Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Albert & Victoria job search lunchtime break

Phew.

Another mad day job hunting. Up at 7am, down to Coffee Society by 8am and the search began.

It's led me to Victoria Street, as I had a hair cut on Tottenham court road and then nipped to Victoria station and decided to get online and start phoning.

Got in touch with 4 new recruitment agencies, sent out 6 job applications, spoke to about 6 people and emailed a buddy here kinda semi-begging to see if there's anything workwise his company can offer - they do PC hardware stuff.

Got two calls to make this afternoon, one has me holding thumbs that I will actually be given the chance of an interview - I'm steeling myself for the worst.
The other is a brilliant temporary opportunity if I can just prove I'm the man for the job - 3 days a week, £100 a day for 2 months. That'll get me through December and Jan until the Web Design scene picks up again.

For the love of good beer, all this effort has to pay off at some point. Hauling myself out to search again today was just so much of a mission, I have to overcome a cloud of despondency each day and just get out and keep trying.

My actual mission today was to personally visit a few agencies in London city - I've been to a number of them down SW London over the weeks. I wrote down 3 potential candidates and decided to phone them first. Fired off a few CV's - got a response, if they like what they see in my CV, I'll pop over to meet them.

It seems that the agencies don't like to meet people off the street - that makes sense.

I've also learnt that you cannot rely on the big jobsites that all the rectruitment agencies use, to get your details to the right person in the agency. You absolutely have to follow it up the traditional way and not rely on all the automation that these job portals offer. I've learnt that the hard way, discovering that agencies that should've had my details never actually received them.

Live and learn I guess.

Oh yeah, another thing, the Brits do actually take lunch, so from 12.30 till around 2pm it's often hard to get hold of the right person. Many of them also seem to go down the pub for a bite and a beer - I think they are allowed to drink a pint at most. Good idea, I say !

I just nipped in here at 1.10pm and will be out just before 2pm after a slow pint of Directors, then it's another 2 or 3 hours job searching and the commutte back to Wimbledon for a break and an evening at The Swan following up on things.

The Albert is a great pub, as you can see from the photos I took this very afternoon.
I'm sitting next to the fruit machine - and look ! - a spare wall socket to powerup the laptop, not to mention free wireless ! - super. (although the free wireless was so slow, I hooked into BT Openzone instead)

You get to be good at this kinda thing, although I did get told of in the library yesterday for plugging the laptop in.

"Sorry sir, you cannot plug your laptop in here"
"Why ?"
"Because it's a fire hazard and someone may trip over it"
"Fire hazard ? I'm not going to bury the cable under the carpet and take a nap !"
"Sorry sir, we need to test any equipment before allowing it to be plugged in, this country has strict rules"
"Test ? Test ? - this is a British bought laptop, look at the plug - I'm not trying to draw 330v from a 210v circuit !"
"Sorry sir, you cannot -... " blah blah blah blah.

I said a terse "Thank you very much" and made a mental note to keep an eye out for this small minded drone. I fully intend to plug my laptop in again, if only to see how far I can push it. I will be a bit more sneaky next time. I'll bury the cable under the carpet ...



16 November 2005, 13:51pm, live from The Albert pub, Victoria Street, London.

side notes
----------

It's mad cold today, I need to buy some gloves. brrr. Warm in the pub though.

Jobs and Sods.

I'm really pissed off today. Once again, I find complete indifference on the job front.

The so called fantastic leads on Friday seem to just vanish after the weekend. I got 3 calls in the space of 2 hours last Friday all with excited agents with fantastic opportunities.

The best one was a perfect role for me, a freelance multimedia designer, specialising in email invites and similar areas for £160 a day. The client liked my CV and the job was to start either Monday or Tuesday - "we will let you know"
Monday arrives, I phone first thing. "Anthony is on leave today" - this was the guy who was dealing with me. Fantastic, absolutely fucking fantastic. Ok, no problem, I'll speak to his colleague. "Sorry, Paul is out at the moment"
I left 6 messages during the course of the day, eventually speaking to Paul, friendly enough "Yeah, we'll let you know"
Phone again today, Anthony is STILL on leave, spoke to Paul again "Looks like the client isn't interested in your CV"

Now wait a minute here ?
Firstly, the client was very interested in my CV and secondly I was prepared to start work Monday or Tuesday. What exactly is the problem with these bloody recruitment people ?

Evidentally, they are adept liars and change their tune when it suits them, one moment turning on the charm, the next trying to turn you away.

I applied for another 6 jobs today, then phoned an older lead about the possible freelance for £250 (the one I prepared a quote and a mockup for).
Now I sit here at 1:30pm wondering what the fuck to do. They have someone else they may go with, no doubt some dumb bastard willing to do the job for £50.

I went down the job centre to look for jobs, but there was nothing new from the last crop of leads I had.

The scary thing is that I've applied online to at least 150 jobs, my CV is out there at countless agencies, but I STILL haven't got an interview.
The agencies have everything wrapped up so tight, it's virtually impossible to find a job without going through them.

My job description also seems to confuse people, Web Designer. Everyone seems to assume your a programmer.
On most job sites, there is no "Web Designer" or "Web Design" category.

I really am starting to hate these agencies with a passion, you can no longer get an interview to sell yourself without being screened by these people first. Back in the old days, you would get a paper, circle 5 or 6 potential positions and actually get interviews. These days, your CV is processed, presumably to seperate the wheat from the chaff. The fact is, they pigeon hole people to such a huge degree, that you end up with a factory situation where people specialise in just one area.

There seems to be no diversity in job roles, or at least, this is the way the agencies seem to operate.

Once again, I find myself feeling extremely dejected and depressed, what the fuck do I have to do TO GET A FUCKING INTERVIEW !

It's not like I haven't tried, I must've spent upwards of £300 on phone calls and net access and have been going for long shots for weeks, or jobs that will require me to relocate elsewhere in the Thames Valley.

Now it's time for desperate measures, working ANYWHERE in the whole of the UK, so long as it is in my chosen profession. I don't want to do that, the idea of coming to London was to actually live and work here. It looks good on the CV and it's a fantastic city to live in. The thought of working in a depressing little town or big city through the winter doesn't appeal to me.

Perhaps I will write another CV aimed at bog standard data capture or desktop support roles to see me through until next year.

Round and Round we go ...