Finding work is a tough job

Giles Aubrey, an IT professional, has gone to extreme lengths to get employment since being made redundant. Photo / Brett Phibbs

After three months, more than 50 job applications and regular contact with 30-plus recruitment agencies, Giles Aubrey is still unemployed.

The 37-year-old IT project manager has sent out mass emails, posted a video on YouTube, used social networking websites Twitter and LinkedIn and put advertisements in the Herald, all in the hope of attracting an employer.

With the jobless rate running at 6 per cent, the Ponsonby father of two knows he is not as badly off as some. "I'm not whingeing and complaining that I can't have any lattes."

But what has surprised him is how tough the search has proven to be. He has been without a job before, but this time around he is not even getting interviews, he says.

Mr Aubrey has been working his contacts "to the point of feeling like an Amway salesman".

He was made redundant from financial services company Suncorp with half a dozen co-workers earlier in the year. Only two have so far found new positions.

Mr Aubrey said there were a large number of well qualified candidates chasing very few jobs.

"Companies can go overboard with their requirements and probably fill [the position] and pay less.

"I've heard of really experienced project managers taking a 30 per cent pay cut."

Job ads would be on the internet for one day and then closed.

"The ritual is the Seek jobs go out at 5 o'clock in the morning, and if you're not on to it by 8 and getting on the phone you've got no hope."

It was about being as proactive as possible. Job-hunting techniques such as utilising social networking sites were here to stay, he believed, and people needed to get used to the idea of churn. In his three years at Suncorp he had experienced three restructurings.

Mr Aubrey said the ads in the Herald had generated good feedback - the general manager of a recruitment company had taken it to his daily staff meeting and asked why the agency wasn't trying to place this man.

However, what he needed was a pay cheque. He and his wife, who works four days a week, had a significant mortgage. "We're like most Ponsonby dwellers. We're pretty highly geared."

They also had financial commitments over a small luxury car rental business Mr Aubrey has run with a partner for several years. Because of the recession, it was not currently providing a return.

Kate Ross, owner of recruitment company Kinetic, said the IT sector had been particularly hard hit.

Few people were getting back into the market in the same position as their last job.

"Most people are taking a job down, a job sideways, just anything to get through."

However, Ms Ross said, market conditions had improved in the past four to six weeks.

Recruiters were starting to see short-term positions again and newly created jobs, which was a good sign.

She agreed that, like them or loathe them, social networking sites had become a job-hunting tool. "I think there's an absolute need for it, and a good use for it too."

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