Unilever Embracing change - Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

Unilever â€" Embracing change - Viewpoint - careers advice blog The Hays Journal speaks to Doug Baillie, Chief HR Officer of Unilever, about how a career in line management prepared him for the top job in HR. How do you double a business’s turnover without increasing its impact on the environment? More to the point, how do you inspire 170,000 people to produce more, and better, services when the rest of the world thinks your plan is impossible? That’s the challenge facing Doug Baillie, the top HR executive at Unilever, which recently announced its bold new strategy. Getting the global giant’s staff on board with such a massive aim requires the very best business brain, combined with a deep understanding of HR issues. So it may be surprising that Unilever’s most senior HR representative has only two years’ experience in the function. Of course, Baillie is a very experienced businessman. In a career spanning 36 years, he has managed Unilever’s entire South African business, India’s Hindustan Unilever, and all of Unilever Western Europe. As a result, few individuals have as deep an understanding of Unilever and the global marketplace it exists within. Baillie’s career has included both direct management and consulting or advisory roles, often across borders and internal business units. He says such experiences taught him invaluable leadership skills that have helped him manage a changing business in an increasingly volatile world. Emerging markets are rising, middle classes are growing and the West has only just begun to emerge from a bruising recession. Overshadowing all of these changes are the realities of our unsustainable past. In fuel and other resources, in finance and in waste, recent years have seen the reality of a modern lifestyle take an increasingly heavy toll on the planet. The fact is, says Unilever’s top team, the only way for businesses to survive, let alone thrive, is to change their practices now. For Baillie, that means leading an efficient and lean HR team at the heart of a business with astonishingly ambitious aims. View the full article from issue 6 of our bi-annual publication the Hays Journal, providing global insights into the world of work. You can view the article in the Hays Journal online, via the Hays Journal iPad app or request a printed copy from haysjournal@hays.com //

How to Manage Endometriosis Symptoms so They Dont Take Over Your Life

Step by step instructions to Manage Endometriosis Symptoms so They Don't Take Over Your Life In the United States, over 11% of ladies between the ages of 15 and 44 experience the ill effects of endometriosis, as indicated by the U.S. Branch of Health Human Servicess Office on Womens Health. This normal yet ineffectively comprehended illness doesn't segregate among ethnic and financial foundations, and relying upon the seriousness of womens side effects, it can adversely affect womens lives.Many VIPs, including Lena Dunham, Jillian Michaels, Padma Lakshmi, Whoopi Goldberg and Julianne Hough, have opened up about their battles with endometriosis. In the event that you have or figure you may have the sickness, read on to find out about the manifestations and what you can do to shield them from overwhelming your life.What is endometriosis?Endometriosis happens when endometrial cells, which regularly line the uterus (endometrium), develop outside of the uterus, most usually influencing the ovaries, fallopian cylinders, inside and pelvic tissue lining. Less generally, endometrial tissue can be found on the vagina, cervix, bladder, and significantly more seldom on regions outside of the pelvic region.This tissue carries on as endometrial tissue that is shed from the uterus during feminine cycle ordinarily would, by separating and seeping during menstrual periods. Notwithstanding, this tissue isnt shed from the body and may bother the tissue encompassing the organs influenced, inevitably creating scar tissue and attachments, which can bring about extreme pain.What are the indications of endometriosis?Some ladies experience no side effects of endometriosis, while others experience side effects that extend in seriousness. Some normal side effects include: Chronic pelvic agony Painful periods Excessive seeping during menstrual periods (menorrhagia) Bleeding or spotting between periods (menometrorrhagia) Abdominal torment Painful intercourse Painful solid discharges or pee InfertilityWhat causes endometriosis?The direct reasons for endometriosis stay obscure. Some potential clarifications incorporate retrograde period, in which menstrual blood containing endometrial cells streams back through the fallopian tubes and into the pelvic hole rather than out of the body; the change of peritoneal cells, when hormones or insusceptible components change the cells that line the internal side of the mid-region into endometrial cells; coelomic metaplasia, when the tissues lining pelvic organs contain crude cells that form into different tissues; careful scar implantation, in which endometrial cells join to an entry point after medical procedure; cell transport, shipping endometrial cells through veins to different pieces of the body; or an invulnerable framework disorder.Risk factors include: Never conceiving an offspring or deferring pregnancy Early monthly cycle Later menopause Short menstrual cycles Low weight list (endometriosis is generally normal in tall, dainty ladies) Uterine anomalies Genetics (having a relative with the condition)Though diet m ay play a factor, more exploration is expected to affirm a link.How would endometriosis be able to influence work and different parts of a womans life?Because endometriosis manifestations most by and large happen when a lady is in her 30s and 40s, it can detrimentally affect her working and home life. As per one investigation distributed in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy,women with endometriosis have a lower level of profitability at work, likely because of the seriousness of side effects and pelvic agony or other torment influencing their capacity to perform work capacities. The investigation found that ladies who endure extreme endometriosis indications likewise have a higher pace of non-attendance from work.Complications from endometriosis can be hindering to a womans mental and physical wellbeing. Somewhere in the range of 30 and half of ladies with the condition experience the ill effects of fruitlessness, which may bring about tension, gloom and other inten se subject matters in ladies influenced (the pace of these mental conditions is higher in ladies managing barrenness). It can likewise influence a womans relationship with her partner.Although the hazard is low, ovarian disease happens at a higher rate in ladies with endometriosis than in the individuals who dont have the condition.What would women be able to do about endometriosis?There is no solution for endometriosis, yet a few medicines may offer relief from discomfort and help different indications influencing womens health.Diagnosis.The initial move toward rewarding endometriosis is getting it analyzed. Your OB-GYN will analyze it through a test or arrangement of tests, including a pelvic test, ultrasound or laparoscopy (a surgery that is typically utilized a final hotel for confirmation).Treatment.Depending on the seriousness of your indications, your primary care physician will most likely suggest assuming control over-the-counter torment prescriptions, for example, nonstero idal calming medications, ibuprofen or naproxen, for torment relief.If these torment drugs dont give full help with discomfort, you may attempt different medicines, for example, hormone treatment. This treatment may incorporate oral contraceptives (conception prevention pills) or different medications. Its imperative to take note of that these meds wont fix endometriosis; indications may return after you quit taking them. Likewise, make certain to consider the symptoms and hazard variables of the medicine before taking it.Your specialist may likewise perform preservationist medical procedure, as a rule in the wake of depleting different techniques, to evacuate however much of the endometriosis as could reasonably be expected, while protecting your uterus and ovaries. This strategy may expand your odds of getting pregnant on the off chance that you experience the ill effects of barrenness and can likewise lessen serious pain.As a final retreat, your primary care physician may guidanc e an all out hysterectomy, expelling your uterus and cervix, and ovary expulsion to guarantee that the endometriosis doesn't return. There are many reactions and side effects related with a hysterectomy, including early menopause and expanded cardiovascular disease.What in the event that you cannot get pregnant?If a lady with endometriosis can't get pregnant, there are numerous choices. Beside moderate medical procedure, which can help, ladies may choose an extra or elective treatment, for example, in vitro preparation (IVF).Endometriosis can cause agonizing side effects and other troublesome conditions, however it doesnt need to demolish your life. There are approaches to deal with your torment and resolve different issues relationship with it. Make a point to examine your alternatives with your primary care physician to choose whats best for you.

The Ultimate Guide to Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct

<h1> The Ultimate Guide to Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct </h1> <h2>The War Against Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct </h2> <p>Career Services staff offers homeroom guidance along with many workshops and courses consistently. You have least work understanding, for instance in the event that you have as of late moved on from school. You're requesting work that is unique in relation to your present or latest activity. By underscoring transferable capacities, you will extend your imminent activity commercial center. </p> <h2> The Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct Cover Up</h2> <p>Or straightforwardness, on the off chance that you like to join a business trendy expression to it. How you answer says a decent arrangement what you see as the significant utilization of news coverage. It is crucial to be agreeable and adaptable with the enrollment specialist since there will be various spots which the person in question should consider the customer for. Our organization is making you look goodand we might want to enable you to be as effective as conceivable in building up the best possible set-up of profession the board devices and guarantee reports that is going to help you in going after the best possibility. </p> <h2>The Secret to Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct </h2> <p>New Haven Register memberships aren't promptly accessible for each and every location. In most of zones, new requests start inside a few days following the buy demand is gotten. Additionally endeavor to get familiar with the name and title of the individual who will audit your resume. Just by purchasing a full home delivery membership are you going to be in a situation to get the classifieds areas of the New Haven Register.</p> <h2> Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct Secrets</h2> <p>Clearly convey the kind of occupation that you need and what you're ready to offer to a business. Yo u will never get another chance to establish a first connection. Learn at the beginning to whom you're talking. </p> <h2>Vital Pieces of Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct </h2> <p>What makes a flourishing independent company model is frequently as various as networks are extraordinary. Where To Get Additional Help There are heaps of wellsprings of data about how to form the best resume. Simultaneously, having all the basic data for these experts is consistently an extraordinary beginning. Essentially put in your charge card data on our protected buy structure. </p> <p>Resume Etc isn't the organization!! You've worked for only one boss, however have played out a gigantic assortment of occupations. Key techniques you have profited the business. Just rundown pertinent occupations in the course of the most recent ten years. </p> <p>See our protection explanation for more data about the use of all data which you give. Try not to be decei ved by his noteworthy'' site, everybody can make a site which looks brilliant. You may see the total email on BBB. Be certain that your resume works viably through email and on the web along with on paper and on a cell gadget. </p> <h2> A Startling Fact about Resume Writing Services New Haven Ct Uncovered</h2> <p>You probably won't know whether the organization has an employment opportunity, yet you need them to realize that you're accessible and your experience and abilities might be an advantage for their firm. You have late information inside the field you are scanning for. Finding a first rate official selection representative can be a troublesome assignment too. You're an individual administrations business. </p> <p>You are attempting to switch fields. You'll see that the size and shape of the photographs changes dependent on the site format. Having photographs is a fantastic way to place more data in the underlying hardly any sections of you r posts. So notwithstanding creating photographs well as a rule, you additionally need to consider precisely how they will play on your specific site. </p>

Career Transition Tips for Success - Hallie Crawford

Vocation Transition Tips for Success Disturbed in your present place of employment? Pondering creation a lifelong change? Dynamic ways of life and a dubious economy are only two of numerous motivations to think about another occupation, or even a totally unexpected field in comparison to the one youre in now. Possibly youve seen a few cutbacks at your organization and the dread factor makes them scan for interchange choices and needing more fulfillment out of your work. Maybe you pine for a progressively adaptable work circumstance, one that permits you to adjust home and profession all the more viably. Whatever your condition, one things without a doubt: youre miserable or agitated in your present place of employment and you need to take care of business. At the point when you begin to get the tingle, its opportunity to make an evaluation and start to set early objectives. You may ponder, am I truly prepared for a lifelong progress? How might I best set myself up for a change? Be that as it may, even before you dig into the parts of a fantastic profession, it causes massively to develop a solid and positive mental viewpoint. Individuals who are fruitful at rolling out an improvement are the ones who are eager to defeat their feelings of trepidation, questions and weaknesses so as to get it going. You, as well, can be one of these individuals… Remember these starter tips before continuing onward on your way to an additionally satisfying and compensating vocation! 1. Invest in rolling out an improvement. Something that is inconceivably essential to any change you make in your life is your degree of duty. You must be submitted. How dedicated would you say you are to finding a lifelong that fits, on a scale from 1-10? On the off chance that it's not at a 10, what do you have to do to move it up the scale? An opportunity to ask yourself key inquiries is currently. Do your exploration, so you recognize what inquiries to remember. Investigate profession sites. Take character tests. 2. Figure out how to defeat obstructions. To be effective in changing vocation ways, you have to figure out how to beat obstructions you will experience en route. The snags I see over and over for individuals needing to make a vocation change are: not comprehending what to search for in an occupation (so they take one that is adequate that they don't really appreciate) and negative beliefsnot accepting they can effectively roll out the improvement. 3. Get support. I had the option to effectively make my profession change into instructing in enormous part due to my own mentor. She helped me make my arrangement, stay positive, push ahead, distinguish what I needed to do and figure out how to beat snags. 4. Guarantee your life. My last idea for you is to guarantee your life. There never is an ideal chance to make an uncommon vocation change, and you can generally think of reasons/reasons not to. You do need to take a hazard and maybe step out of your customary range of familiarity. The key is to limit the hazard and be keen about it. Go along with us tomorrow (May nineteenth at 12noon ET) for a FREE teleclass Top 10 Tips to Identify Your Ideal Career where we will talks about the best 10 things you have to consider so as to distinguish your optimal vocation. Register here: www.halliecrawford.com/toptentips.html See you there!Career Coach

Startup QA Damian Kimmelman - CEO, DueDil

Startup QA Damian Kimmelman - CEO, DueDil Startup QA: Damian Kimmelman CEO, DueDil Image Source: Damian KimmelmanIF SUCCESSFUL business  must be built on trust, DueDil, headed by CEO founder Damian  Kimmelman,  aims to be the  cornerstone  for that trust.DueDil is a London-based fintech (financial technology) ‘due diligence’ business that collects private company data and makes it discoverable and searchable online.One of those fiendishly simple “why didn’t  I think of that?” ideas, DueDil was established by US entrepreneur Damian Kimmelman in March 2011, and over the past six years has amassed business, accounting and director information on companies registered in the UK, Ireland and 18 other European States.Both Damian Kimmelman  and DueDil  have received a host of  industry awards, and the company  has been  cited in a report to the UK government’s Cabinet Office Transparency Team as a business that uses  open data to provide innovative services.Writer George Kaye was particularly ‘on the nail’ with his summary of the significance of DueDil to modern business: “[DueDil] are in the business of telling you when a business is safe, and when you better flee. Not sexy? Maybe you’re right. But it’s the difference between make and break.”Damian Kimmelman recently agreed to climb into the AGENT Startup  Hotseat to answer questions about his career to date. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. Very simply, what does your company do?DueDil provides companies with better information about other businessesâ€"helping them find new customers and avoid risks.2. What was the ‘Eureka!’ moment?At a previous company, I went into business with someone whose past I didn’t know, and it hurt that company. He had falsified his accounts and used them to obtain a loan.When I found out, I realised I hadn’t done my due diligence. I looked to see if I could have avoided my mistake, and eventually found information on the web about my business partner that revealed similar activity in his past. If I’d had that befor e, I wouldn’t have partnered with himâ€"but the data was difficult to find.I started  DueDil  because I hoped that if I could expose information like this on all businesses and individuals connected to them, then others would not find themselves in my predicament.People now use DueDil to find out more information about people who run companies. However, we very quickly found that our customers were also using us to find new customersâ€"often private companies that they didnt previously know.DueDil brings information about this world to the surface. This allows our users to uncover business opportunities, manage the risks of working with suppliers, and find new customers. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 3. What were you doing before you started DueDil?My previous company was a web agency. Before that, I studied at the  University of St Andrews, where I noticed the high inflow of American students (like myself), and was able to take advantage by flipping properti es.4. How are you funded?We have raised nearly $30m from respected investors in the US and UK, including Oak Investment Partners, Passion Capital and Notion Capital. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs starting their own company?Don’t pursue something unless you love doing it. It’s very unlikely that your start-up will quickly realise your dreams. It’s  much more likely that youll be working very hard at your goals for a long time. So it’s  important that you enjoy it.Image Source:  DueDil

How self-improvement apps can shape your future self

How personal development applications can shape your future self How personal growth applications can shape your future self Nir's Note: This visitor post is composed by Jeni Fisher, a London-put together Googler who counsels new companies with respect to applying social bits of knowledge to accomplish business and client goals.Early on in my job as an Apps accomplice supervisor at Google Play, I was drawn towards the Self-Improvement applications space on the grounds that their powerful impact rises above screen-level collaborations. Their central goal is to convince individuals to take genuine activities that lead to long haul conduct change and at last shape how they live their lives. Peruse on to find how these organizations are tackling conduct bits of knowledge to connect individuals' expectation activity hole and work towards the 'future self' they try to be.1. Make the primary meeting a successFor personal development applications, the initial step to tending to individuals' hole among goals and activities is to guarantee that the main meeting adequately initiates individuals top the significant in -application behaviors.If we're not adequately actuated to encounter the advantages of the application in the principal meeting, we'll likely agitate and uninstall. Holding clients over the long haul is extreme, however probably the most ideal approaches to moderate this is to advance the main meeting so new clients comprehend and take the center in-application practices fast.The Mindfulness application redid their onboarding from a few screens to another stream that raised the 'center activity' of beginning with a contemplation meeting. By executing this Android material plan 'quickstart model', week-2 maintenance expanded from 19% to 33%. The takeaway? By improving the probability of actuating clients on the very beginning, your whole maintenance bend will move up over time.2. Plan for the following sessionThe first meeting is your best chance to guarantee maintenance driving triggers are set up. Without these, that first meeting won't prompt a second and the probability of a cond uct getting received is slim.Let's envision somebody introduces a language learning application since they truly need to learn French. They are unquestionably bound to really learn French in the event that they readily set an arrangement of how/where/when they will complete the practices that help accomplish this objective. There are many examinations refering to that arranging the how/where/when of an ideal conduct, a usage goal, makes it almost certain that individuals will take action.The Healthy propensities application The Fabulous has accepted this developing collection of social science investigate and executed a Commitment Contract include as needs be. Individuals are approached to fill in a responsibility contract where they show precisely when and where they will achieve the ideal move, for instance taking a mobile gathering to practice more during the day. What's more, in one explicit examination about execution aim, individuals who filled in the agreement were 20% bound to catch up on their plan.Another amazing strategy is to urge new clients to set up an every day update with the goal that they really utilize the application a subsequent time; at once/day based on their personal preference. Pop-up messages that have been legitimately set by individuals on occasion that work for them work better than conventional promoting prompts since they're lined up with our own self-chose expectations. Live class application Yogaia tried the execution of another Daily Reminder highlight, and found that new recruits who actuated the every day update include were 48% bound to go to a class inside the first week!Going past a particular time of day, there's an abundance of cell phone information that can furnish engineers with genuine client mindfulness by considering an abundance of other information focuses. Engineers can take advantage of administrations, for example, Neura's AI programming to change cell phone information into experiences about client exercise s in the physical world.Neura's AI predicts when somebody is probably going to wake up, and this is particularly significant for use cases, for example, ripeness mindfulness applications. Their maximum capacity is possibly taken advantage of when a client gauges her temperature when she awakens. By coordinating the Neura SDK, ripeness mindfulness application My Days had the option to tailor prompts to when a client was well on the way to have quite recently woken up. These customized shrewd updates limitlessly outflanked the past nonexclusive prompts, with a higher % of ladies accepting their temperature as a result.3. Make the advantages tangibleSo your first meeting sets the client up for progress. You've guaranteed that future conduct is arranged or relevant signals are set up to remind individuals to act. That is as yet insufficient to close the hole and guarantee individuals make a move! There likewise should be a genuine feeling of the advantages of drawing in with the item af ter some time. This is especially trying for personal growth applications, as with regards to putting resources into your future self, benefits are commonly not experienced for a considerable length of time. To keep individuals on target, applications can encourage responsibility by guaranteeing clients experience some type of a compensation from day one.So, when you complete one of your propensities in the Fabulous application, the application requests that you set aside some effort to celebrate. This is enlivened by conduct explore that says if individuals set aside some effort to tap themselves on the back, they will connect a positive sentiment with the propensity and begin anticipating it.This challenge is more noteworthy for organizations who adapt by means of membership, where the key advantages of utilizing the application will in general be behind the paywall. Google Play as of late cooperated with The Behavioral Architects, a conduct science knowledge consultancy, to disti nguish how key social monetary ideas may better pass on the paid advantages of a membership application. You can peruse the Medium Post itemizing the key discoveries of the examination, or download the white paper.4. Keep up the behaviorSo how would you guarantee inspiration levels don't slack in those essential initial barely any weeks? A well known inspirational plan procedure is granting a run streak for back to back long periods of utilization, assisting with boosting inspiration and making it almost certain that expectations lead to a propensity being framed. The outward prize of working up an utilization streak can be overly amazing, yet can reverse discharge and demotivate whenever actualized incorrectly.Yogaia included an every day run mark the administration to help the inspiration exactly when they had not done an appropriate movement based division: it functioned admirably on the effectively extremely dynamic clients that could without much of a stretch keep up the run st reak. Be that as it may, it rebuffed their biggest section of class participants, who might go to 1-3 time seven days, with a run dash of zero. At long last, they selected to show the total number of classes and hours joined in with the goal that the number would never go down).Perigee's Seven Minute Workout application finds some kind of harmony between offering in-application compensations for routine utilization and the feeling of disappointment that a 'win big or bust' streak strategy can show in the event that you have a long streak manufactured up.If you miss a day, you miss one of three of your earned hearts, however don't lose a very long time of progress in one go. There will definitely come a day when you're not ready to do the conduct, and losing one of the three hearts utilizes the inspirational intensity of misfortune repugnance yet stays away from the demotivation and likely relinquishment that a total misfortune may cause.. . .Urging individuals to begin another condu ct is, somehow or another, the simple part.At its most basic level, starting another conduct dependent on assumptions regarding future results. The harder part is urging them to look after it. AJ Rothman's Theory of Behavior Maintenance recommends that proceeded with upkeep of an embraced example of conduct is dependent upon individuals being happy with the results they have gotten. On the off chance that they don't see results, they will break the new habit.This hypothesis motivated Smoke Free's execution of their advancement dashboard. The dashboard assists individuals with seeing that they are gaining ground toward their sans smoke objective by giving criticism on time without smoke, cash spared, wellbeing enhancements made thus on.Also, when A/B testing their Daily Missions include, Smoke Free found that individuals were twice as prone to have stopped smoking following three months. Why? Since it urges individuals to think about the advantages they've picked up from stopping smo king.Investment is, obviously, a key segment of Nir Eyal's Hooked Model and after some time, clients will have contributed noteworthy information and non-transferrable advancement inside your item. Personal development applications have a genuine chance to all the more likely envision this venture with the goal that individuals are less inclined to desert their new conduct (and the product).Language-learning application Busuu as of late presented an advancement dashboard on their client profile. This features their advancement against short and long haul objectives, and evaluates earlier interest in the application by means of the quantity of words learned. It's emphatically affected their Day 7 degrees of consistency already.5. The way isn't linearIt may appear the way to long haul conduct change and ongoing application use is a straightforward arrangement of sequential advances. Be that as it may, in all actuality, it's progressively a progression of stages.To assist individuals w ith arriving at their objectives, the sustenance and way of life application Lifesum needed to know the response to the accompanying inquiry; what does it take for an individual to change something? To do this, they led a tremendous research exertion, talking with individuals who had as of late succeeded or bombed in a conduct change endeavor. They overviewed their client base and assessed models of conduct change, mapping both to their inner data.What did they learn? Individuals travel through a progression of stages while altering their conduct. These stages (Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance) lie at the core of the Trans-hypothetical Model of Behavior Change. These stages connect with how various individuals collaborate with various highlights in the application. For instance, individuals thinking about a way of life change may at first simply peruse supper plans. Individuals in the arrangement stage may be bound to take the in-application Health Test, while

Should you work at an agency or in-house

Should you work at an agency or in-house Seb Atkinson of Selesti If you’re currently looking for a graduate role or an internship, you may have seen that many of are available either at agencies or in-house, particularly in industries like marketing, PR, and web design. Agencies in this industry typically provide services to a number of clients, while working in-house sees you working on projects for your own employer. But which of the two should you look to start your career in? We’ll take a look at the differences below. Jump in the deep end In an agency role you’ll need to be able to hit the ground running, working on several client projects as an assistant to one or more executives. As a result, those who begin their careers at agencies often learn new skills rapidly, but the learning curve can be steep! A main benefit of working at an agency is you’ll learn about and help solve problems for a variety of clients in different industries, giving you a breadth of knowledge that people working in-house are less likely to experience. Working at an agency means each and every day is varied”, believes Katy Crouch, Search Marketing Executive at Selesti. “It allows me to excel at what I do, applying my skills and expertise to a range of projects.” This breadth of experience is great personal development for later in your career, showing your adaptability for working with different challenges, as well as exposure to other industries you may want to move in to later through an in-house role. Agency roles are also ideal for anyone set on a specific discipline, for example PR, online marketing or web development, because you’re more likely to be up to speed with the latest industry developments, whether by being around more experience staff or by visiting industry trade shows and events. Hone your skills with a single client While agency roles give you a breadth of knowledge, an in-house role can lead to a more focussed knowledge of one industry. You may carry out similar projects as at an agency, but the main difference is you’ll be working with a single client â€" your employer! As a result, chances are you’ll be more deeply involved in projects from the beginning to end, potentially teaching you more than at an agency where you may be working in a team, or pick up a project only after a client has committed to it. This is the experience that Verity Prentice has found in her in-house role as a PR Assistant at Hallmark Care Homes, where she identifies and pitches newsworthy stories to newspapers. “Every day varies… I am out of the office visiting other care homes almost three times a week, suggesting ideas for content, interviewing residents, team members and covering events.” Verity is able to see a project through from start to finish, which is a great thing to add to her CV. While you’ll have a more in-depth knowledge of a single industry working in-house, you’re also likely to gain skills in other areas as you move up the ranks, becoming responsible for budgets, HR, or taking ownership of several related projects such as PR, email marketing and social media campaigns. Again, this is great for your personal development. Different cultures Another thing to be aware of when choosing between working at an agency or in-house is that the two typically have very different cultures. As you’ll be spending around 40 hours a week at work, it’s important to find a workplace you’re comfortable at. First up, agencies tend to be smaller companies with younger staff, often with a “work hard, play hard” attitude to work. While you’ll be expected to put in a great deal of effort to please your clients, potentially working longer hours, the office will no doubt be filled with fun equipment like table football, ping pong, Xboxes and if it’s especially trendy, slides instead of stairs. Meanwhile, in-house roles tend to follow a more traditional work culture â€" think “business attire” dress code, working in a cubicle rather than an open plan office, and a more rigid hierarchy of managers and pay scales. And while everyone is theoretically working towards the same objectives, there can still be the issue of internal politics, where your department will need to fight for budget against projects from other departments. On the flipside you’ll likely benefit from a more predictable working day between set hours, which some see as a more balanced lifestyle, as well as more generous perks and benefits associated with working at a larger company, such as better pensions, private medical insurance, and even a company car. Where should you start? As you’ll have seen, there are benefits for starting your career both in-house and at an agency. Both are viable places to start your career, and if you find it’s not for you, you’ll still be able to switch later on. Choosing between the two may be a case of knowing whether you have a specific role in mind and want to apply that to a range of clients, or alternatively if you’d prefer to get stuck in to a role wearing different ‘hats’ in a single industry. The decision could also be down to whether you see yourself working your way up the corporate ladder in a big company, or start your career with creatives in a young, innovative company, and whether you prefer a traditional or modern working environment. Post by Seb Atkinson of Selesti