Shopping for Jobs - Looking for a new Job Online

After two years of selfless dedication to informing shoppers of whats up and coming, the best offers and where to get them as well as things to avoid it is surprising that no job offers or potential employment opportunities have arrived. It could be that this blog has no contact form and in this day and age of spam attacks only the foolhardy would put their email up for all to see and abuse.

If the mountain won't come to the blogger then I will have to approach the mountain.

Mirroring the shopping growth, online recruitment has also become a regular tool for job hunters and employees. The number of UK job sites offering vacancies with interactive questionnaires, cv submission and regular rss feed is growing to reflect the changing job market and even with the economic trends creating insecurity appear to be well populated with a wide variety of jobs in many different sectors.

Finding a new job is very much like shopping - both the employers and applicants want to know if they are a good fit or match, is the money appropriate, what about aftercare service, are there any guarantees are in place and as all good shoppers have come to expect what negotiations can be explored and perks thrown in?

When searching for shopping jobs the results returned reveal opportunities to apply for jobs as mystery shoppers. I dabbled with this joining Grass Roots Mystery Shopping three years ago. Not only was I sent to small local branches of Lloyds TSB in remote Devon villages to find they were not open every day but that the job involved completing enormous forms and writing detailed reports which when added to the actual mystery visit totaled 3½ hours - for twenty quid!

Well other than my tremendous insight into shopping I thought I should look to utilise my training in finance and checked out what accountancy jobs were currently available - the result? lots - but like a shopper hunting a good deal I remembered that a bargain is only a bargain if its something you wanted - and seeing the dreary positions for control accountants and book keepers I soon realised that it wasn't time for my return to that profession.

Top tips for when looking for a new job online:

• Register with several online job sites
• Select and review keywords carfully - locations such as "south west" will return Devon Cornwall and South West London.
• Stuff your cv with the latest buz phrases and words - quality, proactive, communicator, team etc as the scanning and subsequent entry onto databases will favour these.

Happy job hunting.

Land Rover Freelander or true British Bentley - the drive of your life

Hats of to Mel B aka Scary Spice for letting it slip that she drives a Bentley whilst living in LA. Good to hear that in these uncertain economic times our celebrities are flying the flag for our precious exports.

Mel commented "While it's beautiful, fast and only for the rich, some hairs on the back of the neck still stay down" and asked.. "is it because it's four-wheel drive?"

Much as we love the Spice Girls number one hairy (Scary Spice) one has she not considered the usefulness of a four wheel drive on the flat, straight streets of California?

Whatever Next - All Terrain SUVs dominating the States? You only need to see this video clip that demonstrates the style and grace of the freelander in a variety of circumstances - driving conditions, terrains and challenges.

Well the "Shopping Info Guide" is hardly qualified to discuss the merits of four wheels - we touched on the subject of the exceptional tyres that allowed a Landrover Freelander to circumnavigate the world and following the recent Royal endorsement from Sara Phillips of the Freelander we decided to have a closer - if Land Rovers Freelander is the hottest selling compact SUV we think it worthy of inclusion in our guide to help visitors make and informed decision before they buy.

So what doe the Freelander offer that adds those extra thousnads to the price tag?

Safety first

The Euro safety report award the Freelander maximum marks on many of its critical tests

Comfort zone

The UK broadsheet newspaper The Independent's let its motoring journalist Roger And-Out take the Freelander 2 for a comprehensive test drive and the resultant write up was one that described the sheer comfort for both driver and passenger whilst off road and emphasised the smooth traveling whilst on the road.

All Round Performance

Finally the motoring institution Top Gear summed up the vehicle -
"The Land Rover Freelander is a capable SUV, with more off-road ability than its rivals and a more grown up mini-Discovery."

Fuel Economy - glug

Top Gear was the only review that offered the helpful suggestion that "Diesel engine suits it best, petrol version is thirsty" worth bearing in mind as we see oil prices continue to inexplicable rise.