There are lots of useful resources to help you and your staff to develop your skills and knowledge, and gain great benefits for your business in the process.

Clearly resources have to suit your own company needs and occupational requirements so it is not possible to recommend something that will suit everyone. However what follows are suggestions on key areas of learning and work issues.

www.surfin2careers.com
Here you can purchase a useful desktop 40 card rolodex ‘Career Companion’ at £14.99. This lists 2400 web sites to obtain information on learning opportunities, courses & subjects, help & support and career links. It is ideal to put beside your computer. Hilary Nickell’s companion title ‘Surfing your Career’ includes information on a wide range of careers from accounting to zoology and classifies occupations by national careers library classifications as well as listing 1500 web sites checked out by careers professionals.

Trotman publishers are a leading supplier of books and resources to careers professionals. You can find them at www.careers-portal.co.uk.This site lists over 700 books that are available together with 2000 careers and higher education web links. It provides a one-stop shop gateway to the world of careers information on the web. Here you will find career guides by industry sector, occupations and functions, higher education advice, FE and postgraduate guides, employment and work skills, internet guides, special needs resources, teaching and professional careers resources and self employment resources.

For an independent look at small business look at www.skillup.co.uk - a site developed for small business by small business. It gives advice and help on everything you need for starting and growing your business. It also has a good listing of books and training products that can be searched.

5 small books, packed with essential information and tips that give an employee a full overview of key workplace skills that everyone is supposed to be proficient in, but for which they may not have been formally trained. Titles are Business etiquette, Business letter writing, Presentations, Telephoning and Time Management.

This is a practical and accessible guide to anyone planning to return to learning. Its companion and new edition the Mature Student Directory will be published in November 2003 and will also contain listings of every Higher Education Institute in the UK and what they have to offer mature students.

This new book takes a displaced employee though the whole career transition process from grief right through to elation! It is a book full of practical techniques that can be used to help self-marketing, networking and to enhance their job searching. Could also be used by employers as part of a self-help programme of redundancy counselling and support.

This book is helpful when employees are looking for change and redirection. Self-perception exercises guide the reader to assess their abilities in the areas of communication, interpersonal relations, computer skills, physical abilities and manual skills, financial management, planning and organising, entrepreneurship and personality traits.

This is very useful for matching IQ, personality & abilities to an employee’s ideal career. It is also very useful for employers wanting to see for themselves what psychometric tests are all about and to give careers guidance, prepare for selection decisions and to assist with performance at work

Directory of Further Education
Lists 70,000 Further Education Courses at UK Institutions.

British Vocational Qualifications
Lists up to date information on over 3500 vocational qualifications classified by awarding bodies, professional and career areas, and lists of colleges offering vocational qualifications.

Some very useful material for in house trainers or line managers can be found in the following publications:

Keynotes Careers Information for Adults
Provides a careers information service with photocopiable pages. The book contains 56 individual pieces of information in 5 sections.

Backpack
This is a series of materials, training plans with exercises for trainers to copy and use when running job-searching workshops in company.

For more information on where you can get relevant resources contact us via our FREEPHONE number 0800 138 5550 between 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 9am-5pm on Friday, and speak to one of our friendly local advisers. They will talk to you about your precise needs and investigate all the options there are for you. Alternatively email us now at dorsetiag@tribalhubs.com.