Struggling to get to an interview...

[oliverson]

OK who (who wants to work in London) puts their out of London location on their CV...

I do. I live well outside London but I also have an apartment in London though I've only included that on my CV recently.

I think what you have to realise is that in London, if that's your thing, there is a LOT of competition and agents only get to submit a limited amount of CV's. If a guy has 100 CV's for a role (very common) and they bother to weed through the lot of them, then 'anything' that stands you out from the crowd, in a negative way, will probably be enough for you to be ignored. It's really that simple.

[Batcher]

My last face-to-face interview was in 2008. I've had 4 long distance face-to-face interviews since contracting, 2 I got and 2 I didn't. It's a real PITA when you don't get it after travelling so far.

Most clients seem happy to do a telephone interview with someone at their end asking technical questions to make sure I know what I'm talking about. My current contract is on my doorstep but it was a telephone interview too.

I haven't Skyped an interview yet but I don't mind doing one if that's what is required by the client.

I have my location on my CV but the list of places I've worked all over the UK and occasionally in Europe shows I don't mind moving around.

[carnfek]

Hi All,

Was hoping to get some insight into this topic as well.

I have recently arrived in London about a month ago from Australia with 6 years experience as a BA (within Telecommunications).

Over the past month, I have submitted my CV through a number of recommended sites (Jobserve, Jobsite, Monster, CW etc) and applied for a number of BA roles but struggling to line up an interview. I have had some calls from recruiters offering to put me forward to clients but then never hear back. I have been following up applications with calls but usually can't get through/don't get a call back after our initial conversation.

Hoping to get advice from some seasoned contractors, what am I doing wrong? How can I improve my chances? I get the feeling this may be due to my lack of UK/contracting experience and/or only having worked within the Telco industry? Not sure how I can get around this to try land my first contract.. any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers

[MojoDog]

Hi All,

Was hoping to get some insight into this topic as well.

I have recently arrived in London about a month ago from Australia with 6 years experience as a BA (within Telecommunications).

Over the past month, I have submitted my CV through a number of recommended sites (Jobserve, Jobsite, Monster, CW etc) and applied for a number of BA roles but struggling to line up an interview. I have had some calls from recruiters offering to put me forward to clients but then never hear back. I have been following up applications with calls but usually can't get through/don't get a call back after our initial conversation.

Hoping to get advice from some seasoned contractors, what am I doing wrong? How can I improve my chances? I get the feeling this may be due to my lack of UK/contracting experience and/or only having worked within the Telco industry? Not sure how I can get around this to try land my first contract.. any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers

If you have 6-years experience but you're not even landing interviews then it sounds like your CV may need looking at.

At the risk of giving egg-sucking lessons to your grandma, how strongly do you compare your CV with the requirements for the roles that you apply for?
Could it be that Telco terms in Oz differ from those over here (IANATelco Expert).
Are you using Aussie jargon?

Going back to basics, how is your CV laid out? Are there typos? Try reading it aloud to see how it sounds - if you stumble over a sentence then so will others.

You could try finding a likely role then contact the agent by phone (if possible) and ask them politely if they would mind taking a look. I've had an agent do this for me when I started out.

Best of luck.

[TheFaQQer]

I have recently arrived in London about a month ago from Australia with 6 years experience as a BA (within Telecommunications).

Are you only looking at Telco roles? If you are considering other industries, then you need to make it clear exactly how your industry-specific knowledge can apply to other industries as well. Some industries are pretty much a closed shop in terms of trying to break in.

I have had some calls from recruiters offering to put me forward to clients but then never hear back. I have been following up applications with calls but usually can't get through/don't get a call back after our initial conversation.

Do you know how contracting in the UK works? If you have made a minor mistake on a call to an agent, they may assume that you know nothing about how it works, so just bin you at that stage regardless of your skills. Do you know how you are going to operate - Ltd or Umbrella? If it looks like you may need some hand-holding, then some agents will move on to other contractors.

Hoping to get advice from some seasoned contractors, what am I doing wrong?

Check your CV - if you know anyone who is already contracting in the UK then they may have a look over it for you. Some people on CUK have provided their experience and guidance on writing a contractor CV, and there are some free examples on the web that you could use.

If there is any chance of confusion about any terms you might have used, make sure that they are explained / translated into English. Make sure that your CV has enough buzzwords etc to hit when agents do a keyword search. Make sure that you upload a fresh CV regularly onto the job sites - some systems automatically only return fresh CVs unless an agent changes the default search filter.

[carnfek]

Thanks for the responses:

If you have 6-years experience but you're not even landing interviews then it sounds like your CV may need looking at.

At the risk of giving egg-sucking lessons to your grandma, how strongly do you compare your CV with the requirements for the roles that you apply for?
Could it be that Telco terms in Oz differ from those over here (IANATelco Expert).
Are you using Aussie jargon?

In terms of comparing my CV with the advertised job specs, I try to ensure that I have all bases covered. I am mainly applying for BA roles with a strong emphasis on core skills (requirements, process analysis, stakeholder management) as I don't really have a specialisation or core technology I work with. No jargon use in my CV and don't believe there would be too much difference between how the Telco's operate in either region.

Going back to basics, how is your CV laid out? Are there typos? Try reading it aloud to see how it sounds - if you stumble over a sentence then so will others.

You could try finding a likely role then contact the agent by phone (if possible) and ask them politely if they would mind taking a look. I've had an agent do this for me when I started out.

I've reviewed it a few times and made some tweaks along the way. Had some friends look over it too but maybe I need some UK contractor eyes across it.

Are you only looking at Telco roles? If you are considering other industries, then you need to make it clear exactly how your industry-specific knowledge can apply to other industries as well. Some industries are pretty much a closed shop in terms of trying to break in.

I have been looking at Telco roles but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any Telco specific contract roles out there currently. I have only come across 1 telco role (within my 1 month of searching) that I have applied for and still waiting for recruiter feedback (which probably means I've been unsuccessful). Given the lack of Telco roles, I have been applying for more Retail/Digital BA roles but feedback I've been getting is that they are after someone with specific experience within those sectors. I do have 6 months of BA experience within a bank but that was 6 years ago and most likely not relevant now.

Do you know how contracting in the UK works? If you have made a minor mistake on a call to an agent, they may assume that you know nothing about how it works, so just bin you at that stage regardless of your skills. Do you know how you are going to operate - Ltd or Umbrella? If it looks like you may need some hand-holding, then some agents will move on to other contractors.

I have read the guides on ContractorUK and have had a few friends contract over here so I know the basics. I will be operating under a Ltd Company but am waiting to secure my first contract before I set this up (been told can be done pretty quickly while reference checks are happening etc)

Check your CV - if you know anyone who is already contracting in the UK then they may have a look over it for you. Some people on CUK have provided their experience and guidance on writing a contractor CV, and there are some free examples on the web that you could use.

If there is any chance of confusion about any terms you might have used, make sure that they are explained / translated into English. Make sure that your CV has enough buzzwords etc to hit when agents do a keyword search. Make sure that you upload a fresh CV regularly onto the job sites - some systems automatically only return fresh CVs unless an agent changes the default search filter.

I have read the CV guides on here and have been uploading an updated CV on the job sites every few days. I would be happy to upload a copy of my CV if any members are willing to provide some guidance/advice on how it could be improved.

[cojak]

Generic BA core skills aren't going to get you very far if you have no prior experience as a contractor.

It's the Domain specialisms that clients are interested in (agents wouldn't know a domain specialism if it hit them over the head).

Look at extracting as much as you can from your Telecom knowledge to show that it's relevant to a software development project (or whatever).

[Manz]

I applied for a contract and after 4 days followed up then they said they never received my CV, so I sent it again and called up to confirm they got it.

Then I finally got a call from the agent saying what the top end rate they would pay is (which is quite low) and I said I'd be ok with that and then he said, I would be competing with people that have 10 - 15 years experience so the client wouldn't pay me that rate and asked what the lowest rate I would work for because I only have 2 years experience, so I told him the absolute minimum (which is slightly better than where I'm currently at but still on the lower end) and he said he'll get the ball rolling and send my CV on to the client.

On the otherhand I keep getting calls from agents saying they found my CV on CW Jobs and the roles they are sending me the job spec for sound more like Senior high level roles...

[northernladuk]

Then I finally got a call from the agent saying what the top end rate they would pay is (which is quite low) and I said I'd be ok with that and then he said, I would be competing with people that have 10 - 15 years experience so the client wouldn't pay me that rate and asked what the lowest rate I would work for because I only have 2 years experience, so I told him the absolute minimum (which is slightly better than where I'm currently at but still on the lower end) and he said he'll get the ball rolling and send my CV on to the client.

Time to get wise. The agent is playing you like a fiddle. Clients want someone to do a set piece of work for a set price. They are not interested in getting juniors in for less. The only person that will be making on this deal is the agent. You can bet your bottom dollar he will not be passing the rate rise on the client. He is right, there are guys more experienced but if he thinks he can get you in somehow at what you want he will make sure you are front of the queue. More experience might mean higher rate but that means less cut for the agent.

[carnfek]

Generic BA core skills aren't going to get you very far if you have no prior experience as a contractor.

It's the Domain specialisms that clients are interested in (agents wouldn't know a domain specialism if it hit them over the head).

Look at extracting as much as you can from your Telecom knowledge to show that it's relevant to a software development project (or whatever).

thanks for the advice, i have revamped my CV and made a few tweaks so will see if there's any luck next week..