Reply to: Jobserve - Is it worth bothering with anymore?

[blakeyuk]

It's quiet out there. I finished my last contract beginning of June - just found one for 3 months.

Though one I did apply for 3 weeks ago, finally have come back to me asking for a telephone interview.

Understood. I'm actually going through the pre-screening checks for my first contract, and that was the 2nd (out of 50) contracts that I've submitted my CV to about or been contacted about (so it was 30th May that I first sent my CV in). It's with one of the big FS companies who are reknowned for being very slow, so that's hardly surprising.

Andy

[chineseJohn]

It's quiet out there. I finished my last contract beginning of June - just found one for 3 months.

Though one I did apply for 3 weeks ago, finally have come back to me asking for a telephone interview.

[blakeyuk]

I've been trawling JobServe, S1Jobs, CWJobs, Monster and a handful of others for about 3 months now, looking for my first contract as a BA/Systems Analyst.

(I know, I know, bad timing - but I'm in Glasgow with a bit of financial services and public sector background, so I should be OK).

JobServe has far, far more contracts for my position than anywhere else. S1jobs has a few. Monster is pitiful - don't think I've seen 1 BA job on there for Glasgow.

But I've submitted my CV to all of them, and have had a few agencies say they've seen it on Monster and Jobsite, as well as a few on Jobserve.

I say: hit them all. Why would you NOT hit any given channel for new jobs given the quiet market?

Andy

[psychocandy]

Nothing wrong with jobserve. Same as everyone I find that things dry up as we get into July/August.

[SueEllen]

The state schools finish this week.

Normally my phone goes quiet after that until the August Bank holiday which is a relief when like now I'm in a contract or I'm taking planned time off.

[SussexSeagull]

I have uploaded my CV and made it searchable on both JobServe & CwJobs and am getting calls from agents about contracts that they have but that aren't advertised.
I finished my last contract at the end of June, took a break, and only uploaded my CV this week and am starting to get agents calling me, but nothing solid yet.
Might be worth a shot

My last contract came through coming up through a search on Jobserve but I think the jobs that appear get so flooded with applications it becomes a lottery. Certainly I talked to an agent a few years back who got 350 applications in an hour for a Senior Tester role.

[MPwannadecentincome]

But you are right that the contract market has certainly dropped off recently, companies are "cutting costs" and swapping out contractors for permanent staff, that is what I am hearing from both agents and my personal contacts.

I thought it was dropping off 'cuz its the holiday season - private schools term ended 2 weeks ago!

[FarmerPalmer]

It´s not just jobserve, the market is bad. Jobserve is as good as any other portal. In any case it shouldn´t matter, if you contact a big enough agency they´ll have jobs if they´re there. They´ll find you if you´re accessing these sites.

I think the way forward probably is to go through personal contact so you bypass the process of your CV being in a huge pile.

Just as a note, the permie market is a lot better. I´ve just recently gone permie after 6 months on the bench though I was being choosey about what I applied for. In the end I didn´t see the point of taking a low rate in the back of beyond, which seemed to be the only option on offer if I´d have wanted to keep contracting.

Not the case, I have passed my CV to the agent I was with on my last contract, then two weeks later after uploading my CV to a certain jobsite I get a call from someone at the same agency telling me that they have just got my CV from that certain jobsite. In some agencies the agents are pitted against each other and hold their cards close, so just because you sent it to a person at a agency, not everyone at that agency will know about it.

But you are right that the contract market has certainly dropped off recently, companies are "cutting costs" and swapping out contractors for permanent staff, that is what I am hearing from both agents and my personal contacts.

[SueEllen]

I have uploaded my CV and made it searchable on both JobServe & CwJobs and am getting calls from agents about contracts that they have but that aren't advertised.
I finished my last contract at the end of June, took a break, and only uploaded my CV this week and am starting to get agents calling me, but nothing solid yet.
Might be worth a shot

Try Monster and Jobsite as well. (Just make sure you put contract somewhere in the heading.)

Lots of agents and a few companies have phoned me over the years due to finding my CV on those sites. The roles aren't advertised.

In fact jobserve is as useful to me as iprofile.

I've noticed that if I find a role which is advertised on jobserve and one other site, the agent will mention they got my email from the other site even if I sent it a day earlier through jobserve.

[BlasterBates]

It´s not just jobserve, the market is bad. Jobserve is as good as any other portal. In any case it shouldn´t matter, if you contact a big enough agency they´ll have jobs if they´re there. They´ll find you if you´re accessing these sites.

I think the way forward probably is to go through personal contact so you bypass the process of your CV being in a huge pile.

Just as a note, the permie market is a lot better. I´ve just recently gone permie after 6 months on the bench though I was being choosey about what I applied for. In the end I didn´t see the point of taking a low rate in the back of beyond, which seemed to be the only option on offer if I´d have wanted to keep contracting.

[FarmerPalmer]

I have uploaded my CV and made it searchable on both JobServe & CwJobs and am getting calls from agents about contracts that they have but that aren't advertised.
I finished my last contract at the end of June, took a break, and only uploaded my CV this week and am starting to get agents calling me, but nothing solid yet.
Might be worth a shot

[MPwannadecentincome]

WTF?

Yes it pays me £70 per week.

[Project Monkey]

I've been on bench the same length of time and not having much luck either. Job Center make me sign on to their "Universal Jobmatch" which seems to be a database of jobs collected from various websites. The search criteria is not brilliant but I have been able to apply for the odd role on there plus it is supposed to track what you have applied for to help Job Center keep upto date when you go for the fortnightly signing on rigmarole.

WTF?

[Project Monkey]

Been on the bench since the beginning of June (granted I did have some time off) and have got a grand total of one follow up phone call from a job advert on Jobserve (which I suspect was an elaborate scheme to get leads off me that failed).

In the meantime have made some inroads using the contacts networks, which seems to be the way forward.

Seriously thinking of turning off job updates as it seems waste of time as I haven't got a contract through it in 5 years now.

User error.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Been on the bench since the beginning of June (granted I did have some time off) and have got a grand total of one follow up phone call from a job advert on Jobserve (which I suspect was an elaborate scheme to get leads off me that failed).

In the meantime have made some inroads using the contacts networks, which seems to be the way forward.

Seriously thinking of turning off job updates as it seems waste of time as I haven't got a contract through it in 5 years now.

I've been on bench the same length of time and not having much luck either. Job Center make me sign on to their "Universal Jobmatch" which seems to be a database of jobs collected from various websites. The search criteria is not brilliant but I have been able to apply for the odd role on there plus it is supposed to track what you have applied for to help Job Center keep upto date when you go for the fortnightly signing on rigmarole.