State of the Market

[jayn200]

The problem with online tests is how do you give people something to do that doesn't take long and allows them to demonstrate what they can do.

Yeah I agree, I would rather just a conversational interview followed by a leap of faith. You should be able to get a pretty good idea where they are at from just a 60 minute conversation. Hire quickly, fire quickly. Should know within 2 weeks if its going to work out or not. But maybe this is just the contractor in me saying this.

[CosmicWave]

Yeah I agree, I would rather just a conversational interview followed by a leap of faith. You should be able to get a pretty good idea where they are at from just a 60 minute conversation. Hire quickly, fire quickly. Should know within 2 weeks if its going to work out or not. But maybe this is just the contractor in me saying this.

But this is exactly how things used to be until March... at least in my experience.
Phone call, tech interview / discussions, and contract offered.
Never had to do all these online based tests, etc.

Anyway, just another thought - Has anybody tried uploading their CV to Jobserve et al. in PDF format rather than Word.
Does that help better or add value? or is Word format document still the king?
Just a random thought!

My CV has always been in PDF for a long time, and had no issues... well... until March at least.

[TheDogsNads]

But this is exactly how things used to be until March... at least in my experience.
Phone call, tech interview / discussions, and contract offered.
Never had to do all these online based tests, etc.

Anyway, just another thought - Has anybody tried uploading their CV to Jobserve et al. in PDF format rather than Word.
Does that help better or add value? or is Word format document still the king?
Just a random thought!

My CV has always been in PDF for a long time, and had no issues... well... until March at least.

IME it doesnt matter what format you submit your cv to agents in, provided it is a format they accept.

They just convert it to a jumbled up mess, losing all the nice formatting you have included to make it more presentable.

Ive lost count the number of times interviewers have shoved a copy of my cv across the desk to me and page breaks etc were missing. Ive joked with them I hope you dont think I submitted it to the agent in that format!

The reason your cv hasnt worked since March is because the economy has been utterly trashed by a Government following the science where the 'scientists' havent a scooby.

[founder]

Yeah I agree, I would rather just a conversational interview followed by a leap of faith. You should be able to get a pretty good idea where they are at from just a 60 minute conversation. Hire quickly, fire quickly. Should know within 2 weeks if its going to work out or not. But maybe this is just the contractor in me saying this.

I've been saying that for years

[founder]

IME it doesnt matter what format you submit your cv to agents in, provided it is a format they accept.

They just convert it to a jumbled up mess, losing all the nice formatting you have included to make it more presentable.

Ive lost count the number of times interviewers have shoved a copy of my cv across the desk to me and page breaks etc were missing. Ive joked with them I hope you dont think I submitted it to the agent in that format!

The reason your cv hasnt worked since March is because the economy has been utterly trashed by a Government following the science where the 'scientists' havent a scooby.

Yeah two smart professors yest were warning about a new spike

[founder]

what's github?

A place where good ideas go to die and unlimited free support ungrateful nerds

[edison]

Trying to judge how bad the market really is, anyone got any positive stories of getting boomed recently or a client going on a hiring spree?

I've been at a public sector client since early this year. I recently got extended another three months. They've hired a lot of permies since Spring and taken on a fair amount of contractors too, supporting a large IT and business transformation. It's a bit of an outlier for sure, but I know of several other public sector organisations particularly in higher education that have been hiring although not to the same extent.

[CheeseSlice]

Anyway, just another thought - Has anybody tried uploading their CV to Jobserve et al. in PDF format rather than Word. .

I think the ATS can deal with PDF these days, but its the agents who usually prefer Word format I understand.
Is it worth having your CV dumped by say 25% recruiers (or some other proportion of awkward sods) in the current market?

[eek]

I think the ATS can deal with PDF these days, but its the agents who usually prefer Word format I understand.
Is it worth having your CV dumped by say 25% recruiers (or some other proportion of awkward sods) in the current market?

+1 - the issue is that Agents want a CV without your contact details so that they can format it in their agency style and remove your direct contact details. That requires it being in a word document...

[BlasterBates]

I think you'll find that pdf simply get converted to word edited and then regenerated. No CV's get sent in without the agency "paraphernalia".