I disagree, I've read many many times that only a tiny percentage of jobs are actually advertised. If you hit up enough companies per week (ie. you're actually motivated to find work) you will start to get responses. Then you'll get a few interviews and then an offer hopefully.
Forgot how bad job searching was :(
- Thread starter Delvis
- Start date
I disagree, I've read many many times that only a tiny percentage of jobs are actually advertised. If you hit up enough companies per week (ie. you're actually motivated to find work) you will start to get responses. Then you'll get a few interviews and then an offer hopefully.
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,392
But it's cold calling, basically, from my past experiences it's done nothing eventful, I have no problems doing it for companies I want to work for, but eventually it'll just be a company at random from googling "edinnburgh, *type of company I want*" and then just being a nusance by calling them or writing to them. And I have to do one of each a week (so two lots of cold calling). No doubt soon I'll run out of companies and will have to start cold calling to "mrs lovit's pie shop."
I am basically outraged at this suggestion, before when I was on it all I had to do was tell them atleast three times I attempted to find a job, weather this was internet, making use of a contact, filling an application form or attending an interview. Of course I spent everytime day, but I wasn't going to fill in every morsel of job searching I had done. If they asked when I signed on fortnightly I told, but as soon as three (usually different) entries where in the diary for the week then that was the diary put away.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 27 Sep 2004
- Posts
- 25,821
- Location
- Glasgow
It may be easier said than done but try not to take it personally that the system is set up in this way, as far as I can tell it's designed to reduce the opportunities for people to "malinger" on the dole, people therefore have to prove that they're actively looking for work. It's not designed to distinguish between people who genuinely want a job and those who don't, it's ultimately a very crude instrument to maybe help address the issue.
If you're searching most of the day every day then I'd have thought you've got more than enough to satisfy the requirements. I'd agree that just cold calling might seem a rather poor way of doing things, especially if you're given no direction in how to approach the task but as qqg3 says a vast number of jobs never actually make it to being advertised, they are simply filled and you might get lucky with your timing.
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,392
I'll speak to my advisor when I see her. I have not problems with calling or writing to poeple I know, but with my two weeks before actually signing up I've all but one used up my contacts.
And if your wondering why it took two weeks, basically working non stop since July with fringe relating goodness I decided I would take the time as a "holiday" and get other things sorted first.
Neil3k, good luck with the job, money is money but when Crapita (as we called them) ran our company for 3 years they literally destroyed it with hundreds of staff walking away & everything falling to pieces.
They essentially buy/run companies, push out & replace current management with their own staff (people in late 20's/early 30's with no true experience running things but can 'talk the talk'. I think the term is BillyBS), strip the company to bone & run it 'their' way. Starts making a loss then sell/end contract.
Take the job if you get offered it & look for something else in the mean time.
I was going to make my own thread, But thought it would be better to post in here;
I've been looking At part times retails jobs, to work 8-16 hours on the weekend, I have found a few within my area. But the Thing is most, if not all, require previus experience, and unfortantly i have none, what should I do.
keep looking ( tried this already sort of, no luck, but ill try
),
or lie, say i ahve some, but what happens if i get asked.
I would much prefer to lie and go for another job, but to be honest there is hardly any.
Sorry for hijacking the thread
Thanks
Ripped
I've been looking At part times retails jobs, to work 8-16 hours on the weekend, I have found a few within my area. But the Thing is most, if not all, require previus experience, and unfortantly i have none, what should I do.
keep looking ( tried this already sort of, no luck, but ill try
),or lie, say i ahve some, but what happens if i get asked.
I would much prefer to lie and go for another job, but to be honest there is hardly any.
Sorry for hijacking the thread
Thanks
Ripped
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,392
Apply anyway.
Anything you can spin and highlight with similiar experiences? Running a stall for a backsale, which shows customer interaction (expand on this) Are you the captain of the universities poker club? Team work, leadership, organisation skills etc.
Try and sell what you have. Show you have experiences and knowledge that can be helpful for retail.
Anything you can spin and highlight with similiar experiences? Running a stall for a backsale, which shows customer interaction (expand on this) Are you the captain of the universities poker club? Team work, leadership, organisation skills etc.
Try and sell what you have. Show you have experiences and knowledge that can be helpful for retail.
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,392
Not much i can think of atm, but ill sure there will be some similar experience i have
Thank you
They were just the first examples that popped into my head but hopefully something that can get you thinking.
Not wanting to sound too much like a job board, but this might help someone out.
If there's any C++/C# developers out there with at least a couple of years experience looking then feel free to drop an email to my trust; based in central London, working on an energy/commodity trading platform.
If there's any C++/C# developers out there with at least a couple of years experience looking then feel free to drop an email to my trust; based in central London, working on an energy/commodity trading platform.
So I got a call yesterday from Hays recruitment, a job I might be interested in, sent over my CV and they loved it, said would put me forward along with 2 others for the job.
Had a 10 minute phone interview with the actual company this morning at 11.30. An hour or so later receive a call from Hays saying the client loved me, want me to start on Friday. Congratulated me as I was up against some other really good guys.
Cue me being happy/tell a couple of friends/start making plans.
2 hours later another call from Hays, the client has withdraw the job offer Said its because they over anticipated the workload and won't be needing anyone right now. How they came to this conclusion within 2 hours after offering me the job, and why they couldnt do this yesterday to save all the interview hassle, I don't know. Was told the positives I should take is that I did really well on the phone to make them want me, but its just unfortunate they decided last minute they didn't actually need anyone...
So back to square one..
Had a 10 minute phone interview with the actual company this morning at 11.30. An hour or so later receive a call from Hays saying the client loved me, want me to start on Friday. Congratulated me as I was up against some other really good guys.
Cue me being happy/tell a couple of friends/start making plans.
2 hours later another call from Hays, the client has withdraw the job offer
Said its because they over anticipated the workload and won't be needing anyone right now. How they came to this conclusion within 2 hours after offering me the job, and why they couldnt do this yesterday to save all the interview hassle, I don't know. Was told the positives I should take is that I did really well on the phone to make them want me, but its just unfortunate they decided last minute they didn't actually need anyone...So back to square one..
So I got a call yesterday from Hays recruitment, a job I might be interested in, sent over my CV and they loved it, said would put me forward along with 2 others for the job.
Had a 10 minute phone interview with the actual company this morning at 11.30. An hour or so later receive a call from Hays saying the client loved me, want me to start on Friday. Congratulated me as I was up against some other really good guys.
Cue me being happy/tell a couple of friends/start making plans.
2 hours later another call from Hays, the client has withdraw the job offer
So back to square one..
Really sorry to hear that, especially since you started telling your friends etc.
How can a company want someone, interview them, hire them, then say its off, 2 hours later!?
Don't bash it mate, well done
Hopefully the answer comes to you soon
Well I've picked one to accept
Not a secret as such, just that my current employer isn't aware I'll be leaving yet
Took the job that lets me move back home, it's also a nice little pay bump so should be good.
Working for a large consultancy/services firm, primarily based on one of their contracts but have been told I could get to work on some others which would be nice.
The office is a fair commute (100 miles from door to desk) but a combination of being able to have a company car if I want and also lots of home working don't make it too bad. Or it's only an hour and 20 mins on a train.
Took the job that lets me move back home, it's also a nice little pay bump so should be good.
Working for a large consultancy/services firm, primarily based on one of their contracts but have been told I could get to work on some others which would be nice.
The office is a fair commute (100 miles from door to desk) but a combination of being able to have a company car if I want and also lots of home working don't make it too bad. Or it's only an hour and 20 mins on a train.
Not a secret as such, just that my current employer isn't aware I'll be leaving yet
Took the job that lets me move back home, it's also a nice little pay bump so should be good.
Working for a large consultancy/services firm, primarily based on one of their contracts but have been told I could get to work on some others which would be nice.
The office is a fair commute (100 miles from door to desk) but a combination of being able to have a company car if I want and also lots of home working don't make it too bad. Or it's only an hour and 20 mins on a train.
Fair game buddy
I used to commute for an hour for 12k a year
That was fun.Had a situation a couple of months back where two recruiters sent my CV off to the same firm. This was partly my fault, and partly the recruiter I was mainly dealing with. This caused a bit of upset to one of them. The other recruiter had already secured me a couple of interviews, so I cut my losses and ditched the unhappy one. As a result, I lost the opportunity for a potential interview with a good local company.
Fast forward to Tuesday when I contact a different recruiter regarding a position which sounded suitable. He told me the company name, and it just happens that it's the same firm that I had the trouble with sending 2 CVs to. This new recruiter told me he'd send my CV over if his manager okayed it, which my cynical self told me he wouldn't. He didn't, and I knew the name of the HR manager at the company, so contacted her directly.
The upshot is that they want to see me, but they are obliged to deal through the original recruiter who introduced me, who I'm now awaiting a call from. I'm not sure he'll be very happy dealing with me though unless he's forgotten his last experience of me.
Fast forward to Tuesday when I contact a different recruiter regarding a position which sounded suitable. He told me the company name, and it just happens that it's the same firm that I had the trouble with sending 2 CVs to. This new recruiter told me he'd send my CV over if his manager okayed it, which my cynical self told me he wouldn't. He didn't, and I knew the name of the HR manager at the company, so contacted her directly.
The upshot is that they want to see me, but they are obliged to deal through the original recruiter who introduced me, who I'm now awaiting a call from. I'm not sure he'll be very happy dealing with me though unless he's forgotten his last experience of me.
Sorry guys this is abit of a TL :,DR but tell me if i was wrong doing what I did? Is this a standard practice from companies?
I managed to get a interview with a small web design company not very far from my home on monday. I applied for the position on Friday after finding it on the JSA website. However the job had been online since may, after reading this I rang the company to double check the position was still open and it was, great! Sent my CV and details via email, hour later im invited in on the monday for an interview! Sweet!
Monday comes around, I get to their office at 9am (arranged time for interview), first impressions the company has only 5 members of staff and all who are young, I was alittle taken back at first, im 24 and i felt old walking in there. Anyway I get introduced to the director/owner of the company, we sit down and have a chat about my previous employment, nothing is mentioned about my degree. Im asked afew questions about my web design background (everything is going well at this point). The ceo throws in a comment that struck me as very odd, "I tend to prefer employing people of a younger age because they are more upto date with current trends and standards", this starts alarm bells ringing in my head, firstly hes made a very ageist comment and secondly thats BS, he doesnt like hiring older people because he would have to pay them more, at this point im starting to feel alittle skeptical. Anyway I present them my portfolio which shows my best design work, they then ask me if I could demostrate my skills by working on some of there clients websites that need updating.... o......k....
Im moved into the office (i guess my interview will be a tad longer). One of the employees gets me seated and runs me through their system on how they work, I go through their emails from clients that are dated from 2 weeks ago! Apparently they havent had "time" to do the updates for clients....again alarm bells are ringing.
I will have to state I was never told on the phone or during my interview I would be doing actual work for them, I have not dicussed any pay at this point either.
So Im told to pick a few emails and start working on afew updates, remeber i was in for 9am, its now comming up to 10:30ish and Ive just finished 5 different updates for 3 different clients, im still thinking this is really strange i honestly wasnt expecting to be doing their actual work for them, but if it lands me a job I'll put the effort in, get these tasks done and tell the employee overseeing my work what else I need to demostrate so we can carry on with the interview. 5mins roll by and the employee overseeing my work turns to me and says "btw we get about an hour for lunch and you can take it when you want". Er, what? I reply "I wasnt expecting to be here for lunch, Im ment to be driving back soon so my parents can use their car that i drove here today with", "ok thats not a problem, you will have to go and speak to the director" she replies. At this point im abit **** off (only in my head, I kept it cool though). I walk into the directors office and explain that Im unsure what exactly is going on, it works out i was expected to work 2 full days unpaid, I was never told this over the phone. I gave him my excuse why i couldnt be there for the whole day and left.
The next day i recieve a text from the director asking me if everything was alright? I reply basically telling him I would prefer to dicuss pay, benefits and holiday before I give up any of my time doing their work for them, I dont want to be "lead up the garden path" just to be told sorry no. And that was that.
A truely strange interview, unless i got the completely WRONG end of the stick, or there was a communication error between the director and his employee (she arranged my interview not the director) and they were ment to tell me about this arrangment and never did?
I managed to get a interview with a small web design company not very far from my home on monday. I applied for the position on Friday after finding it on the JSA website. However the job had been online since may, after reading this I rang the company to double check the position was still open and it was, great! Sent my CV and details via email, hour later im invited in on the monday for an interview! Sweet!
Monday comes around, I get to their office at 9am (arranged time for interview), first impressions the company has only 5 members of staff and all who are young, I was alittle taken back at first, im 24 and i felt old walking in there. Anyway I get introduced to the director/owner of the company, we sit down and have a chat about my previous employment, nothing is mentioned about my degree. Im asked afew questions about my web design background (everything is going well at this point). The ceo throws in a comment that struck me as very odd, "I tend to prefer employing people of a younger age because they are more upto date with current trends and standards", this starts alarm bells ringing in my head, firstly hes made a very ageist comment and secondly thats BS, he doesnt like hiring older people because he would have to pay them more, at this point im starting to feel alittle skeptical. Anyway I present them my portfolio which shows my best design work, they then ask me if I could demostrate my skills by working on some of there clients websites that need updating.... o......k....
Im moved into the office (i guess my interview will be a tad longer). One of the employees gets me seated and runs me through their system on how they work, I go through their emails from clients that are dated from 2 weeks ago! Apparently they havent had "time" to do the updates for clients....again alarm bells are ringing.
I will have to state I was never told on the phone or during my interview I would be doing actual work for them, I have not dicussed any pay at this point either.
So Im told to pick a few emails and start working on afew updates, remeber i was in for 9am, its now comming up to 10:30ish and Ive just finished 5 different updates for 3 different clients, im still thinking this is really strange i honestly wasnt expecting to be doing their actual work for them, but if it lands me a job I'll put the effort in, get these tasks done and tell the employee overseeing my work what else I need to demostrate so we can carry on with the interview. 5mins roll by and the employee overseeing my work turns to me and says "btw we get about an hour for lunch and you can take it when you want". Er, what? I reply "I wasnt expecting to be here for lunch, Im ment to be driving back soon so my parents can use their car that i drove here today with", "ok thats not a problem, you will have to go and speak to the director" she replies. At this point im abit **** off (only in my head, I kept it cool though). I walk into the directors office and explain that Im unsure what exactly is going on, it works out i was expected to work 2 full days unpaid, I was never told this over the phone. I gave him my excuse why i couldnt be there for the whole day and left.
The next day i recieve a text from the director asking me if everything was alright? I reply basically telling him I would prefer to dicuss pay, benefits and holiday before I give up any of my time doing their work for them, I dont want to be "lead up the garden path" just to be told sorry no. And that was that.
A truely strange interview, unless i got the completely WRONG end of the stick, or there was a communication error between the director and his employee (she arranged my interview not the director) and they were ment to tell me about this arrangment and never did?
Last edited:
Thats the weirdest interview I've ever heard of.
What I hate is the horrible fake jobs that show up "sports minded? interested in marketing" to cut the story short you end up in the dodgey end of town knocking on peoples doors trying to sign them up for RSPCA or sell them make up.
Other thing I hate is rejection emails that go something like this....
"dear xxxxxx
Thankyou for applying for xxxxxxx however we have recieved other applications that we feel meet the criteria more closely than your own. Therefore we will not be progressing your application any further, thankyou for applying and please continue to visit our website for the most up to date vacancies...."
Basically what I read from that statement is "Your not good enough, but thanks anyway" it's so impersonal.
Don't get me started on interviews, I must have been to almost 100 since graduating in 2009 and the interview always goes well (well I think it does) then when I attempt to follow up on the interview, I get told, sorry we can't give individual feedback on interviews.
What I read from that is,
"If we told you why we didn't hire you, you might be able to sue us on the grounds of discrimination"
What I hate is the horrible fake jobs that show up "sports minded? interested in marketing" to cut the story short you end up in the dodgey end of town knocking on peoples doors trying to sign them up for RSPCA or sell them make up.
Other thing I hate is rejection emails that go something like this....
"dear xxxxxx
Thankyou for applying for xxxxxxx however we have recieved other applications that we feel meet the criteria more closely than your own. Therefore we will not be progressing your application any further, thankyou for applying and please continue to visit our website for the most up to date vacancies...."
Basically what I read from that statement is "Your not good enough, but thanks anyway" it's so impersonal.
Don't get me started on interviews, I must have been to almost 100 since graduating in 2009 and the interview always goes well (well I think it does) then when I attempt to follow up on the interview, I get told, sorry we can't give individual feedback on interviews.
What I read from that is,
"If we told you why we didn't hire you, you might be able to sue us on the grounds of discrimination"