When applying for a job it is important to highlight your transferable skills to potential employers, particularly if you are looking to move into a different sector or area of work. Transferable skills are those that you develop that are relevant to other job roles and industries and are often as much of a priority for employers as relevant qualifications or experience. Examples include IT skills, project management, languages, team leadership, presentation skills and sales experience. Make sure that you emphasise relevant attributes in your CV and in application forms to make your application stand out from the crowd.

With the New Year still fresh in our minds and cold weather causing slippery conditions now might be a good time to evaluate your Health and Safety policies and procedures to ensure you are adequately protected. Remember, you have a duty of care to employees and visitors/ customers and can be fined and or prosecuted if you are not shown to have taken suitable precautions to protect health and safety. Not only that but your employees also have obligations and so training is an important part of keeping safe. If you haven’t reviewed Health & Safety for a while then take some time to conduct a risk assessment, review your policies and consider staff training. If you are thinking about recruiting someone then it is also worth considering how you incorporate this important subject into his or her induction. Most importantly, keep safe in 2010.

As Britain deals with a prolonged cold snap, some commentators are starting to suggest that basic foodstuffs may end up in short supply or prices may start to rise. Already in some hard-hit areas groceries such as milk and fresh seasonal vegetables are in short supply as farmers struggle to get their produce harvested and away from the farm. And shops are also becoming short of stock as consumers ‘panic buy’ in case the weather keeps them at home. Industry experts are attempting to reassure consumers that products will remain available to discourage panic buying and maintain supplies but have not ruled out price rises if the weather continues…

The government has launched its first major food policy document in more than fifty years in which it sets out its vision for the UK food system in 2030.

The report, entitled ‘Food 2030’ was launched by Defra Secretary, Hilary Benn MP, at the Oxford Farming Conference on January 5, and has been widely welcomed by the farming industry. It focuses on securing food supplies to meet growing demand whilst protecting and enhancing the environment.

The document paints a picture of an industry where consumers have a choice of healthy sustainable UK-produced food and where UK farmers are profitable, competitive and resilient. The report also envisages an agricultural industry that makes a significant contribution to rural communities whilst being a global leader in food sustainability.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Food 2030 also focuses on carbon, aiming for the UK to have a low carbon food system with waste being reused, recycled or used for energy generation.

Undoubtedly this document paints a positive picture for the food industry moving forward. But, as always, the devil is in the detail – it will be interesting to see how this new vision translates into policy in the coming years.