You may now be wondering which companies are looking to expand their workforces in the near future; if you are your in the right place. Below I have compiled a list of the top companies that are planning to workforce this year:

Amazon.co.uk they opened their doors in October 1998, and have been striving to be the world’s most customer-centric company. They try to create an environment were people can find and discover anything they might want, and enable them to buy it online. They offer a wide range of goods, anything from books, electronics, jewelry, to sports goods, and many things in between. They operate sites in a number of countries, from the US, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, and China.
Open positions: Amazon is currently recruiting new staff nationwide and in Ireland, Germany and France for jobs in senior management, engineering, management consultancy, recruitment sales and many other areas.

Barclays is a provider of banking and investment management services. They provide their services to over 20 million people in more than 60 countries. They have more than 110,000 employees around the globe which makes Barclays one of the top five financial institutions in the world. Barclays is equally focused on the quality of support they provide as an employer, and on helping their own people to be the best they can be.
Open positions: Barclays has a great demand for cashiers across the UK.

Centrica is an integrated energy company operating predominately in the UK and North America. Upstream they source, generate, process, trade and store energy. Downstream they supply gas and electricity to homes and businesses and offer a distinctive range of home energy solutions and low-carbon products and services.
Open positions: They have many open opportunities and challenges available in banking and finance, accountancy, IT, management, construction and more.

G4S is the world’s leading international security solutions group. They work in partnership with governments, businesses and other organizations to provide integrated solutions to security challenges. G4S has almost 600,000 employees, making them the second largest private employer in the world.
Open positions: Operating in more than 110 countries, G4S is always looking for committed individuals to join their team. G4S is looking to recruit meter workers on a national basis, to undertake the installation and exchange of electricity meters in industrial, commercial and domestic premises. Other positions are in business development, accountancy, education and sales.

Hertz is the world’s largest vehicle renting organization and operates from approximately 8000 locations in 145 countries worldwide. Hertz began 2010 with a head start after winning several awards, including “Best Car Rental Company in Europe”. This is no surprise, because in 2009 Hertz also successfully competed against its competitors by winning 16 awards, including the most prestigious award for “Best Car Rental Company Worldwide” — for the 16th time in a row.
Open positions: Hertz offers exciting career opportunities for starters but also for experienced managers. One of its offices is located in Swords, (near Dublin) Ireland, where they are currently expanding their team. Because of their expansion, Hertz is recruiting Dutch-, German- and French-speaking talent to join their winning team. Who wouldn’t want to work for the “2010 Best Car Rental Company in Ireland”?

Hilton is a leading global hospitality company, with over 3,000 hotels totaling over 500,000 hotel rooms in 80 countries and territories. The company already has over 100,000 team members worldwide who have access to a wide range of benefits, training and development support.
Open positions: Hilton has a variety of opportunities whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out in this industry, e.g. in the areas of catering, hospitality, senior management or customer service.

Kellogg’s UK is a successful company that has created great products that continue to grow. In 1978, forty years after the first Kellogg’s UK factory was established in Manchester manufacturing Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and All-Bran, a second was opened in Wrexham; at the time, one of the most progressive and modern food production plants in the world. Combined, the plants produce 230,000 tonnes of breakfast cereal every year. Kellogg’s employs around 2,000 people in the UK and more than 32,000 worldwide.
Open positions: Kellogg’s is regularly recruiting and always interested in speaking to people who are passionate about their careers and have experience or an interest in working in the following areas: Finance, sales, marketing, supply chain, food science, research and development, customer service, IT, HR, innovation, quality or manufacturing.

Total is one of France’s largest corporations and the world’s fifth largest publicly-traded integrated international oil and gas company, Total is committed to meeting growing energy demand while consistently acting as a responsible corporate citizen. Total operates in 130 countries and offers 500 different occupations.
Open positions: Total is recruiting nearly 8,000 new employees worldwide in 2010, both beginners and experienced professionals, who have all levels of diplomas.

The Nottingham University is dedicated to attracting and retaining the best possible staff. With over 6,700 staff in a variety of roles there are a range of job opportunities for a fulfilling and rewarding career. The University is a popular place to work with attractive award-winning surroundings, state-of-the-art facilities and a range of leisure activities which are hard to beat.
Open positions: The University of Nottingham has open positions for administrative and catering staff, housekeeping staff, researchers and technicians.

Sure you may be needing to collect a paycheck, however you should consider your options and investigate weather working for this potential employer has any disadvantages. If you can make due without collecting a paycheck for a little while longer depending on the situation you might consider waiting for a better opportunity to come along.

Carefully review the job requirements and description

One of the first things you should do is review the jobs requirements, so you will know what your responsibilities would be, as well as your key tasks, and who you would have to report to on a regular basis. I would also recommend that you answer the following questions for yourself:

• Will I enjoy my daily tasks?
• Will I be challenged?
• Is the job right for my level of experience?

Will I have to and am I willing to make any required changes? Will these affect my quality of life? (e.g. commute, hours, travel)

If you answered no to any of these questions you may want to consider looking else where for a job. I say this because if you are going to have fundamental problems with the job itself you will not be happy working there for very long. If it’s just something such as a lower starting salary then what you think you deserve, you may still want to consider taking the job as you may end up getting a raise quickly if you prove your worth.

Research the company

You may want to find out how they treat their employees and what the work environment will be like. If they don’t treat their employees very well you may want to reevaluate whether you would like to work there. Another red flag might be if the company has a high turnover rate.

Consider what the work environment will be like as this will affect how you will feel daily, so it’s important that you feel comfortable there. An example of this may be if you are used to a fixed schedule and working in a corporate environment, so you would most likely be unhappy in a more informal atmosphere.

Compensation

You will want to review the compensation plan, and compare your salary to that of industry standards and maybe even how much you earned in your last position. You will also want to review the benefits package, and consider how good they are. Remember that sometimes the benefits will make up for the lack of compensation.

There are also other things you should take into consideration such as how many hours you will be required to work, or maybe the company offers you the option to telecommute saving you both time and money. Something else to consider, if the potential employer doesn’t currently offer a benefit that is really important to you maybe consider asking them if it can be included for you. A good example of this maybe tuition reimbursement for seeking professional certification, most employers will appreciate that you are working to improve your professional skills so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Opportunities

Also you may want to inquire about the opportunity for career growth, there is nothing worse than getting stuck in a job that is going to lead you nowhere. While you may accept a position to get your foot in the door, getting stuck in the position for an extended period of time may eventually take a toll on you.

Here are some tips to help you get a realistic idea of growth opportunities in the company:

• Find out who held the position before you.
• If you have a manager find out where they started out.

If you find the answers for these questions don’t quite fit with the idea of promoting from within, you may consider going back on the hunt for another job opportunity.

If you take all of these issues into careful consideration they will help you to decide whether or not to accept the job offer, to negotiate farther, or to reject it altogether. If after following all the above advice you still aren’t sure what you would like to do, think everything over and see what your gut tells you to do. Or you may want to dig deeper into things, possibly come up with some of your own questions that you would like to ask, or just find out more information about the company. After all making the leap into a new career is a big step and decision, and shouldn’t be something that you rush into without considering everything (pros and cons), you may end up regretting it later.