One other feature of that very labour market I find myself in is that it disables one to actively search for jobs at the company one might want to work for. There are a few sites with job openings (for consulting and similar industry jobs) but all of them are advertised by agencies. It seems, all companies solely recruit via agencies!
This is an important finding, as agencies operate differently to what a company would do "back in the old days" when we all bought our weekend newspapers and answered job advertisements.
Since agencies completely took over in the UK, the dynamics of the labour market have changed dramatically; it is faster, more precise, and it does not enable one anymore to search actively;
Faster: Jobs are active on the market only for a few days. In most cases, I feel, it is not even worth looking at adverts older than a week, sometimes even days (I refer to Monster.co.uk adverts, etc). As reference point, think back in the days when a job was advertised in the newspaper and deadline was 3 or 4 weeks ahead. Those days are clearly gone!
When looking for a temporary job as freelancer, these adverts get outdated 2 days maximum after they have appeared on the market.
More precise: Here, please refer back to my other article I wrote last week about the perversion of the labour market; if a company wants to hire a one-legged executive production director who dyes his hair once a week with the colour pink and has 35 years of specific sector experience, he is being found!
Active search: Since the takeover of the agencies, the labour market, at least my niche I am finding myself in, is no longer actively searchable. One is being searched and found nowadays!
The only way to be active is ensuring one can be found. So, what one needs to do is to regularly update LinkedIN and XING and go to Monster and TotalJobs and pretend to update something, just so the system knows you are an "active searcher". What I also do, I have a list of agencies and I send them my CV regularly in order to ensure I am on top of their pile when going through CVs.
And unfortunately, that's all one can do; one needs to ensure one is being found!
This is an important finding, as agencies operate differently to what a company would do "back in the old days" when we all bought our weekend newspapers and answered job advertisements.
Since agencies completely took over in the UK, the dynamics of the labour market have changed dramatically; it is faster, more precise, and it does not enable one anymore to search actively;
Faster: Jobs are active on the market only for a few days. In most cases, I feel, it is not even worth looking at adverts older than a week, sometimes even days (I refer to Monster.co.uk adverts, etc). As reference point, think back in the days when a job was advertised in the newspaper and deadline was 3 or 4 weeks ahead. Those days are clearly gone!
When looking for a temporary job as freelancer, these adverts get outdated 2 days maximum after they have appeared on the market.
More precise: Here, please refer back to my other article I wrote last week about the perversion of the labour market; if a company wants to hire a one-legged executive production director who dyes his hair once a week with the colour pink and has 35 years of specific sector experience, he is being found!
Active search: Since the takeover of the agencies, the labour market, at least my niche I am finding myself in, is no longer actively searchable. One is being searched and found nowadays!
The only way to be active is ensuring one can be found. So, what one needs to do is to regularly update LinkedIN and XING and go to Monster and TotalJobs and pretend to update something, just so the system knows you are an "active searcher". What I also do, I have a list of agencies and I send them my CV regularly in order to ensure I am on top of their pile when going through CVs.
And unfortunately, that's all one can do; one needs to ensure one is being found!
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