No, I'm not talking about sleeping with the interviewer or recruitment consultant, but it's a question that hundreds of thousands of jobseekers must have been asking themselves recently, as the jobs market has dried up and unemployment has gone through the roof.
Fewer jobs and more candidates equals an extremely competitive recruitment market, the likes of which the majority of us have never seen before. Some vacancies that would previously have been hard to fill have attracted scores of applicants.
So what does this mean for you guys - the jobseekers - either looking for your first job since leaving school or graduating from university, or looking to change roles or careers? How far would you go to get a job?
Out-of-work history graduate David Rowe has walked up and down Fleet Street in London past law firms and investment banks with a billboard round his neck bearing the slogan 'Job Wanted' and pleading with employers to interview him. It has worked for him; he's been given several business cards and one interview offer.
So how far would you go? Would you be as proactive as David Rowe and take to pounding the streets in search of a job, or stick to carpet bombing firms with your CV? Hit the phones and try the direct route or something more subtle?
My view is that we are now in uncharted territory - anything goes, and the bolder and more active you are in terms of job hunting, the greater your chances of landing that role. Why not share your job seeking experiences with the rest of us? Perhaps we can have a competition for the most imaginative.
Fewer jobs and more candidates equals an extremely competitive recruitment market, the likes of which the majority of us have never seen before. Some vacancies that would previously have been hard to fill have attracted scores of applicants.
So what does this mean for you guys - the jobseekers - either looking for your first job since leaving school or graduating from university, or looking to change roles or careers? How far would you go to get a job?
Out-of-work history graduate David Rowe has walked up and down Fleet Street in London past law firms and investment banks with a billboard round his neck bearing the slogan 'Job Wanted' and pleading with employers to interview him. It has worked for him; he's been given several business cards and one interview offer.
So how far would you go? Would you be as proactive as David Rowe and take to pounding the streets in search of a job, or stick to carpet bombing firms with your CV? Hit the phones and try the direct route or something more subtle?
My view is that we are now in uncharted territory - anything goes, and the bolder and more active you are in terms of job hunting, the greater your chances of landing that role. Why not share your job seeking experiences with the rest of us? Perhaps we can have a competition for the most imaginative.
I hold Higher national Diploma in Electrical Electronics Engineering with special skills and traings in Instrumentation and process operations.I recently have seven years experience in Gas plant operation.I have applied severally on total job.com but i have not being successful.What might be the cause?May be work permit or wrong placing of cv.Please advice
It's not strictly true to say that David Rowe's approach has worked. He's been interviewed by a firm of recruitment consultants but that's absolutely not the area in which he wants to work. His plight has been covered by the national media, so better luck may be just round the corner for him, but for every new graduate seeking employment there are now just as many experienced 30-something candidates like me who cannot find an appropriate full-time job despite our best efforts. Worse still must be the situation facing candidates who are 45+ and have been laid off from executive jobs - the current job market is pushing salaries way down and ageism, deliberate or otherwise, is rife.
It would be interesting to know how many middle-class 30-45 year olds are currently out of work but not included in the unemployment figures because they are not claiming JSA. I'd bet it's a terrifyingly large number.
I'm not breaking out the sandwich boards yet, but I
i have never worked before as when i left college i had my son at 19 years old. He is now 5 and in primary 1 and have been applying for any job that i could be able to do. I just want to get back out there and get a job to support my son and not have to count every penny i have! Any advice!
I could apply for a dozen jobs a week and have done in the past. The jobs are there but competition if fierce. 50 for one job and I got to the last 14, 220 for another and I didn't get shortlisted. However in 25 years I have only worked for 3 employers so my job seeking skills are very rusty. I have had to resort to the text books to see if I can get a better response to my CV. I'm lucky to be in a much better position than most and I wish I could offer some sage advice. How about, if nothing is working, change something. Either your CV, your technique, or the job you are looking for.
Hi Stuart (above)
Interesting comment, I fall into the 30 something, experienced professional category, recently been made redundant and after 7 weeks of unsuccesful job search have bitten the bullet and signed on for jsa.
I suspect there are many, many more teetering on the edge of signing on ...
I AM DIPLOMA IN AUTOMOBILE ENGINEER BUT I AM DOING DEGREE IN AUTOMOBILE ENGINEER(COMPLET IN 2010)
i just want to tell you that i am seriously idel and i am an able bodied man who is ready to do any job at all for living please.
I hold BSc(Hons) in Biomedical science from university of Portsmouth. I also hold British passport and for that matter do not require a work permit to work.
I am a BSC Computing student. I have done N+, CCNA from an Organisation. I been to the job fair and where i have seen organisations taking about the training courses. I choose one of them named skills train uk where i have signed for courses up to CCNP level. I have learned a lot specially in networking field.Also i have 2 years networking lab experience in college in london. I have registered several job sites london jobs, monster jobs, total jobs.I always get several emails advertising job vacancies that match my criteria. But i never receive any further response from them.What could be the reason???????Even training organisations just talks about training courses never gurantee any jobs. I am really disappointed now, Can you advise me anything plz.........
I would definitely recommend that you look at specific sites for Oil & Gas/Petrochem such as:
http://www.oilandgasjobsearch.com
http://www.oilcareers.com/worldwide/
And register your CV with them plus send your CV to the top agencies (who will be advertising jobs on those site).
Just to put your situation in perspective, I have over 20 years experience in this sector and have 10 years experience working for oil companies and I've been looking and applying for jobs for the past 9 months without success!
So Good Luck!
The key note when faced with redundancy at any age, but especially 45+ is flexibility - that is being prepared to do different types of work, possibly for far less money, and learning new, different skills which perhaps you had never previously utilised. Also it pays to think positively about your age - apart from the wealth of "hard" experience you can offer would be employers, there are a number of "soft" skills such as all round communication, dealing with difficult individuals/situations, time management and ability to work unsupervised which only come with age. Also how about freelancing or a franchise ?
I'm speaking from experience here - I was made redundant in my early 40's from an investment bank, re-trained in a different industry, acquired some new qualifications in a different career, wnt freelance once I felt confident to do so, and all things considered it has worked out fine.
The only other piece of advice I would give to those 45+ executives who have been made redundant is don't spend the rest of your careers hankering after a similar role because in the vast majority of cases it JUST AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!
I read Stuart's post with interest as I am definitely in the over 45 category, 52 to be precise! I agree with the sentiment not to hanker over a similar role than you had before, but in my experience recruiters are looking more than ever for an exact match between the job and the candidate. The idea of "transferable skills" seems to have been lost. As a result I am having most success targeting jobs that fit most closely to my old one. Having said that I think recruitment consultants seem to be fueling this trend as they like to put forward the perfect candidate.
Getting back to the question posed, in general I'm not impressed with "How far would you go" debate. Whilst I do agree that you need to think widely and creatively about your job search in the current environment, I think that headlines like this just fuel my anxiety and pile on more pressure in my view and really aren't very helpful!
I'm an advertising professional, mainly on the Creative Direction side of things, having lived through two downturns in the economy I must say that I've never known things to be so bad. My industry has just stopped hiring... anyone, even as a freelancer I now find it hard to get the jobs I used to. And any option of finding a permanent job as a Creative Director or even senior art director.
The current art direction jobs out there are digital creative posts. Which is treated like it's a rare talent, as far as I'm concerned an art director should be able to provide direction in any arena, that's the job, that is what is meant to make it a skilled area. The term digital is just another filter for employers to use. An Idea is an idea, and it's the application of an idea is the key to being a competent art director. Being able to use HTML and build websites is not art direction, it's new tools a bit like a new magic marker used to be.
Stuart,
I would strongly reccomend EVERYONE who has been laid off recently to get onto JSA as soon as possible. It is the only way to tell those in power whatever their political stripe the real crisis the bandits in the international banking community have left the normal hard working folk of the world.
Similarly recruiters are falling into the bad habits of the estate agents during the boom years before the bust and are as a consequence getting idle and waiting for the "perfect" candidate to turn up. This is made far easier for them by the huge pool of untapped talent that is out there at the moment.
I have been out of work for 2 months now, and have made my way from the exec level jobs down to part time retail. All of which are the same competitive market.
And yes I'm over 40
My husband and I sold our business earlier this year because we just didn't have the funding to keep it going through the recession. I recently did an online questionnaire/audit to see if either of us would qualify for JSA but due to an investment property in France we don't qualify. We don't have an income and savings are running out fast and as we are 50 and 51 job prospects are limited to say the least. We both have a huge amount of experience to offer the world but no one seems to want it. Because our CV's have 'Director' on them, we are being put into the exec class but neither of us have any formal qualifications and everyone seems to want them. Perhaps we should start another business, a recruitment consultancy for entrepreneurial types with no paper qualifications.
I am Bangladeshi. I like to London City work. But I am still now Bangladesh. How possible UK Work ?
Some time ago I remember reading an advertising feature to the effect that only about half of vacant positions are actually advertised. Can anybody corroborate this ? And if this is the case how are these positions filled ?
Thanks for your comment Lucie.
When applying for jobs you need to think about the skills that you can offer an employer and reflect this in your CV.
So if you feel you have good interpersonal skills and are applying for a customer-facing position, make sure you emphasise that.
Plus, highlight any relevant work experience and qualifications that you have.
Local jobcentres should be able to give you more advice.
The new Zune browser is surprisingly good, but not as good as the iPod's. It works well, but isn't as fast as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally plan on using the web browser that's not an issue, but if you're planning to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod's larger screen and better browser may be important.
This is acceptable in terms of google. Nada looks to irritate against them than that!
I never, ever would have thought I would need to be familiar with this, but thank goodness for the web, right?
What is the tick box for at the end of each post? I can choose it but it doesn't look to do anything...
Absolutely spot on. I have applied for over 260 jobs in the last 14 months.It took 6 months for the JC to believe I was out of work.I am a professional trainer, and have had a few interviews for jobs including: cleaning,driving,manager, and even a couple which fit my CV in training. But at 54, I may as well jump under a bus. After all these years, I understand now that the worse you are, the better you get on.Every day, I walk the dog, go onto the internet, walk the streets in town at my local recruitment agencies, give them my cv, send my cv. But nobody wants to play.
Dears
I want to inform you about my location in Kurdstan of Iraq last time I sent my CV to totaljobs When apply jobs in one job maching , I have one problem,how to get visa in London to my passport?and how to support reside in London?
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I agree with this, but looking at this deeper isnt there other aspects that need to be considered.
Thoughts anyone ?
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Hm, I'm just comfortable with this but still not wholly sure, so i'm about to research a touch more.
So, what are these people going to do with it?
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game.
There are definitely a number of particulars like that to take into consideration. That may be a great level to convey up. I supply the thoughts above as common inspiration however clearly there are questions like the one you carry up where a very powerful thing might be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, however I am positive that your job is clearly recognized as a fair game. Both girls and boys really feel the affect of just a moment’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
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