To Agencies and Employers

MissSarah1972

lil.smartie wrote: »

Make more of the amount of job seeking that you are doing tell them you are scouring every local paper/website/local shop advertising board! You seem to be being very proactive so push this information onto the person you are talking to when on the phone to agencies (lets face it, it really is an interview of sorts!) Tell them why you are perfect for the job, sell yourself, make them remember you, if you don't get this one they may think of you for another then too!

Kate

My cover letter said why I was suitable that's why they called me.

ktothema

Just because someone hasn't been doing courses or voluntary work doesn't mean they've been doing nothing. If you're properly applying yourself to job seeking by ensuring your cv and covering letter are tailored specifically to a role, it's easy enought to spend a full day applying for 5/6/7 jobs. And if you're somewhere like London where jobs are popping up a lot, it's easy for that to become a 5 day a week job.

You can apply yourself hard to give yourself the best chance of getting into an interview position, but get accused of doing nothing. So how do you win that battle? Try to job seek a little less well?

MissSarah1972

Here is a job where they even ask 'Are you currently employed'?

http://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/credit-controller-administrator-for-growing-sme/21580579#/jobs/london?keywords=purchase%20ledger&sortby=ApplicationsLowToHigh&cached=True&proximity=1&pageno=4&pagesize=50

Shocking.

CKhalvashi

There ARE jobs out there, and many of them are hidden, so don't let it put you off.

I met up with one of my ex-homeless today, who's been out of work for 18 months, and worked for a taxi company before that.

Within 2 sentences of a phonecall 'hey, you put a card through my door, are you looking for a controller', I've got him 48h/wk on a 3 month trial with no interview, £8/hr during the trial, rising to £10, and had never had dealings with this company before (we're licensed in East Herts, they're Epping Forest).

Phone your local taxi company, kebab shop asking if they want delivery doing, pop into your local cafe, and see what's there!

Don't give up!

CK

marybelle01

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

Here is a job where they even ask 'Are you currently employed'?

http://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/credit-controller-administrator-for-growing-sme/21580579#/jobs/london?keywords=purchase%20ledger&sortby=ApplicationsLowToHigh&cached=True&proximity=1&pageno=4&pagesize=50

Shocking.

Why? It asks if you are employed - it doesn't say that they won't consider unemployed people. And it also isn't the employer asking - it's the agency. Perhaps they may prefer someone who can start quickly? Perhaps the agency is looking for CV's of people who might be available for other work?

InsideInsurance

Ultimately recruitment is a numbers game. The reality is that there is no realistic recruitment process that will guarantee that you get the best candidate because not everyone tells the truth, some people are simply better at performing in these situations than others though in the day job the performance may be reversed etc.

You will also, even when not in a recession, receive many more CVs that look like they can do the job than you have time to interview and so you have to be selective. Reality is you start asking questions, why has candidate A had 15 jobs in the last 5 years? Do people have problems getting on with them? Why has candidate B not worked in the last 6 months when I have a dozen other candidates that lost their job around the same time but have managed to find work again.

I wont automatically rule someone out for being unemployed for an extended period but ultimately I will interview the top 4 candidates for each vacancy and so the unemployment MAY mean they dont make the top 4 cut off.

madlyn

I have done an online Excel course and an IT one too in the time I have been looking for work.

I can't really think of voluntary work as my mind is 100% on a real job and every day I miss looking for work I feel guilty.

dont want to hijack you post, but i too am out of work, and job hunting van be a job in it's self.
but could you please tell me how you did your online courses through?

MissSarah1972

http://alison.com/

http://alison.com/courses/Excel

http://alison.com/courses/Microsoft-Excel-2010

&

http://www.vision2learn.net/channels/index.aspx

http://www.vision2learn.net/channels/courses/essential-it-skills-level-2.aspx

MissSarah1972

Update:
I did a bit of online investigation at the weekend as never heard back from the agency even though I chased her 4 times to see if she had spoken to the company. Anyway, I to my amazement managed to find the company online and there was the job adveritsed so I applied sending over a CV, cover letter and both references.

They have invited me for an interview this week!!!

Even if I do not get the job (they are seeing 10 people) I know that direct is the way to go after all the tosh the agency spouted about them probably not wanting to see me. Shame the agency didn't get their act into gear and actually put me forward because if I get the job they get no fee as I applied direct

evanjonesaber

I wish you all the best of luck MissSarah I was quite lucky myself - I lost my job in British Gas in April - made 20 applications in my first 3 days, got 6 interviews, and 1 job offer so now I've just started with a bank