The job hunting support thread

[Puddy_Tat]

The commute from where you live to Oxford would be shocking. Avoid!

would be a bit more than an hour door to door by train - wouldn't want to drive it...

 

[Cloo]

Arse, looks like I'll be back on here - my role is at risk of redundancy and I know they're really cutting back on similar roles so I'll be lucky if something I can take up turns up.

 

[newme]

A job came up in a department I worked in last year, as a consultant filling in for 6 months while they internally hired. It's one level below where I was filling in it but is surprisingly paid slightly better than my cut from the consulting place was, with better benefits. So I have 6 months in that actual team already and finished there 6 months ago on good terms.

I somehow expect this to go wrong as despite half the team of 8 being remote, no location at all was mentioned, not onsite, hybrid or remote. It was also terribly advertised, only saw it as a 6th repost by the head of depsrtment on linkedin. Bloody council website took forever to fill in as well. Would be a perfect fit and it starts soon. Idk why I have such a bad feeling about it..

 

[Cloo]

So I've been sent list of current vacancies and there is an internal role I could definitely make a go of and I think it's a right grade, possibly even a grade above where I am now. My manager and a senior colleague who for some reason seems to be a big fan of me (not sure why but not complaining!) are prepared to promote me to all and sundry, so if they're willing to go to the person recruiting and recommend me, that could be a significant help. Having lunch with my manager tomorrow so I'll prepare application today and talk to her before I send, but it's potentially promising.

 

[muscovyduck]

I've got too much going on. Had to drop applying for an internship so I can go through round two for something else. The internship wouldn't have been a great fit anyway.

In the meantime an internal role has come up at job 2 that I could replace job 1 with it. I felt confident on my first go at reading the job description but now not so much. I'm wondering about the other people in that department and whether the idea is they'll be applying for these jobs, it's difficult to figure out what would be a promotion or demotion in comparison with their jobs, and instincts telling me to keep my mouth shut and not let on I'm applying

 

[tommers]

Got a same day rejection today. Don't know whether to be impressed.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Got a same day rejection today. Don't know whether to be impressed.

i think my record was a matter of minutes - assume it went through some automated thing that was looking for particular buzzwords

 

[tommers]

i think my record was a matter of minutes - assume it went through some automated thing that was looking for particular buzzwords

Yeah. Job hunting is pretty soulless innit? Spent ages writing that cover letter.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Got a same day rejection today. Don't know whether to be impressed.

Better than being left hanging. It was bad enough when some organisations didn't tell you the outcome for six weeks or so, but I've been ghosted after interview around half a dozen times now, which is really rude. So I reckon letting you know promptly is much better than not knowing.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Got an interview next week for the Northampton thing, decided that Croydon was too much of a last resort, and have another week to decide whether to apply for the Oxford thing.

Hmm.

 

[newme]

Hiring manager for the job I really should get since I did it last year and left on good terms viewed my LinkedIn. Better than no news.

Starting to get really annoyed with false remote jobs. Why lie? Also minimum wage is going up, you can't expect to pay 3k over min and expect 5 years of experience.

 

[tommers]

I'm filling out this application form and it's asked for 2 references, who they ideally want to contact even before the interview.

One is my old boss, that's fine. Who do I use for the second? A mate? A doctor or something like for a passport?

I've not been asked for references for years.

 

[Silas Loom]

tommers Customer from old job? That always makes employers happy if you are to any degree customer facing. Includes internal customers too.

 

[tommers]

tommers Customer from old job? That always makes employers happy if you are to any degree customer facing. Includes internal customers too.

Yeah, maybe I could use one of the engineers I managed. That's a good idea. Thanks.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

This morning, I spent two hours working my way through an application for an internship. The interface was a joke that kept booting me out. Towards the end, they asked you to write at 950-word essay on how you would benefit from the internship. When I finally clicked "submit" it immediately came up and said I wasn't qualified and suggested that I apply for X internship. So, I spend another hour and half working my way through that application only to be booted out again. This can only be a social experiment like the Stanford Prison Experiment. That kind of perverseness can only be dreampt of in the minds of sociopaths.

 

[equationgirl]

Got a same day rejection today. Don't know whether to be impressed.

I had one last year that I queried as I submitted at 5.30 one evening and it was rejected by 9.30 the following morning. They did retract the rejection, 'considered' it for a few weeks then rejected it. Which, fine, at least someone would have actually looked at it.

I think.

 

[Cloo]

A second internal role possibility has emerged and we're having an informal chat first thing tomorrow. The person I'm talking to has just been promoted so I suspect she's looking to replace the post she was in. It's not a career direction I had imagined before joining this business (its connected to his bid writing/preparation) but it was something I had been considering as my next move here before this all happened. My manager says it's a good path to get on.

 

[Cloo]

I've just done my first job application using ChatGPT as a starter for my covering letter. With quite a lot of edits from me, of course - but it does take some of the cringe factor our of writing the bastards.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I've just done my first job application using ChatGPT as a starter for my covering letter.

 

[Cloo]

What it does quite well is ensure you have the bloody key words in there that they'll be looking for if you give it some of the text about the role and the business.

This was a role I probably don't have quite enough directly marketing-related experience for so I wasn't going to knock myself out for the application, but was still worth a go as it's a fairly niche subject area I'm pretty knowledgable about.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Well, I just set up my first job interview in 30 years. Wish me luck.

 

[Cloo]

Fantastic Yuwipi Woman - good luck!

 

[cesare]

Well, I just set up my first job interview in 30 years. Wish me luck.

Good luck, everything crossed for you X

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Well, I just set up my first job interview in 30 years. Wish me luck.

hope it goes well

 

[Cloo]

So I'm into general networking internally and trying to get people to giz' a job. Need to work on my elevator pitch - had a really useful chat to a very senior guy at work who was lovely and gave good piece of advice to really angle myself in terms of how I can support 'reimbursed roles' at work, ie people who earn fees. They are cutting/freezing hires for 'non-reimbursed' roles like mine so the trick is to position myself in terms of how I can help the reimbursed people with the stuff they don't have time for and I think the key thing is to say I can make sure any written material, be it marketing, a bid for a contract, presentation etc is correct and professional and leverage my editorial experience on writing, editing and briefing etc.

I guess if the clock runs out and I'm out of the business before I can see anything through, I should make sure I give my personal contact details to everyone I've spoken to should anything come up in the next few months.

I'm fairly optimistic it won't be like last time I was redudant and take me 6 months - my main worry is ageism, as I noted that all the women I knew who were made redundant during COVID and were mid 40s or older seemed to have a lot more difficulty finding new roles.

 

[RubyToogood]

So my job, and the jobs of my whole team, are looking extremely shaky.

I applied for a job on Friday and an hour later got an invite for first interview, which I imagine is just a recruiter sift

I am going to find out just how remote organisations will allow people to be these days. I'm in a line of work which is really national level ie there isn't going to be a job just down the road, the office would be in Central London if there is a London office, and commuting into Central London may well be problematic for me. Current org have been super accepting of me being 100% remote as a reasonable adjustment for disability, ie not ever going in however important the event. This may not be replicated elsewhere. We'll see.

On the other hand it may be a good test of just how recovered I am...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

So my job, and the jobs of my whole team, are looking extremely shaky.

I applied for a job on Friday and an hour later got an invite for first interview,

hope it goes well

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I applied for a job on Friday and an hour later got an invite for first interview, which I imagine is just a recruiter sift

Good luck!

 

[cesare]

"Do you know anyone in your network that might need me" often works better than "giz a job". People find it easier to refer you to someone/a few people in their network and this widens the net that way and it doesn't stop there, they ask the next person in the same way etc. At some point, someone is looking.

 

[Cloo]

"Do you know anyone in your network that might need me" often works better than "giz a job". People find it easier to refer you to someone/a few people in their network and this widens the net that way and it doesn't stop there, they ask the next person in the same way etc. At some point, someone is looking.

Yeah, that's basically the approach I'm taking, each call is giving me a few more names. I'm also recording who I spoke to when, what we discussed etc and then, whatever the outcome I can contact them when I know my fate.