The job hunting support thread

[muscovyduck]

One more application to do and I've finished the list

 

[Cloo]

I think I'll give applications a rest tomorrow and just watch some videos to help my understanding of specifics of marketing and communications - it'll be one of my 500 calorie 'fast' days so I'll save my energy for Friday when I'll look on our internal jobs board (which is updated on Fridays). Frustratingly, while you can search for key words, you can't seem to just look by date and I want to just look by what's new, especially as I don't even know what I'm looking for as there are some jobs that may fit but I don't know what sort of title they have.

 

[cesare]

One more application to do and I've finished the list

Good luck! X X X

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

One more application to do and I've finished the list

* Fingers crossed *

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I think I'll give applications a rest tomorrow and just watch some videos to help my understanding of specifics of marketing and communications - it'll be one of my 500 calorie 'fast' days so I'll save my energy for Friday when I'll look on our internal jobs board (which is updated on Fridays). Frustratingly, while you can search for key words, you can't seem to just look by date and I want to just look by what's new, especially as I don't even know what I'm looking for as there are some jobs that may fit but I don't know what sort of title they have.

Don't forget to relax and do some nice things too while you have the time off work! Maybe meet a friend for lunch? Or go for coffee with a good book? Or visit an exhibition? Or go to the cinema in the middle of afternoon? I like doing the latter, because it's quieter and the auditorium isn't full of annoying people like it might be at the weekend, and you've been somewhere and done something and you also get to chill out in the evening, so it's like a win-win day.

 

[Cloo]

I fully intend to but with two interviews this week didn't really have time - I'm actually quite pleased that I've had enough on to keep myself busy. Will try to go for a walk tomorrow as well

I'm planning to go on the Colour Walk next Thursday (which is going to be on 2nd Thursday of month rather than 3rd this month), looking forward to that. Unless I get called to a second interview at the same time as it!

Planning to see if I can visit a friend down in Surrey some point in next fortnight as well

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Has anyone ever heard of STAR+?

not as such.

i have had some interviews where a 'give an example of a time you did X' question has been followed up by 'and what did you learn from this?' or 'and what would you different next time?'

don't know if that's what they mean.

A fixed-term secondment into a more senior role has come up at work

probably stating the obvious, but make sure you don't fall in to the trap of thinking that because they already know you so you don't need to tell them things - if there's other candidates, they ought to be asking the same questions to all applicants and scoring on the same basis. i've known people who have loused up internal applications / interviews like that...

 

[RubyToogood]

I have an interview week after next for the civil service job. I don't expect to get it as I suspect the best people in not just my team but the whole UK sector will have applied, but I should give it a proper whirl.

My sense of whether I want to leave or not goes up and down. This would definitely be a step up for me though.

I'm used to working for fairly small organisations. I have no sense of what working for a huge one would be like.

 

[Skim]

not as such.

i have had some interviews where a 'give an example of a time you did X' question has been followed up by 'and what did you learn from this?' or 'and what would you different next time?'

don't know if that's what they mean.



probably stating the obvious, but make sure you don't fall in to the trap of thinking that because they already know you so you don't need to tell them things - if there's other candidates, they ought to be asking the same questions to all applicants and scoring on the same basis. i've known people who have loused up internal applications / interviews like that...

Fair point. I’m fairly confident they would be asking same questions, though, at the least very similar ones. They will definitely be scoring. Also moderated by a third party iirc.

 

[Skim]

I have an interview week after next for the civil service job. I don't expect to get it as I suspect the best people in not just my team but the whole UK sector will have applied, but I should give it a proper whirl.

My sense of whether I want to leave or not goes up and down. This would definitely be a step up for me though.

I'm used to working for fairly small organisations. I have no sense of what working for a huge one would be like.

Definitely worth giving it a whirl! Good luck with the interview

 

[Puddy_Tat]

My sense of whether I want to leave or not goes up and down. This would definitely be a step up for me though.

hope it goes well. sometimes the best way to approach an interview is not being too bothered whether you get it or not.

there is a right way to approach civil service interviews, and i'm not sure i know what that is (i've tried a handful of times and not done all that well)

I'm used to working for fairly small organisations. I have no sense of what working for a huge one would be like.

the bits of the civil service i've had temporary jobs in have been very hidebound. independent thought was treated with suspicion, there's a procedure and a policy for everything, and trying to get anything done is painful (and this is from the perspective of someone who's worked for local authorities a fair chunk of my working life). obviously it may not all be like that.

i understand that they pretty much treat taking sick leave as a disciplinary offence

there's quite a bit on a reddit forum here that may be worth a look / search about the bit you're thinking of working in. (i did think about something a few months back - it was pretty much a 'give up, count down to retirement and think about the pension scheme' sort of job, and after reading what was on there i decided i wasn't quite ready for that. which may or may not turn out to have been a good idea.

 

[Cloo]

I have an interview week after next for the civil service job. I don't expect to get it as I suspect the best people in not just my team but the whole UK sector will have applied, but I should give it a proper whirl.

My sense of whether I want to leave or not goes up and down. This would definitely be a step up for me though.

I'm used to working for fairly small organisations. I have no sense of what working for a huge one would be like.

Huge orgs can be good - the one I've been at has been very positive. And they can also vary a lot between teams. I've been in a functional, happy team within a dysfunctional unhappy larger organisation, for example.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Huge orgs can be good - the one I've been at has been very positive. And they can also vary a lot between teams. I've been in a functional, happy team within a dysfunctional unhappy larger organisation, for example.

And even if the job you start there on isn't great, i get the impression it's generally easier to move sideways / upwards once you're already in the civil service - if i remember right, at least some jobs tend to get advertised internally first (although people at risk of redundancy get priority) before going external.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

not as such.

i have had some interviews where a 'give an example of a time you did X' question has been followed up by 'and what did you learn from this?' or 'and what would you different next time?'

don't know if that's what they mean.

probably stating the obvious, but make sure you don't fall in to the trap of thinking that because they already know you so you don't need to tell them things - if there's other candidates, they ought to be asking the same questions to all applicants and scoring on the same basis. i've known people who have loused up internal applications / interviews like that...

Wise words. I fell foul of that several years ago. I was interviewed for a permanent role while working on a short-term fixed-term contract and because I knew the interviewers I made the mistake of thinking 'They know me, they know what I do, they know my capabilities' - so in response to lots of the SMART questions, instead of using examples from my role at that organisation, I used examples from previous roles, thinking that they didn't know the ins and outs of my previous experience, so that would be new/additional information that would help me land the permanent role. But I subsequently found out about the scoring system and how they can only score your answers based on what you say in the interview room, they can't take into account any prior knowledge they have of any of the candidates.

So now my advice would be to pretend you don't know them and they don't know you. Well, not literally, obvs, acknowledge that you know one another. But when it comes to answering questions, spell everything out, pretend they don't know your role and experience, spell everything out for them, as you would for a job interview elsewhere.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Huge orgs can be good - the one I've been at has been very positive. And they can also vary a lot between teams. I've been in a functional, happy team within a dysfunctional unhappy larger organisation, for example.

I'm currently wishing I worked for a bigger organisation. Am currently working for a very small family-owned company. Which in some ways is good, in that it lacks the sometimes tedious bureaucracy and procedures. Conversely, the snag is that it lacks the frameworks of those procedures and processes.

Normally, when I start a new job, my style of learning is 'see one, do one'. But this company is so small, there's only me in a support role (used to be a team of four, apparently), and there's a task I recently had to carry out that wasn't a case of 'see one, do one,' but just 'Do one!'

And moreover, not only have I not been trained/shown how to do this task step-by-step over the course of the few weeks that it took, but when colleagues have given me any input, it's tended to be contradictory. 'Do X!' 'No, do Y!' 'No, don't do that, work on a completely different task instead!' So it's been super stressful, trying to muddle through, and then being told: You did X wrong! Why did you do Y? Did you do Z? No?!? You didn't do Z, why not? I thought you were doing Z. Erm, no, I thought you were doing Z.

It's really tough without formal handover/induction and ongoing training programme for new tasks. I wish I was working for a bigger organisation in that respect.

My most recent roles have been for small organisations, and I feel like I've missed out on training and mentoring, especially when - like I said - my learning style has always previously been 'see one, do one'.

 

[Elpenor]

Ann I think the best job for you would be working in a team in a bigger company, where there are for example eight positions as “widget officer” and you work as one of them. It feels like a sole role in a small company isn’t the right environment for you. For example at my place (where I am one of 10 who do my role) we have a “knowledge base” covering lots of training / notes for the various tasks we do, a valuable resource not just for new joiners but for everyone.

It looks like you’ve come to the same conclusion. I don’t know what sort of organisation that would be, and it depends on what jobs are available near to you but the public sector feels like a good fit. It might be worth looking at organisations that have ND staff support groups too.

Best of luck whatever you do

 

[muscovyduck]

Really exhausted after the mad burst of energy that got me through all that the last couple days. Going to ride out the last bit of momentum applying for some career development stuff and then a breather before interview prep

 

[Cloo]

Video I found on YouTube about internal comms turned out to be super useful. I have come to the conclusion I can't really apply for leads in this area as I don't have track record, but there are some where internal comms is part of it and it's all stuff I can do and this video gave some really solid points I can refer to so I can show I understand it decently.

Had a pleasant walk between Hendon and Mill Hill using a narrated audio walk from Barnet council, lots of interesting historical facts, and who knew there are some lovely old corners of Hendon. It's been nice having a break; found one or two more things to apply for (though nothing very obvious) that I'll do tomorrow. Have also sent CV to lovely former colleague who works at a place that does publications and content for 3rd parties and seeing if we can meet for a drink.

Promising interview from Tuesday has asked me to another interview, and to send them some writing I am proud of. Luckily my previous editorial job has still not got round to putting articles behind a firewall, so I can still share the pieces I wrote. I ought to download them I'm thinking, just in case they somehow get round to it in the near future. The only problem is that they download really horribly layout wise, but I guess the important thing is you can read the words.

 

[newme]

Had some pre interview for job I'm not sure about cos its short but pays very well. Apparently its a one shot interview and it's down to 2 of us. Managed to basically work out what the hell they want from them being a very limited focus consultancy and the client. Honestly think I would be out of there as soon as I got another offer but then they'd kick me to the curb with about the same amount of care.

Find it a little odd it was urgent, asap etc and then they push the whole start to potentially up til the 18th tho. Weird definition of urgent when the former start date is now the interview date and start date pushed randomly. Is it 10 weeks and urgent or by then immediately 3 weeks behind? That sounds worse lol.

Then the place I had worked at previously but they screwed the interview have just advertised for 5 more in the same role in different teams and one in the same one! Figured my interview was basically compliance since it was weeks after everyone else and they must have made a decision but wtf lol.

 

[Cloo]

Well, now have second interviews for internal role and external one next Wednesday. Had kind of hoped one more new role would get back to me for an interview during this week but most people seem to be moving quite slowly. Have also applied for another internal role - interestingly, under the same HR person so maybe there's an opportunity in there if she decides I'm not right for the role I have the next interview for next week, but might be right for the one I just applied for it could help.

Glad next week's are same day - means less time waiting to hear in the unlikely event I'm offered both. If I were, I'd take the internal one because I think it'll be the only shot I'm going to get at fairly serious career pivot, even though I wasn't looking to do that. If external one offers (I think the more likely of the two), then I'd take it and leave the new internal one. Of course I may not be offered either, which is possibly most likely outcome.

 

[newme]

Well me and daughter have both got job interviews tomorrow, I fancy her chances more since she hasn't actually failed to get anything yet even tho I am apparently down to final 2. Have chatgpt'd some interesting things and it made me a list of questions and answers integrating my cv and multiple covers letters into the STAR format then I did some editing but I hate these things. That has helped a bit tho lol as it brought up some odd ones I have come up against before and forgot and some other ones I may not have thought of, plus a load of info I then researched about the way things are different there. It is seriously useful stuff so long as you back up what it says. If I had a silent keyboard and/or text to speak I bet I could get it to spit out answers onto the screen behind the laptop. Will record and see what I did wrong either way lol.

Considering the possibility they may just about on board me by the time I have a longer term job, I'm fine with it and they pay daily. Also please smallish place in wales, please interview me for the 3 day a week role.

 

[muscovyduck]

Got a job interview myself tomorrow, don't feel very well prepared but too burnt out to prepare any better than I have done

 

[Cloo]

I know the feeling muscovyduck - sometimes you just cannot even. I remember when I was prepping for the job I finally got after I was last made redundant thinking 'I really hope I get this because I cannot muster this much effort again any time soon'

Nothing on today, so doing research and prep mostly in terms of just running through my spiel and preparing some thoughts on specifics I wasn't asked about in first interviews.

Tomorrow the kids are off school for 'learning review day', so we have teacher appointments for both of them in the morning then might take them out in the afternoon, and I'll do a bit more prep between then.

Weds my second interviews are 10am and 4.30pm, so I'll put most of the time in between to prepping the 4.30 and Thursday I have some nice and fun stuff planned.

By the end of Friday I'm guessing I'll either have a job offer or I'll know I'm back to square one so I do hope someone else gets back to me and offers a new opportunity in case that happens. I should probably organise something to do then so I'm not just pacing up and down!

 

[newme]

Had the interview, role is wildly misnamed thankfully, sounds like its all very doable and something we would have handed off to someone with a title like Specialist, not the one that says Lead. Now thinking that may look like far more impressive than it is should I get this and mess up some expectations on recruiters side for future roles lol. More a case of we have no capacity, quick someone call a consultant, quite what the difference between agency and consultant is gets very blurred when they are effectively sitting you in a role and taking money off the top...

Seemed to go well but very unlike what I expected for the day rate, booked for 25 mins, thats all it took and its a one shot interview with two of us left it seems. No ridiculous STAR questions, spent almost all the time talking about what the setup was there and what needed doing. They have a spec, they have very tight procedures so not much room to get it wrong, its through a framework anyway and then seems to be basically pick who is best for the job then do the paperwork as per the instructions on the order of paperwork lol.

 

[muscovyduck]

I think mine went ok. Fingers crossed now!

 

[Cloo]

Well done newme and muscovyduck

I've been taking a bit of a dive into marketing trends and stuff that might be relevant for external job; it's not core stuff but it's stuff (about things like AI and SEO) that might make me sound a bit more like I know what I'm talking about if it comes up.

Going to take a break from that and look up stuff for internal role - allegedly the next stage was going to be a task but I haven't been sent any info so I hope it turns out it's just an interview and they're not going spring something technical on me on Wednesday afternoon. I think first off I'll just revisit the job spec and consider what else they might want to ask me.

 

[muscovyduck]

Got the job! Really pleased with myself

 

[Cloo]

Mazel tov - that's great news muscovyduck ! Let's hope your luck is catching.

I'm kind of not sure what to do with myself for Wednesday's interviews as I just don't know what else we're going to cover; I do find that unless you have a skilled interviewer or a very specific structure you just tend to end up covering the same ground as the first one.

 

[cesare]

Got the job! Really pleased with myself

Ooo congrats!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I'm kind of not sure what to do with myself for Wednesday's interviews as I just don't know what else we're going to cover; I do find that unless you have a skilled interviewer or a very specific structure you just tend to end up covering the same ground as the first one.

I've only had a 'second interview' twice*, and both occasions it's only really been minor details and then a job offer (one of which i accepted, the other i ended up not accepting for various reasons.)

i don't know if that's standard.

may mean going over much of the same stuff but with a higher level manager - in some roles this might involve an element of explaining technical stuff to someone who's not a specialist, which is a useful skill in some jobs (one of the things i've done, one of the skills is the ability to explain in simple enough language for senior managers to understand, the reasons why their latest half baked idea won't work in practice.)

hope it goes well.

* - one of them was about a week after i'd had a 'no thanks' e-mail. my reaction when i got the phone call was a bit wtf? - i'll not repeat what hiring manager said about their HR function...

Got the job! Really pleased with myself

well done