Auditing Rats!

My job search is going well and I am learning a lot about the UK market. Here, everything is done through recruitment agencies. I spend about 6 hours a day looking for and applying for jobs. It has become a job in itself. There are hundreds of recruiting agencies that specialize in everything from cooks to accountants.

Usually you apply for a job through their website and they do the first screening before it heads to the organization you are applying to. I have applied to about 25 jobs to date and I have been called by 5 different recruiting agencies. The recruiting agencies have different counselors who manage jobs and try to match you up with something. It is free for me, but if the agency connects me to a job, the organization pays the agency. So it is in their best interest to find me employed.

I have personally visited 3 of the agencies that called me. What I have discovered is that their websites are not up to date. Thus, I have been applying for closed jobs! When I asked if I should be searching their website daily to see if there are any jobs I am interested in, the agencies have laughed and said "no." How do these people plan on getting you a job?

I have also learned they tell me different things. I have spoken to a agency that represents consultant firms. I was told I should decrease my salary request by $15,000 because I was American and had no consultant experience. While another agency told me yesterday that I could ask for more then my US salary because I was highly qualified and a great candidate. Daily..........I am left confused.

There also seems to be a ton of contract work here in the UK. I am trying to get more up to speed on this. It seems to keep down the cost for most of the public sector organizations, they use contract work for short and long term projects. Basically, I would be considered self-employed and not get any paid holidays. I can't figure out the cost benefit of this since I would not get any "benefits" and the benefits vary greatly here. On the plus side, contract work tends to pay more.

Agencies do different things, but many of them allow organizations to search their database to look for candidates they want to interview. Yesterday, I was contacted by one of the agencies asking if I would interview with a local city council for a job. I was totally excited as I would like to work for a local government. I was sent a job description that I have the skills for. It is a performance review position and my title would be Environmental Health Officer. I was even more excited because it was in the environmental field........or so I thought.

Turns out, the local governments classify human health services as "environmental" health here. Thus, I would be reviewing their infectious disease program, food safety at restaurants (food poisoning cases), and last but not least......rat and pest control!

Do I want to audit rats? I had to think about this for a few hours. I am one of those people who believes go to the interview, get the job offer, and then decide if you want to take the job or not. But in this case, while I would love to work for a local council..........would I really be happy auditing pest control? The more I thought about it......I am not that desperate yet! The job would have been for a 3 month contract and the pay was not as high as I liked. Thus, I am turning down the interview.

Let's hope I can find something better then rats!