Forgot how bad job searching was :(

Delvis said:
That sucks buddy, however assuming you now have a few years experience you'll soon grab something if you want it bud :)
Click to expand...

Thanks :) 2 of 3 meetings.. third on friday and it's 99.99% redundancy..

It seemed that the noise rattled around the grapevine, I met a senior exec before they left in spring.. he asked by name for my contact details - CV requested before I'd even had had my meetings.. so I have some interest and have a meeting setup :D Fingers crossed - first meeting with the CEO for a coffee :eek: Suit still fits :D
 
Finally handed in my notice to my current employer, first time I've had to give more than 4 weeks notice and it feels awful knowing I have to work in the office for nearly 2 months with even less support than I already had. Directors were making my current projects impossible to work on due to lack of resources and direction so I had to rock the boat. It went sour very quickly and I get the feeling the troubled company was trying to look for an excuse to cut staffing levels anyway.

...but that will soon be in the past. New job already lined up: 25% pay rise (up to market rate, was underpaid before), 5min walk from home instead of 30min drive, excited loyal staff, training available and a management team which actually plans and budgets instead of winging it.

It's all happened a bit sooner than I had hoped, but better to do it now :)
 
I currently live in Central Manchester and work near York then a bit further away in the wrong direction.... I did intend to find a job when I moved down to Manchester but have been so busy with everything.

Can be up to 5 hours a day commute sometimes, for what is about market rate pay. The problem is the whole situation is literally killing me. 1/3 of my pay goes on fuel alone. I have been in my current job around 3 years now and I am 28 so it is probably a good time to move on.

My main problem is I never feel my CV or covering letter are quite right. I will spend so long worrying and agonising over it I never send them off for the few particular jobs I do want to apply for. :/

Heck its 5:50AM on Sunday morning and I am sat worrying about going to work on Monday morning. I really need to get out of this situation.
 
rIcK said:
I currently live in Central Manchester and work near York then a bit further away in the wrong direction.... I did intend to find a job when I moved down to Manchester but have been so busy with everything.

Can be up to 5 hours a day commute sometimes, for what is about market rate pay. The problem is the whole situation is literally killing me. 1/3 of my pay goes on fuel alone. I have been in my current job around 3 years now and I am 28 so it is probably a good time to move on.

My main problem is I never feel my CV or covering letter are quite right. I will spend so long worrying and agonising over it I never send them off for the few particular jobs I do want to apply for. :/

Heck its 5:50AM on Sunday morning and I am sat worrying about going to work on Monday morning. I really need to get out of this situation.
Click to expand...

What you need to do is just get the first one out there and submitted. Don't worry excessively over it, just get the ball moving. Don't try and create an enormous amount of work in front of you by thinking it's never good enough. Don't strive for perfection. Get a cover letter done, get a CV done, and start submitting. It might not go anywhere, but you're on the road. That alone made me feel miles better.
 
grudas said:
devops/unix systems admin.

so, I accepted the offer at the other company, with a start day of 1st dec.

but I have a feeling that I'll get a counter offer from the current place, my notice has already been handed in.

what do you guys think of the counter offers? would you accept one? I've done some reading etc and it seems that accepting a counter offer is a bad idea, even if it's very tempting.
Click to expand...

I'd say it depends.

Are you underpaid where you are based on what you do and your experience? Are you happy with where you are in general?

If its because you're underpaid but like your job they'll be happy that you stayed. You don't want them thinking you still might just leave in another year and try and get more money again.

If its because you don't like the job, be honest and see if they can change to allow you to change how you work, again, they'll be happy.

If its because you're a money grabbing, disloyal person, then they may try and keep you only because they'll be in trouble, then that aint good for anyone and its unlikely to work out long term.
 
grudas said:
Would you accept a 3 month notice?! IHow would you approach it to reduce it to 2?!
Click to expand...

Most people are on a short notice period during a probation period. I have in the past requested, and got, a ratchet notice. 4 weeks in first 6months, 8 weeks upto 2 years, 3months after 3 years.

Remember, this has to be both ways, that is only fair, so they can terminate and give that notice period to you too.

Locking someone in for 3 months is silly, it takes time to be convinced you like the place, typically much longer than a probation period which is the companies way of making sure you can do the work. Remember, thats all the company cares about typically, can you do the work? Not can we invest in this guy. You however, have to like the place.
 
alexthecheese said:
What do you guys think of taking notes into a competency-based interview? Yay, nay?
Click to expand...

Personally, no. But, how about having an enriched version of your CV in front of you.

You get asked the question, take time to flick through your CV looking for pointers you put in (marked up in colour may help). They won't know, and importantly you get to take some time to consider your answer.

Even if I know the answer, I take time to reflect (a minute maybe), it shows a lot more confidence than just starting to talk, esp if you're going to waffle. One time an interviewer asked whether I wanted another question because I didn't respond, I just said "no, I'm considering which response I want to give." I got the job.
 
Slamhamster said:
Job hunting does indeed suck. I resorted to delivering pizzas to avoid the job centre. The money was terrible but still better than nothing, and it tends to be easier to find work if you can show you haven't been sat on your arse on benefits waiting for a job to drop in your lap.

On a positive note, recently landed a packaging reprographics contract until christmas and they now want to know if I'd be okay with 10-15 hours overtime a week on top. Have a meeting with management tomorrow as they've also asked if I'd be interested in a permanent placement, so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

Shame more of our population doesn't have your attitude. I've never been out of work, but if I was out of work for more than a month, and the IT market looked bad I would take anything.

My brother is a corporate banker and was made redundant in 2008, found another banking job within 3 weeks. But what did he do within those three weeks? Joined the council as a temporary bin man. Went from a c.100k job (i think), to what ever bin men get paid, back to a 100k job. We've just been brought up like this I guess.
 
lnoton said:
I'd say it depends.

Are you underpaid where you are based on what you do and your experience? Are you happy with where you are in general?

If its because you're underpaid but like your job they'll be happy that you stayed. You don't want them thinking you still might just leave in another year and try and get more money again.

If its because you don't like the job, be honest and see if they can change to allow you to change how you work, again, they'll be happy.

If its because you're a money grabbing, disloyal person, then they may try and keep you only because they'll be in trouble, then that aint good for anyone and its unlikely to work out long term.
Click to expand...

thanks for reply! :) I've accepted a counter offer from them after a few days of thinking about it.

after handing in my notice I had a few chats with the MD and I explained why I wasn't happy and why I decided to leave, he wanted me to stay in the company and asked what I wanted to stay, I didn't mention money while handing in my notice but my new contract consists of a plan to change the things I disliked about the job, add some fun extras that will give me great experiance and finally I'm on the market rate(12k+ pay rise) so over-all I'm very happy!

but my notice is going from 1 month to 3 months, which in the future might restrict me a bit but then again, I Can see why they would do this, the clients I work on are very crucial to the company and at this time I am the only one who can support the most profitable client so they're trying to lock me in as well as they can and that sounds reasonable.

3 month notice period of course works both ways, it can be good for me too if they decide to get rid of me for what ever reason in the future! it would give me enough time to find a replacement position.
 
grudas said:
thanks for reply! :) I've accepted a counter offer from them after a few days of thinking about it.

after handing in my notice I had a few chats with the MD and I explained why I wasn't happy and why I decided to leave, he wanted me to stay in the company and asked what I wanted to stay, I didn't mention money while handing in my notice but my new contract consists of a plan to change the things I disliked about the job, add some fun extras that will give me great experiance and finally I'm on the market rate(12k+ pay rise) so over-all I'm very happy!

but my notice is going from 1 month to 3 months, which in the future might restrict me a bit but then again, I Can see why they would do this, the clients I work on are very crucial to the company and at this time I am the only one who can support the most profitable client so they're trying to lock me in as well as they can and that sounds reasonable.

3 month notice period of course works both ways, it can be good for me too if they decide to get rid of me for what ever reason in the future! it would give me enough time to find a replacement position.
Click to expand...

Brillant news. Certainly the best outcome. 3months isn't much anymore, but I wouldn't sign up to a completely new job with that locking, ratchet away. I'm actually only on a month at the moment which is good, but bad if they want rid. Its expected, the more valuable you are to the company, as you have said.
 
Last edited:
lnoton said:
Personally, no. But, how about having an enriched version of your CV in front of you.

You get asked the question, take time to flick through your CV looking for pointers you put in (marked up in colour may help). They won't know, and importantly you get to take some time to consider your answer.

Even if I know the answer, I take time to reflect (a minute maybe), it shows a lot more confidence than just starting to talk, esp if you're going to waffle. One time an interviewer asked whether I wanted another question because I didn't respond, I just said "no, I'm considering which response I want to give." I got the job.
Click to expand...


I'd go with this option. There aren't really that many different themes that get asked in competency based interviews in my experience, so if you feel you need a prompt, list the "question category" against the best example on your CV.

i.e. That project you did with the idiot who you had to deal with? Just put a line in there for yourself "conflict management". The one where you had to convince the Ops manager to go with something they weren't sure about, "influencing people".

I've been interviewing people this week as it goes, the most frustrating thing is hearing people give good answers to the wrong question, if that makes sense? It's like they have been given a script about how to answer the questions but are just trotting out the spiel with scant regard to matching the response to the question actually asked.

Or the guy yesterday who talked about his planning and communication skills yet turned up late, didn't ring anyone to say "I've got stuck in traffic I'll be a few minutes late" or even apologise for his tardiness when he did arrive.
 
I had an interview yesterday and I'm not particualrly sure how well or badly it went in all honesty. Lots of "that's cool" when I answered questions, but nothing that would say either way which way it could go.

Few questions I asked that went down really well:

What do you find most rewarding about working for this company?
Do you have any hesitancies around my skills and experience?
How would you judge my success in this role?

The questions at the end really seemed to help, it took the pressure of me and opened up the dynamics of the interview massively. Gave me a chance to see them in a real light and show my interest.
 
PapaLazaru said:
Thanks. Contract is for 12 months+ so is decent.

Problem is that the telecoms company need someone soon, as I heard after the interview they were all heading out for the person who I would be replacing leaving drinks.

Just going to have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

Took the job at the telecoms company. Gave me everything I asked for and 28 days, plus bank holidays, as paid leave. :D
 
Pays to always leave companies peacefully and also make a good impression on people.

I've just found out first hand how useful it can be after finding out the company I had only just joined was closing. I'm safe for at least 6 months but I've been proactive and got in touch with some contacts.

I've had a message and offer of help from my previous employer, an interview offer and also a meeting with a previous manager at a new company who has practically offered me a dream aerospace job.

Light at the end of the tunnel!
 
I uploaded my CV onto CWJOBS.com on Friday late on. Today I have had a total explosion of recruiters ringing me, around 11+ different people. Absolutely unbelievable....

The phone started at 7 30 and comtinued till around 6pm. Rather difficult with me being at work....

Perhaps something wiol come of this, been a while since I've last changed jobs.
 
So I was made redundant last Monday.. the company paid for a leaving lunch that attended my leaving lunch. Had a one meeting but the CEO's company are a set of contracting consultants who've already paid their mortgages..

Have an initial agency interview sometime next week.. starting to apply for roles..
 
Cross posting from Jobs thread but - Long shot, it's not for everyone, but if anyone is interested in a side project dev job for equity in our startup, check it out:

http://emotuit.com/blog/?p=39

Can be done as a second job at the moment, but we're starting to ramp up. Give us 6-12 months and that should change. If you're looking for something with serious potential in the ed tech industry (check out our other posts on the site, we're just starting to build for HarvardX and edX) and would like to share the winnings. Just let me know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom