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The job hunting support thread

Puddy_Tat said:
did that last weekend.

it was bloody awful.

like leaving a message about something complicated on an answering machine only more so.

and one of the questions was about a certain bit of organisation's policy which i hadn't found on their website, so had to bullshit my way through it.

somewhat to my surprise, i have been invited to next stage, another bloody video interview but at least with real people at the other end...
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Good luck!
 
Puddy_Tat said:
somewhat to my surprise, i have been invited to next stage, another bloody video interview but at least with real people at the other end...
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have noticed organisation is now advertising for something almost identical to what i've got this interview for (different job title but seems to be almost the same advert / job description / pay)

:hmm:

wonder if i should apply for this as well (or would that be seen as taking the piss?)
 
Puddy_Tat said:
wonder if i should apply for this as well (or would that be seen as taking the piss?)
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friendofdorothy said:
Why not? presume you can copy your same application and just change the role title...
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i have had to get in touch, as there's no way i'm going to be able to get even half a day off this week for the interview (i'm not working from home) -

they were quite relaxed about postponing to next week.

i also asked about the new advert - they said they are looking for multiple people for the same sort of role at the moment, no need to re-apply

:)
 
sovereignb said:
Oh how things change :D Agency called me again today, offering a 2-3 contract in my old team. They had previously been calling me to go to the team downstairs, which i had only known for negative things. It seems I will be working from home and most engagement will be email based so cant complain :thumbs:
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sovereignb said:
The fuckers decided to recruit internally. The whole situation is depressing the fuck out of me
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And now my agency has come back to me again with another role in my old team. Spoke to my old manager today and gave me a briefing of whats to be expected and all the changes. Till end of September but probably longer...just awaiting HR sign-off. So some good news for me :D but not gonna get complacent!
Ill look in the other thread for some working from home tips :thumbs:
 
Oh yes using a group on Facebook is great when you get a random number as a possible lead, text it and get offered one whole afternoon's work at short notice. Yeah I'm currently applying for Universal Credit mate, how does that work. :facepalm:
 
Mogden said:
Oh yes using a group on Facebook is great when you get a random number as a possible lead, text it and get offered one whole afternoon's work at short notice. Yeah I'm currently applying for Universal Credit mate, how does that work. :facepalm:
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The initial process shouldnt take more than an afternoon if you got the right ID. I only had to wait two weeks for first payment...there isnt currently any expectation to jobhunt
 
friendofdorothy said:
I've got a zoom interview on Monday... Not sure if I want the role but its all interveiw practice.
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how did it go?

friendofdorothy said:
good luck @Puddy_Tat
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thanks. think it went ok, although they did ask (the advert was for a permanent role) if i'd still be interested if it was offered as a 12 month contract.

:hmm:

if it wouldn't involve moving (to somewhere i'd have no real desire to stay on in if the job went) i might have been a bit more enthusiastic, but i didn't say no...

not heard yet, although organisation in question is fairly well known for not being quick with things.

Mogden said:
Yeah I'm currently applying for Universal Credit mate, how does that work.
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last time i was on the dole, there was a system for declaring odd days' casual work and think you just lost the equivalent of one day's dole. i suspect it may be more complicated now (that was when the job centres - some of which handled casual work and didn't even ask your name - were separate to whatever the dole offices were called then. and when i tried, the dole office dropped the gentle hint that most people didn't declare it and it would save them a load of admin if i didn't bother. again, i suspect it's more complicated now. that was about 30 years ago...)

although i thought that one of the aims of universal clusterfuck was to be more responsive to the increasingly casualised jobs market. on the basis that everything else about it has been a bloody shambles, i take it that doesn't work either?
 
sovereignb said:
And now my agency has come back to me again with another role in my old team. Spoke to my old manager today and gave me a briefing of whats to be expected and all the changes. Till end of September but probably longer...just awaiting HR sign-off. So some good news for me :D but not gonna get complacent!
Ill look in the other thread for some working from home tips :thumbs:
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First day back today pretty harmless. Remembered the old system pretty well. Obviously been alot of changes and morale appears low (according to my team chat) but at this stage, im only interested in earning some dosh for as long as poss.

Surprisingly, the internal permanent recruitment that stopped me from returning a few months ago hasnt even taken place...oh how I howled with laughter when I was told!
 
Puddy_Tat said:
how did it go?
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they said they would let me know by tues 25th but silence. I enventually asked and no I haven't got it. Now I've heard more about them and experienced how they treat interviewees I'm glad I didn't get it. A friend of mine described the CEO as a nightmare so I think its just as well. I'm still half heartedly on hunt.

Any news yet for you?
 
friendofdorothy said:
fingers crossed
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i did apply for something similar with them must be 6 or 7 years ago.

about 2 months after interview (and a phone call to make sure nothing had got lost) i got a 'no thanks' from them. followed a week later by a phone call asking me to a second interview at which i got offered the job. for various reasons i didn't take it.

i don't have a lot of confidence in their HR set up.

i'm not hugely keen on this as will mean moving (and not really in the geographic direction i want to) but not sure there are many options out there...
 
I'm about to apply for another job as admin to a charities befrienders scheme.

Can someone please help me with this question, I'm not sure what they mean by 'effective approach'?

Share an effective approach to working with a large amount of sensitive information/data
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Their job criteria states application should show 'a good understanding of CRMs and/ or similar databases'. is CRM customer relationship management? They obviously use database software I've not used before (podio, charitylog, G-suite, Basecamp etc) but they don't say they expect you to already know these. They do say there will be a 'advanced spreadsheet test incl Excel /googe sheets' I'm a whizz with excel (use it to do my own accounts and cashflows) but have never heard of google sheets. I've made/ used /kept/updated databases in various programmes for about 30 years, (filemaker, clarisworks, access, excel, raisersedge) and have done all the latest inhouse GDPR training. Can't imagine that they have a very large a database (they have 400 volunteers)

All help tips, and advice welcome. Thank you
 
friendofdorothy said:
All help tips, and advice welcome. Thank you
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with HR people it's hard to know just what they mean...

"share an approach" could be taken as implying they would expect you to take a lead on this, do training and generally spread best practice* among other staff / volunteers and so on - or did they mean 'show' (as in have done it before?)

presume there's data about service users / clients as well as volunteers?

google sheets seems to be an online alternative to excel - Google Sheets: Free Online Spreadsheets for Personal Use - never handled it but would expect some of the commands to be different / buttons in different places to excel (i use libre office at home which is broadly similar but sometimes annoyingly different.) may be worth having a play (seems to need a google account) with it.

if they use database packages you've not used before, then may be worth selling times that you have learned a new package.

* - i mis-typed "beast practice" at first. which probably isn't the same thing...
 
Puddy_Tat said:
with HR people it's hard to know just what they mean...

"share an approach" could be taken as implying they would expect you to take a lead on this, do training and generally spread best practice* among other staff / volunteers and so on - or did they mean 'show' (as in have done it before?)

presume there's data about service users / clients as well as volunteers?

google sheets seems to be an online alternative to excel - Google Sheets: Free Online Spreadsheets for Personal Use - never handled it but would expect some of the commands to be different / buttons in different places to excel (i use libre office at home which is broadly similar but sometimes annoyingly different.) may be worth having a play (seems to need a google account) with it.

if they use database packages you've not used before, then may be worth selling times that you have learned a new package.

* - i mis-typed "beast practice" at first. which probably isn't the same thing...
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Thank you Mr Tat - the role doesn't involve managing any staff or admin volunteers so maybe its just a waffly way of saying 'show'
so presume would need to say about acurate input, regular updating, regard for confidentiality, observing data protection rules etc ? Have I missed anything?
 
friendofdorothy said:
Thank you Mr Tat - the role doesn't involve managing any staff or admin volunteers so maybe its just a waffly way of saying 'show'
so presume would need to say about acurate input, regular updating, regard for confidentiality, observing data protection rules etc ? Have I missed anything?
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G-suite is Google's set of alternatives to Microsoft Office products, so gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Hangouts (instead of Skype /Teams), Google Slides instead of PowerPoint etc. They're all both intuitive and similar to the Microsoft version.

Basecamp is for logging software issues, like website bugs for instance, although it's possible they're using it for something else I guess.

Re the question, I think the two key words are effective and sensitive. Who is likely to need this information and for what purpose? How would you store/manage it so it's easy to retrieve what you need, whilst balancing confidentiality? How is your data structured? Can you search it for what you want easily? You might think about integration. Say, if you wanted to be able to send everyone an email, how would that work? Would it plug in easily to your email platform? Would you have to get extra consent for that under gdpr?
 
RubyToogood said:
G-suite is Google's set of alternatives to Microsoft Office products, so gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Hangouts (instead of Skype /Teams), Google Slides instead of PowerPoint etc. They're all both intuitive and similar to the Microsoft version.

Basecamp is for logging software issues, like website bugs for instance, although it's possible they're using it for something else I guess.

Re the question, I think the two key words are effective and sensitive.
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Thank you that is so helpful!

RubyToogood said:
Who is likely to need this information and for what purpose? How would you store/manage it so it's easy to retrieve what you need, whilst balancing confidentiality? How is your data structured? Can you search it for what you want easily? You might think about integration. Say, if you wanted to be able to send everyone an email, how would that work? Would it plug in easily to your email platform? Would you have to get extra consent for that under gdpr?
Click to expand...

This is a level of technical skill I don't really understand (wouldn't have the faintest idea how to plug it in to email?) I'm hoping they only want me to use the database, not set it up, as they say they are looking for a 'people person' and they don't mention much tech stuff. But I perhaps I can ask these questions as if I know what I'm talking about. Thanks!
 
RubyToogood said:
Who is likely to need this information and for what purpose? How would you store/manage it so it's easy to retrieve what you need, whilst balancing confidentiality? How is your data structured? Can you search it for what you want easily? You might think about integration. Say, if you wanted to be able to send everyone an email, how would that work? Would it plug in easily to your email platform? Would you have to get extra consent for that under gdpr?
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Oh god I've just been looking at a tour of the Podio CRM and I'm not sure I can cope. I wonder if this job would be better suited to your tech skills rather than me! Its local - 21 hrs part time and temporary for 6 months
 
friendofdorothy said:
Oh god I've just been looking at a tour of the Podio CRM and I'm not sure I can cope. I wonder if this job would be better suited to your tech skills rather than me! Its local - 21 hrs part time and temporary for 6 months
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It's very unlikely they use all of it, probably just certain bits that are useful for their purposes. What you've watched is probably a technical walkthrough of the whole thing.
 
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friendofdorothy said:
This is a level of technical skill I don't really understand (wouldn't have the faintest idea how to plug it in to email?) I'm hoping they only want me to use the database, not set it up, as they say they are looking for a 'people person' and they don't mention much tech stuff. But I perhaps I can ask these questions as if I know what I'm talking about. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I think I've made it sound more techie than it is really. For instance, lots of charities use MailChimp or a similar mass email program to send out bulk emails. Is it easy to get people's addresses from the database and add them to MailChimp? And do you need to get consent from people to do that? That kind of thing.
 
Thanks RubyToogood. I've been playing with the free Podio thingy all afternoon and have managed to figure out how to an address, set up a 'workplace', add items/jobs tasks and send messages. Can't figure out how to track work flow or use the calendar yet. Think I know enough to at least talk about it a bit. I'm think if I get a short induction I'd be able to get the of it.
 
nadia said:
Well after ten months of being on notice I have finally been let go, company was circling the drain anyway. job hunt starts again tomorrow
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Sorry you were "let go" but I do love your expression "company was circling the drain anyway" it sums up a few companies I worked for.
 
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