This Wednesday saw the world look on and give jealous congratulations to Ben Southall from Hampshire, as he emerged victorious in securing the much-publicised dream job, of caretaker to Hamilton Island, Queensland. The position has been dubbed throughout the process as ‘the best job in the world’, but in industry terms, the clear success story lies in the PR behind the process that has taken the media by storm.

The recruitment industry are utilising the tools of the trade to help online jobseekers more and more, even in the current candidate-rich market. New technologies are allowing CV distribution sites to be more sophisticated and adept at matching jobseekers to recruiters offering positions that suit their skills and abilities. CV’s and jobs websites are matched based on a jobseeker’s requirements to enable their CV to fall into the hands of the right people in the industry, so recruiters are seeing real-time candidates, with the right skills.

A huge proportion of job seeking involves networking in your field and the internet has become a goldmine of fast and efficient ways to do this. Sites like Linked In and Twitter have vast online communities of people in all aspects of business, and you are able to interact with these people and find out the best way to find a job in your field and make new connections in the industry.

Forums and blogs are brimming with advice for jobseekers; help for those who have been made redundant, advice for graduates on what to do next... There is a vast wealth of information to give jobseekers the best chance of finding out exactly what they want to do and how to do it.

Unfortunately not every job comes with a beautiful island and its own house to while away the days, but the good news is, the internet provides a great way for you to find the job that’s perfect for you. So keep looking, and use the most powerful job seeking tool to your advantage!

Not sure about what to do now? FreeMyCV.com is here to help; we’ve put together this advice to help you make that next step...

A time for reflection: Think about whether your career path was the right choice for you. This could be your perfect opportunity to pursue a different career, or re-evaluate whether your job really fulfilled you. Take into consideration your financial position when doing this; we’re not suggesting you should pack in investment banking for dog walking, but explore the options available to you, and whether there is something that could make you happier.

Approach this positively. Don’t focus your energy on why you were the one to be made redundant, but think about your successes within the job. List your achievements and the new skills your role has given you, as this will be useful to evaluate in order to update your CV.

Apply for jobs and go to interviews. Get back out there and make a positive effort to apply for jobs that you are interested in. The longer you take to start this process, the harder you might find it. This will allow you to keep busy, focused and will enable you to work on your interview technique.

 Think realistically about what your job loss means. Unfortunately redundancy is common in this climate, but it doesn’t have to be a disaster. Take a realistic look at your finances and work out what you need to earn, and when you need to start earning it. Re-evaluate your outgoings to accommodate your temporary loss of employment and be frugal whilst you’re looking for work.

Update your CV: Dust off your CV and update your skills and work experience. Why not take a look at our CV tips to see if it makes the grade?

Take a course: This could be the perfect opportunity to sharpen your skills or learn a new one. See what courses are on offer at your local college, university or adult learning centre. You may even be entitled to a reduction in fees for being out of work.

Utilise your friends: What are friends for? This! If you have a friend in a similar career to yourself, they may have news on upcoming jobs within their company. If there are, they might even be able to put in a good word for you.

Social Networking: Now I’m not suggesting you spend your days on Facebook, but sites like Linked In are a good way of keeping connected with people in your field and making business contacts. It might even lead to hearing about your next job, so why not log on?

Where to find a job: You might be new to today’s job market but the good news is; there are plenty of places you can search for a job. Recruitment agencies are a good way to find work, whether just for a temporary fix or full time. Jobs websites such as http://www.allthetopbananas.com host a variety of jobs in different sectors from all over the web in one place. You can search by location or keyword for more targeted results. Your local job centre and local paper will also display local vacancies, so don’t forget to check them out!

In today’s climate we keep hearing about the ‘Big R’, the recession, but what about the other one? This time we’re talking about Redundancy.

If you’ve recently been made redundant, FreeMyCV.com is here to help. Have a look at our Redundancy Advice and find out about your next step on the career ladder...

Redundancy: THE FACTS

Redundancy is the dismissal of employees in an effort to reduce or downsize a department or workforce.

This could be the result of any number of the following:

-The job role or department no longer exists within the company.
-The current climate and efforts to reduce costs result in staff numbers being minimised.
-The company or branch is being closed down or relocated.
-New technology replaces the need for the role.

If you have been made redundant, what do you need to know?

-Get information about your redundancy package. Find out about the pay you will receive and the notice period you have been given.

-Does your place of work offer free careers advice or money for additional training?

-Was the correct procedure carried out? You should have received notice about the possibility of redundancies within the company, and the review should have been carried out fairly. For example some companies may ask employers to re-interview for their jobs in an effort to re-evaluate the skills of each employee.

-For more information on the particulars of redundancy you may wish to contact a trade union official, a professional organisation, or local government body.

How to turn the negative into a positive

Unfortunately in today’s economic climate redundancy is becoming more and more common. It is difficult to avoid feeling down or worried in these situations, but the things that are most important to remember are:

There is help out there. If you’re struggling with your finances there are people who can help, people you can talk to. You are not alone!

Try not to focus on why it happened, but what you can do about the situation. Move forward, think positively and always think about your next step.

As we all know the current climate is less than favourable to jobseekers and those who are employed have their own concerns about job security; or the worrying lack of it. The unfortunate truth is that redundancy is becoming more and more common and it’s a worrying time for those in the working world. The media would have you believe that the world is falling apart, with every other news story showing a frightening statistic or details of another company buckling under the strain.

The papers and the news are heavily focused on the negative implications of the recession, but what about the positives? Surely there are some? With this in mind it was great to come across a refreshing change from the usual doom and gloom articles, with a piece from the BBC News online magazine that actually speaks about redundancy as a potential positive.

The article focuses on four examples of how redundancy had a positive impact on the individuals in question, as it forced them to re-evaluate what they wanted out of their careers. Redundancy enabled them to ask the fundamental question: ‘what do I really want to do with my life; what would make me truly happy?’ and pursue these dreams without being scuppered by the fear of trying something outside of their comfort zone.

Redundancy allows an individual to really think about their career and gives them the opportunity to have a whole new start. Instead of just having another job, you could gain a career; a passion. The average person spends about one third of their life Monday-Friday at work. So don’t you owe it to yourself to make sure that you spend a third of your time doing something that you really enjoy?

The key is in the push. Redundancy forces you to think about things in a different way. You can explore these options because you won’t be losing out by trying. It’s easy to stick with what is comfortable but taking a risk could pay off, as the article explores. You may have a hobby or a passion, something that you’ve thought was never a possibility and suddenly it could be on the cards as a possible career change. There still must be an element of realism in your goals, you’ll need to consider whether you can earn a similar salary, are there potential job openings in your new vocation and whether you are qualified to undertake them, but there’s nothing impossible about a new start.

This article certainly got me thinking. Although these aren’t the atypical former jobs of the majority, you don’t need to be a former investment banker to make an educated career change. What everyone can do, whether they are employed or not, is think about whether the job they are in is the right one for them. It’s certainly worth putting yourself in this mindset- if I was made redundant tomorrow, what would I truly want to do? Why not mull it over with a cup of tea? You never know, it might just change your life...