App for spotty teenagers wins start-up award August 31, 2011 BACK in July I wrote about the launch of StartUp Summer, a scheme to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among students, organised by YouGov with University College London and Imperial College and supported by Downing Street. It has been a fantastic six weeks, with the students making great progress in developing their ideas while learning from [...]
City backs Eurozone break up and voices disapproval of leaders August 30, 2011 EU leaders trying to dig Europe out of its debt crisis should be planning an orderly break up of the single currency, according to almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of City A.M’s Voice of the City panel, run in association with PoliticsHome.com. Thirty-eight per cent said they “strongly approve” of a Eurozone break-up, with a [...]
Understanding the headhunting game August 24, 2011 HEADHUNTER THE best CV I’ve ever received came from a well-respected FTSE non-executive director who managed to squeeze his already successful career onto a single page. I love to receive CVs, but paragraphs of superlatives and hyperbole are not very useful. Recruiters work to find candidates who fulfil their clients’ concrete requirements. We look for [...]
How to get the best deal exiting… August 21, 2011 PETER Jones cashed in on his Wireless Logic investment this week, pocketing a whopping £38m. This is the third telecoms business he has sold in the last year, totting up over £100m in the process. He’s after a “war chest” that will buy him a mega-retail brand to turn around. Just how does he do [...]
Bailouts are bad but didn’t cause riots August 16, 2011 THERE are lots of problems in our society, much hypocrisy and many bad practices. White collar crime in the City or the House of Commons should be pursued and punished; it is right to cast the spotlight on the misdeeds of those at the top of society as well as those at the bottom. But [...]
The secret to a successful interview? Let your body language do the talking August 10, 2011 INTERVIEWS are nerve-wracking. Just the thought of going into a room to be assessed by an employer is enough to get some people sweating. And it doesn’t tend to lower anxiety levels to learn that University of Pennsylvania research shows that just 7 per cent of the impression you give is created by what you [...]
Netiquette: how to get it right at work August 10, 2011 AS NEW Zealand accountant Vicki Walker found out, emails can be treacherous when used improperly. Fired for using all caps in her messages, she is a perfect example of why old-fashioned etiquette has a place in the digital age. There are rules to apply to emails, just as you would to a handwritten letter. 1 [...]
Britain’s in crisis: the real causes of chaos on streets August 10, 2011 FEAR. Debilitating, widespread fear. The country held to ransom by feckless youths. Thousands of shocked Londoners cowering in their homes, with many shops, banks and offices shutting early. I cannot remember anything like it; the atrocities of the 7/7 terror attacks, the shock from 9/11 and the IRA’s repeated terrorist attacks had a chilling, devastating [...]
How to reach the top of the legal ladder August 3, 2011 PARTNER AT DICKINSON DEES TO BE a successful lawyer an excellent knowledge of the law is, of course, expected. But it is the successful application of that knowledge that will get you noticed. Anyone can clock an impressive number of hours in the office, but it is the quality of the work you produce that [...]
The tide is turning on public spending July 25, 2011 IT has taken over a year but the coalition is finally getting to grips with public spending. It is still going up in cash terms, of course (there were never any plans to cut the sterling value of public spending) but for the first time it appears to have started to drop in real terms. [...]