What's happening?

[bluedrop]

Dear all,
I've been applying for jobs for 2 weeks now. I got a few calls on day1 and day 2. Sent my cv and have confirmation that it's sent to the client(s). It's with 4 clients now and it's been sitting there for about 8 working days with no feedback.... This is quite unusual for me since my last 2 roles happened within a few days of applying and I had feedback and interviews in 48 hrs. I was always told things happen fast in contracting world...

Can I pls ask you to share your experiences? How long did you wait to hear back from the client? Am I missing something here?

[tarbera]

Am I missing something here

Dear all,
I've been applying for jobs for 2 weeks now. I got a few calls on day1 and day 2. Sent my cv and have confirmation that it's sent to the client(s). It's with 4 clients now and it's been sitting there for about 8 working days with no feedback.... This is quite unusual for me since my last 2 roles happened within a few days of applying and I had feedback and interviews in 48 hrs. I was always told things happen fast in contracting world...

Can I pls ask you to share your experiences? How long did you wait to hear back from the client? Am I missing something here?

Yes It's contractor Cull Time, 10% Cuts at Citibank, UBS, RBS in last month + head count freeze so any roles that had 5 people a few months ago now have 200 going for the same contract. have you not noticed the The world is facing financial "meltdown on the news over the last few months, the good times are over for a year or 2. It's goona get a whole lot worse.

[northernladuk]

What happened at your last 2 clients isn't enough to be basing what 'should' be happening.

However long your CV has been at a client you should have forgotten it by now and continued to apply. You would be a fool to stop and wait just for one client.

There are no hard and fast rules here, you are going to have to apply a bit of common sense and deal with each situation individually. Some cases you will be interviwed and on site in 3 days, in others the client may be having problems and could be waiting weeks. There is always the situation where your client has rejected you and no one has told you which is also pretty common.

Don't put any weight on the fact your client has your CV. Until you sign a contract you have absolutely nothing. Keep appyling.

When you have had 20+ agents say client has your CV and you still haven't had an interview then and only then do you need to start worrying. It's no easy ride contracting.

[Scrag Meister]

Its not unusual for most of us for it to be a couple of weeks or more. Took a month from offer to starting for my current role and that was a return to a previous client co.

Nothing wrong with a quick call to check with the agent what the state of play is, nice to have it clear in your mind or forgotten if necessary.

Keep applying for roles, nothing is concrete til the contract is signed, and even then........

oh yeah and did I say, keep applying for other roles.

[bluedrop]

Keep applying for roles, nothing is concrete til the contract is signed, and even then........

oh yeah and did I say, keep applying for other roles.

Thank you Im doing it.

[alreadypacked]

Thank you Im doing it.

It also depends on the time of year, in the UK busy time is when projects usualy kick off in April.
Hope you have a warchest, because if you don't get something soon, you may not get anything until mid January.

[skipjack]

Please remember that if an agency tells you that your CV has been sent over, doesn't necessarily mean true.
I always believe that if an agent seeks consent for representation from 10 candidates. Then s/he only sends the best 3 from the 10. If an interview request is made from the 3, the application progresses and may result in an offer for the lucky one from the 3. ROLE FILLED without your CV been looked into by the client.

However, if the client wants more CVs to look, the agent then sends a further list of 3 candidates to the client from his/her list of 10.
Just image if you are at the 7th position in the list of 10? You will happily assume that the client has your CV but in reality, you have not yet gone past the agent's boundaries.

Remember to always ask for confirmation that you CV has indeed been sent over. In most cases, you will surprised to not get any reply which should make you believe that your CV has still not been forward to the client and you could happily have talks with other agents for the same role and the client.

Cheers

[GillsMan]

That the client has your CV but in reality, you have not yet gone past the agent's boundaries.

Remember to always ask for confirmation that you CV has indeed been sent over. In most cases, you will surprised to not get any reply which should make you believe that your CV has still not been forward to the client and you could happily have talks with other agents for the same role and the client.

Cheers

That is very good advice. In fact, when an agency asks me to email them to confirm they have exclusivity on my CV for this role (i.e. I won't apply for the same role via another agency), I always make it conditional upon them confirming that the CV has been received by the client.

[lukemg]

Fire and forget, get interested when you get a call back.

[bluedrop]

This thread has been very very helpful. Thanks everyone for the inputs. Much appreciated. Keep them coming !