Reply to: Jobserve login down maybe

[hairymouse]

This cover letter business. It really smacks of 'permie' thinking to me. I'd completely ditch that if I were you.

On the subject of Jobserve, whilst I use it to monitor the market and generate occasional conversations with agents, I've not had a contract via that site for over 5 years now. My contracts over that time have been repeat business and networking. I fully expect the next one to come via those channels or LinkedIn. You have to remember that only when previous contractors, those recommended by members of the team, those on an agencies hit list, etc. have all been exhausted, only then will that role get advertised on sites like Jobserve, and then it will be inundated with hundreds of applicants. At that point you are feeding off scraps, along with the masses.

I never considered a cover letter "permie thinking" before. I figure that on Jobserve, it's only the agent that's reading it so I actually talk about my company more than me. Lists of previous clients, availability, daily rate, areas I am willing to commute to. If anything, talking to the agent like I am running a business is the opposite of permie thinking. I wouldn't expect the end client to ever see it.

Your ideas about Jobserve ads are probably more correct in the current market than a few years ago. I find the biggest value in those job sites is having your CV on file so agents can find you for jobs that haven't been posted.

[unixman]

So you turned it off and on again then.

Not exactly. I had already attempted an IP address change by rebooting the router. But Plusnet gave me back the very same external IP.

[unixman]

Seems I am listed on dnsbl.spfbl.net, for having "misconfigured email". Cheeky so-and-sos.


IP Address Blacklist Check

[northernladuk]

So you turned it off and on again then.

[unixman]

Fixed it by changing my Internet facing IP address. Pulled network cable out of PC and got online by tethering to a mobile phone instead. My IP address, as far as Jobserve is concerned, changed from something in the BT/Plusnet space something else under O2 LTE.

I was able to accept cookies without a hitch and login in to Jobserve. It continued to work after I went back to the old BT IP too (without logging out of Jobserve - so just continuing the same session).

Can't explain it. The problematic BT IP is dynamic, but I've had it since October. Not on any block list. Suspect my scraping has been noticed and flagged.

[oliverson]

Thanks for the replies, not how I do it so that's why I was curious.

I sometimes add a little bit or change my rate in the cover letter, but the main difference is that I tend to have a very broad search and then go through the search results carefully. Wouldn't want to do that on a mobile.

This cover letter business. It really smacks of 'permie' thinking to me. I'd completely ditch that if I were you.

On the subject of Jobserve, whilst I use it to monitor the market and generate occasional conversations with agents, I've not had a contract via that site for over 5 years now. My contracts over that time have been repeat business and networking. I fully expect the next one to come via those channels or LinkedIn. You have to remember that only when previous contractors, those recommended by members of the team, those on an agencies hit list, etc. have all been exhausted, only then will that role get advertised on sites like Jobserve, and then it will be inundated with hundreds of applicants. At that point you are feeding off scraps, along with the masses.

[unixman]

Login and Logout is working fine (OSX/Chrome) but they have been fiddling around with their front page renderer these past months and it is not as stable as it used to be.

Strange. Still not working today on:

Linux Mint 19.3 / Firefox 73
Raspbian 10 / Chromium
Windows 10 / Edge
Windows 10 / Explorer 11

Same thing in every environment. Before login, challenged to accept cookies. Click button to accept cookies. Page reloads, asking again. Reported to JS support.

[hairymouse]

Thanks for the replies, not how I do it so that's why I was curious.

I sometimes add a little bit or change my rate in the cover letter, but the main difference is that I tend to have a very broad search and then go through the search results carefully. Wouldn't want to do that on a mobile.

[oliverson]

I'm curious how and why you use your phone to look at Job Serve. Is it because you are on the move and can't use a desktop? Do you just save a cover letter and send it stock with every application?

I find the mobile app does everything I need. I never send any covering letters. I just click apply if something catches my eye. The desktop version is utter rubbish. It was fine back in the late 90's but 'progress' has ruined it.

[BR14]

They're copying the database to upload the whole thing to Bobserve, before they delete the UK version.

[TestMangler]

They're copying the database to upload the whole thing to Bobserve, before they delete the UK version.

[ladymuck]

I'm curious how and why you use your phone to look at Job Serve. Is it because you are on the move and can't use a desktop? Do you just save a cover letter and send it stock with every application?

I use the app and spam the same CV out each time. I CBA to spend hours tailoring every application knowing that it just gets chucked through a keyword search and ignored if I don't hit a 100% match

[BR14]

[hairymouse]

I hardly ever use the desktop version of Jobserve these days. The iOS app, though buggy at times, is a much simpler/quicker solution.

I'm curious how and why you use your phone to look at Job Serve. Is it because you are on the move and can't use a desktop? Do you just save a cover letter and send it stock with every application?

[hairymouse]

I don't use Jobserve much directly but my scraper scripts do.

Go on then, why are you scraping Jobserve?