The gender imbalance within the UK construction industry is widely known, with only 11% of the workforce being female and just 2% of those being employed in craft trade roles. Consequently, a considerable skills shortage has arisen. To address this, construction companies are placing a greater emphasis on attracting a more diverse range of employees to aid innovation and futureproofing.

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Why is there an imbalance?

When considering construction companies Manchester is home to a number of leading firms who specialise in cutting-edge design, build and project management. However, there remains a considerable lack of female employees within companies here and nationwide. A study undertaken by GenAnalytics and funded by the Scottish Government found that only 17% of surveyed construction staff were female, with these figures being in line with national statistics. This has highlighted a need for construction companies to improve their image, as they are often regarded as a last resort for young people who are unable to secure employment elsewhere and are consequently demotivated and do not complete their apprenticeships.

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What can companies do?

To address this, it is crucial for construction companies to enhance their relationships with colleges and schools to promote the positives of a career in construction. Showcasing these jobs to students can be a great way of encouraging new talent into the industry.

When considering construction companies Manchester based firms such as Piggot and Whitfield https://www.piggottandwhitfield.co.uk/services/ offer opportunities in design and build, construction and project management, highlighting the multitude of career options available. However, sending staff into schools results in fewer employees on the job, which impacts project deadlines and income.

Therefore, the GenAnalytics report advises education providers to work with construction companies to educate students on potential opportunities within the industry. Allowing teachers to develop a greater understanding of the roles available in the industry can also form an important part of the approach, along with taster sessions, open days and work placements. The Guardian also suggests having students come and visit construction sites to experience the industry firsthand.

Future partnerships between construction companies and education providers can be a mutually beneficial approach that helps to prevent skill shortages and gender imbalance within the industry, in addition to introducing young people to an exciting new career prospect they may not have previously considered.

Great motivational speakers across the world use the technique of ‘story telling’ to their audience. Researches by the psychologists indicate that a normal and monotonous speech will not produce a great impact on the listeners and all the thoughts generated during the speech vanish away in no time. By using the technique of ‘story telling’ good speakers can able to manage the minds of the audience with a high retention rate of the message conveyed through the motivational stories. Hence the concept of ‘story telling’ can be used as a marketing strategy especially in the online business. This is very much needed as there is no personal rapport is established in the process of any online marketing.

As a high rate of growing of the online marketing techniques adopted by various online marketers, a new marketing strategy has emerged through the concept of social networking. A serial of storytelling videos can being a new intimacy to your video social networking
which cannot be matched by normal promos, and even passive videos. By providing few suspense and some thrills in the ‘story telling’ approach, you can effectively retain your audience to return to your website to look for the succeeding episode. In fact this is a copied approach made by the popular serials in the favorite television channels. However these special videos have a prime advantage of viewing the previous episodes which the traditional television serial does not have.

Know more about Storytelling video
This seems to be new marketing approach of your products and services. Using this special technique online marketers can able to bring more traffic to their websites by creating a suspense or thrill in these stories. These special videos share information about your product and services in the form of a natural drama which are made in different installments as episodes. The series of such videos have the essentials like introduction, middle information and the end message. Every episode ends with suspense just like the television serials. With this technique you are taking your prospects in a sort of continuous journey, so that we never miss to visit your websites and even advocate other friends to visit your website. In these videos make your product or service as the favorite ‘hero’ so that it goes in the minds of the prospective clients and stay for long time.

In general it is very easy to use the power of storytelling through the video social networking and make a clear understanding of your products and services to your prospects and even to your existing customers. Let us see one example. If you are a plumber engaged in plumbing services at homes and use the storytelling technique instead of a formal introduction, you stand a better chance of creating a follow-up by your clients who watch your stories in the popular social networking.

By advocating such new methods of video marketing one should not ignore the traditional methods as the net users are still considered to be a minority in this digital world. These methods are used mainly to express your uniqueness and make you different from other competitors.

If you were looking for a job that made sure you were almost universally reviled, then you couldn’t do much worse than become a Football Players Agent. Seen as money grabbing and even termed parasitic by many in the football world, do these agents really deserve the bad wrap that they get?

Another type of agent that is reviled is Estate Agents Bath, Bristol or probably anywhere else in the country for that matter. Footballers need a home too, so they if look on https://www.pritchards-bath.co.uk/ they’ll find one. What led to the start of the Football Agent? You have to look at the influence of Jimmy Hill for that and the minimum wage cap.

Before it became professional, Football was an amateur game. In other words, players were miners, tailors, shop assistants and chimney sweeps in the week then footballers on Saturday. They played for the love of the game, but it was not uncommon for them to get certain kickbacks. In 1885 the FA decided to regulate all professional players. These were the men who relied on Football for a wage and livelihood. They could be paid anywhere between 10 shillings a week (about 50p) and up to £5 depending on the club. Some, if the club was owned by a wealthy industrialist, found themselves in highly paid cushy jobs rather than play full time, until they retired from Football and had to leave. It was proposed that a cap of £4 be introduced but this got players up in arms as some where on £10. Back then the league had a North and South division. It was far too tempting for the players in the North to go South as there was no limit and they could go up to £10 a week.

A player’s union continued down through the years and, led by Jimmy Hill, finally decided to strike unless there was no limit. Fearing the worst, the FA gave in and ended the wage cap. The opportunity for player power was now open. Johnny Haynes, Jimmy Hill’s old teammate became the first £100 a week player, well over the average wage for the fans watching.

With this power, Players began to negotiate their own contracts. However, as they themselves had no idea their parents usually took over. They also generally had no idea.

The players agent began to take over. They had been around since the 1950’s but for the 70’s onwards they were the movers and shakers. They were able the negotiate deals not just for transfers but also the dreaded personal terms. In 50 short years the limited of £5 was eclipsed by the £263 million Paris-St -Germain paid for Neymar. The agents are only acting in an environment that we as fans and the FA have created. Players are still commodities only now they have more control and the agents “meagre” 5% or 10% cut is only going to continue.

I have always liked to be critical and question the importance or not of the number of followers of a page on Facebook, the crowded question of whether size matters, is something that in one way or another, many times, I have wondered.

I remember with my first projects, as from the beginning I tried to do what I understand (and time later gave me the reason) I had to do, and it was nothing but work well: and so when others chose to create personal profiles for companies, instead of fanpages for the facility to “get” friends I always opted for what I consider to be the right way: revitalizing, managing, adding value and off-on referrals for getting new fans from any of the pages I managed. Continue reading Are Facebook Ads a Lie? →

When it comes to engineered products, we often focus more on the end result, but the individual components that make up these items can be just as impressive. Here is a look at five of the trends that will make a big impact on materials engineering in the future.

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Exceptionally thin materials

Graphite is an extremely useful material, but it can be even more beneficial if it’s manufactured into a very thin layer. Scientists have been working for several years to create a layer that is only as thick as a single atom yet is very flexible, light, strong, resistant to oxidisation, flawless and able to carry a charge.

The use of multiferroics

Typically, ferroelectricity and magnetism aren’t exhibited at the same time by the same material, but some materials can achieve this, especially metal oxides. This enables electric fields to be used to store data, which is considerably easier to create than a magnetic field; however, magnetism is still present so the data can be stored in this way, too.

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Electric ink

3D printing technology has come a long way since it was first developed, but there are still many new ways it can be used. Currently, the majority of the applications manufacture prototypes quickly and at a cost-effective price, such as those for silicone hose manufacturers like https://www.goodflexrubber.com/pages/silicone-hose-manufacturer. However, new innovations, such as electric inks, will open up the ways in which this technology can be beneficial. This would allow the printers to produce LEDs, solar cells, antennas and many other electric components.

Improving lithium-ion batteries

Increasing the lithium capacity of electrode materials will enable higher-density batteries to be manufactured, which could then improve the efficiency of electric cars and other products. Scientists have now discovered that if silicon spheres are combined with boron and pores are etched onto them, the resulting battery can store three times the amount of energy and is able to charge in only 10 minutes. Currently, they only work for around 200 cycles, but further improvements are expected.

Nanotube threads

Nanotube pencils have previously been developed that enabled nanotubes to be sketched whenever needed, but they had their limitations. Researchers have not created a nanotube thread that is flexible and long enough and ten times stronger than steel with the conductive power of copper.

Coming up with names for new cars might seem like an easy job, but it is actually fraught with danger. When Indian industrial giant Tata, which makes everything from steel to tea bags, decided to call its latest small hatchback the Zica, it probably seemed like a great idea at the time. This contraction of “Zippy Car” is short, easy to pronounce, and a bit different. You can imagine the congratulatory back slapping in the marketing meeting, they probably broke out a box of the company’s tea bags to make a celebratory brew. Continue reading Tata renames its hatchback to avoid virus links →

One element that is marking the brand strategy in recent times and one that has become key to creating a relationship between brands and consumers are emotions. Emotions generate much more powerful links to other items and are, therefore, key companies are using recurrent and remarkable to connect with consumers form. They want the engagement is as high as possible and want the consumer to feel more attached to his brand of what’s what of competing brands. Emotions are a direct way to do so. Continue reading Marketing and emotions! The key lies in the brain →

Imagine the perfect advert for your restaurant. What does it look like? The chances are that even if it does not have young people in it, it is probably aimed at them. For the vast majority of people, advertising is aimed at a young, affluent, trendy audience. If this is the case for your business, you might want to think again. Continue reading Capturing your share of the ‘grey pound’ catering market →

In this article I will propose 21 questions to help you learn more about the personality and preferences of the person you want to learn more without falling into the typical What would you take to a desert island? O What is your favorite song? Also the you can apply to your normal social relationships to create more interesting conversations. Continue reading 21 Questions To know someone better →

If you are in the process of getting an online store off the ground, here are four important steps to follow to ensure your launch is a profitable success. Continue reading Four steps to a profitable ecommerce launch →