>>> How many CVs have you sent out?
>>
>> I've only really started properly keeping track the last week or so. But
>> a rough count shows that in the last few weeks, I've sent out roughly
>> 50+ job applications.
>
> Have you kept track of who you've sent the CVs to?  You wouldn't want to
> send one twice for the same posting....

Well, the main site I'm applying through keeps track of these things. 
However, that doesn't save you if two agencies have listed the same job. 
But usually you start reading the text, and realise it sounds awful 
familiar...

This last week, I've been actually writing down the jobs. Which is just 
as well, because I want to another site [as I was ordered to], and all 
the jobs were duplicates of ones I'd already applied to.

> One of the things that I've learned is
> without the delimiter of a workday, it's easy to get distracted.

Well, that's true enough. It's like, I have so much time to do 
everything, I tend to end up deciding to do *everything* "later"... 
which doesn't actually work.

But I'm working on that, and I feel like I'm getting a reasonable amount 
of stuff done.

> So?  When I was laid off, I kept in touch with sales people and others
> who were laid off when I was.  It's not like the labs they're looking at
> going to work for have no IT infrastructure and no staff needs in that
> area.  It's not like they don't know people who might know something.

OK, but the labs they're applying to are scattered all over the country. 
I'm looking for jobs near where I live.

>> Basically, I don't know anybody in computing. With the exception of
>> Jayne - who keeps telling me that I should come work for Network Rail.
>> Which sounds like a great idea, except that they don't have any
>> computer-related jobs going.
>
> Not publicly posted.  Maybe she knows something internal or can find out
> something that hasn't been posted yet.  You don't know if you don't ask.

Well, when I asked, she claimed that "all our IT stuff is outsourced". 
(Which begs the question "so what do YOU do there then??") To me, this 
sounds not so much like a hot tip for where to work, but a sure-fire 
place to not waste your time with...

>> See, that's the thing - knowing somebody doesn't actually get you hired.
>
> Sorry, that's bullshit.

Perhaps you missed it. I know people - and yet, I'm not getting hired.

So perhaps you could /explain/ exactly how I can turn the fact that I 
know people into offers of employment. :-P

> Again, that's total bullshit not based on how the real world works.
> *Most* of the people I know who both work in the job search business (and
> yes, that's actually a business) report time and time again that insider
> contacts are the single most important thing to have in a job search next
> to the skills necessary to do the job.

Well... I don't know what else to say to that. As best as I can tell, 
knowing people is NO HELP whatsoever. Now you can stand there and tell 
me that actually it is, but this is totally at variance with my 
experience, to the point where I find it very hard to believe.

> Personal recommendations from current employees go a LONG way.

And yet, every time I ask somebody who works for somebody, they're 
always like "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't help you with that. It's not my 
department. I'm not even sure who deals with hiring. Maybe you could 
check our website?"

To me, this doesn't seem like insider knowledge being this "killer 
advantage" that everybody keeps talking about. I mean, sure, if your mum 
happens to know the CEO on a first-name basis or something...

> You prepared documentation that successfully met the auditing
> requirements.  Whether you believe it or not, that actually does count
> for something.  Get hold of one of the auditors who went over your
> documentation and see if they know of anyone who's looking for someone
> with your skills.  The worst that happens is that they don't.  The best
> is that maybe you get a lead and a recommendation from an auditor who was
> impressed by what you did.
>
> Which would count a lot as recommendations go.  Hiring someone who you
> know is capable of writing documentation to satisfy an audit = quite
> valuable to the right company.

I suppose the next problem is that I don't remember who any of these 
auditors were, who they worked for or how to contact them. And that a 
tiny few of them might remember my employer, but none of them will 
remember me personally. You know, just saying...

[Actually, that's not completely true. I think the team from the MHRA 
was usually the same bunch of people every 3 years, and plausibly I 
could discover who they were... Doesn't change the fact that the MHRA 
audit thousands of labs per year though.]

>>> ISTR you ruled out going to Oxford fairly quickly.
>>
>> I tried to travel there. It was hell. Just for one day, and it was hell.
>> I don't want that every day.
>
> You had one bad experience - your first, it sounded like - and decided
> that maybe familiarity wouldn't actually help, so you gave up.

It doesn't look very far on the map. But there's no particularly direct 
route in that direction, so it's really awkward to get there. And the 
road system in Oxford itself is a nightmare - which is irrelevant, 
because there's nowhere to park even if you could drive in there. 
Instead I'd have to take the bicycle to the office, because the ****ing 
public transport system doesn't actually work...

>> The Oxford company TOLD ME that I would have to come there every day.
>> That's not an assumption, that's fact.
>
> Sure, but that's not the only company in Oxford.  Don't miss the point
> that you've ruled out Oxford based on one days' experience when you had
> no prior knowledge of how to find your way around.

2 days. I drove over there to scope it out, and then I went back there 
again for the actual interview. Both times it was a total PITA.

>> Now, I don't mind working for a company based in London (hell, I used to
>> work for one based in some place called "Indianapolis" or something).
>> But I *do not* want to have to travel to London more than once a month.
>
> So have you looked at jobs with companies based in London?

I've looked at jobs listed as being based within a reasonable distance 
of where I live. I didn't bother checking whether any of the companies 
involved [where you can even tell what company it is] are based in London.

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