Submission to Interview time

[privateeye]

Has anyone else noticed these days that from the time you submit your CV to the time it takes to interview has generally got longer?

Pre-2000 it was interview on day 1 and start day 2. Now I submit my CV and a week or 2 later get feedback as to whether I get an interview or not. I have a couple that have been going on over a month now and one public sector client wants to book me from late July!! Just had a tele interview for something I went for last month.

It does seem that clients have got their act together so they make time to make the right selection - just means these days you need to plan more in advance when looking for the next contract if you don't want a gap.

[ChicoLondon]

Things should speed us now as a new financial year starts. A lot of agencies and project managers fish for candidates before they secure funding.

[IsItOver]

There are still an awful lot of nerves out there, peopel unsure whether projects are going ahead, people just generally nervous and companies not convinced they need to do a big IT spend. It all seems a tad flaky at the moment.

I had an agency ring me up about a role last night in Brum but they would not tell me the client so I told them where to go... they feared I would know who it was so I said "I don't think a career at Rover is worthwhile" and then the girlie on the phone started going on about my career motivation.... GET A SODDING LIFE!

[privateeye]

The ones I have on the go at the moment I really don't think are phishers - I have the names of the clients, and even had quick telephone interviews etc so they are definately live. I have one in the public sector who wanted to interview me first before he made his proposal to the finance board so he could go in with actual costing rather than projected - sensible I suppose.

Just been asked by another potential for more specific info on team leading experience - I started this one 4 weeks ago so its taken 4 weeks to read my CV.

Either people very busy or can't decide.

[HankWangford]

I had one who interviewed me and said great but then decided they needed to spend 8 weeks on requirements to scope how many peeps they needed....needless to say i told them where to put it.....
About to start a role middle of next month which I first applied for start of march, so nearly three months in total.........Basically if you start a three monther you better start looking staight away....christ could be a never ending cycle.

[thunderlizard]

You might have moved up the ranks since the 90s as well. When I started out in contracting I tended to get the lower ranking jobs with disorganised clients who need somebody right away, but with more organised projects and higher up positions there's usually more breathing space.

[WageSlave1]

Pre-2000 it was interview on day 1 and start day 2. Now I submit my CV and a week or 2 later get feedback as to whether I get an interview or not

That's pretty much my experience. It used to be the case that if I hadn't heard anything by the end of the week I put it down as a lost case, but now I have a couple of positions on the back burner for over a month. The agents don't help...just sit around on their fat ar**s watching everything float along at it's own merry pace - whatever happened to salesmanship?

It does seem that clients have got their act together so they make time to make the right selection

:rollin Good one!

[ch123]

I applied for some jobs earlier this week on Jobserve, hadn't heard anything back, so I called the agent of the advert I liked the most.

He hadn't seen my email and said he has 200 - 300 CVs in his inbox every day...!

If this is true, how does the Online job application work?! He clearly wasn't looking through the CVs he gets from the website...

[NoziParker]

I hate it when hirers take forever to decide when to interview and when to hire. I also think it is unfair to expect contractors to pay to attend interviews when the budget is not yet secured or they're still scouting around internally, just in case it falls through for external contractors.

[IsItOver]

If this is true, how does the Online job application work?! He clearly wasn't looking through the CVs he gets from the website...

What really cheeses me of is if I see a contract I fancy, am unable to contact the shark by phone and so email him... but I hear nothing... Then a day or a week later I get either a call or an email from him/her for a totally different job and often one that bears no relation to my line of expertise...

I have noticed that there are less agents around today who are prepared to promote you to a client and, instead, the latest generation seem to concentrate on the keywords in any info the end client has given them. If you do not have all the keywords then they do not wish to know... it is nuts!