So it has been decided, all Woolworths stores will be gone from UK high streets by 5 January, resulting in the closure of 807 stores and the loss of around 27,000 jobs.

Some will find work in the stores that take the place of Woolworths on the high street but many of the stores will sit empty for much of 2009 as the economy slips deeper into recession.

If you are one of the people that has been effected by the collapse of Woolworths it is definitely a good idea to have things prepared should another store take the place of Woolworths. They will need staff but there will be many more people looking to take these jobs.

Have your CV written and ready should this eventuality arise. Check out this guide for writing a winning CV.

Having saved a number of UK banks and building societies from the brink of collapse, it is now only reasonable that Santander consolidate their enlarged business but removing those jobs that have either become over staffed or unnecessary following their acquisition of Abbey, the Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

Today they announced 1,900 job cuts in the UK as they seek to consolidate their business activities.

This highlights the fact that even if a business is saved from failure, it is unlikely that all staff will be kept on. Nevertheless, had Santander not stepped in in the first place it seems inevitable that many more jobs would have been lost. It is time to be thankful for small graces in these turbulent times.

Even though I said it isn't just banks and financial institutions that are cutting jobs, this sector continues to announce massive redundancies worldwide.

Today we learn of another big bank that is planning on making major headcount reductions. The Bank of America has said that they will cut 30,000 jobs, or 11% of their workforce over the next three years.

Given that this follows their purchase of Merrill Lynch it seems that most of these job cuts will occur in the US, but other centres such as London and Frankfurt are likely to suffer.