Author: Don

Social work jobs need not be excessively stressful if you know how to relax at the end of each day

social work jobs present many challenges to the committed professionals who are employed in them.  Those in social services jobs will typically encounter several people each week who are undergoing extremely stressful or upsetting situations, and the social worker will need to provide an emotional crutch, supporting the service user in every way possible.  This can be very fulfilling but it also means that anybody in social worker jobs needs to be aware that their work can place a strain on their own emotional wellbeing.  Having a few fail-safe ways of relaxing and regrouping after a stressful day or week at work can make a great deal of difference not only to you but to the people you are helping on a daily basis.

Perhaps the most important way to unwind if your job is emotionally straining is to have somebody to confide in.  Obviously confidentiality is an important consideration in social work jobs, so you may find it useful to have a friend or family member to whom you can talk in fairly general terms about what may be affecting you at work.  It is often the case that you do not need advice or specific guidance, but just somebody who will listen to your issues and understand why you feel stressed.  If your employer is doing his or her job properly, you should have a supervisor who you can speak to about all of your cases, and this is often a good way of helping you avoid feeling that you are holding the burden of everybody’s problems on your shoulders – nobody’s shoulders are strong enough for this.  They will generally be able to offer you professional advice as well, so if you are unsure about what to do about any aspect of your case you can turn to somebody above you.

It is often the case that physical activity can be very helpful in relieving mental stress.  After a tough day you may feel like all you want to do is sit in front of the television with a glass of wine, but this is often only a very short term solution to anxiety.  If you really want to boost your mental state, physical exercise is often the best thing to do.  Going for a run will release the endorphins that genuinely make you feel happier, and give you an energy boost that is always useful in social worker jobs.  If you are not a particularly sporty type, other forms of exercise may be more suitable. With its focus on mental and spiritual well-being, many people find that yoga is a highly effective way of dealing with stress.

Most jobs cause some stress and anxiety from time to time, but it is important for those in social work jobs to be aware that they might be more at risk of this than many other professionals.  Social services jobs demand a lot of us mentally, and we need to know how to unwind.  With the right strategies to stay in control of our body and mind, social worker jobs should provide an enjoyable and satisfying career.

Please visit http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/

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Phono stage means records sound like they used to

Most people are either LP lovers or not – you’re either sold on an old technology that was never bettered, or you’re not interested in vinyl. The difficulties start to come when you combine old with new. LPs were intended to be used with the record players and amps of their day. That means that they don’t work as they’re supposed to when you hook them up to modern stereo systems. The stereo you have that plays CDs perfectly happily might have other inputs that fit your turntable and can be plugged in, but the sound isn’t right. That’s because you’re missing a crucial bridge between old and new technologies: the phono stage, otherwise known as a phono preamp or phono amp.

Unfortunately, enjoying your old LP collection on current top-of-the-range stereo equipment isn’t as easy as it might be. The output from a record turntable is very different to the kind of output you get from a CD or MP3 player. The signal is much lower, which in practice means that you have to turn the volume right up before you can hear the music properly. But that means that all the additional noise – the interference, crackles and hiss – is also amplified. The subsequent playback quality is poor as a result. What you need is a unit that plugs in between the turntable and the stereo amplifier that converts the signal from the LP into something that the stereo can usefully send to the speakers.

That’s the point of the phono stage. It’s a gadget that interprets the signal coming out of the turntable and pre-prepares it for your stereo amplifier. A phono preamp can make all the difference to playback quality. Some modern stereos have the right circuit inside already, but not many, because there is little demand for them (few people listen to LPs any more). You’ll be able to check by looking on the back of your stereo and seeing whether there’s a turntable jack – if not, then you’ll almost certainly need the phono amp before you can listen to records properly. These components are available on the internet, but it’s worth doing a little research around them first. The overall sound quality is only going to be as good as the weakest link in the chain, so if you’re hoping to play your much-loved record collection on an expensive stereo set, it doesn’t make sense to economise on the phono stage.

Please visit http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/

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Cash Genie: tips for saving money

Cash Genie is committed to responsible lending practices, and it’s a business principle that customers should not have to come back and use the short-term loan services repeatedly. Apart from anything else, it’s not good commercial sense, because encouraging unwise financial practices means that clients are more likely to default on their debts! So a part of the service is helping customers to organise their money in such a way that they won’t need to go for such loans in the future.

The best way to do this is to examine your spending: all of it. It sounds like a big deal, but it can make a great difference. Break it down if it seems scary. First, check all of your major outgoings: rent or mortgage, bills, utilities, phone, internet, interest on loans, council tax and so on. It may be that you can save money already by moving providers for one of these. In the case of a mortgage, that could save you hundreds of pounds or more a year. Others might mean you have an extra ten or twenty quid at the end of the month – still worthwhile.

But the most surprising examples are likely to come from the expenses you barely notice. These are the little, cumulative expenditures you build up over the week. When you look at them over the course of the month and year, they can make a huge difference. Picking up a coffee on the way to work every morning? That’s only £2 or so, right? But that’s £10 a week, £40 a month or getting on for £500 a year. That could represent an instalment on your mortgage or a month’s rent. Similarly, buying a sandwich and drink every day instead of making the same at home? Easy another £1,000 a year. The same goes for the odd night out: it’s very easy to lose track.

Cash Genie recommends keeping an eye on these ‘trivial’ expenses. It doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself totally – no one’s saying that you shouldn’t enjoy the odd treat or lunch out. What’s important is that you see what these are actually costing you. Once you know that, you can decide whether the convenience or treat is really worth it, if the end result is staying in debt (and therefore having to pay more through interest) in the end. In addition, if you’ve got debts you need to pay off, this can be a great motivator. If a couple of coffees a week fewer means peace of mind in the long term, then it’s no contest.

Please visit http://www.cashgenie.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.cashgenie.co.uk/

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Find a kickboxing club where you live

Kickboxing – or the martial arts from which it derives – has been around for many, many years, but it has only really been popular in the West for the last few decades. The style you will find in a typical kickboxing club in the UK now may have various martial arts underpinning it, as the word is generally considered in a fairly catch-all way by people today. These could include Muay Thai (or ‘Thai Boxing’), various disciplines of karate (which can differ substantially between themselves) and other styles. Although the kickboxing London clubs teach may draw on any number of sources, it’s probably fair to say that the popularisation of punching and kicking-based martial arts occurred in the 1970s thanks to Bruce Lee, who developed the hybrid Jeet Kune Do style, having studied Wing Chun to a high level in his native China.

‘Kickboxing’ is presently used of many different styles, which are often undifferentiated by the public – to the uninitiated, one kind of kicking and hitting is much the same as another. Alongside this, there are different governing bodies overseeing different styles and clubs, which have different rules associated with them (the use of the elbow in sparring being one major distinction that people tend to focus on). This means that if you decide to attend kickboxing classes, you might find any number of different expressions – although the same would be true of other martial arts, too, because any style that has been around a while tends to have different offshoots, in the same way that a language will have different dialects.

If you are looking for a class to try kickboxing, London is an excellent city to start, since there are many different kickboxing clubs within a fairly small area. You will need to decide what it is you are looking for. Kickboxing is evidently a sparring style, but people often try it for self-defence too. In addition, a growing number of people are looking to kickboxing for its fitness properties. The number of techniques it involves means that it offers an exceptional all-round workout, bringing strength, stamina and flexibility pay-offs. Add to this the camaraderie that often exists when a group of people gather to learn such a style (training with others is an integral part of learning), and you have another good reason to give it a go. If you’re in any doubt, it’s often worth going to a few classes – most clubs will offer free taster sessions – and see if you like what you find.

Please visit http://www.zendokickboxing.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.zendokickboxing.com/

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Nursing home manager jobs and your job search

Home manager jobs come in different types, though there is of course some overlap in the kinds of roles and work you will be expected to fulfil. Care home manager jobs, for example, could involve anyone in the spectrum of care, from young to old, disabled, badly ill, and so on. nursing home manager jobs will clearly need many of the same skills and training, with a slightly different emphasis. Either way, you will need the same qualities and often qualifications, too. These may be a relevant social work qualification, a nursing diploma, or an NVQ at level 4 in health and social care.

Salaries for home manager jobs can differ significantly depending on experience. At the outset of your career, when you are first qualified, you might expect to earn something in the region of £20,000 – under the national median. However, there is room for advancement, and the most experienced managers might receive £45,000 per year. After that, there are further opportunities, as well; you might go on into area management, overseeing groups of homes or inspecting or training – or even other areas of social work or management. The opportunities are numerous. Plus, it is worth realising that this is an expanding field. The demand for residential care is only going to increase in the coming years, as the Baby Boom generation collects its pension and a demographic swell passes into the care system. This ‘pig in the python’, as it has been termed, is a serious worry for the government, who have recently been debating the advantages of various different schemes for funding care during retirement. However it is funded, this is someone else’s issue – as someone looking for a career in home managing, you are likely to have a growing list of jobs to choose from. There is already a shortage of personnel in the area, particularly in the private sector, and the chances are that this is only going to get worse in the coming years.

Thus considering searching for home manager jobs is to start on a reliable and hopefully rewarding career – though not one without its challenges. Whether you look for nursing home manager jobs or care home manager jobs, you are going to need much the same abilities, experience and qualifications. Some of these can be acquired on the job. However, much of it is about character more than qualifications, so be sure to check you are up to the role first – perhaps through some work experience or volunteering.

Please visit http://www.aboutcare.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.aboutcare.co.uk/

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Sales presentation training: is it worth the money?

Those who have a natural skill with words and numbers may be particularly adept at business proposal writing, but this is not to say that it cannot be taught.  People who swallow their pride for long enough to invest in sales presentation training often find that it is one of the best investments of their career.  Working on a large bid can be a very stressful task, and having some professional bid support can go a long way towards easing the pressure.  We like to think that our colleagues can support us when things get stressful at work, but the sad truth is that a lot of the time, everyone is just too busy to be able to give enough time to other peoples’ problems at work.

Sales presentation training is available in a variety of formats, and can be tailored to one’s individual specification.  It may be some general advice on business proposals, or a detailed look at some past work that could do with improvement. Alternatively, it might be consistent support throughout a bid that you are looking for.  The majority of consultants will provide help and advice according to your needs; all you need to do is decide what you want.  When you have made up your mind, you can contact companies to see what kind of standard packages they offer and whether they can offer you something more specific to your needs.

This kind of support and advice is not restricted to the written word.  While the content of a proposal or a bid is clearly important, delivery is also crucial, as without good presentation skills, the modern-day business professional risks losing important contracts.  Feedback from clients rarely offers that insight that is necessary to really improve one’s technique, and this is where presentation support can be particularly valuable.  Perhaps the tone of your voice alienates your audience, or you do not involve them enough in the presentation.  If there are any such issues that are coming between you and your potential clients, a consultant is likely to notice them straight away  and improve your presentation style forever.

Business proposal writing is so important that it is surely worth investing time and money into getting it right.  It could be an afternoon or a few weeks of sales presentation training that you are after, but if it improves your confidence and secures important sales, it will be time well spent.  There should be no shame in asking for bid support, as anything that get results will only be seen in a positive light by the boss, if they have any sense.

Please visit http://www.salesengine.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.salesengine.co.uk/

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