scoobyman1984

I have now been made fully redundant from my job as of today after over 10 years of loyal service.

I have no bad feelings whatsoever against my employer as his hands were tied and there was nothing more he could do to prolong things.

So i'm looking for full-time employment as quickly as possible in and around the Staffordshire area, i'm really not fussed with regards to position, but my experience is office based, surveying/estimating for minor building/remedial works, also have experience in website administration although quite basic. i have also got significant experience in property management and letting.

I have a vast interest in cars of all types, particularly Japanese and american, so anything at all to do with this line of work would be amazing, even if it is nothing more than fetching/carrying/driving.

As already stated in other posts pertaining to un-employment, i am a loyal to a fault, hard working and genuine person who learns new procedures and systems very quickly and will work hard to proove myself to any person kind enough to give me a chance.

I am useless with CV's, so if anyone has any good tips for me with regards to help writing or pointing me in the direction of someone who can help that would be great.

Look forward to hearing from anyone at all who think they may be able to help in any way or point me in the direction of any work.

Many Thanks

Steve

Graz

You sound like you are quite "handy" so shouldn't have too much trouble finding work.

What you have written here would be quite a good basis for a covering letter to a CV There are hundreds of guides to CV writing out there so just Google it and if your really struggling many service to produce one for you. Just be careful not to have too much bullsh*t that you can't back up if heavily questioned about any of it in an interview (if you've seen The Apprentice you'd have seen this in the extreme).

Just get yourself out there, apply to whatever company interests you, and do you homework. There is nothing to lose.

Hope you got a decent redundancy package. Good luck!

andylinney

Steve, happy to help getting a CV put together for you (I'm an ex-employability adviser) drop me a pm if I can help.

fpan

iTrader: (11)

I am in the same situation and feel for you.

The market seems to be really slow (at least in what I am doing, telecoms related work).

Andy, I'd appreciate if you could give me a few tips or a little help with the CV / cover letter as well as I am looking to change slight direction in career.

David Lock

Good luck to you Steve.

Do take up a CV help offer on here or pay £100 or so and get one done.

A quick glance and it looks like you should try a medium size builder who wants help with plans/regs etc.

Or a job in a specialist garage that deals with Yank cars and Google says there are a few in Staffs area.

I can't see a single job covering both

atb. dl

And always use a spell checker

scoobyman1984

Many thanks Andy, i'll drop you a pm later tonight if thats ok?

tony de wonderful

Good luck.

andylinney

No worries

PaulC72

Steve, lots of surveying / estimating roles out there currently, construction is on the up.

Search through places like Reed and maybe talk to people a PSR - Speak to Sarah Jones or Ben

Others to speak to are Think recruitment.

Good luck.

paulr

I was made redundant last year after 20 years and am now on my fifth job. Crap jobs easy to find, good ones hard.

1. Make use of the fact you can get discounted courses if you are made redundant. In engineeering, everyone wants health and safety qualifications.

2. Your CV is so important. I have changed mine 5/6 times before i got even an interview. I'm finding 200 people for each job (decent job).

3. If you want to take a crap job as a stop gap, take one that adds something to your cv/ new skills etc.

4. Friends and word of mouth is still so important imo.

5. Lots of agency work with the "promise"of a full time job at the end. Take it with a pinch of salt.

All pretty obvious stuff................but what the heck,...................

dnc

Good luck Steve and keep your chin up. Same happened to me last summer and the barstewards fcuked all of us over by going into liquidation. After taking a well deserved 6 month break and one job that wasn't for me later I am now in a better job than originally. I wouldn't have applied if I hadn't been made redundant. Try to keep positive and remember it could end up being a good thing.

There are some good sites out there......CV library still send me loads of information through.

bighead

iTrader: (1)

feel for you .......but better thing maybe on the horizon !!

cant really offer any advice re employment , but wish you the very best of luck !

Dingdongler

You seem to have the right attitude mate so I'm sure something will come along.

Best of luck

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

I believe it's all about attitude and it sounds like you have the right one.

Friend of mine is out of work again, been six months now (at least) and he goes on about how depressing it is. Yet when a job came up in my place (the role he is looking for) and I suggested he emails the hiring manager (colleague of mine) and name drops, he said he was tired (3pm) and would do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and went and the job was filled.

DYK

I think when you been out of work for a while,it can start to become normal part of your life,sit back and not do much about it.
I suppose its almost the same as someone who isn't happy in a job.They will still go to work and moan everyday how unhappy they are,but not do much about it.

scoobyman1984

OK, first real draft of my CV now completed and sent over to Andy to take a look over, thanks Andy, Still on the look out for anything available in the Staffordshire area, so if you know of anything, please don't be shy and let me know.

Many thanks to all of you offering advice as well.

cheers

steve

andylinney

Okay, probably shooting myself and any professional CV writers in the foot here but I don’t believe in charging people for helping them do something at a time when money can be a concern.

First of all, unless you’re a professional with a very specific skill set it’s probably not worth having someone write a CV for you. Please don’t take that wrongly – the best person to tell someone about what you can and can’t do is YOU!

If I write something then it’s in my language and uses my phraseology, it’s a bit like doing homework for someone else, the recruiter can spot something that the person didn’t write themselves from a mile off during the first phonecall.

The fundamentals of CV writing are actually really straightforward and it’s probably the worst kept secret ever:

In order to write a good CV and Cover Letter you need to have the job advert, person spec and job description of the job you want in front of you. If one of those things isn’t available pick up the ‘phone and speak to someone about the role and listen carefully to what they say.

Literally go through and highlight / underline anything that is a descriptor, the biggest hint ever is the words: “The successful candidate will…”

What you now need to do is use that language in your CV, if their looking for someone who is 27 foot tall and can paint skirting boards then your CV needs to read “I am a 27 foot tall skirting board painter”.

Okay, so I’m being daft but please don’t underestimate the stupidity and impersonality of the recruitment process, they’ve chosen those personal and professional attributes to put in those documents for a reason, so you need to demonstrate how you fit that description perfectly.

The process has to be demonstrably fair, so a lot of employers will use a scoring system that grades applicants on their ability to identify and explain how they meet those criteria. Don’t leave anything out, I’ve seen scoring cards in use that have these key skills across the top with a score from 1 to 5 on how well the candidate meets those criteria. If you don’t put it down, they can’t score you on it – even if it’s blatantly obvious.

Don’t assume that the first person reading your CV will have any relevant technical knowledge, use clear and understandable language and avoid TLA’s as much as possible.

A more realistic example could be this, an ad from www.indeed.com for an Admin Manager at a local sports center.


So, your personal statement, key skills and past experience is already written for you to an extent. I don’t advocate being so lazy as to do this but here’s what happens if you copy and past and add a few words to make sure it makes sense:

If you use this technique by paraphrasing exactly what they are looking for then it’s likely you’ll get through an initial papersift.

hodgy0_2

I simply chuck 50% of CV's I receive in the bin, because I don't like employing unlucky people