Forgot how bad job searching was :(

sr4470 said:
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of qualifications do you have?
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Naff all, some GCSE's, went into work straight after school as I didn't get into sixth form...Stayed in that company for just over 5 years, then got made redundant last year.

Currently waiting for an NVQ in business development or something from an employer I worked at for 4 months earlier in the year as well...but that's going to take a while to come though apparently.
 
Delvis said:
Naff all, some GCSE's, went into work straight after school as I didn't get into sixth form...Stayed in that company for just over 5 years, then got made redundant last year.

Currently waiting for an NVQ in business development or something from an employer I worked at for 4 months earlier in the year as well...but that's going to take a while to come though apparently.
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Take it from me, having a full set of GCSEs and A-levels is almost worthless in the current market (except for English, Maths and maybe Science GCSE). If you've got 5 years of relevant experience then I can't fathom why there'd be a problem.
 
sr4470 said:
Take it from me, having a full set of GCSEs and A-levels is almost worthless in the current market (except for English, Maths and maybe Science GCSE). If you've got 5 years of relevant experience then I can't fathom why there'd be a problem.
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I know :(

It didn't help the fact I couldn't get a job within the IT industry when I was made redundant. Hey ho, what can you do :)

Managed to apply for one job today, out of like 30 odd pages worth :p
 
Delvis said:
I know :(

It didn't help the fact I couldn't get a job within the IT industry when I was made redundant. Hey ho, what can you do :)

Managed to apply for one job today, out of like 30 odd pages worth :p
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Specialising has its pros and cons, unfortunately the bad banking sector is sinking the productive economy as well...
 
I put my CV on monster recently and have been getting quite a few emails and phone calls from various recruitment agencies / graduate recruitment agencies, does anyone know if these are worthwhile?

I'm hoping for replies from actual companies that Ive applied for not recruitment firms but if they are good I guess I could let them help should I get back to them that im interested?
 
Kraven said:
I put my CV on monster recently and have been getting quite a few emails and phone calls from various recruitment agencies / graduate recruitment agencies, does anyone know if these are worthwhile?
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Yes, i got the job i am in now through Monster

Kraven said:
I'm hoping for replies from actual companies that Ive applied for not recruitment firms but if they are good I guess I could let them help should I get back to them that im interested?
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Depends how desperately you need and job and what job they have to offer. 'Actual companies' still use recruitment firms
 
Kraven said:
I put my CV on monster recently and have been getting quite a few emails and phone calls from various recruitment agencies / graduate recruitment agencies, does anyone know if these are worthwhile?

I'm hoping for replies from actual companies that Ive applied for not recruitment firms but if they are good I guess I could let them help should I get back to them that im interested?
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Not many companies recruit themselves nowadays to be perfectly, they all use agencies now...which yes, is highly annoying, as you normally get a pay cut, and constantly have to go through them all the time...But hey.

It is annoying when you do a job search, and the results are something lik 800 from recruiter, and about 10 from actual companies :p

It's how it is currently sadly.
 
I just got called into a small meeting today at my new place I started 2 months ago and was asked how I felt about havign some more responsibility over the company systems, I said I liked to get my hands dirty so it sounded good!

So now I'm joining forces with one of the other sysadmin guys and learning sysadmin as well as the usual project stuff :D

Good stuff I say!
 
mrk said:
I just got called into a small meeting today at my new place I started 2 months ago and was asked how I felt about havign some more responsibility over the company systems, I said I liked to get my hands dirty so it sounded good!

So now I'm joining forces with one of the other sysadmin guys and learning sysadmin as well as the usual project stuff :D

Good stuff I say!
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That's brilliant man :) Extra responsibility is always welcome I say if you are comfortable with it.

Nice sig btw the way to go slightely off topic :)
 
Thanks! it's a fast moving place tbh with decisions being made quickly so I need to be on the ball but even so I have my own career path that I want to end up with which is different to my current place of work so my eyes are always open to that avenue :D
 
So i went with some of the recruiters and one of them offered me a good salary client facing job, going out to companies and introducing hardware/software etc in the financial sector.

Does anyone have any experience in client facing and have any views or opinions?
 
Kraven said:
So i went with some of the recruiters and one of them offered me a good salary client facing job, going out to companies and introducing hardware/software etc in the financial sector.

Does anyone have any experience in client facing and have any views or opinions?
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Yes. Being a product specialist is fun.

Rule 1 - be prepared. Don't try to wing it and always set aside time to research and think about what you're going to say. Dry run it with the team - especially if you're new. Then on the night before get a good night's sleep (you should have it practised by then and sleep will be better for you).

Rule 2 - always ensure you have an install of the products to play with. The confidence with the product means you will have more confidence in front of the customer. Virtual machines such as VMware etc are perfect for this. I've run a complete telecoms grade SMSC, Oracle, etc on a laptop to present products for demonstrations.
Sales guys will love you if you can let the product sell itself..

Rule 3 - network, network, network. Knowing what the opposition has to offer means you can arm the sales guys and craft your presentation to maximum effect. The product management will love you if you can feed some observations in to them.

Rule 3 - learn to present. Content then presentation. People switch off and ignore those that don't have anything interesting to say. So in that pre-meet think time you should shape your content (content, perspective of the audience) and that will shape your presentation.
I can still see the image in my mind when another presales product specialist appeared with 157 slides and a monotonic voice. The client had switched off at the first slide after reading 1/157.
I'll reiterate - get the content right and it will shape the presentation. Don't bullet point away with rubbish because it makes slides..

Lastly if you're doing this globally I would always have some dehydration salts with you. I've presented to customers in between the visits to the toilet due to food poisoning and other such delights (see rule 1).
 
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NickK said:
*Snip*
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It sounds quite demanding but guess with that its very rewarding, a lot of good tips thank you.

Its based in London to start with but think there is possibility of working globally, I passed an initial test on the phone of my capabilities but just have to decide now if i want to move onto the next stage of the application process. Will let ya know how I get on.

Thanks
 
I got a call from a recruiter the other day for a job I applied for, hopefully he's going to send my CV on, then (hopefully) I'll get an interview.

It's only a service desk analyst role, but yay if so :)
 
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