| Alistair 2007-03-19, 6:55 pm |
| On 19 Mar, 11:48, "Pete Dashwood" <dashw...@removethis.enternet.co.nz>
wrote:
> As to the new job, I have decided to continue what I'm currently doing
> (developing a web service in C# that will allow address validation and
> conversion for NZ addresses. The engine is in OO COBOL and has proven to be
> very robust, achieving over 90% success on free format input )
Just to pour cold water on the project: that represents a 10% failure
rate. In the UK, businesses are given a reduced bulk mail postal rate
if they can achieve a high percentage of valid post codes (no, I don't
know what rate is required). Of course, your system corrects 90% of
invalid post codes but would it meet the requirements of the NZ postal
service?
> for the next
> 8 w s. At the end of that time, I'll either have something worth selling,
> or I'll have to look for a real job. There are some very good Project
> Management jobs going right here in NZ at the moment so I'm hopeful I won't
> need to go back to Europe. Actually, any of the three options (stay here
> and market the address service, take a PM job in Auckland or Wellington, or
> go back to a PM job in Europe) are OK by me, but I'd prefer to stay here.
>
> Pete.
In an earlier post (IIRC) you suggested that agents receive 100
applications for each job posted. I believe that the rate is nearer
400 in the UK. The last job I applied for with less than 100
applicants was at Leicestershire police. The job was so poorly
described that I realised, from a form that I had to fill out prior to
the interview, that I was wasting my time (and that after a two hour
journey to get to the interview). I was shouting abuse through the
windscreen of my car for at least twenty miles before I calmed down on
the return journey. Agents and employers may be competent
professionals in NZ but the same can not be said of the UK. I have
lost count of the number of times that I have had to tell agents why
an applications programmer could not do a systems programming job or
even what CICS is (and how to pronounce it!).
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