where has all the work gone ?

[chicane]

Since when did a developer need to code well to get contracts? I'd say that the ability to reel off buzzwords and blow your own trumpet are far more important skills when in pursuit of a contract.

[boredsenseless]

i was never a jealous person but i am really pissed of where my life is going "Nowhere" somepeople are just lucky i guess

This line really sums up your problem, once you start thinking like this it shows through in verything you do, and people don't like to hire someone who has low self worth.

Go out do exercise, make yourself believe in your abilities again and it will start to look better, I think you may have fallen into the 'I got made redundant, whats wrong with me' trap. Don't worry about it it happens to loads of people, go out believe in yourself again and the job will come.

[DodgyAgent]

It can be disheartening, particularly is you have higher expectations than these boards can often deliver. The trick of using these jobboards is to learn to read them well.

Pick up certain patterns and similar job descriptions - the chances are they are the same job being advertised by different EBs with different ref numbers.

See if a job has been repeatedly advertised - chances are if it was posted some time back it may well be gone or else the job board failed to remove it.

Is the description a full and reasonable one for the skillset being asked for? Chances are this could be a real possibility. If the role has a 'too good to be true' air about it with very good rates quotes then the chances are its a CV trawler.

Look out for certain clients that always seem to advertise for roles in your field but you never seem to get interviewed for (even when put forward). Chances are these companies are either not recruiting or else they are simply using contractor CVs to get a better idea of what's outside in the market to benchmark against internal candidate skills. That's why I don't bother with Norwich Union or Barclays Capital jobs now.

Take note of security clearance requirements. If this is required, then there is a strong chance you won't be represented against other candidates who do have this in place. The legal clause often in job board ads 'or must be willing to undergo clearance' usually translates in practice to 'has already got clearance in place.'

Put together a lead sheet in Excel with different columns for all the jobs you've applied for, the jist of every conversation you have with recruiters and outcomes from client representations and interviews. That way you can really keep track of bulltulip EBs and bulltulip recruiters. Plus you can easily go back to recruiters who provide that rare 'needle in a haystack' experience of professionalism and courtesy with a genuine desire to source you when the right role comes up. Unfortunately, these recruiters are nearly as rare as hen's teeth but they do exist. Most of them are CV key word sifters and send button merchants who forget that contractors are actually people not future pound note signs.

I would say that your experiences are not that unusual. I am also highly skilled and jobs in my field on Jobserve this year have so far not been worth applying for with a couple of possibilities that didn't materialise for good reasons.

Don't forget to market yourself directly to your own contacts too.

Apart from the last paragraph boast that was indeed a very good piece of advice
I would also keep in close contact with ex colleagues by building a database of personal contacts with whom to keep in touch.

[Paddy]

was made redundant from my last employer back in april 2006.
worked as 2nd 3rd line support mainly on servers and some desktop work.

i have applied for at least 300 jobs on the usual jobserve cwjobs etc.
but nearly 95% of these f**king agencies dont call or even reply with an email.

anyone got any advice or should i forget the nerd work of computers and do something else.

I wouldn’t give a job or contract to anyone who was too lazy to use a shift key. (i).

[unemployed]

cheers guys for the comments.

it`s not all doom and gloom won 4k down the casino this afternoon.

i estimate that as 2k an hour best contract for a long time.

[unemployed]

does anyone have any sms2003 pdf`s ?

[errorista]

such as ?

plenty of jobs listed on the usuall jobserver which i believe are just there to collect your cv on there database nothing more im guessing 50% of jobs listed on these sites dont even exist.

Check out Jobjock.



Ive updated the search so its faster. (The db is getting larger and I needed to streamline the queries to match)

Let me know if it helps you to filter the dross.

[unemployed]

anyone here work for an agency ?

what are the most in demand skills that a person from a support background can retrain to.

not interested in programming or anything like that.

citrix skills seem to be quite popular , something along those lines ?

[maximus]

anyone here work for an agency ?

what are the most in demand skills that a person from a support background can retrain to.

not interested in programming or anything like that.

citrix skills seem to be quite popular , something along those lines ?

Indians are doing Citrix (badly) big time...in fact Indians are doing almost everything - I looked around the canteen today at lunch time today, white people were very much in the minority.
Every last one of them displacing a UK contractor.

[unemployed]

Indians are doing Citrix (badly) big time...in fact Indians are doing almost everything - I looked around the canteen today at lunch time today, white people were very much in the minority.
Every last one of them displacing a UK contractor.

lol cheap labour at its best .

maybe i should go back to swapping out hdd and raid cards , as that cant be done by some lackie in bangladesh