Contact from Recruitment Agencies

I typically get a lot of calls from Recruitment Agencies. Usually it's about 20-25 a week. At 5-10 mins a call plus the inevitable telephone tag that goes on when I phone back and they are busy, this could take up 3-4 hours of my week. This is a necessary use of my time when I am job hunting, but I don't have spare time during the day for that at all when I am working and neither do many other candidates that are in demand. It's also rather obviously a sign of leaving when someone gets calls in the office several times a day and very quickly has to leave the room to speak somewhere private, not a good signal to send your employer or other employees. When I'm not working the default use of the phone is a fairly inefficient waste of time, please see the tips below on how we can use this time more efficiently.

I do think speaking to someone is important when the call is relevant and specific and to get to know the candidate. I'm not against phone calls at all, but with the volume of them, the length of them and the random calling at random times of day it's a bad way to manage time. If agencies want to talk for more than 5 mins and email simply won't do, like many popular candidates I'm either working, busy or can't talk - if you schedule some time to speak and we both have the time set aside we will both be a lot better prepared.

Some further tips:

1. My initial preferred form of contact is email. I can read email in busy places such as on the bus or train where it's too noisy to speak. I can also read email in patchy communication areas (also the train) where a phone conversation isn't practical or the quiet coach when it isn't permitted. I'm also on Skype: Craig.Cockburn for online chat - please send me a message which I will pick up and reply to the next time I log in.

2. Please don't call for a general chat about my job seeking status and recent career when this information is freely available online. This is available on LinkedIn, please look there first. If LinkedIn says I am currently in a job, then I'm currently in a job. If LinkedIn says I have finished my contract then I have finished my contract. If you have a template list of questions, please send me the template list of questions and I can fill it in quickly and you'll probably get an email reply giving you the information you need a lot quicker than if you leave a voicemail. You know, the stuff about salary/rate, location, contract/perm, career aspirations, etc. It's all fairly standard stuff. Once we get that out the way then we can schedule a proper talk for the relevant opportunities. Neither of us likes playing telephone tag and an introductory email is a much better use of my time, and yours, than random calls about permanent jobs in the wrong location or contract jobs at half my acceptable rate. Generally I only look for work within 90 mins of Central London, however I make exceptions for outstanding opportunities.

3. I am always happy for agencies to have my current CV (Resume) so we can stay in touch and you can follow my career and goals. Please send me an email at craig@siliconglen.com

4. I have two phones, one for incoming and one for outgoing. This allows me to browse the web, read relevant emails, etc whilst talking. The incoming one is usually on silent unless I am expecting a call as I don't want the phone ringing at work 20 times a week. It usually goes to voicemail. If it does go to voicemail, you are nearly always guaranteed a quicker response if you use the email address above. This is because I won't have to pick up the voicemail, write down the phone number and find a time to call back and hope you are there. Instead, I can just click reply and not worry if I've misheard the message, got a digit wrong or need to find somewhere quiet. I've had several calls from agents calling from bad reception areas and it took several attempts to get the phone number from the message, this is a waste of time. At least twice I have worked in a bad reception area. It is incredibly frustrating trying to deal with agencies who insist on using the phone in these circumstances and it is ultimately their loss if they can't put forward the best candidates because they insist on being able to talk to them to confirm basic details even when this isn't possible.

5. I've read James Caan's book on how he started in recruitment and made millions. In the beginning it was partly due to having a prestigious address in Pall Mall. I know that the address means a lot to many agencies for image purposes and so many agencies rent serviced offices. For this reason, and others, they often call from withheld or shared phone numbers. Please do not do this, it is exceptionally unprofessional. I have no idea when the call rings from a withheld number if it's a reputable agency I really want to talk to, a cold call agency I can put off, or a dodgy scammer. If you don't want to get mixed up with the dodgy scammer, don't call from a withheld number. It should be a simple switch on the office exchange, it isn't a big deal to change it and if it is then why not use Skype out instead? Not only does revealing your number let me know who is calling it means it's much much easier for me to call you back. Surely you want this? Please also call from a normal geographic landline rather than a non geographic number.

6. When you send me an email, please include a link to your LinkedIn profile so we can connect there and preferably also your mobile phone number. I classify all my contacts and email the recruitment related ones when my contract is coming to an end. I am able to do this effectively, despite LinkedIn's best attempts at making this selective mailing impossible. If we are connected on LinkedIn, you will know immediately when I am looking for work. Please forward your LinkedIn email account mail to your work address if you use a personal email address for this.

7. Don't ever send me a text from a number I can't reply to. This is exceptionally irritating and also quite rude. The equivalent of requiring someone to write a letter to stop anonymous sales phone calls. If you communicate with my by text, it is only courtesy to allow me to reply the same way.

8. If I call you from a different number, don't store it in your database. The number I put on my CV is the number you should use. If I wanted you to use a different number, I would put it on my CV.

9. Despite the insistence of many agencies in using the phone, none appear to use Skype. This strikes me as odd as we have both the benefit of talking by phone as well as the benefits of video calling.

10. I get a ton of mail about completely irrelevant vacancies that have no relevance whatsoever to my skills, largely because some agencies don't have very effective email campaign software and instead prefer the blanket email approach as it's cheaper than advertising. Please send these to a startup I have an interest in at MoveJobs.com . If you email them to movejobs@yahoogroups.com they will go to a pre-moderated list that goes onto the web at the Move Jobs Board and auto tweets the updates to the associated http://twitter.com/move_jobs  twitter account at peak times of day when people are most likely to be looking for work. If your standard signature says the email is confidential and can't be redistributed then this will be ignored; you are sending it to a group for publication, that's what it's for. There are a lot of innovative ideas coming with movejobs.com, based largely on my 20 years of jobseeking and having thought up probably the world's first on-line recruitment agency in 1989 and winning an award for it through Shell Livewire and appearing in the local paper at the time.

Thanks for your time, if any candidates or agencies have any further thoughts, please add them in the comments.

Fulltiltpoker.com, stickiest site on the Internet

Figures according to Nielsen on-line, February 2009. see here for full breakdown.

Craig, Web project manager, Full Tilt Poker.

Available from mid April for my next opportunity, LinkedIn.

Seeking Senior Project Management / Web opportunities / CTO / Programme manager

If anyone reading this is hiring a web project manager/ CTO at the moment or knows anyone with this requirement then please view my details on my linkedin profile and get in touch.

I am looking for contract work UK wide, permanent work in Central Scotland but I would also look at permanent work further afield depending on the opportunity. I'm available from Mid December, happy to meet up, chat online before hand. I'm currently in London Mon-Fri working at BERR, 1 Victoria Street, Westminster.

Qualified and experienced Web Project Manager, recently qualified Programme manager, Agile experience and current security clearance.

thanks

Craig

Back to work by working together

My idea on the show us a better way government website. £20,000 prize to be won by making better use of government data.

Seeking Senior Project Management / Web opportunities / CTO

Wondering if anyone reading this is hiring a web project manager/ CTO at the moment
You can view my details on my linkedin profile. Looking for contract work UK wide, permanent work in Central Scotland but I would also look at permanent work further afield depending on the opportunity. I'm immediataly available, happy to meet up, chat online before hand. I'll be in London on Tuesday.

thanks

Craig

Looking for a new job

I started contracting last year and in the first week of Jan 2007 started as project manager of tesco.com grocery (Welwyn Garden City). However, following a department wide reorganisation the project I was on was put on hold and as a result the contract ended. Shortly afterwards however I got my next contract in Belfast working for the criminal justice sector. This lasted over 9 months and I obtained security clearance through it but the contract ended just before Christmas. I’ve had a few interviews since then but no joy yet although great feedback, it’s been more a case of there were candidates who fitted the roles in question better rather than anything negative about me.

At the moment, the immediate aim is to get a contract project management / software development manager position, flexible UK wide. Usual stuff I’ve done in the past has been web / e-commerce based but I’m not restricted to those roles and have worked in sectors ranging from banking and public sector to .com start-ups and consultancy. Longer term however, I’m looking to move up the management ladder to a more CTO level position, especially for a smaller company or start-up and as you can tell by the favourable response many of my ideas have had on Cambrian house, I’m not short on fresh ideas. Having been a company director for 13 years I would ideally like to be running my own company to carry some of these ideas forward (one of which was reviewed on Cambrian House as ‘the next Google’) but the current financial climate together with a lack of much of a networking scene in Scotland where you can get together with complimentary members of a management team makes this difficult. I guess I must be doing something right, there can’t be many like me in Scotland who have been interviewed by both Google and Amazon. There’s some more info about me via the links under my profile on this page.

So if there’s anyone out there hiring at the moment for a Project Manager with innovative ideas and great at finding solutions to problems, on the lookout for a CTO or wanting to fund a startup then please get in touch. I realise this might sound like I’m not sure what I want to do, it isn’t meant to be, it’s just being pragmatic. Maybe there wasn't enough of that during the dot com hype days.

Craig

First year contracting

Today marks the first anniversary of the start of my career full time contracting, so here's a look back on the previous year including some of the things that I did that were by products of that transition and the associated lifestyle and most of which I wouldn't have done had I still been a full time permanent employee in my previous job.

Here goes:

Was Project Manager for Tesco.com grocery, one of the world's leading e-commerce sites

Was Project manager for a major public sector project in Northern Ireland, part of the Causeway programme.

Gained security clearance

Bought laptop for working away from home

Bought PRINCE2 course, studying in my spare time

Went to the gym a lot

Went to over 80 live performances

Considerably improved my singing.

Turnover of my company that I founded in 2001 is now sufficient to require VAT registration. Filed first VAT return, very boring.

Got RBS Black card.

Visited debating chamber at Stormont

Met the Minister for Enterprise in Scotland

Appeared in the Belfast Telegraph, helped with research for programme on Ulster Scots

Learned about what really makes a good hotel and that few hotels are actually worth staying in for more than a few nights before total boredom sets in. Campaigned against rip off WiFi rates.

Significantly increased my income and moved house.

Admired Central Scotland and the Ayrshire coast from 16,000 feet on a clear blue day, several times.

Was Information lead for a Techcrunch 40 company, Crowdspirit.

Met lots of interesting people from all over the world.

Got used to 4am starts every Monday.

Walked from my bedroom to work every day.

I can now drink in a smoke free pub anywhere in the UK, something I campaigned for on national TV in 1990.

Became my own boss.

New Year, New Job

I'm pleased to say that on the first working day of the year in Scotland, I received a job offer which I've accepted and I start work there next week. It was less than three weeks between seeing the job advert and starting work, which is pretty good going considering the Christmas/New Year break.

It's a project management position for a major "dot com" and I'm looking forward to it.

Best wishes to all the other job seekers out there and I hope that the New Year for you brings similar success, it's a frustrating market when you are dealing with companies that take months to make a decision one way or the other.

Craig

Is "too experienced" the new ageism?

I applied for a job recently which would have been a slight step up the career ladder. The job was excellent and I was really excited about applying. I tailored my CV accordingly the agent liked it and thought I was a great match and after 2 weeks the company reported back that despite my impression that it was a step up the career ladder and it was a bigger package than I am currently on that they rejected me because they felt I was "too experienced".

Is this a euphemism for "too old" I wonder? I don't feel too experienced when shovelling horse shit each night when I clean the stable. I don't feel too experienced when I do the manual work around the house. I also don't feel too experienced being versatile enough to step in and do all sort of work that comes my way so long as it gets the job done for the company?

Too experienced? Is there such a thing? If I think I'm a good match for the job, the agency thinks I'm a good match for the job is it not better for a discussion to happen regarding whether the employer feels I'm too experienced or not rather than a flat rejection? After all, what some women prefer when returning from having a baby is an easier job with more flexible hours, less stress and a better work-life balance. Are they also rejected for taking a step back because they are "too experienced" ?

Well if the company wants me to run a multi billion pound company then fair enough I'll take the job, but really being a project manager would be just fine for me thanks. It would be a great job, would be a career move for me and would allow me to balance the day job and doing an MBA. Perhaps after 2 years I might be too experienced then, but 2 years is a long time to look around for a promotion.

My experience, as well as feedback from agencies and the experiences of other candidates indicate that recruitment is easily the most inefficient process when running a business. How can it be made to work more smoothly?

Recommended job search site

As someone currently looking for a job, (anyone hiring for Technical Lead / IT Manager or CTO at the moment?) I have been using a wide variety of job search sites with mixed results. Incase anyone else is in the same situation, the site I have found that consistently returns the most relevant results and has the most flexible search (especially for Scotland) is ScotRecruit, the Scottish branded version of Jobsite who brand themselves as "The original, award-winning UK job search and jobs by email service". I guess my computerised job matching service I thought up in 1989 and got an award for in the Shell Livewire competition and my picture in the local paper doesn't count then? :-)

Seriously folks, there are loads of sites out there. Try this one first.

They have even lead the field and created a very useful page on the age discrimination legislation which is about to come into force in the UK.