This Business and Moment...

@Maccy the initial process was through a recruiter up until the verbal acceptance of the offer. After that they just went off and the rest of the process was directly through the company's HR/Recruitment.
We're looking to get everything booked next week and thought it'd be a good idea to give them a heads up.
 
Steedie said:
Is it wrong to accept a job knowing it's your fall back plan and you're waiting on better offers that you'll accept if they came through?

I accepted a new contract role yesterday, a lot more money but it's in a fair distance away which means staying over a few days during the week. Alternatively, there's hopefully an offer from another contract role which is basically next door to where I am now which is the one I will go for.

Is that wrong? I just worry that if you say "sorry I'm waiting on other offers" they'll change their mind or hold it against you, but on the flip side, I'm basically going to burn a bridge with the recruiter who got me the far away job when I turn round and tell him actually I won't be working their as I've accepted a better offer
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Well yeah of course it is wrong - is it a big industry though? How likely are you going to be burned by it?

I mean if perm then it would be ridiculous for them to expect you to give an answer within 24 hours of making you an offer if you're waiting on another offer, I guess maybe contracting is slightly different but then again how soon do they expect you to start? What do you mean by "hold it against you" they know that people interview at multiple places at once, that shouldn't be a big deal.

I'd certainly use it to get the other place to get a move on with their offer.


Jony27 said:
Right folks, I've signed the contract and agreed a start date but nowhere in the process was I ever asked about planned holidays. What's the best way to bring this up as we have a trip planned from 19th Dec to 3rd January? My pro-rata annual leave just about covers this length.
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Jony27 said:
@Maccy the initial process was through a recruiter up until the verbal acceptance of the offer. After that they just went off and the rest of the process was directly through the company's HR/Recruitment.
We're looking to get everything booked next week and thought it'd be a good idea to give them a heads up.
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Just tell them, perhaps better in an e-mail than phone call as you have some record of it if HR saying "oh that's fine, don't worry about it" in case your actual manager later says "oh no, that's no good".

At the moment you don't really have anything booked - you'd just like time off to go away at Christmas - so do most of your colleagues I'd assume. In most workplaces this is fine and pretty much encouraged as it is useful to have most people away at the same time, in other jobs where you have to provide some level of coverage it isn't ideal... so it kind of depends on the role.

If you're in a team where it is important and some people have to cover Christmas then you might be expected to provide some coverage, it could be quite bad/cause resentment as the new guy to just come in and want a big block of time off over some period where everyone would too.

In the case where it might be important don't lie about this stuff as there is the possibility that they ask you to cancel the trip in which case you'll probably be asked to submit your hotel reservations, flights etc.. so they can reimburse you so don't claim to have booked something if you actually haven't yet or indeed if you're asking them now then just booking anyway before you get a response wouldn't look good.
 
So I moved last month from a busy MSP environment back to an Enterprise environment going through a huge transformation project to modernize their aging IT Infrastructure - on paper and at interview the ideal role. Implementing multi-site VMWare Clusters, migrating away from CoLo DataCentres and having a Hybrid Cloud Strategy as well as replacing LAN/WAN at all 130 sites across UK&I. Unfortunately when starting a few weeks back myself and another person started at the same time and we've both basically been lied to at interview as everything is Outsourced, we're not doing a single technical aspect of the project, just service facilitation between various outsourced vendors and doing internal CAB etc.

I'm obviously extremely frustrated as I left a fantastic place (although I had hit a plateau there) to work for what was on paper and sold as a phenomenal role with a huge technical requirement - they have a team of 8 Infrastructure People but the tickets we work on are checking backups, creating accounts etc - today one of the engineers received a ticket to do RCA on a end-user computer falling off the domain which went straight to Infrastructure - it's absolutely bizarre.

I'm considering going down the contract route - meeting an old boss next week to discuss helping get a private limited company set up and trying to understand the potential pitfalls of going contracting - but also have two interviews lined up for perm roles next week.
 
Steedie said:
Is that wrong? I just worry that if you say "sorry I'm waiting on other offers" they'll change their mind or hold it against you, but on the flip side, I'm basically going to burn a bridge with the recruiter who got me the far away job when I turn round and tell him actually I won't be working their as I've accepted a better offer
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I'd be honest and just say I need to think about the commute. I was going to turn down a role that was a few hours away but after discussing it with them I only need to work a few weeks onsite then can work where I like
 
Throrik said:
I'm considering going down the contract route - meeting an old boss next week to discuss helping get a private limited company set up and trying to understand the potential pitfalls of going contracting - but also have two interviews lined up for perm roles next week.
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Nice one!

Being completely lied to in an interview ought to have direct consequences for the company involved, granted not everyone is going to be happy about just straight up walking out on day 1 when it becomes apparent (and it isn't necessarily sensible without having something else lined up) but hopefully you land a new role ASAP and can just leave.
 
I normally wouldn't discuss this stuff but I feel a need a bit of an outlet at the moment, 2019 for me seems year where everything has gone wrong, as I nearly lost my Dad a few months ago but luckily he pulled through so that put me through a huge amount of distress but he is on a slow road to now recovery and then I had a blip with my Mum about 4 weeks ago now. Then we get to last week, I was informed that the company who I have been working for the last 9 years or so now is going through a re-organisation and I am to be going through a redundancy process and I am due to be made redundant this week and there is a few other bits also going on which is taking its toll mentally.

So, once this has all been completed, I will need to start the process of looking for work. I am thinking about taking a month or so off though to sort out my head as it’s been a proper roll coaster this year.

I do see the redundancy as a positive thing overall, as I have been pretty stagnant at the same place for a while and there has been no room for progression and I’ve even had to pay for my own training as we never seem to have had the budget.

I've been looking over the jobs boards this week and it does seem a good time overall to be on the hunt again for a new role. However, I am really not sure to do now to be honest but I think that's more to do with the level of stress (insert other stressed word here) I have been contemplating going contracting for a while now but I am fully aware of its not all rosy.

I’d be interested in hearing from people that have been through the redundancy mill and how it has worked out?
Also if any one has any good tips for re-learning the whole interview process and hunting?
 
RSR said:
I’d be interested in hearing from people that have been through the redundancy mill and how it has worked out?
Also if any one has any good tips for re-learning the whole interview process and hunting?
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I have been through redundancy process 4 times now over 20 year period. Once you get to so many times everything becomes natural and very easy. If there isn't a job at the end of the line just go for another one. Update your resume and go hunting. Don't even need to learn the whole interview process as everywhere is different.
 
Maccy said:
Could potentially be an issue in future if you were in contact with that recruiter, but at the end of the day you have to do what's best for you.
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True but a recruiter would have no second thoughts if the tables were turned. I find most of them utterly annoying to deal with and in the 5-6 years I've been a contracter I can count on one hand the number I would recommend.
 
^^^ this

@RSR perhaps a short break to regroup if you're getting a redundancy package. Maybe take a short holiday initially during the first part of it, then relax a little and plan out your next move.
 
Yes, it's very much what I have been thinking about doing as I have been thinking about taking a month away to sort my head out. They haven't really given me much of a package to be honest, it’s more like the minimum they can give legally.

I've also been chatting with various friends and people I know within the IT industry and it’s been a huge wakeup call for me in many respects, as times have hugely moved on and the way the company works seems to stagnant, which I guess it shown by the cutting of head counts. I guess working for an ISP/MSP should put me in good standing in the future as I know my virtualization, OS, applications, architect is solid, but we had little expose to the Cloud Services i.e. AWS / Azure and I want to change that.

Also been reviewing about bring all my certifications up to date so MSCA/E 2016 & VCP and looking to add the AWS and Azure to those as I've had zero time for that in my current place as they wouldn't pay for any training. So, anything I have been doing has been off my own back.

I already have a clear plan of where I want to go now, which is Technical Architecture / Cloud Architecture / Infrastructure Engineering but still with a hands-on approach and I have already overhauled my CV in that style.

My current plan of action is:

1. Long Break (Maybe a month or so), ensure my head is back in the game
2. Update all my certifications
3. Decide on going Contractor / Permanent

The only last thing I can think of is what are the current top IT Jobs boards, as I have CW Jobs and LinkedIn?
 
Well day two of full time job hunting - lots of calls, had a few phone interviews and two in-person ones. Getting fairly fed up of recruiters lying their socks off already. One major thing for me is I don't drive and I always ensure I bring this up, had to walk out of a F2F yesterday because the recruiter said it wasn't required and to be fair the job spec didn't mention it because they wanted someone that could drive.
 
RSR said:
Yes, it's very much what I have been thinking about doing as I have been thinking about taking a month away to sort my head out. They haven't really given me much of a package to be honest, it’s more like the minimum they can give legally.

I've also been chatting with various friends and people I know within the IT industry and it’s been a huge wakeup call for me in many respects, as times have hugely moved on and the way the company works seems to stagnant, which I guess it shown by the cutting of head counts. I guess working for an ISP/MSP should put me in good standing in the future as I know my virtualization, OS, applications, architect is solid, but we had little expose to the Cloud Services i.e. AWS / Azure and I want to change that.

Also been reviewing about bring all my certifications up to date so MSCA/E 2016 & VCP and looking to add the AWS and Azure to those as I've had zero time for that in my current place as they wouldn't pay for any training. So, anything I have been doing has been off my own back.

I already have a clear plan of where I want to go now, which is Technical Architecture / Cloud Architecture / Infrastructure Engineering but still with a hands-on approach and I have already overhauled my CV in that style.

My current plan of action is:

1. Long Break (Maybe a month or so), ensure my head is back in the game
2. Update all my certifications
3. Decide on going Contractor / Permanent

The only last thing I can think of is what are the current top IT Jobs boards, as I have CW Jobs and LinkedIn?
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Slightly different situation for me in that I took voluntary redundancy and had the safety net of my partners salary being sufficient for our bills and commitments. I actually ended up taking 6 months off between roles, though I had my current job secured around month 4 and it was a case of going through background checks and setting a start date. Was the best 6 months of my life, I spent a lot of my redundancy money but I also enjoyed myself, de-stressed and got a bit fitter and happier. Can't recommend taking some "me" time more.

Also... LinkedIn is key, start building your profile and reach
 
Had my first contract interview, thought it went very well now to see if I get offered it. Have a couple of perm interviews coming up too, one today and one next week.
 
Verbally received my first contract to start on Monday - I know it's not always going to be as easy as this, but damn that felt good. I kind of knew I had it in the bag during the interview as it was a proper fit both sides, going to have to smarten up now haha.
 
Final day today and have a full week to wind down and travel the South West coast of Ireland before starting the new role on 12th August.
It'll be a proper shock to the system with getting trained up again, new team, new environment etc.
 
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