where has all the work gone ?

[unemployed]

You are not a person but a unit of labour. You must learn to increase the value of your labour and sell it directly onto the market. It's simple - and it's nothing personal. You've also learnt what a risky business it is selling your labour. So perhaps you ought to resell someone else's labour (an employer) or act as a gatekeeper to labour (an agent). Or perhaps next time you'll convert your labour into assets and let them work for you, rather than you work.

thanks for the in-depth review of my postings lol

so what your saying is i should setup an employment agency and run it correctly ?
or buy assets i.e a house or something ?

[Ted Crilly]

i have sent my cv maybe 200-300 times how do you sell yourself ?

combination of companies paying crap which i wont apply for
agencies lying
jobs not even existing in the first place.

now i am looking for jobs advertised by companies directly least this way i can bypass the paper shuffle monkeys.

is a 30k job so much to ask for in london ffs ? not like you can get a decent mortgage or something anyway.

Once you have sent your C.V. for a particular role, make a note of who, what when, where, client, agent name etc then call them about an hour later saying that you sent your C.V. for job ref xxx etc. It's annoying, but it means that you can tell almost immediately whether it's a bulltulip merchant, C.V collector etc.

I was made redundant not so long ago and initially spent ages firing off my C.V to agencies and took this route when most failed to call me back. Half the time it's incompetence on their part, what other trade do you know where the people selling something know little or **** all about what they are selling or who they are selling to?

Point of clarification: Selling yourself, for one thing, ensure that when you are compiling your C.V, you think along the lines of a recruiter. Typically when they get a requirement, they will distill out a number of buzzwords from the Job Spec, AD, Windows 2003, Jabberwocky or whatever. If you have those skills, make sure that you include them in your C.V as that (the buzzwords) is what they will search on, and if they are not on your C.V, it won't come up, and they won't call you. When you do speak to them, use your best business terminology and throw some buzzwords in there too, if you come across as a desperate mong, you are not likely to be put forward are you?


P.S. There is never a time where punctuation, spelling, capitalisation etc doesn't matter.

P.P.S Remember, perception is reality, my perception of you here is a depressed, can't be arsed type dude, what would you prefer your image to be?

[unemployed]

Once you have sent your C.V. for a particular role, make a note of who, what when, where, client, agent name etc then call them about an hour later saying that you sent your C.V. for job ref xxx etc. It's annoying, but it means that you can tell almost immediately whether it's a bulltulip merchant, C.V collector etc.

I was made redundant not so long ago and initially spent ages firing off my C.V to agencies and took this route when most failed to call me back. Half the time it's incompetence on their part, what other trade do you know where the people selling something know little or **** all about what they are selling or who they are selling to?

Point of clarification: Selling yourself, for one thing, ensure that when you are compiling your C.V, you think along the lines of a recruiter. Typically when they get a requirement, they will distill out a number of buzzwords from the Job Spec, AD, Windows 2003, Jabberwocky or whatever. If you have those skills, make sure that you include them in your C.V as that (the buzzwords) is what they will search on, and if they are not on your C.V, it won't come up, and they won't call you. When you do speak to them, use your best business terminology and throw some buzzwords in there too, if you come across as a desperate mong, you are not likely to be put forward are you?


P.S. There is never a time where punctuation, spelling, capitalisation etc doesn't matter.

P.P.S Remember, perception is reality, my perception of you here is a depressed, can't be arsed type dude, what would you prefer your image to be?

you are correct on the depressed part yes, but i can be arsed actually, but get pissed off dealing with these agencies.

i have all the buzzwords as you mentioned, but these do not seem to help either.

sadly i could not give a f**k how my image is perceived here.

im not applying for a job here am i.

[Ted Crilly]

Try the follow up calling then, at least you can discount some of the applications and that'll go some way towards keeping your spirits up.

I'm not trying to troll you here mate. All I'm saying is that perception is reality for many people. If they percieve you to be good, on the ball etc then they will be more likely and confident in placing you, putting you forward. It's worth maintaining your outward appearance at all times to ensure good perception of yourself. Just a good habit to get into.

As for not applying for a job here, well agents read these boards too, and you've got to ask yourself, after re-reading your posts would you give 'unemployed' a job?

Also, try writing a second C.V, focussing more on the project type work you have done, and perhaps focussing more on how you controlled the projects etc? The Prince 2 suggestion by someone else was also a good one.

Lastly, it's only advice mate, take it or leave it. No need to go off on one at me for making a few suggestions.

[Jog On]

I just got an email about a £35k perm job in London for 1st-2nd line support - standard Windows AD/XP yadda yadda etc, they ask:

"Highly-developed interpersonal skills with the ability to quickly establish a rapport with clients.·
Customer focused with a strong sense of client and user care.·
A bright, proactive and 'can do' approach to work.·
Excellent problem solving skills and the ability to work with ahighly technical client population.·
Good organisational and time-management skills.·
Flexible.·
Able to work on own initiative, as well as part of a team."

There's a lot of 'bright, proactive, can do' stuff there in the requirements. Are you portraying yourself like that in your CV? Have you tried the 'killer CV' guide on this site in the first timers area? I know for a fact that that works very well.

[BOBJ]

im not applying for a job here am i.

And yet there are loads of people on here doing what you do, some agents, all sorts....if you made the effort on here there's a chance an opportunity could drop in your lap.

Another thing you can do is tailor your cv for each job you apply for. It doesn't have to be that time-consuming, assuming you are not a complete idiot, and may get you over the I-can't-get-an-interview hurdle. Its not like you don't have time on your hands, is it?

[Stan]

i have sent my cv maybe 200-300 times

Ok, basics here. Does your CV explicitly state that you have the skills the role you are applying for demands? Do you actually know the skills you are claiming well enough to get up to speed and at least skim the subject or have you got a bunch of misspelled acronyms on there? It is a stereotype but I have seen many CVs where a candidate has listed a skill they can't even spell.

[Brownie123]

200 - 300 CVs sent out? There's nothing worse than a desperate applicant. Or one for that matter who thinks they deserve the role and complain about others who get an interview over them (maybe they are actually better qualified and with a better attitude?)

Agencies have loads of jobs to deal with at the same time, you'll find they put the ads out there then leave them farming CVs. The first batch will be reviewed and sent over to the client and further applications will be back-ups. Get over it, they are busy and in a sales role, accept that they won't call you back then you avoid disappointment

[unemployed]

had a technical interview over the phone today .

am i going mad, but i fail to see what relevance these questions have in the real world.

name the 7 layer osi model and in order ???????????
describe how you would check or change the routing table on an nt server?
sorry but no one would use nt a router.

stupid questions only a saddo techno addict would know off the top of there head.

[2uk]

had a technical interview over the phone today .

am i going mad, but i fail to see what relevance these questions have in the real world.

name the 7 layer osi model and in order ???????????
describe how you would check or change the routing table on an nt server?
sorry but no one would use nt a router.

stupid questions only a saddo techno addict would know off the top of there head.

Can you answer these ?