Top 5 Recession Proof Jobs

Posted on January 14, 2009 by admin

More Job Cuts

If you picked up a Newspaper or turned on the television today you will have seen yet more news stories announcing job cuts from big firms. Today it was the turn of Jaguar Landrover (450 jobs), Barclays Bank (2,000) jobs and Grattan, the home shopping catalogue firm (1,000 jobs).

The pace of job losses seems to have accelerated since the start of the year, and it looks like it’s going to get worse over the coming months. So that got me thinking, what job sectors are likely to be the most recession proof.

It’s very clear to see that certain job sectors are suffering really badly at the moment, Banking and   to name a couple of the really obvious ones, but there must be some job sectors that are more resistant to the credit crunch and recession than others. I’m sure there will even be some niche job categories that will flourish during recession as consumer behaviour and spending habits change.

Top 5 Recession Proof Job Sectors

My research into this has revealed that some Job Sectors are indeed more recesion proof than others, here’s the top 5.

  1.  

    Plumbing: There are over 30,000 unfilled plumbing vacancies in the UK are the moment. There seem to be two main reasons for this, firstly more school leavers than ever are going on to higher education which is has resulted in falling numbers of apprentices learniung a skilled trade. Secondly, Australia has lured away a lot of tradespeople who have abandoned the UK for a new life down under. Plumbers can charge as much as £85 call out fee and some earn in excess of £50,000 per year. The average salary is around £25-35,000.

  2. IT: The UK’s IT industry is growing at five toeight times the national average and needs around 15,000 new entrants every year to meet current demand. Salaries in this sector have been fairing well as employers struggle to fill positions. The average salary is around £40,000 per annum.
  3. Midwifery: The UK population is forecast to continue growing rapidly over the next 10 years and there are a high proportion of midwives due to retire over the next few years. According to the Royal College of Midwives, a further 10,000 new entrants are required to fill their places. Salaries range from around £19,000 for newly qualified midwives to £36,000 for senior roles.
  4. Teaching: With 32,000 vacancies to fill each year and a 10% fall in applicants enrolling in teacher training during 2008, there is huge demand for teachers. The Government is even offering £5,000 ‘golden hellos’ to encourage more applicants. Newly qualified teachers can expect to earn up to £28,000 per year.
  5. Public Relations: This one came as a bit of a surprise, but apparently  the media is becoming increasingly specialised and fragmented to the extent that organisations wishing to promote their brand are constantly looking for more cost-effective and targeted ways to get their message across. As such, sizeable chunks of an organisation’s advertising budget are being used for public relations campaigns. The UK PR industry is now worth over £6.5 bn and, with account directors typically earning £53,000 and more a year.

So that’s the Top 5 Recession Proof Job Sectors, look out for some follow up postings as I dig deeper into this and uncover those niche jobs and businesses that are most likely to flourish during recession.

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    Dog Walking Jobs in London

    Posted on January 13, 2009 by admin

    Have you ever thought of walking other people’s dogs as means of earning a bit of part time cash?

    For those that like the great outdoors it can be an excellent way of getting some excersise and earning some money at the same time. There are a growing number of City based dog lovers who rely on professional dog walkers, and lets face it, where would you rather be on a glorious summer day, cooped up in an office with faulty air conditioning or getting paid to walk around the park with man’s best friend.

    Dogs are fully dependant on humans, they need companionship and thrive with regular excercise. Ensuring a dog is well excercised can improve a dog’s health & prevent or relieve behavior problems caused by boredom and excess energy.

    Can you really call Dog Walking a Part Time Job?

    You might not think that Dog Walking looks like a proper part time job, but if you dig a bit deeper it does have quite a lot going for it.

    •  There aren’t really any qualification or age limitations for a professional dog walker. As long as you are sufficiently mobile to walk for a few miles and are OK with dogs you are off to a good start. 
    • You will be in control of the days and times that you want to work.
    • You can take on as many or as few clients as you want, within reason.
    • A wise entrepreneur once told me that the best businesses to get into were ones where you had repeat customers and this is certainly true for dog walking. The majority of dog owners won’t just be looking for you to walk their dog once, they will be looking for somebody on an ongoing basis, potentially for years.
    • Another thing my entrepreneur friend shared with me is that when you are selling a mere commodity a consumer won’t value it very highly or have a particularly strong desire to purchase it. But, if you can appeal to their needs and desires on a more emotional level (e.g. Love, Money, Lust, Nurture, Family, Health) then they will value your product much more highly and often pay irrational sums of money for it. What makes a  Rolex watch better than a Timex, what makes a Marks & Spencers sandwich better than one from Greggs. The answer is not much but your purchase isn’t based on the intrinsic value of the commodity, the clever marketers have been messing with you and built an often enormous desire that resulted in you paying much more for their product.

      I don’t feel I’ve explained that very well but the point is… Dog owners love their dogs and treat them as a part of the family. They will spend irrational sums of money on them, you just need to look at the price of those crazy gourmet pet foods in the supermarket. Now I’m not suggesting you can charge crazy ammounts for your dog walking services but you should be able to manage a pretty respectable hourly rate. And if you feel you can walk a few dogs at the same time then you could earn a very nice hourly rate as a part time dog walker.


    Getting started as a Professional Dog Walker

    You will definately want to use the Internet to search for any dog owners who are actively looking for a professional dog walker. You will find adverts on some of the job and classifieds websites from individuals and agencies. You can also use the classifieds sites to post your own adverts promoting yourself as a professional dog walker. You might also want to post some adverts in local shop windows (newsagents, pet shops etc..). Before you do this though, have a think about the area you want to cover, you might want to advertise your services in areas where the residents are more affluent and more likely to be holding down well paid jobs with potentially long hours e.g. Kensington, Chelsea etc.. Here are a few links to websites where you can start your search. 

    Other things to consider.

    • When you meet a prospective client for the first time you should remember that their dog is one of the family to them so your interview process could be as rigourous as if they were hiring a nanny to look after a child. Make sure you are well presented, have references available and be prepared to answer questions about dogs.
    • In order to build trust with both the client and the dog you might offer to accompany them on one of their walks.
    • If you get serious about dog walking you will want to look into Professional Insurance in case anything should happen to a dog whilst it is in your care.
    • If you find you enjoy dog walking and are able to make a respectable hourly wage there is no reason why you can’t gradually build it into a full time job by working more hours, taking on more clients, more dogs and  potentially some helpers. 
    • There is also good scope to expand into offering other services to you clients. You could consider
      • Dog Sitting
      • Dog Grooming
      • and even Dog Training

    I hope you found this article helpful, please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.

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    Getting Paid to Complete Online Surveys

    Posted on January 12, 2009 by admin

    Most people, when they decide to start looking for a Part Time Job, will begin by wading through the job listings in there local newspaper or searching the numerous online job sites. However an increasing number of people are choosing to use the Internet itself to earn themselves some additional income. There are certainly lots of different ways to use the Internet to earn some extra cash and we’ll cover plenty of them in the coming months but in this post we’ll take a quick look at Get Paid to complete online surveys .

    Get PAID to take online surveys One of the great appeals of working from home using the Internet is that you can set your own hours and work when you want, for as long as you want. The idea of getting paid to complete simple online surveys may sound like a far fetched idea at first, but you only have to take a quick look around the search engines to realise that this is actually a very well established home based business area with many major brands like Coca Cola, Burger King, Sony, Dell and Adidas using online survey companies to gather feedback on their products.

    I’ve seen adverts for companies claiming you can earn up to £2,000 a month by completing online surveys, but I would take those with a pinch of salt. Whether or not you can reach the monthly income that some of the online survey companies claim is something which you will just have to put to the test yourself but I know of a young lad who regularly earns about £100 per week completing online surveys in his spare time which doesn’t compare too badly with some part time jobs.  

    So if you have some spare time, a computer and are happy to fill in some online surveys or take part in some online focus groups then perhaps online surveys could be for you.

    Here are a couple of links to Online Survey Companies, a quick search in Google will find you many more. 

    Make Money Taking Surveys
    Get Paid to complete online surveys

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    Labour’s graduates aren’t getting jobs

    Posted on January 11, 2009 by admin

    The government’s plans for an internship scheme look like a smokescreen for the numbers of highly qualified jobseekers facing the dole.

    This was the headline to a thought provoking article I read in the Sunday Times today. The article is right to question the Labour Government’s unveiling of a new student internship scheme, as it seems details of the scheme are rather thin on the ground. Two companies, Microsoft & Barclays, have announced their support for the scheme but further investigation reveals that they were both already planning to take on 200 and 100 interns respectively as they do every year. The Microsoft spokeswoman was even quoted as saying:

    “We have had 200 paid interns a year for a number of years and we very much anticipate doing the same this year. In some ways it’s business as usual.”

    So let’s look at the facts, the government have announced a job creation scheme but not revealed any substantive details on it and the two companies that have signed up for it aren’t planning to do anything different from what they normally do.

    Well, excuse me if I seem to be a bit cynical here, but I can’t see many students or graduates jumping for joy over this announcement. No, the government needs to show much more commitment than that if they want to make any lasting difference. They should be looking at measures to seriously help employers hire graduates and there are plenty of measures they could adopt.

    Come on Gordon, let’s see a bit more imagination and action.

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    Iceland offer hope of new jobs in UK

    Posted on January 10, 2009 by admin

    Frozen food store Iceland Foods Ltd. came to the partial rescue of collapsed retailer Woolworths on Friday, saying it plans to create 2,500 jobs after buying 51 former Woolworths stores.

    The deal with the administrators comes just 5 months after a previoius offer from Iceland Ltd of £50 Million for all of Woolworths stores was rejected.

    Around three quarters of the stores it has bought in a deal with administrators appointed the run the collapsed company are in south England, including 10 in London.

    Iceland Foods, which was founded in 1970 and bought by a consortium led by Icelandic investment group Baugur in 2005, did not immediately say whether it intended to rebrand the stores. It currently has 682 Iceland outlets across Britain.

    Administrators for Woolworths closed all its stores in early January after failing to find a buyer for the business as a whole, which employed some 30,000 people.

    Britain’s Woolworths was founded in 1909 as part of the U.S. chain, but the two no longer have any link. The company also is not related to Sydney-based Woolworths Ltd. or South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings Ltd.

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    Simple Advice for Mothers returning to Work

    Posted on January 9, 2009 by admin

    Returning to work can be daunting

    Many women who take a break from their career to bring up a family are daunted by the prospect of going back to work. They are often highly qualified, experienced women yet they feel apprehnsive about going back to work and often struggle to find interesting family-friendly jobs.

    Parents returning to work usually want flexible or part-time jobs that provide a good work life balance. The problem is often finding an employer who can see past the career gap in a C.V. or is prepared to offer genuine flexible working hours.

    Finding Flexible Employemt

    Fortunately, there are many employers who offer flexible work as they recognise that returning parents make skilled, loyal employees. Many employers offer freelance or project based work as well as full time jobs.

    Knowing what type of Job to look for

    For many returning mothers, the key is to establish what is important to you now. You need to consider what you value and what your needs are as these can change considerably due to the changes in your life.
    e.g.

    • Money could be the driver
    • Regaining your identity
    • Learning new skills
    • Something to fill in the time while the kids are at school
    • or finding a meaningful and fulfilling career

    How to write a winning CV

    Spend some time carefully thinking about your work skills as well as the experience you have gained during your career break looking after children. Think of the things you’ve done during this period that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. If you’ve been helping out at a playgroup, this demonstrates organisational skills. If you’ve been a member of a school committee which raised money for new computers this demonstrates fundraising skills and team work.

    Your CV is not the place to be modest. State your achievements clearly and give examples of achievements or when your solved a problem.

    Ideally a CV should be tailored to each job you apply for. It must be well laid out and easy to read. It should include contact details but does not need to include your age or marital status.

    Here are a few links that will help you brush up your CV writing skills so you can land the job you want and get back to work.

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    Banks hiring young Britons to prepare for upturn

    Posted on January 8, 2009 by admin

    Despite the doom and gloom of the credit crisis and the talk of recession there are still lots of opportunities for part time, graduate and Intern Jobs in  Banking and Finance in London.

    In a facinating news article on Reuters, Martina Fuchs explains why many of the Big Banks in Britain are continuing to hire graduates and take on Interns, while laying off thousands of more expensive full time employees. Essentailly they want to have an army of Junior staff available when business starts to pick up again.

    But young blood is still in demand.

    "We have learned from experience that closing the (graduate) pipeline in certain businesses as a knee-jerk reaction is a mistake because it leaves us without enough talent coming up internally," said Celia Connolly, head of analyst and associate management at U.S. bank J.P. Morgan.

    "Investment banks will need employees in two or three years when the recession ends. So now is the time to fly the flag," said Jonathan Black, director of the careers service at England’s elite Oxford University.

    So don’t give up, even when things look pretty dire for the banking industry they are still hiring graduates and Interns.

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    Part Time Jobs – Know your Rights

    Posted on January 7, 2009 by admin

    As a part time employee in the UK your employer is legally obliged to ensure you are paid at least the minimum wage. However, how much you are entitled to depends on how old you are.

    As of 1 October 2008, the minimum wage rate for people over 21 is  £5.73 per hour. For 18 to 21 year olds it is £4.77 per hour. This lower rate also applies to some trainees. A new rate introduced on 1 Oct 2004 extends the minimum wage for the first time to 16-17 year olds, starting at £3.53 per hour.

    For calculating what you’re owed, ‘pay’ in this case means gross pay and includes items such as overtime, bonus payments, commission and tips and gratuities which are paid through the payroll.

    There are special cases for some workers. For example, Students doing higher education work placements are exempt. Those on standby or workers provided with accommodation have different regulations, and the minimum wage doesn’t apply at all to family members working in the family business, volunteers, or people working and living as part of a family.

    For further advice, contact your union, see the DTI’s National Minimum Wage site or ring the Government’s National Minimum Wage helpline on 0845 6000 678 (charged at local rates).

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    Part Time Student Jobs in London

    Posted on January 6, 2009 by admin

    London has a labour force of around 3.6 million people but there are always a wealth of part time jobs that are well suited to students and entry level workers. The thousands of shops, restaurants and bars in London are always a good place to start looking, but if you fancy something a little different you can be sure to find it in London due to the size and diverse cultural mix of the city.

    Here’s a quick list of part time student job categories that you might want to consider:

    • Part Time Retail Jobs
    • Temporary Office Jobs
    • Waitering Tables, Bar Jobs & Coffee Shops
    • Fast Food restaurants
    • Student Brand Managers
    • Promotions Work
    • Corporate Internships
    • Internet / Home Worker – Article Writer, Completing Surveys, Data Entry
    • Childminder / Babysitter
    • Dog Walker
    • Charity Fundraiser
    • Customer Service Representative
    • Cleaning Jobs
    • Teaching Jobs
    • Hotel Jobs
    • Supermarket Jobs
    • Rickshaw Riders

    Some links to places with student jobs 

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    First Steps to Finding your Ideal Part Time Job

    Posted on January 5, 2009 by admin

    Looking for a part time job, or full time one, can be a very frustrating task, particularly if you are not sure where to begin looking for a job. In the past Jobseekers had to mainly rely on newspaper advertisements to find employment opportunities but these days there are thousands of part time job vacancies quite literally at your fingertips thanks to the Internet.

    However the number of sites and range of job vacancies on offer present an almost bewildering choice if you haven’t already got a clear idea of what you are looking for. That’s why it is essential to do a bit of planning before diving straight into the jobs listings.

    If you read yesterday’s post you will remember that I urged you to create a list of your goals for 2009, well now it’s time to dig out your list of goals, review it and we’ll start adding some more information that will help guide you towards finding the right part time job for you.

    The first thing to do is to look at the goals that you wrote down and put a monetary value to each one, this will help you determine the kind of salary you are going to have to achieve in order to reach your goals. Obviously the scale of your goals is going to determine the type of job you need to secure and the timescale for reaching your goals. So, if you set really ambitious goals you are going to have to find something a little more lucrative than evening bar work or  flipping burgers, but if you have big, ambitious goals, don’t downsize them just yet as I will be discussing some part time jobs that can achieve pretty impressive returns in due course.

    If your goals are more modest, say a good holiday, some new furniture or a new dream kitchen then I want you to put down the value of your goal on your list and then below that calculate how much you would need to save each week to achieve your goal by this time next year by dividing the value of your goal by 50.

    Now that you have a target weekly salary it is time to start thinking about your job preferences, then we will be able to start looking at the types of jobs that are suitable.

    Try and answer the following questions and write your answers on the page containing your goals:

    • Where do you want to work? (at home, indoors, outdoots or in a specific area)
    • When do you want to work? (mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends)
    • Is there anything that you would really like to do?
    • Is there anything you really don’t want to do?
    • What previous qualifications or experience do you have that might be relevant?

    The process of just thinking about your preferences and writing them down will help you narrow down the range of suitable jobs much more quickly. Once we start looking at job categories you may need to adjust your goals or preferences but don’t do that just yet. The main thing to do at the moment is to write down your goals and preferences and visualise them. Try closing your eyes and picturing yourself one year from now having achieved your goals. Let your imagination wander a bit and embellish the mental picture you are creating, then take a snapshot of that mental imagine. Perhaps you are lying on a sun drenched beach, perhaps you are pulling up outside a swanky restaurant in your new car. The important thing is that you create a vivid mental picture of you achieving your goal as we will come back to this and use it to help drive you forward towards achieving your goals. Simply visualising yourself achieving your goal is an important first step on your way to achieving it.

    Spend some time thinking about your job preferences and dreaming about your goals before we start drilling into your preferences and starting to come up with some job categories.

    Until next time…

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