In April 2014 the tax allowance for an individual when up to £10,000 per year. This means that you can earn up to that amount every year without having to pay any tax. Anything you earn over the £10k you will be taxed a percentage of. If you are unsure as to whether your tax is correct there are a few simply checks you can make. Check the tax code on your wage slip, for the majority of this it is 100L unless you are receiving benefits in kind. There are also many free salary calculators out there that will work out your Tax and NI off your salary.

When it comes to self employed, the tax allowance for an individual is the same amount, ten thousand pounds per annum. This figure is based on the profit you make in the year, not the turnover. Many self employed people do not pay tax in the first year as this is when they are building up the business. With self employment you are also allowed to deduct any business expenses from your turnover thus reducing the profit you are making.

There are of course the obvious benefits to being employed as to not working, but what about compared to being self employed? When you are self employed you often do not have regular work guaranteed each month and if you do often it is not agreed under a contract, as if your were employed by the company. The benefits of being an employee can make many people oft to not venture in to becoming their own boss.

A guaranteed income is y far the biggest reason people chose employed jobs, knowing what money they have coming in every month is a must for many family and individuals. There are also other benefits such as sick pay, holiday pay and the chance to progress in your career without having to take unpaid time off work to do so. Many employers will send their staff on training courses or even put them through a degree, which if you had to do on your own would be very costly.

Recent surveys show that less than half of us are satisfied in our job. This is a sad statistic but with the lack of jobs being an issue of the last few years, some people are scared to jump ship fearing they will end up jobless. There are two types of job satisfaction which are;

Intrinsic job satisfaction – when the employee considers only the kind of work they do, the tasks that make up the job.

Extrinsic job satisfaction – when the employee considers the conditions of work, such as their pay, co-workers, and supervisor/ management.

It may be that you are only dissatisfied with one of the above, in which case you may find that changes can be made to turn that around. The main thing to do if you really lack job satisfaction is talk to your manager. Before you do make a list of items you want to discuss and preferable outcomes for each.

Asking for an increase in your wage can be very intimidating for some people, the truth is if you deserve one then why should you be worried about asking.

There are some questions that you should consider when asking for a pay rise. You need to establish how you can justify that you deserve it. Have you recently won the company more work or do you generally excel with your customer service and people have commented on the way you handle issues well? Have you been with the company a while and feel that you are a valued reliable member of the team and wish to have a rise to commend you on that or maybe you were on a probationary period and have now been offered a permanent position? If you answer yes to these types of questions then it may be that your employer would agree.

Can you ever register with too many recruitment agencies when looking for a job? Really the more you register with the higher your chance of finding a job but be aware that most are highly proactive and you may find that you are bombarded with calls and emails regarding posts that they believe you may be interested in.

Be aware that some agencies also contact you regarding a position that is not actually being advertised through them and many employers will only advertise their jobs direct as to avoid big recruitment fees that some agencies charge. Register with a few to start with and see how it goes, if you are not happy with the results you are getting register with a few more at a time. Do not just sit back though and expect a job to land in your lap, you should also be looking on local jobs boards and newspapers for the job you wish to apply for.

It now appears that the United Kingdom is moving into a more favourable economic climate for employment. The British Chambers of Commerce suggest that the UK’s gross domestic product will hit levels not charted since we hit recessions in 2008.

We are currently at 2.7% which is more 0.5% more than was originally projected so this can be good for the talent pool and businesses all over the UK.

With the hiring process happening a lot more because of this there will be more competition for the best talent possible both in online and offline formats. The amount of vacancies will increase and the workforce in specific fields will decrease so you have to be more assertive when offering your recruiting services.

As there market improves there is a chance that people in stable jobs will start to look for more gainful employment, so there is a possibility there will be a high rate of staff turnover.