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Geek Culture / Recommended Employment sites for the UK in software dev

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VR2
19
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Joined: 14th Mar 2005
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Posted: 5th Dec 2006 14:16
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Right, well I find myself now looking for work for the first time in many years (since 1998) and it appears that the job "industry" on the web is rather spam filled, with duplicate jobs, non-existent jobs, scams etc etc.

I'd rather avoid all that if I can, so I'm wondering if anyone on these forums has knowledge of job sites they can recommend, for whatever reason.

Ideally, I'm looking for programming positions in the Berkshire area.
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BatVink
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21
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 5th Dec 2006 14:40 Edited at: 5th Dec 2006 14:41
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I have come to the conclusion that all of the job sites are worthless. I get the same "Hot New Role!" in my email every day, and have done for over a year. I even know the company it was originally advertised for (a client of mine), and the position went in days.

The only company I have had any human interaction with lately is Lorien. They seem genuine, although they do use the job sites their roles seem real.



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Tinkergirl
21
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Joined: 1st Jul 2003
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 5th Dec 2006 14:53
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I've had luck with Aardvark-Swift in the past. They're quite good, and companies don't seem to mind working with them - just remember that going through a company often means that your future employers will need to pay the agency for several months after a successful hire, so going direct is cheaper for them, if you can find them in the first place.

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VR2
19
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Joined: 14th Mar 2005
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Posted: 5th Dec 2006 15:30
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OK thanks for the comments and recomendations which I shall check out.

I wonder tho, what about "well known" (ie TV advertised) sites such as "monster.com" - surely they're not all rip offs?

I've found a site called "CV-library.co.uk" and it appears OK and provides a summary of jobs posted by multiple agencies which is the sortof thing i as looking for but really, I've no idea how genuine it all is...

@Tinkergirl - that site looked great, if I was a pro game programmer, unfortunately I'm not...interesting how such extensive skill sets and experience offered such little enumeration - thats the game industry I guess...?

Please keep the recomendations coming
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indi
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 5th Dec 2006 15:38
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Aquent is a global agency i have had lots of success with, they have a office in the UK as well.
Its more for professionals in the design and web dev areas.
They paid for my house if thats any indication, regardless of how much they skimmed off the top.

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Fallout
22
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Joined: 1st Sep 2002
Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 5th Dec 2006 16:45
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I found some really interesting job opportunities via Monster, such as a realtime engine programmer for the Hawkeye system (tennis computer thing), based where I live (which I never knew), plus some other cool stuff. I do get spammed a lot with "I have a position you might like, send me your CV" emails, with no details about the position. Basically agencies head hunting, and people offering jobs to me in Glasgow and other places in Scotland, despite me specifying I only want to work in the south. Still, there are thousands of jobs, so it's definitely worth signing up if you want to maximize your exposure, and you can hide all your personal details from people so they can only contact you via Monster, meaning you can ignore them and never get phone calls etc.


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adr
21
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Joined: 21st May 2003
Location: Job Centre
Posted: 5th Dec 2006 17:09 Edited at: 5th Dec 2006 17:10
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I think agencies are a necessary evil. Unfortunately, they'd sell their own mother to place a client (I am friends with a IT Recruitment guy, and the charge he aims to get from the employer is 15% - 25% of your first year's salary)

I've ended up with a job as a result of using jobserve.co.uk - that site seems quite cool - not affiliated with any particular employer/agency. I've also had some luck with monster, although it doesn't seem to have a very wide selection of IT jobs.

Lastly, I got my most recent job by using google. I searched for a location, followed by the language, and the prospective emplyoer was doing a google PPC campaign to recruit staff

Be wary of recruiters "fishing" for candidates, by posting jobs that simply don't exist. This isn't a conspiracy; it actually happens. They'll take your details, wait a week, then tell you that the company didn't go for your CV. They now have your CV and they'll pester you every 4 months to ask if you want a new job.


I'm superfly TNT
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lagmaster
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
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Posted: 5th Dec 2006 19:54
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it's been 2 years since i posted my cv on monster and cvmatch, still waiting on their cv match service to find jobs.

i think monster has become a cv farm, you never hear of people finding jobs via it.

lagmaster
Devhat IRC Network [href=irc://irc.devhat.net] -> MIRC link <- [/href]
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