Graduate Careers Advice
Graduates – Have you thought of becoming an Agency Worker ?
New graduates often find that they are disadvantaged by having no work experience and one way of getting such experience is to become an agency worker. There are large numbers of Temporary Work Agencies (TWAs) around often specialising in recruitment for different sectors, and it is possible to register with several, If you are computer literate and numerate, it should be possible to pick up skilled temporary office work or similar. New workers regulation has just come into force which give agency workers the same basic employment and working conditions as other direct employees of a particular company, though they don’t confer employee status on agency workers. However, the changes are positive and can benefit those needing to get a toe into work.
Other graduates can get into the job market by freelancing – taking on short contracts to do work or one particular job. Some employers may be willing to offer short task-based contracts if their existing staff are stretched but don’t want to employ someone permanently. IT people traditionally have been able to set up as contractors offering short-term work as developers or hardware or software support. Ideally individuals looking to freelance will need to develop a range of skills, services and “products” to offer to companies in their chosen field.
Freelancing Advice
Other Freelance Ideas
As long as someone has a skill or area of expertise that someone else will pay to have or use, then there is an area where a freelancer can operate. Any area where someone employs people to do the work can be also done by a freelancer. There are also many areas of work that don’t require any high level of skill but just to be able to reach the people who need the service.
Some other freelance ideas are:
Dog carer, Dog walker or pet sitter – a number of people who work have animals and several would pay to have their animal looked after during the day id they knew such a service was available – also dog walkers are quite popular for those with limited mobility and pet sitting is also popular for animals who need company and feeding whilst their owners are away. [Read More...]
Freelancing craftworker
More and more people are interested in working as freelances and particularly those that need to be flexible to fit in with other commitments such as childcare. People who are skilled in sewing and needlework have a lot of skills to be able to start up their own business as a freelance worker. They may already make things for friends and family and have done a number of projects for friends, and may well be in a good position to start making things for sale generally. There are some general pointers to start with – such as focus on one or two products to stat with – this will allow you to speed up the manufacturing process. For example, if you cut out 20 items, then sew 20 items and then decorate 20 items, the process will be much quicker than cutting one, sewing one, decorating one etc. Use the economies of scale to reduce the time it takes you otherwise your prices may be too high for your customers – or you may end up paying yourself peanuts. [Read More...]
Freelance Trainer
People who have had considerable experience at a particular skill will be in a position to act as a trainer for others, and this is an area particularly suited to freelancing as it allows flexible working. Ideally the person to be set up as a trainer will have not only experience but qualifications in an area appropriate to the area to offer training, and in some cases this will be a legal requirement. Those whose temperament means that they are challenged by and enjoy helping others may well need to look ahead and make sure that their own education makes them qualified for a future training role. [Read More...]