Reply to: If you are not getting interviews

[Francko]

I guess it all depends on what type of skills you got.

If you have rare niche skills then jobserve or linkedin are more than enough I'd say. If you have common skills, though, then you'd better network through people so that you have less competition for the place.

I don't know about you but I always find interviews a very big question mark. There were periods where I got all jobs and other periods where I failed consistently most of the interviews. I just think that it's more or less like a penalty shoot-out in football, sure it proves that you can be concentrated and focused but also that you have had lots of luck. Oh, and it does not mean that you can play a better football.

[nomadd]

**** me, you take this internet lark seriously, dont you!?

...Stop trying to wriggle out of it with claims of "seriousness". Your not fooling anyone, you little troll, you.

Still, that's quits for me. Unfortunately this forum seems these days to be populated by "noisy" out-of-work timewasters like yourself. Any polite, sensible and professional discussion over contracting issues is few and far between. Time for me to move on.

To everyone else: best of luck in your future contracting careers. (And apologies for the dumb reply Bolshie is bound to grant this post. Fortunately I won't be around to see it. )

Signing out,

Nommad

[SueEllen]

WSS

Mind you little boys like fighting over nothing.

[norrahe]

[BolshieBastard]

Thanks for constantly placing your personality at the start of such responses, that way I can stop reading them after the first two words...
(NB. We covered the "bolshie" by name, bolshie by nature last week. Or are you just "obtuse"?)

And from another thread you posted in today:



That'll be your personality, again.



Hint: Try to lose the obnoxious attitude for 30 minutes or so during the interview: it'll help no end.



.......and head from out of backside.

**** me, you take this internet lark seriously, dont you!?

Its a ******* WEB FORUM! How's about you take your head out of your arse and stop taking it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo seriously?

[nomadd]

******* hell, are you obtuse or what!?

Thanks for constantly placing your personality at the start of such responses, that way I can stop reading them after the first two words...
(NB. We covered the "bolshie" by name, bolshie by nature last week. Or are you just "obtuse"?)

And from another thread you posted in today:

I was also contacted by a former colleague about someone doing a telephone interview with me today. Didnt happen for some reason.

That'll be your personality, again.

Then out of the blue this evening, agent phones me about a role they contacted me about a good 2 weeks ago. Cllient wants to do a telephone interview late thursday or friday!

Hint: Try to lose the obnoxious attitude for 30 minutes or so during the interview: it'll help no end.

Feet on ground.....................

.......and head from out of backside.

[BolshieBastard]

My last 5 gig's (including the current one) all came via Jobserve. That's 7 years worth of contracts. I have no idea what so many people on here have against it? It's free, and it's landed me loads of work. (And no, I don't own shares in them! )

I've asked several times around here for alternatives, and no-one has ever come up with anything (well, apart from the obvious: phone your ex-managers!) Oh, and LinkedIn, which was an utter waste of time (i.e. an agent's playground and nothing else.)

******* hell, are you obtuse or what!? The market has been good for the last 5 of the previous 7 years! My last 3.5 year contract didnt come from jobswerve. It came via the agent phoning me. Strange enough, the short contract I had before that didnt come from jobswerve either. The agent phoned me.

The only problem I see with jobswerve is that in markets like they are now, lots of jobs are advertised after the agents have their three cvs.

Today I received another call by an agent for a job I didnt apply for on jobswerve but had sent my cv off to them god knows when.

[nomadd]

Jobs go on JS after the agents have already called contractors about them. By the time it appears on JS, its normally too late.

My last 5 gig's (including the current one) all came via Jobserve. That's 7 years worth of contracts. I have no idea what so many people on here have against it? It's free, and it's landed me loads of work. (And no, I don't own shares in them! )

I've asked several times around here for alternatives, and no-one has ever come up with anything (well, apart from the obvious: phone your ex-managers!) Oh, and LinkedIn, which was an utter waste of time (i.e. an agent's playground and nothing else.)

[sydb]

I got my first real IT job with a sheet of A4 printed in Courier New 10 point. I used equals signs for heading underlines and absolutely no formatting.

While I have moved on a bit and now use tables 'n' tulip my CV is still pretty basic. I don't really have a problem, I've only been involuntarily out of work for about a month in 6 years of contracting and I've moved about a bit.

Do people use colour and pictures nowadays? Is it de rigeur to have your grinning mugshot and your certification logos? Not that I have any logos I would want to use. Or mugshots.

[BolshieBastard]

but how many roles are actually advertised on jobswerve? surely the best method is send your CV to all previous agencies you've contacted over the years, whether sucessful for the original role or not, Gets your CV in front of them

I do agree that some of the smaller agencies tend to turn up trumps more often than not.

Had pimp ask me how I was finding the market, then they actually read the CV in front of them and said I had no need to look at the market as been in a long term contract, I mentioned that not many roles actually get advertised, so they actually go through the CV's on their database firstly, dont cost them nowt, so again always pays to get an uptodate CV to an agency on a frequent basis cos thats where they will search first.

WHS + 1.

Jobs go on JS after the agents have already called contractors about them. By the time it appears on JS, its normally too late.

Oh and I very much doubt font style is preventing people being submitted for roles unless that is, they are using something like gothic!

[LegendsWear7]

I've been using Verdana for years since a recruiter totally re-wrote my CV. Now I'm wondering if it looks a bit 'soft' for professional roles? Aside from the font, I would say it is no-nonsense business-like

Question: I've been contracting for 15 years. Must have sent loads of different 'versions' of my profile to the bigger agencies over the years. Do they replace the old one or keep all or worse ..... compare & contrast ?

[ettubrute]

<admin note>Yup, PM use now enabled.</admin note>

Thanks!

[downsouth]

but how many roles are actually advertised on jobswerve? surely the best method is send your CV to all previous agencies you've contacted over the years, whether sucessful for the original role or not, Gets your CV in front of them

I do agree that some of the smaller agencies tend to turn up trumps more often than not.

Had pimp ask me how I was finding the market, then they actually read the CV in front of them and said I had no need to look at the market as been in a long term contract, I mentioned that not many roles actually get advertised, so they actually go through the CV's on their database firstly, dont cost them nowt, so again always pays to get an uptodate CV to an agency on a frequent basis cos thats where they will search first.

[rootsnall]

I am finding that even though I am young and can relocate for permanent positions, me being from the North of the UK basically puts hiring managers off me, as they suspect I will get bored and run away after a year in the job. There's only so far you can go pretending you wont do this, perhaps I am not convincing enough.

Put a friend's SE/London address on a tailored CV for SE permie jobs !?

I've been hunting a week, I'd say Jobserve is a waste of space for me at the moment. I'm looking for North West work in a niche(ish) skill and I'd say any work will come from existing contacts or agents who already know me. The chances of an unknown agent posting a genuine job on Jobserve are minimal. Saying that I would still have a gander each day, you never know.

It looks to me like the economy and consequently the job scene have a definite North/South divide at the moment.

[ettubrute]

Noob alert...

Reading this thread, I would like to send a PM to Dodgy, but I can't find the PM button? Do you need a certain number of posts before you can send PM's?

<admin note>Yup, PM use now enabled.</admin note>