It’s becoming an increasingly common storyline: job candidate loses job opportunity because prospective boss finds unflattering information online.

If you think you might be in the job market any time soon, or ever really, be sure that you think twice before you post anything online.

This applies to photos, comments on blogs, tweets — anything that can be linked back to you. (more…)

A young and talented triathlete – Elliott Cole, approached Jenrick asking for support to help him reach his goal of ultimately representing Great Britain at the Olympics.

Elliott works full time but still maintains an energetic and demanding training schedule to improve his fitness levels, with early morning lake swims, 30 km bike rides, 100 lengths in the pool plus hour long runs . . .and this is just in the week!

Then at weekends, he is either participating in local triathlon events or doing (in his words) ‘long’ swims, bike rides and runs. (more…)

One of the most welcome IR35 victories was announced this week, with Novak Brajkovic being cleared of being an employee. The fascinating area surrounding this case is that Mr Brajkovic would never have been investigated had he not approached the HMRC for help and assistance. (more…)

Alan Brill of Larkstar Data has decided to put a stop to his appeal, as reported by the PCG below.

We regret to report that HMRC will be rubbing their hands together today, as Larkstar’s Alan Brill has decided to call a halt to his appeal.  Although Alan is keen to fight (not least because of the stress he has been subjected to over the past 7 years), with retirement now upon him he does not want to submit his family to further stress. (more…)

Please let me explain to you why I have wanted to SKYDIVE since the age of  16 . . . .

“At the age of 16 I was fortunate and unfortunate; unfortunate in that I broke my neck (C6 vertebrae in two places), but very fortunate in that I suffered no long term damage (i.e. paralyses, speech problems, breathing issues…etc).

The recovery phase for this particular type of incident is estimated at between 20 – 60 weeks, which for a 16 year old lad (who enjoyed the pleasures in life) is particularly disheartening and potentially devastating.

My life, as far as I was concerned was ‘sh*t!’.” (more…)

From One Click magazine:

Have you tried ‘Googling’ yourself lately? Or for that matter the members of your board of directors? Go on, try it, you may find it enlightening, but not necessarily in a good way!

Type your name into Google and see what appears. And once you’ve found yourself, try the image results. It could be right about now that you regret uploading those holiday snaps to Facebook, because that shot of you in your swimwear is potentially the first impression of you that future customers will have. And this can be a real headache for marketing and communications professionals charged with managing the corporate image. (more…)

The leading IT job sites are all reporting a marked increase in the numbers of contract roles being advertised.

One job board has seen a 54% increase in the number of contract roles advertised during the first quarter of 2010, suggesting that we are entering into a full recovery for the contract market. (more…)