Where to look if you are in IT/Programme Management/Director roles?

[Soveryupset]

Hi there,

DH was made redundant a few months ago, and hasn't been able to secure a role in IT Programme Management/Director type roles in the UK. He has had 2 interviews, none of which turned out ended up employing anyone, and has applied for 80 jobs so far.

Luckily I am still employed in similar role, so we are able to carry on, but my job is also under threat and had no joy myself when applying in the last few months, so we are getting a bit worried.

We will continue to look in the UK, but were wondering what is a good/buoyant country to live in with lots of this type of roles available? We have four children ages between 6 and 10. We don't mind where we go, as long as it is not a war zone/very dangerous.

We had thought of the ME but couldn't find any suitable roles and was told that they are making a lot of IT staff redundant at the moment...not sure where else to try? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It feels like we are drowning a little.

Do you speak any language other than English? I've seen a big increase in recruiters reaching out to me in the last few months because I speak German. Mainly for projects in Frankfurt or Berlin. Dublin also seems fairly buoyant but doesn't pay as well.

My company is hiring but maybe not as senior as he is. However they pay well and the package will be good. The role would be in professional services so involve a significant amount of travel. PM me if you are interested.

Could he not contract? One of my very good friends is an IT contractor St quite a senior level. I think she calls herself a project manager. She hasn't got kids so is happy to travel but is never out of work it seems and she earns a good 6 figure salary.

He is applying for contract jobs too but has had even less success with those! He speaks English and Dutch.. I will PM re: that job, thanks for reaching out - it's a bit rubbish at the moment!!

San Francisco Bay Area is tech centre of the world, and the salaries and benefits are very attractive. If he could get a company to sponsor him and relocate your family you'd have a lovely lifestyle.

LastAnni - Unless you are doing an in company transfer getting a visa for the US is very, very hard at the moment. This year the whole allocation of H type visas (skilled workers) were used by April. Not that I wouldn't recommend it. I lived in SF for 3 years and it was brilliant.

Chenai, India?

I'm an IT contractor, usually Senior Project Manager but also variations on a theme. I always use www.jobserve.com to find contracts, and started contracting after I too lost my permie role. I'm probably preaching to the converted but for UK contracting here are my tips:
Have a contracting cv which focuses on project delivery target than roles and tweak it for every application
Make friends with a recruitment consultant that 'gets him' and takes time to get to know him so he can really sell him into roles (PM me if you'd like the name of my favourite)
Be convincing that contracting is what he wanted to do (not a stop gap) and have a good story that supports that
Consider PM roles where maybe used to more senior to kick-start contracting cv

As your husband is en/nl speaking he must be more than aware that one of nl's biggest "programme management" employers has just got rid of the majority of its staff. Add to which many of those seeking new roles are competing against fellow countrymen who also speak fr/de - not forgetting the current fad of emplouing sub-continent workers for peanuts.

Many of my contemporaries re-trained and new professions range through chef/funeral director to bus driver - all three of those professions unlikely to go out of business or be outsourced.

oh, Ive been there. What finally (!) worked for me, was to get in touch with every single person i had ever worked for, and ask them only 'who can i talk to'. I was not comfortable asking directly for a job, but asking for contacts who might help was doable for me. The actual job i went for was a mix: my CV was put forward by a recruitment agent just when the contact had spoken about me. Bingo.

Now I'm in the happy position of working in a technology area which is always looking for good talent. Everyone who joins tends to be a name or sometimes just a face i recognise from somewhere. It may not be fair, but wotks to cut down the search space to make the search process a lot easier and less prone to expensive errors.

The flow of adverts from top-consultant.com and linked-in.com appears to me to have incrased in the last year, from a very low base. All the best.

My dh is part of a software company in Australia with offices all over plus the UK.
They are always recruiting various staff. Probably not the high brow senior stuff it sounds like you need tho