[SWLUG] Employment agencies

[Julian Hall]

Gerald Davies wrote:

>btw, and you might have heard this before, its always easier to find a
>job when you have a job ;) so it may have not been such a wise move to
>have quit before you had secured your next position.
>  
>
Hi Gerald,

I spent three years looking before I ended up on the sick due to stress 
caused by the job.  Faced with intransigent management making matters 
worse I felt my health was more important.  I'm not having a go btw, 
just explaining the position :)

>western
>mail...etc.
>
Western Mail I get on Thursday and SW Echo on Wednesday.

>whilst a degree is no indicator of your ability to "do" a job, it,
>allegedly, demonstrates an ability to learn, manage time, plagarise,
>etc, and so people use it as a pre-requisite.
>
I'd agree with the "allegedly" (apologies Adam :)).  I fondly remember 
one customer and it went like this:

Cmr:  I'm putting my son on.. *he*'s doing at IT Comms Degree  [as if 
I'm something the dog trod in]
Me: *thinks* Doing a degree... hasn't got a Degree... ergo knows jack... 
bring him on!
Son:  Speak!
Me:  I beg your pardon?? [Must be a step up.. he thinks I *am* the dog]
*silence*
Me:  Right, click on Options -> Mail and News Preferences -> Servers 
Tab... wipe what's in the Mail Server it's wrong and type in...
Son: Slow down you're going too fast...
Me: OK I'll go slower.... Options.. got that?  Good... now Mail and News 
Preferences... Okay?  Good... Servers Tab.. delete what's in Mail Server 
and type Program <space> Files...
Son: *interrupts* How are you spelling "space"?
Me:  [unprofessional I know but I could NOT keep the sarcasm out of my 
voice]  *I'm* not.. *I'm* pressing the space bar....

Needless to say he gave no further trouble.

Having said that, when leaving University with no actual work 
experience, employers would need some kind of yardstick to judge 
prospective employees.  As you said, (although I haven't done a degree 
myself), opposite to school where you're chased for unfinished work, it 
requires self discipline for learning, ability to research, manage your 
workload, time, etc which are all skills an employer would look for.  I 
would hope that having successfully held down jobs for 14 years an 
employer would take those elements as read.  One thing a degree doesn't 
necessarily demonstrate (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm 
wrong) is an ability to work as a team player, which IMHO is at least as 
important as the other elements.  There's no point employing someone who 
is brilliant at managing his workload if he's going to expend all his 
energies working on something different to the rest of the team.

Actually, I've just had a thought:

School:  Teachers chase you for results.
Uni:  Nobody chases you for results
Work:  Your boss chases you for results.

So, um... ohhh never miind :)

>  IMHO, degrees are worth
>no more than O'levels these days.... more or less everybody has one. 
>look at the value of A'levels.. ssseesh.
>  
>
Hehe.. when I left school I had one A Level... Computing... I could make 
a BBC Micro jump through hoops... which was precisely HOW MUCH good in 
the PC based IT workplace?  Precisely zero.  The problem today though is 
that whether you agree with the argument that A Levels are easier than 
they were or not (which is a moot point) the fact remains that a lot of 
people have them and have good grades too (however obtained).  Ergo it's 
easier for them to get to university and get a degree. IMHO there has to 
come a time when employers start to say "We need a new yardstick because 
the one we have now is a level playing field", inasmuch as everyone has 
X qualification so we can no longer separate them that way.

Personally I like aptitude tests :)

>theres nothing wrong with being a mature student either!!!!
>
True but you have to be mature.. I think I'm in trouble already ;)

Kind regards,

Julian


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