You spend the majority of your adult life working, so it’s important to choose a career that’s going to satisfy you. However, securing your dream role doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve already made it a few rungs up the career ladder, you’ll want to do everything you can to impress potential employers.

If you want to be ready when the next promotion opportunity comes along, take a look at these three ways you can increase your employability now:

1. Gain Experience

If you don’t have the right experience, you’re going to struggle to land your dream job. Of course, it can be difficult to gain experience when you can’t get your foot in the door. Fortunately, you can get more experience in your chosen industry by volunteering, taking internships and honing your skills outside the workplace.

People tend to assume that they can’t take an internship while they’re in full-time employment, but this isn’t always the case. Many firms offer short-term vacation schemes which allow you to gain experience over a two or three-week period. This can be a great way to boost your skills without leaving your current role.

2. Get Qualified

Being well-qualified will indicate to potential employers that you have the requisite skills they need, and it could put you a step ahead of your competition. With a Diploma of Business Administration, for example, you can gain theoretical and practical knowledge across managerial, technical and specialised business functions. What’s more – studying for a Diploma of Business Administration with TrainSmart Australia gives you the opportunity to complete your qualification online in just 12 months. Their rolling enrolment ensures you can start at a time that suits you and fit studying around your existing commitments.

3. Make Contacts

Although companies are required to adhere to strict policies and regulations when it comes to recruiting new employees, the old saying, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, still rings true. If you have an extensive professional network, you’re more likely to hear about potential vacancies as soon as they become available. Furthermore, having a stellar reputation in your industry will ensure that potential employers receive positive feedback when your name comes in conversation.

It’s important to extend your professional network regardless of what stage you’re at in your career, so make time to attend industry events, socialise with colleagues where possible and be active online. By doing so, you can widen your network and make important contacts that will stand you in good stead for the future.

Prioritising Your Employability

If you’re not actively looking for a new role, you might think you don’t need to focus on your employability right now. In reality, however, you should always be taking steps to maintain your employability. It will help you to retain your position if redundancies occur, for example, and it could mark you out for imminent promotion. Additionally, being a top candidate will help you to build a profile within your industry and give you a wider range of options to pursue.

First came reports of a new virus from China. Just days before February it had crept its way into the UK population. Soon, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared a global health emergency – and in no time at all the COVID-19 virus has pulled shutters down on the world.

The UK has certainly been no stranger to the stay at home message, but even as we each do our bit to prevent the spread of the virus, businesses are shouldering a huge financial burden. Of course, it makes sense that retailers (like anyone else) have to do their bit to keep us all safe, but what makes this situation worse are the seemingly arbitrary pandemic regulations that have been pursued across Britain.

As the British Retail Consortium (BRC) rallies against lockdown rules, here’s a closer look at the issues arising out of business pandemic guidelines.

What are the rules for UK businesses during COVID-19?

Despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for a “four-nation” to pandemic management, the lockdown rules that apply to UK businesses very much depend on which area you are situated in. England, for instance, went into a second period of lockdown on Thursday 5 November until at least Wednesday 2 December. During this time shops that are deemed ‘non-essential’ must close, whilst those who are allowed to keep their doors open must stick to a strict regimen of social distancing rules.

Contrastingly, businesses in Wales have had a similar treatment under their two-week ‘firebreak’ lockdown but were able to reopen from Monday 9 November. A comparable situation has been seen in Northern Ireland, where a so-called ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown will prevent the full reopening of hospitality businesses up until 27 November.

Yet another regime still can be found by looking north of the English border to Scotland. A three-tier system has been introduced there, yet shops can remain open regardless of the tier that applies to their local authority area.

Whilst the intentions of those in power may be good, the muddled approach to pandemic business regulations seems set to confuse firms that are already struggling to cope amidst reduced footfall and economic uncertainty.

Essential or not?

Aside from the patchwork of COVID-19 regulations, perhaps the most egregious stance has been taken when deciding whether or not certain retailers are ‘essential’ or not. With little in the way of concrete guidance for the government, issues have presented themselves where supermarkets have been permitted to continue selling arguably ‘non-essential’ homewares simply by virtue of stocking them near to other clearly essential products.

The problem goes beyond the reported bluster and uncertainty caused by taped off products in Welsh supermarkets, though. Few would disagree that grocery products and medication are essential during the pandemic, but the waters become muddier beyond such evidently important items.

It stands to reason that some products are more widely considered as essential than others, but who can really determine what another consumer desperately needs at any given time. From kitchenware to office equipment and electronics, almost any item could be considered an essential if you really do need it. According to Tom Ironside, director of business and regulations at the BRC, politicians have created “arbitrary lines over what is and isn’t an ‘essential’ retailer.”

When looked at alone, it might not seem all that important that some people can’t buy new pots and pans, for instance. But when you look at the bigger picture, cracks begin to show in the government’s plans. With estimates suggesting that closed shops lose out on £2 billion each week, it’s easier to understand exactly why we need our shops open. Without them, the nation may find itself in a much stickier financial situation than it’s already in.

A new way forward for business

The total of these varied lockdown measures is anything but a “four-nation” approach, and that spells trouble for the businesses that are struggling to stay afloat whilst propping up the UK’s ailing economy.

As the BRC’s Chief Executive, Helen Dickinson OBE, puts it:

“many retailers had finally thought that they were finding their footing. The new lockdown in England will now throw away this progress as we enter the crucial Christmas trading period”.

With these sentiments no doubt echoed across the UK’s retail landscape, businesses can only hope that the government will be better equipped to deal with any future health crisis in a way that does not interfere with the legitimate and safe operation of shops.

Until such time, however, retailers may just have no option but to take matters into their own hands. Whilst the pandemic has all but crushed the high street, ecommerce is now outperforming even the most buoyant of traditional sales channels – and opportunity abounds for those businesses who can take advantage of the public’s exodus to internet shopping.

Among the best ways to take advantage of this consumer trend is to invest in a secure and reliable eCommerce payment gateway. As an online payment system, it could scarcely be easier for businesses to continue taking payments from their customers during the pandemic and beyond.

With solutions like this in place, businesses can keep trading online regardless of ineffective lockdown measures and mismatched restrictions. As ever the retail industry is innovating, and even there are ways for businesses to fight back and survive, even if they can’t return to full service just yet.

Business continuity is one of the key components that companies use to ensure that their most common workspaces are accessible to customers, customers, suppliers, and suppliers. Many companies have set up a business continuity management department for this purpose, while many other activities are outsourced to professional agencies.

What is business continuity management?

Business continuity management involves developing plans and strategies that provide security and protect the operation for business activities or processes that, if disrupted, could otherwise cause serious or potentially fatal damage to a business.

Business continuity management strategies:

The Business Continuity Management Strategy (SCMS) reaffirms the company’s commitment to identify and document all procedures and processes that must be applied, maintained, and tested to achieve the recoverable values ​​required by an organization.

This strategy should be planned so that your organization:

• -Defend or reduce the possibility of spontaneous descriptions of key business functions and services

• -Request access to information, procedures, and processes to achieve core functionality retrieval and replace location within the required timeframe

BCMS should always cover all important functions and units of your organization. Your strategy should have the following characteristics:

Business Continuity Management Structure (BCMS)

This structure is used for the ongoing administration of applications. This includes an executive sponsor.

Business Impact Analysis

This analysis should work for all units. These elements are very useful in determining all of the levels of continuity planning required by any entity.

Identify potential risky areas.

This area plays a very important role in your planning strategy. Potential risk areas should be identified as part of sustainability programs. The elimination of potential hazard points is justified by the possible effects of the failure of a particular hazard point.

Effective strategies need to be developed.

Strategies should be developed that reflect the needs identified in the business impact analysis. The strategy developed should be continually reviewed to ensure that they are useful as business needs change.

Continuity plans

Continuity plans should be developed, designed, and documented to ensure that strategies are easy to apply. Continuity programs allow critical business processes to be resumed in different locations at different intervals according to the business impact analysis. To create a well-organized business continuity plan, you can use the business continuity plan template.

Companies can set up committees to structure business continuity management strategies tailored to the company’s needs. There should be a committee and timetable for formulating the main plan, which will then be implemented. You need to identify, classify, evaluate, and use device strategies to deal with hazards. You need to analyze the impact of existing risks on trading and take the necessary measures to minimize technical, domestic, external, economic, human, natural, credit, market, and operational risks. By implementing protective measures and continuous monitoring, companies become aware of risk indicators and risk management to ensure business continuity.

Why you need to run a business continuity management plan.

This makes sense when the company needs to implement them, and they are written systematically. They are easy to implement, and who should do what is easy to understand. These programs must be tested and evaluated under realistic conditions. The success of a business continuity management plan lies in its precise execution and execution. Employees should be made aware of procedures and policies by implementing them and executing their plans to ensure they are taking precautions against hazards and responding appropriately if necessary. You need to plan how to handle the media if necessary.

Business continuity management plans are essential to minimize the business loss in the event of a disaster and ensure that they are running as quickly as possible. Some companies offer their help and services to run a smooth business.