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.