running low on funds .... so what next ?

[woodyuk]

Hi

I was let go (company closed down) in January 2010 from a 3 year contract in Central London. I was a Technical Director looking after the general IT management as well as a Java/Oracle platform of a small ish mobile company. I have 15 years experience in technical project management in internet / mobile sectors, most of which was spent in my own company. I have also worked around the world as a consultant building tech teams. I was earning £100k++. I have never worked in companies bigger than 60.

I have been looking for new roles but just so many people going for the same that its taking forever to get any offers, and after six months not sure i can cope sitting at home for much longer. Tried all my black book of contacts, and getting the we are not doing anything at the moment in terms of new hires, its a big black book and shocked i could not find anything. Never found myself in this position before.

The wife took over mortgage from this month plus all bills once my war chest expired and we "just" survive, very different from last year.

So question is what next ?

I have a MCSE2000, and certified Watchguard & Prince2 I have not coded in 10 years (Delphi / Visual Basic / ColdFusion) as have had teams of people to do that for me. very technically aware, just lost some of the hands of skills. I would say hands on desktop / server i could do in Windows / Mac support.

So if you were a ex technical director, pretty hands off due to having people to do that part what would you do ? take a £40k systems job ? The problem is dont have valid MCSE etc Also they will know from CV that over qualified and will leave once I can get a better role.

Project Management roles I am finding are in big companies, which have little experience. Lost two jobs (during interview stage) due to that, they felt that as I had not worked in a "project office" before that other people that had that background and so passed me over.

I am sure I am not the only person running into the same issues .... any advice? Thanks

[thunderlizard]

If you're getting interviews as PM, keep going for that. Two is not enough of a sample size to conclude you're wrong for the role. So far you've not been a good fit based on previous role type, but sooner or later you'll find one where you've got niche/sector skills or some other "click factor" that will outweigh that. Don't go back to coding or sysadmin! you can't be that desperate already.
You've got more of a permanent/director style background than a contractor one, so probably stick to that as well.

[lukemg]

After 6 months, sounds like you need to get back in at any level, I would seriously consider perm, maybe try to get some big co experience. Forget the salary, it's more than now and you can always build up your skills and go contract in the future.
You need to tailor your CV to an EXACT match for roles, don't expect them to see you can do it in your sleep. If this means changing job titles, playing down responsibility levels, playing up tech knowledge (a bit - don't get caught out). If you are over-qualified, hiring manager will feel insecure, they will think you will bail and also you should NEVER hire someone who thinks the job is a backward step - You need to convince them you want it.
If you have genuinely been at director level - budgets, P&L, staff (NOT like I am in my company) then you should approach some of the higher end Interim agencies. They specialise in senior people stepping down to do lesser roles for a while to effect change/provide cover etc. They work different to the normal agents and usually have a roster of people who they can call on - need to be flexible on location and start time i.e. tomorrow.They also tend to specialise in the management skills rather than the tech based stuff which seems to dominate the normal job boards.
Sounds like you are close with the PM stuff, are you considering ANY location ? Forget the techie stuff, everything not outsourced is being fought over by people with valid current experience but they don't have the management skills you do - and get linked-in to everyone in the black book, gives them a reminder without you seeming too desperate. Consider doing ITIL v3 - Service management is dying too but it might help.

[Support Monkey]

After 6 months, sounds like you need to get back in at any level, I would seriously consider perm, maybe try to get some big co experience. Forget the salary, it's more than now and you can always build up your skills and go contract in the future.
You need to tailor your CV to an EXACT match for roles, don't expect them to see you can do it in your sleep. If this means changing job titles, playing down responsibility levels, playing up tech knowledge (a bit - don't get caught out). If you are over-qualified, hiring manager will feel insecure, they will think you will bail and also you should NEVER hire someone who thinks the job is a backward step - You need to convince them you want it.
If you have genuinely been at director level - budgets, P&L, staff (NOT like I am in my company) then you should approach some of the higher end Interim agencies. They specialise in senior people stepping down to do lesser roles for a while to effect change/provide cover etc. They work different to the normal agents and usually have a roster of people who they can call on - need to be flexible on location and start time i.e. tomorrow.They also tend to specialise in the management skills rather than the tech based stuff which seems to dominate the normal job boards.
Sounds like you are close with the PM stuff, are you considering ANY location ? Forget the techie stuff, everything not outsourced is being fought over by people with valid current experience but they don't have the management skills you do - and get linked-in to everyone in the black book, gives them a reminder without you seeming too desperate. Consider doing ITIL v3 - Service management is dying too but it might help.

WHS, write your CV specific to every job and either Dumb it down or Big it up, you don't have to lie you just need to manipulate the truth