Paul Fuller wrote:

> Your actual work history over 6 years amounts to 5 bullet points and 
> less than half a page !
> 
> Come on.  This is the important bit.  Without waffling or including 
> every time you turned on your PC you need to add more substance here.

Guess why I'm looking for another job? ;-)

> You undercut points by saying how small and trivial they are - 'number 
> of small scripts', 'a small client survey'.  Why not say how much time 
> or money they saved ?

Neither of these things have saved anybody money. The scripts save my 
time. (Which means I can spent more time surfing the web - but I don't 
have to mention that part.)

> Don't just say what you did but link it to the value.  What would have 
> happened if you did not do certain tasks, come up with and implement 
> those ideas for improvements, have such great skills etc?

Unfortunately, nothing. Almost nothing I do has any great impact on the 
company. I mean, if I didn't set up somebody's account or if I didn't 
change the backup tapes, the consequences wouldn't be much fun. But that 
doesn't have a lot to do with the jobs I'm attempting to apply for. (A 
trained monkey could change tapes and create user accounts. Which 
possibly explains my salary...)

> If you write policies and procedures that have to be reviewed by 
> external parties then don't phrase it as if they had to be passed by 
> some other agency and just squeaked through.

I thought that was pretty much covered by "several external auditors
have specifically mentioned the high quality of these documents".

> This achieved compliance with legislative requirements 
> resulting in new contracts to the value of ...'.

This would be lying.

Customers are far more interested in price and turnaround than the minor 
work I do. Customers will withdraw contracts if the documentation isn't 
good enough, but it won't motivate them to *place* work.

> Above all, remember that even the best CV may not get you to an 
> interview.  Recruiters are (often) clueless, cruel and stupid.  A lot of 
> this is arbitrary and random.

All I know is that after applying to endless adverts, I have had exactly 
*one* interview. In the nearly 2 years I've been looking. This is *not* 
strong motivation to keep trying. Indeed, this leads me more to believe 
that trying to find a better job is inherantly hopeless and I might as 
well give up.

I don't intend to give up any time soon, but I *am* really struggling 
for motivation given my abject lack of success.

> You certainly need to improve your chances at step 1 with a better CV. 
> You also may need to submit it to more potential opportunities.  It is 
> somewhat of a numbers game.  And that means that failure to strike any 
> one mark isn't a personal failing or put down.

Spending hours wading through unsuitable jobs trying to find something I 
can actually apply for is really demotivational. But it's probably what 
I need to spend more time doing...

> What if you applied for that job in far away London and actually got to 
> the interview stage?  You get experience and who knows it just might be 
> such a good company or more money than you expected that makes it 
> attractive.  Wouldn't be unknown for them to offer a different role than 
> the advertised one if you are a decent candidate.
> 
> So what if you have to travel a bit to get there?  Read on the train. 
> Catch the eye of the cutey sitting opposite.  Become a cycling nut.
> 
> Sure you don't want to waste your life in travel but sometimes you have 
> to trade a bit of pain for other substantial gains.  Later on you move 
> closer or find another job nearer but as good or better.  It is easier 
> to get into another higher paid job once you are already in a tier. 
> Particularly if you demonstrate some achievement and advancement.
> 
> If you discount 95% of chances without applying then you've really 
> limited the probability of success.  Who knows - it might be that your 
> superficial evaluation is wrong.  Gee - that sounds like dating advice.

I just really dislike London. It's so overcrowded and stressful. Not to 
mention that if I lived there, any possible increase in pay would be 
dwafted me the insane London prices.

Unfortunately, for some reason employers seem to think it's a really 
good place to set up shop...

> Finally, if your current situation is so bad then change it and soon. If 
> the sparse job history is right then you don't have the opportunity to 
> achieve much in your current job.  Plugging away for another couple of 
> years may not be adding anything and in fact it will soon be a negative 
> to have stayed so long in an obviously dead end job and company.  Not to 
> mention the obvious negative motivation and morale. Meanwhile time and 
> opportunities are sliding away.

As if I didn't feel trapped enough already...

Basically I have this job because everybody else refused to employ me. 
And I rather suspect I've already been here quite long enough for it to 
be viewed as a very negative thing by any potential employer. But I'm 
wasting my life here. I want to get out...

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