It's tough out there....

[BolshieBastard]

Never, ever submit yourself for 'selection' test type interviews. They're just an excuse for HR types to say 'oh, look at us' and justify their existence to the co.

I make a point of only attending one interview per client. If they cant decide on one viewing, they're too anal for me.

Its difficult missing out where the client takes someone with previous or more locally.

I once missed out on a role via telephone interview because the interviewer went closer to the other guy's gaff so could pick him up on the way to the client co1 I kid you not.

Depressing but its part of contracting.

[Alf W]

I'm seeing some of my contacts on LinkedIn who have been out for a year now.

At current clientco I'm not seeing any fresh faces just a few people being asked back.

[TheFaQQer]

do not travel a long way if you cant get a phone interview first, or unless you have some other compelling reason

Or they will pay travel costs at the very least.

[EternalOptimist]

do not travel a long way if you cant get a phone interview first, or unless you have some other compelling reason

[Clippy]

These so called selection tests are being compiled by permie Human Remains bods trying to justify their existence in this recession.

Try not to let it get to you.

[HairyArsedBloke]

I am so glad I don't have to play this game anymore.

[wurzel]

Stating the obvious maybe but I need to get this off my chest - it's been a bad couple of days.

Been out of work since September and during all that time I had one interview for a £25 per hour NHS contract in Taunton which went well but they gave it to somebody who had previous NHS experience.

Then it went dead for weeks until last week when I landed 4 interviews, 3 face to face & 1 phone. To cut a long story short I didn't get any of them, though I'm still waiting on one but not holding out much hope.

The first one went really well & I did well in the written technical test. It came down to me and one other guy & they gave it to him because he lived locally.

The next one was crap - I had to do a practical but as they had no meeting rooms available I got put in a room full of printers with people walking in & out every 5 minutes. Distracting to say the least. The practical was to build a web inteface & make it look & function as specified on a printout - but everything had to by done in old style HTML! Hadn't used tables in ages - just wound up spending loads of time dicking round with those <td> widths & colspans and had hardly any time to implement the logic. F**d it up in other words.

Then I had a phone interview in which I was asked a load of HR style questions, nothing technical at all & I hate those kind of questions. I got the ubiquitous "what are your weaknesses?" & gave the stock answer of saying that I sometimes work too hard for my own good. But then they started asking questions like what would you say to somebody who you felt wasn't pulling their weight? FFS this was for a 3 month contract!

The final interview turned out not to be an interview at all. It was in Cork & I had to stump up the costs for flights & accommodation to get there. When I arrived for my interview I was shown into a room with 20 other people sat waiting. The deal was that we were all to sit a 60 minute technical test & the top 10 would be selected for interview with another 60 sitting the test over the following 2 days. I won't repeat what I said to the agent afterwards.

So it's tough, you've got to tick all the boxes including the nice to haves, live locally, have previous sector experience & go through a permie style recruitment process. I was getting complacent & was thinking that things were picking up out there as I was getting so many calls but I think these experiences show it's still very much a buyer's market.