Advice and Opinion
Explore practical career advice, workplace insights and thoughtful perspectives to support your job search. Our Advice & Opinion section covers topics that matter to people navigating work today — from finding fair employers and understanding workplace culture to wellbeing, confidence and change at work.
These articles are written to inform, support and encourage reflection, helping you make confident decisions about your career in a changing world of work.
Latest
Previous
-
Posted on Tuesday, May 12, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
At some point in a job search, many people come up against the same barrier. You see roles that interest you. You understand what the work involves. You can picture yourself doing it. But when you look at your experience, it doesn’t match directly. You haven’t held that exact job title. You haven’t worked in that specific environment. On paper, there is a gap. That gap can feel definitive. It can ...
-
Posted on Friday, May 8, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
Interviews have a way of making simple questions feel more complicated than they are. You prepare in advance. You think about what might come up. You rehearse answers, sometimes more than once. But when the moment arrives, it can still feel uncertain. Questions that should be familiar suddenly feel harder to answer. You start thinking about what the interviewer is really asking, what they want to ...
-
Posted on Thursday, May 7, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
It’s a common moment in a job search. You find a role that feels right. The responsibilities make sense. The direction matches what you want. But when you read the requirements, something doesn’t quite line up. There are gaps. A skill you haven’t used directly. A type of experience you don’t have in the exact form it’s described. At that point, many people stop. They assume the requirements are ...
-
Posted on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
A lot of CV advice assumes something that isn’t always true — that your experience follows a clear, linear path. You move from one relevant role to another. Your responsibilities build in a predictable way. Each step makes the next one easier to explain. On paper, it all connects. But for many people, that isn’t how it looks. Experience can be mixed. It can come from different sectors, different ...
-
Posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
Interviews can feel challenging at the best of times. But they can feel even more difficult when you have the sense that you don’t quite match what the employer expects. Sometimes that feeling is subtle. You notice it in the job description, in the language used, or in the way the role is framed. Other times, it becomes clearer during the process itself. The way questions are asked, the tone of ...
-
Posted on Sunday, May 3, 2026 by Kim Cockayne — No comments
The return-to-office debate is no longer about productivity or preference. It is increasingly about access. Across the UK, a growing number of employers are tightening office attendance policies, quietly shifting away from the flexible and hybrid working arrangements that became widespread during the pandemic. While some organisations present this as a return to normal, the reality is more ...
-
Posted on Saturday, May 2, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
One of the most difficult parts of a job search is not the effort. It’s the uncertainty. You apply for roles and don’t hear back. You prepare for interviews that don’t lead to offers. You adjust your CV, refine your approach, and still the results don’t always reflect the work you’re putting in. Over time, this creates a sense that progress is unpredictable. It becomes harder to tell whether what ...
-
Posted on Saturday, May 2, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
A lot of job search advice focuses on one idea — selling yourself. You’re told to promote your achievements, highlight your strengths, and make sure you stand out. For some people, this comes naturally. For others, it feels uncomfortable, even forced. It can feel like you’re being asked to present a version of yourself that doesn’t quite match how you actually work or communicate. Over time, this ...
-
Posted on Saturday, May 2, 2026 by Lucy Thomas — No comments
At some point in a job search, many people reach the same question. You meet the requirements. Your experience lines up. You apply carefully, sometimes even tailoring your CV and covering letter. You get through to interview, or sometimes you don’t hear back at all. And after a while, the pattern becomes harder to ignore. You are qualified, but it isn’t translating into offers. It’s easy to ...
-
Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 by Liz Andrews — No comments
In many organisations, inclusion is described in emotional terms. People talk about whether they feel included, whether the culture feels welcoming, whether the environment feels open. These conversations matter. Experience matters. But when inclusion is understood only as a feeling, it becomes difficult to measure, difficult to manage, and easy to misunderstand. Because feelings are shaped by ...