Whey Hey Jobs Boom in London

[Tony Collins]

For the first time in a year an agent rung me. Apparentally there is lots of work in London and apparentally Java is the skill to have.
Tony

[Al Newman]

Does one call make a job boom? :roll:

[HS Thomas]

one is one better than none.
It's a good sign. Else, Tony has been reading "Guerilla Tactics" and is sending out new messages.
regards

[Sam Tilley]

I have also heard that the job market is picking up (about time ) in London. Apparently some of the big banks are hiring quite a few, but they aren't advertising it yet. I think by Christmas it should have picked up a lot more, with hopefully Java to the fore.
Out of interest does anyone know what sort of demand there is for Mobile application/game programming? I was just looking through some of the examples in Netbeans and it looks like quite good fun.
Thanks
Sam

[Jamie Orme]

Things do seem to be picking up in London!
After finishing my last contract, I decided (after going over to Australia to watch England get thrashed in the cricket!) to consolidate my Java skills by going on a couple of Sun training courses and then completing the programmer and developer certifications (I found this great site in the process). I felt it was a good time to invest in some personal development as the job market was so flat. I then spent around 6-8 weeks looking for work and after spending all of last week in interviews finally secured myself a new job before all my hard earned cash ran out (which pleased my girlfriend no end � I was about to start scrounging money from her!). The job is in the city, as were most of the positions I interviewed for. What I can say is that compared to a few years ago, salaries are fairly unchanged (in some cases lower), but the interview process much tougher. All had numerous Java/SQL technical tests (which without the Java certifications I wouldn�t have passed), and in one I had to sit a generic programmer�s exam! It seems that as it is still an employers market, with lots of quality people looking for work, they can afford to be a lot choosier. However, having said that all the recruitment consultants I spoke to said that the job market was improving and should continue to get better. I guess I was fairly lucky as I know that some people have been looking for work a lot longer than I have. I�m sure having some previous experience of working in the city helped my case, though a number of the jobs didn�t require any previous financial knowledge and some companies were looking to recruit new graduates. I just hope that all of you still looking for a job find work ASAP - I know things are tough out there but bit by bit they seem to be getting better!
Cheers
Jamie

[k Oyedeji]

Any hints on where to look in the uk?

[HS Thomas]

London, mainly, I should think.
Anywhere else that has a good rail link to London.
regards
[ September 23, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[k Oyedeji]

Hi
Sorry I meant publications, websites etc. (Other than jobserve of course )

Thanks

[HS Thomas]

Anywhere that would catch the eye of recruiters and employers.
Go Jobsite has got a good reputation. I am not sure if Monster has started serving up UK jobs. Publications of jobs are usually out of date by the time they are published.
Failing that , flying past potential agencies and employers with a streamer with your number on it might work.
Hope this helps!

[k Oyedeji]

Thanks
It did help

[HS Thomas]

Do I smell success ?
Which option did you go for then?
regards

[shweta mathur]

Yeah, k Oyedeji u shud tell us, what worked ?Did 'Thomas's streamer funda' worked???
I am looking for a job in UK for around a yr, but no success. The recruitment agents here have thousands of reasons to say "We'll call u back whenever the next oppurtunity comes". Sometimes I feel these ppl advertise the job requirements AFTER they have selected the person.!!
If the streamer funda worked, I will start making a big streamer from today !!

[Jeroen Wenting]

They sometimes do Shweta.
There are companies (and especially government agencies) that have a policy to publish ANY job opening no matter if it can be filled internally.
This makes them look bigger than they really are (or at least growing more rapidly) to competitors and potential investors (and in case of government agencies is caused by policies that they have to have open selection on all jobs by some law).
Then there's a fairly large number (though it seems to be getting less fake job openings out there.
Companies that publish a job opening when in fact there is none again to be seen to be investing and growing when in fact they are not.
Some recruitment agencies are also known to do this in order to seem bigger than they are to potential clients.
Worst experience I had was a job interview I was called to during which all seemed to be going well (person I spoke with was positive and enthousiastic, job seemed to fit me well, etc.) only to find a rejection letter on the doormat when I came home about an hour later.
Someone else had posted the rejection letter BEFORE the interview and not even informed the person I was to meet that the meeting was useless...

[Simon Brown]

Yes, it does indeed seem as if the job market here in the UK (particularly London) is picking up. I'm keeping an eye on the market myself at the moment, and jobserve seems to be advertising around 200 jobs with java/j2ee/london. Of course, some of these are dupes (Thoughtworks seem to be desparate) and some of these probably don't exist. But on the whole, things seem to be improving.
Simon

[HS Thomas]

Whey Hey!
regards