What's the job situation like in your area, is it really as dire as it's made out?

dontone

chris1973 wrote: »

Have you tried the online scrapers like 'Jobsite' as opposed to the local Job Centre

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/

An open (all postitions) search for "Barnsley" returned over 2400 results / listings. Okay they all probably wont all be on your doorstep, but i'm sure that basic search criteria will bring results which are closer than Oxford

I actually have a C.V on there, and have applied for a few jobs, but nothing has happened as of yet.
I also had a C.V on Monster too for 3 years, but only ever had one job offer. It was part time, 12 hours, min wage on the other side of Chesterfield. Unfortunately I had to turn it down, it wouldn't even have paid my travel costs.
Something will turn up, just have to bit patient, thats all.

sarahlasvegas

LL30 wrote: »

I mentioned a little while ago that my brother was struggling to recruit for IT roles within a very well known bookies - he's still struggling now! He said that the standard of applications is appalling and people don't follow the personal spec when filling in their suitability for the role - automatically means their app is binned even if they miss one point.

I'm in Nottingham, not sure how bad it's 'supposed' to be here, but I was made redundant and landed a new job within 3 weeks...damned CRB is taking it's time though. Tbh, the best advice I can give is to ignore all the negativity and just concentrate on searching for jobs and making your skills fit the spec. I honestly thought I'd be unemployed for months and was prepared to not even hear back from applications, so I was very surprised to say the least when I got something so quickly. It can and does happen - I'm not anything special, and I had a whole host of limitations as to when I could work due to childcare issues! Keep your chin up and don't believe in the hype

I agree with the above -

Im in Sheffield - have a semi specialist role, was made redundunt, i started applying for other roles in my notice period - had 2 interviews offered both jobs.

I appreciate I've been lucky, but you have to keep positive.

I find sites like www.indeed.com are good for job hunting, our paper used to be great for jobs but now has nothing, i think it costs about £500 to place a job add so people are using cheaper options. Never tried the job centre either.

chris1973

I actually have a C.V on there, and have applied for a few jobs, but nothing has happened as of yet.

Yes, the important bit is certainly in actually applying for Jobs, I dont think many employers (have the time or inclination) to just browse CV's, and be the ones who make first contact. Like many people have said, its an employers market, and why go out and look for employees when they are coming to you daily and you already have people banging on the door and dropping in their CV's literally every day - if a position comes up, its far easier to just get them in for an interview, rather than go on Monster / Jobsite etc and peruse CV's.

Sometimes its a good idea to pop in and get 'known' by people on reception, I dont mean make a nuisance but become a visitor popping in to ask about any vacancies on a regular basis in your trawl around businesses. This way people get to know you and your personality / persistance alone may get you a little further up the queue, it will probably work better in smaller or family run companies than large 'faceless' business blocks where you wont get past the security guy on the front desk, as an example we had a guy who came in on a regular basis, got to know the receptionist, and shared a bit of banter on his brief visits etc. Eventually he got offered a position, based on his sheer determination and enthusiasm! - we also knew his timekeeping / reliability was unquestionable! - (he always turned up at the same time each visit!). Of course it wont work everywhere, but worth a go.

Word of mouth is also important, get as many people as possible 'in the know' that you are looking for work and they can also keep an eye out.

Even some of the most radical methods result in finding work, I know of one person who heard of a Job through facebook - I dont mean they were headhunted and literally contacted by an Employer through it, but that they used it to spread the word and somebody local in their friends list heard about a job and relayed the information back to her. I'm not saying you should actively do this, but it just shows that even with things as bad as they are today, opportunities can present themselves in all strange and unexpected places.

claire16c

chris1973 wrote: »

Even some of the most radical methods result in finding work, I know of one person who heard of a Job through facebook - I dont mean they were headhunted and literally contacted by an Employer through it, but that they used it to spread the word and somebody local in their friends list heard about a job and relayed the information back to her. I'm not saying you should actively do this, but it just shows that even with things as bad as they are today, opportunities can present themselves in all strange and unexpected places.

I found an interview through facebook - the employer was literally posting the times on there and you just signed up. I also have seen 2 friends recently post job adverts on there for their companies which could be a good lead if they are a friend who is willing to say good things about you.

Ive applied for all of the jobs Ive had either in person, or online.
Ive never used the job centre to find a job. To be honest I didnt even know where the job centre was until this year when I had to claim JSA, because there isnt one in my town. And when Ive searched for jobs in the past their site has never shown up in the results. Also I found the descriptions on there pretty useless, they hardly ever said who the company was or gave much detail. I did ring up one and no one answered anyway. Also nearly all the jobs seemed to be for carpenters bizarrely. Great if youre in that line of work but Im not :rotfl:

Our local paper reported the unemployment figures the other week and it was 5%. I was unemployed when I came back from travelling earlier in the year and found 2 temp jobs in 5 weeks, and am starting a more permanent one next week. I just went on all the usual job websites like reed, monster etc , employers websites, google, and industry specific websites. I also went round the town centre.

rabb

Horace wrote: »

I am in Birmingham which has the highest rate of unemployment in the UK. The job situation is dire. I have been unemployed for a month having been forced to give up my business because of the recession - no-one wants to pay for people to organise events. I have been applying for work since June and in that time have had 3 interviews - I had an interview last week for a 3hr cleaning job but that had already gone by the time I had been asked for interview:mad: (called in morning at 9am got offered interview at 3pm that day, job had gone at 9am). I came close on one job but lost out because although I had organised big events before I hadn't organised a music festival and the other one I didnt really want anyway and the interview did not go well at all - I knew when I was sitting in there that it wasn't going well.

I am using the jobcentre website, various industry specific websites for jobs, I have feelers out everywhere - my business connections are looking.

As a fellow Brummie Horace I know how you feel!

Hammyman

TrixieB wrote: »

How downright bloody RUDE.

How do you know I won't be doing all those things? And did you miss the part where I said I am actually in employment by the way??

Because most people on here seem to think that all jobs are advertised on websites or the local paper....

adxm

There are job's in my area, but nobody I know including myself seem to be having no luck at all, I worked it out and in the last month I have applied for 73 positions and not a single reply from any. It's gonna be a quiet christmas this year it seems.

planning303

there are constantly jobs being advertised internally at my work.. BUT you can only get access to these roles if you are already working within the business...

That said, get yourself a NMW role and work it for 3 months. Then you can apply for hundreds of roles accross the country that are never going to make it into either the paper or the internet!

westv

liggins wrote: »

there are constantly jobs being advertised internally at my work.. BUT you can only get access to these roles if you are already working within the business...

That said, get yourself a NMW role and work it for 3 months. Then you can apply for hundreds of roles accross the country that are never going to make it into either the paper or the internet!

And what particular business is that?

TrixieB

Hammyman wrote: »

Because most people on here seem to think that all jobs are advertised on websites or the local paper....

Kind of my point if you'd read the first post - that there are little to no jobs - in my area - advertised in those places but don't let that get in the way of jumping to your stupid wee conclusions and being rude to someone eh?

That said, get yourself a NMW role and work it for 3 months. Then you can apply for hundreds of roles accross the country that are never going to make it into either the paper or the internet!

All very well and good saying that, there's just so much competition out there for jobs. I'm a firm believer in that jobs shouldn't be allowed to ONLY be advertisied internally. Fair enough let them have a look first before being advertised but that's all.