Bit of a controversial one here but it needs to be aired so here goes..

How can less qualified people with lower academic results win job interviews and offers over their more accomplished competitors?

Does a good education not prepare you for the big bad world of business?

All that knowledge and hard studying should pay off - and in a lot of cases it does..

But in a lot of other cases it doesn't - to quote Calvin Coolidge's brutally harsh yet very true observation "the world is full of educated derelicts"

Which is why the guy/gal that get's the interview - and then the job is the guy/gal who understands how business works and can make the shift from exam taker to result driven productivitist (is that a real word?).

Business owners and managers don't really care how much you know - they're more concerned about how much you can do. And what you know and how much you can do are not one and the same.

Take a project manager for instance - a good PM is expected to be able to source the right information and bring various elements of a project together to make things happen. There is no way on earth they should be expected to 'wear all the hats'

But they specialise in bringing it all together and making the business work.

That's why marketing is so important in your job search. If you're not pitching yourself as a service provider the same way a marketer would then you're not getting the most out of your efforts.

The IT Jobseeker Guide and new ebook from Jimmy Sweeney "The World's Greatest Cover Letter" show you how to do just that and win the job search race more than just convincingly.

Download them now and see what I mean. Click here for more on this subject

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June 13, 2007 08:37 - The Big IT Contract Search Begins

There are a lot of upsides to contracting like:

• Being your own boss
• No Micro-management or annual salary reviews
• Good - no make that GREAT money!
• Less tax liabilities
• Control over how much/little holiday
• The perks of being a company director

Then there's the downside of all the admin, expense of accountants, legal cover, insurance, playing cat and mouse with Mr. tax man and then not to forget -

No job security - eeek!

Having to look for a new contract every 3-6 months is a bit of a pain and can be quite nerve racking. Nobody wants to be 'on the bench' with bills to pay, which is partly why our rates are so high - so we can keep a surplus of cash in the company to tide us over during quiet times and those brief periods where we may not be earning anything at all.

Ideally though it's best to just stay in work unless we decide to take a month or 3 off here and there :)

So at the 3 week stage my search begins for a new contract to go straight on to. There is a lot of choice out there and I'm quite fussy. It may not make much financial sense but I'll go 'on the bench' rather than take a reduced rate or some other role that does not fit my criteria.

So the marketing dance begins - Just as well I've got the IT Job Search Guide - having only written it about a month ago I get to really road test it now for the first time! Click here for more on this subject

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June 24, 2007 12:15 - Job Searching at Work - Risky Business!

Have you ever been caught out surfing a job site on your office computer? It's probably about the biggest taboo anyone could make.

But with new jobs coming out every hour - all that competition and having to get in there early what's a job seeker to do? Business hours are prime time to be looking, if you leave it to the evening the recruiters will have a huge pile of applications to look through already before they get round to yours.

Then there are the phone calls. As soon as you see someone in the office answer their phone and quickly dash outside 15 times a day it's pretty obvious what's going on. Bosses and managers aren't stupid (well some are but anyway that's a different topic altogether!) so before long they'll twig and the cat will be out of the bag.

There are plenty of job search tools and resume submission services to aid the job seeker but if you're on a budget and can't afford these shortcuts then you need a system to do it for you.

After 8 years on the scene and now competing for competitive contract work (which can be very time sensitive) I've developed a system that works - and you can download it for free right here. Click here for more on this subject

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June 30, 2007 08:31 - You want to be rich? - Go where the money is

So I ended my contract yesterday and start a new one on Monday. It will be a bit of a career milestone for me as I have always wanted to be a contractor in the city working right at the heart of or where the wealth is created.

There are several kinds of environment and I've experienced most of them - but the toughest and by far the most demanding has to be traders. It's as fast moving and dynamic as it gets….. this is going to be hard work - very hard work.

Still the benefit of trade floor experience with trading apps will be absolutely golden, it will open doors to investment banking and other roles that require specific financial experience - not to mention the hourly rate isn't bad either!

If you can survive working on the trade floor everything else is a relative walk in the park - all I have to do now is survive it! It will be good experience also in that the role isn't tied down to being just 2nd line, it involves a fair amount of 3rd line Active Directory and Cisco work in an ITIL and Prince 2 environment.

Plus I get to see how markets perform and launch my own investment career - no inside trading though!

It's all good.