Only been unemployed since Christmas! Have a 2nd interview with the same company though, first interview was last week, been called today to ask if I can make an assessment day next Friday 😀

Only got to prepare a 2000 word report on a case study that they’ve sent me, and prepare a 10 minute presentation on it (no powerpoint though, flipchart only, and I can’t bloody draw for toffee!). GAY! That and beat the other 7 people all going for the same job that will be there on the day too. The upside is that should I get it, the work will be interesting and it will pay 40-50% better than my last job did! Fingers crossed and all…

well done you 😀

Do they provide the flip charts in advance or will you have to improvise on the day?

The words assesment days strike terror in me – too many bad memories of trying to get a job after graduating a long long time ago.

Good luck

Good luck!

Cheers guys

GJP, seeing as I’ve got to have it ready before hand, I think it’s a trip to the local office stationary shop over the weekend. Know what you mean about the assesment days. Done a few myself now in all, have managed to get a job out of one before though. I do tend to prefer one on one interviews though as I am usually better at impressing on a one to one basis. That said, I should have some confidence in myself, my old boss said I was a pretty good presenter, and seeing as this new job would VERY much be a skills coaching role, then I should start getting bloody used to presenting again methinks!

Good news mboy.

Friday 13th eh?

I’ve got a first interview for a job on the same day at 4.00pm in Bournemouth.

Good luck for yours. Assessment days are the pits but the prospects sound good.

Nice to hear some good job news for a change! Presentation sounds like a pain, though: no PowerPoint!?

Hope you get it.

Wonder if WCA got his after all the posts on his ’12 hours to learn JavaScript’ thread?

Good luck too jova54. Hadn’t stopped to think about the date! Oh well, I’m not especially superstitious, hopefully some of the other candidates might be! Assessment days ain’t the best indeed, but I kind of see the point. They’re about trying to recreate a working environment to see how you fit within the dynamic, rather than just how well you present yourself in an interview. A disadvantage to me, but hey ho, that’s the way it goes.

JulianA, cheers, yeah no Powerpoint usage does seem rather backward and a pain! Would much rather knock something up in Powerpoint than use a bloody flipchart.

Yeah, not heard whether WCA managed his amazing feat…

Good luck!

Good luck mboy & jova54! I’ve also been out of work since before Christmas and so far don’t have the slightest sniff of an interview. Beginning to get a bit worrysome!

I suppose the issue with the Powerpoint and the flipchart is to show how versatile you can be.

Hopefully I’ll only have to do the one interview. I don’t fancy having to drive to Bournemouth twice from Guildford, job’s a bit closer though.

I had an interview last week but didn’t get the job but the experience was useful.

Hope things get better for you soon stumpy.

Yeah, sorry, good luck to all peeps!

Last contract finished mid-November, but have been sick / working on a house since then, so haven’t been trying… Gonna be bad when I do start looking, I guess, since mates have been reporting ‘no joy’

Why do agencies (specifically G2Recruitment) think that a role in Cheshire (or somewhere else miles away) would be good for someone who lives in Hampshire?

We can only hope that the rubbish ones don’t survive the current economic climate and that it will be better soon (although I think not very soon!)

Good luck all!

Good luck all!

good luck
take a pair of bombers and own the other 7 in the carpark beforehand

rOcKeTdOg – Member

good luck
take a pair of bombers and own the other 7 in the carpark beforehand

LOL

Cheers rocketdog, sounds like a plan. Anyone else wanna help me eliminate the competition before hand? 😉

who with?

skills coaching sounds cool

jedi, funnily enough I’m waiting to find out the exact details of who with as yet (it will be revealed to me) as I’ve been dealing only with the recruitment consultancy so far. I find out, and get to meet the team I’d be working with, next Friday though.l

Yeah, I enjoy training/skills coaching. Ok, it’d be cooler if it was bike skills rather than Lean Manufacturing, but teaching people new skills that can help them with their job significantly is quite rewarding anyway.

Any joy with Sky jedi?

not heard 🙁

bit wierd really as my cv is exactly what they require!!

Well done and good luck for the interview.

With regard to the presentation, don’t forget a presentation is verbal a really shouldn’t need visuals. Plan what you are going to say and then find the correct visual to support it, it really doesn’t matter whether it is a flip chart or not. Of all the presentations I have seen the worst have used PowerPoint while the best by a long way only used a flipchart, and I’ve seen hundreds!!

Best of luck mate.
I had to do a “manual” presentation some years ago. I preferred it actually.

Best of luck with it. I’m in the same boat as Stumpy01 up there ^^, out of job since Christmas, yet another rejection email today. 🙁
Got a letter as well from a company confirming they had received my application and I would hear either way within 6 weeks. So they’re obviously not in a rush or anything…

The best things I have learnt for presentations are:

– Say what you are going to say – say it – say what you said. I.E. – intro, meat, conclusion.
– a glass of water can be a useful prop to gather yourself if you need a moment to think (stop and take a sip of water).
– Don’t talk too fast and don’t talk to the floor.
– Practice
– Don’t wring your hands, jingle keys/change in your pocket or other annoying things.

I’m sure you know all this, but………. 🙂

just be yourself, worked for me

too lazy to work an hours overtime = good time management skils

too bone idle to do some simple task so you get excell to do the for you, spending more time de-bugging the sheet than the original task would hav taken = using initiative to save tie in the future

Had a brief meeting with the group manager the other month, she was vry impressed with my not working any overtime and new ways of doing things 🙂

my cv is exactly what they require!!

Exactly what I’ve been thinking about the last few jobs I’ve applied for. I have another 2nd interview next week, and an assessment day up in Flintshire on Tuesday, but am still unemployed and have been since 23rd Dec.

It was fun to start with, redundancy money, and lots of time to ride my bikes, but 2 weeks ago I buggered my ankle up while out riding and am now BORED, BORED, BORED……

I don’t know how people can choose to be unemployed for years….. I bores me senseless…..

crazy-legs….it’s a shitter, ain’t it?! All my work experience so far is in quite a ‘niche’ area (engineer working on digital inkjet printing) and it would appear this has not put me in a good position.

At the mo’ there are tons of software/electronics jobs out there, but I am a mechanical engineer. The only mech eng jobs out there are design jobs and I don’t have 3D cad experience so no joy htere either.

Currently wondering whether to do something different, such as the other post regarding driving instructor.

My fastest rejection e-mail so far came back in an hour – apparently didn’t have enough relevant experience compared to some of the heap of other applicants……at least they got back to me, I guess.

Chin up though, we’ll all be laughing about this in 6 months time. And I am fitter than I have been for yrs (that’s not saying much though).

Going to get out of bed for this one then 🙂

whta job sites are everyone looking on?
reed
monster
totaljobs etc…

Monster,
Jobsite,
Fish4jobs,
jobcentreplus (suprisingly good)

More specifically for my sector – Inretail.co.uk

I was using Reed, Total Jobs, EngineeringRecruitment, str group, Engineerboard. There’s loads and loads but theres also a lot of jobs that pop up on all of them.

I’m sure you know all this, but………. [:-)]

Cheers Stumpy, don’t worry I know it already, but it’s always good to be reminded.

bit wierd really as my cv is exactly what they require!!

I’ve had the LOADS of times jedi. Don’t know why, maybe sometimes they forget to list stuff in the job descriptions in the adverts, but many times my CV has been EXACTLY what’s required for a job I’ve applied for, and I’ve not even had an interview out of it! Odd for sure. Though I’m sure there’s someone out there that needs your skills mate, got to be!

sheldona – Member

Going to get out of bed for this one then [:-)]

Yes mate. Didn’t go to one interview cos I decided I didn’t want to move 160 miles away to Lincolnshire the night before the interview. Which I think is fair enough really. If you’re referring to riding in FOD the other weekend, would argue not my fault, certain person said “i’ll ring you in the morning”… No phone call came! 😕

Cheers all for the words of encouragement.

wish u all the luck in the world mboy 🙂

well done for getting this far – I’d echo what’s been said about the presentation. The problem I had when doing one in a second interview was that I waffled on for ages but it didn’t seem to matter and I got the job.

I also found the HR presence was fairly irrelevant, due to subject content, and gave prospective boss the chance to get to know me a bit.

I like jobserve.com – started as an IT site I think but there’s loads on there now.

mboy, it might be worth you read a book called “Job Hunting & Career Change For Dummies”, that’s got a big section on presentations etc and it’s generally a useful book all round with the usual stuff on CV’s/cover letters etc. If you’re anywhere near New Mills (nr Stockport) you can borrow my copy.

Thanks for the tips on other job sites too, will give them a try later – I’m already registered on Monster and I’ve looked on fish4jobs, not tried the others. I’ve been sticking mostly to New Scientist and Chemistry in Britain.

Had a call yesterday from a woman at a Recruitment agency. I’d applied online for a chemistry job via them thinking that the CV etc got forwarded automatically, anyway she was asking me if I wanted her to forward my CV to the company! Err, YES, that’s why I applied! I hate dealing with recruitment people…