Forgot how bad job searching was :(

NickK · 28 Oct 2009 at 22:11

Amp34 said:
You were let go were you not (redundant)? If so that's remarkably harsh to drop you and then tell you that you can't do the same job with another company for a year (or whatever time limit it is). Fine with leaving but it being the company that set it in motion is taking the ****.

Well lots of crap to be honest, a bit of tit-for-tat politics within the company between separate country offices (they were attempting to set the UK office up for a fall, so I engineered the instigator's downfall in front of the MD by his own hands (manager of my manager).. his friends then ganged up to take me out).. that saved the UK for a couple of years but they took advantage of a complete reorganisation and the new roles were basically saying to all the UK people "here's crap jobs, our country's office staff have all the good roles, if you don't like it - there's the door".
My boss and a peer were personal friends of the other fired-guy so the peer relentlessly whined about bad work and my boss supported him to remove me.. it scared them that, due to my length of service, that I didn't have any restrictive covenants that they could enforce.. I thought that the job market would be bad (but not this bad) and took an offer (with renewed RCs).
I was about to resign anyway, a relative left me enough that I wouldn't have to work for a few years.. and I wanted out of the relentless crap.

Odd that the peer went on holiday for a month (short notice) and arrived back in the office the day after I left and my boss stated that everyone thought I was wonderful except the peer...

So 'laid off' isn't entirely correct.

but at the same time I'm not too fussed about loosing that opportunity - there's something to be said for never working with mobile short messaging ever again... the handsets now are so good you don't need much in the network anymore (mature market perhaps even starting to decline w.r.t innovation and interesting stuff - which would never be based in the UK office) and new technologies are making text messages redundant anyway..

The joys of middle management politics.. (and I'm not political.. I just want the company to run with everyone working with, not against, each other!)

NickK · 1 Nov 2009 at 16:38

Hmm I thought - the above makes me sound like a right ****. I would point out the same bloke stated on a conference call of all their staff that "they could do whatever they wanted and that they didn't have to listen to the directors" (just to give you an idea.. there are more example but that's a crowning one). So sorry peoples if that's offended anyone in my previous post.

Anyway - it is the start of the month, here's wishing success to everyone

Last real push before the christmas period.

Indy500 · 1 Nov 2009 at 17:05

NickK said:
Hmm I thought - the above makes me sound like a right ****. I would point out the same bloke stated on a conference call of all their staff that "they could do whatever they wanted and that they didn't have to listen to the directors" (just to give you an idea.. there are more example but that's a crowning one). So sorry peoples if that's offended anyone in my previous post.

Anyway - it is the start of the month, here's wishing success to everyone Last real push before the christmas period.

You could be a lot worse off

I've sent out 50 application forms\CVs this week, here's hoping I get some interviews...

NickK · 1 Nov 2009 at 17:18

50 in a week!!??!! Last month I sent 27 which is less than I could have, I think november I'll attempt to push even further. I've not heard that I've been rejected from the last one (they send out rejects on the date of closure by email), hopefully as I've worked for them in the past I'll get past the first filter and won't have to go for a test - leaving just the recruiting manager to select for interview or reject. Fingers crossed, I liked working for them (hard work but rewarding).

I'll also be trying out the new cover letter as I think my old one was a little too bullet pointy, almost restating my CV. Focus on the architect side this month as a priority then focus on the product management.

Morba · 1 Nov 2009 at 17:35

Haircut said:
You're a developer aren't you?

There's plenty of work in the financial sector at the moment, seems like lots of the big banks are starting to put together new projects and are taking on quite a few developers right now.
Don't know if that would be of interest to you, but it's certainly well paid work!

really? since when?
i'm working for one of the big banks and there isnt much planned on our side of the fence

on another note:
I start my no job tomorrow.
Well, not quite new job, more that i am moving from contract to perm.

Indy500 · 1 Nov 2009 at 18:50

NickK said:
50 in a week!!??!! Last month I sent 27 which is less than I could have, I think november I'll attempt to push even further.

Well, if I didn't send out this many I wouldn't have had any interviews at all so far...must be my location and the type of experience required, I'm too young to have had ~6 years in product development for example.

NickK said:
I've not heard that I've been rejected from the last one (they send out rejects on the date of closure by email), hopefully as I've worked for them in the past I'll get past the first filter and won't have to go for a test - leaving just the recruiting manager to select for interview or reject. Fingers crossed, I liked working for them (hard work but rewarding).

Well good luck with it.

NickK said:
I'll also be trying out the new cover letter as I think my old one was a little too bullet pointy, almost restating my CV. Focus on the architect side this month as a priority then focus on the product management.

There's why you're getting more interviews

as I said, you could be a lot worse off. Ironically, being a 16 year old fresh out of school seems to make it easier to get all this retail work floating around...

Amp34 · 1 Nov 2009 at 20:50

I take it these are for any job not a specific area? Finding 50 jobs/companies in one week in a specific sector would be bloomin difficult.

Indy500 · 1 Nov 2009 at 20:53

Amp34 said:
I take it these are for any job not a specific area? Finding 50 jobs/companies in one week in a specific sector would be bloomin difficult.

Of course not, what gave you that idea?

Actually, come to think of it most of them are bog-standard retail or office jobs...nothing too fancy. Not in a position to pick and choose. If the market doesn't value my skills\experience I'll have to settle for less so I can pay to diversify them.

lemonkettaz · 1 Nov 2009 at 21:46

I'm hoping to finally get a start date for basic training this week. Won't be doing in til next April ish but once I know an exact date I'll be over the moon.

Sure I've posted this exact same post for the last 3weeks

Neolink · 1 Nov 2009 at 22:51

Hmm slightly comforting reading this thread, still does not make me feel much better

Finished with uni back in May, Been applying to between 10 and 30 jobs per week in pretty much any area I could work in and only had one interview so far...

Indy500 · 1 Nov 2009 at 22:53

Neolink said:
Hmm slightly comforting reading this thread, still does not make me feel much better

Finished with uni back in May, Been applying to between 10 and 30 jobs per week in pretty much any area I could work in and only had one interview so far...

What degree and kind of experience do you have?

Neolink · 1 Nov 2009 at 23:05

sr4470 said:
What degree and kind of experience do you have?

Not got any experience apart from some hotel work years ago while I was at school...This is what seems to be hurting the most, even the lowest end retail jobs are generally saying no simply due to the lack of experience :/

The degree is in Games Design, which is not as Mikey Mouse as it sounds but I guess a lot of employers don't look into it

. The course was a bit of everything media/art/animation/photography etc related with a bit of games development thrown in between every few units, and before that I did 2 years of computer science at college. There is a lot of jobs available which I have the skills to do, just no one is willing to give me a shot...it's very frustrating :mad:

Amp34 · 1 Nov 2009 at 23:07

I know that frustration, I know that I would be good at almost all the jobs I have applied for, but it's getting the people scanning through your CV to know that that's the problem!

Indy500 · 1 Nov 2009 at 23:45

Neolink said:
Not got any experience apart from some hotel work years ago while I was at school...This is what seems to be hurting the most, even the lowest end retail jobs are generally saying no simply due to the lack of experience :/

The degree is in Games Design, which is not as Mikey Mouse as it sounds but I guess a lot of employers don't look into it . The course was a bit of everything media/art/animation/photography etc related with a bit of games development thrown in between every few units, and before that I did 2 years of computer science at college. There is a lot of jobs available which I have the skills to do, just no one is willing to give me a shot...it's very frustrating

There are people with more experience than that (including myself) struggling so you're not alone dude. The problem is employers can be fussy now and pick at anything minor to exclude you from shortlisting. As I stupidly focused on studying at a young age instead of doing less A-levels and more retail work, I don't have the relevant experience for most of the jobs that do exist at the moment.

Hades · 2 Nov 2009 at 00:25

Haircut said:
You're a developer aren't you?

There's plenty of work in the financial sector at the moment, seems like lots of the big banks are starting to put together new projects and are taking on quite a few developers right now.
Don't know if that would be of interest to you, but it's certainly well paid work!

There are a few projects but generally speaking the run up to Christmas is usually slow for large bank IT development.

NickK · 2 Nov 2009 at 08:29

The majority of europe sees december as a lost month. I remember trying to convince a room full of Japanese why the project planned utilisation was so low over December!

Jamesdavid3 · 2 Nov 2009 at 17:59

Job Seekers FOR THE WIN....

Seriously im getting back all MY money which was taken from me From paying TAX and earning it all back this way..

Morba · 2 Nov 2009 at 18:19

Jamesdavid3 said:
Job Seekers FOR THE WIN....

Seriously im getting back all MY money which was taken from me From paying TAX and earning it all back this way..

can't have paid much tax then i'm guessing.

Amp34 · 2 Nov 2009 at 18:28

Jamesdavid3 said:
Job Seekers FOR THE WIN....

Seriously im getting back all MY money which was taken from me From paying TAX and earning it all back this way..

I went on JSA 6 weeks ago, then went off it last week, still haven't actually recieved any money... So don't hold your breath... :rolleyes:

Haircut · 2 Nov 2009 at 18:32

Hades said:
There are a few projects but generally speaking the run up to Christmas is usually slow for large bank IT development.

I'm just going from my own personal experience, I'm a contractor though so the permanent market may be different.

My previous contract came to an end a few weeks back and when I was applying it seemed to be mainly the banks who were taking people on - I guess they were the first to get rid of people in the recession and are now needing new people for stuff they want to do soon.
I started my new contract last week and I'm one of about 10 just in one area who's started recently.