Archive for June, 2010

5 Good Reasons to Switch from Hotmail to Gmail

googlemail_logo_v2Clearly not content with a virtual monopoly over internet search engines (anyone remember Lycos?!), since 2004 those loveable techno-rogues over at Google have been devilishly engineering their full-scale assault on your lives through the increasingly essential Gmail (formerly Googlemail) vehicle. Cheerfully for us laymen, when Google set their mind to something, they usually make it worth our while, and this is no exception. Indeed, the last three places I’ve interned at – one national publication, one established media company and one web-journalism start-up – have asked immediately if I were the proud owner of a Gmail account. I wasn’t? Then sign up, sonny boy, cos you’ll need it. Read the rest of this entry »

Top 10 Things to Do in the UK this Summer

Jay Z O2 FestivalThe sun has got his hat on hip-hip-hip hooray, the sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out to play…

It’s important to keep a clear distinction between work and play, so check out our top 10 below of things to do in the UK this summer. Read the rest of this entry »

How a Second Language Could Be Your Ace in a Stunted Job Market

hold an ace in the student jobs market

A Guest post by Christian Arno founder of global translation company Lingo24.

It’s a tough market out there – finding work as a student or graduate has never been harder, with less jobs available and more competition for the few vacancies. If you can speak more than one language fluently, though, you’ve got a secret ace hidden up your sleeve, and you may not even know it.

One of the few industries to have experienced growth during the economic crisis was translation and localisation – with the purchasing power of individual local markets diminishing, companies have been forced to look to foreign markets to keep their profits up, and this means getting professional linguists to translate everything from their business proposals and legal contracts to their marketing materials. Read the rest of this entry »

Employer Giveaway: Win Business Plan Pro software

business_plan_pro_software_small_logo.Our friends at Palo Alto are offering a free copy of the award-winning ‘Business Plan Pro’ this month. A lucky winner will receive the UK’s most popular business planning software (worth £79.99) which allows you to create an investable business plan with step-by-step instructions.  Its in-built financial tools guide you through the process of forecasting sales, expenses and cash flow plus you can use the 500+ included sample plans to inspire you. Putting credible business plans together is a tricky task, so this is a great prize!

Competition Details

The competition is open to members of FreelanceStudents only. In order to be in with a chance of winning the free copy, all you have to do is complete our simple online survey. There’s a total of 9 short questions (most of which are tick boxes) around the FreelanceStudents service and the whole survey will take about 3 minutes. Click here to take part today for your chance to win!

Here comes the caveat. The competition is only open to FreelanceStudents members that are “Employers” and that are UK residents. Additionally, by entering the competition we reserve the right to publish the name, company name, and town of the winner on FreelanceStudents.co.uk. Note we will never publish your full name.

Find out more about Business Plan Pro.

Competition ends at 5pm Friday 16th July 2010.  Deadline has been extended.

5 Things You Should Do This Summer

students_festival_v2Even if your job-hunting endeavours seem to be floating towards a messy looking creek and you’ve mislaid your paddle, you can’t spend 100% of your spare time fretting and fussing. Obviously, 90% probably wouldn’t hurt, but it’s certainly worthwhile, even essential, to give yourself some opportunity to re-charge and/or take some time to try something new. You’re young, enjoy yourself! Below are a selection of cheerful diversions for the Summer months – beats Facebook, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Play.com Vouchers Giveaway

play_com_logoIt’s competition time again. This time we’re giving one lucky student the chance to win a £50 Play.com gift voucher! It’s a generious prize and it’s a timely giveaway too,  as means you can stock up on your favourite games, music, DVDs, or perhaps a JLS concert ticket in prepartion for some serious summer fun. We’ve been big fans of Play.com since it’s initial inception in 1998, as it offered a competitive way to buy CDs and DVDs without the worry of paying for annooying delivery costs. Since then it’s grown to be one of the largest online retailers in the UK.

Competition Details – “Retweet the Competition on Twitter”

Unless you’ve had your head buried in sand for the past year or so you probably know what a “retweet” is. But just in case…

What is a retweet (often expressed as RT on Twitter)? A retweet is when you share someone else’s tweet with your followers.

Here’s how to enter the competition:

1. Follow @frlstudents on Twitter

2. Retweet this competition by Clicking This Link (note you must click this link)

Now, there’s one unfortunate caveat. The competition is only open to FreelanceStudents members that are UK residents, due to shipping costs for international rates. Additionally, by entering the competition we reserve the right to publish the name, university, and town of the winners on FreelanceStudents.co.uk. Note we will never publish your full name.

Competition ends at 5pm Friday 4th June 2010.