Forgot how bad job searching was :(

Lucks always a big factor - like when you have family friends etc in high positions!

Got current temporary work in libraries (working most days) £8 p/h and £12 p/h on saturdays! not bad for a first job huh. Hopefully should get a permenant position would be £15,000 p/a - more than mainline US airline pilots get paid!
 
Well I've made my updates and done my applications for today using my new re-thought cover letters. Then out of the blue I get two calls within a space of 15 minutes for roles I've not applied for! One is a contract position and the other permanent - both product management which is completely the other side where I'd been focusing!

Well I have an interview :) My old SVP works there, so although I'm not expecting a masonic handshake, it should help as a reference with additional clout.

Tip: if you've not updated your CVs each week on the sites then it's worth doing as it seems to trigger you as actively looking..
 
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Yeah, I think december will be quite slow. January will be the start of many financial years so I'm expecting opportunities but at the same time there are lots of people changing roles.
 
NickK said:
Yeah, I think december will be quite slow. January will be the start of many financial years so I'm expecting opportunities but at the same time there are lots of people changing roles.
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When you get turned down for retail and cleaning jobs it does dampen your enthusiasm somewhat...
 
sr4470 said:
Interesting. I applied for a school IT technician job here and it was £23-25,000. No degree required (just a higher IT qualification and some support experience).
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Different sphere, different pay - you'll note that as the product manager goes up in experience it's usual for bonuses to be paid on profit & loss responsibility.
 
NickK said:
Different sphere, different pay - you'll note that as the product manager goes up in experience it's usual for bonuses to be paid on profit & loss responsibility.
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Of course, but as my experience is in (mostly) IT support and not product development I thought I'd contrast it ;)
 
Show initiative.

If you have an interview at 10 then if you've not heard by 10:10 I would phone them. Infact I have done this, and it turned out the they got confused in the timing between their offices (malaysia and here).
It too 5 minutes to sort out and the interview went well including that you're used to this as part of normal business.
 
Depends if it was set up through an agency.
If so then it's not uncommon for the agency to have not informed you of some kind of scheduling change. It's happened to me twice that an agency failed to inform me that the phone interview time had been changed to a different time or day
 
Just back from the interview.

I don't think I'll get it, the main issue is that I think they're looking for someone with more of a voice background. Not that it's difficult to pick up but also I think they're looking for more a product architect than a product manager to make a difference asap..
 
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I heard back from that interview and I was correct - they liked me but they needed someone with specific skills rather than transferrable to make a difference in 3 months. Makes you concerned about the company financing (they're still VC).

Also heard back, after 12 working days, from an application for another role that I was rejected for that.

A friend has got her fourth and final interview today so my fingers are crossed for her. I'll be gutted for her if she has gone through all this and gets rejected.

I also had a recruiter for a certain "squad" phone again, this is the third ping but for some reason the concept of selling extortionately priced fixes to the ignorant just goes against my personal values.

I had an HR lady call from a large computer hardware manufacturer, we had a discussion and she wanted to know salaries so I told her and she then stated that she was looking for a Junior Solution Architect with a job spec that was suspiciously like a general product specialist with a salary of 30K.. half that of a true solution architect.
So.. that HR attempting to use the current economic environment to get a cut-price individual..

Also just come off the phone of a desperate recruiter, the same guy where I have turned down the employer due to restrictive covenants. His comments that they want to meet then have turned in to "little steps".. so basically he's just attempting a second stab at it as he's not got anything else to offer them and perhaps those he's interviewed have.. very much the 'salesman' recruiter. Now if they hired me in a non-customer role for three months, then it wouldn't matter. Also my old employer has just hired a guy from these guys.. so a bit of employee swapsies.. I'd still prefer to get out of the telco space.

I have to say the start of this week has just been a complete lack of motivation, the storms have fragmented my sleep, sniffles and so I've been so tired one day I slept for twelve hours so I think I could have been ill (I don't usually get ill just tired).

So today will be a case of applications, house tidying and then I think a trip to the gym to kick start my fitness regime.
 
Agreed. The other aspect of the 'squad' opportunity is that it's comparable moving from a international book publisher to working at WHSmiths.

The hardware manufacturer would be good but I can see the role being a full architect role but being paid half the going salary. That to me sounds like the company is not a good company to work for. You have to question their motives on that, they'd question your motives and also how long you'd stick around.

There are roles out there but I hear what you say about Pride before a fall..

What's interesting is that I had a real talk to a recruiter last friday. Not about any opportunity but he wanted my views on a little side venture website he's doing. In short he's described the current market for recruiters as dire - he's been in the business for twelve years. It confirms what we'd suspected.
The problem is that with all the applicants the companies don't wish to use recruiters because they see it as paying their HR dept and a middle man. The companies believe their HR dept should get off their butts and earn their pay.
All the jobsites also are feeling the pressure because companies are also putting preference in applications through their own company site. Why should they pay to advertise to a jobsite when they have their own site!

The problem is that a seeker can't know every company site and the opportunities on it. So his site basically acts as a central point for employer's sites directly. No middleman, no CV or registration, just a simple directory of employer's opportunities and a direct link to their website.

That shows just how bad it is for the middle man and why you're only likely to get a low response from any recruiter based opportunity. It also shows why companies will try offering half the salary..
 
NickK said:
Agreed. The other aspect of the 'squad' opportunity is that it's comparable moving from a international book publisher to working at WHSmiths.

The hardware manufacturer would be good but I can see the role being a full architect role but being paid half the going salary. That to me sounds like the company is not a good company to work for. You have to question their motives on that, they'd question your motives and also how long you'd stick around.

There are roles out there but I hear what you say about Pride before a fall
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I suspect I'm a lot younger than you are, and by definition I can't be as experienced. Still, I have to leverage with what I have and the degree I'm doing doesn't occupy all of my time... but yeah, job's a job and bills have to be paid. I took a gamble with borrowing a giant loan from the SLC in the belief that the qualifications it will be paying for can back up my experience, and push me up the career ladder away from min wage monkey work.
 
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