zs_phil

iTrader: (1)

i admit it was easy but it has phased down since early april when we was doing 23 units with 6 gradually going down over time .

but id still rather be in a well paid job than being made redundant and having to find a job at the minute

StickyMicky

came close to doing this myself, did not want to have to do it, as good staff are hard to find, and i do like the current lads i have, but we had the very poor weather to contend with as well at my place, so it was like getting a double kick in the nads, managed to get by in the end, although i was ready to get rid of one of them by the end of the month if the bloody rain did not stop!

glad i never, as we are now in our busy season so i would have had to find somebody else to fill the gap (or work saturdays and sundays as well!)

finalzero

Bit of everything at the moment I think.

I have noticed loads of redundancies around my area and I was a victim (yes victim) of redundancy for the third time however I didn't waste time and hammered out as many interviews as I could.

I think due to the climate of uncertainty companies are plain scared and just laying off anything that is considered excess cost.

Quite a number of my friends (all IT professionals) have contacted me in the past two weeks to say how they have been made redundant, especially my poor russian buddy.

The guy got made redundant, secured a new job and then within in the first week of starting his new job the director walks in and lays off four people including him - not good!

News like that can scare a person, even I am half worried about any job I do secure as I you never quite know what is going to happen.

Good luck to the folks on who have been made redundant, all I can say is keep your head up and keep trying to find something... anything is better than nothing.

HankScorpio

Got my letter today, not actually redundant yet, at risk and am in "individual consultancy".
So rumours, 30 day group consultancy and now 30 days of this, way to to drag it out...

hodgy0_2

wow -- seems like quite a few scoobynetters are in IT (as I am)

I didnt really think it was that bad in IT -

I work for an IT services provider (actually division of BT) working on a large project for an investment house, who have just announce a major round of redundancies

My advice to the IT crowd is, if you havnt already, get qualified, as many as you can MSCE, CCNA CCNP -- MS have announed new exams for Windows 2008 etc VMware Citrix -- loads of resoures on the net and the exams are not that expensive. --- just puts you ahead of the pack

good luck and see you on the other side!!!!

Shark Man

Of course, this is a great time to get rid of any surplus. An economic "crisis" is the perfect excuse to get rid of staff and maintain a modest redundancy pacakge (in favour of the employer).

Without the financial hardship excuse, redundancy packages would have been alot larger as otherwise, ex-staff would take them to the cleaners for some more compo.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Likewise, although I'm at risk and waiting for a decision atm. Like Hank if I get chosen after the 30 days consultancy guff, I then go into individual consultancy. What a load of b0ll0cks. Just give me my package and let me leave ffs!

My company is cutting half of the total headcount (150 bods) and a third in my area I.T of which we're losing 3 bods outa 6 in my team alone! kneejerk reaction anyone?

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Bioforger - check with Capita for the Swindon contract we have down there. There may be vacancies available on desktop support if you're interested.

HankScorpio

Dec 10th is D day, hoping for salary in lieu of notice (get 7 weeks), have dec off and have a run at things in Jan, recruitment can be pretty slow the fortnight before Christmas!!

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Thx for the tip, I will if I get cut. I don't know if desktop support would provide a 35-40K salary though.

Capita may know me as I had an interview with them in Cirencester a few years back. I got to the 2nd interview, but didn't get the position. I don't know if that's a good thing or not It wasn't for an I.T position however.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Exactly. Also start of the New Year is seasonally bad, especially in the current business climate. Oh and don't forget there are going to be alot more people job searching after Christmas, due to all the companies cutting their staff. It's going to be tough out there next year with all that competition

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

I'll check internal vacancies in the morning and let you know what there is available for the contract

The Chief

Our place is in troble - its been trading since 1965 and Pops has had it since 1981, i've been there myself 15 years and i've never know it as quiet. I must have 6-8 firms a day ring me asking me if we have any work for them as they are dead.

Its not looking good for Christmas and i'm crapping myself!!!

HankScorpio

That's a fairly widespread feeling I'm afraid, my place, even the folks not affected are getting twitchy, these things tend to come in two or three waves until pared back to absolute minimum. I've seen the cycle twice now but avoided it till now.

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

Strange thing is, I've been looking for a firewall engineer since August, but no one has been right (and the person who expected the job, then changed his mind and went to Virgin Media, who I hear are now laying people off!)

I seem to be getting a lot of calls from recruitment agents at the moment, but I'm reluctant to give the job to someone from Nigeria or India on a highly skilled migrant visa, as the job is customer facing and I've had "issues" with communication between customers and one of my engineers, who has now left.

It's amazing that people who have been working with firewalls for 10-15 years can't answer fundamental questions regarding routing!

I'm also surprised how many people I have applying for a security consultant role, without an understanding of networks! How can you secure something you don't understand?

Strange though, we've been going nearly twenty years and in this climate instead of losing people, we are taking more on. We are getting more aggressive from a sales perspective, so I need a strong technical team to match.

I suspect that if I wait a little longer, I'll be able to get someone with the right skills, but without the price tag!

Let me know if anyone wants a firewall role in Surrey!

finalzero

Firewall folks are a strange breed, think they only graze at night

I'll have a chat with my mate, he is a Cisco brainbox but not sure if he is still emigrating to OZ.

There's a Head of IT vacancy at my place, I can pm the details if anyone is interested, think the role is in London or Milton Keynes (need to confirm).

It's hard to find well rounded people, I am quite proud of the fact that I have both a high level of technical competency and knowledge but also been fortunate enough in my career to be exposed to the business side dealing with customers all the way up to presenting to company directors.

I was working on a large project last year, hired to automoton robots from India and the project was a disaster. I couldn't work with em even when speaking in hindi to the buggers! It was a case of "you didn't put that in the spec, so I won't do it" - obviously not able to think outside the box.

Those guys are skilled no doubt, exceptional in some cases but they are just that, operators that need to be told what to do precisely.

I'll spam any vacancies that come up on this thread.