Out-of-work graduate sets up own luxury chocolate business

Out of work and with no cash to spare, Flo Broughton and her dad Kerr set about making funky home-made chocolates as Christmas presents for friends and family.

Little did they know as they handed them out that they had stumbled on a fantastic idea that would help the pair create their own jobs and lead them to supplying Harrods and John Lewis with exquisite chocolate gifts.

"I'd graduated from university and was out of work and Dad had just retired from being an inventor," says Flo, 31, from their Choc On Choc chocolate empire HQ, near Bath.

Kerr Dunlop, 66, who had created a magnetic cat flap and a hedgehog Wellington boot cleaner, was very skilled at sculpting plaster moulds. "We were just fiddling around that Christmas and filled some moulds with chocolate. When we realised how much people liked them we decided to do some market research, find out a bit about chocolate and came up with 12 designs, including a chocolate Noughts and Crosses game.

"Once we had something to show off we took them to a trade craft fair in Birmingham," says bubbly Flo.

"I'd done a graphics design degree and used those skills to come up with design ideas. We were looking at creating something with a message, whether it's for ­Mother's Day, Easter or every day, that was deliciously edible."

When the buyers saw the chocolates, they were intrigued.

"Harrods came to us that day, as did independent retailers, and we were on to a winner."

The duo avoided studying how other chocolatiers do business.

"We didn't want to be swayed by what else was on the market, so we just went home and started working 24/7 in the kitchen to fulfil the orders and come up with new designs."

Every single chocolate was, and still is, hand-made and eventually they devised a clever way to layer ­chocolate upon chocolate so they could inset beautiful colourful designs within chocolate. "We patented the process – something which Kerr knew all about from his inventing days."

They continued going to trade fairs and Flo was surprised to learn she was quite good at sales.

"I'm chatty and I love chocolate so it makes it easy. My business cards have me as: Chief Chocolate Lady."

But the business side of things took a while to get to grips with.

"I've learned as I've gone on and my father-in-law explained a lot to me about accounts."

Before long, they were having to hire staff to help them get the orders out.

"We work so hard but it's worth it. I come up with most of the designs. If I like it, Kerr makes the mould. He works out of his shed but we've converted a village barn for production.

"We employ 20 staff. ­Everything is hand-made and we always come up with ideas."

Popular lines include a pack of 30 chocolate pills and I Love You More Than Chocolate. They are flying out of Bath to America, Germany and Italy. The online shop at www.chocolateonchocolate.co.uk is thriving.

Flo says: "I've just had a baby but I can juggle the two quite easily."

The fact that the baby is called Charlie gets a few giggles.

"He has a T-shirt that says. 'I'm Charlie and I have a chocolate factory'. How cool is that?"

Source: DailyMirror.co.uk, Thursday 31st March 2011

Wise jobseekers looking for graduate roles in social media

"Switched-on" jobseekers are using their social media nous to discover graduate vacancies before they are advertised to the wider market, according to Beyond Interactive.

James Swift, director and founder of the online recruitment communications firm, said that employers were capitalising on the capabilities of services like Twitter to speed up the process of advertising a position.

"If you look at the IT sector, for example, the really switched-on candidates will use Twitter to find out about jobs before they get advertised in the mainstream," he explained.

He added: "It's the same for companies, as well. If you've got a job that you want advertised on job boards or in the press, you have to wait – you have to get it copywritten and stuff – whereas you can actually post it onto Twitter straight away.

"The candidates that are following that company will find out about the role a lot quicker."

More companies, such as KPMG and the Royal Bank of Scotland, are advertising their job vacancies via their Twitter pages, while many recruitment companies are also using social media to promote jobs.


Source: Gradplus.com, Monday 28th March 2011

Graduate Unemployment at a 17 Year High

Graduate unemployment is increasing and recruiters have asked for a holiday to boost graduate job creation.

A report published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and also management consultancy KPMG has shown that February was a strong month for recruitment, and overall job vacancies rose, including that for graduate jobs.

Kevin Green, REC’s Chief executive has commented “We anticipate that unemployment will increase over the spring, summer and autumn, before very slowly starting to decline at the very end of this year and into 2012. With more than 20% of young people aged 16-24 still out of work, employers are remaining cautious and favoring the more experience employee rather than a fresh graduate.

Therefore recruiters called for the government to do something that would positively affect graduate job creation and improve the prospects for the ‘lost generation’. The holiday would be a great benefit to small to medium sized enterprises and allow for increased job creation.

The outlook for women is ominous, with a decrease in female employment by 0.5% (19,000) who lost their job. Typical sectors that women work in are also still in decline with retail vacancies falling by 34,000, education by 20,000, health and social work by 18,000 and administrative and secretarial positions by 14,000. With one in three women working in the public sector the matter is also due to get worse.

The TUC’s general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The UK desperately needs an economic strategy that prioritises growth and jobs to bring revenues in and the deficit down. The current plan of deep, rapid cuts is causing job losses to mount and sending our economy in the wrong direction.”

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Tuesday 29th March 2011

Rising Interest For Graduate Jobs In Hospitality

There has been a rise in interest over the past year in student jobs and graduate positions in the hospitality sector.

One graduate job recruiter has reported a 180% increase in interest in the sector year on year and said it was the most viewed sector by students and graduates in January this year.

Quoted in the Daily Mirror, the Institute of Hospitality’s Philippe Rossiter, talked up the current hospitality jobs scene, saying: “The industry is in a remarkably resilient mood. It has benefited from continual growth over the last 30 years and although this trend has slowed more recently due to the recession, People 1st, the Sector Skills Council, believes there will be a further 10% growth in the industry by 2017, creating 208,000 jobs.”

And Darra Singh from Jobcentre Plus told the newspaper about the variety of general and student jobs available in the hospitality sector, pointing out that there was a multitude of positions available at hotels, leisure parks, exhibitions and conferences. “Busy times of year such as summer holidays often mean lots of temporary jobs, which can be a great way to build up your experience and help you move into a more permanent role,” said Singh.

The Mirror reported that there are currently at least 13,000 jobs available in the UK for students and graduates interested in working in the hospitality industry. Going forward, there are expected to be an estimated 30,000 new jobs created by the sector in the next few years.


Source: Employment4Students.co.uk, Sunday 20th March 2011

Students should be given post-university support to secure graduate roles

All UK students should be taught entrepreneurial skills regardless of their chosen discipline to help them secure graduate vacancies, the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) has recommended.

The suggestion came in advance of chancellor George Osborne's Budget announcement on March 23rd, which pledged to finance a further 50,000 apprenticeships and 80,000 work experience placements.

Paul Hannon, director of research and education at the NCGE, said that graduates must get support when looking for their first post-university job.

"The most critical thing for the future is that all students are taught entrepreneurial skills and not just those on business courses," he said.

"We believe that graduates need access to appropriate start up support when leaving university. We encourage the private sector to get more involved with internships, apprenticeships and NCGE programmes to help our young people drive our economic success tomorrow."

In the Budget, the government also pledged to "create a more educated workforce" and one that is among "the most flexible in Europe".


Soure: Gradplus.com, Friday 25th March 2011

London 2012 Olympics will create thousands of computing jobs

People leaving university in the coming months may want to look for graduate opportunities in computing, as it has been revealed that the upcoming Olympics will create thousands of jobs in the sector.

The 2012 London Olympic Games will create around 5,000 jobs in IT, which will probably include graduate roles, according to The Recruiter.

Paul Winchester, managing director of IT recruiters Greythorn, told the news provider that the demand for skilled workers in computing is already seeing a rise.

"The IT and telecoms infrastructure required to host the Olympics will leave a significant high-tech footprint on the UK labour market," he said.

"Given that five per cent of the UK's 29 million strong workforce work in IT and telecoms, and government forecasts suggest 103,000 permanent jobs will be created by the Games, our estimate may be on the conservative side."

It was recently announced that the Olympic Games will create an economy-wide "feel-good factor" that may increase graduate jobs.


Source: Gradplus.com, Friday 25th March 2011

Experience of budget management can help people find graduate jobs

Experience of budget management and networking skills will give candidates for graduate vacancies every chance of landing jobs in the private sector, according to Hays.

Mark Staniland, managing director of career transition services at the recruitment firm, said "experience of managing large budgets will be attractive experience to the private sector".

"Candidates should showcase their ability to structure, control and manage budgets," he added.

Mr Staniland focuses on the importance of large budgets, but people looking for graduate opportunities may like to show they can manage budgets at university, from personal money to the cashflow of a society or other group.

When looking at candidates for graduate vacancies, many private sector employers chose graduates who have experience in the professional world.

Recent research has shown that the private sector looks more likely to pull the United Kingdom out of its economic downturn, as the public sector is suffering from government cuts.


Source: Gradplus.com, Thursday 24th March 2011

What does the 2011 Budget mean for graduate jobs?

This year’s Budget has brought some potentially welcome news for graduate job seekers, if it stimulates economic growth the way it is intended to and therefore creates job opportunities. Here we run through the main points of the 2011 Budget from a graduate recruitment point of view.


Whether the Budget will actually stimulate growth is being hotly debated. While the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has broadly welcomed the Budget as signalling that the ‘UK is open for business’, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have slammed it as a ‘no change Budget’ in which there is ‘nothing to end the basic error of imposing deep, rapid and unfair spending cuts on an economy where unemployment is rising and growth faltering’.


However, if they are successful, the government’s plans to provide Enterprise Zones in 21 areas around England (which will benefit from 100% business rate discounts and easier planning systems) could well create graduate job opportunities. Changes to the planning systems, the 1p cut in corporation tax and simplifications to taxation are also designed to make life easier for businesses and open up jobs.


Would-be high-flyers in the scientific world will welcome a £100 million investment in scientific research, which should open up more opportunities. The Russell Group of universities’ director general, Dr Wendy Piatt, commented: "The Budget’s £100 million additional capital investment in science investment projects is a welcome step in the right direction", although she also argued that UK universities are still under-funded compared to their international competitors.


Chancellor George Osborne has put a lot of emphasis on the importance of manufacturing to the economic recovery, saying that he wanted ‘a Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers.’ The launch of the first Technology and Innovation Centre in high-value manufacturing is designed to encourage this. Enhanced capital allowances are also to be introduced to boost Enterprise Zones where there is a ‘strong focus’ on high-value manufacturing.


There is much in the Budget to bring hope to the construction industry, including money devoted to railways, roads and houses. Richard Threlfall, head of infrastructure, building and construction at KPMG, comments: "The government’s initiative to help first time buyers will help to stimulate the market and hopefully feed through to building companies and suppliers. The sector will also welcome the announcement of changes to the planning system, the commitment to approve 21 new Enterprise Zones and an additional £2 billion for the Green Investment Bank, all measures that will help long-term growth and economic stability."


John Cridland, director general of the CBI, also pointed out that the first time buyer’s scheme ‘could create thousands of construction jobs’.


George Osborne’s announcement of 80,000 new government-funded work experience placements seems to be aimed at 18–21 year olds who are on benefits – not university students, then. However, the government has previously said that graduates who have been on Jobseekers’ Allowance for six months or more are eligible for a training allowance while undertaking unpaid internships.


There are some positive signs in this Budget that, should things go as the Chancellor of the Exchequer hopes, the jobs market will improve. Don’t expect this to happen immediately, though: many of the measures in the Budget, such as the planning changes and even the cuts in taxation, will take a while to filter down into job creation.

Source: Targetjobs.co.uk, Thursday 24th March 2011