Jobs For Everyone

Category: employment

  • Becoming a Doctor and securing a job in medicine

    Medicine is a very popular choice of career, and competition for a place at medical school can be incredibly fierce. Here are some tips on the routes to getting into medicine and becoming a doctor.

    There are different routes to getting into medical school, of course, every applicant needs to have good qualifications – most schools ask their potential applicants for straight As and even some with straight A* grades, including biology, chemistry and/or maths. Some schools require applicants to pass an admissions test, and others rely on UCAS points (this helps to even out the different qualifications applicants enter with, and provides a universal and fair comparison).

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    There are medical schools all over the country, including some in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

    Something worth considering is any particular specialism you wish to go for – some schools have specialist departments which could be more beneficial for you than other institutions.

  • Maternity leave – know your rights

    If you are employed knowing your maternity rights can be a bit confusing to say the least but here are the key points that you should know:-

    • To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) you must have been working for your current employer for at least 26 weeks up to the qualifying week (this is 15 weeks before your child’s due date).
    • You are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave however you are only paid for up to 39 weeks.
    • For the first 6 weeks of leave you get 90% of your average weekly earnings then the standard SMP for the remaining 33 weeks. (this is currently around £130 per week)
    • You are obligated to take at least 2 weeks off following the birth of your child and if you work in a very physical job such as a factory you have to take 4 weeks, this is for health and safety reasons.
    • Your employment rights are protected whilst on maternity leave, this covers any pay rises and holiday accrued.
    • You can also do up to 10 keeping in touch days where you can attend work on full pay without it ending your maternity leave.

    If you are unsure of any of your rights read up on them on the government website.

  • How can ACAS help?

    ACAS or the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service offer impartial advice free of charge to employers and employees with the aim of settling disputes in the work place without having to go to court. They offer advice on all areas of employment law and relations. ACAS offer a telephone helpline and a ‘live chat’ option on the website as well as an A-Z of frequently asked questions.

    As they are an independent company they can be a great tool for both employees and employers for advice and guidance in the complex maze of employment law. Their emphasis is on offering free advice to prevent disputes in the work place.

    Sometimes when a dispute arises it can be difficult to know your rights and wanting to avoid unnecessary conflict can mean that you miss out on what you’re entitled to but by following the unbiased advice that ACAS offer you can be sure to get a fair deal and a quick professional resolution.

     

  • Do the benefits of self employment outweight employment

    Self employment is essentially working for yourself. You will need to register with HM revenue and Customs as being self employed and will be responsible for your own tax return. There are many benefits to being self employed but there are also benefits to being employed. Depending on your individual circumstances, these may vary from person to person. If you are looking for the flexibility of choosing your own hours, making decisions at a high level and building up a business that you will own and may be able to pass on to a family member, then starting your own company may be for you.

    One of the main down sides of self employment is that you will not usually having a guaranteed income (may be able to sub contract to a company that will guarantee you a set amount of work each month). You need to consider whether you could survive on little or no income for a few months and how this would affect you.

  • What is a contract of employment?

    A contract of employment is basically a formal agreement between the employer and employee about terms of work. A normal employee contract should include information such as the job title, brief description of tasks undertaken, hours and days required to work, pay rate, holidays and start and finish date of contract. Many employers put new staff on a temporary 3 month contract which is then renewed as a permanent contract if both the employer and employee are happy.

    Be sure to check your contract in detail and flag up any concerns you have before you sign it as it is a legally binding document. If there are any changes in your work hours or pay etc then your contract should be updated and you will need to sign it again to agree. It is important to keep a copy of your employee contract should you need to refer to it at a later date.

  • Finding the right job for you

    When deciding what career path you wish to take, there are many elements that you need to consider. What qualifications will you need to become the professional that you want to? Some jobs have very strict criteria of what qualifications you need to work in that profession.

    Teaching is an example of this where you need a teaching degree to allow you in to the field. This will involve you going to university to study a particular subject and then doing a PGCE degree at the end. Very often people chose to do a PGCE even if they do not particularly want to teach as it is only an extra year on your other degree and allows you then to change careers at a later date if you do decide teaching is for you.

    Whatever path you decide to take, you should try to pick something that you think you will enjoy doing.

  • Continuing Education After Employment

    For many people, they view the need to continue to educate yourself before you reach a profession you can accept as something which wanes once that has been accomplished. This isn’t necessarily always the case though, as businesses can often expect you to continue to develop your understanding of their business and your profession. Using your own initiative to do this is always preferable to having your boss get you to do it, both for yourself and for them. Sometimes, your boss will be willing to cover the costs involved in something like this, which can cost quite a bit. From their perspective though, whatever course you complete will go a long ways toward improving your CV and qualifications, so mostly, you are the one who derives benefit from continuing to educate yourself after employment. The breadth of subjects which your employer will be prepared to pay for will be considerably smaller than the courses which you can still take to benefit yourself, and improve your opportunities, such as learning a language.