If you are not getting interviews

[cojak]

I have a spiffing CV...

[IBM Agent]

@IBM Agent.

Just what line of business do you sell in to ?
'IBM' is a huge product set. Just like 'Oracle'.

Indeed it is zemoxyl. I can't say or I'll risk revealing my true identity!!

It's just a very specific part of IBM software.

[ChimpMaster]

It's a shame you can't say. I too work in a very specific part of IBM software.

I'm also not gonna tell

[zemoxyl]

I have a spiffing CV...

Well if you've got a spiffing CV and you're benched, then I guess there's little market for your skills right now. Seem fair ?

[BolshieBastard]

Well if you've got a spiffing CV and you're benched, then I guess there's little market for your skills right now. Seem fair ?

Yep my thoughts exactly.

As I said earlier, there arent any roles about or those that are, have a 37 point skillset. its that stopping people getting interviews not their cv's (unless their cv's are utterly crap but then they wouldnt get interviews anyway!)

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Well if you've got a spiffing CV and you're benched, then I guess there's little market for your skills right now. Seem fair ?

That seems fair but I do not think it is correct. I had a long bench period last year when AFAIK my CV was good in both content and style, but I was not getting anything. There was a market for my skills, other people I knew were getting contracts, but I wasn't. It wasn't the interviews, because I wasn't getting any. I don't know what it was. One agent actually said the same thing to me, he didn't know why I wasn't getting anything either.

So it's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem, and you can't necessarily deduce a single reason for a problem. Sometimes there is a large random or irrational factor in there.

[Scary]

That seems fair but I do not think it is correct. I had a long bench period last year when AFAIK my CV was good in both content and style, but I was not getting anything. There was a market for my skills, other people I knew were getting contracts, but I wasn't. It wasn't the interviews, because I wasn't getting any. I don't know what it was. One agent actually said the same thing to me, he didn't know why I wasn't getting anything either.

So it's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem, and you can't necessarily deduce a single reason for a problem. Sometimes there is a large random or irrational factor in there.

Often if a company receives a large number of CVs they take half the pile and chuck them in the bin without reading them. Reason being they don't want to employ unlucky people. Perhaps you were just unlucky.

[BolshieBastard]

That seems fair but I do not think it is correct. I had a long bench period last year when AFAIK my CV was good in both content and style, but I was not getting anything. There was a market for my skills, other people I knew were getting contracts, but I wasn't. It wasn't the interviews, because I wasn't getting any. I don't know what it was. One agent actually said the same thing to me, he didn't know why I wasn't getting anything either.

So it's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem, and you can't necessarily deduce a single reason for a problem. Sometimes there is a large random or irrational factor in there.

TBH, when you have those periods, its more than likely its the rate we ask for. I know what my rate is but when agents call I always ask what is the client looking to pay.

Now this gives the agent a chance to give a low rate range if they're a twat or to give a reasonable indication of the max the client will pay. More often than not, if the client's max is at or near your preferred rate you'll say put me in at x ie agent says client will pay upto £325 a day, you say ok £325 (because your 'normal' rate is £350 a day).

But what I suspect happens is because you've been submitted at the top end of the range, you frequently get filtered out by the client as wanting too much.

In the current market, although there may be a rate range of say, £250 - £325, its the ones going in at 250 who are getting the interviews and hence the job offers.

Its a question of keeping your rate and waiting until you get a nibble or reducing it to the lowest common denominator and running with the pack!

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Often if a company receives a large number of CVs they take half the pile and chuck them in the bin without reading them. Reason being they don't want to employ unlucky people. Perhaps you were just unlucky.

If someone did that with my CV, they were unlucky!

[cojak]

Well if you've got a spiffing CV and you're benched, then I guess there's little market for your skills right now. Seem fair ?

Yep, the market is quiet right now....

Which is why I'm being a bit more proactive and guerilla in my job hunting...