Social mobility: whether someone whose father shovelled dung can become a Lord Privy Chancellor. A study into this has worryingly found that top professions such as medicine and law are increasingly being closed off to all but the most affluent families. Former minister Alan Milburn who chaired a study (Fair Access to the Profession) said young people in England should have access to much better careers advice to boost their ambitions (hello?!!) and on the BBC called for “a second great wave of social mobility” like that of the 1950s and 1960s to match a projected growth in the number of managerial jobs. Currently 75% of judges and 45% of senior civil servants are privately educated. Thank God!

Tags: legal profession, social mobility and graduate jobs, Working in profession

Put your Twittering hats on boys and girls and prepare for a stat attack from the stat boffins at Hirescores.  When they’re not stating jobs at Highscore they’re stating what could help jobs and today they’ve turned their beady little eyes towards social media and its potential impact on the recruitment industry.  It’s a little known fact but currently if you took all the jobs advertised on Twitter and added them together Twitter would be the 5th largest job board in the world, so imagine how powerful they could be in a few years time.  That’s what Hirescores have been doing, if you ask me, it was a quiet day in the office!  Hirescores had a quick ring round 419 recruitment agents and found that 63% think social networking sites are a good thing for recruitment, whilst only 13% thought they’d have a bad effect on in the industry.  I caught up with (or ear wigged while she spoke to HR Magazine) my new oddly named friend Lisette Howlett, the founder of highscores, who said: “Social networking and recruitment sites can also work hand-in-hand by attracting young, web-savvy candidates. University students still dominate sites like Facebook and employers are able to catch fresh graduates before they even hit the job market. Twitter now offers Twit Jobs, a free-to-use service that allows employers to update the site with their latest vacancies, reaching out to its 23,000-plus professional followers.  But the key to successful recruiting via sites like Facebook and MySpace is to remember these sites are ‘social’ and therefore any information retrieved online about an individual must be interpreted and used intelligently. Part of the ability to benefit from this data is our ability to use the data appropriately, not get caught in stereotyping and also be sure to set it in context.  Engaging with the social networks takes a strategic plan - work out what you want and how to promote yourself and you stand a much better chance of getting a result.”

Tags: Facebook, Social Networking, twitter

Good old Gordon, he does know how to put his boot in.  Not content with 4851 consecutive bad news stories surrounding the recession and expenses and the speaker and his general incompetence, his decided to clear up the definition of heat, just in case one or two of us become confused by the our available options.  I’ve often been told I’m ‘Hanson, you’re so hot right now’ and I am, but personally I prefer to stick with the traditional ‘It’s so f****** hot’.  And now the TUC are following suit and urging employers to keep their employees cool by relaxing their dress codes and cooling down their offices.  It was obviously a slow news day for Brendan Barber the General Secretary of the TUC when he said: “We’d like British bosses to think seriously this week about how they can make their workplaces cooler and their staff less overheated. Allowing employees to dress down in the current heat wave will prevent them from collapsing at their desks, and could also save companies money as they are able to turn down the air con a notch. Employers have got to remember that it’s no fun working in a baking office or factory and they should be doing all they can to take the temperatures down. Clearly vest tops and shorts are not suitable attire for all front line staff, but those not dealing with the public should be able to discard their tights, ties and suits and opt for more summery clothing this week”.  So when you applying for jobs this summer remember to check out what your potential and not just in the way of air conditioning.

Tags: Government, heat wave, perks, TUC

What with the recession and all, the Institute of Directors have found themselves with a little extra time on their hands, so they’ve decided to have a chat with 1,000 business leaders.  My invitation must have been lost in the post.  This chat, probably over brandy and Hob Nobs by an open fire, revealed that over the last 6 months 80% of the directors either maintained or increased their organisations training budgets.  But as one hand gives and the other hand takes, as 47% declared that their training focused on short courses that directly addressed their businesses needs, rather than long term universal training.  I now have a flurry of stats, so prepare yourself: 76% believe training increases employee morale, 69% believe it enhances customer satisfaction, 62% think it aids staff retention, 21% believe training improves recruitment and 43% believe in the Easter Bunny.  For more training information check out these videos

Tags: institute of directors, Training

The affects of the recession are spreading far and wide as a joint report from SkillSoft and OnePoll shows 30% of employees in Europe are being under trained due to financial cutbacks imposed due to the recession.  It’s scary stuff especially if those one of those 30% are being left to prepare my drinks at the lodge. SkillSoft and OnePoll have really rolled their sleeves up and dived into the deep end of the stats.  As 80% of employers across Europe offer some sort of training, but 76% of staff think this training could be better.  A further 61% of staff think that training and personal development is important when applying for a new role. You may be wondering why I’m telling you this?  In part it’s to show off my stat mastery, but mostly it’s to show you exactly how important training is and how it should be top of your list when you’re asked if you have any questions in an interview and will show that you’re thinking about a long term future with this company.  If you’re wondering what companies have to say about training here are some videos on the subject.

Tags: polls, Survey, Training