Last job hunting day

Last job hunting day of 2005

And what a day it’s been.

Well, for someone else, somewhere else, probably.

Not for me though. No jobs found today, which isn’t too surprising, really.

Maybe over the weekend I’ll do a big roundup.

One small step ...

for a job hunter.

Today I managed to apply for one job.

And it wasn't a job about which I could get excited; even if I did get excited about jobs. Which I don't, of course.

Actually, can't even remember what the role description was.

It's going to be a bit of a slog, I think, until the new year. And then, I guess, it'll be some more of a slog.

Some openBC activity

Some openBC activity

I’ve finally become a premium member of openBC.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but have been mainly using LinkedIn (which is bigger, but not better) which I’ve already paid for.

openBC, however, hit back with a special offer – an extra free month! Well, it’s cheap so I signed up today.

Haven’t got a job yet, mind.

Spot the difference

Spot the difference

- Yesterday was a bank (public) holiday and I applied for three jobs.

- Today was a working day and I applied for no jobs.

I phoned one of the agencies to whom I applied yesterday. He was recruiting on behalf of his client who is going through some disaster recovery activity. Not an exercise mind, as the client was in Hemel Hempstead.

As it blew up, about a week ago (Buncefield oil refinery; and could it have happened to a nicer place?) they’ve implemented their disaster recovery. Apparently that plan involves recruiting freelance project managers.

He suspected my experience wasn’t big enough but he’ll mention my details to his client.

After the break

After the break

Hope you had a good Xmas break. In the UK, at least, it was longer than usual as Christmas and Boxing days fell on a weekend. So we had Monday and Tuesday off, in lieu, as public holidays.

Nevertheless, in my trawl today, I found people had posted jobs over all those days.

I managed to apply for three of the jobs advertised.

Two resulted in immediate replies: the recruiter would be back at work in the New Year.

Slowdown continues

It's difficult to remain motivated when you know recruiters are going to be on holiday now, or very soon.

Nevertheless there were jobs advertised today and I even managed to apply for one. I received an automatic reply that the recruiter would be back after Christmas.

As people (who work) will be working on Christmas Eve I guess I should do a trawl tomorrow as well.

Back to the slowdown

Well, returned from my social trip to London.

It may have been a social trip but I managed to apply for three jobs. Thank goodness for Logmein which made it easier. Using an Internet cafe I was able to remotely take over my laptop at home, where my jobs database is held.

A few years ago Internet cafes were quite the rage. In fact, in London they were mainly used by people who could access the Internet from home.

Now, they're not very nice. Rather manky.

I only spent a few hours hunting from London. Well, I had better things to do.

Today I couldn't find any jobs worth applying to.

Break

The company I contacted by LinkedIn last week got back to me today. Apparently they weren't recruiting for themselves but a client.

There was a flurry of email correspondence as the recruiter wouldn't answer her phone but kept sending me questions by email. But the good news is she's sending my details to her client - another bite.

Apart from that excitement, I couldn't find any jobs to which to apply today ... more of that Christmas nonsense.

Tomorrow I'm back in London and staying overnight. You'll have to take a break from reading this blog - but only for a day mind.

One application, one bite

After I returned home yesterday I was soon back job hunting. Doing my Sunday trawl.

As always, when I return from London I'm extra-keen, with a side-helping of enthusiastic, to get a job back there.

I found one job which was for a contract in Scotland.

I received an email from the agency this morning. They liked my c.v. and had put my name forward to the company (which they named).

Which is nice and a bite. It would have been nicer if they had asked first. As is clear from my c.v. I used to work for that company. I certainly don't mind working for them again - well, as a contractor.

London

Well, I went up to London on Saturday to see a friend*.

We went to the usual bar (in Kensington, more Chelsea end); this time we didn't have to worry about closing time as England has finally grown up. Now that we've gotten rid of restrictive pub closing time law we just have to get rid of the monarchy. Then we'll actually be a free country.

Visiting London makes me yearn for it more.

* I also met up with another friend beforehand in "apostrophe" - a small chain of coffee/boulangerie shops.

I suggested we meet up there as they have the world's best hot chocolate - i.e. chocolate which is so hot it's gone into the liquid phase.

When my friend turned up I suggested he get the same. The couple at the next table overheard us - noted my extreme recommendation - and did the same.

Round-up

Despite what seemed to be a particularly light week - what with Christmas looming and all that - I managed to apply for eight jobs.

Hardly a bumper but still above my weekly quota of five applications.

These eight applications resulted, so far, in one bite. Which is ok, although I've had better weeks.

I don't hold out much hope for this week, people will be definitely tooling down for Christmas. In fact I may be going up to London again (if Fat Frank can get his arse in gear and call me - he's come over from Spain).

I blame the Romans for the upcoming drought in applications. If only they'd been a bit more forthright with the early Christians. Had they put a stop to all that meekness nonsense I wouldn't have to worry about Christmas and Easter getting in the way of joyous things like job hunting.

But what did the Romans do? They gave in and converted. Typical Italians.

More LinkedIn advice

Another good article on effective networking

End of a crap week

Running through my usual trawl today I couldn't find any jobs to which I could apply in the JobServe.

I did, however find two suitable jobs in Monster, which is quite unusual.

One was for a very large company. The advert invited me to apply off their main web site. Unfortunately the job wasn't listed on it. I'll have a look for it on Monday.

The other job would only accept applications through Monster's on-line application system.

I hate that system.

So, I looked up the company on LinkedIn and found the recruiter's details. I sent her an InMail message and will follow up with a phone call next week.

That's right, today I applied for one job.

Bad news

Email from BA to their Executive Club members:

"... Sadly, today we have announced that it is our intention to suspend the following routes in Germany with effect from the start of the Summer schedule 2006: Munich - London Gatwick, Hanover - London Gatwick and Cologne - London Heathrow. ..." (Gatwick being my nearest airport).

Or is it good news? Maybe it means, by the Law of Sod, that I'll now get a job in Munich.

Improvement

"... You're probably asking yourself the same question: did he apply for five of six jobs?

Well, in all that excitement I kinda lost count myself.

But seeing as this is the Ultimate Job Hunting Blog you've got to ask yourself the question: do I feel lucky?

Well, punk, do you feel lucky?"

As readers will know I don't do lucky (not by my standards anyway).

In the afternoon I managed to apply for two jobs. No bites though.

Late night

I don't normally watch television although I'd like to. The reason? Well, there's hardly anything worth watching.

Last night was an exception: Channel 4 showed the film "24 hour party people". It was much better than I expected.

The first third of the film featured Joy Division which means that today my head is constantly playing Job Division tracks, mainly "She's Lost Control", rather than the usual rubbish that gets stuck in the head.

A girlfriend - when we were in the getting serious part of the relationship - once asked me, cautiously, if I liked the Spice Girls.

God, what a question. BTW does anyone know who Ugly Spice was?

I tried to explain to her that I was brought up on Joy Division so it was hardly likely. But I think she was only vaguely familiar with "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again" so didn't really see the impossibility of her concerns. Anyway, not liking the Shite Girls was the right answer. Though, in retrospect, I should have dumped her there and then for even suspecting me of such horror.

Why am I writing all this? Well, because I don't have much to write about this morning.

I couldn't find any jobs to which to apply, although I did send a LinkedIn on-spec message to someone (not someone I know) who works in an international organisation.

Busy afternoon

This morning was spent shopping, oh the excitement.

So I started looking for a job this afternoon.

I managed to apply for three jobs. And one of them, for an interim job in Edinburgh, resulted in a bite.

The recruitment agent told me that the client had sent their requirements this morning then gone for a Christmas party.

That's good if I do secure an interview because it'll mean their party is out of the way. I once went for an interview for a rather large management consultancy. The interviewer came from their office party to interview me. If you're familiar with my guidelines on conducting interviews (second bullet point down) you'll see how this could be a mistake.

The challenge

Seen in today's JobServe, an entry recruiting a project manager in New Zealand:

"The challenge is to manage a business critical project without things falling apart".

Guildelines for comments

I haven't received many comments recently and I suspect you need some advice and encouragement.

Well, I can do no better than refer you to this which illustrates how you should post (hat tip to The Register).

Massive improvement

After this afternoon's trawl I started using LinkedIn's add-on to browsers.

This allows you to see connections you have in companies advertised on Monster and some other sites.

What I've been doing is going through Monster and looking at interesting companies, whether they're actually recruiting in my field or not. I then check if there are any useful LinkedIn contacts in those companies and am starting to create a shortlist.

Soon, I'll contact these LinkedIn people and see if they can help me find a suitable role within their company.

May as well as today was a massive improvement on the number of applications I've made this week - a massive one application (complete with missing verb).

Plaxo

Before my second trawl I dealt with an email from a LinkedIn contact who wanted to update my details on Plaxo.

A recrutiment agent contacted me over two years ago about updating my contact details on Plaxo but I haven't used it since.

Anyway, I thought today was an opportunity to update my own details. It took longer than expected but I went through it anyway. It's not such a big deal as LinkedIn or openBC. But I think it may have a couple of uses:

1. First use: do what it says on the label and keep your contact details up to date
2. Second use: when you update your details it can nudge people you don't often hear from, just a reminder that you exist
   

Too fast again

For contract jobs I often end my covering email with : "I am available immediately".

Today I saw a contract for a relocation project manager and sent off a c.v. and covering letter with that line at the end.

Except.

I missed out the "am", as in "I available immediately".

Fortunately I noticed this error just as I pressed the Send button.

Unfortunately my PC decided to speed up suddenly and the email was sent before I could cancel it.

Damn. Worse, it could mean that this error has crept in to a lot of emails. I checked using Microsoft Desktop Search and I could find only two emails with this ommission: and one of those was bounced because the agent gave me the wrong address.

More excitement

Well, I had my haircut.

And, er ...

I received a call from the agency to whom I spoke last week about a contract whose rate was too low. Well the rate was still too low but he'd like to forward my details anyway, just in case something resulted.

I told him about the agency who messed me around in the summer so he knows I'm very definite about the rate issue. Don't want to be messed around again.

Oh and I received an email from the agency handling my application for a contract job in Helsinki (from a while back). Basically: "Ei".

Today I couldn't find any jobs to which to apply.

That was exciting

By carefully trawling through two job web sites, JobServe and Monster, I managed to apply for no jobs today.

As it's getting terribly close to Christmas I wonder if this is what it's going to be like for the next few weeks.

Anyway, next weekend I should be in London and I feel a haircut coming on, for some time this week.

Once more ...

But before I start this week's trawl here's a summary of last week's endeavours:

I applied for 18 jobs. More importantly this resulted in five bites.

But none of these have resulted in interviews yet.

Looks like I had a narrow escape compared to this individual (Ordeal of the Week).

Panto is awesome!

A couple of years ago I went to an IT helpdesk/support exhibition at London Olympia. That's a big centre, or Messe (as the Germans call it). I went to see if I could talk to anyone likely to be recruiting. Another waste of makeup.

There's a tube station straight outside. As I left the show I bumped into a chap who'd also been to the show and was in a similar situation, i.e. no job and taking every chance to network.

He specialised in IT security and had an interest in British Computer Society activities. We exchanged details.

About two years later or, to put it precisely, yesterday I received an email from him.

It was a group email and seems to have been sent to every email address he had.

The subject line was "Panto is awesome! Come Saturday night!"

The body text went on about the pantomime he's producing.

I looked around but I don't have any children.

But apparently this show is for grown-ups. There's a disco afterwards and a late bar.

Er.

Look, I'm a hard-hitting IT manager. I don't have the time, or inclination to go to pantomimes, grown-up or otherwise. And if I did have the inclination I'd ... well, I don't know what I'd do. It certainly wouldn't be go to a pantomime.

Anyway, it seems the chap has done a complete career change, from IT security work to pantomime production.

Politically analysed

Apparently I'm a centrist. Not sure how correct this site is but I'll setlle for centrist. Thought I was a bit more libertarian but there you go.

I am a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (60% permissive) I am best described as a: Centristwhich is better than being described as a fluffy little fun thing, I suppose. Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Taking an age

This week's Computing journal has a section devoted to the age issue in IT recruitment. An EU directive coming out in 2006 will deal with this in the UK.

Finished

In the last gasps of my final trawl of the week I found a job to which I could apply.

I’m not sure why I didn’t find it in this morning’s trawl.

Applying was very difficult. By Friday afternoon I am quite tired and totally fed up with the job hunting process.

In fact I nearly gave up but managed to drag out an application. Which, to be honest, isn’t that difficult

That brings the total number of applications for today to two. And I received one bite.

Disappointing

I’ve talked to agents, today and yesterday, who said they’d get back to me today. One even said they’d “definitely” get back to me by close of business today.

I also had an agent tell me he’d send me some details about his client’s role.

This would be a bite except I haven’t received anything.

And the people who said they’d call haven’t

How much

In this morning’s trawl, which stretched into the afternoon, I applied for one job.

About two hours later the agent called.

We had a good chat about the role which sounded very suitable. But I then disclosed my minimum rate and had to wait whilst he picked himself off the floor. It was about double his client’s maximum rate.

You should note that my minimum rate is quite reasonable.

This was a big pity but the agent said he’d still talk to the client about me (just in case they realised how ridiculous their target rate is) and consider me for other roles. So, a bite.

Mystery calls

Mystery calls

When I returned from the bathroom this morning I found I had missed a call.

“Nothing unusual in that”, you may say. Well, this was a call made to my SkypeIn number which redirects to my PC. Hardly anyone uses this number.

My Skype client (on my PC) had alerted me to this missed call but the caller withheld their number and – and this is very bad – didn’t leave a message.

A bit later I received a call, on my mobile, from a recruitment agent who was just touching base. Whilst I was talking to him I received another call which, of course, I ignored. This call would have been diverted to my voice mail system but the caller didn’t leave a message. And had withheld their number.

I guess I’ll never know who was calling.

Improvement

Today’s posts have been written using the Blogger for Word add-in.

Hopefully it’ll reduce the number of typos but note that I do, of course, use English spellings. Which means that if you expect a lot of “ize”s instead of “ise”s you’re in the wrong country.

Sorry, someone had to tell you.

Amendment

Despite my relief that I didn’t have to change my c.v. for one agency I hadn’t totally got away with it.

Another agency I got through today liked my details.

But they felt my c.v. could be better.

What!?

He explained what he meant and sent a summary of a c.v. which seemed suitable. It wasn’t an actual c.v. but it showed what the client may like.

Well, I had a think. The c.v. I had sent him was my preferred two-page version.

Bearing in mind what the agent had told me I took my standard three-page version. It tends to bring out my project management skills but I made some slight but suitable changes and sent it to him.

Making changes like this is rather difficult. Understanding the agent’s view of what is required is difficult, not least because his advice is over the phone.

I then waited five minutes, ok, it was actually four minutes, then called him. He’d just received it. Whilst I was on the phone he opened and looked at the c.v. and said immediately that it now looked fine. He’s sending it to his client: a bite.

"Can I take a message"

It’s been a busy day.

I’ve made four applications. I also tried to call the agencies I emailed today and yesterday.

A rather large number of them were not at their desk, or permanently on the phone.

I hate leaving a message – it’s just so disappointing when they don’t call back.

Techie

Although I do have a technical background, in recent years I’ve mainly been a man-manager. Sure, I’ve still been able to give some technical advice but I haven’t been a hard-core technologist. Those sorts tend to report to me nowadays.

If you look at my c.v. this should be clear.

But today, when I got through to one agent, she thought my background was too technical.

I was audibly flabbergasted so she qualified her statement in that I seemed too technical for her client.

Maybe using email is too technical for her client, I don’t know.

Anyway, I assured her I can tailor my c.v. to illustrate better my management skills. She liked that and told me a bit about the role.

Including the salary.

Which was ridiculously low.

That’s a relief. It meant I didn’t have to change and resubmit my c.v.

Heck of a day

Well, I managed to apply for five jobs today.

And I've received one bite. Mind you, I get enough bites so I know my c.v. is cool - I now need interviews.

I also had a video conference about our business.

The combination of the volume of jobs, plus the video conference, means I've only just finished my job hunting activites.

So, it's been a long day sitting on my arse at the computer. Except I don't get paid.

I'm tired and I want my teddy bear.

Office parties

Looks like I won't have to worry about office Xmas parties this year. Having read this it seems just as well, really.

Slowing down

Although a big one, lasting into the afternoon, this morning's trawl yielded just one application.

No bites yet.

Respectable

Today I managed to apply for three jobs.

It would have been four. But as I was writing the fourth email my mobile bleeped. It was the third agency I'd emailed.

We had a chat about the role and she then sent me her client's job spec.

Although the spec streched to two pages it was actually very brief and totally uncontroversial (which is unusual as most job specs have something over which I'm at least a little bit doubtful).

Oh, except the identity of the client.

It was a company, a large financial one, to whom I had applied, for a similar sounding role, just over a week ago via another agency.

Damn.

Don't panic. I phoned this agency who told me my application was still very much "live" (more comatosed if you ask me). So, I then explained that I was being considered for a similar role with the same company. No worries, he determined it was a different part of the client company and there would be no conflict.

Phew.

Great, great. It's only Tuesday and I've already made seven applications and received the first bite of the week.

But I've had weeks like this before and I'm still writing the ultimate job hunting blog so you'll understand my lack of excitement.

Deterioration

There seems to be a nasty outbreak of Christmas.

I'm still getting bites but roles are going on hold due to the festive period.

I want to exploit the fact that I'm available immediately so will continue to hunt in case I come across a genuinely urgent requirement.

Hold music

As of now Four Seasons should be banned from being used as hold music throughout the European Union. I've just had to listed to 2 minutes and 23 seconds of it and I'm not happy.

Liberal democracies should not have to tolerate such noise.

Recall

A week ago I applied for a job which looked a bit familiar.

I finally got through to the agent today. He couldn't say who the company was so I asked him if it was the one I suspected. It was, I had applied to them a few months ago, inadvertently twice. I told him this as it could be embarrasing if he puts my name forward.

In fact, agencies often have a contractual agreement with clients that they will get paid if their candidate is appointed for a year after their introduction.

So, if a second agency introduces the candidate, who is then successful, tough, the first agency gets its introduction fee.

This isn't always the case and the agent said he'd find out where they stood. He said that talking to me I sounded a very good fit. Well, it was a City company, I have a bit of that background and, er, do speak rather well. That's why it always pays to call.

After that the conversation went on to learning languages, which was quite a nice chat.

Quiet day

From my applications on Friday I got one bite.

An agency simply emailed me a form to be used as part of her client's application process.

After returning it I phoned her. She didn't really have much to talk about the role but said she'd be sending my details to the company.

I looked on www.multimap.com to see exactly where in north London this company is sited. Oh, it's very north London.

I phoned some agencies who had bitten me in recent weeks. Not much news all around.

I couldn't find any jobs to apply for today so I dug out an application I had seen yesterday (and copied into EverNote). Looking at it again it was quiet a generic description, so I sent off a rather generic c.v. that I have used before. No need for tailoring.

Round up

Oh yes, nearly forgot again...

Last week I applied for 18 jobs which resulted in nine bites. So far, though, no interviews have resulted from these.

End of the weekend

Currently my weekends are as boring as my weekdays.

Did however watch an "Extras" DVD (featuring Ricky Gervais). Well I watched what I could, some bits were too cringing; if I had a sofa I'd be hiding behind it.

Today I applied for three jobs.

Lovely word

Interesting, entertaining but NSFW, review of an ancient English word. Further proof that English has the best swear words.

"Er" of the week

There's a major, international consultancy out there who are doing a lot of recruitment.

I once worked in a setup (JV my arse) with them and wasn't impressed (although some individuals were good). Too into porn if you ask me.

There's no way I'd tarnish my c.v. with their name (although I might consider a contract).

As nearly always they were advertising today. There was an especially long winded job advert. I had clicked on it before realising who was recruiting.

As I quickly scrolled through it my eye caught the following point in a long list of bullet points:

"- Experience of all stages of project life cycle (Feasibility, Planning, Build, Test, Implement / Roll-out, Operate, Maintain)"

As far as I'm concerned Operate and Maintain stages are not part of the project lifecycle, they're part of the product lifecycle.

Different BOK may have different definitions but knowing this company I just think it's their slackness. I didn't apply.

Final dash

Fridays are always a bit hit or miss. Especially since we've had all day opening for pubs.

Sometimes there are jobs advertised, sometimes there aren't. In any case I often don't make much effort on Friday afternoons. I reckon recruiters won't be able to do anything with my application until Monday, anyway, even if they are still sober (and if I was a recruitment agent I'd be drunk on Friday afternoon - might help me forget).

In fact, it's arguably better not to apply on Friday afternoon as the recruiter may forget about the application over the weekend.

Sometimes, however, I feel "damn it" and make a final push.

Today was such a day and I applied for four jobs, which is good on any day, let alone a Friday afternoon.

But I didn't phone any of the agencies as a result of these applications - that can wait till Monday.

Around 5pm I had just about finished when my mobile phone rang. First ring of the day. It was a call from the last agency I had emailed.

There seemed a very good match between his client's requirements and my skills. Now, his advert had asked for certain technical skills which I don't have. I told him so and he replied that really, as it was a PM role, that was hardly an issue and he appreciated my honesty. He's putting my name forward. That's a nice bite, right at the end of the day.

Today I applied for six jobs.

Bad targetting of the week

Last night I received an email from LinkedIn.

It was advising me to apply for a job which they were advertising.

The role? Managing director of a marketing and advertising consultancy.

It's nice that I'm being considered for MD roles paying c£100,000.

However, I must question how well they analysed my skills for this role; even if it was anaylsed by a computer.

I didn't apply

Straightforward morning

Straightforward in the sense of uneventful and boring.

My mobile didn't receive calls from agencies about jobs which never develop. In fact my mobile didn't ring at all.

I didn't find any wierd jobs to post on this blog.

I did, however, manage to apply for two jobs.

unusual contact

After my usual trawl I went to LinkedIn (it's a web site). There, waiting for me, was a message from someone not in my network.

She worked for a company in the US with offices in Eastern Europe. In her email she mentioned a couple of names I'd been in contact with and asked about progress on a business front.

I didn't recognise the names but it's possible that they'd heard of me.

The message was a bit hard to understand, in the sense of: were they looking for someone, or were they looking for a business partner or client. Maybe it was just the slant I'd put on it.

Anyway, I wrote back to her explaining that I had no business requirements for their services but that I was available for work.

Something may turn up out of it.

Moving on

Thought I'd catch you out - having read the blog below - with a clever, witty post? No chance.

I couldn't find any more jobs to which to apply this afternoon.

Entertainment

Look, I do know this blog can get a bit dreary: "today I applied for 0 jobs and received 0 bites" etc.

I do try, really, I mean, I bring to your attention outrageous job ads and wierd sites, plus links to job hunting advice.

I even use to do graphs of number of jobs applied over weeks - you can't get more exciting than that can you?

But I can only work with the material I'm given.

This morning, for example, I was phoned by an agency about a job with a banking client up North. Yeah, great, sounds ideal, put my name forward, but I doubt anything will come of it.

So far I've managed to apply for three jobs today and received one bite, mentioned in the paragraph above.

So if you think this is a dull blog, then try living it.

Otherwise

Today I applied for two jobs and received one bite.

Dates

For ages I've used c.v.s with just the years against the roles, save for the last two roles where I've put the months as well.

Today I was thinking of updating my iprofile details. I don't normally bother with iprofile but I thought "what the heck" it's another medium.

For each role they require the starting and leaving month as well as year.

I can't remember these for all the roles I've had (going back around 15 years) so I had a look for a c.v. with these details. After all, I do remember being asked for these details just once or twice by agencies.

But I couldn't find any such c.v. (and I never delete jobs applications I've emailed).

I looked and looked but I couldn't find. So, maybe at the weekend, I'll have to dig out the original contracts and have a look. Not easy as I can't remember where I've put those either.

LinkedIn etiquette

Interesting article about using LinkedIn and other networking tools.

I particularly approve of:

• writing personalised messages rather than using the provided templates
• abiding by the "rules" and not enclosing your own email address

The latter arises because you can circumvent LinkedIn's own paid-for feature if you include your own email address in your details. I do actually mention my own web-site (not this one) in LinkedIn and you could find my email address from their. But I doubt many people would go there from LinkedIn - which is a pity as it has a nice display of my skills.

More of the same

Like yesterday it's been a bit quiet.

At least this morning the phone rang, and not before I had got out of bed.

Even better it was an agency calling me on spec, I hadn't applied to them.

I fitted their client's profile and they liked the look of the c.v. I then sent them. They did, however, phone back a bit later. They wanted to make a couple of amendments to my c.v.

Basically they wanted to change my job titles, in some places, to "project manager". I wasn't happy with that: those weren't my job titles even though I was heavily involved in project management.

So I suggested changing some of the bullet points in my c.v.. He could change the ones starting with "Project managed .... " to "Project manager of ..." which was true - when I take on projects I appoint myself as project manager and make this clear in the terms of references which I always submit.

Now, I would have preferred to make the changes myself but he was keen to get the c.v. over to the client so he made the changes. I'm not too happy about losing control of my c.v. but have a feeling he'll only make the changes I've suggested.

I don't send my c.v. as a PDF because agencies, bless them, get all upset and think they won't be able to read them.

Rhymes with Clucking Bell

The rest of today was spent a bit like the morning: trawling through web sites but finding nothing.

My mobile did, however, ring. Oh the excitement.

Even better. It was an agency calling me to see if I was interested in a release management job up North (Cheshire way). For a well known retail bank.

Now, this agency had called me about exactly the same job a year ago. As I was happy for them to put my name forward then I felt there was no reason for them not to do the same now. I'm sure nothing will come of it.

Anyway, it counts as an application and as a bite.

Rhymes with rugger

After all the excitement of yesterday I thought I would be quite busy today.

Well, so far I haven't found any jobs to which I could apply. And my phone hasn't rung.

I hope I'll find something in this afternoon's trawl.

Busy

Been quite a hectic day.

I applied for four jobs (and remember it took most of last week to reach that number) and these resulted in three bites.

One of them would have progressed further but the recruiter wasn't going to pay anywhere near my absolute minimum. I was kinda relieved as it was a public sector employer out in Hertfordshire. I nearly didn't apply.

Two other recruiters asked me to re-jig my c.v which took me ages to do. In the case of one, I kept sending it to erroneous email addresses - I was typing too fast. Think it got there in the end.

Useful laws

Well, useful for engineers and project managers.

Good start

The early phone call was in response to an application I'd made last week for a support manager job. Several agencies had advertised it and one had already agreed to put my name forward.

So the call this morning from another agency was too late, and too early, at the same time.

After advising the agent that my details had already been forwarded for this role I asked if he had anything else.

Actually he had, a rather novel role for the same client. He sent over the details and in many respects it suited my background - especially the more unusual aspects of it. I slightly amended my c.v. and he's forwarded it to his client (who are therefore now considering me for two different roles).

Still not getting through

No matter how hard I try I'm just not getting the message through.

The first phone call I received today was on Skype. I had to search around for my headphones and microphone in darkness: I had only just switched on my laptop and hadn't yet gotten out of bed.

Anyway, it was a business partner. There was some good news: our venture is generating quite a bit of interest from potential customers. In fact, I think our business is doing as well as it can without actually creating any revenue. Hopefully that will change.

Whilst I was on Skype my mobile phone rang. Obviously couldn't answer it.

When I finished the Skype call I checked my voice mail. It was an agency responding to an application I made a few days ago.

Good, but disappointing that he'd called whilst I was still in bed.

Should I apply?

News of a vacancy in the world's fifth least corrupt - but in many ways austere - country.

Outrageous advert of the week

At the end of a JobServe advert saw this:

Salary/Rate: Negotiable According To Age And Experience + Package

I've heard, but I'm not sure, that age discrimination is being outlawed in 2006. Whatever, it's still an outrageous thing to put.

Didn't apply.

Sponsorship

Today's ultimate job hunting blog was brought to you by the number 2.

(That's the number of applications I made.)

More taunting

I also get emails from the IT Job Board. Again I'm not sure why as I asked them to stop mailing me over a year ago. And they did for a while but then restarted.

Their titles are equally disheartening, eg: "Hundreds of IT manager jobs in Europe", "but", it should go on to add "none for JC".

Cheering news

I'm not sure why but I get emails from CWJobs.co.uk, which I think is part of Computer Weekly.

Today's email was titled: "Only 24 jobseeking days left before Christmas".

Great, that makes me feel so good.

Improvement

By lunchtime today I had only applied for three jobs all week.

That's not good enough: my target is an absolute minimum of five applications per week.

After lunch I did a big trawl. Almost immediately I had responded to three job adverts.

That's good, yes?

Well, they were all adverts for the same job. Despite being advertised by different recruitment agencies they had near-identical wordings.

So, I applied with near-identical c.v.s and covering e-mails.

A bit later my phone rang. It was one of these agencies. I've actually spoken with this agency a few times about contract roles with this very large client of theirs (as it turns out). Once again, they've put my name forward.

According to my accounting conventions it doesn't matter that these three applications were for the same job. They still count as three applications.

But it didn't feel right to me so I carried on hunting.

I managed to apply for one more job before exhausting the JobServe. I then switched to IT Job Board. This yielded another application.

I'm actually in two minds about JobServe versus IT Job Board. Sometimes I think JobServe is better, but sometimes it isn't and sometimes their database falls over. But I've used it for years and most of the time it seems to have the same jobs as IT Job Board.

Anyway, today I applied for five jobs and received one bite. So, I've reached my weekly target and my soul is at ease.

IT self-doubt

Reported in this week's The Onion.

That's a relief

Whilst I was shopping my mobile bleeped. I was a bit slow getting to it so I missed the call and had to check the voice mail that was left.

It was the agency handling a contract job for the local government in a town near here. Two of my least favourite things.

His message was that his client's priorities have changed so they're not progressing with the recruitment.

Thank goodness. I had a nasty feeling that had I been interviewed I would have got the job and been stuck here. OK, I'm stuck here anyway but at least there's a glimmer of a hope I'll get a job elsewhere.

Shopping or job hunting

This morning was spent shopping. This isn't the ultimate shopping blog so I'll write no more about it.

Brighton

If people don't know where I live I tell them it's near Brighton.

Well, it's near Brighton until you get to Brighton when you find it's not really that near.

Most people, however, do know of the town where I live, for one reason of the other, but mainly because it's a sea-side resort.

I think that if Morrissey lived in the South he could have written songs featuring references to the town where I live, without hardly any changes to the lyrics that he's actually written about Northern towns.

Today I saw an advert from my favourite agency; they were looking for a contract project manager. I phoned them up straight away. The agent recognised my name and we had a chat about the role.

The job was advertised as being in East Sussex. Hmm. I wonder where they could mean?

They meant Brighton. Every advert I've seen for a job in Brighton lists the location as East Sussex. Well, Brighton is indeed in East Sussex but there's lots of other towns in that county. Er, not that I can name any.

After our chat the agent sounded keen to put my c.v. forward. As she couldn't find it on her system I emailed one over. She immediately phoned back and asked for some technical beef on the networking side (even though the client isn't looking for a techie). I quickly amended my c.v. (simply adding the fact that I've worked with Cisco switches, routers etc etc) and sent it back.

Only application of the day and a bite.

Job advert of the week

As usual, part of an advert seen in the JobServe:

"We hope that everything will go swimmingly, don't we- that everything will fall into place and be alright on the night -Sadly that's not the case - well not sadly for you, because you are THE PROBLEM MANAGER!..."

This was for a job in Australia. Didn't apply.

Plea of the week

The following is extracted from an advert in today's JobServe:

"... NB. I understand that project management is a transferable skill but the client is asking for someone with exposure to the technical skills listed...."

Otherwise, I would have applied.

Another quiet day

So far I haven't found any jobs to which to apply. In a couple of hours I'll start the afternoon trawl.

I had expected one or two recruitment agents to call me, after having called them yesterday. So far not a beep (er, that's how I've set my mobile phone, to beep once if I receive a call).

Changing my database

The only time I've used my MS Access skills is to create a database to record my job applications.

At this rate I'll soon have made so many applications I'll need to upgrade to an Oracle system.

I record the name of the agency in a field, but until now the name of their client has gone in an unindexed text field for general comments. Recently I've found that I've sometimes forgotten that my details have already been sent to certain clients.

So, I've added some columns to the database table. These record the names of the companies, not just the recruitment agencies.

So, in the future, if an agency calls and names their client, I can quickly look up and see if they already have my c.v.

Did I say I have MS Access skills?

Today, I applied for no jobs and received no bites.

Selling

Like this morning I couldn't find any jobs to which to apply.

Bother.

So, I went through my database, looking at agencies who have "bitten" me in the last few months.

I called as many agents as possible. Often the job had gone on indefinite hold. But I wanted to see if they had anything else suitable.

A couple said they might well have.

This luke-warm-calling exercise may just pay off. It keeps me in the minds of agents. It also reminds them that I actually can do two things:

• Thing no. 1: support and infrastructure team management
• Thing no. 2: project management.

Most times I apply for roles requiring only one of the above skills, sending a c.v. focussing on those skills. This could mean that agents aren't considering me against all suitable roles.

Photographs

I've written before about how Germans send photographs of themselves with their c.v.s.

Most are pretty straightforward, professionally taken shots whilst they're wearing suits. A recruiter I know, however, received one where the picture was taken whilst the candidate was clearly on holiday, somewhere sunny.

Germans are like that: some are serious, others wacky and zany.

openBC is better than LinkedIn in many ways, including that it can display a little photograph of you. I find that very helpful.

Looking through a section for Germans I noticed one member. Her photograph was of her, shoulder upwards, in the shower, covered in lots of foam! And the surprising thing was that she has a serious role in a very dull and serious business.

Gray

Cold grey day outside ... and inside.

So far, despite my extensive trawl, I haven't found a single job to apply to.

It's arrived

From Amazon, "Guide to Enterprise IT Architecture".

Well, I guess it's time I knew what the fuss is about IT architecture. I have read a review which slated the book's prose. And having had a quick glimpse through the book it does seem a bit messy: mixes of fonts, poorly laid out tables and things. But, from the ISEB reading list, it seems the most generic book on the subject.

I'm not sure it'll give as much pleasure as my new electric toothbrush but hopefully in the longterm it'll give more utility*. In the short-term it'll probably give me a headache.

(*Those with an interest in economics should feel free to discuss, in the comments, the difference between utility and pleasure, and how you can compare the value of these.)

Otherwise

Apart from the excitement of the bite I haven't managed to make any job applications today.

Just spent the last hour reading Harry's Place. Back to the studying now.

Crickey

It's been so long since my mobile phone rang that when it did ring this afternoon I almost forgot what to do.

It was an ageny calling about my response to an advert yesterday.

They were interested and were happy to put my name forward. Great, so that's a bite. The role can be either permanent or contract (and it's a rather nice contract rate).

Incidentally, initially I couldn't find details about this advert. For a while I thought I had failed to put it into my Access database. But then I remembered that earlier in the day I had set a filter to show only applications resulting in bites. So, that's why yesterday's application wasn't being shown.

Hipocrasy

This morning one of my readers, who knows me, contacted me by IM. He pointed out that maybe I shouldn't criticize others for poor writing when I clearly don't always proof read my own posts!

True but here's my excuses anway:

1. This is a blog, so a level of roughness in the text should be acceptable (the cheeky response, I wonder if I'll get away with it)
   
2. I'm not making money from this (although it would be nice, it's just that no-one does give me money for it)
3. It's not a message sent directly to fellow professionals (although I know IT professionals do read this blog - quite right too). If it were I'd definitely proof read it, spell and grammar check it and try to get someone else to check it as well.

Maddox has encountered similar observations (about a 1/3 of the way down).

Busy

After a busy morning of job hunting I've managed to apply for no jobs and have received no bites.

Finally

OK, you've been waiting for it so here's the round up of job hunting activity for today.

Ready.





OK.




Today I applied for one job.


I received no bites.

It's the beginning of the week and I really hope it improves. I want interviews and then a job. Now!

Ordered

I quit dithering and ordered a book on IT architecture.

It's on the BCS reading list for the qualification and seems to be the one least totally techie.

I read one review which complained that it was badly written. And from its introduction (which was shown on Amazon) the writers could do with a lesson or two on, er, writing.

Well, in a couple of days I should find out if it's useful.

IT architecture seems to be all the rage these days. I'm not sure why. Having had run-ins with real architects (and, really, that's how any professional relationship with architects can be described - why are guns outlawed in the UK? In case we suddenly meet an architect.) I'm not sure I'd want to be called called an IT architect.

More LinkedIn activity

Look, I'm going to be writing quite a bit about this and openBC so you'd just better get use to it.

LinkedIn now allows you to set a flag saying you're happy to be contacted by anyone. Before they advised people not to be "connection sluts" but they were losing the battle.

Being the good little networker I set the flag. However, I don't really want to be contacted by everyone.

Already I'm finding that the worth of connection sluts is low. If I want to connect to someone I won't go via them anyway. Well, they don't know me and have nothing in common.

But there will be some people who don't know me but it would be beneficial for us to connect. Maybe we have a similar regional (e.g. Nordics, Germany) or business interests. So, I've altered my profile's connection settings to say:

"I welcome contacts, especially where there may be mutual benefit or where I can give assistance, even if I don't know you. But if you do wish to contact me please send a personalised message."

Thought that was better than saying:

"Connection sluts - go away!

People who can offer me a job in a cool part of the world - connect now!"

Asking for a personalised message helps me for another reason. I'm finding people contacting me with what is probably a template message. Apparently we did work for the same company at some time. It's just that I have a very haphazard memory and may have forgotten them.

Consideration

Normally, when I apply directly to very large organisations, the belated reply is a standard:

"thank you for applying ... very impressive skills ... but unfortunately ..." etc etc.

About a month ago I applied for a job in Amsterdam with a large multinational.

Last week they sent back a personalised reply.

This reviewed their analysis of my c.v., spotting that I had worked in a bank's back office environment and managed relocation projects. Very good. But it was for this reason they were rejecting me.

Waste of time

As always, after dinner on Sunday I start the trawl.

I managed to apply for one job.

The advert, to which I responded, didn't give a salary.

After adapting my c.v. and sending off a covering email I carried on with the trawl. A bit later I saw the same advert posted again - word for word - but this time with salary details. The salary offered was far too low.

Another weekly round up

Last week I applied for 17 jobs.

These resulted in six bites.

So, that's a much better week than the week before.

Except that I have still haven't got a job so in a sense it's no better.

Oh dear

I've been going through my emails, clearing out my inbox.

There was an email from openBC, the excellent business networking website. It was informing me that someone had added me as a contact.

Their tagline was "Get together - wherever your are" (my emphasis). Ouch. Easy typo to make.

OK, it happens and openBC's people are mainly non-English, being registered in Germany.

I really like the product and shot them off a friendly email pointing this out. Then I carried the trawl of my inbox.

The next email from was the BCS (I'm a member).

"You are extended an invertation to this event." I've never been to an invertation and I'm bloody well not going to go to one now.

I'm not going to shoot off an email. If British people can't be bothered to spell check, or even just proof read, a message from a professional organisation then I'm not going to be bothered to point out the howlers. Disappointed though.

BTW, these errors stood out, I wasn't scrutinising the texts for them.

Otherwise

Apart from getting my teeth checked and playing with my new electric toothbrush I applied for one, yes one, job.

ô

When I lived in Islington (until a few months ago) our local swanky wine bar had a rather friendly American waitress.

One day she was talking to us and said something about "British English".

"You mean", I found myself saying, "English".

"British English" doesn't really exist. The term is not precise enough; you could be referring to Ulster English ("put the semtex down noi"), Welsh English ("our Siôn can only drrrink 10 pints"), Scottish English ("ye no have a wee drrram afore ye drive"), Northern English ("Now't work at t'Job Centre luv") etc, etc.

To save time southern English, of the type technically called "Standard English", is called "English". No need to call it "English English". We invented it (although apparently the Turks had a hand) so we get to keep its name.

Recently I've been writing "role" even though I believed it should be spelt "rôle". But I'm always a little distrustful of extended character sets - they may not translate very well at the other end. Also, I can't remember the Alt code for it (incidentally it's ATL 0244).

So I installed a new Konfabulator widget which allows you to select accents for pasting into documents. Turning out to be quite useful.

Since then I've found out that, according to my dictionary, "role" doesn't need the ciconflex after all. However, when applying for jobs in Europe, I think it would be expected, even though I always write in English.

Different

Rather than job hunt this morning I went to the dentist.

All seems ok but I bought an electric toothbush.

I also got a phone call - whilst I was in the bathroom, tut, tut - a message was left. It was the agency trying to get me a contract in Helsinki (and therefore my favourite, best ever agency ever, at the moment).

The news was simply that they were keeping my application on hold for a couple of weeks. Now, this would not normally be classed as good news. But actually, in this case, I think it does count as good news. What's more only myself and another person were being considered at all for this rôle by the client - that's out of eight candidates put forward.

Even better it gives me a chance to read up about technical architecture. There was some mention of this in the job spec. I don't think it's a crucial requirement but a knowledge of it will be helpful.

The BCS recently launched an ISEB qualification in IT Architecture. I'm not sure I'll take the exam but I may get a book or two from their reading list. And to start with, I'll probably look through some websites they mentioned.

Er, not sure how to title this

Now and then I run out of ideas for titles for these posts. Now is one of those times.

Despite being quite busy, lots of surveillance of job sites and lots of telephone calls, I find I've only applied for two jobs.

Well, actually that's ok, I've made quite a few applications so far this week and have had quite a few bites from them. Makes up for last week.

Except, although the stats are good I still don't have a job.

Another bite

I tried a few times to get through to one of the agencies to whom I sent my c.v. yesterday.

Eventually got through but the agent hadn't received my c.v. This sometimes happens. He talked through the rôle giving some details. But he really needed to get hold of my c.v.

So I sent it to his direct address with read receipts set. When, after a while, I didn't get any acknowledgement, I sent the same email via my rocketmail account.

Later on I phoned him and he confirmed he'd received that email. But he was busy, so would have to talk to me later about the job.

Much later (well, two hours later) he phoned. He started talking about the client but it rang a bell with me, "hang on". I checked my notes. Someone had already spoken to me about that rôle with that client. It was him earlier on!

He went through exactly the same spiel as before then said he'd send my c.v. onto the client. Hurray!

Conversion

The application I made yesterday, in response to a speculative email received from an agency, actually became a bite today. I phoned the agency up and they were interested and said they'd forward my details to their client.

However, I'm getting a bit disillusioned. I phoned a few agencies who had "bitten" me over the last week or so. On the whole, they've no update or feedback for me - my applications are in limbo.

Interesting comment of the week

A little while back I mentioned an Interesting Job of the Week.

Well, a comment has been added to that post.

Of course, my original concerns were over the bad English on their website.

Enthusiastic advert of the week

Now, why didn't I apply for this job?

"Location: London. Role: permanent. Salary: highly competitive. If there was one agency you would consider moving for, I bet these guys would be it. If there is that little itch, that tiny feeling that things could be better, that twinge that tells you with a new year coming it would be nice to be in a new position. This agency have dominated 2006 with their humour, their creativity and above all their dedication to being pioneers of digital media in 2005. Set to get bigger and better they are now looking for a plethora of like minded individuals. Ranging from a Resource Manager with the ability to organise a studio and talk to the crazy Creative as well as set up the techies a Project Manager who is sick of digital media but willing to give it one last chance within a 'different, less commercial' exception for the norm a MAC GOD, who can deal with creative causing their computers to crash due to downloading the latest Flash game from some techie living in a campervan with a one eyed dog and a snowboard a Flash Developer who, given the right opportunity, could revolutionise the Internet, just using their mind, their experience and knowledge of actionscript 2 This really is the agency, in the creative heart of London, with the funniest talents around. Starting ASAP Please send your c.v. in Word format."

Better afternoon

A little while ago I received an email from an agency looking for a PM. I applied but it's not a bite (yet).

Today, I've applied, in total, for four jobs.

Slowly showing its worth

Couple or so years ago a friend suggested I meet with someone he knew who was in the IT industry (and used to be a recruiter).

We met, had a chat, then had some beers.

Then lost contact but I sent him a message a few days ago after I found his name in LinkedIn. We connected (allows us to see each others' contacts). Today he sent me an email telling me he'd forwarded my details to a recruitment agent he knows well.

That's good.

I feel LinkedIn and openBC are suited for middle-term networking. They're not quick fixes if you suddenly need a job. But it's nice to see some positive things already happening.

Computer Weekly

My thanks to Elliot who suggested I look at Computer Weekly magazine for jobs (also online at www.computerweekly.com/careermoves).

Being a Computing man myself (I get it free by a Zinio download) CW completely left my consciousness years ago. Seems, however, that they now advertise appropriate jobs.

Dribble

Well, after yesterday's near torrent of applications this morning I found only one job to which I could apply.

Keeping a secret

Although I didn't apply for the job with MI5 (the UK's security service) I have been wondering how people deal with the fact that they've once worked for a secret government agency.

I mean, even with the most civil servant mindset things can happen (e.g. want to move out of London, desire a change in career, family demands, cover blown etc - these things can happen to anyone) that make you want to leave. So what do you put on your cv?.

Well, apparently you put in your c.v. that you worked for "MI5".

I found this out by searching LinkedIn for "MI5". To my surprise I got quite a few results.

LinkedIn displays individuals' career details much like a c.v. Under the MI5 heading for one former worker, he simply put "Not sure I can say....."

More progress

As well as the two bites reported this morning I applied for another five jobs. Seven applications in one day!

Bite, the second

Yesterday I wrote about a headhunter who I had contacted as a result of us both being members of LinkedIn and openBC.

Later on he sent me details about a position for which one of his clients was recruiting.

I looked at in detail this morning. It was a good match except for their requirement for telecommunications experience.

After a brief exchange of emails I phoned him - though I'm a techie (did someone say geek?) I prefer to talk rather than email.

Basically, I wanted him to send my details to his client if he felt that the telecommunications requirement wasn't that vital. He wasn't sure but agreed to do so. The client, a Nordic telecom company, was recruiting for a role in Frankfurt. Though they would consider UK as well. "No thanks", I said, "I'd prefer Frankfurt".

So, that's another bite.

Bite, the first

A few weeks ago, when I was applying for like 25 jobs, I wondered why this was necessary. By now so many agencies have my c.v. there's no need for them to advertise. Just call me first.

Before I got up today, before I got up, my mobile rang.

It was an agency phoning to see if I was available for a contract release management job.

Good rates, for a bank.

Nowadays I don't apply for most release management jobs advertised - there's usually the response that I don't have recent experience.

But as they called me I'm happy to be considered.

LinkedIn advice

10 ways to you build your business, although from a business perspective I think it pertains to job hunting as well. And what's the difference anyway? You're selling your services after all.

If you must go to work tomorrow ...

... well, if I was you I wouldn't bother.

Here's some more on the tyranny of work.

Mergers and cognitive bias

Next time your company is taken over (or "merged over") check this to see where the usurpers may have gone wrong.

Having read a bit of this blog my head now hurts. Is there a sociologist in the house?

More web-networking activity

To be good at networking you don't just sit there and wait for people to contact and assist you. No, you have to give.

I've recently posted some entries on openBC forums. One of the moderators sent a welcome message after my initial postings.

This moderator is a director of a headhunting firm. I looked up his details on LinkedIn (competitor to openBC). His details said he'd like to hear from people looking for new opportunities. So, I sent him an email and a bit later on gave him a call.

We had a really nice chat. Like me he actually finds openBC better than LinkedIn. But I have a feeling that LinkedIn has more members, though poorer functionality.

His company does a lot of recruitment in Germany - well, that just suits me fine. He had a few ideas and may get back to me.

More like it

Today I applied for two jobs.

So, including yesterday, I've applied for four jobs this week. This equals the total for the whole of last week.

I also got a bite from an application I made yesterday. I phoned the agency this morning and the bloke who answered me said that they'd not only received my c.v. but had printed it off. But someone else was actually dealing with it and would call me back.

Within half an hour she called. Client is a big bank in the Docklands. Now, they were looking for someone with corporate tax and finance experience. Er. Not really. However, they were also looking for straight forward IT infrastructure PM experience plus coaching skills. That's more like it. So, my c.v. has gone to the bank.

Still recruiting

The company I visited in Munich back in August are still recruiting for a PM. I've written before that by now I would have totally assimilated to their ways and technologies.

And would also have drank a lot of Paulaner.

Today

Always a risk titling an entry "Today". After all, that could be the name for just about every entry.

Well, today I applied for two jobs. Both contracts. That's not a bad start to the week.

Now, although I have live bites (one for a contract in Helsinki, oh me, me, me please) I don't have any interviews lined up.

Whatever, it looks like it's going to be another week not at work. Ho hum.

I didn't do much studying this weekend due to a problem with my brain. It was just not interested. Nothing I could do about it.

Did, however, look at some break-even analysis for the business. Worked out a cunning formula for this which fits in with my ever-so-cunning financial model.

Otherwise, I looked at blogs. All of them I reckon.

Suppose...

... a bit of a round up.

As you know I only managed to apply for four jobs last week. Not very good. Not happy about it. Actually, not happy about anything.

Did, however, get a few bites last week, about two or three, from applications I made before last week. Which is not bad. But I'm still not happy, ok?

A bite

Bloody hell. My mobile phone rang today.

Just before lunch - my lowest point of the day.

It was an agency to whom I had applied this morning. Although I was going to phone them, after lunch (one of the three most important meals of the day), it would have been half-heartedly.

I'd seen similar adverts from this agency before. I'd even applied to them. But they had no named contact. This advert was different; not so much in the details but in that they gave a name and a contact number.

Anyway, the agent called before I was going to call her. Good chat, she sent me a job spec, I ever so slightly modified my c.v. and gave a three-line summary of my appropriate skills. She's sent these details onto her client (a rather massive financial company).

Good end to a rather dismal week. After all, I could only apply for four jobs, one below my psychologically important target.

Otherwise

Apart from not applying to MI5 I applied for three jobs.

This included a response to a speculative email from an agency.

Secret job of the week

This has appeared a few times today in the JobServe:

"My client MI5 requires experienced IT Project Managers with proven delivery experience from full SDLC to 3rd party contractor & vendor management. Ideally Prince 2 certified you will have demonstrable experience of working within structured methodologies while delivering projects to quality & budget. You will have a broad understanding of IT from a corporate systems perspective, having delivered a range of IT projects, improving operational effectiveness. Utilising your exceptional communication skills, you will be the first line in holding both the business & suppliers accountable for their delivery responsibilities. A strong leader, you will be a good Manager of people especially Matrix management, governed by best practice principles & your commitment to high quality service delivery. Confident in your organisational skills,you will be proactive & able to make informed, objective & robust judgements by managing the bigger picture. Proficient in all aspects of project management your resume will include expertise in mitigating & managing project risks. To apply you must be a British citizen. Due to their recruitment & vetting process, your application could take up to 8 months. You must limit those you tell about your application to your partner &/or immediate family. The security service is committed to reflecting those equal opportunities & the society they protect."

For overseas readers MI5 is our security service, until a few years ago its existence was officially denied. It's a bit like the FBI except it deals exclusively in covert domestic security matters. Nowadays it even has a website.

I didn't apply because:

• I don't know what SDLC is
• I'm not going to wait up to eight months for extremely high-level vetting.

Interestingly though, the salary range wasn't bad, especially considering it's part of the government.

As you can imagine, there's been a lot of investment in British security activities. This has translated into massive spend for our security and intelligence services. Why, even MI6, a.k.a. the Secret Intelligence Services, has a website.

Oh BTW, if I had applied I wouldn't make mention of it here.

Reading between lines

If you review my blogs for today you'll notice that I haven't given my daily summary of job applications.

Well, I haven't made any job applications today.

I did, however, receive a bite. From an application I made a month ago.

Good. But.

Butly buttington ...

• it's based in West Sussex, the only place in Western Europe I don't want to work
• it's for the public sector, my least favourite sector.

Well, at least it's a contract so I wouldn't be stuck here for ever (theorectically).

Worst jobs in science

I stumbled across this when looking at this. And I was looking at that blog because I had checked my referall checker and someone had gone from there to my blog.

The reason for the jump was probably because they clicked on the Next Blog button (normally at the top right hand corner, don't click on it). I get a lot of that.

More business network tools work

Yesterday I saw an advertisement for a job in Europe. I've seen it before and actually applied on-line, direct to the company.

I never received a reply. So, yesterday I searched LinkedIn for members who worked at that company. I found one who seems to be doing the role advertised.

LinkedIn doesn't give his name but did give his career details. Using their system I sent him (I'm assuming it's a man) a LinkedIn message asking if he could assist me finding someone who could consider me for the job advertised.

I hope they respond.

Then today I went through some openBC forums and contributed some of my view points. I believe that making such contributions, and assisting others, actually enhances your own "networking profile".

Interesting job of the week

"Swiport Incorporated can help you make your dreams come true while getting a monthly wage working on the Internet. As everything you need to work with Swiport Incorporated is: being a United Kingdom, Italy or Spain citizen having a bank account having a computer connected to the Internet a little of your spare time How it works: Working for us as a Payment Processing Manager, you will become a part of the new trend in the world banking system. Duties of the position are simple, and income depends only on your efforts. All you have to do is transfer payments between our clients getting your interest from each operation. Basically it will be 5%, with each transfer your interest will grow. Our clients normally receive USD 1000 to 50000 and more. If want to work with us, contact your personal manager Ms. Mary Johnson, e-mail: Mary@swiport.com Swiport Incorporated cares about your prosperity. Make your life better together with Swiport Incorporated"

This was advertised on Monster. So, I'd get paid 5% of any funds transferred into and out of my bank account.

I looked at their website and it seemed quite professional but their English suddenly descended into amateur-ism (worst than most web-sites of non-UK companies that I've seen).

You'll be surprised to read that I didn't apply.

So that's how it's pronounced

Early in October I mentioned an advert for a job in New Zealand with an interesting USP (no problems parking).

One of the reasons I didn't apply was because I couldn't pronounce the name.

Well, I received a comment advising me on how to pronounce Porirua. It's Pour - Ree - Roo - A.

My thanks to Johnny Max for pointing this out.

Unfortunately Johnny doesn't mention if the R's are rolled or not. That's the stumbling bit.

I'm not as bad as Jonathon Ross (UK TV chat show host and, er, geezer; pronounced "Woss") or Roy Jenkins (most successful UK finance minister ever, eminent historian/biographer, Chancellor of Oxford University and dead person; pronounced "Woy"). But I do not roll my Rs.

In fact, coming from the south of England, I don't need to. Well, I shouldn't need to if it wasn't for all those foreign Johnnies. I know a couple of centuries ago we had to take over most of the world just so that Standard English would become the lingua franca and we wouldn't have to bother learning other people's language or pronounciation. And when I write "pronounciation" I mean rolling the letter "R".

In fact the letter R crops up in my name. Twice. Why do you think I use initials?

Incidentally

After writing the word "donughting" I've started to feel rather hungry.

Slow afternoon

Obviously, I still need a job so did a big trawl after lunch.

This was made more than usually tortuous by the slowness of JobServe.

I also had problems sending out an email. I checked on my ISP's site's status page and it wasn't reporting any problems with its email service.

Anyway, eventually the email went out.

That's right. I applied for a job. Just the one. But it's the first of the week.

Whilst trawling I also watched a BBC webcase of the debate in Parliament on detention without trial for 90 days.

Readers should be aware that I'm based in England. It's a small country just off mainland Europe. It's had its ups and downs but managed to be the inspiration for almost every democratic, liberal and judical government system in the world today.

So, if Parliament is going to abandon centuries of English liberty and justice I thought it may be worth watching.

They're still going on at the moment. Normally there's a lot of donughting - surrounding the speaker with sitting MPs - but sometimes the cameras zoom out and you see that the House of Commons isn't that full.

Amazing, a massive assult on English liberty and a number of Members of Parliament, the only ones who can prevent it, aren't there.

The boycott continues

Well, at least for this morning when I went to the shops so, like yesterday afternoon, didn't look for any jobs.

Oh well

I guess I may as well post a round-up now, rather than leave you waiting to after 1800 GMT.

So far today, indeed this week, I've managed to apply for zero jobs.

I may do another trawl this afternoon but I hardly think it's worth it.

Mixed day

On one hand

This morning I spoke to the agency I emailed on Friday about a job in Finland. We had a good chat and he sounded interested.

It was funny, he said couldn't tell me the name of the ultimate client but then mentioned their name, a few times, in our discussion. It didn't matter too much as I'd guessed it anyway.

He asked me to send some further information. Namely a summary of relevant trans-national experiences. On a two-column sheet (name of project in left-hand column, corresponding experience in the right-hand column). They were looking for experiences such as working across different time zones, working under high pressure, flexibility, multi-cultural experience (for which surely working in London is enough) etc.

Well, I really did try to keep it to one sheet but that was impossible.

I emailed it to him and he has sent it to his client.

I also received a call from an agency I contacted last week. I had applied about a specific job (but couldn't recall the details when he called) he, however, simply wanted a chat about my availability for contract work. I'm going to count that as a bite.

So, that's two bites today.


On the other hand

I was contacted by the agency who handled my second interview last Wednesday. The company is currently "sitting" on my application.

Not too sure what that means. It's not a rejection and it's not a request for a final interview with them. The agent wondered if there was a medical concern (another client was rejected because of this).

On my c.v. I mention that I recovered from a very serious accident three years ago. But I don't go into details and recruiters have no indication of any on-going problems (I've actually been given the all clear, ages ago, my specialists, including those at professor level).

In any case, the company doesn't do anything that would require enhanced levels of medical fitness. It's a consultancy after all.

Think the recruitment agent was suppositioning aloud. Oh well, we'll see.

And, I couldn't see any jobs worth applying to.

Every day is like Sunday

It certainly is today, which is handy as it is Sunday.

As my weatherpixie shows it's been a crap day.

Every day is sullen and grey.

Today I didn't apply for any jobs.

What are they implying?

To quote: "An excellent opportunity has arisen for an IT Operations Manager within a reputable public sector organisation ...".

That implies that some public sector organisations aren't reputable. I wonder which ones.

Another week not at work

Reviewing my log of applications (an Access database actually) I find I've applied for nine jobs this week.

And received three bites.

But it doesn't matter whether I apply for 25 jobs in a week (as happened recently) and receive many more bites, I still haven't got a job.

At least this week I had two (and a half, I guess) interviews. All in one day.

Need to keep on keeping on. But I've run out steam, still it is the weekend now.

Nibble

Look, it's Friday, I'm tired and I'm thoroughly cheesed off looking for jobs.

Yes, I went to London on Wednesday and had two good interviews (although I was informed yesterday about the first one not being successful). And I met up with a friend afterwards.

But the thing is, going off to London makes it worse when I leave.

Today I applied for three jobs. One was in Finland, one was in the Netherlands and one was in Berkshire.

I got through to the agent handling the job, a contract, in the Netherlands. Once he realised to which job I was applying he sounded interested. He asked me to send a further summary for Monday. Not quite a bite, let's call it a nibble.

Good news

Well, good if you don't like competency tests.

I've just taken a call from the agency handling the first interview yesterday. They don't want to go further with my application. This is a little bit surprising as they indicated I had interviewed well.

There wasn't any feedback for me but the agency promised that if they got any they would relay it to me. From my good experience with this agency I believe they would actually do this.

To cap it all, I couldn't find any jobs today and I feel a bit ropey. Still, I did get a bite yesterday.

Third glass

After my second glass we all departed.

I went to see a friend near Liverpool Street station. Finding her at Starbucks we immediately moved to a nearby bar and had, what would be for me, a third glass of wine.

Today, I really don't think it was a good wine after all. I feel quite rotten. And it wasn't like I'd drunk a large amount of alcohol.

Nicer

After this second interview I had an less formal chat with a recruiter for a financial consultancy.

I met her last in June and she suggested we meet up again.

We went to the same bar, near her office, for a coffee. But, well, it was close to 4pm, I didn't have any more interviews, and it was her suggestion after all, so he had some wine instead.

Then a colleague of her's came along. She had just become a British citizen. We had another glass of wine.

One of the questions you now have to answer, if you want to become British (and let's face it, if you're foreign, you do), was:

Who is the head of the Church of England?

Even I got this wrong. I thought it was The Queen. Others thought it was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Apparently it's a Mr. J.H. Christ.

Now, it could be argued that he doesn't attend any meetings. He hasn't been seen at General Synods for sure. But the counter-argument would be omni-prescence. Still, I doubt his name appears on any minutes.

Still, as Stephen Fry has put it: "To be British is to win first prize in the lottery of life, to be Christian is to win first prize in the lottery of the after-life".

Better

After this first interview I went to the City Business Library near Moorgate. I wanted to dig out some information about the second company I was going to see yesterday.

At the libary something remarkable happened. I managed to find out financial information! First time in recent visits that I've achieved this.

I'm keen to make the effort to research companies. It's too easy just to look at their website. When I interview people I ask them what they know about the company. When they reply "well, I've looked at your web site" I'm not impressed.

After that I went to grab a sandwich. Actually it was a duck-in-hoisin-sauce wrap. Probably not important to you, the reader, but very important to me.

I then found the offices of the company, well ahead of time. After this CTR (close target reconaissance) I went to a coffee shop (alright, it was a Starbucks) and had a hot chocolate whilst mugging up on the company.

Returned to offices on time and had a very good interview. This was with the chairman. Very pleasant, very charming. He indicated that I would probably have a second interview. And no mention of competency tests.

So, that was good.

Bitten

When I left the offices in Covent Garden I switched on my mobile. And found I had a message from another recruitment agency.

They wanted to see if I was interested in a relocation PM job in London. Interested? Are bears Catholic? It was a very nice bite because I hadn't applied for the job.

This morning I sent her a c.v. tailored for the role and she replied that it looked very good and she's forwarding it to her client.

British railways

Yesterday I got up at 5am to get to London for an interview at 9am.

Considering I normally only wake up around 9am this wasn't easy. So to help, I shaved the evening before.

The shave was extremely close. So close, in fact, that I had a few cuts which were still visible yesterday evening. And this was from electric shaving!

I reached the station for the 6.33 train. It would get into London around 8.20 leaving me plenty of time to get to the interview (near Covent Garden).

Except. The train just stayed there until it was cancelled.

I went across the platform to another train which had pulled in. This was going to another mainland London station. Eventually.

Whilst I was on the train, as the time approached 9am, I realised I wouldn't reach London in time. So I phoned the company I was seeing and gave the receptionist a message that I would be late.

Just after 9am I reached the London station and then had to join a rather long queue for taxis.

Fortunately, despite the length of the queue it only took about five minutes before I reached the front and could get a taxi.

I don't remember so many roadworks in London, and I only left five months ago. But the route the driver took seemed to pass all the roadworks and this added to my anxiety.

Anyway, after 10 minutes I reached the office.

When I reached the interview room I apologised to the interviewers (there was two of them) about my delay. Simultaneously, however, one of the interviewers apologised to me. Apparently he was late too, having gone to the wrong office!

A few years back I use to go to extraordinary steps to avoid these delays. But nowadays, in the UK, it's accepted that our transport infrastructure is very poor. Delays are inevitable. At least, I was able to phone ahead and they got my message.

From a not-very-good start the interview went well. They said as much at the end. Turns out they've been interviewing for over two months and haven't appointed anyone yet.

They stressed that although I had interviewed well they would still need to review and decide if I should go to the next stage.

This stage would be a competency test. Oh Fuckly Fuckington. I hate these for three reasons:

1. I have a degree in electronics, that probably puts me in the top 2 - 5% of the population. So, there's really no need to test my numerical and verbal reasoning skills.
2. If you need to assess my personality talk to me, at say, an interview. There's no need for Myers-Briggs test. And as for Belbins, just ask me (incidentally my Belbin types are: Team-worker and Co-ordinator).
3. I'm not very good at them.

Actually, I have managed to do very well at them. In fact a few years ago I did very well at one for a major consultancy, much to my surprise. I fluffed, however, the third interview. The reason I did so well at them was that I bought a book on GMAT testing and went through the exercises.

Looks like I'm going to have to dig out that book and go through them again.

The annoying thing is that even if you do well on the IQ-type tests (and there is a danger that you fail because you score significantly higher than their profile requires) you can still fail because the tests suggest you're the wrong personality-type for their profile.

Rest of the day

Having spent this morning job hunting and applying for one job it was definitely time for a haircut.

This involves travelling to the nearest city (I don't trust townies with scissors).

Whilst I was in Brighton I took a phone call from the agency handling my first interview tomorrow. He wanted to give me a quick briefing.

I was on the street and at one stage he asked if I was in a ghetto, such was the background noise. "Well," I replied, "I am in Brighton".

Naturally, I didn't have time to job hunt this afternoon. Reading BBC News on-line I spotted that on Thursday it'll be World Usability Day. Meanwhile, here is a link to a collection of less-than-perfect documentation.

Unless you're very good I won't update this blog tomorrow; well, I'll be in London seeing recruiters then, hopefully, a few friends (and a couple of beers).

Normal Tuesday

In that I could only apply for one job. This low number seems to be characteristic of the early parts of the weeks.

I won't be able to apply for jobs this afternoon as I'm off to have my haircut ("short please").

And I won't be able to apply for jobs tomorrow as I'll be seeing three recruiters ("job please").

Doesn't matter too much as, with the application today, I've acheived five applications for jobs this week already. So, my psychological quota has been reached.

Even more excitement

After having a second interview arranged for Wednesday, plus receiving the first bite of the week, I needed to calm down.

I went into town, a place guaranteed to kill any excitement. After printing off my c.v.s for the interviews on Wednesday, I went into a hardware store.

There I received, one again in breach of apparent regulations, a phone call from an agency.

It was the other agency to whom I applied yesterday. This was for another relocation project. We had a good chat and the agent said he'd know more about the job later on in the week.

Great. Second bite of the week.

Today I also applied for two jobs.

Five year olds

Now and then I meet up with a friend who also, as a career, manages IT support-type activities.

Over dinner at say, the Red Fort, whilst sipping an extremely good red wine, one of us will ask the other: "So, how are your five year olds?".

Neither, as far as we know, have children.

But, as I've said, we manage teams.

Now there are exceptions (and if you've ever reported to me, or Clive, and are reading this blog, you're definitely one of the exceptions). But as a manager you sometimes get the feeling that your team members are a bunch of five year olds.

In fact, since becoming a manager, there's at least one early manager of me, to whom, I feel, I should apologise.

When I became a manager of managers I felt a relief as I'd at last have sensible (in my view) direct reports.

Let's just say I was disappointed.

More excitement

After sorting out the second interview on Wednesday I received another phone call.

Despite all the regulations that seem to be in place this one called whilst I was sitting next to the phone. It was, of course, another agency. One to whom I applied on Sunday.

They were advertising for an IT relocation project manager. The advert had said that the candidate needed experience of managing five project managers. Well, I felt they were being a bit too pernickety: I have experience of managing much larger numbers of people plus managing managers (see next post). So despite not having actually managed five project managers I still applied.

As the agent explained his client was a Japanese bank. And he said that if they ask for experience in managing five project managers then, in all likelihood, that's what they'll want.

This seemed to be the only stumbling block but it's big enough for his client. So, although it was a bite, he probably won't be able to put my name forward (though he will put my c.v. aside).

Quite a Monday

As usual, an agency phoned me whilst I was in the bathroom this morning.

Four times.

I phoned him back once I finished. It was the agency who called me on Thursday about a consultancy job.

Apparently their client's CEO saw my c.v. and wants to see me.

The company is in London, in the City, and I arranged to see them on Wednesday afternoon. This is efficient as I already have an interview at 9am in London.

Now, I was going to meet a recruiter of another consultancy at 2pm on Wednesday for an informal chat. I called her and she was happy to see me later on in the day, basically when I'm ready. So, that's even more efficient.

Plus I'll probably meet up with a couple of people afterwards for a beer before heading back to Sussex. Super efficient.

Now the agency asked if I had managed to see the company's website over the weekend. Well, to be honest, no. The reason? He was unwilling to give me their name last week.

And when I started looking at the company's details this morning I realised that I didn't have a job spec. I phoned him up again and he sent one over, although, as he warned me, it's not a very specific job spec.

What's that thing on my head? Hair. Tomorrow I get a haircut.

Better than job hunting

This is also better than working. Hat tip to Harry Hutton.

Early start

This morning I read the Sunday Times on-line.

This afternoon I read the web site of the company I'll be visiting on Wednesday. This included reading their newsletters - all the ones they put on-line. I don't, of course, normally read company newsletters.

BTW to "read the web site of the company" wasn't a small deal - quite extensive. Lots and lots of words.

This evening I did my usual trawl and managed to apply for two jobs which had been advertised after 3pm on Friday.

Where I live

This fine article wasn't written by me, it appears in a web site devoted to Chavs. In the extract below I've replaced the name of the town with "Dismaltown", which is a good, though understated, alternative.


"When considering the chaviest town in Britain one name is whispered with reverence above all others. Dismaltown! Or L.A. as it is known (your average chavster cannot pronounce an H if his/her life depended on it) the scum-infested town compliments the scum-infested river nicely. There are some nicer parts of the town but the main concentration of chavs lives in the Greenfield’s / highfields area known as HMP Wick to most or Beirut to the Postal service.

Dismaltown can best be described by an analogy, place 20 sick cows in a field, feed them on chicken curry, prunes and Guinness for 6 weeks, remove cows and sprinkle field liberally with burnt out cars. See?

Chavs can be seen migrating in their herds through the verdant pastures of the pedestrian shopping precinct, where some lager/ white lightning drinking will sustain them on there travel or ‘big’ them up for some petty shop lifting, while on the way to the amusement park or to shelters along the seafront. For the more philosophically bent chavs an excellent time can be had by watching the drug boats come in and the dead dogs float down the river and wondering “ so, wot’s life all ‘bout d’yer fink?”

Excellent chav spotting opportunities can also be found at the house of soul pub, formerly known as the cow (pronounced, in the most disgusting southern accent as, ‘caaaaaau’), it has to be heard to be believed, or, alternatively the Tower Club where outside at 2 am the cries of “oi Darlin! ‘ook yer frupnies aaauuut!!!” or “F*** off you C***” signal the end of the nights festivities as the chavs knuckle their way home interspersed with staggering, fighting and marking their territory by the cunning use of vomit.

Burberry, of course, is in evidence with other chavs who are unlucky? enough to own such apparel coo and meow at each other. Vanish as a stain remover is also present as it has been used to wash the chunder from their clothes of the night before, (it is also drunk in it’s liquid form).

Several clan groups can be seen wandering the streets on the lookout to fight with other clans about such monumental issues as “wot your Trace sed ‘bout our Kev in the pub” but only the experienced watcher can spot one clan group from another as they are usually made up of inbred’s. (Count how many fingers they have on their gloves). If the BBC should read this and want to send a Natural history camera crew, please don’t send David Attenborough, this is more a job for Kate Adie.

The roads of L.A. can also be a trap for the unwary as Chav-mobils will race down 100 yard long streets trying to spin their wheels and reach 60 mph before the road ends with music blasting out in the ‘747 landing’ decibel range.

You may, after reading this, wish to out of horrid fascination, visit this chav Mecca but don’t. The death toll is comparable to a bad day in Basra. If you do wish to risk life and limb, stay in the car, roll the windows up and keep above 20 mph or the little bastards will have your wheels off using their trolley jacks decorated with Burberry tartan.

A proposed urban clearance program has been suggested to clear this chav menace but exploding bullets and flamethrowers are believed to be out-lawed by the Geneva Convention and the Hiroshima solution will just create more FLK’s (funny looking kids) than we already have. Still, during this bonfire time of year (the exploding fireworks lend that Beirut authenticity to the place) we can always hope one conflagration gets out of hand…