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Halloween is fast approaching and with this comes longer nights and colder days, so why not make the most of this change in season and this upcoming spooky evening to do something different. London is a city full of surprises and hidden treasures, so explore them! This year there is a whole host of things that you can do to get your heart pumping and your blood boiling; from doing night tours of cemeteries to a themed boat trip on the Thames. With an array of chilling attractions and haunted venues, make your Halloween extra gory by looking at our selection of things to do! If you are looking for something particularly spooky to do and want to get you sufficiently frightened or if you’re looking for a great venue to dance the night away with all the other ghosts and witches, then look no further. London caters for all of those on and around the 31st of October – no need to miss out on all the fun because Halloween is on a work night! If you don’t have the luxury of celebrating Halloween on the day, you can celebrate it over the weekend with an array of things happening all over the city. Why not get yourself tickets to the Halloween Ball at the Mansion, where tickets range from £30-£750, but come best dressed and there are prizes..

Sunday 11th November. The day that we remember all of those who fought for their country and died in the line of duty. 100 years this year since the armistice was signed. For all of those who wear poppies, continue reading to find out why.   On November 7th, 1920, in strictest secrecy, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed from temporary battlefield cemeteries at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme. None of the soldiers who did the digging were told why. The bodies were taken by field ambulance to GHQ at St-Pol-Sur-Ter Noise. Once there, the bodies were draped with the union flag. Sentries were posted and Brigadier-General Wyatt and a Colonel Gell selected one body at random. The other three were reburied. A French Honour Guard was selected and stood by the coffin overnight of the chosen soldier overnight. On the morning of the 8th November, a specially designed coffin made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the Unknown Warrior was placed inside. On top was placed a crusaders sword and a shield on which was inscribed: "A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for King and Country". On the 9th of November, the Unknown Warrior was taken by horse-drawn carriage through Guards of Honour and the sound of tolling bells and bugle calls to the quayside. There, he was saluted..

December has thrown us into the Christmas spirit and trees are appearing in the windows and Christmas jumpers can be seen under jackets and hidden behind scarfs. The manic rush to finish, or start in some cases, your Christmas shopping is setting in and what better place to get ideas for presents than at a Christmas Market. Yes, they’re colder than shops and bring the risk of getting soaked by the random downpours of rain that keep hitting the City, but they are swarmed by cheery people, Christmas music and the smell of mulled wine and delicious food stalls. What better way to tick some items off your list and get in the Christmas spirit? We have compiled a list of the best Christmas Markets in London for you to go to over the forthcoming weekends. Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park It may not come as a surprise to most of you that Winter Wonderland’s Angel’s Market is number 1 on the list. With the opportunity to shop, ice skate, eat and drink, go on rides and watch various shows, there is much more to do than just shop for stocking fillers. The market itself is huge, with roughly 200 miniature chalets, covered in fairy lights and selling a whole variety of different things. You can easily spend a whole day wondering around the market and eating from various food vendors..

Rewind to a year ago and I knew nothing about recruitment agencies and neither did my friends. We were all talking about moving to London and looking for jobs and we thought the way we would do this would be by looking online and networking. We didn’t realise that there were people who would help us find our dream jobs. A couple of months into our year of studying on a secretarial course, some recruitment agencies came in and started talking to us about our options following our graduation. Two of these talks in and I was still none the wiser. Why would people help find us jobs and if they would, how much would it cost us? At the end of one of these talks, someone plucked up the courage to ask how much the service of using recruitment agencies cost, and they told us “nothing”. That couldn’t be right could it? Fast forward a year and I have been working at a recruitment agency for a few months now, and I couldn’t recommend signing up with an agency any more. Thinking back to my naivety and now seeing how the job market works, I wonder how anyone can get a job without the help of an agency. Using an agency to help you find a job couldn’t be any easier. All the hard work is left to your..

This week, we spoke to our new Resourcer and Office Coordinator, Indy Bamber. Indy joined the team permanently at the beginning of March having worked at a school for over a year. This week we asked Indy some questions about herself and the decisions that she has made to end up where she is today, working t Joyce Guiness. She tells us why she didn't go to university as well as her decision to stay in London, having spent a lot of time here when she was growing up. We hope you enjoy getting to know Indy as much as we have! If you are a client of candidate and would like the chance to feature as one of our #JGStories, don't hesitate to get in touch! Why did you decide not to go to University? The main reason I decided not to go to university was because I didn’t have one subject that I was set on studying. I am an outgoing and sociable individual and so thought that I would go down a more practical route and put my skills into place. That was when I came to the decision to enrol at Quest Professional. Quest is a secretarial course which provides young individuals with the key skills to get into the workplace. I decided to do the 9 month course which provided me both with business skills..

London is full of famous landmarks and sights and if you are visiting for a weekend, there is enough to see without having to take a step off the beaten track. However, if you are looking for somewhere more adventurous to eat and drink, rather than the chains that you can go to at home, then there is an abundance of cool, sophisticated and quirky places for you to go to. Four Thieves Based in Battearse, Four Thieves offers something that not many other places in London do. Imagine a room filled with old arcade games, mini golf, virtual reality and an electric car race track. Can’t think of anywhere with all of that? Four Thieves has it all under one roof. Head down for a fun filled evening with a group of friends! Bobby Fitzpatrick If you fancy an evening surrounded by vintage décor, great pizza, delicious cocktails and some old school music, then take yourself and your dancing shoes along to Bobby Fitzpatrick in Hampstead. Spend the evening sipping on old style cocktails and toe tapping in this bar which has been sent back in time. Tonight Josephine With two locations in London, one in Waterloo and the other in Shoreditch, Tonight Josephine offers a picture perfect cocktail in a glitzy pink neon surrounding. With high tables with benches and bar stools, a black and white patterned floor..

Our team (Team JG) did something different this week; we went to Shaftsbury Avenue to try out the new Crystal Maze. If you were ever a fan of the show you will know how the game works.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the 90’s show, you are led through a ‘maze’ or different themed rooms with various challenges in each. Led by an enthusiastic host, you are left to work as a team and must help each other pass each challenge. This was not just your everyday work outing, this was a team building exercise! This was a time for us to combine our expertise and skills to work together and encourage each other to win the game and therefore collect as many crystals as possible. In our day jobs at Joyce Guiness we very much rely on each other as we all have our individual duties to complete, which when put together, complete the main task.  It is important therefore that we are able to work together as a team and coordinate ideas and skills. When doing team building activities these can highlight various characteristics and skills of individuals that you might not have known about before. Not only this, it can also help to build trust between you all. Having trust within a team is crucial as it means that people are comfortable to share ideas..

If you follow our blogs and social media, you will know that we have followed Kiko Matthews over the past year or two and you will know what amazing challenges she has overcome. Among other things, in March 2018, Kiko became the fastest woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a solo rower. She did this 3284 mile row in 49 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes, which is a whole week faster than the previous record holder. Kiko is now taking on a different challenge; cycling the coast of the UK and Northern Ireland with the intention of raising awareness of the problem of single use plastic. In recent years, the dramatic effects that plastics are having on the environment and the world’s oceans has been much more publicised and more steps are being taken towards the prevention of the amount of plastic. The amount of plastic straws being used has been cut down drastically, people are carrying reusable coffee cups, metal and glass bottles are becoming more and more popular and cotton buds have been changed from plastic to paper stems. Shops are slowly taking steps towards reducing their plastic consumption as well, with new plastic free aisles being introduced by various companies. This change won’t happen overnight however and so the work that people like Kiko are doing is helping to educate the public and support everyone..

This week for our fifth #JGStories, we spoke to one of our Partners, Jessie. Jessie has worked at Joyce Guiness for 8 years' and started as the Office Coordinator before working her way up through the ranks! Prior to working at Joyce Guiness, she worked at Savills having completed a ski season in Meribel after graduating from the University of the West of England. Jessie makes everyone laugh in the office everyday and the below has given those of you that don't know Jessie the opportunity to know her like we do! When you are not working, how do you like to spend your time? Living in London, there is so much to do and always new places to discover. I do love popping out for a glass of wine or two in the evenings or going to explore new pop ups, restaurants and bars. However, as much as I love discovering new places, I am a home girl and always like an evening in, catching up on a recent series or cooking and hosting for family and friends. Of course, one must counter all of that with some fun in the gym or a sunny weekend outing with friends on my trusty bike along the river to Richmond Park, with a stop en route for a cold beverage of course! If you could live anywhere else in the world,..

  For those of you that have spent a summer in London, you know it can be a very busy, expensive time of year.  When you finish work and the sun is out there is nothing better than to go outside and have a nice cold drink! There is a whole host of things to do in London in the summer other than just going to the pub though. Whether it is just exploring some parks you haven’t been to yet or trying out some new hotspots, we have collated some of the top things to do in London this summer season. Outdoor Swimming If we are in for another scorcher like we had last year, there is nothing quite as refreshing as a dip in some fresh, cold water. Lots of you do brave a swim during the cooler months, but it certainly isn’t as welcoming as when you are doing it to escape the daytime heat or to refresh after a long day. Whether you are looking for an outdoor pool, heated or not, then head over to the Lido’s spotted around the city or, if you are brave enough, you can head straight to the serpentine for some fresh water swimming! Best Parks If you don’t fancy cramming around a swimming pool, what’s better than lying in a park with some drinks and snacks, or even better,..