Archive for the ‘News’ Category

One for the ladies this time.  Michelle now has her very own weekly career column in the newly revamped MORE! magazine. It’s packed full of work advice, reader Q&A and top tips on how you can be your best.

It hits the shelves every Tuesday so be sure to check it out…

Michelle will be going around the country 21st - 23rd May 2012 helping people back into work.  She will be supporting The Sun’s employment campaign which currently has 92,000 jobs on offer. Michelle will join FTSE100 CEOs, Government Ministers and training providers to listen to and advise jobseekers.

Check out their progress here.

Michelle showed how to Chiconomise in the best possible way when she was snapped getting Kate Winslet’s look, for a fraction of the price.

Michelle believes that to look good you do not have to spend a fortune, you just need to know where to look.  No better advert for it than this.

Check out her look, here.

Michelle worked with the NSPCC and Refuge to launch a new report showing the devastating impact of domestic violence on children.

The report focused on how children need to be supported and what needs to be done.

The report was launched by Michelle on BBC Breakfast and also on London Today. A conference for all leading influencers in the field was also held the same day.

Read the full report here.

Watch Michelle talking about it on BBC Breakfast here.

Michelle was today invited by Rt Hon Chris Grayling, Minister for Employment, to attend a round table discussion focused on the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA). The purpose of the discussion was to evaluate the current progress and make suggestions for improvements / growth going forward.

The NEA is a new initiative aimed at helping those who wish to start a new business. The NEA offers a blend of mentoring, money and support, to help people start on their own.

More information about the NEA here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/new-enterprise-allowance/

Michelle is the cover interview in this month’s (September) Orange Exchange magazine which is circulated to over quarter of a million small business owners accross the uk.

See the interview here.

After an incredible launch and acceleration period of Likebees.com, Michelle sold her shares in September 2011.

Likebees was the UK’s first social buying site aimed at the family market and has spawned many copy cat companies. It continues to source and offer the very best family deals for parents across the company.

There’s an interview in this month’s Natwest Business Sense magazine. Check it out here.

The latest unemployment figures were released today. While many predicted that numbers had fallen, sadly this was not the case.

In a nutshell, unemployment rose by 38,000 and was up to 2.49million of us are now unemployed.  Some more figures here:

• The youth unemployment rate rose to 20.2%, up from 20% in the quarter to March
• There were 949,000 16 to 24-year-olds without work, a rise of 15,000
• The number of unemployed men increased by 18,000 to 1.45 million
• The level of unemployed women rose by 21,000 to 1.05 million - the highest figure since May 1988
• The number of employees working part-time because they could not find a full-time job increased by 83,000 to 1.26 million - the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992
• The unemployment rate remained the highest in the north-east of England, at 10%
• The south-east of England still had the lowest rate of unemployment, with a rate of 5.8%
• The unemployment rate in Scotland was unchanged at 7.7%, in Wales it jumped to 8.4%, and in Northern Ireland it crept up to 7.3%
• Average weekly earnings, including bonuses, were 2.6% higher than a year ago

It is estimated that there are around 458,000 vacancies which means that for every one vacancy, there are 5.4 unemployed people (source:Labour Force Survey and ONS).

In my mind, we need a four pronged attack to fix this 1: Make sure as many people as possible are ‘employment ready’ with training etc 2: Encourage and support small businesses to expand their work force (I have lots of ideas around this) 3:Encourage and support people to become self employed and establish new businesses 4: Change the benefit system to stop paying people to sit and do nothing.

I’ve been on ITN today discussing this subject and have also got involved in a 7 day jobs challenge which is running on Facebook to help people back to work. It launched Thursday 18th August 2011. Check it out here.

Check out my interview with ITN here too.

Check out Michelle tomorrow morning (14th July) on Sky News Sunrise. She’ll be alongside Eamonn Holmes giving her take on the days news…