State of the Market

[sreed]

I've managed large scale local gov recruitment and assume central gov is broadly similar. They tried hard to attract non-traditional candidates especially women, neuro-diverse, non-graduates etc. The application process is usually tedious and you are asked to write a supporting statement of typically one to two pages.

This is a deal breaker for many candidates and based on the supporting statements I've seen, the majority are quite poor.

So if you apply for one of these roles, you've got a decent chance. I joined a call this week for potential candidates to learn more about a senior perm central gov role at Assistant Director level. Just 6 people joined. I'd be surprised if they get more than 20 applications.

I don’t have as much experience as Edison in PS hiring but from the little that I do I’ll second what they’ve said above.

It is a pain to apply for a PS permie job properly but that probably does reduce the candidate pool significantly. And based on how the recruitment process is designed, there’s a much higher chance of selecting candidates that have the required qualifications/experience for the role irrespective of being the ‘wrong age’, ‘overqualified’, perceived to be taking too big of a salary cut, etc.

[hungry_hog]

Back in role next month.

Actually been looking for 11 months (9m whilst in not nice role, 2m post). All that time only four interviews. I suspect I was making up the numbers in at least two of those.

Agents are desperate, trying to drum up leads from anywhere. The old two reference trick has been used a couple times.
Ghosted more often than Bill Murray.

A couple of old colleagues have given up on IT and are training to be tradesmen. Better demand and in this day and age, better money too.

[edison]

Back in role next month.

Actually been looking for 11 months (9m whilst in not nice role, 2m post). All that time only four interviews. I suspect I was making up the numbers in at least two of those.

Agents are desperate, trying to drum up leads from anywhere. The old two reference trick has been used a couple times.
Ghosted more often than Bill Murray.

A couple of old colleagues have given up on IT and are training to be tradesmen. Better demand and in this day and age, better money too.

I know a few IT guys who trained to be electricians about 20 years ago so as to always have something to fall back on, but still work in IT. A couple are in fairly senior roles now.

My teenage son is exceptionally academic and for a couple of years now we've thought he would want to do Computer Science or similar at one of the top universities. But recently I wonder if he would be better off doing Maths instead. I'm not convinced a CS degree will be that valuable in 5-6 years time, career wise.

[SchumiStars]

This is crazy
Not being funny but seems like you are being paid an offshore rate for an onshore job.

Have you looked at companies like Detica / BAE systems? They are chock full of technical people from top unis.

I know a few IT guys who trained to be electricians about 20 years ago so as to always have something to fall back on, but still work in IT. A couple are in fairly senior roles now.

My teenage son is exceptionally academic and for a couple of years now we've thought he would want to do Computer Science or similar at one of the top universities. But recently I wonder if he would be better off doing Maths instead. I'm not convinced a CS degree will be that valuable in 5-6 years time, career wise.

Maths everytime. He can always do a masters in CS if he wants to everytime.

My maths was average at best so I did CS.

[sreed]

Interesting data on the latest state and trends in the job market. Bloomberg article based on data from Reed
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...gers-recovery/

Consistently falling vacancies vs increasing applications, IT and the south among the most impacted. Nothing that we don't already know I guess!

[edison]

Interesting data on the latest state and trends in the job market. Bloomberg article based on data from Reed
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...gers-recovery/

Consistently falling vacancies vs increasing applications, IT and the south among the most impacted. Nothing that we don't already know I guess!

I think the same comparative data was posted last year. I said it then and will repeat it, if the biggest regional drops are in that rough arc including Swindon, Reading, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Cambridge then things are bad. This is arguably the biggest economic growth area in the UK.

[PCTNN]

My teenage son is exceptionally academic and for a couple of years now we've thought he would want to do Computer Science or similar at one of the top universities. But recently I wonder if he would be better off doing Maths instead. I'm not convinced a CS degree will be that valuable in 5-6 years time, career wise.

If he wants to do something valuable career wise has he thought about becoming a joiner/plumber/painter&decorator?

[avonleigh]

Everything is good again now though cos UK is officially out of recession 😂

[dsc]

Everything is good again now though cos UK is officially out of recession 😂

Heck that was quick,

[edison]

If he wants to do something valuable career wise has he thought about becoming a joiner/plumber/painter&decorator?

My son is interested in practical things, if he doesn't eventually go into IT, I can see him becoming an engineer of some sort. He has an interest in robotics.

He seems to want to do something useful rather than just make lots of money. With his advanced maths skills, I don't think he'll go and work for a hedge fund but who knows?!