Recruitment

Well it seems that jobs interviews are like buses nothing happens and then they all come along at once!
I have emails and phone calls from a number of recruitment agencies and all of them want to put me forward for interview. So I am in a position in which, I can to a degree, be choosy and therefore I have rejected a couple of these opportunities, simply because I do not fancy them!
The last time I had to look for work the prospect of securing employment did not seem quite so good.
Why is this? Is it  that there is a shortage of candidates with the right skill set and experience, I suspect that this is the case. Have employers realised that a real history and long term knowledge is more useful than had previously been given credence too?
In my last search two or three years ago, my experience proved to be an obstacle, now it appears to be an advantage. An imagined change or a real one? Perhaps there is just more vacancies and as I have said in a previous blog, not enough available people of the right background to fill them?
Of course I still have to secure one of these opportunities but I am good at interviews.
I have noticed a trend in asking qualifying questions, which are so nebulous as to almost be insulting.
Give me a time when you provided great customer service?
What is your biggest regret?
What do you find the most frustrating aspect of working for some companies?
These are just three examples of questions that are designed to possibly eliminate you from the selection process but are about as useful as a one legged man at an arse kicking party!
The days of a straight forward face to face interview are long gone, its all role play and designer questions.
Frankly it is all meaningless and much of it will never be an indication of whether you are actually capable of  doing the job. It appears we have lost our capacity for normal human judgement without the added control of set techniques that some clever, highly qualified academics, have decided is the best way to assess a prospective employee.

Job Hunting

As I may have mentioned I am currently looking for a new job.
The job market is interesting and on the surface, buoyant. If you search the job boards on-line, there are thousands of advertised positions and that is just in my local area.
Dig deeper and you discover that many of them, no longer overtly, will immediately eliminate you based on the subtle way the job description is written. You can apply for all or any of them, working on the basis that by the law of averages something will strike a prospective employer somewhere!
It is of course easy to sit in your home online and apply for jobs or registering on job-sites, uploading your CV as you go. I would conservatively estimate that for every 100 applications you will perhaps garner two or three replies and one interview.
Agencies, as is their mode of operation, will also sporadically call but only if they have a positions to fill so as they can earn their commission.  
Thus far I have secured one part time job and been for one other interview which was unsuccessful. I have had a number of rejections from on-line applications, which is par for the course.
If there are so many vacancies, I ponder on where all the suitable candidates are to fulfill them? We often read and hear on the news that freshly minted University graduates cannot get employment and there are more of them than ever before. So are they all filled? What happens if they are not? Do these companies take people on and train them to do these roles? If they are all filled, whose getting them and why do so many advertised positions remain and new ones get posted everyday? It is a mystery!
I am in my sixties and therefore am not expecting many of the companies I apply to, too consider my application, in spite of the common prevailing attitude that age is not a factor! I also understand that that is not the sole reason for not being considered.
I am often told I am to "senior" with my past experience but that is just, a not so subtle, way of telling me I am too old.
Still I will persevere and continue to apply for any position I believe I am capable of doing. I am still a valid and useful member of society, with a vast amount of experience and personality, so someone with good sense will want me I am sure. 

Only because I have the time

Its 7.39 and unusually I am sitting in my front room typing this. I say unusually because up until two weeks ago I would have been out and about driving the roads of Britain.
As always in this life things change and it all came to an end and now I have time to write this blog. I forget my blog for long periods, which is an indication that it is not that important.
I understand that bloggers can make money out of this medium.
I have for many years been very computer literate, however I have not ever been able to use it to earn any income. Like all these apparent easy ways of earning, it is not as simple as it seems! 
The advice is self-serving and frequently leads one to a site which wants to take YOUR money.
Now I am far from naive, indeed I am somewhat cynical, I understand that in the world there is nothing like a free lunch but it is a difficult area to navigate your way through. As in all things that wish to entice the unwary, the headline is often far from the actuality. The proliferation of the internet is a good thing, as a repository for information it is unrivaled in its breath and speed in which one can find the subjects you are looking for.There is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme but even the genuine can be swamped in the morass of information that swims before your eyes, I suppose that Google really holds all the power!
I have used the internet since it has been available and that early excitement has long since faded into the distance.
Now it is nothing more than a tool, the days of surfing for its own sake are long past. Of course this is expected, when you have are used to something daily it becomes nothing more than another ordinary piece of our lives.
Inevitably websites have become more sophisticated and as time has gone on, they have become almost too clever and therefore difficult to navigate, building a level of frustration for the user, as the web designers seek to control your mouse and keystrokes ever more tightly.
The old idiom less is more, when designing a webpage, should be kept in mind.
I understand that the applications have ever more technical tools that can be implemented but it is not necessary to have to use them. To many sites seem to be about how clever the designers are and not enough about how easy it is for the average user!
So web designers think about the us, make it simple, I want to use your site but if it is to difficult or frustrating, I will leave your pages and thus waste all the time you took building the site.

It's some time since I have written a post on this page but I have more time on my hands yet again, having just been made redundant. So once again I am looking for work at the tender age of 62. 
I am quite relaxed about it, after all it's not the first time and it is pointless getting worried or anxious about these things, they are emotions that can drive you on but can also hold you back, best to eschew them!
Besides there are always things going on and people who are far worse off than I and for a myriad of reasons.
Live for the moment has always been my thing, I can do nothing about what's past and the future will take care of itself.
It helps that I have a very stable marriage and it is certain that without my wife Wendy, I would probably flounder! I also have two fabulous sons, nuff said!
What to do next? 
I need to earn money, not vast amounts but naturally will take the most renumeration I can achieve.
I am open minded, I can turn my hand to most things, after all I have vast experience and a great deal of common sense, something I find is sadly lacking in today's technology reliant world.
I enjoy conversation. I am interested in others. I have this thing called a personality.
Still it's persistence and tenacity which will get you furthest and I believe you should apply for anything and everything you think you can do. The law of averages must eventually come into play. Use any contacts you have, who you know is often better than what you know! 
Never believe your to old or not good enough. Emphasis your experience, it is a huge advantage.
So I embark on another phase of my varied working career, trying to keep everything in perspective and proceeding with optimism and confidence.
Hey ho