time taken to get a job in UK

Read bbc.co.uk, other UK based daily and Business related news (worldwide), you will get the idea of job market.

i was warned by a few members here... but still it is disappointing when you dont get much interview calls either.. life sucks man.

i did my prince2, pmp and looked for pm jobs with 8 plus years experience man.

and worst also tried for architect positions in java-j2ee, hibernate-spring-xml etc.,.. also tried c++, c# and .net...

its been 4.5 months no jobs.. not even a single offer. i had few calls over phone and answered everything correct...but why wont they give me an offer... i repent letting go of my job in india seriously. have already spent 8 lakhs so far.

i want to ask you guys - how is the IT scenario in india.. its been 6 months since i quit my job in india... can i find one if i come back to india by jan 09??

with all the money gone to tier1 visa, and living expense here.. i need to start earning from india for atleast 6 months so i can try again by july 09 or later... what do you guys suggest ?

Really sorry to hear your story. I'm in NZ and planning to move to UK in Feb09. Hopefully the market will improve close to the financial year end and the begining of the new financial year. (March/April09)

I strongly believe that the market will definitely improve for the better as it closes to the Olympics in London. There will be a lot of money pumped in from overseas for the Olympics. Hence, creating opportunities throughout various industry sectors (IT, Banking, Health, etc)

Don't loose hope buddy...
have you tried picking up short-term contracts? Or maybe petty call-centre jobs (just to stay within the country and earn your basics) while you lookout for a good job offer.

ghulbhai wrote:i was warned by a few members here... but still it is disappointing when you dont get much interview calls either.. life sucks man.

i did my prince2, pmp and looked for pm jobs with 8 plus years experience man.

and worst also tried for architect positions in java-j2ee, hibernate-spring-xml etc.,.. also tried c++, c# and .net...

its been 4.5 months no jobs.. not even a single offer. i had few calls over phone and answered everything correct...but why wont they give me an offer... i repent letting go of my job in india seriously. have already spent 8 lakhs so far.

i want to ask you guys - how is the IT scenario in india.. its been 6 months since i quit my job in india... can i find one if i come back to india by jan 09??

with all the money gone to tier1 visa, and living expense here.. i need to start earning from india for atleast 6 months so i can try again by july 09 or later... what do you guys suggest ?

This is easier said than done. I suppose the real test is the next 3-6 months as the current economic climate is in limbo.

custodian wrote:Really sorry to hear your story. I'm in NZ and planning to move to UK in Feb09. Hopefully the market will improve close to the financial year end and the begining of the new financial year. (March/April09)

I strongly believe that the market will definitely improve for the better as it closes to the Olympics in London. There will be a lot of money pumped in from overseas for the Olympics. Hence, creating opportunities throughout various industry sectors (IT, Banking, Health, etc)

Don't loose hope buddy...
have you tried picking up short-term contracts? Or maybe petty call-centre jobs (just to stay within the country and earn your basics) while you lookout for a good job offer.

ghulbhai wrote:i was warned by a few members here... but still it is disappointing when you dont get much interview calls either.. life sucks man.

i did my prince2, pmp and looked for pm jobs with 8 plus years experience man.

and worst also tried for architect positions in java-j2ee, hibernate-spring-xml etc.,.. also tried c++, c# and .net...

its been 4.5 months no jobs.. not even a single offer. i had few calls over phone and answered everything correct...but why wont they give me an offer... i repent letting go of my job in india seriously. have already spent 8 lakhs so far.

i want to ask you guys - how is the IT scenario in india.. its been 6 months since i quit my job in india... can i find one if i come back to india by jan 09??

with all the money gone to tier1 visa, and living expense here.. i need to start earning from india for atleast 6 months so i can try again by july 09 or later... what do you guys suggest ?

Ghulbhai,
Sorry to hear about ur experiences.

The UK job market can be very weird(I am sure you have read the experiences of other boarders regarding their job search experiences).


Last few months have been bad for job seekers. I think conditions will improve in Jan-09 for short term. Till then I donot see any movement in the market.
You will find it easier to find a job in India for your skills.


Getting a PMs job in UK has always been difficult,even in good times,for somebody with no previous UK experience.

Even in Jan, finding an architect's job is going to be challenging, unless you take all the correct steps.


Sorry for my pessimistic outlook but I hope that these warnings will do good for some people.
My advice to all people coming to UK is to think hard - UK doesn't have much to offer to new comers for atleast next 2-3 years. I believe things are only going to get worse.
The assumtion that things will get better in the next few months can be devastating for many people's careers.
I see absolutely no chance for job mkt to rebound in 2009. I see 2009 as the worst year in 3-4 decades for job seekers.

Please do not delude yourselves regarding coming to the UK and getting a job. Unless you have a job to step straight into you are going to struggle.

The UK job market is on its knees, there will not be any improvement for upwards of 9 to 12 months and that is a conservative estimate. For those that lived through the last slump in the 1990's it takes two years to get to the bottom of the slump and about the same to climb back out.

Watch the house prices in the UK as the best indicator especially in the South East of England - once they stop dropping then the slump has abated. They are still dropping by a couple of percent a month at the moment so there is still a long way to the bottom.

Frontier Mole wrote:Please do not delude yourselves regarding coming to the UK and getting a job. Unless you have a job to step straight into you are going to struggle.

The UK job market is on its knees, there will not be any improvement for upwards of 9 to 12 months and that is a conservative estimate. For those that lived through the last slump in the 1990's it takes two years to get to the bottom of the slump and about the same to climb back out.

Watch the house prices in the UK as the best indicator especially in the South East of England - once they stop dropping then the slump has abated. They are still dropping by a couple of percent a month at the moment so there is still a long way to the bottom.

I think for sure, there is nothing to be gained at the end of the year. Companies will not hire in order to meet budget and of course are laying off Beginning next year, with new budgets and a clean slate there will be hiring but you will have to be here to take advantage of it and again people need to avoid cities like london. There is too much competition here and its more expensive, go to other cities if you want to have a chance. If you just got a visa and you want to use it, you can't very well expect a renewal if you dont work and there is no way you will find work in the UK unless you are here. Take advantage of the downturn, find really inexpensive places to live and set yourself up so you get a good deal and then hit the pavement hard at the beginning of the year.

Ghulbhai, Am sorry to hear your story.To put things in perspective rightway, if you were in a project management role in India and expect that you will move over to UK with a similar profile and quadruple your income, then you are completely mistaken.PM is quite a niche area over there and people normally get to that role slowly unlike in India where employers are just looking to groom their employess into a managerial role to manage the growing workforce.. Whether or not they possess the skills is another matter:)..So you will have to compromise here and there before you slowly shape your careerin UK.

Coming to your question on job market in India, it is good but not terrific as the media is making it out to be.. We are dependant on the west, so any problem over there is bound to have an effect here.. Hiring is affected slightly and HR is letting people go without caring much about notice period or any bond restrictions.. but what I feel (in my reputed MNC company) is that the quality of work has deteriorated over time.. I am an IT consultant working in a niche software area and even though projects are available, I think most are full-on crap. Companies only want to bag contracts without thinking much about the quality of work and aspirations of the employees. This is what drives me crazy here.. and I think all the news about hiring on full-scale is either a) to appease the market or b) to convince clients that their business is booming and get more contracts or c) as a buffer to keep consultants ready in case they bag a multi million dollar project. Inside story is that there are not many projects available and most companies are just adopting a wait n watch approach. At least I am quite frustrated but the recession is making me take calculated steps and delay my tier1 process ..

I would suggest taking a month or two off and heading back home(you are not going to get any offers around christmas/new year anyway plus you might just feel refreshed if you come back and meet friends/releatives etc.). I was in UK for two years and I know how good it feels to be back with your family once in a while. Dont think that u will get a job rightaway if you come here at the moment. Companies are extending working hours, forcing people to go on mandatory 10 day unpaid holidays and such stuff and its still a good 15 days to christmas so I don't know what else is in store.. Still much better than in the UK if you still want to come and try. Another option is to take up a part-time day job in UK itself, but I guess even that would be a prized catch becos everyone would be looking for one around this time!!

Dont worry mate. This is a tough time that you and others have to weather. Hopefully the new year sees some rebound in the job market..

take care

Stay put if you are outside UK. The ground situation isn't that rosy in UK.

Has anyone who has got their Tier-1 after Oct-2008, been able to land a job in UK?

Requesting such people to share their job search strategies with all who are already in UK and looking for job or planning to go there in next 1-2 months.

suds19 wrote:Has anyone who has got their Tier-1 after Oct-2008, been able to land a job in UK?

Requesting such people to share their job search strategies with all who are already in UK and looking for job or planning to go there in next 1-2 months.

yeah ..this should be a different section altogether. people who already got jobs could tell any information (to the extent they are comfortable revealing) they want to share..
Lets not stop at the tier1 application itself.. thats a small step..the big deal is getting a job.. so everyone will benefit from personal experiences....

5 months now.. looking for a job since september middle.

now given up. no money
no hope
no phone calls from consultants nor companies
no recovery in britain
had saved 400 pounds for my gulf air flight to india. had even changed my 300 dollars travellers cheque which i had saved since 2005 to extend my stay for 2 more weeks.

but now the decision is made, going home to India.

ghulbhai wrote:5 months now.. looking for a job since september middle.

now given up. no money
no hope
no phone calls from consultants nor companies
no recovery in britain
had saved 400 pounds for my gulf air flight to india. had even changed my 300 dollars travellers cheque which i had saved since 2005 to extend my stay for 2 more weeks.

but now the decision is made, going home to India.

Ghul bhai,

I observe that almost in everythread you are desperately posting comments on the hardship of getting a job to the extent of telling people not to come to UK.

While I fully empathise with your situation, I certainly feel, every individual has his own traits and skills which differ from the others.
First please let us know what is your situation. How many years of experience you have in the industry. Wats your domain of working been all these years in IT. How you have tried looking for a job..

raghu,

i have 8+ years dev experience. Have worked as an architect and PM earlier. Have prince 2, PMP certifications. ASP.NET, C#, C++ MFC, SQL Server.

tried companies and consultants. there are plenty of jobs, but fake jobs, when you call them, they say they will go through your cv and wont call back.

i write because 6 months back people didnt warn me of a detiriorating situation. anyway, you are your own judge. if you trust - you take it, or you come in person to the UK to see things yourself.

im not the authority to approve your flight do i ? just a piece of advice to a fellow indian. when did indians trust each other ?

ya situation has detiorated worldwide.but this forum has been helpful earlier also so i trust the answers here and will plan according as still we(me and my husband)have time till june to move from germany.

@ghulbhai

we empathize with your situation.you have tried all that you could. but if you could give some more info about yourself, then may be some of us could help -

1) Where are you located in UK.. Need exact location preferably. Also, want to know what was the radius of ur job search i.e. whether u tried some far off location etc.
2) How many friends/colleagues/earlier UK contacts(if any) tried to assist you with your job search ? Were you searching for a job just on ur own ?
3) What has been the strategy behind ur job search ? I feel u might have been doing something wrong or not in a concrete/proper manner which no one pointed out to you just because you never told anyone.. All your posts have been like 'There is nothing in UK', 'Job market is very dull', 'I am going back etc'... I mean not an iota of hope in ur statements... why is this so ? there are others like you.. with more experience, even with UK experience but they are not as vocal.. i think it just might be that you have pondered so hard over negative things that you simply overlook the positiveness around you..
4) Did you try ur hand at some store job so that you are not out of funds or did your ego prevent you from doing so ? In such tough situations, one does need to forget about his/her total experience, last company/salary drawn etc etc.. because it could well be a start from scratch..

tell the forum, start a new post on all of the above.. ur job search strategy, which all places you applied in, how big your network of freinds/colleagues has been etc etc.. I am sure you will get some leads.. but this lecture could be a bit harsh and late for you because you've suffered all these months.. and only you know.. but if you share, someone might be able to help (Not me sorry, I am still in India) Never understimate the power of networking.. it's like parallel processing..May be someone already employed in UK sees ur post and has something to offer you in his/her company or knows someone else who does... just think.. there are numerous possibilities.. whether they are negative or positive depends on ur attitude..

“Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.â€

ghulbhai wrote:raghu,

i have 8+ years dev experience. Have worked as an architect and PM earlier. Have prince 2, PMP certifications. ASP.NET, C#, C++ MFC, SQL Server.

tried companies and consultants. there are plenty of jobs, but fake jobs, when you call them, they say they will go through your cv and wont call back.

i write because 6 months back people didnt warn me of a detiriorating situation. anyway, you are your own judge. if you trust - you take it, or you come in person to the UK to see things yourself.

im not the authority to approve your flight do i ? just a piece of advice to a fellow indian. when did indians trust each other ?

Gulbhai,

Some how your last statement doesnt really project the picture of this discussion. Good that you are concerned about fellow indians, but in this forum, majority of them are similar professionals as you are with atleast more than 5 plus years experience and earning handsome salary in their current job. Given that, I do not think anybody will be as immature as to go to UK completely knowing there is ZERO chance of getting a job.

If people have thought they want to go , they will. But what we all want from you is , how exactly have you tried in searching for the job. Is it just online, or did you meet consultants. As our friend below has asked what was ou radius of search, where are you located in UK etc. If you could share these details, it would help many of us.

We all really empathise with your situation and hopefully you should get a job there in UK soon so that you will not have the need of coming back.

Does any one has some idea about semiconductor firms?Is here anybody from IC designing?

garimasharma wrote:Does any one has some idea about semiconductor firms?Is here anybody from IC designing?

have you tried freescale

Raghu,
I didnt meet consultants in person. But I applied to their websites online. I also applied to jobs directly from jobsite, reed, cwjobs, jobserve and monster.

If you are aware of something that I missed, please share for the benefit of me and other folks lik me. If not for me, atleast it would be useful for others.
I have been open to searching anywhere in England. But have generally focused more in the SouthEast.

Any suggestions you want to give out from your experience.

My personal point of view worth 2 pence...

Applying for a project management role with no UK industrial experience is definitely a BIG NO, leave alone the recession, unless there is a striking identity in his/her own profile. In UK & Australia, there are less technical consultants and more managers. For every Project Manager advert that is put in a jobsite, no matter in what industry domain, there are nearly 30-40 applicants. This metrics I provided right here is indeed credbile though I can't disclose the source.

The same applies to many technical areas as well, espescially the conventional skill set like C, C++, C#, .NET, Java, J2EE, SQL, HTML and much more on which every Tom dick & harry is experienced. But having said that, if the area of expertise is a niche skill, say SAP Functionals (other ERPs), BI, EDI/EAI, etc. then the oppurtunities are also relatively less and also the competition is also less.

any good news there......anybody got any call??????

Hi Ghulbhai,

I am researching the UK market(I am into VC++/MFC) for sometime and myself will be coming in April.I know a good number of people who got job in the past two months.Obviously, it is difficult getting job-but still you will get it.
I have a suggestion, as you are not getting calls itself-have your resume reviewed by someone. A friend of mine faced the same problem as yours and after changing the resume to the "UK format" he started getting calls, and secured a job.And personally, I didn't find any problem in his original resume-but people do expect a specific format.

ghulbhai wrote:Raghu,
I didnt meet consultants in person. But I applied to their websites online. I also applied to jobs directly from jobsite, reed, cwjobs, jobserve and monster.

If you are aware of something that I missed, please share for the benefit of me and other folks lik me. If not for me, atleast it would be useful for others.
I have been open to searching anywhere in England. But have generally focused more in the SouthEast.

Any suggestions you want to give out from your experience.

Please share UK Specific Format of resume, if anyone of our members have that ... it will be helpful to the guys who are on Jobsearch like me

Thanks
Murali

well 6 months on - no job yet. have attended 1 telephonic so far.