Writing a good CV

The CV or resume is one of the few documents that could make or break your chance at getting an interview for that new job. Alongside the cover letter, the CV is the window into your skills, personality and background which a prospective employer can use to see if you could be a good fit for them.

One major thing to remember with a good CV is to make sure it is no more than 2 pages long, and certainly no less than 1 and a half! Any longer than 2 pages will make your interviewer lose interest, or think that they have been exaggerated.

Employment history should be kept to the last 5 RELEVANT years. If this is the first job since studying, you can list any part time work as “variety of part time jobs through university” or similar. The relevance of past employment will help the new employer see why you would be a useful addition.

Teacher Training Routes

There are more and more ways of becoming a teacher in the UK. There are two major routes which can be taken: School based or University based.

It is a fact that teachers, particularly of secondary age students, must have a degree in their subject. This means that their teacher training qualification will be a post graduate qualification.

School based training involves the student being based at one or more schools and learning the craft of teaching through observing others and hands on experience. They are generally given a form group, as well as overall control of the lessons they need to teach. Most placements have their trainees on a reduced timetable while they are learning.

University based routes involve the student spending some of the time in school on placements, and the rest of their time at university where they learn how to teach from a research or academic point of view. This is the more traditional route, and many older teachers will have been trained this way. Post graduate courses, such as the PGCE involve a research task.

Falling Oil Prices and the Global Repercussions

Many people will be pleased to hear of how the oil prices have dropped from their high in June of $112 per barrel all the way down to around $72 now, but their are serious consequences to the price falling down so low. It damages the massive investments which have been made into the oil industry, which may ultimately have an effect upon our pension funds.

Due to the high prices of oil, places where oil exploration and extraction were previously not economical were suddenly able to be exploited, and we saw massive investments into shale oil extraction throughout the USA, which is actually largely responsible for their economic recovery. Because of the drop in price, this investment is now in jeopardy; and is likely to continue to be in such a state for quite a while.

Prices of oil have dropped largely due to the influx of oil from the USA, while at the same time OPEC have been expanding their oil extraction. Whether or not this has been a purposeful effort by OPEC purely to make the USA operations impossible has not been confirmed, and their are numerous possible explanations for their actions. Only time will tell how much damage this will cause to the recent USA investments.

Is the Ed Miliband Deficit Error Significant?

Most people, including Ed Miliband himself, will know that he made monumental error in his election speech. He failed to speak about the ‘deficit’ and that’s mainly due to the fact that he opted to not use notes, and instead try to remember the entire speech and deliver it more powerfully, much like David Cameron does.

Some argue though, that it’s been blown out of proportion, and the fact is, it was a mistake. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Labour will completely ignore the deficit if they get voted in. That just isn’t the case and the whole of the UK knows it. But this mistake has given conservatives plenty of materials for their own camping. For example, they’ve launched an advert mocking Miliband for forgetting about the deficit, while they make it the top priority.

Whether you feel the mocking is unfair or not, you do have to admit that the election debates are heating up, and it will be interesting to see what happens when Miliband and Cameron go head to head.

The Effects of Scotland Leaving the Union

One of the most important debates currently occurring within the UK is whether or not it would be good for Scotland (and the rest of the UK) if they left the UK, and become an independently governed state within their own right. This is a very tricky subject to tackle, and even most experts don’t really have an idea of the results, although this is partly due to a lack of understanding of the results of what is ultimately a political process will be, and it encompasses lots of different issues throughout the UK.

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Currently, Scotland is run by either a devolved government or by the UK (depending upon the responsibilities in question). This gives them the ability to manage a lot of the national budget, but no control over the central bank, and none over the Diplomacy either. Any changes to our current system will likely mean alterations to the relationship pertaining to the pound, and to the diplomatic relations we have with other countries where it is based upon trade.