Employment opportunities

Full time
• Full-time employment is a form of employment in which a person works a
minimum number of hours, these set hours are set by their employer. Full-
time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically offered
to part-time, temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sick
leave, and health insurance.
• They generally pay more than part-time jobs per hour, and this is similarly
discriminatory if the pay decision is based on part-time status as a primary
factor. The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time
employment or part-time employment. Companies commonly require from
32 to 40 hours per week to be defined as full-time and therefore eligible for
benefits.
Part time
• A part-time contract is a form of employment that carries fewer hours
per week than a full-time job because the employee will work in shifts,
these shifts are often rotational. Workers are considered to be part-
time if they commonly work fewer than 30 hours per week.
• According to the International Labour Organization, the number of
part-time workers has increased from one-fourth to a half in the past
20 years in most developed countries, excluding the United States.
• There are many reasons for working part-time, including the desire to
do so, having one's hours cut back by an employer and being unable to
find a full-time job. The International Labour Organisation Convention
175 requires that part-time workers be treated no less favourably than
full-time workers.
 Freelance
• A freelancer or freelance worker is a term commonly used for a person who is
self-employed and is not usually committed to an employer long-term.
Freelance workers are sometimes represented by a company or a temporary
agency that resells freelance labour to clients; others work independently or
use professional associations or websites to get work.
• Fields, professions, and industries where freelancing is predominant include:
music, writing, acting, computer programming, web design, translating and
illustrating, film and video production, and other forms of piece work which
some cultural theorists consider as central to the cognitive-cultural economy.
• Freelance workers can choose to work full-time or part-time, this is because
they are not considered employers , freelance workers are allowed to work
for other employers and are usually permitted to perform tasks in their own
way, as long as the work gets completed to the client brief.
Shift work
• Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of, or provide
service across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week. The
practice typically sees the day divided into shifts, set periods of time
during which different groups of workers perform their duties. The term
"shift work" includes both long-term night shifts and work schedules in
which employees change or rotate shifts.
• In medicine and epidemiology, shift work is considered a risk factor for
some health problems in some individuals, as disruption to circadian
rhythms may increase the probability of developing cardiovascular
disease, cognitive impairment, diabetes, and obesity, among other
conditions.
Permanent contract
• Permanent employment is a full-time, salaried position with a
contract to work the minimum amount of 36 hours each week. The
majority of workers are on a permanent contract, without permanent
employees a company would be at risk of their workforce leaving.
• It is considered a good contract as it gives financial security, more
accessible career opportunities and employees tend to have a greater
sense of job satisfaction.
• However, many disadvantages for employees are that they become
frustrated by lack of change/the same routine every day and that
notice periods tie you to an employer for a certain amount of time
even if you want to leave.
Temporary contract
• Temporary work refers to an employment situation where the working
arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the
employing organization.
• Temporary employees are sometimes called ‘contractual’, ‘seasonal’, ‘interim’,
‘casual staff’, ‘outsourcing’, ‘freelance’ and the most common phrase is when
the word may be shortened to "temps". In some cases, temporary, highly
skilled professionals, particularly in the white-collar worker fields, such as law,
engineering, and accounting, refer to themselves as consultants.
• The advantages are that it is an ideal method for earning extra money for a
short period of time and is a good option for newly qualified graduates.
However, the disadvantages are that it is irregular work and temporary
workers have very few rights relating to sick leave and holiday pay.
 Zero hours contract
• A zero-hour contract is a type of contract between an employer and a
worker, where the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum
working hours, while the worker is not obliged to accept any work
offered. The employee may sign an agreement to be available for work
as and when required, so that no particular number of hours or times of
work are specified.
• Depending on jurisdiction and conditions of employment, a zero-hour
contract may differ from casual work. They are often used in agriculture,
hotels and catering, education, and healthcare sectors. They are used to
enable on call scheduling. This term is used to refer to on-call shift
scheduling practices, even though it is just a contract which enables it.
 Multi-skilled worker

• Multi-skilled workers are employees who have training and skills in

more than one area of business, e.g. in a manufacturing production
environment multi-skilled workers may receive training in all aspects
of the entire process, as well as having the ability to perform a quality
inspection.
• Such positions allow a company or firm to move workers into
different job positions where they are needed at that current
moment in time, companies cross-train employees to increase
productivity and reduce labour costs.
• Typically job roles within this type of employment are roles such as
production runner/assistant, broadcast assistant, junior designer or
web coordinator, etc.
Voluntary worker
• Voluntary work is a form of work that has no wages as all funds go to some
form of charity organisation, it may even involve the worker giving up some
of their own money to help the cause in some cases.
• Long term paid projects allow volunteers to be sent to work long term
projects lasting over a year, these positions are typically acquired by
professionals with qualifications e.g. doctors or engineers.
• Short, medium and long term, unpaid work is anything between a couple
of weeks to one year, these jobs are typically suitable for students, usually
they must pay for their transport to the project.
• Short term expeditionary eco conservation projects there are also
opportunities for people who are limited by time, and wish to take part in
conservation projects. These types of projects are typically located in
tropical areas and volunteers are expected to be self-funded and to pay for
the costs of the expedition.
Casual worker
• Casual employment typically involves an employee being employed when
and if needed, and where there is no particular expectation of continuing
employment.
• A casual employee cannot pursue a personal grievance for unjustified
dismissal during periods when they are simply not engaged to work. The
courts have noted that the system is open to abuse as an employer could
be tempted to classify employment as a casual to minimise any obligations
they have to employees, while maximising the obligations on employees to
work regularly.
• Casual employees are entitled to a high hourly paid rate that is equivalent
to full-time employees, 2 days unpaid carer’s leave and 2 days unpaid
compassionate leave per occasion, they are also allowed entitled to unpaid
community service leave.
Hourly paid worker
• An employee who receives an hourly wage must gain it for an entire
hour worked that day, workers who are paid on an hourly rate must
be paid the minimum wage at the very least. Hourly workers are
entitled to overtime pay for hours worked over 40 hours per week.
• Places that use hourly paid jobs are typically in retail or supermarkets,
they offer a range of hourly paid jobs such as in full-time and part-
time work, they also often offer season roles within the company,
such as ‘Christmas temps’.
Piece work
• Piece work is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a
fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed
regardless of time. This is classed as ‘output work’ they must be paid
either the minimum wage for every hour they worked or on the basis
of a ‘fair rate’ for each task they completed.
• This type of work can usually only be used in limited situations when
the employer doesn’t know which hours the worker does e.g.
someone who works from home.
• Piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed
rate for each unit of work produced, regardless of time. Piecework is a
form of performance related pay.
Recruitment & Contacts
Careers advice/service
• Careers advice services are easily accessed anywhere, they can
typically appear online, or as stores within a town. Many schools and
colleges will also have a careers advice office to help with their next
career steps.
• National career websites include features such as helping you with
career decisions and planning, supporting you in reviewing your skills
and abilities by developing new goals, motivating you to implement
your ‘plan of action’ and it also enables you to make the best use of
high quality career related tools.
National press
• The national press is typically in the form of a newspaper, they will
usually feature job opportunities within that area that have become
available lately. However, it is also less likely to be seen be people
who are looking for employment, such as students as they are not
likely to read a news paper and are more likely to use job searching
sites such as ‘Indeed’.
• However, online news articles are now available within that
newspapers app and on many occasions they will feature popular job
roles that are going, an example of this would be working at the ‘Dog
café’ in Wythenshawe that has received many applicants due to the
news articles advertisement.
Personal contacts
• Having personal contacts i.e. ‘who you know’ is very useful when job
hunting as it allows you to access work experience and job role
opportunities that you may not be able to achieve on your own. For
example, someone from a middle class background is more likely to
have highly educated and highly skilled workers as personal contacts
rather than someone from the working class.
• These personal contacts give someone a boost within the industry as
it allows easy access onto the career ladder.
Networking
• Networking is basically getting to know people who can help you to
develop your career prospects, you don’t need to be within a big
organisation to be able to effectively network. Many jobs never make
it to a recruitment website as they are filled through word of mouth
and if someone has a person contact within that industry then they
may be more likely to get the job role.
• Like any other forms of social behaviour, networking follows certain
rules , first impressions count (both face to face and via phone or
email). Always stay sharp and don’t ask directly for a job, as
networking is not a job fair, it is an opportunity to gather potentially
useful information.
Word of mouth
• Many research studies have found that ‘word of mouth’ has been found to
be the most effective method of sharing information, this has been shown
to be more effective that other types of marketing techniques, it is useful
in gaining new customers.
• Reasoning stated behind why word of mouth is the most effective method
is because of trust, as many people do not trust advertisements seen on
TV, however if a friend or family member is to mention a product or service
to us then we are much more likely to use it.
• The effectiveness of word of mouth will depend on getting people to talk,
there needs to be a specific feature about the brand or advertising
campaign that gets people talking about the product, this can only be done
once the company understands how word of mouth is started.
Internet
• The internet is a worldwide system of computer networks where you
can now get jobs with online sites as you have access to billions of
pages with information on how to get one.
• Web browsers have made the internet easy enough for anyone to
use. With relativity cheap personal computers and the benefits of
broadband, more than a billion people are using it. Now that internet
access is becoming popular on mobile phones, the population of
online users is set to increase constantly.
• Many people also use the benefits of the internet for their jobs, e.g.
many interviews now take place over skype.
Professional development
Further education and training
• Further education in the UK is a form of education that occurs following a
compulsory post 16 secondary education, this is usually distinct from that
offered in universities. It includes many different levels of qualification, such
as A Levels and Higher National Diplomas (BTEC’s). Foundation Degrees are
also a type of further education and take 2 years to complete.
• Further education is usually taught in the sixth-form college part of a school
or in independent colleges, as well as in other work-based adult and
community learning institutions. Further education programmes will usually
go up to Level 3 (e.g. Advances Apprenticeships or A Levels) and are often
designed to provide the skills to advance to higher education.
• At most college’s students have the opportunity to take some form of work
based skills training. These courses teach students key skills needed when it
comes to any job, such as an office worker to someone who works in a
restaurant.
Full-time degrees
• When a course is described as ‘full-time’ this typically means that the
students are required to be present from 9am to 5pm or equivalent
every week-day. This is usually the type of degree for some PhDs
particularly in the sciences.
• Other full-time courses may provide a set number of hours where
there will be teaching time per week and expect a substantial amount
of self-directed study by the student themselves in addition to class
time.
• Typically postgraduate courses are studied full time by students who
are continuing with study following a first degree, or who have decided
to make a specific investment by giving up work or taking a career
break and studying full time in order to complete the course as quickly
as possible via a concentrated period of study.
Part-time degrees
• Part-time studies relating to degrees can be ideal for someone who
wants to continue working, however not all part-time courses are
timetabled to be taken in the evenings or on specific regular days
each week, meaning that they could still struggle to fit working hours
around their study time.
• For some courses, such as those offering a wide range of optional
modules it may not be possible to timetable courses in this way. If
students are already living in the UK and are not dependent their
study to continue doing so, they may be able to may get a visa to
attend a part-time programme where study takes place for less than a
specific number of hours each week.
 Foundation degrees
• A foundation degree is a form of degree level qualification that
combines academic study with work place learning. This level is
designed in association with employers, this form of
qualifications is ideal to help equip people with the relevant skills,
knowledge and understanding to achieve academic results as well
as improve performance and productivity in the work place.
• Foundation degrees will always focus on a particular job or
profession. They are there to intend to increase the professional
and technical skills of current or potential staff within a
profession.
• A foundation degree is the equivalent of two thirds of a full
honours degree and is a fully flexible qualification allowing
students to study part-time or full-time to fit their lifestyle. This
style of degree may be taken by nurses or engineers.
 Bachelor degrees
• The standard Bachelor's degree takes three years to complete the course and
at the end will give you one of the following titles: Bachelor of Arts (BA),
Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), or Bachelor of Law
(LLB).
• They are all equal status and it's possible to get your degree with Honours.
Post-secondary degree’s are awarded to individuals after the completion of
an undergraduate course of work, this will typically take eight semesters and
120 credits to complete.
• Course work for bachelor's degrees is done at an undergraduate level and is
made up of general studies and major specific classes. Bachelor's degrees are
awarded in specific concentrations and are built on the Bachelor of Science,
Bachelor of Arts, or Bachelor of Fine Arts foundations. Individuals pursue
bachelor's degrees to further their education and career advancement.
Masters degrees
• A master's degree is a form of academic degree that is awarded by
universities upon the completion of a course of study that demonstrates a
mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of
professional practice.
• Within the area studied, graduates are expected to possess advanced
knowledge of a specialized body of these applied topics; high order skills in
analysis, critical evaluation, or professional application; and the ability to
solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.
• The master's degree may qualify the holder to teach at a college or
university in certain disciplines. The two most common titles of master's
degrees are the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Science (M.S., M.Sc.,
M.Si., or M.C.A.) degrees; these may be course-based, research-based, or a
mixture of the two.
Work experience
• Work experience refers to a form of temporary employment within a
workplace, this is there to help them develop any skills needed for
when they apply for a real job in the future. Work experience typically
lasts one week to a month and is rarely ever paid work, unless the
employer decides otherwise.
• Work experience may also help lead to a carrier in the company that
you are completing you experience at, as if they believe you have
done a good job then they may offer you a place within the company.
• Work experience is most commonly completed within high school or
college, this is sometimes as part of a course e.g. BTEC, where work
experience may be mandatory.
 Training on the job
• Training on the job is a one-on-one training programme located at
the job site, the training will be led by someone who is experienced
with the tasks given and then shows another how to perform it.
• It is a frequently used method of training within the industry, this is
because it requires only one person who knows how to do the task,
this means it’s practically free as you don’t have to pay for the new
employee to go on a course.
• Also, because the training takes place on the job it can be highly
realistic compared to if they did the training off site with a larger
group of people because they are experiencing it for real. This means
that once the new staff members come to work on this task
themselves it’ll be much easier to remember and understand.
However, one main issue is that during the training of the new staff
this means that the trainer and materials needed are out of
production for the duration of the training time.
 Skills analysis
• When applying a job you must talk about your personal skills that you have for
the job at hand as a way to impress the employer. Personal skills that may be
useful to talk about are public speaking, verbal communication, verbal
communication, non-verbal communication, listening skills, negotiation,
problem solving and decision making. This is because all of these skills will
most likely increase your chance of an employer choosing you as they’re what
they look for in a successful, efficient worker.
• Personal development planning is the process of creating an action plan based
on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal
development within the context of a career or education.
• A personal development plan can be created by making personal targets to
help better develop yourself within the job role. To do this it may be useful for
them to include stages or steps to indicate how the plan is to be realized.
 Sources of information
• When you are looking to go into a profession, it is important to
read information about the position so that you can have a
wider understanding of the role before you start to ask around
for jobs so you can easily answer any questions you’re asked, it
will also help to look at sources of information about the job to
make sure you know that it is the role you want to do, as many
people are unsure about the full job roles required for many
professions.
• One of the best free resources for finding information is the
internet, it has thousands of different pages on any topic that
you are trying to research, along with forums where you can
ask experts any question you want. The main benefit of this is
that it can be done from home or work during your free time.
• A good example of a source for information is for you’re
looking to go into higher education before entering a
profession the UCAS website is an excellent source of
information as it has everything from course guides to applying
for courses.
Trade unions
• A trade union is a type of organization of workers, they will have
come together to achieve common shared goals, this could be to do
with things such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving
safety standards and better working conditions.
• The trade union through its leadership, bargains with the employer
on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with
employers. The most common purpose of these unions is maintaining
or improving the conditions of their employment through the
suggestions to their employers.
Careers services
• Careers services are very useful when it comes to looking for help in
finding what job might be right for you, and there are many services
which exist to do this.
• If you live in a large town or city there is most likely a Job Centre
within that city as there is going to be a high population of people
who will need to visit it. Job Centres are where people can go and ask
for advice on how to get jobs and can also be put forwards for one.
• On the other hand, if there’s not a job centre nearby people can get
help online through websites such as the National Careers Service.
The National Careers Service provides information, advice and
guidance to help people make decisions on learning and work
opportunities such as how to start out your career. This tool is very
useful for people who do not have access to a career centre or have
no way of getting there.
Transferable skills
 Personal attributes
• Personal attributes refers to the traits that make up your
entire personality, these traits define who you are as a
person. For example these traits could be the typically
attributes to describe someone: outgoing, extrovert, open.
• Your personal attributes are important as they can make the
difference between being successful in a job or failing. This
applies to whether or not you are a hard worker as if you are
then you a clearly a lot more likely to succeed than if you are
lazy and have no motivation.
• Employers look for these personal attributes before you enter
the work place to determine if you will fit in or not so it’s
always a good idea to display your good personal attributes
and not your bad ones. This opinion of you is made through
your CV and interviews where the employer will be able to
judge you based on how you present yourself.
Knowledge and skills
• Knowledge is simply the theoretical and practical understanding of a
specific subject. Once a person has the knowledge and skills that they
require then they can go onto develop the skills within a specific job
role. The new employee joins knowing what to do as they’ve had
training and education but they learn the actual skills at work which is
why work experience is very useful.
• Skills are most often developed through training courses as this is the
easiest way to gain all the needed skills needed to perform a job role.
Although, there are other ways that allow people to learn skills, this is
simply through experience on the job. Over time they simply learn
what to do and how to do things most efficiently. Skills are usually
something that has been learned which means skills can be taught
through the transfer of knowledge.
 Commitment
• Commitment in simple terms is the willingness to give up your time and
energy to something that you personally may believe in or a promise, an
example of this would be when you take on a job role, this means that
you are making a commitment to show up and do the job well, and your
employer makes a commitment to pay you.
• There are also many smaller commitments, for example, if you said you
would meet a friend at a specific time then that is a form of
commitment. Different commitments also have different consequence if
you do not stick to them. Such as if you didn’t show up to work for a
whole week you could get fired from your job but if you just showed up
late to meeting your friend then it’s not that serious.
• Commitment can also be classed as a quality, for example if you stayed
after school for a study group this shows your commitment to getting
good grades.
Efficiency
• Efficiency is the comparison between what is actually produced or
performed, with what can be achieved with the same consumption of
resources such as time, money and resources.
• If you’re more efficient with your time and work, then you are able to
make the most out of what you’re given, for example, two people can
be given a task to do and when they have finished it, one will sit there
and another ill hand in the work and ask to get ahead with the next
piece. The second person would be more efficient.
• People who are more efficient are a lot more desired by employers
because they can save them money due to their extra productivity.
 Reliability
• Reliability the ability of an apparatus, machine, or system to
consistently perform its intended or required function or task on
demand and the machine is expected to perform this function
without failure, this puts a lot of reliability on their functions.
• Reliability can also be applied to people in a work environment, for
example, if a machine has a reliability of 100% it would mean that it
has never deviated from its specific task, this means it has always
functioned well within the company and has never failed quality
checks.
• The same can also be applied to people in their job, e.g. the higher
your reliability percentage within your job, the more likely you will get
a promotion, as employers look for reliable workers because they’re
always on time and get the tasks done correctly.
 Attendance and punctuality
• Attendance is measured in a percentage, this can what
percentage of days you’ve attended over a certain period of time,
e.g. in college there is a percentage system for how many days
you attend per week and it totals this for the entire year to show
your overall progress. The lower a person’s attendance, the worse
they will usually perform, this is because they’re missing
important tasks and information when they take days off.
• Punctuality is also an aspect that is measured, typically in the
same way as attendance, this will let the staff or employer know
how late you are. If a person has 100 percent punctuality it means
that they’ve never been late. If they have a percentage lower than
100 percent it means they’ve been late on one day or more. The
lower the percentage is means the more days the person has
been late.
• Attendance and punctuality are both important factors when it
comes to school and work, this is because if they appear low in
the system it means the person is missing valuable learning time.
But if they have low percentages at work they may get warned
about it or even fired by their employer.
 Self-presentation
• Self-presentation is generally how a person conveys information about
themselves to other people or how they present their appearance, for
example how they dress and talk. Self-presentation is very important
when it comes to finding a job as first impressions can change what a
person thinks of you. When presenting yourself you need to be aware of
who you are talking to, e.g. you wouldn’t talk to your friends the same
way you would talk to your manager.
• If you’re going to a job interview it is recommended that you wear
formal clothes and speak in a formal manor, this is because it helps
make you more likely to get the job. However, this is all depends on the
person who’s interviewing you and what the job is that you are
applying for.
Functional skills
• Functional Skills are practical skills in areas such as English, Maths and ICT for
all learners aged 14 to 24. They’re an essential compulsory skills that are
required for further education and work e.g. you have to have a minimum of
a C at GCSE in English and Maths to take most subjects at A level.
• In apprenticeships and the Foundation Learning Tier as well as being stand-
alone qualifications in their own right at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2.
These skills will help them to operate confidently and effectively in their
work either at home or in the work place.
• If a person doesn’t have any functional skills then this means that they
struggle finding a job as these skills are essential when it comes to operating
in a work place. For example if a person doesn’t have any, or very minimal,
skills in Math and English then when it comes to doing the work they’re
provided they might struggle.
 Time management
• Time management refers to a personals ability to manage their time
effectively. It’s a very important skill when it comes to work and
education because of tight deadlines people are given to meet. An
example of when time management comes in very helpful is if an
employee is given a task to do in a set amount of time.
• People can sometimes be naturally good at time management, but for
some people they will have to learn this skill, which can be difficult if
they’ve never done it before. Ways time can be managed for someone
who struggles is through a set calendar with dates stating what tasks
are to be done that day and when the deadline is.
• When applying for a job it’s a good idea to talk about your time
managing skills as employers look for this so they know you’re reliable
when it comes to meeting deadlines.
Personal responsibility
• When working within an organisation being responsible for your
own actions and knowing of what your role is will be a key skill as if
you keep asking people such as your boss or other employees for
help you won’t appear professional and it may put you in a
position where you struggle with your job.
• People who are in education will usually rely on their tutors to tell
them exactly what they need to do and students will use them for
assistance if they get stuck on a piece or work. This can be a bad
trait to continue to have in a work environment as you need to be
able to work on your own without having to require assistance
from people.
• Most people will be able to learn over time to work independently
and not rely on guidance from others but there are a few
individuals you can’t do work without constant guidance.