Agencies control the rules Orginally posted on the BCS Website on 14th Oct 2009
I've been working in IT for nearly 20 years now and I have some seriously big names on my CV. Therefore you'd be forgiven for thinking that I would have no trouble securing a new contract when my last one finished at the end of July. Unfortunately, this is not the case as scouring the usual job boards and branded recruitment websites shows a very subdued market. In a recession this is to be expected, but having worked hard my entire career, I did not expect to be one of those affected (wishful thinking maybe?).
I made a choice a several years back of following my heart with the type of job roles I accepted as I believed that you should enjoy the work you do. After all you spend most of your adult life in the workplace and you should look forward to going to work every day, or at the very least, not resent having to get up in the morning. I went for roles that enabled me to expand and improve upon my chosen field, and over time I became very good at it.
As a result of focusing on specific roles, I ended up a specialist and subject matter expert within a particular part of the Microsoft technology space, which meant that although I've spent over a decade enjoying and being passionate about my work, I’ve now found myself currently unable to secure further employment.
The 'credit crunch' has brought the need for employers to condense as many roles possible into the smallest headcounts and thus achieve more 'bang for their buck'. This means that the agencies are now only looking for jack-of-all-trades people and the job postings on the major job boards now show positions with extended lists of required skills, where previously these types of roles were advertised with half or even less of these skills. I can understand the need to pare down costs, and have employees adopt more simultaneous roles, but in many cases the skills listed are mutually exclusive, and unlikely to be found in a single individual. As it’s a hirer’s market, when a role is advertised hundreds of applicants apply for it within minutes, and unless you can tick the box on every single one of skills listed, you need not apply. Previously, not having ALL the skills required for a role wasn't an issue, as an employer would offer (or not) an interview based your CV as a whole, but the recession has ushered in a whole new ball game. A game where the agencies now control the rules.
I know that if I can get in front of an interviewer, I can demonstrate my extensive knowledge, regardless whether I've 'officially' done these things in a previous role, however (and I've had this confirmed) agencies are now just running keyword searches on the text of the CVs that have been imported into their databases, and the ones with the highest keyword matches get forwarded on to the employer. The agencies don't even READ the CVs anymore. As applicants, we might as well just send them a twenty bullet point list of skills, and a contact number or email address, because they are not interested in anything beyond that. You have to ask, just how do these agencies earn their money?
I've had my CV professionally re-written (at a significant cost), and I’ve emphasised every little piece of technology I've worked on, but I still can't tick all the skill boxes on most advertised roles. What I won’t do, is lie on my CV. I know many people do, but I will never be one of them.
Footnote
Firstly, apologies for the recent lack of articles, as you can see from the above I’ve been somewhat focused on other things. Secondly, are you affected by the recession and the current IT job market, or am I just talking rubbish? Either way, I’d love to hear your views.
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