Finally, i've got a job.....

[crank39]

After 18 months on the rock and roll i've been offered a job, had an interview with this company last summer, 1200 applicants for 3 positions, i missed out then after being shortlisted down to two for this area. Saw they were advertising again for more staff so i rang them on Wed 14th to give them a nudge, after numerous calls from their MD they offered me the job.

Service engineer, 32k, 5 days a week, van, laptop, pension...

Happy days

 

[Alastairreid]

congratulations crank! some good news on the forum for a change.

 

[Thermo]

well done mate, very pleased for you. Dont crash the company laptop!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Al the best luck to you.

Sounds like a good deal.

It goes to show that if you keep trying you will get there in the end.

Well done.

Andy

 

[crank39]

Yeah it does go to show you gotta just keep applying for jobs, thing is it gets to you after a while, no replies, no success, false promises i've had em all, anyway this is my last week off before starting on monday 26th.

Bet this week will fly by now

 

[joinerjohn]

Well done crank or Doink. Seen your post on't other forum too. Any other jobs going??
I've applied for at least one job per week for the last 3 or 4 months and at least 3/4 don't even acknowledge the application. Tried by post, email and phone. FFS an email costs next to nothing to reply to, yet they can't even be bothered to. If I were in charge of, or owned a company, I'd make it a rule that all job applications were answered within one week. Politeness costs nothing does it?

 

[kirkgas]

congratulations, nice to hear a wee swing towards positive news for 1 at least

 

[crank39]

Well done crank or Doink. Seen your post on't other forum too. Any other jobs going??
I've applied for at least one job per week for the last 3 or 4 months and at least 3/4 don't even acknowledge the application. Tried by post, email and phone. FFS an email costs next to nothing to reply to, yet they can't even be bothered to. If I were in charge of, or owned a company, I'd make it a rule that all job applications were answered within one week. Politeness costs nothing does it?

Hey John i know what its like, i applied for a fair few myself and never hear anything, Strata homes were after joiners in last weeks telegraph, did you see the ad? New deal rang me at 9am to tell me about it and told me to apply which i duly did, it went to an answerphone eventually, left my name and address like they said and im still waiting for a reply, trouble is there will be 100's and 100's of applicants and they cannot reply to everybody to say sorry not this time, that would be too time consuming but i do agree its not nice when you don't hear ought.

 

[ColJack]

how hard would it be to bulk e-mail everyone?
I've started tagging my e-mails with a request for a read recipt so at least I know if and when they open the e-mail I sent..
I send one every 3-4 days until they open it.

oh and congrats...

 

[crank39]

Thanks ColJack much appreciated.

As for asking for a delivery and read reports, ive been doing that also, i dont know if theres a way for the recipient to disable this but i hardly got any reports back. There was a time though when i'd forgotten totally about a job i'd applied for and then out of the blue i got a report saying the recipient 'deleted without reading' and that was 2 months after i sent it.

Its times like that that really ate into me and got me down, i hope everybody here who's lost their jobs gets back into work soon, it frickin horrible.

 

[EddieM]

Having seen it from both sides i.e as Frustrated job applicant, and now someone who is involved in the hiring process, I can see where it all goes wrong, I get loads of CV's to review, not nearly as many as other companies do, as we go through agencies (I know, I know) so should be pre-vetted.

Trouble is this, you advertise directly, you get deluged with CV's. The person that has to review the CV's usually has other work to do, I don't know of any company that employs a CV reviwer! so the CV get's a very cursory glance, if at all, I'm sure a lot are never even read.

You go through an agency then you have to provide a spec e.g must have x y z. Unfortunately this just means CV's that don't mention x y z get discarded, whereas in reality if the candidate has a b c it may be OK.

There is no solution when there are so many chasing few jobs, no company I know has the resources just to review CV's. Unfair, and depressing for the candidates, but that's the way it is.

That said, congrats on your new job! were you a service engineer before BTW?

 

[crank39]

Yes, did a basic joinery course in 92, got a C&G and my first building trade job was for a builder who mainly fitted pvc, learnt the basics with him then went on to work for Coldseal cough cough! After 2 years went to work for a small local window firm to fit fascias and soffits cos their window guys didnt know how, nor did i but i learnt, then they really pushed the conservatory side and me and other bloke got shifted over cos he could lay bricks so the two of us purely did connys from start to finish, after about 3 years matey left and then it just all went pear shaped for me.

Then i joined Highway glass and locks as a service engineer, learnt loads including some locksmithing and on repairing, not just basics but repairing burglary damage like chips, holes, gouges, dents. 5 years there and moved on to solaglas windowcare, same work but even more focused on repairs, 5 years there also and then was offered a joinery job i just couldn't refuse then a year later the joinery job went down the pan as the company was put up for sale, it didnt sell so closed and we all got made redundant, that was in nov 2008 and i been looking ever since, looked in joinery, double glazing, commercial glazing, shop fronts, service engineering, locksmithing.

Then you get new deal telling you to apply for a cleaning job in mens changing rooms and toilets in a gym or bartender work.......and they did, i still have the job adverts saved in a folder to prove. Jesus its such a relief now.

 

[EddieM]

Lucky to get new deal really, at my age if you lose your job, as I did, then that's it matey you're on your own. JC were of absolutely no help. Still well done!

 

[crank39]

JC were no help either other than arranging a CSCS course for me as most jobs i saw required you to have one but as my post above suggest when did i ever need one or have time to do it.

New deal are the worst, they supposedly have access to 100's of jobs that arent advertised just purely for people on their books, i ve been on new deal for 3 months and they didnt get one lead for me even though i went every week to join in in their job search day or 'job club' oh no tell a lie, they did help me re-write my CV as they said 4 pages was just too long and needed to be 2 pages max, they gave the same reasons you gave above, ironically though i applied for this job last sept and i used my 4 page CV, got an interview and then short listed but thats as far as it went, this job now is for the same company so it worked out in the end

 

[joinerjohn]

Crank. Iv'e just finished the CSCS course. Had to do a test on Maths and English, got passed at level 2 for the maths but failed a couple of the units for the English Literacy. Did the Eng Lit course and passed last week. CSCS test booked for early May. Apparently they get the funding to do the CSCS through the govt numeracy and literacy scheme
But then what? Most of the jobs I see requiring a CSCS card are temporary, ie 2 or 3 weeks max. I want a permanent job ideally.
I did start 5 weeks ago with a company but they failed to explain that they worked like an agency, so I spent 4 days working then a week and a half sat at home (they didn't have much work was the excuse) So I signed on again and had yet another 3 waiting days before I could get any benefits. Of course the council expect me to pay full rent even for the 10+ days sat at home. Really, for the wage they paid, it has cost me dearly for 4 days work. This company then phone me up last week asking if I could do 2, 1/2 days work for them. Yeah right. Still I have another job application in this week for a job so will wait and see.