Date   : Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:38:54
From   : jgh@... (J.G.Harston)
Subject: [BeebSoc] Re: Dixons (Was: Re: Risc PC (Was

Rob wrote:
> It's some considerable time since I was in the market for a job, but I
> found better results with the actual bricks and mortar agencies too,

I went to Office Angels and they told me "sorry, no point putting you
on our books, we've got no vacancies". I registed with Castle a year
before I lost my last job, and heard nothing from them.

> Mind you, I do have to say, I had much better success writing directly
> to companies I knew would be in the market for someone with my skills,

The three decent jobs I've had I walked up to them and said "employ me!".

AFE Hong Kong - walked into shop and said, "I'm an Acorn-y person, got  
any jobs?"

Channel 5 retuning - phoned Channel 5 and said "any jobs going?"

Council - bumped into local councillor in shop and said "I want to get  
on the council"

The only jobs I've ever got through adverts/application/etc have never  
lasted long.

Watford Electronics: lasted two months
Dixons: lasted two weeks

> Make sure you use stick-in-their-memory techniques (use brightly

I went through a phase of writing to some of the more pointless applications:

It's pointless describing specific programming languages and tools I  
have used,
because like the other 300 jobs I've applied for in the last six months you
aren't looking for somebody who can drive a car, you're looking for somebody
who can drive a Rover 608 that was manufactured on a Tuesday in March 1997,
with exactly 54.6 gallons of petrol in the tank. You know that is irrelevant,
but persist in the stubborn refusal to acknowledge it. What is  
relevant is that
I am a skilled and flexible programmer, documentation writer, and mapmaker.
If you recruit me you will get somebody who enjoys writing quality software,
clear and legible documentation, and useful and interesting maps.

-- 
J.G.Harston - jgh@...