Following recent commentary on the web and in newspapers we wanted to highlight for our candidates the importance of safety when job hunting online and the things to watch out for.

In the article linked to above it refers to the fact that fake jobs or scam companies are preying on graduates and those who are unemployed and desperate for a job, this has recently become more prevalent for obvious reasons. Most jobsites monitor the jobs that are posted on their site, but with the volume of jobs posted it's not always possible to check through every job.

We do our best to keep an eye on the ads posted on the site, also when an agency or a company signs up we check their registered company ID and that they have a valid Recruitment Agency License however we do also rely on feedback from our candidates so if you come across any suspect roles please let us know (info@recruitireland.com). We can only speak for our own safety measures, other jobsites may not be as conscious of this issue as we are.

Below I have highlighted some things to bear in mind when job hunting online;

• If it seems too good to be true there is a strong probability that it is!
• Ads based from home, data entry online, graduate jobs and jobs based abroad seem to be the most common type of fake ad. That’s not to say that all of these are fake but be extra cautious if the company you apply to is based overseas.
• Before sending your CV forward for a role do some research on the company or agency advertising the role, check that their address and phone number is valid for example.
• Never ever give your bank details, credit card number or PPS number to anyone unless you know them or you trust the site.
• Never pay an agency to process your application; it is illegal in Ireland for an agency to charge a candidate for their placement services.
• If you are reading this and think you might have given your details to someone in error contact your bank immediately.

You may have some other tips for our jobseekers, please feel free to comment below.

This is embarrassingly our first post of the new year, so Happy New Year everyone! Annoyingly as one event is over we're straight into the next, Valentine's Day is everywhere so we've jumped on the bandwagon to launch our Valentine's Survey. We didn't run this survey last year as we were trying to be more intellectual but that was boring so this year it's back.

We want to know if you are going to be cutting back on the gifts this year, if the recession has made you more or less romantic or if it has even caused an improvement in your relationship? We're all a bit divided in the office over Valentine's, the lads think its a bit of a racket, I think its only right to be sent a bouquet and others find that an insane waste, so tell us, what do you think?

Take the survey here.

Morning all

This week I'm doing a lot of work on a plan for 2010 and what we might do with and to the site. It only seems like a month ago I did this plan for 2009 to be honest, I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by.

It's been a mighty busy one for us on the site, we changed our business model and how jobs are listed on the site which was at the request of our candidates and to be fair has improved the site no end, no more old jobs because now all jobs expire automatically after 14 days.

We had a Facebook fan page, a blog and a Facebook group which we set up in 2008 but we've worked a lot on these and have now integrated Twitter with the group and our blog with both so you can see it all from your favourite social networking site now. We plan to do a lot more work on this side of things in 2010 and have some very exciting plans. We teamed up with Red Oak Tax Refunds to bring you some useful calculator tools and the Budget 2010 calculator has been one of our most popular tools this year.

We started a free campaign over the Summer called "Get Ireland Working" where we offered free advertising to Employers and this received lots of feedback and was a really successful campaign, we are now looking at part deux of this campaign which hopefully will launch in January and will be aimed at our Jobseeker users.

Best of all, we turned 10 this year which was a huge achievement given the climate we are all living in, we look forward to turning 20 in 2019.

Now don't say we never ask you - any suggestions about stuff you would like added or changed on the site now is your chance, whether you like it or hate it, comments below please.

Afternoon all

We were chatting this morning about all the "best of the noughties" polls doing the rounds at the moment so we decided to do our own - The Biggest Reality TV Star of the Noughties

Take a look and give it a lash!

And the new Apprentice is….. Steve Rayner! I think it’s fair to say Steve’s performance in selling Nasal Strips had pretty much won him the show a few weeks ago but Stephen Higgins wasn’t giving up without a fight. 

Bill Cullen lined up a great task for the final to launch the new Ford Fiesta and to promote Dublin’s latest hotspot; The Wright Venue.Both teams looked to be going down the same road for the theme and it did seem a very obvious choice to go with the Spanish Carnival/ Fiesta concept.All credit to Stephen Higgins for having the courage to change the theme half way through the first day. 

While the finalists were repeatedly complimented for having grown throughout the process it was clear little had changed with the other candidates:Sam was still driving everyone crazy.Setanta was pointing out what everyone else was doing wrong.Maria still feeling she was under-utilisedAnd The Breffmeister was still providing the best one-liners on TV. 

The final also gave us two of the funniest moments from this year’s series: 

1: Stephen Higgins is on camera confidently saying that he’s placing his trust in none other than the Breffmeister to demonstrate the Ford Fiesta to as many customers as possible. In the next shot we see Breff sitting in the car with model Pippa O’Connor having the time of his life while completely ignoring a customer who was interested in the car. 

2: Michelle Heaton falling over. Yes, I’m childish, but my god that was hilarious. “May I present to you the new Ford Fiesta”…..splat! 

Overall, the finalists looked like they put on a hell of a night apart from Steve’s dreadful presentation and Stephen forgetting to mention the price of the car.When all was said and done, it was clear to me that Stephen Higgins had won this task but overall what Bill was looking for in his apprentice he found in Steve Rayner.  

So no doubt Bill will be back for another series of The Apprentice next year; will you be applying??? Let us know your favourite bits of last night’s show and the whole series below.

Look out for our 2010 Budget Calculator in partnership with Red Oak Tax Refunds, this will be live on the site early this evening after Brian Lenihan's Budget address. Check it out here http://www.recruitireland.com/budgetcalculator2010/.

In the mean time BreakingNews.ie have a dedicated Budget 2010 channel with continuous updates and a live Dáil feed.

Yes, the most dreaded week of all, the interviews. The candidates are put under the microscope and the interviewers twist everything they say against them, don’t allow them to speak and generally keep pushing them to see if they snap. You can’t deny it’s entertaining though! 

As always, there are a few surprises for all the candidates. Geraldine doesn’t know how many hits her website gets and she can’t spell, Red-Haired Steve had fabricated much of his CV and intends to continue running his own business while working for Bill, and English-Accent Steve is a reformed alcoholic and gambler! 

However, Steve’s admission seemed to turn into an advantage. The fact that he was so open and honest about it definitely helped him and he has made a remarkable recovery. Even Gavin Duffy (who has probably scared anyone from applying to the new series of Dragons Den after last night) ended up singing his praises in the boardroom. Another thing about Steve is that he seemed to be labelled “only a Salesman” over and over again but he made the point last night that if he hadn’t had his one outstanding sales performance in one of the task’s nobody would see it as an issue. 

Steven Higgins came across as very rehearsed in the interviews and every so often he’d say something that sounded as if it wouldn’t sit well with Bill. Plus, he did come across as quite arrogant. Mairead Fleming from Brightwater was a referee on Steve’s CV and he hadn’t even told her. When she called him on it he said he would just expect an employer who was happy with his work to offer him a good reference. 

Geraldine was entertaining and came across well and to be honest I thought as long as she didn’t have any major disasters in the interviews she was assured her place in the final. Although, it’s hard to forgive having 20+ mistakes in the first paragraph of your CV! Also, using the expression “cheap ass” in an interview probably can’t do you any favours. And things got considerably worse when she was asked “What makes Bill tick?”. 

Nonetheless, I was surprised when Geraldine was fired, I really thought Bill was going to give the inner city girl her shot at the final. So that leaves us with Steven v's Steve in the final. My money’s on Steve Rayner, who do you want to win?

Whatever about Lucinda being fired, there was one thing you could not have predicted in last night’s show…….Bill has a sense of humour! He was smiling, laughing and even reciting poetry in the boardroom last night.

I was surprised to see Applebys had provided the task this week because I wouldn’t have expected any company to allow the candidates to massacre their brand two years in a row. They were at least kind enough to offer the candidates some compliments after their presentations which you don’t often hear.

Steve and Geraldine started out with a row about who got to be project manager but once that was settled they seemed to work fairly well. Geraldine almost cost them the entire task by doing the voiceover for the radio ad but she was astute enough to note that her voice sounded “horrendous”.

Steve and Lucinda started down a bad path and things just got worse and worse. As their ads became tackier and tackier we saw more and more of them telling the cameras how great everything was going.

Again, it wasn’t much of a surprise who the losing team were going to be. I don’t think Lucinda had ever shown real individual strength but she had been consistent and she had got on with everybody so she had avoided the boardroom for a long time.

By now you may have noticed, Geraldine is running away with this. Bill had little bad to say about Geraldine (which is the equivalent of giving her a gold star) and Jackie had plenty of compliments for her on camera. Is there anything the lads can do to stop her?

Although, anything can happen next week as the candidates are put to the test in the interviews from hell. Maybe Geraldine will flip out and tell the interviewers that “Daddy can’t buy you cop on in Trinity!”

As most of you are probably unaware today is Thanksgiving in the States so we decided to give some thanks;

Sinead is thankful for our friends and family (aww, the cheesy one first)

Gill is thankful to still have a job in the current climate (so are we, thankful that she has a job and we have a job and we can help people find jobs)

Rebecca is thankful for Brackens and it's close proximity to the office (we all had lovely lunches today)

Diarmuid is thankful for mayo (the food not the county) because without it sandwiches would be so boring (hear hear)

I am thankful to have water at home so my world isn't completely bereft of water and thankful I didn't set anything on fire today (as opposed to the poor microwave on Monday)

Charlie is thankful that it hasn't rained today... yet (he's from Bandon so has been feeling the brunt of the rain and Mother Nature lately)

Emma is thankful that it's just 4 weeks to Christmas and even though it rains a LOT at least we don't have snakes (Thanks St. Pat), earthquakes or volcanoes in Ireland

and last but not least Ronan is thankful for the brilliant birthday presents he got for his birthday this month and especially the one from me! (I think he's being a bit smart here because thanks to an online game site which will remain unnamed we are still awaiting a delivery one month later)

Tom didn't tell me what he was thankful for but I'm going to hazard a guess and say his wonderful staff members.

What are you thankful for?

Here's a pic of Martin with his new Netbook - happy surfing Martin!