New Year - Hope and Renewal

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Piers Morgan: Successful year - but only for some





Interesting thing New Year! I think it would be hard to find one person who does not see the New Year as a time of hope and renewal. From the most successful (Piers Morgan has a had a pretty good year), to those struggling with debt and job loss (as so many have in the past year), the 1st of January is a time to reinvigorate and look to the future.

As a human race, I think this is vital. A fixed time of year where we are pushed to look at ourselves, our struggles and have a new determination thrust upon us as a new start beckons us, is of the utmost importance.

For most of us, the past year (or two) has been incredibly difficult. Budding businesses have been stopped (and often gone bankrupt) in their tracks. (Very interesting and inspiring article by Lord Sugar for small businesses http://on.fb.me/fyfNDz). Employees in good, long term jobs have been made redundant through no fault of their own, often just a few years off their retirement. Graduates who have done as they are told and gone and gotten their degrees are not even getting interviews for jobs.

And so we all need to now use a little imagination. The world is a very different place to just three years ago. We have to think out of the box when it comes to how we make a living. Be a little more adventurous. Perhaps the dream of owning our own business is no longer a dream but something we really should make a reality. What have we got to lose? Are we to sit just waiting for that one elusive job? Perhaps getting together with friends who are also unemployed with good skills and knowledge and putting together a business plan is the way forward?

Perhaps, out of all this struggle and debt, we will emerge happier and excited about our futures by using our own potential and initiative. Perhaps this year will be the year when we achieve our dreams.

Forget Girl Power - its Older Woman Power by Andrea Silverman

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50 is the new 40, or so they say (probably the ‘they’ are under 40 themselves, so both seem a long way off!).  Is this true or another salve to the more ‘mature’ woman’s self-esteem?  Well, it seems that it is ….

Older Woman Power

I have just been reading an intriguing article in the Sunday Times Style mag www.thesundaytimes.co.uk that clearly implies if you’re not yet 50, you’re not yet ready for the big time.  Well actually it says that the ‘empty nest powerhouses’ (new name for over 50s business women) are the really influential people and are soaring ahead in the ‘making it’ stakes, citing that one Carol Bartz, 62 (who would have thought that 62 could ever be seen as a ‘must have’) was appointed president and CEO of Yahoo!

If you thought over 50 meant dowdy, down and dour, think again.  According to latest stats, women over 50 were the only group in the UK to show a rise in employment compared with a year earlier.  And if that doesn’t impress you, look at it this way – 28.000 more women aged 50-59 were in work in April to July 2009 than in 2008.

Interestingly at New Leaf – where we keep our noses to the ground and our eyes to the grass roots and other such puns on our name! – we see numerous women in their 50s who are dynamic, proactive, energetic and innovative – living testimony to this fact that empty nests do not mean empty heads (or purses actually) as there is money to be made out there.

Being sans kiddies allows the ‘older’ (really wish I could do away with these quotes) woman to focus in a way she never could have and maturity has brought with it confidence and the opportunity to forge ahed and succeed… do you think grey could really become the new black!

Christmas Party Consequences

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Office Christmas Party

   

I had a very brief conversation through the car windows (open I hasten to add, otherwise conversation could prove a little tricky) when stuck at traffic lights yesterday (it passes the time) with an old friend. We asked each other how business was (I have very polite friends) and he mentioned that he imagined the recruitment industry gets busy in the new year as a consequence of office Christmas parties. As I drove on (after the lights had turned green but of course)I wondered what an interesting thought that was. Was this often the case? I imagine it is on occasion but how much of an occurence was this?

Do you know anyone who got a bit carried away at the Christmas party and was summarily sacked by 2nd January due to his behaviour? Has this happened to you? As an employer, would you overlook Christmas party behaviour as a one-off - or not?

New Leaf experts in Jewish News!

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New Leaf Recruitment LLP has just joined the Ask Our Experts in the Jewish News.

Its a great double spread with pertinent questions from the public posed to two experts from different fields each week. Great to be a part of it - plus already had a great response!

New Leaf broadcast on JNet Radio

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This Sunday 5th December, New Leaf's Directors, Andrea Silverman and Ruth Wagner, will be talking about recruitment, starting a business and the life and times of being a working mother on JNet Radio between 1pm-2pm with Mike Segall on his programme Talking Matters. Tune in!

Great link for novice tweeters

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Just saw below link - helpful for all those just beginning to catch up with the social media boom!

Shelley Fishel

Are you Twitteractive? - #ecademy @MediaCoach http://bit.ly/a9kIGV

The Breastfeeding Saga Continues!

We all know - as has been quoted time and time again - breast is best! But why does this suddenly mean the baby has to be with the mother in order to take the breast milk. Has everyone forgotten about expressing! I know that this can be uncomfortable and difficult, however it seems to many mothers that investing in the newer breast pumps and time taken to express would be highly preferable to having to schlep a small baby into work - perhaps on the underground (buggy nightmare), on the bus (another buggy nightmare), in the cold (and snow), in the heat (on the underground, smelly armpits and all), etc.

Do you want your baby to come to work with you?

Amongst the weather news and student protests, proposed legislation in regards to breastfeeding seems to keep popping up. First was the bill to make breastfeeding in public a legal right and then a proposed bill emerged to urge employers to make areas available to working mother's who want to breastfeed. In one way or another, supporters of breastfeeding are pushing their opinion to the forefront.

Plus, the experts tell us that breastfeeding should be a calm and serene time, a time to bond with baby. Many women would argue this would certainly not be the case what with the boss breathing down your neck because it's almost deadline time, you can hear your phone ringing and your biggest client is waiting for that all important email!

In other words, nice idea and all that, but in reality - in the real, working world where women already have to prove so much to their employers and colleagues - do we think this arrangement is a) going to work in the practical sense, b) make working mothers lives easier or more stressful than they already are?

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