The job hunting support thread

[Puddy_Tat]

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?

yes - not quite sure just what the requirements of GDPR are about this, there was a lot of panic when it replaced DPA (in part put about by companies who wanted to sell courses etc)

i think broadly if someone is a volunteer and has given you their e-mail address so you can keep in touch with them, then doing so won't be a problem, but (i hope i am stating the bloody obvious here) if you want to send a mailshot to all volunteers then bcc not cc and so on.

some charities i have bunged money to seemed to think that they need to get my permission every so often to keep in touch.

think there are guidelines (not sure if it's anything stronger than guidelines) about excessive fundraising - not sure if that would be relevant here.

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

 

[Puddy_Tat]

i am just reading a job advert.

one of the requirements is listed as "the ability to interrupt information..."

is this some new management bollocks speak, or do they mean 'interpret'?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

in other news, job i was offered but didn't happen because of lockdown has been re-advertised

suppose it's worth changing the date on the covering letter and firing it off again...

 

[Winot]

i am just reading a job advert.

one of the requirements is listed as "the ability to interrupt information..."

is this some new management bollocks speak, or do they mean 'interpret'?

Well done. You have passed the first test.

 

[weltweit]

i am just reading a job advert.

one of the requirements is listed as "the ability to interrupt information..."

is this some new management bollocks speak, or do they mean 'interpret'?

It is a test, first of your attention to detail and second of your tact in the light of a superior making rookie mistakes! To tell or not to tell, that is your challenge! ??

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Well done. You have passed the first test.

It is a test, first of your attention to detail and second of your tact in the light of a superior making rookie mistakes! To tell or not to tell, that is your challenge! ??

maybe

i think i mentioned it somewhere on here, but organisation i currently work for advertised a job (if i remember right the advert went out just before the plague started so it isn't going to happen) and the line in the job advert that had two typos in it was the one about accuracy and attention to detail...

 

[Mation]

one of the requirements is listed as "the ability to interrupt information..."

Finally! My ADHD skillset explicitly required!

 

[nadia]

Well first hit of the job market, it seems only really unethical companies are still recruiting. I hate having to explain to some over enthusiastic recruitment agent I don't work for companies whose products basically kill whether intentionally or not

 

[Epona]

I got some work for a few months last year and I really enjoyed it, but due to issues and then coronavirus it looks as though that is unlikely for me in the forseeable future. It is a huge blow to me, I have been very depressed for years and getting some work gave me a new lease of life, however stupid that sounds. Now I am back feeling despair again. I don't know what to do. I don't have the wherewithall to run my own business no matter how skilled I am at anything. I don't have references, I don't have a passport or ID (still).

It is just absolutely crippling not knowing where to start (again!) to get out of this hole.

 

[miss direct]

Does anyone know about the civil service situational judgement test? Is it easy? Do I need to study or can I just do it off the bat?

 

[weltweit]

Epona what sort of work was it that you had last year and is it something you would like to do again? Also would they give you a reference for last year?

Job hunting can be stressful but it can also be a positive experience if you are able to make it so, you will see lots of possibilities - but you have to be robust enough to accept that there is a lot of rejection.

 

[miss direct]

Does anyone know about the civil service situational judgement test? Is it easy? Do I need to study or can I just do it off the bat?

Well, I did one of these today for a job with the DWP and managed to "pass" it despite playing safe, so my answer to myself is no, no need to study. Just in case it helps anyone else.

 

[Epona]

Epona what sort of work was it that you had last year and is it something you would like to do again? Also would they give you a reference for last year?

Job hunting can be stressful but it can also be a positive experience if you are able to make it so, you will see lots of possibilities - but you have to be robust enough to accept that there is a lot of rejection.

I'd post up detail about the work I did last year in a protected forum, is this a public one? Otherwise I can't really go into detail other than to say I loved what I was doing and thought I had found my home but stuff became difficult for "reasons" and then coronavirus, I am self-employed but cannot do what I was doing without working with or for other people due to transport and equipment issues and lack of wherewtihall to do similar solo.

I would go back to some of the work I was doing in a short heartbeat if it were available to me. I actually think about some of the work I did regularly and would love to go back to that.

 

[weltweit]

Epona no need for details, I was just trying to establish if that type of job is something you would like to approach in your current job search?

 

[Petcha]

I got some work for a few months last year and I really enjoyed it, but due to issues and then coronavirus it looks as though that is unlikely for me in the forseeable future. It is a huge blow to me, I have been very depressed for years and getting some work gave me a new lease of life, however stupid that sounds. Now I am back feeling despair again. I don't know what to do. I don't have the wherewithall to run my own business no matter how skilled I am at anything. I don't have references, I don't have a passport or ID (still).

It is just absolutely crippling not knowing where to start (again!) to get out of this hole.

Really sorry to hear this, and I don't know your backstory. Are you not in the UK then?

FWIW, i've spent 9 months in that hole, through a combination of a pretty bad accident and then the world collapsing. But I got a job and I start on Monday. It's part time and shit money but it's amazing what a boost it can give you.

I've been spending some of my time volunteering my skills for a local charity. Have you considered doing that, just to keep you occupied?

 

[Petcha]

The job I've taken btw is about the level I was doing in 2003. So yes. Bonkers. This is the new normal though right. Jump in a time machine.

 

[weltweit]

..
I've been spending some of my time volunteering my skills for a local charity. Have you considered doing that, just to keep you occupied?

I did that. Kept me busy, was useful and they gave me a reference.

 

[Petcha]

Yeh. I’ve got it on my cv now. And ive talked the new employer into letting me do it one day a month on their dosh. Besides all that it’s been really fun. Good people, operating on a shoestring. A different world to what I’ve been used to.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

job outside london - got a letter (via e-mail) yesterday which said words to the effect of 'we are considering your application and we will get back to you' (considering i've done online tests and two stages of video interview.

got (provisional) job offer today.

always the chance this will fall through - got to a similar point with same organisation about 6 or 7 years ago and they wouldn't confirm offer until i had an address near them, but not easy to get a tenancy if you don't have a firm job offer, so didn't go there.

hmm.

job in london (same as i got offered just before lockdown started) closing date is today.

kinda wish the first lot had taken a bit longer to think about it, but think i'll have to say yes to keep options open. can probably think of a few things to ask for clarification on...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and something else that's central london (so do-able from current home but would make moving back to se london possible) advertised today - more my line of thing rather than a tangent like the other two current things, and more money as well

hmm

have bunged an application in

why is it when this sort of thing happens, it's always the job you're least keen on that offers first?

 

[friendofdorothy]

job outside london - got a letter (via e-mail) yesterday which said words to the effect of 'we are considering your application and we will get back to you' (considering i've done online tests and two stages of video interview.

got (provisional) job offer today.

always the chance this will fall through - got to a similar point with same organisation about 6 or 7 years ago and they wouldn't confirm offer until i had an address near them, but not easy to get a tenancy if you don't have a firm job offer, so didn't go there.

hmm.

job in london (same as i got offered just before lockdown started) closing date is today.

kinda wish the first lot had taken a bit longer to think about it, but think i'll have to say yes to keep options open. can probably think of a few things to ask for clarification on...

if its only provisional can you 'provisionally' accept or show interest, pending their full legal offer?

why is it when this sort of thing happens, it's always the job you're least keen on that offers first?

universe is a bastard.

best of luck fingers crossed for you.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

if its only provisional can you 'provisionally' accept or show interest, pending their full legal offer?

oh yes - i'm going along with it - it's at the 'pre offer' stage at the moment, so not at the point of firm offer / agreeing start date / giving notice yet. and not sure how the needing to move house thing is going to play out with them. obviously i don't want to say it's an 'unless i get a better offer' thing...

it seemed like a last chance at the end of july.

and being on 3 months' notice might work to my advantage here...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

oops - double post

 

[Puddy_Tat]

one less to think about - the one where i got offered the same post just before lockdown sent a 'no thanks' today

seems slightly odd to get as far as an offer then and not as far as shortlist now.

they did say (then) i would be welcome to re-apply, not sure if this is their way of saying i'm not, or whether they had hundreds of people apply this time round.

 

[friendofdorothy]

one less to think about - the one where i got offered the same post just before lockdown sent a 'no thanks' today

seems slightly odd to get as far as an offer then and not as far as shortlist now.

they did say (then) i would be welcome to re-apply, not sure if this is their way of saying i'm not, or whether they had hundreds of people apply this time round.

odd!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

hmm

job offer in meh milton keynes is now firm. have reached the stage where i have got to give notice on the current job in the next few days if i'm going to take it.

don't feel that enthusiastic, but feel like it could be a last chance.

central london job probably won't happen at all due to changes in circumstances with the employer (they haven't made contact at all, just going on what's reasonably public)

have interviewed for something fairly routine (pretty much a 'give up and count down the years to retirement but at least it's got a decent pension scheme' option) in croydon - again, might be a last chance to move back anywhere near south london. they said decision will be in a couple of weeks.

i ought to feel more inspired...

also the fairly high chance that mum-tat will explode at the idea of me moving a bit further away...

 

[miss direct]

I'm having second thoughts about the cover supervisor agency work. It sounds stressful, and isn't well paid at all. I also imagine I'll end up getting covid or having to isolate, with no pay, as a result of being in and out of different classrooms and schools, which doesn't appeal whatsoever.

I've picked up a few new students, and been offered a teeny bit of work doing training every other weekend. Maybe I can make this work - I have a job offer of sorts starting in January, so as long as that goes ahead, I can cope till then.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

what the fuck is the point of asking you to upload a CV if the fucking website then mangles everything that's on it and puts it in to all the wrong boxes of a fucking stupid online form that you then have to fucking well spend ages disentangling it and putting it in the right fucking boxes, even thought it's all on the nicely laid out CV you've just fucking well loaded as a sodding PDF?



(there hasn't been an opportunity yet to offer any feedback on the recruitment process, which is probably just as well...)

 

[miss direct]

what the fuck is the point of asking you to upload a CV if the fucking website then mangles everything that's on it and puts it in to all the wrong boxes of a fucking stupid online form that you then have to fucking well spend ages disentangling it and putting it in the right fucking boxes, even thought it's all on the nicely laid out CV you've just fucking well loaded as a sodding PDF?

View attachment 237576

(there hasn't been an opportunity yet to offer any feedback on the recruitment process, which is probably just as well...)

Ugh I hate those online forms. Vile.

 

[miss direct]

I have to write a sort of essay for a job application, on the topic of why I am passionate about improving diversity and inclusion in the sector. Any ideas or suggestions as to whether to include personal things or just work related things, or neither? I'm not an especially "diverse" candidate but I know I can do the job.