News & Announcements

Creative City Alternatives for Young Professionals

The creative industries have changed and over the years have begun to encompass a much broader variety of crafts. What it means to be ‘an artist’ is subjective and varies from person to person but what we do know is there is no specific Mecca for artists to all flock to. Where creative work is, creatives must go to…together we can Boycott Unemployment. We’re all too aware of major cities and the great opportunities they offer but let’s look at smaller cityscapes that are attracting young professional creatives like never before…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/boycottunemployment-creative-city-alternatives-for-young-professionals/

Have you got a High EQ? > Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace & the Importance of it in business

Emotional intelligence or “EQ” (Emotion quotient) for those who find two syllables easier than eight is the utilisation of empathy to better understand people’s problems. If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘read a room’ then it’s likely that you know someone with at least some degree of emotional intelligence. It’s all about understanding people and relating to them using shared experiences and emotional responses.

With regards to the workplace application and its value, EQ is said to be valued as more important than IQ (Intelligence quotient) by around 75% of employers according to one study. It’s more than just a transferable skill and most would regard it as an essential aspect of anyone’s character.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/have-you-got-emotional-intelligence-eq-in-the-workplace-the-importance-of-it-in-business/

What Employers Don’t Want to See on Your Social Media

In a digitised society, it’s not a stretch to imagine everyone and anyone can access your personal details with one cursory tap into a search bar. This is the case and with 40% of the entire globe on social media, it has never been easier to dismiss someone professionally before you’ve even shaken their hand. Want to a job? Avoid these social media faux pas’.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/what-employers-dont-want-to-see-on-your-social-media/

Internal Causes of Unemployment: Confidence (& How to Boost Yours!)

In this series we are looking at the personal issues that would lead someone to be stuck in the rut of unemployment. For this article, our lens focuses on confidence, an issue that has seen plague millions of people for years but only recently due to the spike in mental health cases pertaining to Depression and Anxiety has become a hot button issue in the public arena.

Confidence issues can stem from anywhere, what goes on in someone else’s head is their business and therefore trying to ascertain why they reacted the way they did to whatever pitfalls they encountered is an exercise in futility. What might shock someone in catatonia might be water off a duck’s back to another. It varies from person to person.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/internal-causes-of-unemployment-confidence-how-to-boost-yours/

Gendered Unemployment: Trends in Demographics

When considering unemployment one must study it and those it affects. Unemployment is a human problem and something that needs to be tackled with a great deal of care. With this in mind, the sexes have been compared in more ways than anyone can surely count.

While some may feel this furthers a divide, perhaps we can see with a little digging what this means for the route out of unemployment and if these findings get us any closer to a rough guide on how to do just that.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/gendered-unemployment-trends-in-demographics/

Mental Health & Unemployment

It’s easy to feel like you are fighting an uphill battle of sorts when it comes to landing a job. A period out of work can infest the body like a virus and leave you feeling angry, bewildered and morose. Unemployment’s effects on your mental health can be so detrimental that it forces you to make a choice. Action vs. inaction. Choose wisely.

Choosing what action you should take can lead to choice paralysis. It’s the realisation you can do anything and start over and so you can feel confused as to the correct route to take. With opportunity there will always be FOMO (fear of missing out) if you make the wrong decision. However living in a world of ‘what ifs’ won’t serve to do anything but frustrate you, there is only what is.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/mental-health-unemployment-plus-boycottunemployment-nothing-is-irrelevant-some-advice-from-steve-jobs/

5 Senses that Boost Productivity: Sound

Remember our piece on sight? -This week on our series on how each of the five senses boosts productivity: sound. In our working lives, we use our sense of sound to communicate with each other, mostly yet there are numerous other sounds that occur, some of them beneficial, some of them less so but rather than play it by ear, here are some sounds you may want to listen to in order to help get the job done.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/5-senses-that-boost-productivity-sound/

How to Combat Unemployment Trick 2: Willing to Relocate

Often jobs boards come with options to localise your job options. You can pick a specific place in a specific country and then you had a little radius that you can either shrink to ‘exact location only’ or expand to ‘fifty miles away’. Every job has somewhere it needs to be performed and looking at the same place will only have the same results, especially if you’re looking for jobs every single day.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-combat-unemployment-trick-2-willing-to-relocate/

Dream Jobs, Does Anyone Really Have One? Plus: Turning the Big ‘4’ ‘0’

The result of a study conducted surveying 2000 British people has been published in April of this year in The Independent. It turns out that only 1 in 10 Brits have never worked in their dream job. It also tells us that most of those people are not currently in that position.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/dream-jobs-does-anyone-really-have-one-plus-turning-the-big-4-0/

Stress Buster: 5 Books to Read at Work

This week in our ways to alleviate stress we turn our attention to books and how the written word can be a source of comfort to anyone suffering from stress during before or even after work. The following titles are good reads for anyone with a spare fifteen minutes or a lunch hours or even on public transport. The written word helps focus the mind and can engage our brains creatively. Here are some titles to consider:

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/stress-buster-5-books-to-read-at-work/

Life at Your Own Pace: Success & The 40 Phenomenon

It’s never too late to start something new. Often the rise and growth of a business is attributed to how much of their life someone has dedicated to it. There are many men and women who have been with their business since they were children, family businesses often seeing a steady profit thanks to an equally steady changing of the guard. However, there is no cookie-cutter mould for how a business should look and the secrets to its success.

In order to stymie unemployment, we want to motivate people to realise that there is no route to success that everyone must take. Moving at one’s own pace is important not just for personal growth and the conservation of a good mental state of wellbeing but also for the growth of business acumen.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/life-at-your-own-pace-the-40-phenomenon/

Stress Buster: Stress Reducing Foods, (Chocolate) & What To Eat at Your Desk

Food, glorious food! The cause of, and solution to a great deal of the stress you feel every day. Eating can be comforting, exhilarating or tiresome. What we choose to eat and when, can affect our mood enormously. If you want that food stash with you, pack it up and be ready to: lunch-on-the-go.

Recently, a renowned food author revealed no less than 17 food items that she would choose to eat at the desk and would recommend giving each of them a try if you find yourself a tightly wound globule of stress in the shape of a human being. Here are some of the chosen ones.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/stress-buster-what-to-eat-at-the-desk/

Everyday Tips for the Unemployed

Living without a job can feel like you have lost your North Star. You’re a human being with untapped potential. While we’re sure you’re scouring The Job Auction and following our #BoycottUnemployment posts on the blog, there’s more you can do to feel good about yourself.

It’s tough not having a direct revenue stream and even tougher trying to find one. We know. However, with time on your hands, you may find yourself idle, with nothing but you rattling around an empty house. There are things you can do to stay busy, keep your mind sharp and focused on the hunt. Here are some of them…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/everyday-tips-for-the-unemployed/

Internal Causes of Unemployment: Rigidity

As part of #BoyottUnemployment season, The Job Auction is taking a look at the personal issues surrounding the unfortunate predicament of unemployment. By scrutinising these issues we hope to contribute to the amelioration of unemployment altogether. This week we will be looking at rigidity and how the inverse of that: flexibility is the solution to many people’s employment woes.

The truth is that everyone has an idea of themselves in their head. From birth, they have built up their likes and dislikes and as well the things they do well and conversely they things they don’t do as well at. The more and more ideas we think into existence about ourselves the more we limit the scope of what we can do not only professionally but overall in all aspects of our life as well.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/internal-causes-of-unemployment-rigidity/

How to Combat Unemployment Trick 1: Applying For Jobs in Different Sectors

As habits go, it’s often hard to ascertain which of them are helpful and which are not, such is the nature of a habit; you go into autopilot when you do them. When unemployed there is a tendency to apply for jobs you know and jobs you think you could do. The depressing nature of unemployment does tend to cloud our judgement, it makes us question our abilities and view our skill sets in a way that limits our horizons.

A simple way to combat this is by identifying the sector you apply for jobs in. If you have worked in any industry and are struggling for work then do not be afraid to apply the transferable skills you have applied like timekeeping, innovative problem solving and a sense of vision to other sectors.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-combat-unemployment-trick-1-applying-for-jobs-in-different-sectors/

Are Millennials Really Job Hopping?

It’s a narrative we’ve seen mostly everywhere about millennials, that they are flippant in their professional ambitions and perhaps can only be relied upon to be unreliable. It’s true to an extent and yet also is it so different from previous generations.

Millennials are, at their most basic and fundamental, young people. They are young and therefore are simply not likely to be as settled as those people with children and marriages. It is no secret that the average age of marriage is going up and even by their 30s around half of people are unlikely to be married, however, the nuclear family is no longer the ideal, as it was say a couple of decades ago.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/are-millennials-really-job-hopping/

AI Arrives on The Job Auction > The Lowdown

The future is now. Artificial intelligence has officially arrived on The Job Auction and in doing so we were having a think about it and thought that laying down the bare bones of this breathtakingly innovative piece of tech was worth doing. Here is a quick guide for those who don’t quite know their way around yet. Once you’re done why not check out our piece on AI and family?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/ai-the-lowdown/

Fake Fitness News: Be Mindful

In our everlasting quest for personal perfection, we often end up clinging on to notions of success that are attainable yet surprisingly easy. As a rule of thumb before even reading the rest of this piece, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Fitness gurus have a myriad of routines, workouts, warm-ups and cheats to get you the body you want. Think of this as a spotter’s guide when it comes to not getting caught out.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/fake-fitness-news-be-mindful/

The Pros and Cons of Online Retail

When deciding how to start a business, the modern day entrepreneur requires information to shrewdly assess whether or not the product they intend to market would require a physical location or whether the internet is the only tool they need. In the age of Depop, Etsy and Ebay it’s hard not to see the bricks –and-mortar style shops rapidly becoming a thing of the past. However here is a balanced argument for both.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-online-retail/

Stress Buster: How to Handle a Panic Attack at Work

This week in our series on how to ameliorate stressful situations we turn our focus to the more extreme subject matter of panic attacks. Panic attacks can have devastating short and long-term effects and knowing the correct way to combat them can also be the way of preventing them in the future.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/stress-buster-how-to-handle-a-panic-attack-at-work/

5 Senses to Boost Productivity: Sight

Seeing is believing, as they say. With the correct visual stimulation, you can achieve great things in the workplace. And with that, we approach another of the five senses and the one most of would say we use the most: sight. Here are some things that are easy on the eye and should help you optimise your productivity levels.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/5-senses-to-boost-productivity-sight/

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: The Top 5 Cities in the UK

Being London-Centric is a hot criticism these days and so if we look further afield we may find something to like about the rest of the country. One of those things is job opportunities. So here are five of the UK’s cities whose job markets have grown exponentially in the last year.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/jobs-jobs-jobs-the-top-5-cities-in-the-uk/

The Pros and Cons of Online Retail

When deciding how to start a business, the modern day entrepreneur requires information to shrewdly assess whether or not the product they intend to market would require a physical location or whether the internet is the only tool they need. In the age of Depop, Etsy and Ebay it’s hard not to see the bricks –and-mortar style shops rapidly becoming a thing of the past. However here is a balanced argument for both.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-online-retail/

Working Parent Meal Tips

Being a parent is a full-time job and the small print on the contract often includes a clause about cooking. No one is expecting a Michelin star chef who has just worked nine-to-five to swan in through the door but the truth is the kids are hungry and we all gotta eat so expect to be shown no sympathy. Here are some handy hints to help you through.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/working-parent-meal-tips/

Lifestyle Business: Insult or Insight?

A controversial topic but hey, not one we’re going to shy away from. In short, a lifestyle business is a business that openly intends to sustain a certain lifestyle for its owner. The business isn’t really involved with anyone else as paying people a salary would be detrimental to the business and the person (who are essentially one and the same).

Tom Ferris popularised the term with his book The 4 Hour Week. He seemed to consider being a lifestyle businessman the same as being an entrepreneur. A lot of the examples mentioned within the book focus on sales. Sales of e-commerce, fitness advice, club membership are good examples of how these people make money for themselves.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/whats-a-lifestyle-business-and-is-it-an-insult/

5 Ways to Spend your Lunch Break

Fitting in exercise wherever you can is the best way to keep healthy. There are plenty of exercises you can do to keep in shape such as crunches, press-ups, sit-ups and planks that don’t require any equipment and can be done using whatever space you find around you. A lunch hour is your perfect time to spend exercising, especially if you don’t want to lug yourself all the way to the gym after work. Exercise is also proven to release endorphins and so when you exercise you feel good and remain productive in the afternoon, keeping your body and your boss very happy.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/5-ways-to-spend-your-lunch-break/

Exercises to do at the Desk

Fitting exercise in wherever you can is the best way to keep fit. The working day often sees us confined to small spaces that inhibit our movement and while our fingers might be feeling the burn as we type or maybe we strain ourselves over-zealously illustrating a graph in a PowerPoint presentation, the rest of our body can go underappreciated.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/exercises-to-do-at-the-desk/

4 Quick Ways to Boost Office Morale

This is something you need to know whether you’re the captain of the ship or one of its loyal crew, morale can be driving force of unity and inspiration that keeps the working day ticking over efficiently. Offices can often be places where one needs to juggle multiple egos and negotiate varying levels of emotion and stress so team spirit is what you’ll want to inject to make sure everything stays on a level.
If your office is notably lacking in this area, here are some quick ways you can balance the scales.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/4-quick-ways-to-boost-office-morale/

Weirdest Jobs in the World

It’s sometimes fairly difficult to imagine that someone is paid to do anything other than what we do. Our own routines give us cabin fever and we long to know what’s out there, wistfully imagining the big wide world. Do people get paid to taste pet food? Is that a thing? Yes it is my friend and here are some more to tickle you.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/weirdest-jobs-in-the-world/

Jobs of the Future

The course of human history dictates that we are experts in finding new skills to monetise. By 2100 our descendants will have access to technology and knowledge that we can only try to poorly imitate in our own imaginations. The facilitators and wielders of ingenuity then, these are the focus of this piece. What are the jobs of tomorrow?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/jobs-of-the-future/

The Military Method: Sleep Like a Baby

The busy mind is a curse that seems to haunt a great number of people. Science says you need at least 6-8 hours’ sleep to be firing on all cylinders the next morning and yet so many of don’t achieve it. It’s one of those things where the more you think about it, the more difficult it seems to be to achieve. A military grade method hit the internet recently and has a 96% success rate after six weeks, so why not give it a go.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-military-method-sleep-like-a-baby/

Traits a CEO Should Posses

Being at the top means making the decisions and some of those need to be calculated risks. Admirable as it may be to maintain a business and keep it steady on an ever-similar plateau of profit the CEOs who are most successful are those who know how to grow their business. You don’t want to be a safe pair of hands steadying the ship the whole time, there has to be some dynamism to the company’s system. Direction is your department and so taking a few risks can throw up the possibility of proper profits.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/traits-a-ceo-should-posses/

How to Prioritise your Goals in Life

In your life, you are likely going to aspire to achieve numerous things. While there is no reason you cannot achieve everything you ever dreamed of with the correct work ethic, there obviously does need to be a plan in place. The difference between wanting and achieving is often these planning stages. While one size definitely does not fit all, there are some tips out there everyone can use when juggling those lofty ambitions.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-prioritise-your-goals-in-life/

The Swing of Things: How to Settle Back in After a Summer Holiday

Summer’s final embers are still there if you squint. This is what you tell yourself. We’re now in the stage (in London anyway) of: wear a coat, take coat off, put coat back on… You go out with your sunglasses on in the overcast grey, goosebumps pop up like a plague over your knobbly knuckles and knees, shivering under an anguished September sky.

It’s done. Summer is done. The first step on the road to recovery is acceptance. And this is you, reading this, accepting it.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-swing-of-things-how-to-settle-back-in-after-a-summer-holiday/

Keeping it in the Family: What makes Family Businesses Successful?

Welcome to The Job Auction family… oh you didn’t know we were a family? -We are. Family then; you don’t pick your family, do you? A set of people you are bonded to by blood, law or commitment and these are the people, out of everyone you could have picked, that you want to start a business with? A scary prospect for some but for others, it’s a business model that will spell success every time.

The separation of the personal and the professional is championed by a lot of successful business owners and yet with the right rules, that mix-up can be just the ticket.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/keeping-it-in-the-family-what-makes-family-businesses-successful/

Amazon: A Winning Formula

Back in 1994 a small start-up began selling books over the internet from their base in Seattle. Within a month they were already shipping to 40 different countries and it was clear they were going to be big. In the end, they didn’t get big, they got colossal, a behemoth of conglomerate with the richest man that has ever lived at the helm. These are some of the things that made and are still making Amazon one of the most successful companies in history...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/amazon-a-winning-formula/

Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

What constitutes a dead-end job? Well, the truth is that you have to decide and you can see your job any way you like. No doubt there are opportunities everywhere but these are some examples of some red flags that you may be in one of those dreaded dead-end jobs.

If you feel you’re in one and want to get yourself out there and get noticed. Why not create a public profile on The Job Auction as yourself and list your skills. You don’t have to list an auction but be ‘out there’ (proactive) for others to find you.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/signs-youre-in-a-dead-end-job/

Can Ambitious People Ever Truly Retire?

Firstly, what is retirement? The withdrawal from one’s professional occupation or from their active working life, as it is categorised by the Oxford English Dictionary. It can come at any stage but is usually associated with old age, you know the score: School-Uni-Work-Retirement, a trajectory so ingrained in us that if we do not conform we find ourselves questioning why.

Retirement should stem from a level of financial stability coupled with a strong desire to enjoy one’s leisure time. It’s often presented as some kind of reward for all hard work achieved over a lifetime, a free pass to put your feet up. I’m sure many of us see work as work but a sense of purpose is required for human beings to live and whilst it is hard the satisfaction of tasks completed and obstacles overcome is what fans the flames of purpose and keeps the mind focused and strong.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/can-ambitious-people-ever-truly-retire/

How to do ‘Back To School’ on a Budget

According to an article published by heart, the average parent will spend approximately £190 sending their child back to school. This cost is mostly comprised of school uniform and stationary expenses but the truth is, out loud, one hundred and ninety pounds is a shocking figure isn’t it. It doesn’t have to be, though. Here are some pearls of wisdom.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/different-types-of-marketing-strategy/

Different Types of Marketing Strategy

Community Marketing

No man is an island and any marketer knows this. However, instead of blanket marketing strategies that are meant to target people all over the socio-economic spectrum, these are more specifically designed to operate within certain groups that are defined very clearly, specifically those who advertisers already trust to be on board with their brand. This means they target existing customers and make sure that they don’t leave by reminding them they remember who they are. Rewards for company loyalty are good examples of this type of marketing strategy...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-do-back-to-school-on-a-budget/