《重庆市地方税务局关于公布全文失效废止的税收规...

Well it has certainly been an interesting and challenging few weeks since my redundancy at Turning Point was announced. Highly disappointed as I was at that happening I am in awe at what the organisation does for those less fortunate and I will forever remain thankful for my opportunity to work for such a fantastic business.

Of course, it was a shock to hear that I was being made redundant but having been mad redundant before I knew what I had to do. Get my skates on!!!

I am old enough to remember the good old days when looking for a job without the internet. The Glasgow Herald, the professional magazines and The Guardian seemed like the only source for jobs and all applications were by post.

But now we have the internet and a myriad of job boards and Linked In. Plus, of course, I have much more experience in my chosen profession - some might argue!!!

Linked In has been a game changer in the job search world. Now we all have access to many more people than we would ever have had assuming that connections have been established.

I posted on Linked In that I had been made redundant and was on the look out for a new role with immediate effect and was available there and then. Within a week there had been a 2,658% increase in views of my profile on the platform. (I wouldn't recommend being made redundant as a way to increase your profile!!!) The posting received over 82,000 views and 138 likes.

Subsequent postings weren't as powerful but certainly kept my profile high. I've added more connections as folk asked me to connect with them.

Over that weekend I also trawled my connection list and sent out many, many emails to connections explaining my situation. Very quickly I was getting responses and offers of support and advice. TOP TIP: Download your connection details from Linked In. It's easy to do and will help you remember who they are and be able to potentially help.

The following week were meetings and telephone calls and email discussions. It felt like I didn't stop!!! The following week 4 interviews and 2 offers.

Now I know that recruiters get a pasting on here from time to time in terms of how they operate. All I can say is that, as in every walk of life, there are good and bad. But at a time of looking for a job, they are a necessary support for your job search. Even if you have lots of connections, they have lots more and at the end of the day your job search comes down to 2 things:-

1. It's a numbers game. The more doors you knock the more likely one is going to open. Not many people can sit at home and wait for the job to come to them!!!
2. Being in the right place at the right time.

So here I am, job search completed and just waiting for security clearance and reference checks etc to be done before I can start with another fantastic business.

There are too many people to thank for their help, support and advice in the past few weeks. I will get round to thanking them personally in time.

And my promise is that I will always try to help you if you ever need support, advice or help in your time of need.

Iain Williamson