Thanks guys. Can I ask, though, that if anyone else thinks they'd be freaking out in my shoes, can they not tell me so? Because here in moodswing central, I'm doing my level best to remain optimistic and not type in tears and all, and that kind of doesn't really help.

Would you believe it, Mr B's had a call from an agency re a job he applied for yesterday. ears must be burning.

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And I just got a call from one of the ones I applied for on Monday, had a phone interview and am now waiting to hear about an actual in person one next week. Can we please cross everything?

Everything crossed here, Cal!

I applied for 11 more jobs this week, and I've got a meeting with a recruitment agency person next Monday. I also saw an advert by the company who hired me for the job that was to start last week, so I phoned them to ask if I could be put forward for it (as I'm still on their "reserve list") and it seems there is no job. They're just getting more people on their reserve list in case something happens in April.

I've decided to join you all again.

I love working in IT, I love actually doing the job that I do but I get paid a pittance and to be honest covering my bills and having to save hard for any, even the smallest of treats is getting really wearing. Anyways my place is going into a bit of a tailspin and we've already lost 4 major contracts (2 have went and 2 are being gradually wound down and gone by summer) so although I'm fine now I may not be by the end of the year. I'm also a bit upset that the job that I do I need to be qualified for and I worked my arse off to learn in 6 months what my degree level colleagues spent 4 years learning to be told that I won't be getting put forward for any professional (MCDST etc) as 1. I don't fit the criteria and 2. Money is being spent elsewhere. So I'm a bit fed up.

I applied for a job teaching it skills to enhance job prospects for the unemployed, I sent in my cv for it to be completely rejected about half an hour after submitting it. So I've applied for another two jobs all local in the same sort of field.


Good luck everyone else.

Good news

Sorry things are not great there Duo, hope something turns up soon.

Thanks Dais, all in all it is a great job and when I leave for the day I don't drag it home with me but I do wonder how safe my job'll be in 12 months time.

Duo, if I can help with the IT qualifications at all, let me know. I have tons of books and can help out with a few extra study resources online if needed. It is possible to do the studying yourself, that's how I did most of mine. You have to be able to make yourself work, but you already do that with your OU stuff, so you know you can.

Thanks Bean. Apple gave me the MCDST books and cds but it's the money to put myself through it. I feel that my work should be fronting the cost as they've done for the rest of my colleagues.

I've just found a job on s1 that I think is being advertised on behalf of my company. They're not advertising internally but I am convinced from the job description that it is the place where I work, but should I not even bother applying as clearly they don't want, um, One Of Us?

I have loved my job for 9 months and now I am back to dreading Mondays after a series of changes, such as them recruiting externally for everything So I should probably look further afield anyway.

Good luck to everyone looking!

I was told a fortnight ago that my position is now considered redundant and I should look for a new job. This is actually pretty good news as I was miserable where I am - due to many organisational changes there's very little left of my job and what I do now is boring as hell. The problem is, I now work part-time and was able to choose the days I wanted to work freely, which is more unlikely if I go to another company where I'll be the New Girl. I have worked for the company for over 10 years now and if I find a job at another company, I get a month's salary for every year I've worked there, which is actually motivating me to look at other companies! I have an interview tomorrow with my former boss who started his own company 3 years ago and they're really taking off now. However, they are in the same field as I'm in now and I've signed an agreement that I will not work in the same field within 2 years of leaving my company. Does that still count if you've been made redundant though?

Got another interview on Friday and I'm really quite excited about that one, but trying not to be! It's for an American company whose European head office is here and the job is right up my street. They also stated in the job advert that they have flexible working conditions and home office is an option. It almost sounds too perfect!

Good luck for Friday Dutchie!

Leap, did you decide what to do with the job? Is there any way you could find out whether it is with your company?

I got a call from an agency this morning to go to an interview with them this afternoon, and now I've got a proper interview with their client on Thursday. This will be only the fourth job interview I've been for since September, and the second interview I've had in the same block of buildings in a small town outside Glasgow. And an ex Mr Tits works in that very block, so for a second time I'll need to try to avoid bumping into him or it'll look bad that I didn't tell him about it and suggest lunch. No way I'm going for lunch with the ex and to a job interview in one day though.

Hi fellow job hunters!

I am back from Scotland, penniless and job searching. I have my resume up on Monster but looking through the jobs I haven't been finding much really in my field. And the stuff I have found are either manager positions or things that require a degree.

In the mean time I have decided to go and try and get a job in a local whole foody supermarket (it's a 10 min walk and I don't have a car so works out well). I am actually more excited about this than about getting a job in a bank/office. I've heard good things about the place, I think it's a nice environment and people tend to stay there for a long time. I spoke to a guy a the checkout the other day and he said the best way is to approach the person who heads the section face to face and introduce yourself so I plan to submit an online app and then head up and speak to people. I was meant to do this today, but I felt crappy and ugly (after being mega enthusiastic yesterday) and didn't go. Hopefully tomorrow I will stop being a wussbag!

I'm dead excited about having money coming in again, no matter now little it may be. Being at home all day is also no good for my mental state, I've only been back here for two days and I can tell already.

Good luck, Dutchie! And Jet, definitely get your ass down there and be friendly and chatty and keen.

I didn't get an interview from the telephone interview last week. I am trying so very hard not to be depressed by the fact that I am not even getting to interview stage for jobs I could do standing on my head, but I am starting to wonder what the hell I'm doing wrong.

Well I think I may well join in here soon. My contract ends in 6 months but I'm fed up now so why not start looking, things seem to move so slowly at the moment as well!

Calico, have you thought about the career coach more? Mr S' one is doing his cv and he'll only pay her if/once he gets interviews from it.

Thanks Cal. I am feeling stupidly lacking confidence about the whole job hunt, especially having to turn up and be chirpy and make people like me! Maybe it's just because I'm in a different country, though people keep telling me that my accent will help me out over here, but I'm just stupidly nervous. It's just a hippy supermarket ffs, honestly, I'll probably fit in better there than I ever have in a bank!!

Sorry you didn't get an interview, chin up.

Try not to take it personally Cal, it is almost certainly a reflection of the market rather than anything personal I'm sure. Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs but I've been told that any application has to make it clear how you meet all the criteria, I've given up even bothering trying to blag stuff which I don't have experience of as it just wasn't getting me anywhere. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to take a lower paid job and get a foot in the door to begin with but I don't know if that is something you could do?
Good luck with it all anyway :fc:

Hope the supermarket thing goes well too Jet, I bet your accent will help loads so fingers crossed for you too.

Oh, I'm looking at the lower end of things. Very much so. I'm applying for the equivalent of jobs I used to manage before I got ill and not even getting through the sifts. I think I do set out how I meet all the criteria, but maybe I'm doing it wrong, I dunno.

I'd thought of the career coach more for what to do other than admin but maybe I need someone to tweak my CV for even those jobs. Christ, this is depressing.

The job market is still crap at the moment. I got the local job paper and there were only about four or five pages of jobs - in a city the size of Manchester!

Hmm. Or not as the case may be.

The agency rang him and spent half an hour or so going through the role and so on. He came away very positive. She asked if he could tweek his cv a little and send it back the following day. We did do and - nothing. It's been a week plus and he never heard another thing.

It's just rude. I can understand that they may be inundated with initial applicants, though an automated email response wouldn't go amiss. However to contact a potential candidate, chat at length, ask for further information and go silent is plain bad manners.

Cal, if they're public-sector jobs, I really would go for the spelling-it-out approach of writing out the spiel from the person spec as a heading, then putting a small paragraph under each stating that you are x,y or z and/or can do x, y or z followed by an example of when/where you demonstrated this skill, etc. In my experience, job application are scored in a very deliberate way; you get 1 point for saying you can do something and another point for proving it. People with the highest point score get invited to interview. The easier you make it to find the information on your application, the more points you get.