Going from self-employment to an employed role

If you have decided to go for a career change and want to make the jump from a self-employed role to an employed role it can seem daunting that you may not still have the necessary skills or evidence of the necessary skills to show a future employer your full capability.

However, this is pretty much never the case as even in a self-employed role there are plenty of skills that you should be able to evidence and use to your advantage when contacting a future employer or recruitment agency.

If in your self-employment you have dealt with the general public then it is definitely worth gathering reviews and testimonies of your work or service that you could use as evidence of the high standard of your work. Photographs and portfolios of work are also a good idea to have if appropriate for the roll that you have previously had.

If you have been self employed for a number of years then it may be difficult for a future employer to gain a reference so it would be worth asking someone who knows you and who is ideally in a professional role such as a teacher, doctor or business owner to provide you with a character reference. This will show willing and give the employer chance to gather references if needed.

Going from self employed to employed needn’t be a daunting process, with the right preparation and a carefully worded and evidenced CV it could be a breeze.

Working in the recruitment industry

With employment on the rise, more and more people are dipping into the recruitment industry to see if it is the career path for them. You may hear very mixed reviews on working with recruitment and find it hard to find out what it is actually like and what you should expect. Often people will say it is a highly stressful job that is all about targets and pressure but then you may hear another side about how rewarding it can be emotionally and financially. As with any job, a lot of it depends on the company you work for and the position you are in.

You need to have a certain skill set to work in recruitment and work your way up the ladder. You need to be able to negotiate well, enjoy problem-solving, have a passion for people and communicate well and good management and organisational skills. These will all help you to be successful with the recruitment industry.

Once you have started working within the recruitment industry you may find it fairly easy to move from one company to the next, even if you worked for a company that offered employment in a niche sector.

 

 

Setting up job alerts

If you are serious about looking for a job and looking for a position within a popular industry, you may find that you struggle to keep on top of new jobs coming on to the market. You can register with an online jobs board to allow you to browse through, but there may be new jobs coming on that you are missing. Most jobs sites now allow you to set up alerts. These are usually triggered by keywords or categories that are within job titles and descriptions. You can often set up a geographical location as well, so you will only be notified of jobs in your chosen area.

Once you have the alert set up you should receive an email every time a new job that matches your criteria has been added to the site. This allows you to have a read through and check if you are apply to apply for it.

Having advanced notifications of when a new job has been posted, means you will be able to get your application in quick. Although some posts will have a closing date, if they receive too many applications they may decide to bring that date forward or to stop taking any more references until they have gone through the first applicants.

 

 

Contact with your recruitment agency

If you are currently looking for work then you may of registered or considering registering with a recruitment agency. An agency can take a lot of the hassle out of finding a job as they often have hundreds on their books that they looking for the right candidates to put forward.

If you are looking for a permanent position then you may not need to pay anything to register with an agency or to find a job through them. They often take their fees from the employer. If you are looking for temporary work then you may have to give some of your salary to the agency (usually a percentage) for every job you do through them.

It is important that you keep in regular contact with your agency once you have registered in order to ensure that you get put forward for jobs. Your agent may have a number of people who are looking for work and often it is the ones who shout the loudest and are in touch the most that get put forward for the most jobs.

Even if you are registered with an agency, do not stop looking for work by yourself. You may use social media or local papers, but often the more jobs you apply for the better chance you stand of landing one.

Can you make a career out of a hobby?

Some people have a hobby that they really enjoy doing. It may give them a lot of pleasure and often this leads people in to thinking if they can make a career out of it. With all hobbies, somewhere along the line someone is making money from it but you need to spend some time doing some research to see how it all works and to carry out some market research.

If for example your hobby is gardening, then you can most certainly make a career out of it. Self employed gardeners may not make a huge amount of money and often the work is more seasonal so you may have to bear this in mind. Have a look around and see what other people are charging for their services. See if you could match or beat their price and ideally if you could add anything they do not offer to give you that unique selling point.

If you are going to have to invest a fair bit of money in to setting up a business, then even more thought may need to go in to it to ensure that you are not going to waste all of your money.