How many candidates per job?

Polarbeary

Thanks for the replies. I have resorted to agencies now (they got me a good job once) as well as applying directly to employers. I will just have to keep plugging away. My husband works in the City in a very good job so there is no way we can move out of London. He is paying the mortgage and I have savings so not desperately in need of a job but would like one!

I imagine that PA/secretarial work is popular for job seekers. I have seen many adverts stating that they only want graduates with a good degrees!

I like browsing the secsinthecity website for jobs. Most of them are agencies advertising and some of the adverts make me laugh.
The successful Executive Assistant will be required to be available 24/7 with a work phone to be contactable out of hours.
Please note you must be thick-skinned, beautifully presented...Capable of dealing with a difficult principal and second guessing them at all times
The Chairman has very exacting standards, doesn't suffer fools and is very demanding

Maybe I should stick with the NHS!

makeyourdaddyproud

DKLS wrote: »

I wouldn't give too much thought to the websites that show how many people have applied.

I invited a candidate for an interview and she turned me down, as she "only applied as she has to show the dole office she is applying for jobs" a lot of the applications I have seen in the past year seem to be applying for the sake of a returned application email they can wave at the JC.

Op its a numbers game keep at it.

Most secretarial applicants (most likely fresh out of a previous role) that have gone to the trouble of obtaining an interview with a London firm are much more likely to be professional and serious about the role than some unskilled die hard shirker that just wants save face with the JC. Such apps will stop at the gatekeeper, and not reach the interviewer desk. So, once an interview is offered, you can be sure the playing field will be highly competitive. This, I assume, is after the usual typing, spelling, grammar and psycho tests.

NMW level jobs apps will invite many chancers, some of whom will get that lucky interview.

Polarbeary

I've heard from the agencies that there isn't much going. Banks in particular have recruitment freezes. They have mentioned that being the end of the tax year things should pick up in April. There is temp PA work but few perm jobs, even the NHS is all fixed term due to budget cutbacks. At interviews for temp jobs I get asked why my last couple of jobs have been fixed term - well for precisely the same reason the role I an interviewing for us!

eilidhcatriona

Polarbeary wrote: »

I imagine that PA/secretarial work is popular for job seekers. I have seen many adverts stating that they only want graduates with a good degrees!

I like browsing the secsinthecity website for jobs. Most of them are agencies advertising and some of the adverts make me laugh.
The successful Executive Assistant will be required to be available 24/7 with a work phone to be contactable out of hours.
Please note you must be thick-skinned, beautifully presented...Capable of dealing with a difficult principal and second guessing them at all times
The Chairman has very exacting standards, doesn't suffer fools and is very demanding

Maybe I should stick with the NHS!

I wasn't a fan of Secsinthecity - the woman I met there back in 2010 was a bit of an idiot. The best agency I used in London was Gordon Yates on Argyll Street - they were actually proactive. I was an EA in London for several years, but not in the City - I went for an interview in the City once, and although I was disappointed at the time not to get the job, I really don't think it would have been for me. I was dedicated to my job, damn good at it and happy to work extra hours, but I wouldn't have liked the pressure of the City.