in all directions view of jobs on what they are really like, employers for what they share in common and education all the way through on what is absolutely required, which is a bonus if undecided as you will know what to focus on so that once you make up your mind, you don't have to go back and learn something from scratch all over again, surely, having this type of facts at your disposal, you cannot go wrong with making educated career decision, can you?

Read all to the end, it is the entirety and all you will ever need for education to employment transition or lifelong job to job decisions!
Work and education correlation

The relationship between work and education is; 'Education serves work'!
Every task, in every job requires a combination of general or specific hard and soft skills with applicable general or specific knowledge in different proportions, some tasks demand higher or more hard skills, some lower or less, some demand more soft skills, some demand less, some demand lower or less general or specific knowledge and others demand higher or more knowledge

and therefore, as a student, you should look at your education from work's point of view from the beginning, think of what will you come to offer to the world of work in terms of knowledge and skills not who you are and in return, you will most likely get what you want from work!
Hard skills

What are hard skills?
Hard skills are self or trained abilities to perform specific job tasks.

Soft skills

What are soft skills?
Soft skills are abilities applicable to all jobs that a person develops through educational, social, economic and physical environmental influences rather than being taught.

Knowledge

What is knowledge?
Knowledge is a theoretical or practical understanding of general or specific subjects.

Experience and expertise

What is experience and expertise?
Experience is the normal practical contact and regular exploitation of real job tasks using area/domain-specific knowledge and skills over any period of time. Normal and regular exploitation of tasks leads to area/domain-specific normal performance.

What is expertise?
Expertise is the high level of skills or knowledge acquired through intense and regular exploitation of real job tasks using area/domain-specific knowledge and skills over a long time; Expertise leads to area/domain-specific elevated performance, in other words, well above normal experience performance.
So you see experience and expertise do not mean the same.
Some jobs require no experience, some minimum experience and others more expertise.

Jobs as a whole
  1. Every single person who has a job as self-employed or an employee irrespective of job description, skills level, title, rank, gender, age or place of origin is a humble servant that serves the master or masters whoever that be, internally or externally!
    For Your Information:
    Dependening on the legal structure of an enterprise, an entrepreneur can either be self-employed or an employee!
  2. Hardly any job offers a 'licence to print money', 'do very little and make loads of cash', a person who has a useful regular job that offers sufficient wages to cover the costs of basic needs namely housing, food, clothing and healthcare without a need for subsidies from other taxpayers, is classed as being in gainful employment.
  3. Nobody is entitled to a job locally, it is not a right, everyone of sound mind and sound body and of working age be born and bred native or fresh of the boat, that is, recently arrived immigrant yet to assimilate, black or white, has a responsibility to seek out employment.
  4. 'You cannot do a job you are considered unsuitable for', aspirations must be matched by the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills.
  5. Job discrimination is permitted by law, for example, there is specific knowledge and skills requirements for some, there is nationality and age restrictions to join the army, immigration point system, or nature restriction, 'past one's prime', in some professional sports where there exist short term contracts, you know when is your time to quit or you will be shown the door, and so forth!
  6. 'Looks can be deceptive', we tend to perceive some jobs as prestigious, that is, they deserve more respect and admiration based on relative social standing of the people that do them occupy in society and stereotype others based on what we distortedly believe that is what the jobs are really like, who does them and how those doing them do behave.
    Reality is, jobs are not the problem, people who do them and behave in a certain way are, all jobs deserve respect and admiration as they are dependent and everyone involved is an important 'cog in the machine'.
Where do jobs come from?

Jobs come from the labour market, the labour market like any market has two sides, employers on one side and jobseekers on the other. A job vacancy is a derived demand, it can be vacated post, extended post as in employer business expansion or brand new post as in not existed before and thus nothing comparable as yet. Jobseekers compete to fill job vacancies.

Measurable factors below affect employment chances worldwide:
  1. Wages - In general, people tend to stay put and do the same job with employers offering more comparable wages as compensation.
    What does it mean?
    The higher the wages offered by some employers or industries for some jobs, the more attractive to prospective candidates those jobs are and the more the competition.
    tip:
    Markets dictate wages paid not the work that you do!
    The higher the demand, the lower the supply, the higher the wages and the other way round the lower the demand, the higher the supply, the lower the wages, in other words, if it is hard to find employees to fill vacancies, that is, there is a small pool of people with the right knowledge, skills or experience to choose from, wages tend to be higher, if it is the opposite, wages tend to be lower!
    Example:
    1. Did you know, there are top chefs, sommeliers, chauffeurs, butlers, and so forth who earn more money than doctors?
    2. Did you know due to long waiting lists for operations in hospitals, some surgical or sterile processing technicians do earn more than registered general nurses (RGNs).
  2. Geographical mobility of labour - the degree to which people are able and willing to physically switch employers to do the same job.
    What does it mean?
    There are places that have more opportunities geographically than others, you have to be willing to go to where jobs are as they won't come to you.
  3. Occupational mobility of labour - the degree to which people are able and willing to switch from what they currently do to unrelated jobs.
    What does it mean?
    In order to switch, you have to expand your range of knowledge and skills.
Labour mobility by skill level

For statistical purposes, jobs are classified by their skill level and content. Meaning strictly speaking, there are only two main types, high and low skilled occupations with elementary, intermediate and advanced content and thus there is no such thing as unskilled labour, you cannot perform any task without skills!

  1. Where, highly skilled occupations tend to have high wages, low occupational but high geographical mobility due to the curse of officially recognized in one word formal education, minimal training, minimal experience, specialization and legal restrictions to practice requirements of some;
  2. Low skilled occupations tend to have low wages, both high geographical and occupational mobility due to the blessing of neither formal education, minimal training, minimal experience, specialization nor legal restrictions to practice requirements.
Labour mobility agents

Irreversible globalization and constant technological advances are agents that accelerate significant changes in labour mobility and no one is protected or exempted from their effects,

where Globalization allows for
  1. little or no restriction of movement of labour across international borders,
  2. the ease of moving jobs to other countries;
Technology
  1. wipes out some jobs, by wholly making specialized knowledge and skills obsolete, that is useful but no longer required,
  2. changes some jobs due to additional specialized knowledge and skills requirement
  3. and creates others with completely new specialized knowledge and skills requirements;

Together, globalization and constant technological advances have eliminated job security, that is, job for life in most sectors and confine local to geography, local jobs for local people and study-work-retire model to history.
Meaning,
you have continuously sharpen and widen your range of knowledge and skills in case you have to deviate from your chosen career path and hop on into different jobs and as a preparation for eventuality in case the job you currently hold comes to an abrupt end.

Employers in general

The reality is, all employers are more or less the same as they share in common:

  1. System of rules set of principles, procedures or instructions that control employees actions as expressed on employment contracts.
  2. Hierarchy of authority - low, middle, top tiers of management and delegation of responsibilities from top to bottom.
  3. Impersonal - nobody is indispensable, employers are enterprises, they can fire an employee completely, they can fire and then re-hire under different often less favourable terms but as exception to the norm, with management discretion, employers can be family like up to a point.
  4. Rigid allocation of roles by specialization - every employee sticking to doing one tiny thing daily as per job description which over a long period of time can become boring!
Specialization
  1. Specialization creates a barrier between those with discipline or field specific knowledge and hard skills and those without.
  2. Discipline specific knowledge and hard skills are non-transferable in most instances.
    Example: Healthcare category
    1. Trauma and orthopaedic surgeon is for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles.
    2. Plastic surgeon is for repair and reconstruction of missing or damaged tissue and skin.
    3. Neurosurgeon is for disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system.
    meaning, trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, cannot use his/her gained knowledge and hard skills on plastic or neuro surgery treatments and the other way round.
Regulated and unregulated professions

Regulated professions are occupations with binding (unavoidable) qualifications requirements and legal restrictions to practice, before you can commence, you must pass specific exams at whatever dictated level and register with a relevant regulator. If you fail to adhere to expected standards of practice, you get struck off, that is, suspended or restricted from performing your duties for a fixed period, and at times depending on severity, permanently removed from register and not be allowed into that profession indefinitely. Unregulated professions are self-regulating without binding qualifications requirements or legal restrictions to practice.

Job satisfaction

As you have read, 'an employee self or otherwise, serves the master(s) whoever that be'. Satisfaction comes from serving in a way that shows you are good at what you do.
scenario
Imagine you are a football striker on lucrative contract but you don't score goals, fans will give you stick, chanting 'you don't know what you are doing', say you are a doctor on good salary but cannot treat patients, there will be flood of complaints, you surely won't get any job satisfaction if you were the aforementioned striker or doctor, would you?

Horizontal career progression

Horizontal career progression is to hierarchy of knowledge or skills. You progress horizontally and accordingly command more compensation in pay package or wages for acquired knowledge and skills.
Some careers more than others have clear progression path, some have not.
example:
Horizontal natural career progression of a doctor.
A doctor starts as a medical student, then qualified supervised (junior) doctor after, then unsupervised senior doctor after on the job training and ultimately if one wants to can take the continuous training general or specialist route as General Practitioner (GP) or consultant or Staff grade and Associate Specialist (SAS) doctor respectively.

Vertical career progression

Vertical career progression is to hierarchy of authority. You are promoted and accordingly command more compensation in pay package or wages for span of control, that is, the number of people you supervise or for retention purposes. Believe it or not when it comes to promotion, exposure and image are well ahead of performance! You have to be seen and market yourself as promotion material, actually, the top-notch people rarely get promoted, who in his/her right mind will promote the best perfoming team member?!

tip:

As a matter of choice, many professionals tend do stay in the same job at the same level amass experience and don't bother about progression as often progression does tend to move people away from what they are really good at and enjoy doing.

Stopgap job

If you are undecided on what career to pursue or considering a career change, at any point, get or stay in a stopgap job, it could be a stepping stone for your next career, a way to avoid unnecessary gaps in employment that you have to explain to would-be employers later, if you are between the 16-24 demographic, a stopgap job will keep you away from ending up being a sample on statistics with the Not in Education, Employment and Training (NEET) tag and ultimately it will keep you off the dole, living on means tested benefits .

Education

On every phase of formal education, students have opportunities to add to their reserves more background knowledge and age appropriate skills.
The more the accurate, active, appropriate and sufficient background knowledge one has, the better one is equipped with:

  1. The ability to grasp the full meaning of variety of things.
  2. The ability to fully utilize gained skills and learn new ones.
  3. The ability to unlock new ideas and experiences that lie ahead.

The certificates one receives as a proof of successful completion of a phase of education or training from an officially recognized institution are qualifications.

Compulsory education

Compulsory education namely primary and secondary up to the stated leaving age currently 16, serves two purposes,

  1. To teach children absolutely necessary introductory simple facts of subjects that matters most in life.
  2. To build a foundation for succeeding intermediate and advanced learning in further and higher education.
Bare essentials

Learning is not as difficult as people make, there is hierarchy, from bottom to top level.

For example, did you know that:
  1. There are four core elements of nature namely earth, water, wind and fire, with water making over 70% where Oceans and sea water alone account for over 96% and growing!
  2. All living organisms contain four gaseous elements namely Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen (CHON), with the four accounting for more than 95%!
From the two examples above, you can see a pattern, every single subject has 'basic building blocks' that lie in definitions, principles, laws, rules, theorems, formulae, hypotheses, and a few finite core elements, once these are grasped, learning is a child's play, as the remainder is a matter of derivation and either going wider or deeper, based on experience of this website creator, the following are subject basic building blocks you should focus on and fully grasp preferably before the end of compulsory education, they are more than enough for a lifetime!
  1. Mathematics - understanding arithmetic (the fundamentals of mathematics - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, decimals and percentages, ratios and proportions), geometry (distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures), logic - connection and combination, basic probability (chance) and statistics (data handling and interpretation).
    Algebra - letters and symbols in place of a number, unless you intend to pursue advanced Mathematics, Physics and subsequently a career in engineering, economics, modelling and so forth, algebra is not essential, you can live without.
    Besides, you won't be alone, most people never master algebra!
  2. Laboratory science - understanding methods that employs empirical experimentation to draw conclusions - in Biology (living matter), Chemistry (composition and behaviour of matter) and Physics (matter in relation to energy).
  3. Use of Information and Communications Technology - word processors, email, databases, spreadsheets, reprographics, video conferencing, the internet and world wide web and so forth .
  4. Verbal and written communication - understanding how to speak, impossible without enough vocabulary, read and write impossible without composition and grammar, punctuation, spelling, and the ability to argue properly and avoid argumentum ad hominem - a situation that occurs when an arguer attacks the person that they are engaged in an argument with, rather than the validity of the person's arguments, impossible without literature - conflict, protest, and so forth!
  5. Civics - understanding freedom is responsibility.
  6. Geography - Understanding the environment, sustainable development, proximity and trade.
  7. History - understanding of events that have affected the course of history and the modern world, namely, slavery, colonialism, WW1 and WW2, trade liberalisation, the common market and so forth.
  8. Religion - Understanding comparative religion nothing to do with converts or devoutness.
  9. Physical Education - understanding sound mind and sound body are dependent.
Education startling statistics

Only 7% of UK population is privately educated using own economic capital; yet they account for more than half of the top level of most professions, meaning, the remaining 93% that attend mostly non-selective state schools compete for the remainder, if you are one of the 7%, lucky you, if otherwise, tough, you have to work harder, 'if you can't beat them, join them', the 7% won't lower their standards to accommodate you, you have to up your game to or above their level, win-win, you cannot rely on impossible to implement quotas, win-lose Robin Hood effect social policies to take the opportunities from the affluent students and give them to the disadvantaged.

Learning enrichment

If you are one of the 93% that is stuck in a relatively under resourced, non selective school, cannot buy the best textbooks or afford extra tuition, reach out to your better-off peers that are willing to share knowledge, ask them to share with you their school or extra tuition materials, compare and contrast what you are learning, add what you are missing, it will enrich your learning experiences greatly.

Intensity of focus and homogeneity
Explicit formal education at all levels suffers two problems:
  1. Intensity of focus, students across the board concentrate on subject topics that are required to make up the grades on standardized tests and exams.
  2. Homogeneity, that is, we all study the same or similar courses, attend the same or similar classes, attend the same or similar schools, colleges or universities, read the same or similar assigned or recommended books and so forth.
Private lessons

The creator of this website was an ordinary-ish student that could not afford private tutors, he owes so much to all the teachers who used their free time to answer his many questions that were beyond their assigned duties, free of charge. His advice to any of you from similar background as he was, is, 'approach subject teachers with any questions you have, even if they do not directly teach your class, you'd be surprised by their wealth of knowledge and willingness to share it!

Informal learning

Informal learning is to self-taught knowledge.
Even with teachers' best efforts, explicit taught knowledge alone is never enough to make you a well-rounded human being capable of holding conversations and understanding of topics beyond the classroom. For anything you are not taught in the classroom, offset by implicitly teaching yourself through other sources namely books, exhibitions, forums, magazines, newspapers, journals and so forth. Besides, self-taught knowledge is what gives you originality and differentiates you from everyone else and also the reason why we have inventors, innovators, wealth-builders and so forth, the intellectually curious that learnt beyond what they were taught.

Soft skills
The following below is a list of common soft skills every job requires:
  1. Communication - speaking, writing and listening.
  2. Work ethic - willingness to work, work does not have to be a chore.
  3. Flexibility - priorities change, the willingness to accommodate changes is important.
  4. Adaptability - world of work is constantly changing, change with it or wither and die.
  5. Leadership - stepping up and taking the lead when needed.
  6. Teamwork - Working together in harmony to achieve a common goal efficiently and effectively.
  7. Personal motivation - intrinsically, there is that little annoying or pleasant person inside everyone of us that is nudging and nagging us to get or do something.
  8. Organization - without organization, you have chaos, the more organized the better.
  9. Time management - punctuality, prioritization of tasks, you cannot do everything, you have to rank tasks.
  10. Cultural awareness - we live and work in a multicultural society, you must appreciate cultural differences.
  11. Commercial awareness (business acumen, business/client focus) - the understanding of an enterprise's activities in the context of wider environment surrounding it.
Tip:

To recap from the definition, soft skills are not taught but develop through educational, social, economic and physical environmental influences which can be limited for some especially if you are from disadvantaged background, the trick is, observe how the other half lives, namely, the affluent, as in every society, they are the dominant and call the shots, that is, deciding how things should be done in society, learn directly or indirectly from them similar way to learning enrichment above.

Further education

Further education is the intermediate education, normally taking place between the ages of 16 and 18, apart from 'A' levels or equivalent Scottish Highers, Welsh and Scottish Baccalaureates, International Baccalaureates whose purpose is to prepare students for entry into higher levels of specialized study at higher education institutions, unless, hard skills are taught as in vocational, apprenticeship training and so forth, the remainder of further education is like a middle child suffering from identity crisis as it has no clearly recognised and shared core purpose and thus not worth pursuing at all!

Higher education

One important point to remember is: In higher education, learners are consumers not students!
You buy courses based on 'caveat emptor', let the buyer beware, a principle that you, a student as a buyer are responsible for checking or inspecting the suitability of courses on offer as per prospectus before you buy and on understanding you cannot claim any remedies or refunds from higher education institutions thereafter if it happens what you have learnt is worthless in the real world of work!

Bachelor degree

The purpose of a bachelor degree also known as an undergraduate degree or equivalent is to give students deep domain specific knowledge and skills.
A degree in a particular field the common terms used are major or specialization often form the basis of an individual's career.

Choosing a university - Alumni

Where the quality of individual alumnus, that is, graduates from the same university knowledge and skills is open for debate, the power of alumni as social capital in an institutionalized form is settled. Rank matters! Attending a top research university open you up to opportunities to mingle with affluent, well-connected teaching staff, home and international students, a priceless network.

Choosing a university - Facilities

If you are intending to pursue Engineering, Science or Technology, universities tend to have the best facilities namely buildings, equipment, and services on offer for learning and experimentation.

University learning

University is where you do self-directed learning a skill you are assumed to have developed through supplementary home or library self study whilst in earlier phases of education.

University courses

There is neither general agreement among higher education institutions on how academic subjects should be classified nor proper criteria for organizing knowledge into disciplines, however, if you look carefully all knowledge acquisition involves either learning theoretical liberal arts for the sake of it or learning liberal arts with application in mind. Every course on offer is merely liberal arts combinational derivative taught through e-learning, projects, lectures, lab and practical, supervisions, field-trips, seminars, classes and so forth

Example:

STEM - Science namely natural sciences Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics alone are pure subjects when you change them into applied form as in applied Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, blend them together, they bear Engineering and Technology. By grouping, education does not feel so confusing, does it?

Choosing a course

A broadly accurate principle based on creator of this website experience are:

  1. Choose a university degree course only if there are no acceptable vocational and apprenticeship equivalents and two,
  2. Choose a degree course that in itself will give you not only the sort of knowledge and skills that people are willing to pay you fairly well not meagrely for, privately as self-employed or as an employee in a small, medium or large private enterprise, charitable, governmental or non-governmental organization and so forth but also a reasonable return on your investment, as university education is a big investment.
University geographical location

When choosing a university to attend the only thing we tend to consider is the easy bit, that is, getting to a campus, however, we tend to overlook the most important proximity (nearness) to jobs as per degree major/specialization after graduation.

Some few UK facts:
  1. East Anglia, the South-East, the East Midlands and Yorkshire are agricultural heartlands.
  2. The West Midlands is the industrial heartland.
  3. The South East is distinctive for its service industries such as insurance, banking and shipping.

Meaning, you have to explore which sector and divisions of industry your chosen major/specialization is in, namely primary, secondary or tertiary because they will determine geographically where and how close to your university most job opportunities are, the availability of internships or work placement places that are essential to the development of relevant hard skills as university courses are predominantly theory based, or even if lab work is involved, it is a known fact lab never match the real world demands, think of yourself as a car that has passed standardized lab testing with flying colours but guarantees no matching real world on road performance.
You can learn more about where, types of jobs available at present and in the future, locally, regionally, nationwide and internationally through Labour Market Information (LMI).

tip:

Never rely too much on Labour market information as it is statistical information based on survey responses not immersion research, often things don't turn out the way people predict due to unforeseen events thereafter!

Masters (M) degrees

It is best to use a bachelor's degree to get employed first as employers do set aside a budget for training and development where depending on your role and level you can choose or be advised to pursue a Masters degree or professional equivalent as part of your Continuous Personal Development (CPD) and they will foot part or the whole of the bill and very likely top-up your wages and promotion post-completion.

Doctorate (Ph.D/DPhil) degree

Unless you are planning to become an academic or a researcher both primarily a preserve of universities; it is not worth pursuing a doctorate degree at all!

On merit alone, that is, based only on your personal qualities and not on what other people say or perceive them, it is not that difficult to get a job you have the right knowledge and skills to do. What often happens to be an obstacle in getting a job is knowledge, skills or experience mismatch, when someone is looking for a border collie, that is, a supremely intelligent, energetic, graceful member of working dog family bred specifically for work, you do not recommend a poodle, the most intelligent, elegant, lively, fun member of working dog family bred specifically as a pet as a substitute.

tips:
  1. At any point, most of available vacancies are vacated and extended posts rather than brand new. Where a job vacancy exists due to vacated or extended post, an employer is normally looking for similar replacement in terms of knowledge, skills or experience required. So, whenever you hear, there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of vacancies going unfilled at the same time, the same number or above of graduates struggling to find jobs, mismatch, is the reason!
  2. Entry level training programmes and entry level jobs are not synonymous, entry level training programmes are for apprenticeships or traineeships whereas entry level jobs are lowest ranked positions in a hierarchy of knowledge or authority.
    Example
    Hierarchy of knowledge, a teacher on initial teacher training is a trainee not qualified teacher, and, hierarchy of authority, a graduate on management programme is a management trainee not first line manager, and so forth.
    note: Failure to differentiate entry level training programmes that normally require nor experience from entry level jobs that most do require some experience is the main cause for complaint among graduates of employers not giving them fair chances!
First job

The threshold of every career is a relevant first job. Unless you are one of those few exceptional students that has been offered a job before graduation (head-hunted); competition for entry level training programmes and entry level jobs is fierce as there are too few for too many candidates.
To get a job all you have to do is exhibit your knowledge and skills to human resources or appointed in-house or third party delegate(s) or agencies, on paper or web, through CVs, application forms, covering letters and in person through job interviews; preliminary success comes from effective written communication and final a combination of verbal and body language where all depends on your attitude, ability to pay attention, evaluate and retain information.

Recruitment

The function of recruitment is to attract potential candidates. This is done through vacancy/job advertisements on media; A job advert comprises job description, that is, all the necessary information about role and responsibilties of a vacancy that can assist a candidate's decision to pursue it or not. The type of media used depends on the role, today, due to decline in newspaper readership and widespread use of World Wide Web and Internet, both desktop and mobile devices are media of choice. Recruiters use both their own websites and specialist third party job boards to place ads.

Job description

Every enterprise organise its activities by department/functions, appoint a relevant head or function manager, allocate them budget and objectives within a specified timescale, delegate responsibilities to assemble a team on their shoulders.
When an employee leaves or the workload increases, heads or managers have to justify to human resources as to why they need replacement/new hire to fill the vacancy and describe what they're looking for, in most cases - department/function managers prefer 'an employee that can hit the ground running on day one' and help their respective departments to achieve their objectives within budget, if satisfied, human resources will have to get finance approval, then write job description accordingly, on department or functions' behalf.

How to respond to a job advertisement

There are two solid reasons that will make you, a smart candidate respond to a particular job ad, first, you have identified things of real value an employer is offering and not fallen for the gimmicks, that is, attractive offers without real value, and second, you are positive, you meet the job requirements.

Examples of job advertisement gimmicks!
  1. No day is the same - this for an odd-job man not a professional.
  2. Investor in people employer - standard for training and development of employees. Don't bet on it, any useful transferable training will have tight strings attached to it.
  3. Cutting edge technology - means the technology that was latest when was first installed nobody knows how long ago.
  4. State-of-the-art-facilities - means the state of the buildings and furnishings as they were at some unspecified time ages ago.
  5. Competitive salary - means you will get paid similar to what other employers are paying for similar role where you will never get rich and thus have a reason to come to work and no reason to leave your current employer for a competitor.
  6. Competitive pension scheme - workplace pension is compulsory, it just means they will match your percentage contribution if is close enough to the minimum required by the law and cap it if is otherwise.
  7. Market-leading health plans - most treatments will still be on the NHS, highly unlikely dental cover is included!
  8. Excellent career progression opportunities - do not bet your money on this, useful training is in quotas, at executive levels, scarcely do people get promoted from within, it is common for enterprises to seek candidates externally, using executive search consultancies or poach directly from competitors and overlook many more than capable internal candidates!
  9. Generous holidays - Statutory annual leave entitlement for a full time employee is 28 days, do your Maths.

Now that you have read the example of gimmicks above, it is easier to pinpoint the real value a job is offering on any ad, as for job requirements, there are only two on every job advertisement namely essential and desirable.
You must exactly match essential requirements as per job description as they form the basis for consideration of suitable candidates, desirable requirements are a complement.
In terms of a means to responding to a recruiter's advertisement, you can do it through a single or a combination of an application form, curriculum vitae and covering letter as specified.

tip:

A CV is not one size fits all solution to every job application, you can have one template and customize it accordingly or send it to get binned.
If you are interested in a role that has specified an adult border collie is essential and you have unshakable belief you are an adolescent border collie; the closest equivalent, do not dismiss yourself instead explain on your CV on how you will offset for the immaturity on your personal summary.

Selection

Selection process deals with all submitted applications, where the aim is to identify candidates that are deemed most likely to fulfil the requirements of the role, draw a shortlist and convince those that are very suitable; it is in their best interest to join the employer.

Selection facts and figures

The following facts and figures highlight what rank highest to employers when it comes to selection in ascending order.

Soft skills

Nothing is as important to employers than an employee that is able, willing to do the job and can get along with other employees; any individual with such qualities will have sufficient soft skills, the exact skills one is deemed to have developed during the general education phase.

FIGURES:

More than 80% of employers rank soft skills the highest when it comes to selection.

Work experience

In most instances, a rookie isn't a direct substitute to a veteran! The difference between a rookie and a veteran is the former has newly acquired hard skills, hardly used them anywhere beyond education or training environment whereas the later has already used and re-used hard skills in a real work environment, in othe words, he/she has experience, and thus, if an employer takes in a veteran as a new employee, he/she can walk in, get shown around and off he/she goes to do the job.

FIGURES:

Top employers reserve between 40% to 80% of entry level professions to candidates who have previously carried out internships, work experience or industrial placements with them. Leaving the rest to others where priority is given to those with some previous relevant work experience, meaning, if you do not have any experience at all, you are least likely to succeed.

Qualifications

Qualifications rank lowest!
Hardly any employer will ask for your certificates, unless qualifications are legally required to prove you have them as in regulated professions nor accept them as a proof you have sufficient knowledge and hard skills required for a particular job!
Most employers use ability tests and personality questionnaires to assess them; These tests can be used at any stage during the selection process.

Job interviews

Job interview is a face to face or over the phone selling process, when you reach this stage you are closest to a job, there are no secrets only preparation.

tips:
  1. For Your Information; When it comes to interview stage, it's most likely; the process will involve both the relevant head/manager and HR representative. There is a tendency for some employers to invite interviewees for facilities visit and meeting immediate managers/supervisors and employees! Their opinion of you matters! First impression, counts!
  2. You probaly know your price, if you are ever asked about salary expectations, try as much as possible to match what other employers are offering for similar jobs or if stated on the job advertisement, match it as your expectation, employers do reject many suitable candidates with higher wage demands. The most important is to get employed first, you can negotiate once you have proven your worth and sometimes automatically get performance based wage rise without asking.
Post application feedback

Ideal, if you are unsuccessful with your application you would expect the most decent thing employers should do is give you a feedback, it is not so much they don't care, they just tend to receive a lot of applications per vacancy and they simply have neither time nor resources to go through every application and write personalized feedback.
So if you get none, do not take it personal.

tip:

There is no such thing as perfect employers' or a perfect job, don't be a disruptive job hopper, you should change jobs or employers only when is essential or an opportunity too good to miss from elsewhere drops on your plate; continuity in one career with one employer can have many benefits to name but a few cumulative holiday entitlements and sick pay, salary scale by years of service and experience, generous severance package when it comes to redundancies and so forth.

First things first, you have to be cornered by forces of either necessity or opportunity to start a business, the reasons why so few people do actually end up doing it!
Whether you are starting a business from scratch, buying an existing business or taking on a franchise, before you commit your resources, you must do your Maths to ensure your business will be able to generate enough money to compensate yourself to the level someone in gainful employment gets at the very least, otherwise is not worth doing it.
Fact:
If you stop and count the number of UK private businesses by percentage, at any time, over 75% will be businesses with only the owner without any employees in other word one-man band entrepreneurs!

Gearing for success

Assuming you have determined it is worth being a business owner. A point to remember: 'Having a good business idea is one thing, transforming it into a good business is another', success depends on having accurate, active, appropriate and sufficient applied business knowledge.

Market research

Ideal you should do market research to determine whether your idea will work. You can start as side gig to test the market or use off the shelf secondary information.

Setting up

Regardless of age, as a business owner, understanding relevant laws is necessary. Ignorance of the law does not excuse.

Business Plan

Generally speaking, written business plan is not a must, the only exception is when you want to open a business account, raise cash from investors or borrow cash where you need cash flow projections and balance sheet figures. That said, it is still a good idea to have a written business plan so you can keep track of what is happening.

Further support

If you are still at university or college, you can approach the admistration and ask, as many colleges and universities do have accelerator and incubator programmes open to current students and alumni.

For factual supporting details that backs main ideas discussed throughout the whole website and locating other relevant information conveniently, use the listed sources below.

Work
Use the links below to learn more about:
  1. How jobs are classified
  2. How jobs are categorized
  3. Which professions are regulated
  4. Which jobs are most in demand
  5. How globalization affects employment
  6. How technology affects employment
  7. What does a real employee do
  8. What is it like to work for a top employer
Education
Use the links below to learn more about:
  1. How subject choices affect your options
  2. How qualifications levels are compared
  3. Where to find apprenticeships
  4. Which are UK leading research universities
  5. How to apply to universities
  6. Why alumni is powerful, number one
  7. Why alumni is powerful, number two
  8. Why proximity to jobs matters
  9. How global trade was liberalized
  10. How the common market was founded
  11. Countries of the world basic facts
  12. Why cultural awareness is important
Seeking employment
Use the links below to learn more about:
  1. What to expect during recruitment process
  2. How to write a curriculum vitae (CV)
  3. How to write a cover letter
  4. How to pass ability tests and questionnaires
  5. How job interviews are conducted
Starting business
Use the links below to learn more about:
  1. How to test or gain applied business knowledge
  2. How to use market reports
  3. Where to find ready-made business ideas
  4. Where to find government contracts
  5. How to supply to the public sector
  6. Self-employment and the law
  7. Starting business and the law
  8. How to write a business plan

For the curious mind that wants to explore more and come across more mature thanyour tender age read what follows below.
Have a look at a handful of competing multinational corporations (MNC), that is, corporations with facilities and other assets in at least one country other than their countries of origin and conglomerates, that is, corporations that are made up of a number of different, unrelated businesses, listed below and you will see why without them globalization as we have today would not have materialised!
Imagine how inconvenient it would have been if we could not have refreshing beverages, beauty, hygiene, grooming, healthcare products, we had to carry bundles of cash, did not have the ability to fly, power our gadgets, homes at switch flick or on touch of a button to name but a few, almost anywhere on the planet!

Consumable goods - Non alcoholic beverages
  1. Coca Cola
  2. Pepsico
Personal products - Beauty & Grooming
  1. P & G
  2. Unilever
Durable goods - commercial aircraft
  1. Airbus
  2. Boeing
Services - Global payments
  1. Visa
  2. Mastercard
Conglomerates - products & services
  1. Honeywell
  2. Siemens
Business information

Get into the habit of reading published business information regularly; it will enable you to be conversant with the main developments in the outside, wider business world and works magic in holding business conversations with the average employee on the floor to the CEO.

Business news

Business news covers daily business opinions, stock market trends, acquisitions and mergers, changes in leadership of major corporations, banking, finance, economic, international business headlines and so forth.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. The economist
  2. Reuters
  3. Bloomberg
  4. bbc
  5. The guardian
  6. The independent
  7. cnn
Business insights

Business insights cover indepth analysis of issues facing businesses.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. world economic forum
  2. mckinsey
  3. accenture
  4. KPMG
  5. deloitte
  6. pwc
Financial and credit Information

Financial information has to do with monetary transcations - accounting reports, operating and capital budgets, working capital reports, cash flow forecasts from which credit risks can be derived.
Credit information comprise of payment processing and validation, credit risk management, credit rating, hedge funds evaluations, corporate fraud prevention.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. experian
  2. standard & poor's
  3. fitch ratings
  4. equifax
Industry, Country and Economic Analysis Information

Industry, country and economic analysis information comprise reviews on economic, political and market factors that influence the way the industry develops. Major factors can include the power wielded by suppliers and buyers, the condition of competitors, and the likelihood of new market entrants.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. ihs-markit
  2. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
  3. first research
  4. orchid
  5. oxford economics
  6. oecd
IT Research Information

IT research information comprises relavant research and development and use of information technology for enhancing the performance of individuals and organizations.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. comscore
  2. gartner
  3. infotech
Market Research Information Market research

Market research information comprise analysis and interpretation about a market, a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service.

The following is a list of some of the sources:
  1. caci
  2. kantar
  3. ipsos mori
  4. mintel
  5. capgemini
  6. forrester
  7. euromonitor
  8. ibisworld