In today’s society, finding employment is hard enough when you don’t have a criminal record. But for those who have had a minor scrape with the law or even been to prison, you may find that many employers are reluctant to hire you. To help increase the chances of finding employment, here are a few things you need to know.

Know Which Offenses are On Your Record

Understandably, the nature of your conviction matters enormously when applying for jobs. There are certain types of convictions that will automatically disqualify you from certain types of positions. For instance, having a financial conviction on your record will make it impossible for you to gain employment in the insurance or banking sector. If you need clarification, you can obtain Sheriff Records on publicrecordsreviews.com which will give you information on any misdemeanors that you have on your record. Sheriff records can include arrests, civil violations, traffic violations, as well as any other situations that involve a police officer.

Know What Employers Can Consider

For most employers, it is against the law for them to instantly eliminate an individual with an arrest record or conviction. Employers need to demonstrate that your conviction is job-related, meaning your past behavior would have an impact on the ability to perform your job correctly. Employers should also consider the length of time that has passed since your conviction, especially as it’s much harder for employers to justify making a hiring decision that is based on an old conviction. Also, the type of role you apply for should be taken into consideration. For instance, if you were convicted of a violent offense, this will mean you will struggle to gain employment in fields where you have to interact with others.

Speak to Personal Connections

If you have a family member or friend that is hiring or knows someone who is, asking your loved ones for help can increase the chances of you securing employment. A relative can be an advocate for you, so having them write a letter of recommendation to a potential employer can be a big help. Having someone to act on your behalf and persuade an employer to consider your application can help you secure your dream role, regardless of your past.

Start Small

If you have a record, you need to be aware that while an employer may be hesitant to employ you in a role with varied responsibilities, they may be willing to give you a chance in a field that is lower paid. In life, many of us need to work our way up the ladder, so regardless of your qualifications and experience, you may need to start at the bottom and put the groundwork in to move up the ranks. There are various things that you can do to get your foot in the door, such as applying with a temp agency. This is a great way to boost your resume, and if you enlist the help of a company like ARC Resumes they will show you how to dress this up properly in your resume. You need to show that you’re a hardworking and trusted candidate and that you understand doing what it takes to be respected by your colleagues is important.

To increase the chances of securing a job, you need to understand the importance of networking. While a criminal record can make the job search tougher, you may find that making personal connections with those in your industry can help you secure your dream role. To do this effectively, you will need to create professional pages on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Be Honest About Your Past

When going through the application process, you may want to lie if it asks about a criminal record, however, being dishonest will come back to bite you in the long run. Many employers conduct some kind of background check to ensure they’re employing the right people, so it’s better to be open and honest about your history from the get-go, rather than have skeletons come out the closet that can hinder your chances of gaining employment.

Consider Other Employment Options

If you are willing to go the extra mile and possess the right soft skills, you may want to consider other employment options. Whether it’s by starting your own business, joining the military, or volunteering your time, there are lots of avenues that you can go down which may not require you to go through a background check. Showing that you are responsible, trustworthy, and dependable can go a long way and help boost your resume.

If you’ve found a role that you’re interested in, having a record lurking behind you can make the application process difficult. Even if you have the qualifications, skills, and experience under your belt, employers may be reluctant to take your application further. To be in with a chance of securing your dream job, knowing your rights and where you stand can be a big help.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Things You Need to Know if You’re Applying for a Job with a Record appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Up to 30% of jobs (10.5 million) in the UK are considered ‘highly automatable’ and therefore at risk to change, with professionals not possessing the skills to accommodate the AI revolution.

By 2020, approximately 75 million jobs would have been displaced across the globe as a result of the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Mid-skill workers are most at risk, with data illustrating that employment growth has been greatest at the extreme ends of the spectrum (top and bottom 20%) whilst in-between there has been a decline, resulting in a hallowing out of jobs for the middle-tier workforce.

Within the industry this displacement of mid-skill workers has become known as the ‘automation paradox.’

The findings come from a report published this month from global recruiter Robert Walters and market intelligence firm Vacancy Soft – Harnessing the Power of AI: The Demand for Future Skills.

Growth in Data Roles

However, it is not all bad news when we consider the impact of AI on the job market.

Ollie Sexton, Principal at Robert Walters comments:“As businesses become ever more reliant on AI, there is an increasing amount of pressure on the processes of data capture and integration. As a result, we have seen an unprecedented number of ‘next generation’ roles being created with data skill-set at their core. In fact, data-related roles across the board have increased by 80% since 2015.

“What has been the most interesting to see is the emergence of data scientist as a mainstream profession – with job vacancies increasing by a staggering 110% year-on-year. The same trend can be seen with data engineers, averaging 86% year-on-year job growth.”

Industries that are being most disrupted by AI are:

• Retail: whilst driving the e-commerce powerhouse, AI is being utilised to drive consumers back to the ‘bricks and mortar 2.0.’ From self-checkout, and monitoring customer patterns and preferences, to using data to enhance the customer journey and in-store experience, and seamlessly linking online and offline channels.
• Business Support: the application of AI within the professional services field is extraordinary, but when considering just the business support aspect alone AI has been implemented at every level – from spam filters and smart emails, to smart personal assistants (Siri, Cortana, Google Now), automated customer support, and sales and business forecasting.
• Healthcare: experimental AI is making huge breakthroughs in the healthcare industry from Google’s DeepMind being taught to read retinal scans, healthcare apps saving hours of GP time, to patient safety, training and education, as well as drastic improvements in bias, inequality and unfairness within the profession.

UK Skills Shortage

Tom Chambers, Manager – Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walters comments:“The concern should not be about jobs being displaced, but whether our workforce is ready and prepared to accommodate a job boom within data and digitalisation.

“According to hiring managers within the tech field, 56% of professionals lack sufficient experience for the role, whilst a further 51% also lack the right technical skills.”

Another recent Robert Walters survey of tech professionals found that just 10% of cyber security professionals, 31% of data management professionals, and 27% of software developers rated their skills as ‘advanced.’

Worryingly 40% of UK professionals employed within the AI-sphere stated that their job-specific skills were only at the ‘beginner’ level.

Tom Chambers adds: “Historically the UK has been able to attract skilled IT and data professionals from across the EU – a quarter of tech professionals in the UK are from overseas – yet with the current political climate this may prove to become more of a challenge.

The UK – in particular London – has an opportunity to be at the centre of the tech & AI revolution but growth and demand can only be met with the upskilling or retraining of mid-tier talent so that they don’t become redundant.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 10.5 Million Middle-Tier Workers At Risk As Automation Takes Over In UK appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

A recent survey has uncovered some concerning findings that could have a serious impact on skilled workers for the manufacturing sector now and in the not too distant future. In fact, the manufacturing industry is struggling to find skilled staff to help keep up with consumer demand, but according to a recent survey conducted by Barclays Corporate Banking, the future is looking bleaker still as the number of new employees entering the workforce is at its lowest on record.

Over 2,000 young people took part in the survey; an underwhelming 6% of 16 to 23-year olds said that they would consider a career in manufacturing with 47% saying that the sector didn’t appeal to them while a further 35% believed that they did not have the required skills to gain a position in the industry.

With a shortage of trained workers and little interest from those soon to be joining the UK workforce, these results show that even more pressure is set to be heaped on the manufacturing sector due to a lack of new entrants to the industry.

This is in stark contrast to the growth in manufacturing productivity in the period spanning 2010 to 2017, where overall productivity increased by 3.1% which is higher than whole economy productivity growth of 2.4% during the same period.

As the sector continues to demand greater productivity with far fewer workers, emphasis must be placed on employee safety and wellbeing to ensure that productivity levels stay positive in 2019.

New solutions, on the other hand, have been already put into practice. Examples include automated shipping, machinery aid or heavy-goods being ordered either via phone or online and shipped the very same day, meaning that businesses can help keep up with demand without putting their workers at risk and ensure that productivity levels are maintained despite the skills shortage.

Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of Midland Pallet Trucks, a provider of high-quality lifting equipment for the manufacturing industry, recently commented about the survey, “With many of our customers operating in the manufacturing industry, we want to help support their productivity and provide them with the best quality lifting equipment to help ease the physical toil and pressure placed on workers in the sector.

That’s why we’ve set up out same-day dispatch service from our central distribution centre to help keep the wheels turning and provide employees with every piece of lifting equipment they would need to carry out their roles safely.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Manufacturing Workforce At Its Lowest Level On Record, New Survey Finds appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

How much incentive pay do full-time workers in the UK receive each year? Research collated from Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment breaks down the state of UK incentive pay in 2018 based on a collection of Office For National Statistics datasets.

A study into bonus pay in the UK has investigated which full-time workers are most likely to earn the highest bonuses with the results suggesting that the highest amount of incentive pay comes from male workers in the capital during the latter stages of their career. These are, according to the Office For National Statistics, “Incentive pay is the amount paid to an employee as a result of meeting a performance or productivity objective, including profit sharing, bonus, piecework and commission payments.” 

Regional differences in bonus pay

The regional difference within the UK for incentive pay is striking where a full-time private sector worker in London receives on average over three times the national average:

The gender-pay gap

The gender pay gap is a big discussion point in the UK today and it looks to be just as much reflected in bonuses as it does in gross annual income. In 2018 the average full-time working male took home £2,613 in incentive pay, whereas the average female took home £1,158.

When broken down by both age and gender, the data points to the cause of the disparity; males between 40-59 tend to earn around twice as much incentive pay as females, taking home an average of around £3500 per year:

Which job types earn the highest bonuses?

Aaron Wallis has also collated data from the ONS on bonus pay by job-type, defined by two-digit SOC code.

Corporate managers and directors take home the highest average annual bonus, with just under £8000. After this, professional services under business, media, public service and science tend to do well, averaging just over £2000 a year in incentive pay.

Private sector bonuses over the last 15 years

Using ONS datasets over the last 15 years, research from Aaron Wallis suggests that incentive pay in the private sector has still not completely recovered following the 2008 recession:

Rob Scott, Managing Director at Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment said: “Particularly in private sector roles like sales or recruitment, incentive pay forms a key part of workers annual income and it’s important for both employers and workers to make sure they’re keeping up with the trends of bonus pay in the market.

Encouragingly, our research suggests that bonus pay is on the rise with average private sector bonuses seeing consistent growth since 2015, however, this is still a long way off the bonuses which UK workers were receiving before 2009.”

The study was conducted by Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment, using data from the Office For National Statistics, analysing and combining different datasets published between 2004 and 2018. Data has been collected from the ONS’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which for 2018 was published on the 25th October. Aaron Wallis’ write-up of the study was published on the 27th December 2018.

Using a sample size of 1% of earners on PAYE tax taken from HM Revenues and Customs (in real terms around 300,000 workers in the UK), the datasets from the ONS provide valuable and statistically significant insight into earnings of UK citizens.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post UK Bonus Pay 2018 – Which Workers Receive the Highest Bonuses? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.