Job help

[aruif]

and i'd say be very careful with gumtree i had nothing but bad experiences applying for jobs through there. i never will again.

also try and avoid agencies they rip you off.

[prettyxcool]

and i'd say be very careful with gumtree i had nothing but bad experiences applying for jobs through there. i never will again.

I got several interviews from companies advertising on gumtree - you just have to do some research on who is advertising first, before applying.

also try and avoid agencies they rip you off.

In what sense aruif? I got my temp jobs through agencies and my last job through an agent, and previous to that my employer used an online agency website.

I found this tool very useful for jobhunting: http://jobs.trovit.co.uk/ to search on the internet for all jobs advertised that you are interested in. You set up an alert and hear about jobs as they are advertised daily, often employers receives 100s of applicants and no way do they have time to plough through all of them (I know as I have done recruitment), so they may just take the first batch, so if you hear first, then you can be the first ones to reply - or they may have tools to pick out key words in your applications, so make sure your applications have the key words that they mention that they are looking for!

If you see the same job advertised again, and you have already applied and not heard back, chances are that they did not see your application first time, and I would suggest to apply again. I did and bagged an interview and the job - on the second application, as when I mentioned I did not hear back from my first application, I was told they had not seen it! It pays to persevere! Good luck!

[aruif]

i used to work for head office for reed. i would rather not have a company p*y them half of my wages whilst i'm on a rubbish one. i've always temped in the past but having worked for a recruitment agency it has put me off so much.

can i also throw in that 'Indeed' is the best place to job search imo

[prettyxcool]

i used to work for head office for reed. i would rather not have a company p*y them half of my wages whilst i'm on a rubbish one. i've always temped in the past but having worked for a recruitment agency it has put me off so much.

can i also throw in that 'Indeed' is the best place to job search imo

I know what you mean, but that is how temp agencies make their money, say they charge the employer £25 an hour for sending over a temp, and from that they p*y you £10, then they are making a profit of £15 an hour for just sending you to that job! So if they are sending out 20 people on a job for example at that rate, theoretically, it means they are making £300 an hour gross! It is a very lucrative business, that is why there are so many temp agencies! With recruitment agents they charge the employer a percentage of the salary they have negotiated to place you, that is why it is also in their interests to negotiate a good salary. So for example if the job was for £20k and they take 10% , their fee to the employer would be £2k.

But if they can get you a job then it is better than having no job and no money!

[aruif]

that last bit is true enough!

[prettyxcool]

That's why gumtree and online jobsites are a solution for smaller companies who can't afford to p*y out fat fees to agencies, but it does mean they have to do the drudgery of the recruitment process themselves, shift through hundreds of CVs, interviews etc and no guarantees they find a match for the job, whereas through agencies they only p*y recruitment fee on successful recruitment.

[Rainey]

I'm not particularly keen on Gum Tree either, found that most of those seeming to be private companies were actually agencies who often didn't even have a job, but just trying to sign people on to their books. I also found that when my husband was looking, the construction jobs advertised were the very lowest wage advertised anywhere.

I don't think agencies are all bad, and often temp rates are slightly higher than the average wage for a particular job even with the agencies huge cut, I stayed on a long term temp contract for several years for this very reason. The thing with agencies and temp work is to sign up to several and then take the best pa*d work that comes up, once you prove yourself reliable and a good worker they soon send more your way.

Also a lot of big companies only recruit through agencies, it saves them going the hassle of advertising, sieving through applications, short-listing etc. The last 2 large organisations I worked for only recruited in this way. So if you are out of work it really doesn't hurt to get a good CV and register with as many agencies as you can for permanent work if that's what you want, especially if its office work.

Another link to add would be NHS Jobs for all NHS jobs, from admin clerk to surgeon http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/

[evilzadi]

i was thinking of a thread like this but had no idea how to start. I badly want/need a job. I tutor GCSE and AS level at the moment but its hard finding people to tutor. I've handed out cv's in smaller retail shops and online but nothing seems to work.

[prettyxcool]

Don't be disheartened rawr_xoxo. There are so many people chasing the same jobs! At least you got a reply! When I was made redundant during the credit crunch, I was out of work for 10 months, I would send out about 5-6 applications a day and I would typically receive about 1 reply in 4 weeks of applying! Only to say someone else is more suited for the job, even though I had a strong CV and strong skills. As there are so many job hunters, employers can be choosy and look for 100% fit, whereas in the past, if you are only 98% fit they would be prepared to train you the rest.

Also do remember to apply for JSA (Job Seeker's Allowance) while you are job hunting, you may qualify, if you have pa*d NI in the past, and after 6 or 8 weeks (can't remember), if you are still job hunting, you can also apply for half price bus travel (that is in London - don't know if it applies anywhere else). Also you can apply for clothing allowance to get a new outfit for interviews, if you need one, and if you let them know in advance of an interview, they will refund your travel costs too.

[Rainey]

i was thinking of a thread like this but had no idea how to start. I badly want/need a job. I tutor GCSE and AS level at the moment but its hard finding people to tutor. I've handed out cv's in smaller retail shops and online but nothing seems to work.

For more tuition work what about your local council, our county council has a list of tutors the same as it does child minders. You could also approach local schools and see if they will distribute your flyers, must make sure the flyers are clear that you are independent and not endorsed by the school and that you will provide relevant checks, make sure you send them in, in batches of 30 too so they are easy to give out to each class.