After each summer we always shed staff- it's our annual moult. With the loss, even though it is temporary,of our summer staff and Florian moving on to pastures new we find our selves in the position of being able to hire some full time newbies.
The summer newbies will return, for holidays, and bring their own shall we call it "special"brand of professionalism, but in the mean time we have two new starters, who have blown fresh air through the cafe.
With so many people looking for work at the moment I thought we would be inundated, and as time is generally short we put an advert in the paper that would put off the time wasters. We were brutally honest. We dared to put "hard work, long hours" we didn't make it pretty.There is no point putting all the good stuff on adverts- if they still want to work after reading the advert then good for them. If they think we are lying, then they will find out we don't do that.
It is amazing though how bad some people are at writing even a covering letter. They are miss spelled, have smiley faces or just downright awful.
The ones that start with "Hiya", "Alrite" or "Hey" followed by a smiley face in any form are generally disregarded. I know email etiquette is informal, but you are applying for a job, speaking to your new boss.
The email address is also a good thing to look at. I would, personally, change my address to my name, and a number or something that was adult and "normal". I would not keep the address I created at 14 that I thought was cool, sweet or sexy.
We have had various interesting email addresses. Anything that starts DJ tends to scare me, more so when its followed with words like skunk, gangster or killer. I am aware the name does not reflect the personality generally, but these names have been picked by themselves to show what they would like to be.
Gothy-lucy-babe was another we had. She turned out to be blond and in her 40s. A past revealed unwittingly? Sugarboymassiv is one of my favorites. It conjures up so many images. I-love-sex-and-chocolate was another that I don't think I would have kept. I have smiled at some; mums-email was quite sweet, a lady being dragged into 2009 possibly? I have received emails blatantly sent from the works address. This is surely either very brave or just stupid if the company isn't going belly up.
As an employer cv's are the initial introduction and the covering letter can really help that cv to stand out. Fancy fonts, colours and awful clip art pictures will not generally enhance anything. Clear, concise and enthusiastic is what I am looking for, and unless you are going for a job in computer design type stuff, I would imagine most employers are the same.
If you are in the market for a job then check you cv, and make sure your covering letter is enthusiastic and most of all spelt correctly!
Monday 26 October 2009
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Every Little £1.5 Billion helps.
A rep turned up today to sell me an oven that could cook everything in 7 minutes. I didn't understand it, and why you want everything cooked in such a short time I do not know. It was not a microwave, but he couldn't tell me what it was. I asked what sort of meat it was that would cook so marvellously in that time and he replied "Any you would normally get from Tescos". My hackles rose.
I will not even start on the crap that various companies pump into meat, that now worryingly seem to be a selling point- "pork chops tenderised with glucose" was one I saw. Pork chops should be tender. Why would you put glucose with it? Amazed.
I have done a little research on the supermarkets. This recession we are in does not seem to affect good old Tescos. In fact they have just released the figures for this last 6 months of trading. Pre tax profits of £1.5 billion. In 6 months mark you. I wonder what the pre tax profits of our one remaining Butcher in St Neots is? I could have asked the 4 that we used to have, but they have all closed. Since Tescos arrived strangely.
Supermarkets have 85% of all grocery retail- it goes in this order, Tesco, Asda, Salisbury's, Morrison's and Co-op/Somerfield. And yet 63% of British farms are unable to make a sustainable profit. Supermarkets seem to be unable to buy British produce- yes, they buy some, they buy "local" stuff, but they offer such a low price to the farmers that it is no way profitable to sell to them.
There are certain towns around the country that are Tesco towns. £3 in every £4 spent is given to Tescos. Inverness is one such town. Tesco moved in, and bought up the land around the town. They have "banked" this, so no other retailer can build on it, and as it is a small town, Tescos is the only place to go. They now have the most profitable store per square foot in the whole country.
It's not just Tescos that are making profits from the recession. The small shops that are having to close down are apparently being bought in their dozens by the likes of Waitrose and Sainsburys. They will be made into "express" type stores. Waitrose are planning to put these small stores within Boots stores too. I guess while you get your anti-depressants that you need because you've had to close your family business, you can at least also buy some biscuits and tea bags.
The good news is that the Competition Commission is on the case. They will go slow, as they do, but they have finally realised that somebody needs to do something.
They are trying to stop the Big 4taking over the country and completely decimating our already dwindling high streets. They will stop supermarkets opening a new store if it already has more than 60% of grocery sales in the area, within a 10 minute drive, or where they have more than 3 rival stores.This I think will help, although they won't start for a good year. It will not help the high streets that have already gone, but it will hopefully slow down the process of loosing anymore good little shops.
For those of you that are happy with Supermarkets, and still believe that they provide jobs in the area, and cheap food, let me explain. Butchers can sell better meat at the same price. You need less of it from a butcher, as it isn't full of water and chemicals, and they know exactly where it comes from. Vegetables tend to be fresher from the green grocer. They are cheaper and seasonal, and have not had soil rubbed into them to look authentic, they have soil on them because that's how they should be. Markets and green grocers have limited storage so the veg and fruit won't have been stored for weeks in chilled warehouses.
I will admit that for £10 spent in a supermarket is worth £14 locally in rent, tax and wages, but lets think. Take a box scheme. £10 spent with them is worth about £25 to the community on workers (who are generally better paid then supermarket workers)and the use of local trades people, repairs to vehicles etc etc. We will never get rid of them, but let us take a closer look and make sure their friends in Westminster don't bow down to their demands.
I will not even start on the crap that various companies pump into meat, that now worryingly seem to be a selling point- "pork chops tenderised with glucose" was one I saw. Pork chops should be tender. Why would you put glucose with it? Amazed.
I have done a little research on the supermarkets. This recession we are in does not seem to affect good old Tescos. In fact they have just released the figures for this last 6 months of trading. Pre tax profits of £1.5 billion. In 6 months mark you. I wonder what the pre tax profits of our one remaining Butcher in St Neots is? I could have asked the 4 that we used to have, but they have all closed. Since Tescos arrived strangely.
Supermarkets have 85% of all grocery retail- it goes in this order, Tesco, Asda, Salisbury's, Morrison's and Co-op/Somerfield. And yet 63% of British farms are unable to make a sustainable profit. Supermarkets seem to be unable to buy British produce- yes, they buy some, they buy "local" stuff, but they offer such a low price to the farmers that it is no way profitable to sell to them.
There are certain towns around the country that are Tesco towns. £3 in every £4 spent is given to Tescos. Inverness is one such town. Tesco moved in, and bought up the land around the town. They have "banked" this, so no other retailer can build on it, and as it is a small town, Tescos is the only place to go. They now have the most profitable store per square foot in the whole country.
It's not just Tescos that are making profits from the recession. The small shops that are having to close down are apparently being bought in their dozens by the likes of Waitrose and Sainsburys. They will be made into "express" type stores. Waitrose are planning to put these small stores within Boots stores too. I guess while you get your anti-depressants that you need because you've had to close your family business, you can at least also buy some biscuits and tea bags.
The good news is that the Competition Commission is on the case. They will go slow, as they do, but they have finally realised that somebody needs to do something.
They are trying to stop the Big 4taking over the country and completely decimating our already dwindling high streets. They will stop supermarkets opening a new store if it already has more than 60% of grocery sales in the area, within a 10 minute drive, or where they have more than 3 rival stores.This I think will help, although they won't start for a good year. It will not help the high streets that have already gone, but it will hopefully slow down the process of loosing anymore good little shops.
For those of you that are happy with Supermarkets, and still believe that they provide jobs in the area, and cheap food, let me explain. Butchers can sell better meat at the same price. You need less of it from a butcher, as it isn't full of water and chemicals, and they know exactly where it comes from. Vegetables tend to be fresher from the green grocer. They are cheaper and seasonal, and have not had soil rubbed into them to look authentic, they have soil on them because that's how they should be. Markets and green grocers have limited storage so the veg and fruit won't have been stored for weeks in chilled warehouses.
I will admit that for £10 spent in a supermarket is worth £14 locally in rent, tax and wages, but lets think. Take a box scheme. £10 spent with them is worth about £25 to the community on workers (who are generally better paid then supermarket workers)and the use of local trades people, repairs to vehicles etc etc. We will never get rid of them, but let us take a closer look and make sure their friends in Westminster don't bow down to their demands.
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