Salary Negotiation Guide

Bicester is a historic civil parish and town within the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire. It continues to be one of the fastest growing towns within Oxfordshire as well as a historic market centre. Bicester is also the home of a duo of secondary schools: The Bicester Community College and the Cooper School. Additionally, the town plays hosts to a number of primary schools that include the following:

• Bure Park Primary
• Kings Meadow
• St. Mary’s Primary
• Longfields
• Five Acres
• St. Edburg’s
• Brookside Primary School
• Southwold
• Glory Farm Primary
• Langford Village Primary

Continue reading “The options when looking for teaching jobs in Bicester”

Returning to work after your maternity leave can be quite a daunting process, particularly if you had opted to take the full year off. You can easily feel that after being at home with a baby for a year that your world is so different now it will be impossible to blend back in to the working environment and juggle your work life balance again.

My advice would be to ensure that you try to visit your office whilst on maternity leave and make the effort to keep in touch with work colleagues through social media whilst you are away. This means that you won’t feel so out of the loop when you return to work.

On your first day back at work you may feel like the new girl again and things may feel a little odd but just be patient as you’re bound to feel emotional about leaving your child to return to work and there has probably been changes made in your office that seem unfamiliar to you.

Make an effort to talk to people and ask them about what’s new with them, arrange a get together one of the evenings after work so that you can reconnect with your colleagues on a social level too.

When looking for a job most people focus on what the salary is plus any rates of commission if applicable however they can easily overlook the employee benefits.

These are pretty important as good employee benefits can actually save you money and can make your working life easier and more enjoyable.

Some typical employee benefits that your company may offer are things such as a basic level of health insurance. This can be great as it often gives you discounts on dental care, optical appointments and access to private health care. This benefit is particularly useful if you have young children because as your dependants they are usually entitled to the benefits of the scheme free of charge.

Another employee benefit that can be offered is a reduced rate gym membership, companies offer this as healthier members of staff are less likely to have time off sick and are usually more driven and productive.

So it’s always best to check out what employee benefits a company offers alongside your salary before making a decision on accepting a job.

Many job roles now have a very basic low level income that is guaranteed each month with the option of commission payments for the sale of goods or services as an added on supplement. Jobs that work on a commission basis can be real high earners if you are good at sales and have the ‘get up and go’ attitude that it takes to sell.
Most successful sales people will tell you that it’s all about targets, either set by your employer or yourself, that keep you driven to push sales and get in as much commission as possible.
A great sales tip that can be applied to industries such as cosmetics or sales of shop goods is known as the rule of three. This is where you try to sell the customer three items, explaining why each is important and the benefits that the customer could gain from having them. The basic psychology is that in that scenario the customer will often buy one item.
Extra training will also help with product knowledge and therefore boost sales so ensure that your company keep your training up to date.

Below are my top 3 interview tips that will help you through that all important job interview:

1. Do your research – You should try and find out as much as you can about the job role and also the company that you wish to work for. Employers like to feel that their staff take an interest in the business and if you can study their website / social media sites or other literature they have available, this will give you a great head start. You will most likely be asked some questions to test your knowledge of the company.

2. Prepare your answers to a degree – Obviously you will not know exactly what you will be asked in an interview but often they follow a similar format. There are many examples of questions that you may be asked online, practise your replies to such questions.

3. Know your CV – The employer will have read your CV and they may have questions they wish to ask you based on what information you have given. You may have an employment gap or obtained additional qualifications and they will most likely want to know a little more information.

There are many times when it may be suitable and reasonable to ask for a pay rise at work. This can come about for many reasons such as end of a trial period, increase in work load, additional qualifications gained or simply because you feel you are adding more to the business than you did previously.

Many people get very nervous about asking for an increase in their salary, but the truth is that if you have a valid reason why, you should not be anxious about asking. Unfortunately some employers will not offer you a pay rise and therefore it is up to you to ask. Before you do this you should make a note of what you would like to achieve in terms of salary and / or benefits and reasons why you believe you should be entitled to these. If you can, be specific, give your employer examples of how you have helped the company gain business or gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Where to go for employment rights and advice

There is often a time in your life when an issue may arise at work that does not seem to have been sorted out correctly between you and your employer. It may be that you are at the point of having to take it further or possibly that you are just after a bit of advice and want to find out the law regarding a particular situation.

There are many places that offer free and impartial advice to employers and employee’s. If the matter is regarding tax, maternity or sick pay you may find it best to contact HMRC directly to discuss what should be happening. They may then refer you on to an independent company who will help you through the process of sorting out an employment related dispute. Many websites offer advice on legal issues in employment, but you should always be aware that there are sites that may give false or out of date advice.

One of the hardest decisions a new parent faces is if/when to return to work. This can raise all kinds of feeling of guilt about not being there for your child or guilt that you’re ready for life to return to some form of normality again after maternity leave.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and caught up in the financial implications of a higher income verses less benefit support but many women are choosing to return to work regardless of this to further their career and establish a working routine again after so much time away from the work place. Many women worry that the longer they stay away from work the more they will be penalised when it comes to promotions or pay rises and with one in seven women after maternity leave being made redundant it’s important that you know your maternity employment rights.

So when the time come to make that vital decision it really does pay to do your research so you know exactly what you can expect from your employer to ensure the transition from maternity leave to full or part time employment is as smooth and stress free as possible.