This will include their name and an address where any legal documents can be sent to, said Ben Evans, trainee solicitor at Lawdit Solicitors, a legal firm that advises freelancers.

Writing for Freelance UK, Mr Evans said that VAT-registered freelancers need to show their VAT registration number as well.

For those that trade under a business title that is not their own, they need to include their name and address on business cards and stationery, he added.

“From a practical point of view, I would advise including an address on your stationery/business cards. It may make prospective customers feel more at ease with who they are dealing with,” he commented on the website.

In other advice, Tony Harris, founder and managing director of Freelancer Money, wrote on Freelance UK that investing in pensions offers one of the remaining tax breaks for self-employed people.

National Computing Centre head of marketing Michael Dean noted that IT departments are increasingly deploying applications such as Microsoft SharePoint across their organisations.

Furthermore, he claimed that the 2010 version of the platform will offer users the extra stability and functionality, which will serve to increase its popularity.

“Desktop virtualisation is growing as it offers reduced running costs, whilst outsourcing of day-to-day operations – commodity items like email [and] Office apps – will also grow,” the expert commented.

Mr Dean also said that companies will be attempting to cut their spending by reducing the number of IT staff they directly employ, which could see many turn to using outsourcing or contractors.

A recent study by IT industry analyst Gartner claimed that worldwide IT spending will rise by 3.9 per cent in 2010, from $3.225 trillion (£2.123 trillion) in last year to $3.350 trillion.

This tactic will be used alongside other methods such as CVs, telephone interviews, assessment days and references, Mr Wetzel believes.

He spoke about best practices when it comes to how candidates should manage their social website profiles, advising against negative comments regarding a current or previous employer.

“Likewise, any comments about doing a ‘sickie’ from work or being hung over on the job will not cast you in a positive light,” he said.

All employers are unlikely to be impressed by excessive bad language or any discriminatory comments, such as racist or sexist remarks, Mr Wetzel added.

Recent research from Microsoft, carried out in support of Data Protection Day 2010, revealed that nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of people do not believe they are entirely responsible for protecting their online reputation.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), as many as 52 per cent of those polled in a recent survey are not feeling a great deal of economic confidence at the present time.

Meanwhile, 49 per cent of the firms queried would welcome a second general election before November.

The FSB’s national chairman John Walker has noted the need for smaller scale companies to feel confident.

He commented: “These figures worryingly show that small firms have lost confidence in the economy following the outcome of the election just as the business community was beginning to recover from the downturn.”

Prior to the general election, the FSB suggested that the country’s prospective political leaders should focus on issues like the ability of small businesses to gain access to finance.

Entitled ‘Changing to Compete’, the report is the work of the Whitehall and Industry Group (WIG), with chief executive Mark Gibson confident that the industry can prosper.

Areas such as nuclear power, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and other green technologies should yield new avenues for growth, but Mr Gibson believes that more needs to be done to improve productivity, which lags in comparison to overseas counterparts.

“This is a very important sector of UK industry, vital to the building of our future national infrastructure and to our move to a low carbon economy,” commented Mr Gibson.

The review found that much of the inefficiencies perceived in comparison with other countries was a result of the way projects were managed.

While contractor companies and clients knew about effective project management, it was felt they did not always put them into practice.

In addition, the review urged those involved in the industry to be clearer and more open when it came to contractor company relations and how best to engage with one another.

Firstrung chief executive Paul Holmes explained that lenders are devoting more time and effort to manually checking applications for mortgages rather than relying on the automatic processes which they previously used.

“It is just incredibly difficult to stack up for a mortgage today in comparison to how ridiculously easy it was to get a mortgage two years ago,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr Holmes claimed that banks are only approving around half of mortgage applications at the moment, as they are rejecting people for reasons such as missed payments in the past, multiples of earnings not meeting their requirements and poor credit ratings.

This week, research from unbiased.co.uk suggested that the public believes mortgage providers are applying harsher lending criteria than they actually do, with 40 per cent of people thinking they need a deposit of at least 20 per cent.

The financing, from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund, will also be used to help safeguard and create jobs.

First minister Alex Salmond claimed that the money will also go on helping 28,000 people gain or remain in employment with skills development.

“Skills upgrading and the matching of skills to jobs are strategic priorities and they must remain so in these difficult economic times, both in the shorter and the longer term,” commented East Ayrshire Council leader Douglas Reid.

A total of £18 million from the funding will be spent on 43 projects in the Highlands and Islands area, which are designed to provide support for 5,000 individuals to help them gain work.

The Scottish government also announced this week that two wind farm schemes have been approved in the country, providing new construction, permanent local operation and maintenance jobs.

The study, published by Juniper Research, also predicted that the bulk of these customers will live in Europe and the US, because developed markets are likely to have the conditions necessary for the spread of the technology.

However, it suggested that the calling patterns of migrant workers could mean that a greater amount of mobile VoIP traffic is seen in developing markets.

Juniper Research senior analyst Anthony Cox commented: “By 2012 we expect significant uptake of mobile VoIP in its various different flavours. By that date mobile VoIP will be available over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.”

Furthermore, the study claimed that traditional telephony operators and new mobile VoIP providers could increase their efforts to collaborate in order to make the most of increasing user demand.

Earlier this month, Frost & Sullivan said that mobile VoIP revenues will increase from $605.8 million (£421.6 million) in 2008 to more than $29.5 billion by 2015.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, body language expert James Borg noted that interviewers often make a decision on a contractor’s ability to do a job within the first five minutes of meeting them, making it important to start with a good impression.

“How you walk into the room and greet your interviewer is just as important as what you then say. Walk in with a sense of purpose,” he explained.

Mr Borg also recommended that people maintain eye contact when being addressed and avoid fidgeting or touching their face, as this can create the impression of being defensive.

Furthermore, contractors need to be careful how they sit when being interviewed, because a slumped position can make them look as though they are submissive and restrict the projection of their voice.

Recent research by Business Network International claimed that more contractors are winning projects as a result of word-of-mouth referrals.

Research carried out by the financial services provider suggested that the UK’s smaller operators are less appreciative of the opportunities the Games can create, as only 51 per cent said they will be of economic benefit compared to 70 per cent of large firms.

The organisation also told umbrella company members that the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) will commission more than £700 million in goods and services in the run-up to the event and said they should strive to chase these contract opportunities.

Chris Daniels, head of Lloyds Banking Group’s London 2012 business team, said: “We are approaching the home strait. London 2012 is just two years away but for the UK’s small businesses, there is still time to join the race.”

According to LOCOG figures, more than 1.4 million people are currently registered to buy tickets for the games, even though they are not on sale until next year.