Back in the market after some long contracts, old tricks are not working now!!!

[Darren_Test]

Hey,

I am back in the market after couple of long contracts, preparing for the next one now!

In jobsites things are looking very promising, but no response from agents even though some of the roles are very similar to my last roles!!! Not sure whats going on..?? Some of the job specs I have seen looked like copied from my CV !!! - still no call from the agencies!!

Am I missing any new trick here..??? What I need to do now to get these pimps put my CV in front of clients for roles which are absolute match..???

What I am doing now are..

1. Apply roles in Jobserve/Jobsite as soon as they advertise (by setting up jobserve/site alerts)
2. Call agents after sending jobserve applications
3. Link then via Linkedin to get attention
4. Being bit 'flexi' on rate and location
5. Updated profiles in Linkedin and job sites
6. Made CV searchable in job sites

I know some of us don't want to share our winning formula, but I am sharing mine which worked before. Hopefully others can implement steps mentioned above if they are not doing now. Hope I can learn some new tips as well, especially since I was away from job market for few years..

What more I need to do to get agents put my CV forward for very matching roles...??? Any response highly appreciated....

[BrilloPad]

Have you asked the agents? Have you offered £500 in a brown paper bag to the first agent that places you?

[sal]

It depends on the type of work you are after, but generally the agents are claiming they receive 100s of applications within an hour of publishing the ad. Basically there are many more contractors and contractor wannabes, than roles on the market.

[SandyD]

Am not sure if Jobsite and Jobserve have any value nowadays... I haven't got a contract through them for years.. focus on LinkedIn... link to as many agents as you can, read the daily postings many agents post the roles there. Get your network to forward you contact of their previous/favorite agents, and any emails they get for roles.

[Darren_Test]

Have you asked the agents? Have you offered £500 in a brown paper bag to the first agent that places you?

Thanks

[Darren_Test]

Am not sure if Jobsite and Jobserve have any value nowadays... I haven't got a contract through them for years.. focus on LinkedIn... link to as many agents as you can, read the daily postings many agents post the roles there. Get your network to forward you contact of their previous/favorite agents, and any emails they get for roles.

Ok. Thanks

[SlipTheJab]

Am not sure if Jobsite and Jobserve have any value nowadays... I haven't got a contract through them for years.. focus on LinkedIn... link to as many agents as you can, read the daily postings many agents post the roles there. Get your network to forward you contact of their previous/favorite agents, and any emails they get for roles.

^^^ This.

[BlasterBates]

I'm afraid the market is just bad. Whether something is or is not advertised on jobserve, simply contacting agents who have advertised something in your expertise is enough, as they will get back to you if they have something.

My advice, you're not doing anything wrong, it's just your chances of finding anything are much harder now, so you have to do what you did before but try harder.

...and if it goes on consider permie jobs

[Elliegirl]

Am not sure if Jobsite and Jobserve have any value nowadays... I haven't got a contract through them for years.. focus on LinkedIn... link to as many agents as you can, read the daily postings many agents post the roles there. Get your network to forward you contact of their previous/favorite agents, and any emails they get for roles.

That's interesting. The vast majority of my contracts have been via Jobserve and I've had quite a few calls from Reed, which was a bit of a surprise so I made sure my CV was updated on there. In fact today I had a call from an agency about pretty much my dream contract via Reed but I'm in a role right now. I've made very little use of linkedin. In fact I've avoided having my contacts 'cluttered' with agents but on the strength of your advice I may revise that approach.

[SueEllen]

That's interesting. The vast majority of my contracts have been via Jobserve and I've had quite a few calls from Reed, which was a bit of a surprise so I made sure my CV was updated on there. In fact today I had a call from an agency about pretty much my dream contract via Reed but I'm in a role right now. I've made very little use of linkedin. In fact I've avoided having my contacts 'cluttered' with agents but on the strength of your advice I may revise that approach.

It really depends on your skill set how agents contact you.

If you are in a field where your skill set is common then agents will contact their favourites first.

If you are in a field where your skill set is not common then agents will respond to your ad applications or even phone you up from posting an old CV.