any jobs going?!

Looking for a job? Want a work experience placement?
Find jobs advertised by Old Blues.
Post a "JOB WANTED" advert.
Advertise your jobs to other Old Blues.
Please delete your ads once expired - all post will be removed after 60 days....

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
eloisec
Deputy Grecian
Posts: 280
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:06 pm
Real Name: Eloise Carpenter
Location: London

any jobs going?!

Post by eloisec »

Anybody got any jobs going? I'm so bored in my current one! Working with electronic resources in the University of London at the moment. Going nowhere!

Ah well, it was worth asking ...
Eloise Carpenter
Col.A 87-94
BTaylor
Deputy Grecian
Posts: 202
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:57 am
Real Name: BT
Location: Burbage, Wiltshire

Post by BTaylor »

Got any experience/interest in PR? I can certainly get you some free work experience if the idea takes you.
Thornton 85-92
Jan135
2nd Former
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2022 1:48 pm
Real Name: Jan Pawlowski

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by Jan135 »

You could use one of the job search engines that are out there.
Otter
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:17 pm
Real Name: Stephen O'Rourke
Location: East Anglia

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by Otter »

Hopefully she has managed to find another job in the 17 years since she wrote that post.
rockfreak
Grecian
Posts: 972
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by rockfreak »

In my day (1950s and 60s) the Benevolent Society of Blues might have found her a a job. What happened to them? Not so benevolent perhaps these days.
rockfreak
Grecian
Posts: 972
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by rockfreak »

By the way. As I logged on I noticed an ad for rock climbing shoes - particularly the sort of contorted, ballet style shoes that today's extreme climbers wear and which you have to take off at every stance between pitches because they're crucifying your feet. Why has this cropped up on the CH forum? Have they noticed my own posts about rock climbing? Or Banker Brown's struggles on the Idwal Slabs in Wales? Do they think we're a suitable market for rock shoes? The best of my climbing days are behind me sadly but are there any other OB's out there who have tales to tell about past epics on the rock faces of our country?
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by sejintenej »

Hey, Rockfreak. Idwal slabs was easy - just +/- 400 feet of flat rock with the occasional crack to break up the monotony of not even vertical flatness. I seem to think that we made a loose attempt at belaying. No big problem OR struggle so we went straight on to ? Devil's Kitchen which is climbed inside a cave (low light!) in a waterfall so nice and greasy. Thinking of Idwal reminds me of years later a 700 metre face rarely climbed and steeper than Idwal slabs. (if what we did was legal.) That was frightening - dirty, some vegetation, bugs, heat and wind....... Never again!

From there we cycled via the Lake District to Glenbrittle to take a stroll in the Cuillins before the returns home - for two of us about 1500 miles pedalled.. An enjoyable trip to fill otherwise boring summer holidays a year before we left CH.

As for those shoes - I agree but mine were marginally less uncomfortable than you describe. I do wonder if any of today's mob go to the outcrops near CH and Tonbridge Wells. I suspect with today's norms the idea of pupils approaching rock faces would give the staff white hair and paroxisms of something obberal (Never worried me when I taught rock climbing there.)
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
rockfreak
Grecian
Posts: 972
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by rockfreak »

I was only joking David when I mentioned your "struggles" on the Idwal Slabs ("Hope" or Tennis Shoe Climb"?) I only know these climbs by reputation. And my own experience of Southern sandstone is at Harrisons and High Rocks where I found the popular routes to be shiny and blackened with overuse. There is much better, more recently developed, sandstone on St Bees Head in West Cumbria where you can approach easily at low tide and find a variety of routes which are of necessity bolted because of the friable nature of sandstone. What I like about climbing in the UK is the adherence (where possible) to "trad" or leader/second climbing; as opposed to the continent where, I understand, lines of bolts seem to decorate many of the routes. This takes away what climbers call "the adventure of the lead" where you are required to find the route, using only the basic descriptions from the guidebook, and construct the belays to make you and your partner safe.

I note your experience in Langdale. Have you done any routes on Raven Crag, Gimmer or White Ghyll?
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by sejintenej »

rockfreak wrote: Sun Oct 23, 2022 8:41 pm In my day (1950s and 60s) the Benevolent Society of Blues might have found her a a job. What happened to them? Not so benevolent perhaps these days.
Just in case any YOB (young old blue) is reading I am a bit averse to employment agencies. On the occasions I was looking for staff we made a specific, concise specification to give to the three (apparently major) agencies. 95% of the CVs offered to us breached some, often many of our specifications. In fact one agency admitted that the profession was responsible for only about 15% of situations filled. In 18 years I think we took perhaps two agency introductions despite having staff of over 200 at times, OTOH we had very few people leave us - usually pregnancy or moving a long way away.

Thus I suggest asking around - friends, their families and of course relatives. My first jobs were family introductions, the first City move followed a friend's suggestion, the second a chance meeting in a bar and the third a straight invitation from another bank after I had retired.

If all else fails and newspaper adverts don't appeal write yourself up on Linked In truthfully (too many of them are possibly embroidered. As a parallel decide on 10 companies you could work for, investigate them thoroughly - what qualifications they look for, the type of staff they like ,,,, the works and then approach either a senior staff member (if you can) or the personnel department. most will say no but your application, if well written, might be remembered.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
Otter
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:17 pm
Real Name: Stephen O'Rourke
Location: East Anglia

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by Otter »

rockfreak wrote: Sun Oct 23, 2022 8:41 pm In my day (1950s and 60s) the Benevolent Society of Blues might have found her a a job. What happened to them? Not so benevolent perhaps these days.
I was quite disappointed when I applied to them for some help paying for my master's degree. I was working in a warehouse most nights for about £3 an hour while being a full-time student in the day, and my family did not have the means to support me. Literally all I had was a roof over my head and some 15p cans of soup for lunch and dinner. The BSB rejected my application, saying my studying for the master's degree was not essential and that I should stop my studies instead.

OK, in the strictest sense of the word, they're right, studying for a master's degree is not a fundamental human need, I was not in an dire physical or health emergency, and it's perfectly possible to get a job with your undergraduate degree. But a curious message for an educational charity to send out, saying education is not a valid reason for getting hardship funding from them.

In the end I had no choice but to defer my degree, spend a year working, and go back to finish my degree a year later.

Any publicity from them goes in the bin. I donate directly to CH instead.

I was surprised to read some testimonies from people saying the BSB has helped them with exactly what I asked their help for, and this is confirmed on their website: https://bluessupportingblues.com/projec ... n-support/. So I don't know why they gave me that reason for rejecting my application.

(I went on to work in a job that would have been impossible without my master's degree).
sejintenej wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:09 pm 95% of the CVs offered to us breached some, often many of our specifications
I think it's quite normal to apply to a job where you don't meet every single bullet-point requirement, as long as you tick the majority of them. The interview should be the opportunity for the employer to assess whether the candidate is suitable for the job, and for the candidate to assess whether they are up for it or if it is beyond their abilities.
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by sejintenej »

Otter wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:11 am
sejintenej wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:09 pm 95% of the CVs offered to us breached some, often many of our specifications
I think it's quite normal to apply to a job where you don't meet every single bullet-point requirement, as long as you tick the majority of them. The interview should be the opportunity for the employer to assess whether the candidate is suitable for the job, and for the candidate to assess whether they are up for it or if it is beyond their abilities.
We were a tiny team (29 people handling a level of business a competitor needed 240 staff) so the applicant had to already have a reasonable knowledge and be willing to learn (unless they already spoke it) Portuguese at our expense. Ours was a highly technical function dealing internationally in a variety of languages, reading, writing and phoning in mainly South American varieties of Spanish and Portuguese, some French and very occasionally even other languages. (I even got lessons in German from the company but almost never used it!) Somehow it worked - my department lost 3 people in 20 years - one had a serious injury at home, another moved abroad and a third got drunk far too often. On top of that I travelled a lot for long periods increasing the load on the rest of the team.
Therefore our specifications were very specific and agencies were very much aware of that. We could bring people up to speed but they needed the basic knowledge (and we taught Portuguese at our expense). We made it public that one agency was delisted because of CV embroidery. We didn't have time for interviews unless the applicant was likely to be useful.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
Otter
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:17 pm
Real Name: Stephen O'Rourke
Location: East Anglia

Re: any jobs going?!

Post by Otter »

sejintenej wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:07 pm
Otter wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:11 am
sejintenej wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:09 pm 95% of the CVs offered to us breached some, often many of our specifications
I think it's quite normal to apply to a job where you don't meet every single bullet-point requirement, as long as you tick the majority of them. The interview should be the opportunity for the employer to assess whether the candidate is suitable for the job, and for the candidate to assess whether they are up for it or if it is beyond their abilities.
We were a tiny team (29 people handling a level of business a competitor needed 240 staff) so the applicant had to already have a reasonable knowledge and be willing to learn (unless they already spoke it) Portuguese at our expense. Ours was a highly technical function dealing internationally in a variety of languages, reading, writing and phoning in mainly South American varieties of Spanish and Portuguese, some French and very occasionally even other languages. (I even got lessons in German from the company but almost never used it!) Somehow it worked - my department lost 3 people in 20 years - one had a serious injury at home, another moved abroad and a third got drunk far too often. On top of that I travelled a lot for long periods increasing the load on the rest of the team.
Therefore our specifications were very specific and agencies were very much aware of that. We could bring people up to speed but they needed the basic knowledge (and we taught Portuguese at our expense). We made it public that one agency was delisted because of CV embroidery. We didn't have time for interviews unless the applicant was likely to be useful.
In that case, I agree that languages are an exception to what I mentioned, and you certainly shouldn't apply to a job requiring a language that you don't speak! I did some recruitment on the side of my actual job at my old company, and foreign language skills were needed for some roles, and as soon as the interview started you could tell that some of the applicants had lied on their CVs about their level of a certain language.

Pretty generous of your old employer to cover Portuguese tuition to people who didn't already speak it, rather than having knowledge of it a key requirement from the beginning.
Post Reply