Kippax

I remember my career advisor saying people are crying out for mechanical engineers but I'm stuck in a 9-5 I hate and can't seem to find anything else. I have a degree and 13 years experience and have tried agencies and specific employers but found nothing.

How come some people manage to change their job every 2 years with promotion and a better salary?

Any advice?

Mufasa

Learn CAD and go contracting in the aircraft industry.
Mate went from dole (after getting design degree and laying on the beach) to £80K in 18 months.

jasonwrxowner

I work in recruitment. Most employers will look for a good career progression. You should be looking at demonstrating a career move (To a better position) or a promotion within your company about every 2 years. Most recruiters, (in my limited opinion) will consider you to be unambitious if the do not see this represented in your CV.

A bit of clever CV writing and you can make this impression even if this is not quite the case. There are some services that offer a CV writing service. They cost (About £100-150) but the usually can increase your earning potential by about 30%. Look at www.cvposter.com hey have a affiliate with one such service.

Remember to keep your CV to about 2 pages. Use bullet points to highlight your strong points. Try to tailor your CV to highlight points about yourself that are relevent to the position you are applying for.

Once at interview, try taking a notepad and paper with you as this shows that you are paying attention and have a desire to learn. Look at the company's website prior to interview and ensure that you fully understand their products, etc.

Make sure that you ask lots of questions. Allot of people fail 1st interview when they ask nothing. Nobody fully understands all what is described to them in an interview.

This should get you into the 2nd interview. This means that you have passed the stages of them getting rid of all the sh*te. Now you will need to ensure that you really impress. That is up to you.

I hope that this helps. Please feel free to e-mail me ifyou have any questions, comments or require any assistance.

Jason.

Kippax

Jason,

My CV is as you describe but at my place of work, promotions just don't happen as often as every two years. As I have been here quite a while I think it's working against me.

Stu.

jasonwrxowner

Kippax,

A good way of guaging your worth in the current climate is to register your CV on a few online job sites. I would recommend:

www.gojobsite.co.uk
www.planetrecruit.co.uk
www.absolute-engineers.co.uk
www.engineersonthenet.co.uk

You should then start getting calls from recruiters like myself who would have obviously read your CV and matched it with any requirements that they have.

Be warned: Some recruiters are very dodgy. Be very stern with them and stick to your guns. If they try to pursuade you into applying for a position that you do not like the sound of then stand your ground. Some only want to earn their comission.

However on a more posotive note, some will be genuine in their intentions and will look out for your best interests.

You just have to seperate the good from the bad.

Kippax

cheers jason you have been a great help. i'll have another look at this tomorrow. i can only take so much in one day.

shunty

kippax - know what ya mean, always felt I was destined for something else....
wish I'd have taken my family to Canada/USA etc long time ago but couldn't afford it.

ps - to get a pay rise, just tell your boss you have just bought an automatic weapon to get rid of the frustration you are feeling, you live @ home still, even though your 37 & like wearing combat gear....usually does the trick

shunty