Where the jobs at?

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Finally, after two years of applying, I got accepted for voluntary redundancy. I work(ed) for one of the worlds biggest IT companies, but they are expected to offshore my role in the next 12 months and since they offered me two years pay (tax-free) to go, I didn't feel I could refuse.

So...since I've not had to look for a job for about 12 years, where does one go to find decent jobs? I know it's not the greatest time to be looking for work, but I've just recently got a Business Management degree (first class honours) and a lot of IT experience (not specialising in anything, but a good rounded knowledge of systems development/support) so I'm hoping I can get something.

Anyone got any ideas where to look for management roles in the IT industry?

Cheers in advance me old mates.

[Lottie]

Your best best is probably going to be recruitment agencies. Loads of companies wont even look at cvs unless they are from them these days. in the it industry anyhow. Although some are very annoying, if you want specific work in speciicf area make sure they know that and say you wont accept anything thats different. monster.co.uk is also good but it takes ages to complete, once done though its done and you can add and remove on it as you please. Good luck
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[Frost]

Look on monster. Find companies that do what you want to do are in the area you want to live and see if they need anybody.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Anyone got any experience of specific recruitment companies? There seems to be millions of them, but don't want to waste my time signing up with one that's going to waste my time.

I remember back before I got this last job that Primetek Recruitment ( a so-called IT consultant) sent me for a job as a brick salesman for a builders merchant.

Is Monster the one where you put your CV up and employers look for you instead of the other way round?

[Lottie]

Is Monster the one where you put your CV up and employers look for you instead of the other way round?[/quote]

Yes

Where are you?? I found Robert Half in Reading fantastic really good rapport and got me jobs high up straight away whereas in Bristol although good not as good (that may have been down to me using them a lot in Reading over the years) I would personally steer clear of Hays/ranstad, never had good experience. Reed ok, michael page robert halfs competitor and similarly good. A lot of the time it seems like there are loads but they're just branches of the same company.
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[DanceLikeAMon...]

I'm in Newcastle which isn't exactly a job hotspot, but more than happy to go anywhere in the world for the right job (no dependencies or ties here).

I'll have a look at your recommendation, thanks. No problem moving down South if they pay me enough.

[Clanger]

CV-Library is pretty good, load your CV and then set up job alerts, they can email you stuff daily. It's one of the better ones.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[instigator]

China.

I'm being relocated there permenantely in 2 months time.

[Rogerborg]

Personal recommendations are always the best way to get a foot in the door. Have you been keeping in touch with recent leavers to see where they've been going? And it's easy to mock LinkedIn, but it is a decent way to find old business contacts.

Oh, recruiters will spit their dummy if they find out you've been seeing other recruiters on the side, but in the end they're just sleazy pimps and you don't have to buy in to their monogamy tosh. It makes them look bad if two or more of them put you in for the same job (without asking you), it's no reflection on you. As far as I'm concerned, they're all a bunch of useless mongs who should be replaced with very small shell scripts: I once pulled my own CV off the fax machine at a small business where I used to work - yes, they sent a CV that began "Current employer: Company X" to Company X.
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[mogster]

Don't know about specific jobs or agencies, but as you are in Newcastle you should think about looking north too. Edinburgh is not out of reach (certainly for weekend commute) & as it is a business/banking city there may be opportunities.

Also might be worth looking at Uni's as having a 1st class honours degree may get you some lecturing/tutoring work at least in short term.

Best of luck!
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MOG

The roar of his mighty triumph was heard throughout the land

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Edinburgh - it's odd, even though I grew up in Scotland and it's only 120 miles away, I've never thought about jobs there. Thanks for the tip!

China - Went there for a month a couple of years back and loved the place. Would consider working there, but not sure if it's one of those rose-tinted holiday ideas.

Guess I'd better start working out what a CV is meant to look like these days! It's been a looooong time.

[Robby]

I did a CV thread in Dear Auntie, have a look in there. A lot of it is aimed at the kiddies and you have experience, but some of it may be useful. You've working in IT for years so you know what sort of person they're after. In management you need to be able to transfer geek into English, placate the client when your guys cock something up, and calm down your guys when the client asks for something without knowing what they really want.

A buzzword/bullshit phrase at the moment is "intelligent customer function". This is where the client wants a service, but doesn't know how to write the spec for a system that will do the job and appear to understand what they want well enough to not get ripped off. It's simple for someone that knows a particular area well, and is generally a short term contractor job (1-2 months) on contractor money. Good phrase to have on a CV.

A lot of companies have a specific agency or two that they deal with, so check with your contacts in the industry to see which agencies these are. Its easier to recruit through a smaller agency where I have one point of contact who will only send me a handful of correctly selected CVs, than a huge organisation that will send me loads of generic CVs.

Remember that every company has an IT team in some form, even if their IT is outsourced to a major provider (IBM, Fujitsu, Atos etc). This team is primarily involved in managing the contract, so someone with knowledge of the supplier is useful. Contact companies your old company used to provide for, and see if they have any vacancies. Try them every 3 months, people move on from jobs and recruitment is very easy if you know there is an applicant available with the right skills. There is also a chance that these jobs are poorly advertised, so you find it unless the company tells you where to look.

Also remember that the person reading your CV probably knows less about the area than you do, this is why they're recruiting someone with specialist knowledge to do the job. Avoid acronyms, avoid too much tech talk but have enough in there to show that you know what you're talking about. Your specialist knowledge on a little known, outdated product that they use is more valuable than a qualification. No point making a big thing of knowing the latest version of Oracle inside out when they're using a version 5 years old, can't afford to update, and just want to tweak and maintain what they have. They want to run an efficient business without spending lots of money, which is not the same as always implementing the latest software and the ballache that comes with transferring to it, along with training users in its new features.

If you're looking to get into Govt jobs, either permanent or as a contractor, its worth reading the IT strategy on the Cabinet Office website. Chances are the recruiter won't have read it, or will have only given it a skim, so its good to show knowlege in the area. Also useful for seeing which areas to concentrate on in your CV, it outlines which areas are going to be focussed on over the next 5 years.

[Lottie]

Oh, recruiters will spit their dummy if they find out you've been seeing other recruiters on the side.

Another thing recruiters always say is oh where is it you have an interview? "DO NOT TELL THEM" this is just a way for them to contact the company to try and promote the job too.

I stand by the loads of recruitment companies is bad though, from personal experience.
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Honda CBF 125

[Suntan Sid]

If your interested in working abroad, try this lot, they came up trumps for me a couple of times, in fact I had to refuse job offers from them.

https://www.grsrecruitment.com/


Not connected to them in any way, just provided a good service.
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[D O G]

[chrisw]

[angryjonny]

Indeed... the only time I've known one have a stop was when I had four offers and I didn't pick his. Unprofessional really. Most have been fine.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Whilst we're talking about recruiters....

I've setup an account with the ones recommended above and uploaded my CV (no bites yet - I'm disappointed, they've been there for minutes! )

However, the last time I looked for a job (about 13 years ago), you actually went into a recruitment agency and they had a mock interview with you to garner details about your skills, and then they went off and found jobs for you.

Do any places still do that, or are you expected to do all the hard work yourself these days, and they just host job adverts on websites?

This is all so new and exciting to me!

[Fairies attack]

Not in Grimsby and that's for sure.

You either have to be Polish to get in to the factories, or know a senior manager to get in to the industry.