Finding a contract in London via Jobserve - Am I missing something?

[eyehefbee]

Hi

I'm new to the forum but I've been a contractor for 8 years.

I'm looking for a contract in London for around £400/day. I've done many years of Oracle and VB6 etc., moved into .NET and SQL Server a few years ago. Last contract was C# Webforms and SQL Server, LINQ, jQuery.

I've been applying for posts that I think are suitable on Jobserve for about a week or so. I reckon I've applied for about 20 contracts. I've had not a single call back.

I've found my last 2 contracts myself via connections so it's been about 4 years since I last used Jobserve. But I don't remember previously applying for so many jobs without a call back.

My thoughts are that -

- My CV says 'blah blah with over 20 years experience blah blah' - they read 'old git'
- Agencies are doing obsessive word-matching exercises looking for very specific skills, software versions etc.
- I should be trying for £300 to £350/day

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[TheFaQQer]

I wouldn't do Oracle in London for £400 a day.

[cojak]

I wouldn't do Oracle in London for as little as £400 a day.

FTFY.

[SussexSeagull]

I am always hesitant to blame the 'wrong time of year to be looking', but the schools are going back now so hopefully British industry will begin to wake up now.

[andyg]

Perhaps try using different job boards, e.g. cwjobs, It Job Board, monster

[eek]

Is jobserve having one of its frequent not passing on email address and phone number days.

Have you phoned any agents to see if they have received your CV?

Is London so full of people that agents can pick and choose.....

[Dominic Connor]

I'd blame your CV

I have no idea if your CV is good or not, but it is one of the very few things you can change, so you might as well try.

VB6 is still surprisingly common for a tool that stopped in 2003, but we are in the world of buzzword engineering. I'd be tempted to change it to just VB and also spend a bit of time sussing out VB.net

Old gittishness is a subjective thing, but if you roll up with older buzzwords even if they are exactly the ones they want then you can look "inflexible" or "outdated".

[CoolCat]

I have no idea if your CV is good or not, but it is one of the very few things you can change, so you might as well try.

VB6 is still surprisingly common for a tool that stopped in 2003, but we are in the world of buzzword engineering. I'd be tempted to change it to just VB and also spend a bit of time sussing out VB.net

Old gittishness is a subjective thing, but if you roll up with older buzzwords even if they are exactly the ones they want then you can look "inflexible" or "outdated".

VB.net is easy anyways

[BigRed]

I struggle with London as well. Have a very good looking CV but don't even get a telephone interview inside the M25. Do well enough outside London and don't like the place anyway, but there does seem to be a network operating in there.

[BrilloPad]

Where were you contracting for those 8 years?

quite a few yokels come up to the big smoke and leave fairly soon - they don't realize how aggressive everyone is(think sasguru), how busy, how noisy. And how easy the work is - it can be very dull.