This post isn’t remotely bike related, but it’s a subject close to my heart, and as it’s my blog, I’m free to post whatever I like, so here’s my take on the job market and the trials and tribulations of job seeking.
Anyone tried to get a job recently? Used the services of a recruitment agent?, or should I say, had the good fortune to find a recruitment agent who is prepared to talk to them? No? Well the market is tough out there as I’m sure many of you know.
I was fortunate enough to have had a very good job earning a high salary and with a good benefits package. For several reasons I’m no longer in this position, and naively thought my experiences in both product and man management would make me an attractive catch for a progressive company, well how wrong could I be?
The first realisation of how difficult it would be, came after the very first interview I had after leaving that position, when I was informed by the recruitment agent that my experience and seniority was actually a negative for this particular company, as not only were they offering a lower salary, but I was actually taking a backward step seniority wise. Now I don’t know how many of you enjoy man management, but I can take it or leave it, and I was quite happy to take a bit less money and be more hands on again, but it appears you can never go backwards, it creates mistrust and a belief that you’ll jump ship at the first opportunity for more money.
So having established that companies are suspicious of anyone taking what appears to be a backwards step with their careers, I then found that my age counts against me too. Hoping to find an international position just over the border in Switzerland from my French home, I found that once you turn 50 you’re persona non grata, any potential employer sees you as an added cost to his business because they have to make increased pension payments so younger employees are favoured.
Next comes your chosen industry. I have had the “misfortune” to work in the mail order and automotive industries, which to any recruitment agent means you have operated out of the “mainstream” fields they recruit for, and therefore your skill set will be too difficult to sell to their clients, so you come up against a roadblock again. Are you starting to see a recurring theme here?
Recruitment agents are a law unto themselves, you are either a red hot potato or not worth the time of day. I once registered my CV on the biggest UK agencies website and got an email from them a few days later, telling me that I hadn’t got the job I applied for but please keep checking their website for future opportunities! There was no note of the job title I hadn’t applied for, it was clearly a standard letter, and it occurred to me that this was a first, being rejected for a job I hadn’t ever applied for, beat that!
Of course if you get a reply at all you’ve done well. Most insulting is to receive your CV returned to you, followed closely by the standard letter “ we have nothing matching your skill set” (and never will), your name being spelt incorrectly, or even addressed dear sir or madam, a clear sign no-one has ever looked at it, or can’t be bothered to delete the inappropriate title.
Also insulting is to be contacted by an agency, who clearly thinks you’re the real deal, then find you’ve either earnt too much or are too senior, and who then brazenly ask you for your assistance in providing them with a list of “more suitable” former colleagues who would be! I can’t write what I wanted to reply on this occasion, needless to say I didn’t provide any names.
This probably seems like a rant about recruitment agencies, and perhaps it is, but the reality is that 9/10 jobs are inaccessible unless you go via an agency, so if you can’t get them to champion your cause, you’re going nowhere. I personally think that companies should handle their own recruitment, as it’s so easy to lose the key elements of the personal requirements of the job, which are only fully understood by the employer. How many times I wonder does real talent ideal for a certain position get passed up, because the recruiter has misjudged or misunderstood the brief? Chinese whispers, the job starts as A and recruiter believes they mean B?
I’ve had interviews scheduled, then withdrawn the day before, as companies cut back. I’ve been told one position I applied for had over 1300 applicants! I had one interview with an extremely high end vehicle manufacturer who declined to pay any expenses, so I was left out of pocket to the tune of €400 for a flight from France to the UK, car hire, petrol, and an overnight hotel. When you see their most expensive car sells for over £1.2m, you’ve got to ask why they couldn’t afford even a token payment?
Then you find a company who has looked for 5 months to find their “ideal” candidate, where you sail through a phone interview and are invited for a face to face, ostensibly with an offer to follow, and then they, or their recruiter decline to pay a mere £150 flight ticket, unbelievable!!!
My final tale is that of a recruiter who did not respond after 6 weeks and several chase letters, asking if he had even received my CV? I eventually had a reply from someone after I sent an email to their general office address, and was informed he’d been on holiday, for 6 weeks?! Come on, who are you trying to fool?! Who can afford 6 weeks off in this day and age? I suggest that anyone who isn’t missed after even 2 weeks hasn’t got a job worthy of the name, or their contribution to their business is negligible.
In the interests of a balanced commentary, I have of course come across a few good ones, those who have sought to assist my search and actively looked on my behalf, but there aren’t that many of them! I have a friend who was working with a recruiter and I asked why my CV didn’t get more interest, and it seems they have so many, that everything is put onto a database, and if a few keywords come up in a search then you might get lucky, otherwise, you’re just one of maybe 10,000 (literally).
So frustration rules. It’s tough out there, and getting tougher, but if anyone reading this cares to offer a position in some form of product management, and isn’t scared about the fact I’m over 50, I’d love to hear from you! As parting words, if you have a job, hang on to it for grim death, and if you’re looking, I wish you luck, you’re likely to need some!
