The new rules of career planning: Embrace chance September 11, 2014 Even our best laid schemes have the nasty habit of going awry WHERE would you like to be in a decade’s time? It seems a natural question. Surely the captains of industry didn’t get to where they are today without the requisite amount of career planning and strategic networking? This may have been the case [...]
Wearable tech: Is it set to take over the City? September 10, 2014 Imagine the end of desks, and watches that log your billing time APPLE’S move into wearable tech this week may have disappointed investors (its shares ended the day 0.4 per cent down after the grand unveiling of its unabashedly rectangular Apple Watch), but the hype surrounding the wider wearables market has hardly dampened. NPD Group [...]
How to save up for a house deposit September 9, 2014 With property prices surging in recent years – by 19.3 per cent in London in the 12 months to June, according to ONS data – the amount needed for a house deposit has shot up. The latest figures from LSL Property Services show that the average first-time buyer put down just over £30,000 for a [...]
R&R Ice Cream chief James Lambert talks dessert and bull semen September 7, 2014 It’s often said that entrepreneurs should stick to what they know. Bill Gates knew software, hence Microsoft; Arianna Huffington knew media, hence The Huffington Post. But it’s not a piece of advice that James Lambert, the now-retired founder and former chief executive of Yorkshire-based R&R Ice Cream, paid any attention to. Before starting the business [...]
World record holder Michael Johnson: Encourage employees to act like athletes when it comes to far-off goals September 7, 2014 Claims that elite sports men and women have something to teach businesses are often (rightly) greeted with scepticism. Sir Alex Ferguson’s lectures at Harvard Business School aside, the topic can be dominated by empty phrases like “hard work” and “will to win”, with few specific pieces of advice or strategies translating from one domain to [...]
The nap debate: Is an afternoon kip a good idea? September 3, 2014 The cosy, pro-sleep consensus is showing signs of breaking. The nap is in – there’s no doubting it. Once associated with laziness (consider the saying “caught napping”, or “sleeping on the job”), a growing body of research touting the health benefits of an afternoon kip has seen the practice receive endorsements from Google and [...]
How to end the tyranny of futile work meetings September 2, 2014 Cut down on numbers and be sure to avoid red wine discussions. It's not exactly novel to argue that meetings can be a waste of time. That was persuasively done by Jason Fried, a tech entrepreneur (predictably), in his 2010 Ted talk titled Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work. Meetings can be the place [...]
EngageSciences CEO Richard Jones on the science of social media marketing August 31, 2014 Between 2011 and the end of 2013, social media ad spend in the UK rose from £265m to £585m, according to PwC and the IAB. Last year alone, it increased by 71 per cent. Amid the boom, however, marketers have voiced concerns that increased spending has not been accompanied by a commensurate rise in effectiveness. [...]
The best free online courses for businesses this September August 28, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud looks at the free online courses that can help you learn a new skill. Massive open online courses, or Moocs, are taking higher education by storm. Often free, accessible to all, and with lectures viewable at your convenience, they’ve already given millions the chance to trial a new area of study or [...]
Are algorithms the future of hiring? August 27, 2014 Many recruiters are automating their processes, but don’t expect the death of the interview. Could your choice of web browser be a better predictor of job success than university transcripts? It’s not something you’d expect to be asked about in an interview, but an analysis of 3m data points from over 30,000 employees by [...]
