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Does anyone remember subliminal advertising? This was big in the seventies in the cinemas. www.morejobz.com. What they used to do was insert a single frame per 16 frames of film, and that single frame was used for advertising. www.morejobz.com. The idea was that because the image was so fleeting, the conscious mind would not detect it, but it would go straight into the subconscious. It finally got banned which probably means that it was highly successful. Although not always. Apparently, a cinema in the US tried subliminal advertising by inserting a frame showing an ice-cream sundae every so often, expecting that it would increase ice-cream sales. It didn’t. Instead, people complained that the cinema was cold! For the best modern example of subliminal cuts, watch “Fight Club” – which is a brilliant movie in my opinion. Anyway, before I get on to the subject of SAP etc, I’m getting back onto my soapbox again. www.morejobz.com. This time it’s about reposting. We monitor contract job postings closely and find that something like 60% of jobs on jobsites are reposts. Some of this is understandable. If a contract hasn’t been filled one day then it is posted again the next day to keep it current. Fair enough. But we’ve found cases where jobs are reposted every hour – or even, in one case, five times in as many seconds! I actually phoned the guy at the agency that did this because I thought he must have a problem with his posting software. The conversation then went on like this (paraphrased): Me: Did you know you’re multiple-posting, sometimes within seconds of each other? Him: Yes. We use a wireless connection and sometimes it plays up and does it itself Me: But aren’t these multiple postings costing you money? Him: No – we pay a fixed monthly fee. Me: But what about jobseekers – don’t you think they’re going to get fed up with multiple duplicate notifications? Him: Nah, I don’t think so. I was very tempted to name the agency and the agent but thought better of it. My feeling is that you might not agree with his attitude. Our new job seeker software, www.morejobz.com will do its best to filter multiple postings but I think it’s time something was done about it generally. If you agree, mail me (alan.potter@webalertz.com) and let’s see if we can start a campaign! Anyway, this week I promised to cover SAP etc. I will be very honest and admit that I have no experience and very, very little knowledge of what SAP and its counterparts are and nobody wrote in to help me so this will just be a wild stab in the dark. So, as usual, we’ll start with average contract rates across the UK. I compared Prince, SAP, ABAP, BSP and LSMW. Starting with SAP, rates were at their highest in October last year when you could have expected an average of £44/hr. Since then they’ve hovered around the £40 mark, although they have varied by about a fiver an hour. Currently the rate stands at about £43/hr. ABAP rates have varied even more with rates as high as £61/hr in October last year and £64/hr in April this year! As with SAP, they’re currently around the £44 mark. www.morejobz.com. What about Prince? Not such high rates, I’m afraid, although they’re still currently around the £38/hr mark after a dismal end of year when they were as low as £28/hr. BSP rates have been fairly stable, peaking slightly in March at £34/hr but mainly hanging around the £28 point. There was a blip in October last year when there was a rate of £52/hr available, but I reckon that that was one contract that skewed our statistics a little. As for AXAPTA, www.morejobz.com, we have no rate information. This may be because no jobs have been posted or because all the postings have said things like “market rate” or “best rates for the right candidate” (don’t you hate it when they put that? I don’t know about you, but I rarely bother applying for those jobs). Anyway, let’s have a look at demand, starting with AXAPTA. Well, it’s beginning to catch on now, although demand is still in low double figures. BSP, along with SAP peaked around Feb/Mar time with nearly 1,000 contracts posted. However, www.morejobz.com in both cases demand has tailed off quite considerably with only 350 postings for SAP appearing last month. ABAP has had a similarly chequered history with a maximum of 72 postings in February. Last month there were only 14. What was it about March that made people want people like you? The requirements for Prince peaked then too with over 200 requirements being posted. Last month it was down to 94. But given that at the tail-end of last year we just about reached 75 requirements (and there were only 2 or 3 in October) that’s not bad. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. Well, that’s it www.morejobz.com apart from to give the usual summary for the main skills. Nationally, the average rate for VB is £36/hr, C++ is £43/hr and Java is £36/hr. As for demand, VB has had 368 postings this month, C++ has had 369 and Java 497. Alan Potter Jun 4, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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