Friday December 23^rd
Monday December 26^th
Tuesday December 27^th

Friday December 30^th
Monday January 2^nd

While the office may be closed (and likely to be on reduced hours the days we are open), we can always be contacted on our out of hours mobile number 07730 567 510 with any problems or questions.

That glistening route up the gilded career ladder that you’d always imagined – a bad manager can put an end to that dream before you’ve even got a foot on the bottom rung. It can make you question your ability and even lead you to question whether you’ve made the right career choice. All of this can lead to stress and, if left untreated, depression, as Mike, a publishing director from Yorkshire, discovered.

“When I started out in my career I was keen, eager and full of desire to succeed,” he says. “I worked for a large publishing company and the first couple of years were great. I stormed ahead but then I was promoted and ended up working for a manager who I clashed with. He criticised my work, questioned my opinions and took every opportunity to put me down in front of colleagues. He surrounded himself with two others employees and the three of them used to have in-jokes, and hushed conversations that I wasn’t party to. My career stalled as quickly as it had risen, and things got so bad that I ended up resigning two years later. I lost all confidence in my ability to work and I suffered a bout of depression.”

Just as a bad manager can put an end to your career, a good manager can enhance it. “It’s taken a good five years to get back on my feet again but I now work for a fantastic guy who’s open, honest and fair,” says Mike. “He understands me and gives me the freedom to do the work required. He doesn’t allocate blame when things go wrong – we’re a small team and we’re in it together.”

Thanks to his new boss, Mike has regained confidence in his work ability. “I needed a lot of reassurance at first,” he says, “but my boss has given me nothing but encouragement. He now looks to me as his right hand man and asks for my opinion on almost everything. I feel really valued, really included and really motivated.”

If you have the misfortune to work for a horrible boss, it can be hard to keep things in perspective and not blame yourself when things don’t work out. The important thing is not to question your own ability, skills or expertise, but to understand that what happened was not down to you. “You can’t dwell on it,” says Mike. “I do sometimes wonder where I could be now if I hadn’t been forced to leave that first job, but then again I feel really lucky to have found the job I’m in now, and to have such a supportive boss. Maybe I appreciate that even more because of what happened to me. Incidentally, that first manager I had was fired not long after I left – what goes around comes around I always say!”

When you’re looking for work, you can apply to dozens, if not hundreds, of jobs every day. ApplyMate is a new web service that can keep track of your applications, the company’s contact information, your application status, and alter you ahead of an interview or when it’s time to send a follow-up note.

The service is free, and entering the details of a job you’ve applied for takes only a few minutes. You can set the status of your application, provide the company’s contact information and web site, and have the service alert you ahead of closing dates or a scheduled interview.

ApplyMate is ideal for job hunters or prospective students who are applying for a handful of openings and want to keep very close track of and follow up on them. If you’re casting your net wide with hundreds of applications, entering each one into ApplyMate manually may be difficult.

http://applymate.com/

Basically, do whatever you can to increase your visibility and create a positive impression in the office, whether it’s through small gestures like replacing the office coffee with a gourmet blend or becoming a source of ideas for your boss. Perhaps most importantly, show up and act like you belong there:

Work your way into the everyday office culture so co-workers will think of you as a colleague and somebody they can rely on. Laurie Ruettimann, a human-resources professional from Raleigh, N.C., recommends participating in workplace functions like office parties, picnics and lunch outings.

Volunteer for company-supported activities like charity work. It helped Sailor Brown get a full-time job at financial-services firm E*Trade Financial in New York. A weekend March of Dimes event gave the 40-year-old executive assistant the opportunity to interact with her boss and co-workers in a casual setting. And it allowed them to connect the hard-working temp from the office with a real human being who’s easy to get along with.

Being on the inside gives you an advantage over external candidates, WSJ says, but don’t get complacent. Keep note of your accomplishments and prepare to either stay on or explore other options when your contract is up

Q: Will temporary workers be entitled to receive the extra bank holiday this year for the Royal Wedding?

A: In England and Wales there are normally eight bank and public holidays each year, but in 2011 there will be an additional public holiday on 29 April to celebrate the Royal Wedding. Staff do not have any specific statutory right to take paid leave on public holidays or even to take a day off or be paid a day in lieu if they work on a public holiday. Staff do however have a statutory entitlement to take 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year (or equivalent) but this can be inclusive of all of the bank and public holidays. The question of whether a worker will benefit from the extra holiday this year will therefore depend entirely on the provisions of the worker’s contract. Temporary workers typically work under a contract for services which generally means that they have a degree of flexibility as to when they work, as in most cases they will not be subject to an obligation to undertake work which is offered to them. Subject to the contract then, a temporary worker could elect not to work on 29 April and if the temporary worker is only paid for hours actually worked then this would be unpaid. However a temporary worker could seek to take the day as paid leave if he or she has any remaining holiday entitlement, subject to normal procedures that apply under the contract for booking paid leave.

Therefore our staff will not receive the extra day off but if they wish to be off for the Royal Wedding they can book a days holiday from their accrual.

As this is a new system it’s still very much in the testing phases. We are keen to get your feedback as and when you need to apply for a position. We welcome and ideas for improvement and any bugs you may spot!