More updating my systems malarky

As you know I updated my Office and Outlook to 2007, from the Microsoft site, ahead of the commercial release.

Very, very good products.

I have, however, recently noticed that my Palm Pilot T3 hasn't updated very well. Initially I didn't pay too much attention as I don't have much need of synchronising during the boring holiday season.

Anyway, today I had a closer look and realised that Palm doesn't sync with Outlook 2007!

OK, so I could buy Chapura's Pocket Mirror (a third party sync package), it costs $30. Or I could wait until Outlook 2007 is officially release in February and hope that Palm have updated their software by then.

Or I could buy a Microsoft Windows PDA.

I'm a little bit tempted. The latest Palm, the TX, doesn't have a vibrate option, something I find very useful.

Not having a good memory I need alerts during the day to go to meetings etc. I like the discrete vibration affect of my T3 (stop sniggering at the back, damnit!).

But my T3 is dying. The Bluetooth no longer works, the slider is now very sensitive and will power the machine off if I touch it and, final straw, the little Palm logo has fallen off the front of the machine.

That's it. I need a replacement. Preferably one that gives a nice trembling sensation in my pockets (look, I've already warned you, get that grin off your face).

Today's summary ...

is brought to you by the number "zero".

Aka "0".

Today I applied for 0 jobs and received 0 bites.

Naughty job advert of the day ...

... week, month ...


Saw this (extracted below) today whilst looking for a job in Munich:

" ...
Qualifications:
Post graduate (Advantage to: Computer science, Information system engineering, Business administration)
Minimum 2 years relevant work experience in the area of Business Applications project management; especially in consulting companies or IT-area. Further experience – Minimum 2 years as a senior consultant.
Place of residence DACH or UK
Age: between 30 and 40
Mobility - very high willingness to travel is necessary (4days not at home, almost every week), flexibility and capacity (no „9 to 5“ alignment)
Have knowledge of Business applications (SAP Business One is a strong nice).
MS Project
Microsoft Office
Knowledge of SQL is an advantage
Project management skills. Very good organisational skills, focussing priorities
People management skills; ability to manage and motivate employees
Business English language skills (speaking and writing). For DACH countries German is required (strong nice). Any additional language would be nice ..."


What's wrong? Well, they've put an age restriction. Bad, very bad. I'm pretty certain that's now outlawed in the EU.

It was advertised in Monster and I'm nevertheless thinking of applying. I may even point out the problem. Well, whatever I can do to help.

No need to read this entry

because I couldn't find anything to which I could apply.

Getting through

When I was in Munich many years ago I worked at a very large American company.

I now feel myself being drawn to another large American company.

Before I left Munich for the Xmas holidays I tied to contact a recruiter who works there. I'd seen his details on both Xing and linkedin. He'd even put his mobile number on one of the sites.

In previous weeks, however, there was no answer when I tried to call it.

On a whim I tried again today. He answered.

Good.

But I asked and he confirmed he was on holiday.

Drat.

I gave him no choice: I told him I'd call him when he is back at work (next week). And I have made a note in my calendar to do so.

Persistence

is closely related to futility.

Headhunters recommend looking during the festive season. You might catch a recruiter when no-one else is bothering.

I looked today for a suitable job in Munich.

There were none.

Not too surprising as Müncheners take their festive seasons very seriously.

Doubts

I always thought the company where I've been recently working is called Something Something Services.

Though sometimes I've heard my colleagues call it Something Something Solutions.

Daft, I thought. You really should know the name of the company for whom you work. Especially if you need to update your c.v. because they're making lots of cutbacks.

Last night in bed, it occurred to me that maybe they're right and I'm wrong.

Which means l've been sending out c.v.s with completely the wrong name of my last client.

Hardly shows attention to detail.

Anyway today I double checked.

No mistake - at least on my part. Phew.

At least I tried

Well, it's a working day so I looked.

Nothing.

Basically Bavaria is closed down for the week before Xmas until the week after New Year.

But just in case someone is recruiting I need to maintain some vigilance.

2007

So, I'm using OneNote 2007 and I want to use its task feature as an input into my Outlook. But that doesn't work as my Outlook version is too old.

I find that Outlook 2007 isn't purchasable yet. Then I find that Microsoft allows you to download it before it becomes commercially available.

Great. That's what I do.

Then I find that although most of Office 2007 is installed Outlook stays the same.

Not great.

I eventually check out Microsoft's discussion forums.

In one of them it reveals that you need to first un-install Outlook.

They could have mentioned that in the download instructions.

Anyway, tomorrow I must re-start job hunting. If I find anything suitable in Munich then I'll send an email from my shiny new Outlook 2007.

Networking for introverts

Although I can be quite assertive, I'm not always an extrovert. This, found on Lifehacker, may be relevant.

Some useful tips

As I currently have nothing better to do, I've been googling for other job hunting bloggers.

So far most of the results have been for people on the recruiting side. Of these Guerrilla job hunting is probably a good place to start. The blogger is the author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, a book I'm re-reading. This blog also has a comprehensive blogroll to other recruitment-side blogs .

On the hunting-side I've only found one snippet. It's from an American librarian's blog but includes some useful, general advice.

Sluts

... that is, connections sluts or rather promiscuous connectors as I guess these LinkedIn users would prefer to be called.

I'm finding that they don't add value for me. Shally Steckerl of SixDegreesFromDave thinks differently.

InterviewTrue

Couldn't think of a better title. Anyway this service allows you to answer a variety of interview questions whilst in front of a web cam. lt then plays back the video of you. Sounds good but also sounds expensive but isn't. It's about $20 for six months. That's about the price of a very good take-away meal of sushi in Munich.

I intend to give it ago.

(spotted this in the downloadsquad)

OneNote

There's quite a few things I intend to do when I return to Munich: learn German, renew my PRINCE 2 certification, get a job.

But I think I should also get familiar with OneNote 2007.

A couple of years ago I used the earlier version. I've downloaded the new product as a trial because it isn't available to purchase yet. I'm just hoping it is properly released before this trial pack times out in February.

This is something I can do straightaway. One reason I want to use One Note is because of the unrestricive space it gives. I'm hoping this will help my creative thinking when drawing up tasks etc.

Chartered

I'm a chartered engineer, IT professional and a couple of other things.

On my last day at work I gave my business card to one of my (German) colleagues.

On it is written "Chartered IT Professional".

She thought that was funny. But surely Germans rave about letters and titles?

But she read "chartered" as in a "chartered flight".

Hmm.

I am going to buy new business cards. Not sure now whether to leave that in.

More gadgets

Yesterday, on the train from London, I was using my C -Pen to help me read the SZ I had picked up on the airplane.

(You don't know? It's like a fat pen with an LCD. But it's a scanner. Scan in a German word and the LCD will show the English equivalent from its onboard dictionary.)

Two people sitting near me took a great interest.

The conversation moved on to other gadgets: my TabletPC, my Palm, voice recognition software and Digimemo.

l had ordered the new, A4-sized, Digimemo whilst I was in Germany but had it delivered to the Uk.

Today I set it up. Works fine.

Ok, so why did I buy a TabletPC and a Digimemo?

Well, several reasons:

• TPCs are convenient when I'm lounging around and can't be bothered (read arsed to use a keyboard. I'm handwriting this entry on the TPC).
• Sometime it's much better to use a PC in slate mode, eg. when sitting in an airport.
• Digimemos, on the otherhand, are pretty discrete. Very few people even realise that it's more than a normal notepad.
• For most notes I will probably never look at them again. I certainly don't need handwriting recognition software to transcribe them into computer text. But the act of writing down the information is the important thing; it impinges the information in the mind. So all l need is a backup just in case I ever do need to refer to them again.
• TPCs may just become the next big thing so having experience in this area is not a bad idea (for me).

Michael Hyatt's excellent Working Smart blog also has a good criticism of TPCs.

Unfortunately I guess he wasn't working smartly enough as he feels he can no longer continue updating that blog.
.

Left

... Munich, that is.

I left the company on Friday.

The last few days there's been major delays at London Heathrow due to the severe fog.

Today it eased up.

When I arrived at Munich airport I was even offered the chance to take an earlier flight. Which, of course, I did.

And that flight arrived early.

But the saving in time was eaten away by:

• waiting 15 minutes for the bus to arrive to take us to the terminal
• waiting over 20 minutes for the train driver once I got to a mainline train station in London

... welcome to England.

Although I've left Munich it's only for a couple of weeks. Then I return and job hunt (and blog) full time.

Before that, however, I will be adding some delayed entries on this site.

0.001

On Friday I leave the company.

Today my group head mentioned that they really needed to keep me on. But they can't. She's going to ask again. So there's a 0.001% chance, she reckons, that they'll be able to keep me on past December.

A bit later she asked if I know anything about release management.

Well, I created a team doing that at a London investment bank plus I hold the ITIL qualification which covers that best practice.

We'll know soon.

Running - a new approach to job hunting

...by which I mean walking with the Munich Hash House Harriers.

During last weekend's run (walk) a fellow hasher mentioned a possible job in his company.

He was good enough to send my email address to the guy recruiting. We exchanged emails but the job required expertise in SAP - a technology I can barely spell.

Street walking - a new approach to job hunting

I live in one of the swankier areas of Munich although it's not my favourite part of the city.

A weekend or so ago I was walking back to my flat and round the corner I noticed a company's nameplate. It had a rather unusual, quirky name.

I went home and checked out their web site. Of course it was written in German. Not too much of a problem and I liked what I read. Eventually. They had a straight-forward approach to project management and I like to think I do too.

I found the owner on Xing and tonight sent him a message. Basically it asked if he had any advice or contacts he could recommend to a project manager (me) looking for a new assignment in the city.

Of course, I didn't mention but if his company was looking for a PM then they should consider me.

I'll see what happens.

Mixed approach

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things (i.e. job hunting things).

When I get home I check out certain job sites on the web.

And I've been collecting Saturday's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper for the last few months.

I haven't looked at them till now. This evening I seperated the job pages from the rest which went straight into bin (for recycling .... this is Germany).

I'm now going through these job pages looking for companies who might be worth approaching. They may not be recruiting in my skills area, or even in my language (you're reading it now) but there may be a mutual interest.

I then look in openBC (now called Xing) and LinkedIn and see if there's anyone I know who's connected to these companies. Next step is to send them a message.

I'm going to see how this develops.

What am I going to do?

Can't really be optimistic all the time.

My contract is coming to an end. Well, it's probably better that it ends now rather than in March.

This way maybe I won't miss out on German companies' recruiting surge as a lot of them will be getting new budgets in the new year.

But then there's that bitch called Reality.

Reality tells me, actually reminds me, that it's difficult, rather difficult (and that's "rather" spelt with a capital F) to get another job. At least in my case, for some reason.

Now multiply that with the fact that I'm not fluent in German.

Well I like a challenge.

So, what am I going to do?

Assuming I don't get a job immediately then I'm going to keep on applying (obviously).

I'm also going to take one-to-one lessons in German, starting in the New Year. I reckon that this could really help. I already understand a lot of German and can get by, even sometimes at work.

At the same time I'm going to study and requalify for my PRINCE 2 certification. That's really important. I already have the handbook and exam samples for it ... currently keeping dust off a shelf.

Then I might just take the PMP exam in project management. I feel that's a bit overkill as I'm already an APMP but some recruiters are a bit picky.

At the same time, I might add more to my Rumours of Life site.

But I won't just be sitting on my arse all day. It really is time I went back to the gym.

Then there's Vista which will come out soon. I already have a new laptop waiting for it (I'm writing this on it) and it will be good to learn the new system (I guess).

What else? Oh yes, update this blog.

With all this activity planned for the new year it might be better that I don't get a job.

Another day at work

Last week I applied for a job in Düsseldorf.

Today I called the agency. Eventually l worked out that the position no longer existed.

"Eventually" because this was all done in German.

„Leider".

Suspension over

Well on Thursday I went ahead and purchased the Fujitsu Siemens tablet.

Then, after work, I had same beers and a curry.

On Friday I played with it for a while. Then remembered it was a Friday so went out.

On Saturday I looked at it in more detail. Being a tablet it has handwriting and voice recognition.

Today I transferred most (all, I hope) of my old laptop's files and applications . This took rather a while .

At the moment im using the handwriting programme to write this blog.

lt's a bit tortuous so, l'm not going to write anymore tonight.

Dilemma update

OK, so I've ordered the Digmemo pad (used for keeping a record as you write).

But it's just not enough.

I desperately need a new laptop. And I've set my heart on a Tablet PC.

I was thinking of getting the Toshiba Tecra M7 or the Asus R1F. But something's been holding me back.

The place where I work is a large complex and has shops for its employees. When I visited their computer shop a month ago they had tablets but not Vista Premium compatable ones.

Today, I had the urge to go in. This time they had the latest Tablet PCs including the Fujitsu Siemens T4215.

I've checked the spec and it looks just right. I've also looked at tablet forums on the web and no-one seems to have a bad word about it.

Being me I'll sleep on it but tomorrow I feel a purchase coming on.

There's actually genuine urgency with this now. This evening I removed a USB memory stick from my old laptop. I must have moved the power lead because the laptop switched to its battery.

It took quiet a few anxious minutes to get the thing powered from the mains again.

So no more pfaffing around I need a new laptop, fast.

Just the one

I'm getting the feeling that this time they're not kidding at work. Which means I won't have a job when I return from my two-week Xmas break.

Have to get the bloody ball rolling.

Today I saw a job on a site of a German recruitment agency. The advertisement was in German but I could read it fine. I applied in English.

I also added its details to my old MS Access database. First time I've used that in a while.

It's kinda gloomy to think that I could well be doing more and more of this type of activity: searching job site, applying, updating my application database.

For the record

Today I applied for one job. Just now actually (it's near 11pm).

The job was advertised in German but I applied in English because German is my third language.

Either they'll nevertheless be interested or they won't.

By the way I don't have a second langauge, it's just that my skills in German aren't that good yet.

Another month

Well, in case you were wondering, my job has been extended to the end of December.

This is good. Initially I was contracted month-by-month until the end of September. They then said they'd extend me by one month only.

At the end of October they extended me by two months. That was the longest contract renewal I've had.

The project finishes at the end of February.

So, they've now confirmed that my (and others) contract will finish in December. This time they're 99% sure.

OK, that's the life of a freelancer. But what to do now? I know, create Rumours of Life which will contain a choice of my writings.

The Dilemma

Do I chose between a tablet PC or the new DigiMemo A402?

I have the previous version but that was for A5 page sizes. This one is A4.

What to do?


...


...


I know ...


Get both.

Typing

You're probably now clearing your PC of clutter and getting comfortable, expecting to read months of my journal as I search for my next job.

But what about me? I have to write it.

On a near whim (well, as near as I get to a whim) today I bought an ergonomic keyboard, the Mircosoft NEK 4000 one.

So far it feels good, although it will take a bit of getting used to. It would be useless if I didn't touch-type though.

I bought the German version because, well, I'm in Germany and have to use umlauts (ä, ö, ü) a bit more than usual.

I'm buying it now because, realistically, I could be spending quite a while in my Munich flat, bashing away at a keyboard, applying for jobs. So, it may as well be a keyboard which doesn't cripple me.

Clarity

My client (I'm a contractor) tells me that they won't be able to keep me on beyond October. Though, they will try.

But for now at least, my contract ends when October does.

Do I need more clarity?

Hell no, I need another job.

Regular readers will know that, for someone like me, it's strangely difficult to get another job. Well, it's even harder now that I'm in Munich.

First of all the language. Not everyone here speaks English.

Secondly, well I'm not exactly in the land of low unemployment.

But I like it here, for lots of reasons, and am determined to stay.

Slowly getting back into the swing

Look, if I start regularly updating this blog, will you start regularly reading it?

Will you? Will you?

After work I finished updating my cv. I then emailed it to a couple of people (both recruiters, both on openBC).

I did some other things as well and then it was 23.25 and therefore bed time.

More tomorrow.

CVs for Germany

In case you've forgotten I'm now in Munich.

My assignment will probably finish at the end of October.

Then I'll need another job in Munich ... I've decided to stay here for various reasons.

Now, Germans can be a bit picky about c.v.s (or lebenslauf as they call them). In fact they often like photos as well. Amazing.

But I don't want to work for predominantly German commpanies so I'm hoping my current c.v.'s format, which I rather like, will be suitable.

Times New Roman

Be careful with the fonts you use on c.v.s. Not everyone, apparently, likes Times New Roman.

Faceoff

Well, I tried to join Facebook, the new social networking phenomenon.

But I couldn't. Facebook needs you to register against work, school or college. I chose "Work" but it then tried to match my email address against a known employer. But I never use my work-time email addresses. Besides, I'm freelancing at the moment so that wouldn't really be appropriate.

Looks like I'm going to miss out

JASPER

Monster hasn't given up on me even if some of the readers of this blog have.

They sent me an email about JASPER, their online analytical tool.

Today I took it and, well I wasn't amazed but I was impressed. It seems to have identified me quite well, from a work perspective.

By the way, it reckoned I am a "visionary".

Job advert of the week

"...

Dubai Project:

We are looking for contractors able to work 18 hours day 7 days a week.

The company will pay for accommodation, flights, transport etc.

Looking for immediate starters for all areas of construction and IT ...."

Need I write more?

What do you mean you missed the point? 18 hours a day, seven days a week. Oh, and Dubai.

Routine

Difficult to write much on this blog.

I'm into a bit of a routine ... a not-job hunting routine.

OK, I went to an openBC event and sent a few follow up emails.

But otherwise I haven't done much job hunting. I have just joined the Colando club but I'm not really sure what that's about. Seems a lightweight LinkedIn/OpenBC for Muencheners. Might find out.

As well as the going-to-a-job-routine I've started going to the gym.

I found a very nice one in one of the main areas of Munich, about 20 minutes walk from my hotel.

I chose it mainly because it takes monthly payment. I won't mention how much I pay because I'd have to admit to myself how much I paid.

But it is very big, it has lots of training equipment, two punch bags (two!), sauna etc.

First time I used the gym I basically trained as hard as possible. Then, to reduce the chance of post-training muscle ache, I went to the sauna.

Once I found, it which isn't easy these days when I'm not wearing contact lenses or glasses. Before going in I read the instructions on the wall outside, which were written in German and English. But they were pretty standard sauna guidelines.

The sauna was very hot and I'm a bit out of practice.

Eventually I noticed that the other people in the sauna (it's not packed as hardly anyone goes to the gym) were completely naked, not even covering themselves with towels. One of them clearly needed to lose weight as he had man-breasts ... oh hang on, those were women's breasts.

Then it seemed there were more breasts but my double vision had kicked in so I'm not sure how many women were actually in the sauna.

So, I find myself, a Englishman, in a sauna, with totally naked Germans, men and women.

!

And I'm wearing shorts.

!!


In England you cover yourself up in communal saunas or they call the police. So, I'd brought over the baggy shorts I used to wear in my local gym's sauna in England.

But instead I suffered the embarrassment of being clothed in a room full of naked people. Very wierd.

After the sauna, I showered, in the usual way (i.e. naked), in the men's changing room. When I finished I turned round to find a cleaning woman brushing excess water from the shower area.

Don't these people have any sense of decency?

The next day I went to the shops and brought a big towel.

I'm also thinking of asking the gym for a discount: well it's not like I can see anything.

Netverking

So on Thursday I went to the openBC networking event in Munich.

The invitation said that it was dress-down and I consider it good manners to do what's asked on the invitation. Anyway, I can be pretty smart in (some) casual clothes.

Nevertheless, despite the informality it's important to create a good impression. So, I decided not to drink anything.

After about 45 minutes at the event, I hadn't really spoken to anyone.

Eventually I realised the problem. I hadn't had anything to drink.

One bier later and everything improved. I started talking to people, even in German (!) and exchanged cards.

Buoyed by this I had another bier.

Then I made a radical, but sensible move.

I went home.

These days I'm not a big drinker: so it could all have gone terribly wrong.

This afternoon I emailed everyone from whom I had received business cards.

Keeping it open

Like most rational people in this world I prefer using openBC.

Although I haven't used it that much.

But on Thursday they're holding a networking event in Munich. Which is home to openBC (I think) and currently home to me (pretty certain about that bit).

So, yesterday and today I went through the list of attendees, seeing if there was anyone I should definitely look out for.

I found a couple of people from interesting companies.

It's actually quite an informal event (they say on their blurb) so no hard sell.

Actually I'm a bit short on business cards and haven't found any company who can create them here. No doubt they exist, I'll just have to look harder.

Some more news

My boss had a quick work with me today.

Apparently they've given up looking for replacements for me and another contractor from within their organisation (they were obliged to continue looking).

That means I should be staying in Munich longer than April.

My liver will be so happy.

But I'll continue to update this blog. Why?

• Well, they can't sign the new contracts straight away and things can go wrong (all good project managers are pessimists).
• This is the ultimate job hunting blog after all so it will take more than a trifle thing like a job to stop me from updating it.

What do you mean, you've stopped reading this as it's never updated?!

Hotel

Yesterday I moved from my rather disappointing hotel in Giesing into a rather lovely hotel in Schwabing.

It’s 232m from where I used to stay in a flat many years ago when I worked around the German-speaking countries.

That’s good and bad. But not too bad as I’m not very sentimental.

Today I asked to extend my stay in the hotel to the first week of October. I’m assuming my contract won’t be terminated beforehand but if it is I only have to give a week’s notice.

It was really important to do this booking as soon as possible. In July, I think, it’s the World Working Class Latent Homosexual Championship, also known as the Football World Cup (I think) being held in Munich.

(Now, let’s be honest here: I haven’t seen much football at all, nor had much association with gays, but it’s obvious isn’t it).

The price of the room during this period goes up quite a bit. But I don’t see a choice. I’m just glad a room was available. I guess the price of a haircut will also go up during this time as well.

It’s a very nice hotel and has no pretensions on being an apart-hotel (well, as far as my room is concerned).

And the bed is big enough for four people at a squeeze (girls, apply by email)!

Some news

Last week my manager had a word with another contractor (who had joined on the same day) and me.


Apparently the company had screwed up with their internal recruitment process. They hadn’t completed it – and their policy is that they always exhaust internal sources before recruiting externally.

So, the manager had to give us notice that our contracts would be terminated on 14th April.

Oh Cuntly Cuntington (you’re not still reading this at work, are you?).

The manager stressed, however, that he thought it very unlikely that the contracts would be actually terminated. His procurement department had spent six months beforehand failing to find anyone internally (and I’m not surprised) so he strongly doubted that they would find anyone in one month. And that’s all he’s giving them. If they don’t get someone within March then he keeps us.

Good news for the readers of this blog, bad news for this blogger.

For a start, I can’t get a flat until the situation improves.

I’m not going to go all out job hunting. Well, after work (I’m contracted for a very un-German 45 hour-week and I do more than that) I don’t have time.

But I will do some below-the-line hunting and try to make use of openBC (a business networking tool – like LinkedIn – which is popular in Germany and is, in fact, a German company).

Hotel

For the first four days I stayed in a rather nice hotel.

But I couldn’t stay any longer as they were booked out.

So I moved to another hotel which looked really good on their web site.

It was an aparthotel.

People should note that Germans use the term aparthotels for:

• Normal hotels


• Hotels which have self-contained utilities such as a kitchenette


• Hotels which are falling apart

This hotel fitted into the last two categories.

Also, this area of Munich only has one restaurant. And the kitchenette isn’t up to evening meal cooking. Or lunchtime cooking either.

Anyway, on Saturday I’m moving to another hotel. I’ve already checked it out (well, I’ve learnt not to judge hotels by their web site). It’s in Schwabing – an area I know well - and there are lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.

Germans and Austrian

Germans (and Austrians) will be pleased to hear that my German is better than I thought.

Don’t worry though, this isn’t going to become “Das ultimat Arbeitsuchen blog” or something.

I even registered in German.

For people in free countries I should explain. Germany, like most European countries, loves forms. Well, forms in German.

They like their people to fill them in wherever possible. They also rather like foreigners, who aren’t tourists, to do the same.

So, on Friday I went to the place where this is done.

I’ve heard some horror stories about this place. People having to stay for hours, or keep having to return.

It took me only two hours. Apparently that’s a world record for registering in Germany.

I think what helps is being smartly dressed, being English (when it comes to being a bumbling Englishman, Hugh Grant is my understudy) and trying to speak German.

I tend to apologize for my poor German, in perfect colloquial German just to confuse them, and after that I tend to be treated quite nicely

So I registered, in German!

I would have appreciated the option of doing it English but the people at the place where they register foreigners don’t speak much English.

Briefly

As I alway say, just because I've got a job doesn't mean I stop blogging.Well, I admit, there was a pause. And there'll be a brief pause after these posts too.I'm in Munich. I work a lot. It snows and there are lots of Germans. Indeed.

Look Ive been busy o

Look I’ve been busy, okay?


Busy #1

Saturday was spent shopping my arse off if that’s possible.

I went to Brighton and bought loads of things, including:

Thing #1 a suitcase. Normally I like to shop around, see the best value for money, which in my case means the most compartments etc. In this case, the suitcase had two criteria to meet:

Suitcase criterion #1 It had to hold a suit and other things.

Suitcase criterion #2 It had to be not purple.

There would have been a third criterion, namely it had to have wheels, but all suitcases come with these.

Thing #2 contact lenses. This should have been easy. Just go into the opticians, as I’ve done many times before, and ask for some contact lenses. I did this and they said I had to have an eye check-up as it had apparently been two years since this had last happened. No check-up, no contact lenses. I looked upset so they said they’d do it in 20 minutes. Just as well really as my prescription has changed quite a bit.

I bought loads of other tings as well.

Busy #2

Packing my arse off (what?), or Sunday to give it its usual name. This was spent throwing things out, packing the other things and trying to find a hotel in Munich. Which I eventually did.

Busy #3

That’s today, travelling to Heathrow, flying to Munich and checking into the hotel.

Brings you up to date.

Now, I don’t have ready (or cheap) internet access. But you’ll be using an RSS reader for this site (won’t you?) so you’ll know when it’s been updated.

Remember, just because I’ve got a job doesn’t mean anything to the ultimate job hunting blog.

For you, Englander, zer vaiting ist over.

I know I had to wait for the contract but I also had to do something in town.

But the timing was critical. If there was anything contentious in the contract there’d only be a short period of time to sort it out (remember Germany is an hour ahead).

This resulted in me walking very quickly to town and back.

Upon my return I found an email waiting for me.

It contained the contract.

I read every line of it (10 pages) but it was fine.

I emailed an acceptance back so it’s a done deal. Tomorrow I’ll print it off, sign it and fax it to them as well.

I start on Tuesday.

More waiting

Well, my mobile rang this afternoon.

It was the agent for the job in Munich. Basically he was expecting the purchasing department to give the go-ahead anytime this afternoon.

Apparently they’d had a new system and that seemed to be causing the delay.

Ten minutes later he called back. They had given the go-ahead.

And they would like me to start on Tuesday.

Before I book flights and hotel etc I have to wait for them to email the contract over.

I’m waiting …

Winning

I seldom comment on politics but I couldn’t help noticing that by a clever combination of heavy drinking and gay sex the Liberal Democrats seem to have stumbled upon a winning formula.

Interrupted

With one thing, or the other, but mainly the other, this morning’s job hunting was a bit interrupted.

Nevertheless I managed to trawl through the JobServe and find one job: a contract role in Paris.

Now, that would be nice.

Of course I shouldn’t need to. The agent for the job in Munich said I was 99% there but I reckon the remaining 1% is a very large 1%.

Besides he suggested he’d call this morning and he hasn’t.

I’m keeping calm.

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Literally

I once heard a BBC TV journalist say that Boris Yeltsin was “literally about to explode".

Now, I know that he was often Smirnoff’s Drinker of the Year but I doubted he was anywhere close to exploding.

Just after 7pm (just after 8pm in German time) I received an email from the recruitment agent. Apparently they’re “literally 99% there” with getting my job sorted out. Just one more phone conference between the recruitment agency and the client.

Well, that’s okay. If it happens it happens. I am very glad to get communication from the agent and will be on standby in case I get a call tomorrow.

Too quiet

Not a damn thing.

No phone calls telling me to pack my lederhosen and get the first flight to Munich.

No jobs on the job web sites.

Nope, not a damn thing.

It would be enough to drive me to drink, if I wasn’t drinking already.

I'm in love with a German film star

I used this as a title to one of my posts last April.

Ever since, people have visited this site as a result of searching against these words.

I can tell that they’ve visited because I use eXTreme Tracking and that includes information on referring sites and any search words used.

When people search against “I’m in love with a German film star” my site comes up quite high in the rankings.

It’s probably even higher now.

Actually I’ve got the record by “The Passions”.

Ironically, this was whilst job hunting, twenty years ago, after graduating.

A medium-sized company was looking for electronic engineers for their plant in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

It was such a long train journey from the safety of southern England that they put me up in a hotel, well, really an inn, the night before.

I arrived before the shops closed and, as I had nothing else to do, I walked around the town.

There a constant smell of vinegar everywhere.

It was very boring but I stumbled into a record shop. And there I found this single, well actually it was an EP.

It was the only good thing about the interview. I didn’t want the job and they didn’t want me.

No news

It’s quarter to 11 (12 in Germany) and I haven’t heard anything.

The agent, who’s been very reliable, said he’d call yesterday but didn’t. I suppose he hasn’t fully recovered from his illness.

Nevertheless I am wondering what the micturating coitus is going on.

Productivity

The email from the recruitment agent this morning kept me in a good mood throughout the day.

In fact it put me in such a good mood that I:

• Applied for a total of four jobs


• Updated my iProfile details


• Backed up my PC

I’m also keeping up with the Getting Things Done methodology by ensuring my email In-box is regularly emptied.

Quite a roll.

In the email the agent said he’d call me this afternoon. But he hasn’t.

Oh, oh.

Must keep calm.

More email advice

43 Folders (no idea where that name came from) has lots of advice on using email.

I particularly liked the articles on email tics.

When I last worked in Germany, I was on the client site of a very large multi-national based in California.

One day I received an email sent to “everyone-at-large-multi-national”.

It was a simple email asking:

“Has anyone seen my umbrella? I left it in conference room 7”.

Conference room 7 was in San Jose. I was in Munich.

I was so, so tempted to reply:

“What colour was it?”

But I was on a client’s site.

More job hunt blogging

OK, so I heard this morning that the job in Munich was still alive and breathing.

Nevertheless I must still hold the assumption that it’s as dead as a Danish cartoonist in Mecca.

With this in mind I applied for three jobs in this morning’s trawl.

Slight news

People who know me have often commented that I’m often stoical and particularly calm under fire. In fact the last characteristic has been levelled as a criticism. More than once.

These observations are correct.

Except for at the moment.

I’ve just had a reply from the agency. The agent handling my application has been off sick. He’s back in today though.

The recruiting manager is on holiday this week.

His purchasing department has still not given the go-ahead.

Munich City council has banned the wearing of Barbour jackets.

I made the last bit up.

Although the recruiting manager is on holiday apparently he’s said he wants me to start on Monday (next Monday not two days ago). The agent is hoping to talk with the purchasing department this afternoon.

Must keep calm.

?

I’ve just sent an email asking if there’s any news on the contract in Munich.

It was hoped that the decision would have been made yesterday.

Really, I’ll probably have to ask for a higher rate – if I do get the job – just to compensate me for the Valium I’ll soon need.

Oh

It’s just about 6pm which means it’s just about 7pm in Germany.

My mobile (“handy” in German) hasn’t rung yet. I even checked it from a landline.

If I was a bunny I wouldn’t be happy.

Emails, the truth

Although I spend a lot of my time job hunting or studying I do do some other activities. Like updating this blog. Of course.

And reading other blogs.

For example, there’s a very good article in Lifehacker about emails in business.

Now, I’m a big fan of how technology can improve life and work. Including email. But I know how badly it can be used.

I’ve often berated staff for sending emails:

“One phone call (or face-to-face chat) saves 10 emails”

“Emails are often read harsher than they’re written”

It's the waiting I can't stand

Like this morning, this afternoon’s trawl yielded nothing.

Must remember that sometimes the starts of weeks are bad.

And my mobile hasn’t rung yet; it’s 20 to five but that means it’s 20 to six in Germany.

Grrr.

Another day not in Munich

Well, despite trying to hold the assumption that the Munich job won’t happen, I’m constantly waiting for my mobile to ring.

At least I’ve been able to do a full job hunt this morning – which has only just finished.

Unfortunately this didn’t result in any applications.

I wonder if my mobile will ring.

Busy in limbo

It’s 1650 now (UK time) and I haven’t heard anything about the job in Munich.

Mind you, I was told it could be Tuesday before the go-ahead is given.

Mind you, the agent did say he’d call me yesterday. He didn’t but I’m not too fazed about that as there wouldn’t be much to discuss.

Anyway, as yesterday I’m now living with the assumption that the Munich thing won’t happen and so have been feverishly job hunting.

The result? One application today. It did, however, yield in a bite. Plus, I received a bite from an agency I emailed last week.

The response was very positive. The agent sent quite a lot of information over, not just a job spec. In return I worked on an email which detailed my suitability for the role in light of this information.

In fact, I was so busy on this I didn’t get time to do an afternoon trawl

Oh, and I installed a trial version of ACT! (don’t forget the exclamation mark now) on my PC. I’m interested to see if this CRM tool will work better than my current homebrew Access database.

Assumption

As some project managers know assumptions are the things that will bite you in the balls.

I’d like to put “as every project manager knows” but that would be an assumption in itself. Actually that wouldn’t even be an assumption; it would be a falsehood.

So on Friday I made a decision. Come Sunday I’d assume I wasn’t going to Munich and job hunt in anger.

Today I assumed I wasn’t going to get this job in Munich and so job hunted in anger.

The result: one application.

GTD

In the Summer I bought David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”.

I’d got three-quarters of the way through but didn’t complete – choose your own excuse.

Anyway I re-read it again yesterday.

And today I started changing my Outlook task lists to follow its methodology.

I guess this is the best time to do it – just before (hopefully) starting a new job.

I’m hoping to keep referring back to the book and improving my use of it advice in an iterative fashion. So far, however, it seems useful.

Round up

Last week wasn’t spent just sitting around waiting to get the confirmation that I’d be going to Munich.

I sorted a few things out.

Oh, and I applied for eight jobs.

And received four bites.

Name change?

Perhaps I should change the name of this blog to “ultimate waiting for a job in Germany blog”.

Today I received another email from the recruitment agent: he’s spoken with people at the client and it looks like Monday or Tuesday before they give the go-ahead! (his italics).

I didn’t think it would drag-out quite so long. It’s almost three weeks since the interview. My patience would have been spent but I’ve got nothing else to do.

Well, I think I have to increase my general job-hunting efforts. Although I have a strong feeling that this Munich job will come through that counts for nothing. During the last week I’ve been doing much less job hunting than normal – in fact, none today.

But on Sunday I’ll do a big trawl.

I’ve spent a lot of today researching into various ways of contracting in Germany.

Very difficult, especially as I don’t know how long the contract would last.

Although I have already spoken to couple of financial professionals I found the names of some more today. I’ll contact them on Monday.

Another day not at work

Today I applied for one job.

Around 5pm I received a call from an agency about a short PM role in Birmingham, helping out a relocation project.

I explained that I might be in Munich soon. But I also emphasized that I’m working on a first come, first served basis and that a short project would be fine with me.

I thought it was right to do so. After all, if I do get this contract in Munich, when it ends he may have another suitable job for me. Also, he’s recruiting for a company with a renowned reputation.

So, that’s a bite.

I also received an email from the agent handling the Munich job. In it, he said he should get the “green light” by tomorrow. I hope so; I’m getting a bit fed up waiting around. But I don’t have any alternatives.

Quiet

It’s a good job I’ve got a job coming up in Munich soon (project managers, can you spot the massive assumption there?).

I only managed to apply for one job today. And no bites.

I also learnt how to fold T-shirts.

CV tips

Linked off Lifehacker, some tips on c.v.s

Another day in limbo

The agent handling the job in Munich called this morning, from Frankfurt.

Not much change, it’s still in the hands of their purchasing department although they have promised to call him.

Unfortunately big purchasing departments have many things going on. They’re just not going to be worried about sorting out the ultimate job hunting blogger.

I ensured that the agent is aware of my ballpark rate. He’s also now aware that I may not be able to start on Monday as flights are getting sparser (and costlier). He’s also aware and understands that I’m not just going to sit on my arse waiting for them to come back to me; I’ll be out there job hunting.

Meanwhile, I’ll sit on my arse and wait.

In limbo

It’s past 6pm now, which means it’s past 7pm in Germany.

No phone calls from them.

Come on guys, I don’t want to tidy up my stuff for no reason.

I kinda job hunted today. I let an RSS reader (KlipFolio) alert me for any suitable jobs from JobServe.

As a result I spotted a suitable job and applied. This RSS reader doesn’t produce the same results as a search direct from JobServe’s site. But for today it’s good enough.

Around 5pm my mobile phone rang. It was an agency responding to one of the applications I made yesterday. I had applied for a contract project managing an IT relocation. He recognised the fit so it’s a bite.

He’ll know more on Thursday, by then maybe I’ll know more about whether or not I’m going to Munich.

I wonder what the German is for “you snooze, you lose”?

It's the waiting I can't stand

I’m not exactly sitting waiting for the phone to ring.

Well, I am, but I’m also doing other stuff – mainly clearing out rubbish and slight organising of things.

I’ve been told I should hear about the Munich job today (I’ve already been told I’ve got it, but it should clear the purchasing department today).

I know these things drag out but I have to bear in mind that flight costs will start to increase. And I have to buy some things before leaving as well (like a suitcase).

So, despite best intentions, I’m extra keen to get it done and dusted.

Till then, I sit and wait

Other activities

I hadn’t even gotten out of bed before my mobile rang.

It was an agency seeing if I was interested in a permie job in England.

Well, as I don’t have the Munich job squared off yet, the answer has to be “Ja wohl”.

A few hours later, when I was safely out of bed, the mobile rang again. It was another agency seeing if I was interested in a contract job in London. “Aber natuerlich”.

Actually I explained the situation to both of them.

Two bites.

In the afternoon another agency sent me an email to see if I was interested in a relocation project. “Das ist sehr nett von Ihnen”. In this case, not quite a bite.

In all, including these, I made four applications.

Now, I’m dead keen to get this job in Munich. But I know all too well how things can go wrong. So I’m hedging.

Another day not in Munich

Limited news.

An email from the agency: the recruiting manager still wants me, as soon as possible, preferably next Monday, but my contract is still with the purchasing department.

Oh well, I knew it would drag.

We actually haven’t confirmed things like rate – which could end up causing loads of disappointment. The agent does, however, have my ballpark figure.

I’m hanging in there.

But I’m not going to spend lots of money on things until the contract is signed.

Trawling

Restarting my hunt has been harder than expected. And I’ve only had a few days’ break from it.

In the end I could only look through jobs posted over the weekend; I couldn’t bring myself to hunt further into last week.

Anyway I’m hoping this is totally unnecessary; I really should get confirmation early next week that I’m to start in Munich.

But I’m aware how these things work. There could be a delay due to one thing or another. Then the job goes on hold for a week or two. Then it eventually disappears. Or worse, the remuneration offered is much less than acceptable.

See, I can be cynical.

I shouldn’t hang around. Despite really wanting this job I should work on a “first-come, first served basis”.

Well, I didn’t find any jobs today. I’ll look tomorrow whilst hoping I get that happy phone call and email.

Other things (2)

Before today’s trawl I decided to make some more changes to my home page, concentrating on the “other stuff” page.

However, I’m still not happy with some of the design element, particularly the yellow.

Other things (1)

About three years ago I took the APMP – that’s the APM Professional. That’s the Association for Project Managers core exam.

I did this without going on the course.

A few weeks before I had finished a PRINCE 2 course (which I passed, I’m a practitioner) but felt there was more I could learn about project management.

So, I eventually decided that the APMP was a suitable syllabus.

I phoned up the association and they told me that there was an open exam in a couple of weeks. Great, I was loathed to dish out more money on another five-day course; not cheap, especially when you’re not earning.

But they advised me that I had to enrol for the exam immediately.

Right. I jumped in my car and drove to their headquarters (quite a way out of London).

Once I arrived I realised I hadn’t asked how much the exam would cost. Most exams I’ve taken have been around £100. This one, it turned out, was £300.

Crumbs.

I wrote out a cheque.

Back at home I looked at their website and reviewed their reading list. I went to a couple of libraries. One was a general one and the other was in the Institute of Electrical Engineers. The British Computer Society shares their library, which makes sense as most of the books seem to be about computing.

I borrowed what books I could. Quite a few were by authors on the reading list but not the actual books that the list mentioned. I also bought a book on the subject.

I then went through each entry in the syllabus and tried to find each subject in the five books.

Not easy.

After a few days I decided it was going to be too difficult (I was job hunting at the same time).

I phoned the association and asked if I could post-pone the exam.

“Sure” they eagerly replied.

Just to be sure, I checked that I’d get my money back or that it would be used as payment for a later exam.

“No”, they eagerly replied.

The rest of the two weeks were spent learning and revising the contents of the syllabus from books, most of which weren’t on the reading list. Oh, and trying to find a job.

The day came and I took the exam.

It was hard. It was the hardest thing since finals which I’d taken 20 years ago. Worst, there were compulsory questions.

I’m not an exam-person. Can’t stand them.

Nevertheless I managed to pass.

About a year ago I heard about and bought “Project Management Pathways”. This more or less covers the whole APMP syllabus and would have made my study much easier.

Having bought it I used it to keep dust off the shelf.

As I didn’t have too much else to do last week I decided to read it. At last. I’m still going at it (it’s not a short read).

Small numbers

Despite my best intentions I was destabilised by last week’s news that I was going to be offered a job in Munich. And that severely affected my job hunting efforts.

As a result I only applied for nine jobs.

Nine!

In recent weeks my number of applications has been in double figures.

Anyway, I took three bites.

And more importantly, I was told about this pending job.

Well, I’m still waiting for confirmation.

It’d be such a blow if it doesn’t happen (and there’s lots of reasons why it shouldn’t, the main one being “life is shit”) that I better get back into job hunting just in case.

More intelligence

You know, I haven’t been sitting on my arse all day doing an intelligence test.

Oh no.

I’ve also been doing the second part of the intelligence test – quite a bit harder.

If you’ve been reading these posts then you’ve clearly got nothing better to do so you may as well do this one as well.

Intelligence test

I haven’t just been sitting around the last two days waiting for the phone to ring to tell me if I’ve absolutely got the job in Munich.

Oh no.

I’ve been doing this intelligence test.

It’s one of those tests which soon gets you and you can’t leave it alone. So it’s just as well I’ve stopped job hunting (for the rest of this week at least).

If you’ve got nothing to do then have a go yourselves. And feel free to add the answers to the comments.

CV review

Here’s a review of apparently genuine resumés.

Actually, I have a copy of the worst c.v. in the world. I interviewed the chap before I could see it. He came across as suitable. But when I got a chance to look through the c.v. it was so bad – and I mean really bad – that I had to reject him.

One day I’ll probably scan it in and post it (with identity removed).

But not today (not least because I don’t have a scanner).

Limbo

This waiting for confirmation is a pain.

There’s things I could do but I don’t want to expend effort and resources until I definitely know I’m going. And then I’ll probably be rushed.

For example, I’ve found that my laptop’s battery now only lasts four minutes. Fair enough, it is three years old.

As I’ll probably be using WiFi links in cafes and hotel lobbies for a while in Munich I need a reliable battery.

But I don’t want to buy one now and then find the job’s been killed.

Similarly, I should buy a WiFi card. But I don’t want to buy loads and loads of things on a false assumption.

Not busy

Didn’t apply for any jobs today.

Instead I received an email from the agent, confirming what he’d already said but congratulating me on getting the job.

It hasn’t, however, gone through the company’s purchasing department. In fact I may not hear until next week.

Nevertheless I’ll feel bad applying for jobs when one seems so sorted out. Also, I’ve recently become so fed up with job hunting that it’s a good break.

So I’ve been tidying up a few things, slowly getting ready on the assumption I’ve got the job.

Now, that is a very dangerous assumption. If I don’t hear anything by tomorrow I’ll start hunting again on Monday.

Busy?

Look, sorry to all you who have checked this blog throughout the day, hoping for a report on my job hunting activities, maybe even a “job of the day” posting.

But I didn’t look today.

The reason?

It’s a good one.

In fact, it’s the best.

I couldn’t be arsed.

I know I should be all cynical and accept that until you’ve got the contract signed, you haven’t got the job. And even then it can be canned at any moment.

Nevertheless today I didn’t look. Okay, I trawled through Monster but that doesn’t really count. I seldom see suitable jobs in Monster and it doesn’t take long to trawl anyway.

Instead I tidied some stuff up and got a few, very few things together which I’d need in Munich.

I also looked on the web for advice about German tax and residency issues.

Oh dear.

There’s no way I can work out all the nuances. According to Wikipedia 65% of legal writings about tax in the world are about German tax.

And I also don’t have enough details to make any decisions just yet.

In fact, I definitely need professional guidance on this but fortunately already have a couple of contacts.

More Munich

The agent handling my application for a freelance role in Munich called near the end of the afternoon.

Basically he confirmed that there was a definite role, I was wanted for it and it was just a case of getting the company’s purchasing department to sort things out.

So, it’s almost, practically in the bag.

Sure, things can go wrong. They can go wrong even once it’s all signed off.

But it’s looking good.

At the moment (Tuesday evening) I’m failing to resist the temptation to chill out for once.

Just the one

The big trawl of this afternoon resulted in one application.

Oh well, I’ve applied for four today. No bites though.

That was quick

Yesterday I ordered a spare folder and pen for my Digimemo.

Digimemo is like a fat clipboard. Although you write on normal paper it stores the images in flash and these can be transferred to your PC.

Useful? You bet.

I bought the device last year but held back from getting accessories for it in case I didn’t like it.

Well, Digimemo and I are real close now so I decided to get a folder for it and a spare pen. It’s almost inevitable that I’ll lose the original pen. There’s not much in my life that I haven’t misplaced.

I’m also prone to dropping things – again, there’s not much in my life that I haven’t dropped – so a protective folder would be useful for it.

The folder is made out of imitation leather although I don’t think anyone would be duped into thinking it was leather.  It looks a bit plasticy (real word Microsoft so don’t try to spell check it) but actually I think it’s more durable than leather.

Whilst I was checking prices for the folder I came across a Cyberpad.  This seems like the Digimemo but is A4 format rather than A5.

Oh, oh.

Must resist. Besides it’s double the price of a Digimemo and is very new and only available in the USA.

I reckon I could always sell my Digimemo on ebay if I ever upgrade to an A4 system or, even better, upgrade to a tablet PC.

Anyway I ordered it yesterday on el-cheapo (a word Microsoft seems quite happy about) three-day delivery terms but it arrived today. Superb.

Oh, the excitement

As well as emailing me this morning, the agency handling my application for a job in Munich just called.

It was basically a repeat of the message he’d sent me, but it was good to talk.

In short, the recruiting manager is still interested and positive and is considering me for another, more suitable role. Moreover, he’s actively considering me for this role in that he’s talking to the appropriate people in his very large conglomerate, effectively seeking sign-off.

If I wasn’t so jaded with job-hunting I’d be excited.

Actually, I am a bit excited.

Must go back to cynical-mode though.

Another morning not at work

It’s been a while since I’ve posted during the day-time, mid-trawl so to speak.

Well, it’s close to lunchtime now and I’ve already applied for three jobs.

Reasonable Monday

Well, it was okay in that I applied for two jobs and received three bites.

Flattery

Plagiarism, as we know, is the sincerest form of being an unimaginative, thieving bastard.

I’ve just tried out a supposed plagiarism-checker against this blog-site.

To my horror I’ve found that no-one has copied it.

In the slightest.

The bastards.

Compare and contrast

An agency called me at the end of the afternoon.

It was in response to an advert I made on Friday. The agent asked mainly general questions.

She said she’d send me an email and … she did.

See, it can be done.

Ring ring

This morning I had to do something other than job hunting but equally boring.

It involved sitting in a car.

Whilst doing this my phone rang.

Hurrah.

It was an agency calling to see if I was interested in a contract role in London.

Nice chat and he said he’d send my details to his client.

Goodly, goodington.

He also said he’d send an eight page job specification to me.

I’m sure I’ve got better things to do than read an eight page document. Well, I better get on and do one of those things as he didn’t send the document.

Still counts as a bite though.

But why am I so trusting? Whenever an agency calls – when I’m out – and says they’ll send me an email I believe them. Rather, I should get their full name and contact phone number.

And we're off

Day one of the job hunting week and I’ve already applied for three jobs.

Let’s hope my mobile rings tomorrow.

1, 2, 3 ...

… 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

Yes.

Last week I applied for 25 jobs.

I received six bites.

And I attended one interview, which still might, just might, turn out positive.

Any CRM recommendations?

I’ve posted the query on openBC’s message board, and I’ve also tried to post it on My LinkedIn Power Forum’s message board (but Yahoo won’t let me post at the moment) so I may as well post it here as well:

“Dear All,As a busy job hunter and networker I've been looking for a s/w tool to assist me.Basically I think it needs to be a CRM product which would allow me to keep track of jobs to which I've applied and people I've contacted.I've looked at NovoCM but that doesn't quite seem to fit my needs.Basically such a product needs to be:- Windows compliant- able to integrate with Outlook- probably able to integrate with Access, or use Access as its database engine- tailorable for personal rather than corporate use- free or at least less than €100.Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations?”

What I didn’t mention is that if I can’t find an appropriate CRM then I may have to write one myself. In fact I’m already using one I crudely knocked up in Access.

Saturday is a web day

Today hasn’t been all sitting on my arse, in a pub, drinking strong German lager.

In fact, I only did that during lunchtime.

Before and after I was doing job-hunting-related activities.

This was mainly spent updating my web-site. And this is relevant, as it contains all my professional details.

First of all I fixed some rendering problems. A few of the pages had the apostrophe rendered as an unknown character.

This was brought to my attention a few months ago (three months, actually, thanks Simon). I did have a quick look then but couldn’t see the cause.

Today, however, I had a slower, closer look and found that sometimes I used a different apostrophe character and it was that one which rendered badly. Quite a subtle cause.

Now fixed.

I also fixed a grammar mistake and made a few other minor changes.

I then had a good think about the colour scheme. Using colormatch.dk and Colorblender I found some better matching colour schemes.

Now, no-one would excuse me of design ability. But, I do think the site is clean and reasonably well laid out. I am a bit concerned about the yellow used for the links. So, I may revise it again one day.

But I do have to bear in mind that very few people have ever looked at this site.

I’m hoping to change this. Taking the hint from my “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters” book I added some META tags. I also entered details about this site on Dmoz. So, maybe, just maybe, next time someone is looking for an IT team or project manager they’ll do a Google search and find my web site comes out at the top.

I won’t sit back and wait though.

It's not all in the hub

Interesting article about social networking

That Friday feeling

Despite going to the gym in the afternoon I still managed to apply for five jobs today.

Which is rather good considering that:

• it is the end of the week


• I couldn’t find any jobs yesterday


• I wasn’t looking for the whole day as usual.

No bites though.

One agency I spoke to really did like the sound of me. But not my minimum rate. Far too high for his client.

The agency handling the client with the extremely urgent need for project managers didn’t call back. I’m not sure how they’re going to fill any roles next week.

I didn’t hear anything more about the contract job in Munich. But I guess that’s because the agency hasn’t heard anything from the recruiting manager.

It’s the weekend now and I’m going to try out Moveable Type (which may mean a whole new look and feel for this blog …. one day).

Damn

I didn’t sneeze today – damn.

And the agencies who said they’d call didn’t (and weren't likely to) – damn.

And it was Friday so I could leave the afternoon’s job hunting trawl to Sunday – damn.

So, er, I went to the gym.

More Munich

The agent who called me yesterday, just to say he hadn’t heard from his client about the Munich job (the one I interviewed for on Monday) called me today.

He’d spoken to the recruiting manager. This manager confirmed that I had interviewed and come across very well but didn’t have the experience needed in such large and complex projects. And after all, I hadn’t actually applied for that job.

Anyway, although he hasn’t reached a decision, there is another role emerging for which I may be more suitable. Probably, hear about it tomorrow.

Funny sort of day (3)

Last year I flew to Munich for a second interview. But I didn’t get the job.

And no-one else did either.

Ever since I occasionally see the job advertised on Monster. Sure, I hadn’t come across the technology they were using. But by now I would be lecturing about it at Munich’s technical university.

Ahem.

Anyway today I received a phone call from the recruitment agent who had arranged the interview.

The company is getting a bit stretched now, seeing as they haven’t yet found a suitable project manager. The agent wondered if I’d be happy to be reconsidered by them.

“Doch ja”

Funny sort of day (2)

On Tuesday I applied for a PM job with an internet company.

The agent for the client only gave an 0870 telephone number. I refuse to call these as they cost more and are used as an additional revenue source by the company.

Anyway, this afternoon I received an email from the agent. He wondered if I was interested in a PM job with an internet company. The description was exactly the same as in the advert.

So, I sent exactly the same email application back to him with exactly the same c.v.

He hasn’t called.

The reason(s)

This morning I called an agency who had contacted me on Tuesday about an assignment that needed filling very quickly. They want people to start next week, preferably Monday.

So, as I hadn’t heard anything yesterday I thought I’d give him a call.

He said he might have heard from his client this afternoon.

Damn. So that means I’d better stay by the phone rather than go to the gym. I know you know I’ve got a mobile phone but it’s not ideal taking a call with loads of gym-type background noises.

In case he called early in the afternoon, leaving me time to still go to the gym, well, I did sneeze twice today, so had better not go anyway, just in case I’m getting a cold.

Funny sort of day (1)

Well, I’ve looked and looked but couldn’t find any jobs to which I could apply.

Not that there weren’t jobs posted, just none suitable (or in the wrong place, or working for the government or something).

Anyway, as mentioned before, I already applied for loads of jobs this week.

Early start

After two days of frantic job hunting I started today’s trawl early. Well, earlier than usual.

By going through jobs posted in the JobServe and Monster since 3pm yesterday I managed to apply for no jobs whatsoever.

This would normally result in a slight panic. But so far this week I’ve applied for 20 jobs and received six bites. And besides, I’ll be looking again this afternoon.

Another busy day not at work

Today I managed to apply for seven jobs.

This means that I’ve applied for 20 jobs so far this week and I wasn’t looking on Monday! Plus, I’ve got two more days to go.

German chill

The agency called me this evening (after 6pm German time). But the news was the same: the recruiter liked me but was concerned about my lack of experience in large projects.

Still, his feedback was that I had interviewed very well. That in itself is good.

The recruitment agent thinks he’ll hear more tomorrow.

It pays to call

I really like it when agencies call me in response to applications I've sent them.

But it doesn't always have happen.

So, today I called agencies whom I emailed over the last couple of days.

Quite a result.

In all, this resulted in four bites. That's right, four bites in one day.

One bite was quite quick. I called the agency, had a very brief chat and they said they'd send my c.v. to their client. I prefer longer chats but in the end it doesn't really matter.

-

Yesterday morning I visited the local print/copy shop to get a hard copy of my c.v. before going on to the station and on to my interview.

I glanced at the document and found a little typo.

In one sentence I had used the phrase “… internal, client- and supplier stakeholders …”

Damn: “client” had a hyphen, the other members of the list didn’t.

No big deal, probably no-one but I would spot the inconsistency but still annoying.

Actually a bit more annoying. This phrase was in the section summarising my communication skills.

Damn and a side helping of bugger.

Back to the slog

Today I had to trawl through job adverts for both today and yesterday.

Big slog.

It resulted in 13 applications.

My first bite occurred after my 10th application.

I’d phoned the recruiting agent but he was on the phone.

Just after I hanged up my mobile rang.

It was him. Pure coincidence that he called me just after I’d tried to call him.

My background was a very good fit for his client. They have an urgent requirement for a lot of project managers on a contract/freelance basis. I have an urgent requirement not to sit on my arse all day job hunting.

He’s sending my c.v. to his client and hopes to get back to me very quickly. They’re looking for a start date of next Monday. I’m up for it although I’ll be very surprised if they did move that fast.

A bit later another agency called about my application I’d sent a few hours before. He’s sent it to his client; another bite.

Bracknell is undead

… as once seen written on the one of the many subway walls in that town.

It still is.

As always I had planned a lot of contingency time for my trip to Bracknell.

And thanks to our national railway system not one second was used up.

That’s very unusual.

So I was left with quite a lot of time before my interview.

What to do?

In Bracknell?

“Leave” is the usual answer.

But in this case I needed to eat lunch.

Many years ago I worked in that town for a few months. Sadly, not much has changed. I was hoping that there would be at least some minor change, for example, maybe they could have a Pret A Manger sandwich shop in the high street or Mall. Everywhere else has at least one.

Pret A Manger, however, would be too progressive for Bracknell. In fact, I didn’t even stumble across a Starbucks. I’m not saying that there isn’t a Starbucks in the town. That would be too unlikely. But I didn’t notice one and that is very unusual (not that I wanted to go to Starbucks).

Eventually I found a reasonable sandwich shop.

After eating there I walked to the office where I was going to be interviewed.

The office wasn’t actually in the town and would normally warrant a taxi ride but I did have a lot of time to kill.

I still arrived early and walked around the industrial estate for a while.

Anyway, when the time was due I went and had the interview.

It immediately transpired that the job spec. I was given was totally wrong. Damn, I’d been reading up on SAP over the weekend.

The recruiter was looking for a project manager, more a programme manager really, to help deliver a massive (and I mean massive) service implementation.

Well, I have some experience in the service delivery field plus, of course, project management. But the scale and complexity of this initiative was much larger than anything I have come across.

This was clear, indeed clear from my c.v. (which he had seen a few days before) and he said that this was his concern. Which is fair enough.

Still, the interview wasn’t too negative. I debriefed the agency immediately afterwards (another expensive call to Germany). It’s possible the recruiter will still want me. And, as I’m sure I interviewed well (especially as it wasn’t the spec. I’d expected), he may keep me in mind for other assignments. We’ll see.

Afterwards I went into London, met up with a few friends and had a few beers. Oh yes.

References

Interesting article, especially from the employer's point of view, on references.

A quick trawl

I start the job hunting week with a trawl on Sunday. This is to catch jobs posted since Friday mid-afternoon.

Often it turns up suitable jobs.

Not today though.

Tomorrow I'm off to Bracknell for an interview, then London for some beers.

So, you'll be very lucky if you see a posting tomorrow. As I've mentioned before, best to get an RSS reader.

Another week at work

I know you've been waiting for this round up.

Here it is.

Last week I applied for 23 jobs.

I also received five bites.

Moreover, despite the volume of applications, I managed to get a haircut and read one book.

Americans

Yesterday I received the book "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" (I also received The Economist's "Style Guide" but haven't read it yet which is why I'm still using quotes rather than italics for book names. Probably.).

This afternoon I finished the Guerilla book. Well, some people speed read, others skim... I speed skim.

What do you think?

I think it's a very good book.

Having read it, would you buy it?

Absolutely not. I've already got it, why would I want to buy another copy?!


Er, okay, having read it, would you recommend it?

Yes.

But with caveats.

Sod caveats, with cautions. Caveats are for dead Romans.

Basically, you need to remember that this book is written by Americans for North Americans.

Some of the enthusiasm and assertiveness ... well, we English have medications for that sort of enthusiasm. And if necessary we have cruising armed police officers who would deal with that sort of assertiveness with extreme prejudice, not to mention extreme stupidity.

One story the book relates is of a near-destitute job-seeker who conned her way into a school to use the IT to create a c.v.

This was mentioned as a laudable act.

My view is that her actions were unethical, fraudalent and most probably criminal (deception and theft).

In the UK these days you'd end up either facing the camera lens of a photographer from the Daily Mail or the muzzle of a homicidal policeman*. Most likely, the latter would be preferable.

But ignoring these American-isms it is a very good book. I'll be reading it again, slightly slower, and utilizing a lot of its recommendations.

*We're admired throughout the world because our police are not routinely armed. Actually, it's just as well they're not.

Done it

There was a bit of procrastination (well I'm a type B person, although a type B person who writes a blog) but I finally renewed my LinkedIn subscription.

I went for the full year renewal because I get two months free. So it only cost $150.

"Only" not being the word when you don't have an income.

As well as the free months I also get a free polo shirt. With a LinkedIn logo.

Er.

Not sure why they included it - if anything it put me off renewing for the full year.

Anyway I'm sure I'll be using LinkedIn for a long time.

Preparation

How do you prepare for an interview?

Well, I go and get a haircut. I'm a bit choosy about my hairdresser as I've found that the less hair you have the more haircut you need.

It's Friday 13th but I'm not scared. It's not like I could end up with a perm.

So this afternoon was spent getting my haircut (well it's an hour's journey, by train, just to get to the city).

In view of this I spent this morning in a frenzy of job hunting. In total I applied for four jobs.

Very respectable.

I was a little bit disappointed that no-one called in response but that's probably just as well. I'm a bit highly strung so if my mobile had rung whilst I was in the salon I'd probably now be in Brighton hospital having some scissors removed from head.

Awesome Outlook tip

... from Lifehacker.

And as you know, I seldom use the work "awsome".

There are some further tips here and here.

Compare and contrast

Yesterday I applied for 14 jobs.

Today I applied for one job.

I also received one bite and had one interview confirmed.

Excitement

Late yesterday afternoon I applied for a contract job - project managing a relocation for a bank.

Quite up my street.

But I forgot about it until late this morning.

I then phoned the agency who was very impressed, indeed excited. I'd sent a generic c.v. but he wanted more quantitative details. I have such a c.v. ready to go.

He also made a few other suggestions which I incorporated and then sent to him.

After lunch we spoke some more.

He was now concerned that I hadn't worked since end of May and that this wouldn't look too good. Less excited now.

I was a bit miffed about this: I'm doing my best to get a job but "you cannot fight an economy".

Anyway, I emailed an apologia:

"... This is what I've been doing since end of May:

- not working and resting after an intense interim assignment

- travelling, I've visited Helsinki, Tallinn and Munich

- studying Windows XP

- learining some Javascript

- building a business in Finland, it's registered and we hope to be trading soon

- applying for jobs, I've attended interviews and received one offer which I rejected as the agency misled me and the client about rates...."

I phoned another agency about a job for which I applied yesterday. I asked him how he was finding the market. He said it was buyount. I explained that I've found it rather erratic and he then recalled that the summer time was particularly bad.

That was more reassuring.

He also said I had a really good c.v. Which was nice. But he didn't have a suitable job for me.

Bugger.

A few hours later the other agency phoned back. He'd spoken to his manager and they were going to put my name forward to their client.

Phew. A bite.

Munich

Just before I put the jam (strawberry) on my toast my mobile phone rang.

I could see his caller ID, he was phoning from Germany.

So, the caller was an hour ahead. But I wasn't and I was still trying to have breakfast.

Oh well, I supposed I'd better answer it.

It was the agency I contacted last week about a job in Munich.

We had another nice chat, this time about the weather. At least this time it was his phone call, not mine.

Eventually he got round to the point. His client wanted to see me.

Great. Should I break out the lederhosen and brush down my hunter's jacket?

Er, no.

Turns out the recruiter is in England next week and can see me there.

O ... K.

And the recruiter will be in ...


Bracknell.

So on Monday, I'm going to Bracknell for an interview for a job in Munich.

Ironically, when I left Munich (I used to work there) I went to work in Bracknell for a few months (although I was living in London).

First interview of the year.

Reading

Harry Hutton, or rather his posts, describe the perils of Reading, including confusion over its pronounciation.

I went to the University of Reading and have experienced the pronounciation problem by funny foreigners.

Busy

When I talk to people and they say they're busy I remind them that "busy is good".

Although you can be busy without being in employment which isn't good.

Like today.

Today, I managed to apply for 14 jobs.

14.

Fourteen.

!

And I started the day fearing there would be a dearth of jobs, like yesterday and Monday.

It seems I wasn't the only one being busy.

Quite a few agencies I called today said they were inundated with applications. Whilst I was talking to one agent about a job she received three more applications for it.

I phoned every agency to whom I applied today, and received, in total, three bites.

Where?

This morning, just before I finished breakfast, I received a call from an agency. But at least I was out of bed when he called.

It was for a job in Hell. Well, that's might have been what he said but he then gave the name of the company - who are rather well known - and they are based in Hull.

Same sort of thing probably.

I've been to Hull. Er, it's ok, in a Northern-town/city sort of way. And boy is it Northern.

Well, the job's a contract and, well, it's a bite.

The question

"Are you a hands-on manager?"

This was included in the specification for a job I'm quite qualified to do.

So I sent the usual covering email but added, near the end, "And, yes, I am a hands-on project manger."

I then phoned him. But by then, he had already sent his quota of c.v.s, so he'll hold mine in reserve.

RSS for you too

Here's the RSS link for this site: http://worksearch.blogspot.com/atom.xml

RSS at last

Finally, I've installed an RSS reader, Klipfolio.

I'm principally going to use it for JobServe feeds. And, if I can get it to work, Monster.

Although Klipfolio itself is very good, I'm not sure about the feeds. I'll try it out for a few days.

Anyway, it's been a bit useful already (and it is free): it bleeped when JobServe was updated and there was a role to which I could apply. So I did.

That's the only application for today. No bites.

Something different

I've ordered a couple of books from Amazon: Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters and The Economist Style Guide.

The former may give me some ideas, or at least help me think differently about my job hunting apporach.

I brought the latter so that I'd get free delivery on the first book (it took the total order over the £15 threshold for free delivery); but actually I've been meaning to buy this book for years.

Handy

The company I emailed yesterday, on-spec, were acting shy today.

I tried a few times this morning but couldn't get through. Even to their main number (which was given as a sales number)!

Eventually, I got through and found that the person mentioned on their web site for job enquiries had left.

I was given another name and their direct email address.

That was handy as I could correct the error I made yesterday and resend the email.

I then tried to call, on the new number given, her but couldn't get through.

More new approach

As you can tell from the letter I wrote to the company it represents a slightly different approach:

- for a start it's an on-spec letter as I couldn't find out who would be a good recipient for it
- it's punchier than I'd normally write, certainly the subject and opening line are punchier
- it's more sale-sy than I'd normally write and there's more text than usual

Plus the c.v. I attached ("my details") was in PDF format. I normally send a Word file in RTF but for this application I thought I'd see how PDF is treated by the company. I think it looks much better. (Incidentally I use www.gobcl.com for free conversion to PDF).

The advice I was given from at least one career consultancy was to print out such letters and send them by post.

I've done this a few times before but I simply emailed this one. Well, it's a high-tech very 21C company and I just don't think a posted letter would be well received.

Did you spot the error in the covering letter?

?

I put my last salary as £xx p.a. It should, of course, be £xx k p.a. though why it isn't £xxx k p.a. is nothing short of a national scandal.

Oh well, it's a minor blimp. I actually added that line just before sending and guess I did it a bit too quickly. The rest I'd proof read - aloud - several times.

Deja phoned

I received one phone call today.

It was an agency who wondered if I was interested in a PM contract role.

As he went through the details I started to recall - and could check against my jobs database - his name and agency.

Indeed, he'd phoned on Thursday. He'd clear forgotten about this. Although the job details he gave were similar to the ones given last week it was actually for another company.

That's a bite.

So, although I didn't see any jobs to which I could apply, nevertheless today amassed two applications.

How may I help?

Last few job hunting days (though, of course, every day is a job hunting day) I've been looking into an interesting up and coming company.

It's been impossible to find out key financial information about it over the web but I feel I'd like to apply.

Being a paid-up member of LinkedIn and openBC I checked who would be good contacts within the business. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone suitable.

Looking at their web site they gave a jobs@ ... email address and a phone number. I couldn't get through to anyone on that number.

I really wanted a name to address the email, but as I couldn't get through I went ahead with the email. Here's what I put.

Subject: How can I help? ...

... Well, I have skills and experience in managing teams and projects within national and multi-national business ventures.


I thought that using this style I'd get around the problem of using Dear Whoever


In particular this background includes:

- Project management: I’ve managed the delivery of numerous and varied IT-related projects. Some of these have been vital to companies’ on-going success and some have had to be completed within very tight deadlines. My qualifications include PRINCE 2 Practitioner and the APMP (the UK’s core qualification in project management).

- People and team management: For over five years I have led and developed people and teams, dealing with personnel issues, recruiting, setting objectives, assigning training, coaching, conducting appraisals etc. As a result of my leadership and coaching staff and their managers have received recognition and promotion. They have also achieved very high levels of service and project delivery, within demanding and complex situations.

- Multi-national experience: As a manager I was based in Munich for a year. During and since that time I have worked closely with colleagues in the UK, Europe and the USA, delivering services and projects.

- Innovative activities: I have built a specialised IT service from scratch, grown teams and brought control to various operations. Currently I’m co-establishing a business in Finland (although this is very much a side-activity).


I’m flexible regarding working locations and mode of assignment (i.e. permanent, interim or contract).

In my last role, an interim assignment, my remuneration was equivalent to £xx p.a.

Having researched [Name of Company] I would very much like to contribute to your company’s venture in [the key activity of the company] in the UK and Europe.

Please let me know how I can help; my details are attached.

With best regards,

etc etc


In my email signiature I included my Skype contact. Well, they're the sort of company who might appreciate this (they're actually in an alliance with them amongst others).

Dull and grey

It’s been raining all day today - I think the correct term is “raining like a bitch” - but you can see that from the weather pixie on the right. Glad she’s not wearing her usual top - she could have caught a chill.

To suit the mood of the day I couldn’t find any jobs to which to apply.

More hunting adventures tomorrow.