Need some tips finding a job

[Joeemm]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd pop and see if anyone has any solid advice about finding a job in IT in Perth.

As some members will now I had a contract (6 mnths on the face of it) which was canned after 3 weeks but the company due to restructuring. Anyway, now I find I've been sending my resume to what seems like every agency in town with very few interviews and no offers after almost 3 months.

Has anyone had the same experience recently. On thing that has come out is that the co's are looking for specific experience where as most of us from SA are more generalist. We can just about anything if given the opportunity, but to convince people of this is the problem.

Well I await your wisdom as usual, otherwise we love it here.

Regards

Joseph

[Ajay]

Hi Joseph,

Try bypassing agencies altogether - remember that they charge a fee to their clients. Nothing is more attractive to an employer than good skills appraoching them without an invoice stuck to their forehead from the agency! You'll get a lot of rejections - try to avoid HR and get to the right business manager (Infrastructure, Development - whatever your field is) and see if you get any more bites.

Best of luck!

Ajay

[Guest B H]

Hi Joe - Shame, that is stressfull. I am in a totally different field - banking - but I asked an employment agent about references, and this is the reply he sent me today:-

Good to hear from you Bronwyn.

References are an integral part of our selection process. Whilst written references are nice to have, typically they do not provide the depth of information we require. They also, of course, do not allow any dynamic interchange of thoughts etc.

This is a very long winded way of saying that we really need a referee (ideally two) who is available for us to talk with comment on your recent work history etc.

Hope this makes sense.

Regards R Brown.

Maybe you should butter up some of your SA work connections & get some written references if you haven't already tried that? ? Bronwyn.

[Joeemm]

Hi everyone

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions, on a brighter note I went for 2 interviews with agencies today and sent my cv to 2 other prospective jobs, so hold thumbs and next time I may have good news

Chat soon

Joseph

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi Joseph,

A small hint, that works very well for a lot of people, and has worked for me. Join your local volunteer centre. They are always looking for IT volunteers, and that way you can accomplish a lot of things. You will meet people, and get yourself known and you will have a reference in Australia. Most companies have a very high regard of people that volunteer. You might as well volunteer yourself right into a job! I've seen that happen a few times.

Last but not least, you might end up enjoying yourself, building your self-esteem, and opening doors for yourself. Who said volunteering is only helping other people?

Greetings,

Dreamy

[bubbly]

Hi Joe - Shame, that is stressfull. I am in a totally different field - banking - but I asked an employment agent about references, and this is the reply he sent me today:-

Good to hear from you Bronwyn.

References are an integral part of our selection process. Whilst written references are nice to have, typically they do not provide the depth of information we require. They also, of course, do not allow any dynamic interchange of thoughts etc.

This is a very long winded way of saying that we really need a referee (ideally two) who is available for us to talk with comment on your recent work history etc.

Hope this makes sense.

Regards R Brown.

Maybe you should butter up some of your SA work connections & get some written references if you haven't already tried that? ? Bronwyn.

Hi Bronwyn

I am also in banking, companies do not want written refrences here they want contactable references, they are not interested in looking at anything on a piece of paper.