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As the Olympic torch is handed on from this year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver to London, the Playfair 2012 coalition is today (Saturday) launching a campaign for an ethical London Games.

Playfair 2012 is co-ordinated by the TUC and Labour Behind the Label (LBL) and involves unions and various campaigning organisations. The coalition wants the organisers of the London Olympics to ensure that workers making sportswear for the 2012 Games won’t be working in appalling and degrading conditions, and that all Olympic-branded goods will be ethically produced.

The campaign website - www.playfair2012.org.uk - sets out the standards the coalition expects from the London 2012 Games organisers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sportswear brands, and explains how individuals can get involved in the campaign. There is also a resources section with reports and video clips.

Millions of people are employed in the global supply chains that produce kits for Olympic teams, and the sportswear and souvenirs available on our high streets. Evidence shows that the sportswear industry and Olympic movement have a poor track record on workers’ rights, says the campaign.

Playfair 2008 research published before the Beijing Games found workers employed by Adidas suppliers in China were making sports shoes that retail for upwards of £50 a pair for just £20 per month, and others working 80 hours a week stitching footballs. In another factory producing stationery, children as young as 12 years old were being forced to work 15 hours a day.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘Delivering a legacy for London was at the heart of the Government’s successful Olympic bid. And what better legacy than a commitment to end the exploitation and abuse involved in the sportswear and athletic footwear industries?

‘We want London 2012 to raise the bar on worker’s rights throughout Olympic supply chains.’

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This lunchtime The Bank of England once again held the base rate at 0.50%. This was widely expected by analysts as the Bank, The Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) try to speed up the economic recovery.

Back in October last year the FSA announced plans to ban self-certification mortgages in an attempt to ensure that all borrowers prove their ability to repay in advance.

This week, industry trade body The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) spoke out on behalf of lenders claiming that a ban on so-called “liar loans” and other controversial mortgage lending practices would backfire and have harmful long-term consequences.

The CML is asking the FSA to hold fire on plans to clamp down, arguing that the home loans market had “corrected itself” and there would be no return to the excesses of the past.
Self-certification mortgages were originally aimed at the self-employed and freelance/contract workers who had trouble proving their income.

In its response to the FSA, the CML said many of the problems of the past had been corrected by mortgage firms anyway following a rise in losses and fraud, while self-cert deals had disappeared in response to public criticism. Borrowers, too, were taking a more responsible approach.

The CML have admitted that the case for self-cert mortgages is weak, given the higher level of arrears associated with them and the scale of past abuses.

CML argue that borrowers who might be perfectly capable of running a mortgage but may find it difficult to prove their income could include self-employed people who had recently launched a business but had yet to submit formal accounts; sole traders, contractors, and freelance workers.

Taj Kang, Associate Director at Contractor Mortgages Made Easy (CMME) commented “The fact that so many self-cert mortgages were granted to employed workers who could prove their income, and the high level of arrears associated with these types of loans shows that self-certification mortgages were being abused by both individuals and brokers. At CMME, we wouldn’t advise a professional Contractor or Freelancer to go down the self-certification route; if you approach a specialist contractor mortgage broker then they should be able to secure you a competitive mortgage that is based upon appropriate evidence of income”
“It is the opinion of CMME that the FSA should stand by their proposals to tighten up the lending criteria, as any contractor or freelancer that can adequately afford a mortgage should have no need to go down the more expensive self-cert route to secure borrowing”

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Anxiety about an interview often is a result of not knowing what lies ahead. How will the interviewer behave? What will the structure be? How will they be assessing me? Take confidence in the knowledge 90% of interviewers will use variations of the same techniques.
Many interviewers are thrown in without training, told to learn on the job. Even so, through experience they learn the same taught approach employers and consultants have been preaching to their front-line hiring managers for eons.

More likely than not, your future interviewer will adhere to the following 10 step guide:

1. Make the interviewee feel at ease on entering the room. Give a firm, warm handshake and a friendly smile. A relaxed candidate is essential if you are to get the best out of them.

2. Take notice of the body language. Does the applicant sit with crossed legs or arms, fidget or have poor eye contact? If so they may not be good for a customer facing job.

3. Is the interviewee enthusiastic? When all attributes are equal, the candidate demonstrating the most desire is the best hire.

4. When questioning the candidate, use open questions such as ‘What attributes do you think you could bring to the job’. Using closed questions with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers will teach you little.

5. Pick a general opener – very often “tell me a little about yourself” or “walk me through your CV”. This allows you to assess a range of communications skills, ability to follow instructions and the opportunity to learn about their background.

6. Identify accomplishments – find out where the candidate over-achieved or contributed something valuable to their previous employer. Keep asking until you are satisfied you have a fair reflection of their previous successes.

7. Self appraisal – ask candidates to evaluate their performance in a previous role. Learn about their ability to self-analyse, do they know their strengths and weaknesses?

8. Situational question – find out how they deal with typical situations to understand their core skills, for example ‘What would you do if the work of a colleague was not up to standard?’

9. Direct probe – assess the skills needed for the job with direct questions asking for evidence of each skill.

10. Their questions – the questions a candidate asks reveals insight to their values, goals, analytical ability and business knowledge. Watch out for those with no or weak questions (about salary, benefits, number of employees, year founded).

The good news for us is most interviewers are average. Knowing the 10 step interviewer training plan gives you a clear idea of what’s to come.

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250 jobs are to be created in North Wales. The temporary jobs are created as part of the Future Jobs Fund. The fund has already supported 9,000 new six month contract jobs.

The Future Jobs Fund aims to create jobs for the long term unemployed and brings really positive news to north wales which has been hit hard recently by numerous job losses.

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- New Research Reveals Graduates are Adapting Their Approach to Job Hunting as Competition for Places Gets Tougher Than Ever

Research released today by Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS), the provider of world-class talent and resourcing functions and global leader in RPO, reveals that competition for graduate roles is set to be tougher than ever in 2010 as more than half of graduates from 2009 join the hunt for jobs alongside the class of 2010. This increased competition seems to have hit 2009 and 2010 graduates’ confidence, leading to less targeted applications and a willingness to apply for positions outside of their preferred field.

The study, entitled The Emerging Talent Index, found that of the students that graduated from university in 2009, just 24 percent have been working in a role that requires a degree since leaving university. More than half (53 percent) of the 2009 graduates surveyed are planning on applying for graduate positions this year. 63 percent of those set to graduate in 2010 are also applying for graduate roles (compared to 50% of recent graduates in 2009), leading to far greater competition for positions than in previous years.

This increase in applicants seems to have dented graduate job hunters’ confidence with only 26% of those surveyed confident of finding a graduate position this year. Perhaps because of their experiences last year, 2009’s graduates are the least confident; just 22% are confident of finding a position this year. These low confidence levels appear to be reflected in graduates’ approach to job hunting with one in five (18 percent) of 2009 graduates applying ‘for any job’. In fact, the majority of graduates were found to be broadening their approach: 59 percent of 2009 graduates are applying for roles across a number of sectors and just 37 percent of all respondents are limiting their applications to positions which tie-in with their long-term career goals.

The trend is not limited to the applications stage of the process with two thirds (64 percent) of graduates admitting that they would hedge their bets by accepting more than one job offer: either by picking their preferred option nearer the time or accepting an offer and continuing to look for an alternative. This could cause significant problems for graduate recruiters.

Clodagh Bannigan, Head of Client Services at Alexander Mann Solutions, explains: “The lack of confidence in today’s graduate marketplace means that jobseekers are increasingly likely to formally accept multiple offers and then make their final decision just before their joining date. This is, perhaps, understandable in the economic climate but it represents a real challenge to employers. Organisations must factor in this kind of behaviour and ensure their strategy will not be adversely affected by applicants dropping out late in the day.”

“It is certainly the case that competition in the graduate jobs market is tougher than ever this year,” commented Clodagh Bannigan. “However, this rise in the quantity of applications has not brought a rise in quality. University leavers are adopting a ‘hit and hope’ approach: applying for as many positions as possible rather than carefully targeting the roles that are right for them. This type of approach can cause problems for employers. Businesses looking to hire graduates need to ensure that they have the processes and scalability in place to deal with the high volume of applications, without compromising on the human touch that is essential when looking to attract the best young talent. This is by no means an easy feat.”

The research also asked graduates which sectors they perceive as offering the best opportunities to university leavers. The public sector was identified as the area that offers the best opportunities, with nearly a third (30 percent) ranking it as the top sector. Financial services and banking fared much worse, being ranked lowest by 28 percent of respondents.

Clodagh Bannigan continues: “The fact that graduates still consider the public sector to be an attractive destination for university leavers, despite the current economic and political uncertainty, is certainly encouraging. The ability to attract the best graduates is a crucial advantage for any organisation and something that public sector bodies need to prioritise if they are to successfully manage the changes they will be facing over the next few years.”

“More worrying is the damage that the recent economic crisis has had on employer brands in the banking and financial sector. Employers in this industry have been scrutinised heavily in the last 18 months and this has understandably impacted on their reputations amongst graduates. Businesses in this sector will be able to repair their brands over time, but should be a great concern to organisations that have traditionally been very attractive to university leavers and steps should be taken immediately to restore their standing.”

For more information, please visit http://www.alexandermannsolutions.com

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