2pointfive_age_of_man discovers Web2.0.

Loch Ness Monster spotted on holiday in Crete

Update from Suffolk:  Tea is being taken in Adelaide.  I have just heard Kevin Pietersen our adopted Cricketer becomes only the 16th England player reach a double century, (in Australia?).  Well done!


Are we going to win this one? Time soon for a declaration as we still have an innings in hand.  How confident are the England side they bowl Australia out? The BBC must be a little jittery as they are playing recordings of an English collapse.  Shane Warne is no more.  iPlayer might need a red button.  At least the feed can't be heard outside the UK and not in the dressing room.  Oh!Oh! It is now raining, Aussie tourist board extras have been doing a rain dance.  Forecast is to get some sleep as it might be set in for the day.

2pointfive_age_of_man and Web 2.0

As a 2pontfive_age_man looking at career change I have ventured into the realms of  Web 2.0.  At present  there are a number of different tools out their.   Personal Portfolio tools, social networking, apps for apps and for the really adventurous the personal website.

The proliferation of recruitment agencies on the Web is a part of our service economy.  Training providers that handle the DWPs (Department Work and Pensions) customers are legion.  The preferred providers seem to be chasing a supposedly limited pool of people.  The going rate for services must be high to support these groups especially when you see the quality of the marketing materials that are produced by these providers.  (Reminder to myself, when I have some money buy shares in a print supply company).

Cricket Update:  The PA in Adelaide in playing Singing in the Rain.  Is this the rarest record in Australia?  The commendatory is now turning to the "Australia is not geared up for rain."  England not geared up for Snow?   The rain is starting to stop. the lights are on.  do the Aussie really ant the covers to come off? The covers are now coming off - we have cricket again, barring the apparently menacing stewards supposedly there to stop a pitch invasion, maybe to stop the England batsmen.

So Web 2.0 applications that I have tried. Sies accessed 4/12/2010.

Linkedin :  Potential to be a very good site for professionals. a little commercial but I suppose it is a commercial environment that I am transforming my career.  The site does take a little bit of effort to understand its potential.  It is not a job site in that you search solely for positions.  The post CV and forget about it nature of most job sites  I have seen is not what the experience is about.  Firstly to view a lot of information you also have to be a member of the group.  The CV Upload function although convenient does need to be carefully checked as it machine read.  The Basic account allows you to how often and which organisations have viewed your profile but not the exact individual.   There are other issues that spring to mind about paid introductions to employers and the "in the club" nature but it is a fact that "who you know" has been going on for thousands of years.

Twitjobsearch  -  This is an app site.  I say an app site as it piggybacks on the information on twitter.  The site came to my attention through the BBC Click programme one dark November night.  It is apparently a new site  What it does is sniff out those tweets that relate to jobs on twitter and as such seems to be a twitter offshoot.  You log in  with your twitter account details and then set up your search profiles.  The alert system then makes you aware of interesting jobs.  I am at the moment tweaking the twits and awaiting the results. Could be very good, but will that tweet saying you hate your boss suddenly produce an opening position email !! Answers on a tweet.

Next Steps   This is a government funded site that used to be  http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/ but is now part of a new adult careers service.  This is apparently a self-referral service but also a Jobcentre Plus referral.  Has some really good features in the fact that you can build an e-portfolio.  Having been a teacher this was one of the good things a previous employer tried to introduce with Blue Sky.   Next steps allows you to record training, build a CV and also contact advisers.  How accessible this is to people already in employment seeking career change I am not sure but it is FREE.

New life network  This was passed onto me as a place to find job skills profiling.  It is from it's title primarily aimed at redundancy sufferers.  Equally could be of use to burnt out teachers wanting to see if their much vaunted transferable skills are actually transferable. Haven't fully mined the site yet the payload looks worthwhile.


 Job site and agencies.  Well what can I say about these.  It might be a sweeping statement but you don't have to be registered with anybody to be a recruitment agency.  Recent experience as teacher who stepped away from full-time post a lot of general agencies appear to see market as "open". If you register with a CV storing site as an employer you have access to and contact details.  I have been offered work next day from people who have not had a face to meeting with me or checked QTS  details or CRB. Safeguarding unheard of ? Probably!  Job site user beware.