Job market - good or bad?

[stan2484]

I think the wider your skill set role wise the better the market is for you as some of the guys have posted already. I feel being a jack of all gives more options for work than being a master of one , but the master will get a bit more brass when the works about, depends how you want to do it I suppose.

I have been looking due to my current gig being extended by only six weeks due to budgets and have had 3 interviews in the last week, with a 6 month extendable offer on really good dollars just accepted.

So for me the market has been ok

[TheFaQQer]

I think the wider your skill set role wise the better the market is for you as some of the guys have posted already. I feel being a jack of all gives more options for work than being a master of one , but the master will get a bit more brass when the works about, depends how you want to do it I suppose.

I have been looking due to my current gig being extended by only six weeks due to budgets and have had 3 interviews in the last week, with a 6 month extendable offer on really good dollars just accepted.

So for me the market has been ok

I got for the same theory - except that I'm a master of all trades, jack of none (or something like that)

[chicane]

Generally speaking, a wider skillset means no specialities, so people with a wider skillset are more likely to be in work at any time, but less likely to be earning the big bucks.

[BrowneIssue]

I’ve been reading a few worrying articles about a slow down in the economy, but do keep seeing news bits about the shortage of IT professionals. My contracts is due to run out at the end of Jan 08.

Can I ask what the job market is like at the moment for anybody looking.

I've been looking seriously for 4 months with very limited success (applied for 160 roles for which I am confident I could do what the advert says, had 3 interviews).

There are umptymillion articles about "the skills shortage" in the trade press and elsewhere.

Most jobs demand you have a complex mix of skills and bang up to date experience in all of them. I sit there reading some of them thinking "I cannot believe there is any one person in the country with that particular mix". For so many when I contact the agent they are adamant the client wants exactly that but they can't find anyone suitable.

Then you read about the tens of thousands that are recruited by Bloggs plc in India and brought over here to work for Bloggs UK.

- I do not believe there is a significant shortage of work.
- I do not believe the immigration figures are as high as they should be.
- I do believe many of the job adverts are invented so large companies can say "we tried but there's nobody out there so were using the visa route".
- I do believe there are a hell of a lot of skilled IT people out there that can't get jobs / contracts.

Somewhere in a forum called something like AgentUK, or whatever, there must be a bunch of IT recruitment agents complaining "We can't find people to match the skills the client wants and are spending ages looking and getting nobody to put forward".

[stan2484]

Generally speaking, a wider skillset means no specialities, so people with a wider skillset are more likely to be in work at any time, but less likely to be earning the big bucks.

True I agree, however if the speciality you have is not in demand then the big bucks are not coming your way. Your worth nothing unless you are working so I would rather be multi skilled and earning consistently good brass, than a superstar who only earns top banana when his skills or in demand.

Horses for courses and everyones home situation is different, I have a wife and 4 kids to feed and look after so constant dollars suits me.

[ChimpMaster]

I have a wife and 4 kids to feed and look after so constant dollars suits me.

Should stick to Euros or Yen. El dollaro es finito.

[b0redom]

I've been looking seriously for 4 months with very limited success (applied for 160 roles for which I am confident I could do what the advert says, had 3 interviews).

How are you looking? Have you uploaded your CV to the usual places? I've had to delist mine as I was getting so many calls (and am currently in contract) and I'm still getting an average of 5 calls/emails/day.

[KentPhilip]

How are you looking? Have you uploaded your CV to the usual places? I've had to delist mine as I was getting so many calls (and am currently in contract) and I'm still getting an average of 5 calls/emails/day.

I suppose it depends upon what specific skill-set you have. What skillset do you have? I am SQL Server support, for example, and am getting around one call per day from a CV on Jobserve.

[b0redom]

Right, I'm an Infrastructure architect/Sysadmin/Consultant. Although at the moment my customer doesn't have any UNIX kit (which they hired me to look after) so I'm putting removable hard disks in HP workstations.

You might also want to post to:

cwjobs.co.uk
jobsite.co.uk
monster.co.uk

Bizarrely I seem to get most calls from agents through monster....

[Moscow Mule]

I work on upgrades to banks core systems for lower tier 1 banks down to tier n on the i5.

Things are not looking too rosy at the moment. I might have to go back to development.