Kick off

Breakfast

As you no doubt all know, breakfast is one of the three most important meals of the day.

But before I could eat mine I was called by a recruitment agency.

On Friday afternoon I had applied to what appeared to be the same job advertised by three different agencies. So I was rather pleased to be called quite promptly, actually a bit too promptly, by an agency this morning.

Now according to my jobs database I hadn't applied to the agency about this job. Still they somehow had my c.v. in relation to it. We discussed the role and he said he'd talk to his account manager about it.

I then returned to my breakfast but before I could finish it the phone range again. A different agency about a different job for which I'm already being considered (by my favourite recruitment agency).

Then finished off my breakfast. I think I've written before about agencies calling me at this time but clearly to no avail.

Later on in the day another agency called about a job, the same one now being handled by the agency who called first thing this morning. I've been so used to hearing "I'm sorry, someone got the interview/job etc" that it was great to say "I'm sorry, some other agency got me first". Twice in one day. Actually, twice ever I think.

Job of the day (1)

"Our partner company, a large GSM Operator in Northern Iraq, is currently looking for a number of marketing professionals to work within Sulaymaniah in their marketing team. The positions available are: Marketing Development Senior Manager Products and Services Senior Manager VAS Manager Pricing and Interconnect Manager Experience with a GSM Operator is highly beneficial."

The position was marked as being "Permanent".

In this advert they didn't mention key things like: secure compound, close protection, kidnap insurance, free body bag.

Job of the day (2)

This one asked for a "native German", in English.

Now I hate discrimination. I hate discrimination even more than I hate the French.

If you have fluent German and understand the culture then that should be sufficient. That advert, for a recruitment company funnily enough, probably breaks EU law. It's certainly daft considering Germany is becoming a rather multi-cultural society (at least in the west).

How things change

Just a few years ago I was working in Germany with multi-national responsibility. I've also worked closely (fingers again) with people in the USA.

Now I'm reduced to applying for jobs in Poole or Staines.

If you're American, that's like applying for a job in Kansas City after having worked in New York City or San Francisco. If you're German that's like applying for a job in Essen. If you're Finnish that's like going for a job in Oulu. If you're Belgian that's like applying for a job in Belgium.

Realisation

I read one job advert which was looking for a PM who would mainly work on their own. Now I have lots of project experience coupled with key qualifications in PM. But I've realised my main strength is leading people, ideally in teams. I didn't apply.

Otherwise

I've got a feeling this will be a busy week. That's assuming that my broadband connection doesn't break like it did for a while this morning. We'll see how busy I get at the end of the week.

Today I applied for four jobs and received three bites.