Has anyone any experience? I signed up in January for a 13 month
contract with an 'executive career management service'[1]

I paid by credit card.

The buggers went into receivership on Friday, so I'm looking to try and
get my money back off HSBC.

Anyone see any gotchas in this plan?

[1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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On 16/03/2010 10:24, Catman wrote:
> Has anyone any experience? I signed up in January for a 13 month
> contract with an 'executive career management service'[1]
>
> I paid by credit card.
>
> The buggers went into receivership on Friday, so I'm looking to try and
> get my money back off HSBC.
>
> Anyone see any gotchas in this plan?

Nope.

We bought a bunch of Speedferry tickets a while ago, actually paid for
with a debit visa card (Barclays).

We hadn't used a single ticket and they went belly up.

Barclays coughed up pdq, very little hassle IIRC.

--
/Simon

Simon Wilson wrote:
> On 16/03/2010 10:24, Catman wrote:
>> Has anyone any experience? I signed up in January for a 13 month
>> contract with an 'executive career management service'[1]
>>
>> I paid by credit card.
>>
>> The buggers went into receivership on Friday, so I'm looking to try and
>> get my money back off HSBC.
>>
>> Anyone see any gotchas in this plan?
>
> Nope.
>
> We bought a bunch of Speedferry tickets a while ago, actually paid for
> with a debit visa card (Barclays).
>
> We hadn't used a single ticket and they went belly up.
>
> Barclays coughed up pdq, very little hassle IIRC.
>

That would be nice.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Catman wrote:

> [1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
> anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
> similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really

What is it. What do they actually *do*. Or rather "did".

Did you see a few progs on Beeb1 recently with people trying to help people
who had fallen into unemployment. I had to switch it off at times, their
situation seemed so grim it made me wince. But one chap found a service
which was helping him brush up his act then, and this was the key element,
*they* then proactively went out to companies looking to fit him in
somewhere. *They* were building relationships with employers in the area.
Which is as it should be IMHO.

--
Hog

'Hog wrote:
> Catman wrote:
>
>> [1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
>> anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
>> similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really
>
> What is it. What do they actually *do*. Or rather "did".

A whole gamut of stuff:
Psycohemtric testing to see what you actually want to do
Review by colleagues / friends / family to give an unbiased view of
strengths and weaknesses, both in professional terms and personal.
Skill review
Bundle it all together into a nice CV following thoughts of current best
practice (whatever that may be today)
Two minute profiles
Interview practice (video phone and real life)
Seminars on how to present yourself as a package, routes to market,
interviews, un-advertised jobs
Loads of databases on jobs and industry news.

So it goes on. Personally I found it pretty useful
>
> Did you see a few progs on Beeb1 recently with people trying to help people
> who had fallen into unemployment. I had to switch it off at times, their
> situation seemed so grim it made me wince.

Wasn't it just.

> But one chap found a service
> which was helping him brush up his act then, and this was the key element,
> *they* then proactively went out to companies looking to fit him in
> somewhere. *They* were building relationships with employers in the area.

Useful at that level, I have no doubt. At my level, we are rather
expected to do that ourselves IYSWIM.

> Which is as it should be IMHO.
>

Well it's *kind* of what agencies should do I suppose. Very few seem to
(I know a couple) and there are rules about what you can charge for as
well. Who was paying their bill? In any event it does sound like a
useful thing.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Catman wrote:

> Well it's *kind* of what agencies should do I suppose. Very few seem
> to (I know a couple) and there are rules about what you can charge
> for as well. Who was paying their bill? In any event it does sound
> like a useful thing.

It is what HM Gov should be paying Contractors to actually do rather than
the open ended and hollow consultants they actually sluice money into.
People in middle and upper responsibility levels often need proactive help
and contacts to get them back into the market. They can already put on a
suit and write the bones of a CV.

--
Hog

'Hog wrote:
> Catman wrote:
>
>> Well it's *kind* of what agencies should do I suppose. Very few seem
>> to (I know a couple) and there are rules about what you can charge
>> for as well. Who was paying their bill? In any event it does sound
>> like a useful thing.
>
> It is what HM Gov should be paying Contractors to actually do rather than
> the open ended and hollow consultants they actually sluice money into.

Sounds like a plan

> People in middle and upper responsibility levels often need proactive help
> and contacts to get them back into the market. They can already put on a
> suit and write the bones of a CV.
>

You'd be (possibly) amazed. But yes, even for me, that kind of help
would be useful. And the bones of a CV is really no longer enough[1].
To maximise your chances of even getting through the door, it really
needs to be top notch.

[1] This clearly is dependant upon your skills versus market desires.
Certainly for most jobs in IT that don't depend on a *very* rare skill,
CV's probably need to be something special, or you're just entering a
lottery.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

"Catman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:hno8g1$9ac$(E-Mail Removed)...
> 'Hog wrote:
>> Catman wrote:
>>
>>> [1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
>>> anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
>>> similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really
>>
>> What is it. What do they actually *do*. Or rather "did".
>
> A whole gamut of stuff:
> Psycohemtric testing to see what you actually want to do
> Review by colleagues / friends / family to give an unbiased view of
> strengths and weaknesses, both in professional terms and personal.

I tried that once, a few years ago. After they received a review from Sarah
(which I didn't get to see), they started avoiding me, not returning calls
etc.

platypus wrote:
>
> "Catman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:hno8g1$9ac$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> 'Hog wrote:
>>> Catman wrote:
>>>
>>>> [1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
>>>> anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
>>>> similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really
>>>
>>> What is it. What do they actually *do*. Or rather "did".
>>
>> A whole gamut of stuff:
>> Psycohemtric testing to see what you actually want to do
>> Review by colleagues / friends / family to give an unbiased view of
>> strengths and weaknesses, both in professional terms and personal.
>
> I tried that once, a few years ago. After they received a review from
> Sarah (which I didn't get to see), they started avoiding me, not
> returning calls etc.
>
>

Probably for the best

I actually dealt with all my reviews. What amazed me was how consistent
they all were. I genuinely wondered if all these people had somehow got
in touch and planned the whole thing.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:26:49 +0000, Catman wrote:

> platypus wrote:
>>
>> "Catman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:hno8g1$9ac$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> 'Hog wrote:
>>>> Catman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> [1] Laugh if you will, I found it quite a useful service. Apart from
>>>>> anything else it got me out of the house and talking to people in
>>>>> similar situations. Bit like UKRM UR really
>>>>
>>>> What is it. What do they actually *do*. Or rather "did".
>>>
>>> A whole gamut of stuff:
>>> Psycohemtric testing to see what you actually want to do Review by
>>> colleagues / friends / family to give an unbiased view of strengths and
>>> weaknesses, both in professional terms and personal.
>>
>> I tried that once, a few years ago. After they received a review from
>> Sarah (which I didn't get to see), they started avoiding me, not
>> returning calls etc.
>>
>>
>>
> Probably for the best
>
> I actually dealt with all my reviews. What amazed me was how consistent
> they all were. I genuinely wondered if all these people had somehow got in
> touch and planned the whole thing.

Or were given a bunch of leading questions.

--
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