Finding new contracts on the open market

[Damon]

It poses an interesting question about how to operate as a senior change professional given the market. Take a series of regular roles then be out of the scale market as you haven't recently, have a good run in senior roles and suck up extended time off and the negative response to that? I can hear myself in interviews in Jan trying to justify time off!

[Damon]

Anyone got any comment or extra to add to the approach in the first post?

[Bellona]

Worrying though that even with financial services on your CV that you are finding the climate like this - most of the roles are banking, finance, insurance, government or pharma - I have none of those so I am even more limited to what I can apply for.

+1, although I have clearance so can apply for those. But banking,finance,insurance, (I can't get it as have none of these),seems to be a lot out there - I am in Gloucestershire and 30 mile radius plus London brings up quite a lot, new ones each day.

Rates not too shoddy - 400-500 Glos, 450-650 London.

I use INDEED as it picks up Jobserve,Jobsite,CW and a lot of others so saves me looking at 4 or 5 different sites a day, might be worth trying that and once you have your search down pat signing up for the feeds ?

Good luck

[northernladuk]

It could be the month before xmas syndrome as well. We have put requirements for 2 BA's on hold until January for no other reason than someone said 'might as well do it in January now'. Can't have been much of a requirement if that works but there you go.

I wouldn't worry about it in Dec. If something comes up it comes up. If not start pushing hard in Jan.

[cojak]

Post your CV on Monster.

Yet again I've been picked up by an agent who found my CV there.

[craig1]

Post your CV on Monster.

Yet again I've been picked up by an agent who found my CV there.

Monster is also the board of choice, it seems, for companies who want direct access to the contractor project manager market. I've received more than a few calls this month alone from companies through there asking me to go direct with them. If only they were in London then I'd have snapped at least one of them up!

[SueEllen]

Post your CV on Monster.

Yet again I've been picked up by an agent who found my CV there.

WCS

Just make sure you update your CV every week by changing one word on it and re-uploading it.

I've noticed that agents will view your details on Monster but you will have to send your CV to them.

[GazCol]

There is a similar thread running but by the time I finished putting this together I felt it would a thread hijack for the OP's so I am starting this one instead:

I have not had to look for roles on the open market for a number of years as my network and LinkedIn have provided source of last four roles.

I took the decision to have a few months off this summer to spend with family as I have been working Monday to Thursday in Madrid and London for the last 3 years.

Starting in October I began the process of looking for work and have found it a very different experience from the last time I did.

The approach:

Profile
22 years experience; 6 in software development, 16 in project and programme management
I have been working in Financial Services sector for the last 8 years; media publishing and IT prior to that
In the last few years I have had increasingly senior and ‘larger’ programmes to manage. These include a divestment of a credit card business; full asset transfer, the book, people and buildings and a large scale business transformation both pan-Europe initiatives

CV
CV has reviewed by peers and agents over the years and receives good feedback
CV optimised for keyword matching
Uploaded once a week to Jobserve and Jobsite
I have now created a second version which portrays as PM roles for all positions and reduced the ‘weightiness’ of some of the content

Jobserve and Jobsite
Hourly refreshing of Jobserve and Jobsite
Applying for suitable roles and tweak CV to emphasise particular experience if warranted
Update the application summary to let the agent know I am available immediately
Follow up with phone call 15-30 minutes later to try and bring my application to the attention of the recruiter

LinkedIn
Pay for a Premier profile
Set status to Jobseeker
Set current role to be seeking new roles in any location
Once a week pop an update out to let network know I am looking for roles
Monitor status updates to watch for agents and connect with them if relevant
Use my monthly InMail quota to contact agents I find in Change Management searching LinkedIn
Participate in relevant group discussions to increase exposure outside my network

I am flexible on role and any European location.

I don’t restrict myself to the senior roles as I don’t see myself as on a ladder; my definition of success is a happy client and a paid invoice. Don’t mind what my title is or the scale of the work I do.

Observations
Online application process feels a total numbers game. 100’s of CV’s a role submitted so agents revert to keyword searches and dump other CV’s when they have a set quota per client parameters.

Contacting agents to follow up is very difficult as they don’t publish contact details or have juniors screening calls.

I am finding seniority a disadvantage. I understand how people get concerned about getting a senior person in, but why not take the advantage of their experience over the risk of a less experienced candidate?

Are you using the same CV that you'd use when going for a senior role as you would for contracts below your normal rate?

[edison]

WCS

Just make sure you update your CV every week by changing one word on it and re-uploading it.

I've noticed that agents will view your details on Monster but you will have to send your CV to them.

The advice to upload a minutely different CV every week was given to me by an ex-colleague who was an experienced BA contractor. But I actually never upload my CV to a job site - that is a pure numbers game and it might be complete pot luck that an agent finds my CV through keyword searching. Some of the best job hunting books I used in the past always recommended to carefully target job applications. But that is hard to do in the online world today if you upload your CV in this way.

My tactic is to get the number of the recruiter and phone them first before I even produce a CV to send. Sure, sometimes I get a very junior person who screens calls or an unhelpful agent who won't tell me anything before you send a CV. But when I do get the recruiter on the phone, invariably I have at least a few minutes to sell myself in person and I have a good proven 'elevator pitch' that nearly always gets my foot in the door. I can then choose one of 10-15 variants of my CV that I have to really tailor a CV to send in. Again, you don't have this advantage if you just upload your CV blindly.

The above might not suit everyone but it's worked very well for me.

[psychocandy]

I have regular call backs but have yet to secure a role.

One lead got to last interview but then the whole setup was cancelled.

I have had some positive discussions with the few agents who have spent the time to get to know me and what I am looking for. They can't spot anything in the above approach that is not maximising my chances; but it is still not happening for me.

I guess if someone wants to look at CV or LinkedIn profile I am happy to share for constructive feedback.

I am at the point of probably quitting till the New Year as this 'time off' is not enjoyable whilst spending several hours a day doing the above.

Aye. Not a laugh spending hours each day applying for stuff/speaking to agents.