State of the Market

[SussexSeagull]

I have had e-mails from agents that have almost ended up being marked as spam and they ended up being genuine interview requests.

The art of picking up a phone to someone seems to have fallen out of favour.

[oliverson]

I have had e-mails from agents that have almost ended up being marked as spam and they ended up being genuine interview requests.

The art of picking up a phone to someone seems to have fallen out of favour.

The problem with that approach in modern times is that nobody ever answers the phone.

[SussexSeagull]

The problem with that approach in modern times is that nobody ever answers the phone.

Then leave a Voicemail.

[ladymuck]

I don't know WTF is going on but this is really weird.

I posted elsewhere about the market and my frustrations at the professionalism of agents, but this one takes the biscuit and I'm still trying to fathom out what's going on.

Most of last week I was trying to speak to an agent who left a voicemail and when I tried calling him back, the call was never answered. So, some back and forth messages on LinkedIn and we'd speak the following day, but that just didn't happen. Until today....

So, the call goes OK but it's a non-starter as 2 days on site and the commute is hellish, at over 2 hours each way, probably well over.

Then, just now, I had another call regarding another contract. Wow, just like buses, two come along at once. Oddly, this guy has the same first name as the one earlier (didn't get his surname), but it's not the same guy, totally different voice. Upshot is that can I ping him my CV. No problem, I'm awaiting his email so I can reply but there's nothing. Meanwhile I notice in LinkedIn that I have a new message, so I go back to it and it's the chat I was having with the first guy, posting his email address that just so happens to be the company that the second guy works for!!!!!! Why would two different people be using the same LinkedIn profile?

That sounds very suss. Or LI is having a brain fart and getting messages mixed up

[SchumiStars]

Arranged a lunch with some colleagues from 20yrs ago at the end of the month. Looking forward to it.

It was one of those jobs were I was underskilled and under disciplined and struggled for the first few months a great deal. Nearly lost my job a few times.

The market had changed and everyone was doing .net work as to the classic asp and VB6 I had learned. So it was important to make the most of the opportunity and learn as much as I could quickly.

I had to work evenings and weekends to catch-up with everyone.

Also had moved wife and son into a horrible rented flat which I could barely afford in North Harrow. I was under consierable amount of pressure both at home and work.

6mths of long, hard work see me turn things around though. I managed to work out how to develop and write the code to a high level and those principles still use today.

We managed to find a broken, rundown house which needed a considerable amount of work doing. I somehow managed to secure a self-cert mortgage and all I needed was to front-up the £100k deposit.

In those days, having a good relationship with the bank manager was important. I had a good accounts and good credit history. Somehow I convinced the bank manager to lend me half the money for the deposit.

So I was set! 12mths latter, I had a job which I loved, hard work, difficult and learning loads a new house and the family feeling more settled. And then suddenly the job I loved I was no longer required and I found myself with a big, unafforable house with no work. Quite similar to my current situation

However things were different now, I had a bunch of new skills. So once again, I rolled up my sleeves and started job hunting and within 2 weeks I had multiple offers. The one I took was my first contract. Which was great, the money, helped fix up the broken down house into a lovely family home.

As I say, can't wait to meet to those guys again!

[oliverson]

Then leave a Voicemail.

Tried that.

[SussexSeagull]

Tried that.

Considering recruitment is a people industry there are a lot of recruiters who don't seem to enjoy talking to people.

[oliverson]

Very busy day today on LinkedIn.

SEVEN opportunities came my way. Maybe a couple worth investigating.

[kingmob]

What the hell? 2 years experience, ITIL certificate = minimum wage?


Junior IT Support Specialist - £25-28k

Desktop Support Engineer - City, London


Ref: 2953Tuesday 10 June 2025

up £28,000 per annum

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EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR A JUNIOR IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST



Location: SE1, Central London

Salary: £25K to £28K



Join one of London's finest Financial Services Firms!

Are you a tech-savvy problem-solver ready to make your mark in the fast-paced world of finance? We're seeking a dynamic Junior IT Support Specialist to join our cutting-edge IT operations team at our prestigious London headquarters.



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• Work with the latest technologies including Microsoft O365, Teams, virtualization, and enterprise applications
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• Contribute to our knowledge base and help shape IT processes that drive business success

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• 2+ years of hands-on IT support experience with multiple operating systems and devices
• Strong background in Windows Server tools, networking concepts, and information security
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• ITIL Foundation certification preferred

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[avonleigh]

Interesting article on CV's, explains a lot why people get over looked, when humans don't even read them as they go through some screening software.

At 62, I was mortified that I couldn’t get a job – here’s how I wrote the perfect CV