The following has been sent to us:-
Made Redundant
I am a Software Testing Permie with 20 years experience and have recently spent 5 months out of work
My area of skill is software testing and I am ISEB accredited and working on a Mercury CPS and I have a degree. I have a very solid record in testing with major consultancies and banks on a permanent basis.
I made 200 job applications mainly through jobserve and had 6 interviews
I have been made redundant before but never been out of work for more than a couple of weeks
To spend 5 months out of work was very tough and unexpected. I believe my salary expectations were reasonable
Many Out of Work
What has really upset me is that I network with about 30 other IT professionals across all types of IT Skills (Project Management, Business Analysts, Developers, Testers, DBAs, Support) both Permanent and Contract.
Out of the 30 IT professionals about 12 (i.e. 40%) have been made redundant in the last 12 months. Normally one would expect all 12 to find work in a maximum of 3 months. At the moment only 2 of us have found good IT work and the rest are searching with increasing stress. One other found very temporary IT work, and one other part time work.
So the other 9 IT Professionals (i.e. 28%) with good records and good skills are out of work over 6 months and this includes Developers, Testers and support.
Currently I believe all 9 are drawing some form of income support
One friend (A Contractor) spent nearly 2 years out of work and is now in part time work.
NamesFacesPlaces Comment
We have passed this on to the PCG who are creating a dossier to present to the Prime Minister who inferred in Parliament that there were plenty of jobs in Parliament. If you have your own story, send it to us and we‘ll send it on.
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