End Aug 2025 Sydney

Recruiters often reach out when you’re head down (and I would never bail on a current commitment) but a big construction company reached out to me, so I took the bait as I know my current contract is up mid Nov. Even though their in-house recruiter didn’t seem to know the first thing about HR software projects or what relevant acronyms meant he was fixated on cyber security, he did at least call me in person but whatever I said it put him off & I never heard back. No matter, I’m not in a rush but it does seem to take 3 months to secure a role (per ex colleagues).

Mid Sept 2025

Did 45 exploratory applications for jobs with Seek & LinkedIn for the craic like (many looked liked data gathering rubbish – mysterious government jobs in Canberra advertised by Indian names who never reply 🤣)

Result: Nada (bar a handful of automated emails where I’m guessing no human even saw my cv).

Mid Oct 2025 

Seek stats told me on average 500 (so called) applicants applied for those jobs which are now all closed, in 2022 when I last was looking it was 100. Population increase in Sydney in those 3 years is only 300,000 which leads to me believe many of those 500 applicants are not real. 

Conclusion: Seek & LinkedIn applications are pointless.

Next move…  contacted every recruiter who ever contacted me in the last 3 years. Most ignored me but the ones who know me called me back (thank you) plus I made friends with a few new ones & it was really good talking to humans actually, hiring managers on the other hand seem to be absolute time wasters who won’t even have an initial chat …

Had 2 calls for the same job from 2 different recruiters, who quizzed me about each other 🤪, first red flag the company couldn’t pick a lane! Some crowd who needed “someone like me” asap for the exact same job I’m doing now … Hiring manager wouldn’t even have a screening call with me & then a week or two later “oh they are going with a business PM” … for a software implementation!! Good luck with that, time wasters.

Got a lead for a NSW government dept. contract role, rate too low, initial term too short but got talked into applying, they refused to even have a chat as I wasn’t an SME in a certain “low code platform”, I’m a very experienced technical project manager and an ex-programmer with an amazing track record delivering many digital transformations on different platforms, I do not need to be an SME in any “low code” platform. Short sighted time wasters.

Another lead (from Sept.) for a NSW gov. dept., doing what I’m doing now, sounds like perfect fit… a month later “it’s too close to the holidays they are waiting till new year” newsflash it’s still October! You know what …. then it’ll be Easter, then it’ll be EOFY, then it’ll be winter school holidays, oh please, spare me cause you’ll never recruit with that mind set!

Big Indian Tech company reaches out on LinkedIn, I hand over all relevant details. And… they ghost me. 👻 

Nov 2025

Next lead: very interesting new transformation government job which would be 3 weeks wfh / 1 week interstate. I would ❤️❤️❤️ this. 2 weeks later, nada, not even a screening call with the hiring manager. Dead in water? 🤷‍♀️ I hope not but not very encouraging so far.

Connection on LinkedIn (thank you) sent me a lead for another gov dept., emailed recruiter who is on the job advert … told me she’s on leave (why is her email on a job advertised an hour ago?!) & to contact her colleague, did that, no response. Sigh.

Mid Nov 2025

Call from a recruiter in an actual company about a role in the new year – phone tag so far, so let’s see …

Current contract over, officially on on job market 17th Nov. Going to sub contract myself for home decoration work for free 😂 (in my own home!) for now…. NZ trip planned in school holidays when all of Australia will be on a go slow anyway … not in a rush but would be nice if something was locked in on the horizon, perfectly happy with 5th Feb when schools gone back. Manifesting…. 🤞

Hope to see you in a fortnight for more updates ….

1 Dec 2025
Well what a fortnight it’s been, did no home decorating or decluttering as we had some medical drama in our house, so I had to be full time parent, its ok now though.

But the interstate job I really wanted called me for interview on 24/11, a cyclone hit it so it got postponed, did finally see them on 28/11 where my Apple laptop decided not to work with MS Teams, so I quickly had to pivot and get connected with the phone, only wasted 2 mins but it felt like a lifetime! Inauspicious start.

Was interviewed by 4 men, which was a bit daunting but they very nice and there was no stupid questions about strengths and weaknesses etc. Recruiter told me to focus on the kind of project they are doing and specifically talk about relevant experience only, I had 30 mins so had to talk fast. They also asked why I’d like to work there, which he also told me to be ready for. It went well, there was no rabbit in headlights moment for me and I got to ask a few questions. And that was it, I raked over it for an hour after and then they called my recruiter to talk about rates! Promising. Meanwhile I recommended someone else for another role and they got offered the job, so was hoping for good karma on the networking front.

I sent some follow up questions the next morning and thanked them while reiterating why I was the best person for the job. Monday morning they replied saying they were sorting the rate out as I was the preferred candidate. That afternoon they called with an offer, as proposed by the recruiter on Friday.

Ecstatic is not the word for how I am feeling. 2 weeks off work, spoke to a few recruiters, 1 interview, and bam … done. No hundreds of Seek or LinkedIn applications. Last time it took 3 months and I had to kiss a lot of frogs, so to speak! Just goes to show the right recruiter is worth their weight in gold, and keeping dialogues open, during the year, with recruiters pays off. Very thankful and I start on 15/12.