Forgot how bad job searching was :(

FortuitousFluke said:
Seems to be a wealth of information in here so I'm hoping I can enlist some assistance.

My partner has been a store manager in a retail environment (small/medium sized Jewellery Store) for about 4-5 years, the job is stable but she doesn't enjoy it and the amount of responsibility she has is incredible.

She's not got a clear vision of what she wants to do but she know she wants out of the sector. The issue is that I'm having trouble working out where she could move on to. I've tried agencies, more to get an idea of what to pitch at, but they turn up nothing.

She has some IT, admin experience and has good experience of managing and motivating a staff team, budgetary control, meeting targets etc. Current pay is £20k but I'm starting to think we may need to take a hit for a few years whilst she starts at the bottom in a new industry. Has anybody made a transition from retail management to another sector? I'd really appreciate any tips.
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http://burberrycareers.com ? Yes - I am serious.
 
dr_volki said:
funnily I didn't even do anything, someone found my linkedin and got in touch.
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I've actually been quite surprised by how many agents initiate contact via LinkedIn; it almost makes me wish I'd made my profile visible earlier, and I might start actively using it more to build a network (I only have about 50 connections as I only accept incoming requests). I get several unsolicited contacts a week, and while there is a fair amount of guff (unsuitable jobs, generic network building) there's usually at least one potentially relevant job comes through every week.

FortuitousFluke said:
She has some IT, admin experience and has good experience of managing and motivating a staff team, budgetary control, meeting targets etc. Current pay is £20k but I'm starting to think we may need to take a hit for a few years whilst she starts at the bottom in a new industry. Has anybody made a transition from retail management to another sector? I'd really appreciate any tips.
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Haven't been in that position but depending on qualifications I don't see why she'd need to take a paycut unless she went into a completely new industry to which her skills and experience are not transferrable.

£20k is not an unreasonable expectation for someone with 4 years management experience and if flexible on location should definitely be achievable I would have thought. That can be key as some towns just don't have the right sort of jobs available.

When you say you've tried agencies perhaps that is part of the problem - it doesn't send a particularly good message if the employee themselves is not driving the search and with ambiguity around what she is looking for, I imagine most agencies will view it as a bit of a waste of time.

Get her to try a few online career finder tests, this should hopefully generate some ideas of suitable avenues.
 
Anyone with IT systems integration, implementation, project management experience give me a shout.. would be super interested if any of this is with CRM, Pay/Bill, HR or Accounting products or experience within Staffing & Recruitment Industry.

Role would equally suit someone who has worked a mid-senior level within back office in a recruitment business and had exposure / experience of systems change.

Business is a consulting / technology start-up, six months old, 4 of us in total now (including myself and business partner), have an order book full for the next 6 months and am turning down business weekly.. so really need to get some extra consultants on board just finding people that can hit the ground running.

Salary and Terms negotiable (either perm of contract for service)

Role would be home based and travel where required to client site within the UK (typically London but we have clients all over the country).

Any questions please ask or e-mail in trust.
 
crunchman said:
Has someone asked for them as proof or have you forgotten the results? :p
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I found my results. Some were at my parents and some were tucked away in a box we hadn't looked in since our house move over 2 years ago.

I'll admit to mis-remembering a couple of the grades. It's a good job I didn't specify them in my CV or application (just said A-C). :)

So let this be a warning kids - I know you might be tempted to throw them away, or burn them in some coming of age ceremony, but don't. Keep them safe. In years to come, even if your career has taken many turns and your experience counts for so much more, you may still need them!
 
Received my formal contract this morning so have handed my notice in today! Strange feeling, don't think it's really properly sunk in. Have been with current employer just over ten years now, moving to a new industry (Water -> Energy) but doing the same role (Project Management). Start 1st June :)

Was interesting to see how long it took to progress things from an application point of view, applied for 4 jobs beginning of year. Got interview for 1 straight away in early Feb but didn't receive an offer until into March from it. Got another interview in early March and received a provisional offer end of March (job I'm taking) but then I only received the formal offer and contract this morning! Had one knockback and one interview postponed for the other 2. So all in all it will have been about a 5 month process from starting to look to beginning the new job!
 
HangTime said:
I've actually been quite surprised by how many agents initiate contact via LinkedIn; it almost makes me wish I'd made my profile visible earlier, and I might start actively using it more to build a network (I only have about 50 connections as I only accept incoming requests). I get several unsolicited contacts a week, and while there is a fair amount of guff (unsuitable jobs, generic network building) there's usually at least one potentially relevant job comes through every week.



Haven't been in that position but depending on qualifications I don't see why she'd need to take a paycut unless she went into a completely new industry to which her skills and experience are not transferrable.

£20k is not an unreasonable expectation for someone with 4 years management experience and if flexible on location should definitely be achievable I would have thought. That can be key as some towns just don't have the right sort of jobs available.

When you say you've tried agencies perhaps that is part of the problem - it doesn't send a particularly good message if the employee themselves is not driving the search and with ambiguity around what she is looking for, I imagine most agencies will view it as a bit of a waste of time.

Get her to try a few online career finder tests, this should hopefully generate some ideas of suitable avenues.
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Thanks for the tips, I should clarify, when I mean I've tried agencies I don't mean I was contacting them on her behalf. I tend to have a lot more free time so I gave her as much help as I could with identifying potential agencies but the actual approaching/applying was done by her.
 
So feedback on the hiring line manager phone interview with the states - negative.

On the call it was apparent this was more like a presales product specialist rather than a product manager - something I've done in 2005.. I got the feeling in the first 30 seconds that we probably wouldn't have worked out from a personality perspective.

The second round of interviews has been put back to next week.. all arranged, the format for this is the standard in view with a 'task' that needs preparation before hand. At some point I'll find out what the task is... I certainly won't accept being told todo a cold task the night before - as I treat the interview as a client meeting.. preparation for cold meetings is key.

Looking at the CV a little more, will have another look at the start of next week with fresh eyes but I think thurs & friday will be applying for roles - I can't stop applying because an opportunity that I really like is in the works unfortunately.
 
I know I've asked before but brain like a sieve, what sort of products are you looking to work with? My place usually have product manager jobs come up now and again.
 
I've just had a quick scan of the applications cv that applied for my job and it was very scary. some of the CVs was extremly strong; with people being IT managers, directors of their own companies and freelance. I'm very surpised that I got shotlisted for an interview, let alone was offered the job at the top end of the scale.
 
Start a permanent job on Monday, working 9-5 and 5 mins walk from home :)

I last worked a permanent 9-5 job 14 years ago. Since then it's been 10 years of shift, 5 as perm and 5 as contractor, and the last 4 working normal hours on short contracts all over the place.

I was reading the Project Cars thread earlier and there were discussions about arranging races. I haven't had a chance to commit to any gaming sessions for years as I never knew where I'll be working in a month and what time I'll be home in the evenings. Now I'm only 5 mins away I'll be able to get back in to multiplayer gaming again :)

My last contract was 6 months in Reading, 2+ hour commute each way. This will be a big difference.

I'm joining the IT team at Portsmouth Uni, get in touch if you work at the Uni.
 
So I heard back from the R2.. nope. The main reason being they wanted someone solely focused on technical - they've flip-floped over the requirements for the role for a month during this time and it appears that they really they want someone technical to look after the backlog. Not someone that has done that, can do that easily and also optimise upstream (i.e. drive sales and marketing as well). In essence - too senior.

Just heard back from another one that I had open - the agent's feedback was if I applied in 2012 then they'd have me, but because I'd had full on ownership of a new product in a new market and delivered over the 2014 year.. yup you guessed it - too senior again.

So I'm in this gap - too senior for technical product management, but not enough commercial (read from cradle to grave) for product ownership. If I'd run with the project for another year - that would have been perfect and things would be easy. Sometimes the timing of organisational restructures from CEO down live on lol.

Continuing.. I have a few more applications in the fire - a couple being more senior still. Let's see.. I'm starting to see a trend - so I don't think it's a CV problem :)
 
Just counting down my notice now, finish on the 29th :)

Strange feeling after being here for more than ten years, been a 2nd home lol. Occupational health medical tomorrow to get out the way then (hopefully) plain sailing to the 1st June when I start the new one.
 
My work contract is up in early July from the best job I've ever had, with the best 'company' I've ever worked for.
Just applied for the managers position of the job I'm finishing up (as it's a newly created position), but my lack of experience likely means I won't get a look in. Really not looking forward to being unemployed again :( And just as I'd managed to pay off my student overdraft and credit card :(
 
I'm in the process of leaving my current job as i have taken it as far as i can and what i'm prepared to invest in the role and the company. Probably one of the worst roles i have had on so many levels. Finally decided to cut my losses and move on. I hopefully have a new role lined up which is everything my current job isn't :D
 
Currently preparing a linkedin post.. hope fully it will add some additional attraction and colour to my profile. It's like fishing.. idea is to have it done for friday for a friday read :)

On the other side - time todo some more applications.
 
Currently in the Royal Air Force. Not enjoying it anymore and looking to jump ship. I'm 24 now, and the trade i am in doesn't give any real qualifications for the outside world. I'll probably be looking to leave in the next couple of years. So at the moment i see myself , self-funding for quals to help me out and to fatten out my CV. I doubt many people care about operational experience and such nowadays!
 
There are lots of companies that will take forces people due to the conditioning, training and mentality - they tend to work hard and together to achieve a set goal.

It may be worth ringing around some defence contractor company HR people. However a lot of software companies and tech companies will also take forces.

I wouldn't worry - there's lots of people with odd non-commercial skills that have made the jump. Head of sales in a software company at one of the places I interviewed for was ex-submariner/acoustics training officer for almost 20 years.
 
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