Forgot how bad job searching was :(

Ev0 said:
Well ignore my second line, first line still stands ;)

Back end support though isn't as bad as user facing though.
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Yes but finding a job that is just back end support won't happen, if there is no back end support to do youll just get whacked on to the phones.

"Development, architecture, security" would be the only ones I could partially consider... I could see security becoming boring?what would development and archtecture involve?
 
If anyone needs a job in the Cambridge area, short or long term, I have a couple of positions for delivery drivers.

Which is better than starving.

You can get hold of me via trust.
 
sports_brah said:
I've been doing my job for a while now, and I have to say: investment banking is the way forward. The hours are pretty long (I made the mistake of thinking 8:30-6pm was normal hours hahahhahaha (turns out they were being kind in training me up), but the pay is phenomenal, and more importantly the work is quite interesting in terms of pace, reward and the various challenges it presents. Would definitely recommend. :)

(I've learnt to hate tax rates though)
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Investment banking isn't known for it's work-life balance.
 
Got an interview tomorrow. Which I hate. However feeling more confident than the last few as I know this job as it's what I'm doing at the moment, rather than a different job, like the last few I've gone for. So I know it pretty much inside out, and the two interviewing me don't know the job inside out.

But the last few have had that stupid question. (No idea if this one will or not. I know most of it will be, tell us when you did x/y/z... )

What could you improve about yourself. What the hell are they looking for?

And do I need to ask any questions at the end? I know the job so I don't need to ask anything along those lines.
 
I've always hated job searching and used to find it particularly depressing given the amount of applications I would send off but hear nothing back from. However, I've come to realise two things:

(1) I can't change the entire recruitment industry and it's nothing personal. I still disagree with the fact they don't even send an automated 'No thanks' allowing me to cross the role off my list, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Having had the chance to go and look round a recruitment firm it really is a very busy environment and given how commission focused they are, I can partly understand why they don't waste time contacting unsuccessful applications.

(2) I always thought I had a pretty good CV. That was until I attended a webinar session with a company who specialises in effective CV writing - everything I thought was good about my CV really wasn't. If the strength of my old CV were to be measured, it would be only a 4 or 5 out of 10.

I've learnt that all the behavioural words (dedicated, enthusiastic, team player, self starting, analytic) are wasting space. Realistically, employers expect all their applications and staff to be those things anyway. Now my CV is focused strictly on what I have achieved - which for me might be easier given my background is Process Improvement / Change Management so it's easy to quote benefits delivered to the business.

Another really important thing I picked up was how to optimise the CV for online job boards. I always knew that their was some background machine picking out key words from my CV, but I never appreciated quite how important it was to tailor your CV to it.

The success has been incredible - I'm getting a vast number of enquiries from organisations and recruitment firms now I have a much more powerful CV. I guess the biggest thing I think about now is "There is likely to be many people all with the same skills and background applying for this job - How can I make my CV tell the prospective employer a story about me and what I can bring to their business?"
 
bakes0310 said:
You sound like me, were same age aswell. I have no qualifications except a D in GCSE English and a couple level 2 nvq in IT. Didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. Now I know what I want to do, thanks to my current job. Ill be going back to college 2 evenings a week. But starting back from the bottom (English and maths) and then next year a access course. Then finally 3 years in Uni. Very daunting thinking that's what my life will be for the next 5 years. I don't think im even college material let alone uni, so we shall see.

Delvis have you looked at evening courses, even if they are very basic simple ones at least you will get a taster of what you might want to do:)
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Exactly the same for me too, I only have a GSCE in IT, a C. I'm 28 and going to uni this year. Don't know what will happen but have to create options somehow.
 
wndsr said:
I've always hated job searching and used to find it particularly depressing given the amount of applications I would send off but hear nothing back from. However, I've come to realise two things:

(1) I can't change the entire recruitment industry and it's nothing personal. I still disagree with the fact they don't even send an automated 'No thanks' allowing me to cross the role off my list, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Having had the chance to go and look round a recruitment firm it really is a very busy environment and given how commission focused they are, I can partly understand why they don't waste time contacting unsuccessful applications.

(2) I always thought I had a pretty good CV. That was until I attended a webinar session with a company who specialises in effective CV writing - everything I thought was good about my CV really wasn't. If the strength of my old CV were to be measured, it would be only a 4 or 5 out of 10.

I've learnt that all the behavioural words (dedicated, enthusiastic, team player, self starting, analytic) are wasting space. Realistically, employers expect all their applications and staff to be those things anyway. Now my CV is focused strictly on what I have achieved - which for me might be easier given my background is Process Improvement / Change Management so it's easy to quote benefits delivered to the business.

Another really important thing I picked up was how to optimise the CV for online job boards. I always knew that their was some background machine picking out key words from my CV, but I never appreciated quite how important it was to tailor your CV to it.

The success has been incredible - I'm getting a vast number of enquiries from organisations and recruitment firms now I have a much more powerful CV. I guess the biggest thing I think about now is "There is likely to be many people all with the same skills and background applying for this job - How can I make my CV tell the prospective employer a story about me and what I can bring to their business?"
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And what course for CVs was this?
 
Glaucus said:
But the last few have had that stupid question. (No idea if this one will or not. I know most of it will be, tell us when you did x/y/z... )

What could you improve about yourself. What the hell are they looking for?

And do I need to ask any questions at the end? I know the job so I don't need to ask anything along those lines.
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1) The type of answer I'd like to see from a candidate would one that shows the ability for self-appraisal and turn any weakness into an opportunity by illustrating how you might seek to improve in that area e.g. something along the lines of "I'm perhaps lacking some knowledge in ABC [something relevant to the job] but am very keen to develop this in the future, perhaps by taking course XYZ". This demonstrates that you have done some research and are not just saying "I'm crap at ABC, and always will be. Next question?"

2) Personally I would always ask at least a couple of questions. A good one I find is "How is performance measured in this organisation?" or similar as this gives you a feel for what their performance appraisal process is like and potentially gives you a lead in to asking about typical progression within the organisation from the job role you have applied for (depending on the specifics of course.... in some cases you may not want to show too much ambition).
 
hahaha just checking universal jobs match and they have a suggested job for me to apply for.

a few minor issues.

1. the job itself is the bins something i stopped doing as i cant physically do it anymore
2. its 5:30am starts and i dont drive
3. its 25 miles away in glossop

the thing thats getting to me the most this is about the 9th time they have suggested i go back on the bins even though the reason i signed back on was due to me being unable to continue working on the bins in the first place ?!

tomorrows meeting will be much fun. as iv already blown my top at them for keep asking me to apply for bin jobs. so now its time to see a manager! i know sod all will get done but iv had it.
 
HangTime said:
1) The type of answer I'd like to see from a candidate would one that shows the ability for self-appraisal and turn any weakness into an opportunity by illustrating how you might seek to improve in that area e.g. something along the lines of "I'm perhaps lacking some knowledge in ABC [something relevant to the job] but am very keen to develop this in the future, perhaps by taking course XYZ". This demonstrates that you have done some research and are not just saying "I'm crap at ABC, and always will be. Next question?"

2) Personally I would always ask at least a couple of questions. A good one I find is "How is performance measured in this organisation?" or similar as this gives you a feel for what their performance appraisal process is like and potentially gives you a lead in to asking about typical progression within the organisation from the job role you have applied for (depending on the specifics of course.... in some cases you may not want to show too much ambition).
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Thankfully first one didn't come up, second one came up in the interview along with everything else I wanted to know. as it was part competent based questions and part chit chat. So I just said everything I wanted to cover has been.
Wasn't great interview but far better than the last few I've had, I'm crap at interviews. However they did say they've had a few recently that aced interviews and been crap at the actual work, plus personal recommendation from a current employee must go a fair way.

Wait and see now. Although when asking about current package they were shocked, so who knows what they will put on the table, if I get an offer at all.
 
After 6 interviews, finally got lucky and been offered a job in Bristol in a superb department in the hospital there. Just going through the police check process at the moment whilst looking for a place to live. Scary and exciting at the same time. I didn't have any negative feedback from the last 4 interviews, with only my experience that went against me compared to other candidates. Feel somewhat relieved now that I've sorted it though!
 
GAC said:
hahaha just checking universal jobs match and they have a suggested job for me to apply for.

a few minor issues.

1. the job itself is the bins something i stopped doing as i cant physically do it anymore
2. its 5:30am starts and i dont drive
3. its 25 miles away in glossop

the thing thats getting to me the most this is about the 9th time they have suggested i go back on the bins even though the reason i signed back on was due to me being unable to continue working on the bins in the first place ?!

tomorrows meeting will be much fun. as iv already blown my top at them for keep asking me to apply for bin jobs. so now its time to see a manager! i know sod all will get done but iv had it.
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I assume you have a letter or medical note stating you can't do you're old job? What is wrong with you again?
 
dont have a medical letter but i could get one easy enough, i have arthritis and various issues with my feet thanks to frostbite. but i shouldnt need a letter when iv been signing on for over 3 years now and only told my adviser again about 6 weeks ago that im getting a tad sick of people at the jobcentre offering me the bins as iv done it before.

and to top it off just had a call at 8:!0 this morning saying my advisers now not available and can i go in next tuesday, so i kicked off about the bins over the phone and all she could say was "its your profile on universal jobs match" nope that doesnt mention the bins at all "oh its probably just human error, as people dont always look at your profile fully" you mean the people paid from our taxes to do a job.

i give up.
 
When i signed on, I was expecting then to take down all of my info, my interests,what work I wanted to be in, or a CV or something......nothing of the sort.

I honestly think they'd do better if they did this. You need them to out a mark on your account then, that and take it further up the chain.
 
Been with my current employer for a little over a year now. Everything started great but recently I've left as though I've had very little to do. At times it drives me crazy.

I'm now considering looking up jobs in London!
 
Weird experience with one company who I have been in discussions with. I used to work for them when I was working for a Bank as they assisted on some of our change projects given they're an excellent consulting firm.

I reached out to one of the consultants I worked with on a previous project, who put me in touch with their recruitment manager. I sent over my CV and she got back to me very quickly saying she would like to arrange a meeting between myself and the operations director to give both sides a chance to get to know each other. She requested I ring back last week to finalise a date and time.

I ring at the agreed time on the agreed day - no answer. I leave her a voicemail and say I will follow up in the afternoon. No answer. I send an email saying the usual "I couldn't get hold of you, still very interested so will try again tomorrow". I try again the day after, nothing. Basically, here we are now over a week later and numerous phone calls, voicemails and emails have been ignored.

I have the email address of her manager, so I'm tempted just to politely offer some feedback regarding my experience. I find it slightly ironic that a company specialising in making other companies better doesn't seem to have the manners to reply, particularly given the fact I was told to contact them.

It's thoroughly put me off working for them now so I'm thinking I have nothing to lose by escalating the matter.

What are peoples thoughts?
 
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