Thats the old frasers building at the west end of Princes St right? I walked past that yesterday and I love that someone has written "DOON YER TEA" on basically every construction sign up around it.

Quoting for page turn because, y’know, people need jobs.

poprock wrote:

Anyone know people looking for work in Edinburgh?

The massive Johnny Walker tourist trap that some of my friends have been working on the past couple of years is almost finished. They’re hiring about 150 people – hospitality and retail roles mostly.

Given the current hellscape that is the job market, this is an open goal compared to most opportunities out there.

https://www.diageo.com/en/careers/johnnie-walker-princes-street/

@HawBawJaws If you could put up with the commute to Edinburgh, you’d likely be a shoe-in for some of the more senior positions given your casino experience.

So after pushing back against work a few weeks ago about them taking the piss after making my role redundant, theyve now come back offering me the same.previous wage up until at least January as long as i will continue doing IT/data/managerial work.

Result!

Excellent.

Woo

More good news. Few weeks back I spent a long time meticulously crafting a covering letter for a new position at PCGamesN. Essentially they are rebranding one of their subsidisers, Wargamer, to shift focus towards tabletop and boardgame focussed alongside their traditional wargamer focus (think very serious digital boardgames about WW2 etc).

They wanted an editor and a staff writer - both remote - so I thought fuck it, Covid hellscape, no prospects, apply the fuck out of it with the handful of experience I have writing for Dicebreaker.

Got an interview next Thursday. Not supremely confident in my chances as people have been carving this niche a lot more effectively and efficient for longer than me, but hoping my attitude towards this stuff - accessibility is champion, don’t bother writing for the audience that’s already getting its nitty gritty news from long established sources, and instead focus on catering to a much wider audience who want a broader touch is what they’re looking for.

Interview best thursday. Many digits crossed.

At the very least, if I don’t get it I hope I at least open another freelance door.

Top class Tempy. Nothing to lose!

Diluted Dante wrote:

Ooh, hope that goes well. You'll be working under Ben Maxwell if you get it, who I claim credit for as I continually featured him in the Edge Community Spotlight.

Funnily enough I knew he worked at PCGN as their head editor, so I hit him up prior to the application asking if I should even bother as I had very little written experience in tabletop/boardgames (though what i’ve written I think is strong) and he said to go for it cos it’s always worth trying, as he had no experience prior to Edge.

Earlier this week he revealed he’s been promoted to the top of the pile and now manages a bunch of Network N properties, including Wargamer.

Could work for or against me I guess?

Could anyone offer any advice on applying for UK government posts? It's for my partner. She's about to finish her PhD and has applied for a bunch of gov positions but keeps hitting a brick wall and not even progressing to interview stage. Applications are scored from 1 to 7 with scores of 4 and above going straight to interview. She's now been rejected from about 5 positions, scoring a 3 every time. 

She found a graduate forum where people were chatting and giving advice about the type of language and terminology to use for these applications and that give her a shot in the arm. But after doing her best to follow that advice she's just received another rejection and another score of 3. She's completely demoralised with the process and I don't blame her. With no feedback given she has no idea where she might be going wrong.

So I'm wondering if anyone here might be able to offer any sage advice on applying for government positions?

Thanks. I'll do that.

Civil service jobs I guess? She's mostly applied for policy jobs. She has also applied for the fast track scheme thing but hasn't heard back yet.

They’re both tough roles to get into. From my experience to get into them you need to start more junior and basically apprentice your way in (at least that’s how I’ve seen others get into those). The jobs even at relatively low grade seem comparitively hard work to me so the underlying experience needs to be spot on because the competition will be doing informal work and adjacent work directly relevant to roles.

I would recommend really sticking to the words of the question as much as possible. Embellishment and artfulness is basically a digression.

(Other departments may vary but the two experiences I’ve had really do care about the literal terminology they use. I think this is to ensure fairness more than anything).

Scout wrote:

Yeah I'm worried she's not hitting all the buzzwords and specific requirements.

Happy to help. I’ve done 3 years in public service and 12 in local government.

I'm sure your partner is applying for the right job, btw!

Spy, is it?