Author: Dave VR

Online job hunting in 2024

Looking for work online, especially in the IT industry is pretty brutal in 2024. Assuming you do find roles that match your criteria, over 100 applicants have probably already applied. Using tried and tested techniques you tailor your CV and cover letter to the job description in the hope of moving to the front of the pile. Fingers crossed!

You hear nothing.

LinkedIn will usually provide information on the agent advertising the role along the lines of “This person generally responds within X number of days”. Yet they never do. You hear nothing despite all the time you took to research the role and craft your application.

It’s not rudeness, it’s a combination of inefficiency, a lack of automation, and unprofessionalism. Don’t take it personally. Assuming the job is real (more on that later) chances are that there were too many applicants and the agent did not have enough time to respond to all. Automation would help here, but not many agents use it, or use it well. Then there’s the unprofessionalism. A lot of agents are young, college graduates, or fell into the role after their intended career path didn’t lead them where they wanted. Recruitment is not their passion. Don’t bother remembering their names, next month they’ll be doing something else. The recruitment sector has a high turnover rate. Combined with mad incentive schemes and recruitment targets it’s all just a fast-paced game that many fail, and you, unfortunately, are just a pawn on the board.

Then there’s the jobs that don’t exist. Or might, possibly, in the future. Some recruiters like to predict market trends and monitor local news to guess who may be hiring and what kind of jobs. So they create fake job profiles to bring in candidates so that they are ready to go should the roles actually materialise. Most don’t and your data has now been harvested into a recruiter database.

You did read the terms right?

Chances are they may put you forward for roles without your permission just to prevent other recruiters from doing the same. It may be worth requesting your data be removed from recruiters that have not successfully sourced you a role. They may even sell your data on. Or if they are swallowed up by a bigger firm your data may be merged into another database that you did not consent to.

Between being ghosted, ignored, and harvested, you may become somewhat depressed. Don’t be. Its just a game and unfortunately in 2024 it’s brutal. But there are ways of taking back control, one of which is to become your own agent. One with a single candidate: you.

Look for potential employers or clients yourself. Tap your network for leads. Promote your candidate at every opportunity. Sell sell sell!

Go give it a try. You might find it fun. You’ll definitely learn what it’s like to be a recruiter, and about self promotion. Just don’t take being ignored, rejection, or being ghosted personally. It’s just a game.

See you in 2025!

Merry Christmas

I miss the Christmas I enjoyed as a kid.

To me it was all about family and being together. It wasn’t about decorations, lights, food, toys and gifts. It wasn’t commercial. I would probably be happy with a lump of (smokeless) coal. As long as my family was there and we were all healthy and happy.

Forget the handing out of (wish)lists and Amazon vouchers. Forget having to deal with packed town centers and inflated prices. Forget having to pay for packs of over-priced postal stamps.

A mince pie by an open fire. Playing family games and forgetting to watch the royal speech. Marking everything you intend to watch in the only copy of the Radio Times you’ll buy this year and then promptly forgetting to watch anything as planned. Having a drink or two after the kids have all gone to bed as the embers die down in the open fire and the Christmas tree lights twinkle. Remembering all the good things that happened this past year whilst ignoring the bad. Making resolutions.

So that’s the Christmas I intend to enjoy this year.

Merry Christmas all!

Whose art is it really?

I found myself at a Christmas craft market recently, and at one stall I stopped to admire some artwork. The stallholder was selling coasters, mugs, canvas bags, and tea towels covered in her art. The colours were vibrant and the art was detailed, almost 3D.

I complimented her on her work. She said thank you then proceeded to tell me how her and her husband enjoy creating these products. Then she said “although he uses a different AI program to me”.

It turns out that she is not an artist but a Midjourney user. This got me thinking: is this therefore her art or someone else’s? Her skills lie not in creating the art itself, but in prompting the AI to create it, refining what it creates, and weeding out any errors such as 6-fingers or too many appendages.

The art was good, very good, and the prices were high, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy anything. Why? I wasn’t quite sure. Whom am I rewarding for the work? Are real artists losing out?

What are your thoughts on works created by AI?

Museums

I love museums.

My friends and family get bored easily when I drag them around yet another museum or art gallery. But I love them. They transport me back in time into history. They bring what I have read in books alive. I can see the objects, clothes, furniture, and rooms from different periods, cultures, and countries.

I can get lost in a museum. The bigger the better. I’ve spent many hours in the British Museum and The Louvre. I’ve stood beneath objects so big in the Cairo museum, and stared at the small Mona Lisa as tourists walk by, snap a pic, then keep on walking. Did they really see it or did their phone see it for them?

I’ve been in museums in the Americas, Australasia, Africa, and Europe. I’ve been invited into archives and restoration rooms, been to early screenings, grand openings, and closings.

I love museums.

Distances as a kid

When looking for work distance is something that we generally take into consideration. How far do we have to travel to get there each day? How much is it going to cost in time and money? We consider distance when we consider going shopping, collecting something or someone, holidays, and buying a home; how far is the nearest pub, shops, or public transport?

Yet when we were children distance was something to be conquered. The further the better. When I was twelve I cycled on my single-speed Raleigh Tomahawk all the way to my Grandma’s. Eight adventurous miles through dodgy housing estates, parks, open land, and beside busy roads. My folks thought I was still playing in our street until Grandma called to say I had arrived.

In my early teens I once cycled over thirty miles from a caravan site back home on my own after my mate, who had cycled there with me so we could spend the day with family, suffered a bike accident meaning he and his damaged bike had to be collected and returned home. There wasn’t space for me and my Raleigh Phantom so I decided I’d race them home. They gave me a ten minute head start and I got there twenty minutes after them but it was an exhilarating fast ride back! Not a thought entered my head about how far it was or that I’m having to cycle on my own with no one to talk to. Just the drive to get back as fast as possible, just me and my bike against the world.

Half the fun of travelling is the journey.

Don’t be in a rush to get somewhere.

LAN parties of old

About twenty years ago I started attending LAN parties with a bunch of mates. Over the years we would use these LAN parties as an excuse to catch-up, play some games, eat pizza, and drink beer.

Twenty years later and we are still doing it. Still playing the same old games (running in compatibility mode), still eating pizza and drinking beer.

Should it feel strange at our age? No! You are never too old to reminisce over a retro game or two with friends.

Four funerals and a wedding

The older I get the more funerals I seem to attend. Relations, friends. Cancer rather than old age.

More each year.

I can’t remember the last wedding I went to. The young ones seem to be doing the registries rather than large expensive gatherings. Maybe they have their priorities right: plan for the future rather than celebrate today. Save for a house.

I own one suit: Black. With a white shirt and black tie. It comes out of dusty hibernation for funerals. I dislike wearing it as it reminds me that someone has passed. It’s starting to look worn yet I can’t bring myself to buy a new one as it signifies an expectancy of more funerals.

Thank you for your application

“Thank you for your application”.

I hate that statement. Especially when received in an email informing you that you haven’t got the job, one that you did not actively apply for.

The job market is pretty dire at present. There are few jobs in IT, even less if you specialise. Finding the real jobs among all the fakes is even harder. What with CV harvesters and the recruitment agency incentive schemes designed to fill their databases with candidate data by lure of a maybe role.

What annoys me however is where you are headhunted, go through several rounds of interviews and testing, only to receive an email saying “Thank you for your application but..” followed by anything from we have decided to go in a different direction / hire a candidate with more relevant experience / changed our minds due to the current economy / etc etc.

I don’t really care about the reason why as they are usually made up anyway and never constructive. The phrase thank you for your application just irks me somewhat because I did not apply, I was approached. I was actively sought for the role. I was told I was the only candidate they were considering and I had calls with the team and the CTO. All wanted me to start immediately, they were just waiting on the paperwork to go through HR / the board / the CEO.

Then pow! An email:

Thank you for your application..

Richard

I decided to pay a visit to an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while. His son answered the door. Apparently he had fallen down the stairs some weeks back and is now in a home in the north of the county. He also has dementia.

On my very first day in my career as a professional tester I was given a tour of the offices by a lady who introduced me to Richard as someone who would act as my mentor. I was given a seat next to him and told that he would show me the ropes. She then left and I turned to Richard and asked “So what are we doing?”. “I haven’t a f’ing clue” was his response. We’ve been friends ever since.

Many years later after he retired we would meet up regularly for beers and chat about anything and everything. Others would join us over the years and invariably move on. Then around several years ago he would arrange beers and wouldn’t turn up. This happened several times. Each time he claimed to have just forgotten. Months later I saw him walking his dog. I said hi and he asked who I was. Then he appeared to recognise me and claimed to have been pulling my leg, but I wasn’t really sure.

We lost touch again and I was passing his house so figured I’d call in. I was saddened to hear that he was now in a home and that he had dementia, but in the back of my mind I had guessed what was happening. His son assured me though that I should visit and he was confident he would know who I was having known me for so long.

An hour later I pulled out my phone and looked up the home and decided to call. A lady confirmed he was there and said she’d put him on. I heard her mention my name to him and him replying “I can’t think who that is” in a frail voice. He came on the phone and after several references to past events he knew who I was and we were chatting like old friends. But every so often he would start to mumble and get distracted by something. He would then forget who he was talking to and I’d have to trigger some memories to bring him back, but briefly, he came and went throughout the conversation.

Afterwards I just sat and thought about how sad it was to lose yourself like that. It’s clear that the Richard I knew is slowly fading. I’m not even sure he’ll remember me if he saw me in person. I guess I’ll find out as I plan on paying him a visit soon.

Disposable culture

It’s mad that we have countries that can’t agree on how to tackle climate change and that we live in such a disposable culture. For example I have a device that I can’t charge because the charging cable is broken. I can’t fix it because the manufacturer has designed it as a disposable product in that it is completely sealed and tamper proof. I’ve searched on-line for a replacement charger and the cheapest I can find is 19.99 not including delivery. However, for 16.99 I can buy the device again with a charger.

Why would you pay more for less? I just want one part, not a whole new set! Yet somehow it is cheaper to buy a whole new set than the part you need to make what you have work again. It’s both frustrating and very sad.