Re: [Sheflug] Jobs.

[Alex Hudson <nospam [at] alexhudson.com>]

On 12 Feb 2001 23:44:49 +0000, Barrie Bremner wrote:
> Following Richard's post about ITJobs4.com a little while ago, I went
> to have a look.
> Unfortunately every tech position I see advertised requires 6 months
> (if you're lucky) - 2 years+ experience.
> I've spoken to a number of agencies and they certainly want folk with
> experience.
> 
> It seems to be a catch 22 situation that I've seen in a few industries
> - can't work unless you have experience, but there doesn't seem to
> anyway of getting the initial positions to get on the ladder.


That's the employment market at the moment - experience is absolutely
vital, because companies won't give you training. The current turn
around in the IT market is 2yrs - i.e., people tend to leave their job
on average every two years. Companies aren't willing to invest in that. 

Firstly, forget job websites, they're pretty crap and employers don't
use them. Agencies are also completely pants, so don't use one if you
don't have to. Remember, an agency doesn't really give a crap about you.
Their list of priorities is: 1) themselves - they want to earn as much
as possible, 2) their client - no, that's not you, that's the company
who pays them, and then 4) you (number three is tied between their life,
their lunch, chatting with their collegues, etc. etc.). Think of
agencies as pimps and you won't go far wrong. If you *have* to go for an
agency, go for a good one (this is all relative, of course). You'll know
a good one, because they don't have big ads, and you won't have
conversations with them that start "I saw this role and I immediately
thought of you..." and end ".. utilizing your Windows / Broadvision /
Embedded Systems / [insert something you can't do] experience". Often,
they will read your CV (to make sure you have no contact details on it),
play seven-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon on your skills and the skills they're
looking for (i.e., Linux (what you do) = Unix = Solaris = Broadvision
(what they want)), and will proceed to hock your CV around to anyone
with a fax machine. Further, don't send your CV to more than three good
agencies, and make sure that they know they're not allowed to send out
your CV to an employer without first discussing the role with you. And
if you find out they did that, fire them.

It really depends what you want to do, where. At the moment, there isn't
really a skills shortage, to the contrary of what most people think.
Finding good people is very hard, yes, but then, it always *has* been
hard. Agencies aren't great at all - you won't like dealing with them,
and believe me, employers *hate* dealing with them. If you can contact
an employer yourself, so much the better - they'll be willing to find
out about you 'cos they don't have to pay an agency. Agency staff are
getting more and more expensive, and that isn't going to change any time
soon. If you can, look through stuff like the Grauniad, Loot, places
like that where actual *employers* advertise. Don't look at agency
adverts - they're a waste of time, and the jobs on them _just_ _don't_
_exist_. Ever. Period.

Note, all my advice here is based on my views - on both sides of the
fence - here in London. It's applicable, in varying degrees, across the
country though. Agencies tend to be better where there's little
competition, peversely enough, but then, there tend to be few jobs in
such areas. Best bet is to try and suss out companies who might be
interested in your skills - go visit their websites, and look for
'vancancies' or 'jobs' ;) You get bonus marks for not going through an
agency, for definite.

Good luck, anyway!

Cheers,

Alex.
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