where has all the work gone ?

**chicane** · 20 March 2007, 16:39

Who told you that the agencies are there to serve you? Be more proactive about chasing agencies and/or retrain into something where the supply/demand ratio is a little more balanced.

**unemployed** · 20 March 2007, 16:44

Originally posted by chicane

retrain into something where the supply/demand ratio is a little more balanced.

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.

**chicane** · 20 March 2007, 16:59

You sound pretty frustrated and riddled with apathy.

Many of the jobs listed are indeed there to harvest CVs. This is just one of many tricks used by the agencies. Can I suggest that you learn to deal with this rather than complain about it?

The jobs are out there, but we all face the same uphill battle in getting them (except those with extremely in-demand skills). By the way, are you after a new permanent role or a contract?

**Churchill** · 20 March 2007, 17:06

India.

"Tech Mahindra" have just opened a 3000 seat software development facility in Hyderabad.

**unemployed** · 20 March 2007, 17:08

yes i would say i am frustrated as i have had enough of constant lying and bulls**t from these agencies.

years ago it was never like this i had interviews coming out of my ears. now i just seem to get calls from agencies offering me 20-24k which in london is pocket money.

whats gets me even more is 6-7 years ago i was earning 30k on a perm role.
at least then 30k would buy you something even a decent mortgage. now it is nothing.

i am looking for either contract £25ph or perm 30K

but going by some of the comments on here £25ph is nothing ???

**chicane** · 20 March 2007, 17:17

It doesn't matter whether or not some people say £25ph is nothing. If it enables you to pay your mortgage, bills and enjoy a few luxuries every month (which it most definitely should), then it's a good starting point, is it not? I'd be perfectly happy with 10 months per year at 25ph.

I have to admit that 20-24k perm in london terms is pretty low. However, if you consider it as a starting point and have a degree of faith in your abilities (I'm assuming that you're good at what you do), the opportunities for more cash down the line are definitely present. In my last perm job, my salary doubled over the course of my first 18 months there.

It's more important than ever in the IT arena that you constantly work hard to keep your skills bang up to date - the rewards are there for those that do, and the low rates/redundancy/bench are there for those that don't.

**Cowboy Bob** · 20 March 2007, 18:06

Originally posted by unemployed

but going by some of the comments on here £25ph is nothing ???

You say above that you're only in support, in which case I'd argue that £25ph is too high really for a base role. There are literally multiple thousands of people out there who can fulfill this kind of position - hence the competition. What do you do that makes you stand out? Whatever it is, place it prominently on your CV. If you're just a bog-standard Windows support person then I'd suggest adding something extra to your skills such as *nix - most environments have a mixture of the two and that would make you more bankable, for example...

**Ruprect** · 20 March 2007, 18:15

Don't you just love ranting newbies?

**Denny** · 20 March 2007, 18:31

Originally posted by unemployed

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.

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.

where has all the work gone ?