[Steve_B]

Not sure if there were any unfortunate soles on here who went to the NEC Birmingham today but all I can say is that you probably deserve some sympathy.

I went to the last one in Coventry and all was good; well organized and few queues. Today was a nightmare and having joined the queue at around 12:15 was then subsequently told that they were 'suspending the queue', in other words refusing further entrance, until at least 2pm and even then 'there would be no guarantee of entry'. I should have known that there was a problem when the woman in the kiosk at the main car park refused to take a pre paid £8 for parking stating that 'we should see what was going on down at the hall before paying'.

Having spoken with someone who had managed to get entrance earlier we were told that it was only half a hall that was dedicated to the Expo and that it was cramped to say the least! People were offered a complimentary ticket for the Outdoor Show being held in the next hall, Duh!, but everyone queing, about a hundred or so, were pretty much told to go away.

Our journey was only about 45 minutes but we met someone else in the car-park who had travelled from Somerset to the show :uhoh ....it was a total farce!

Don't these people, the organizers, realise that the UK is a sinking ship and probably half the population want to escape?? :yes

[Jacqi B]

So glad we decided not to bother.

[Parsley]

Not sure if there were any unfortunate soles on here who went to the NEC Birmingham today but all I can say is that you probably deserve some sympathy.

I went to the last one in Coventry and all was good; well organized and few queues. Today was a nightmare and having joined the queue at around 12:15 was then subsequently told that they were 'suspending the queue', in other words refusing further entrance, until at least 2pm and even then 'there would be no guarantee of entry'. I should have known that there was a problem when the woman in the kiosk at the main car park refused to take a pre paid £8 for parking stating that 'we should see what was going on down at the hall before paying'.

Having spoken with someone who had managed to get entrance earlier we were told that it was only half a hall that was dedicated to the Expo and that it was cramped to say the least! People were offered a complimentary ticket for the Outdoor Show being held in the next hall, Duh!, but everyone queing, about a hundred or so, were pretty much told to go away.

Our journey was only about 45 minutes but we met someone else in the car-park who had travelled from Somerset to the show :uhoh ....it was a total farce!

Don't these people, the organizers, realise that the UK is a sinking ship and probably half the population want to escape?? :yes

We managed to get in at about 10.30am, and I have to say, you didn't miss anything if you didn't get in - unless you'd paid up beforehand. It was unbelieveably packed, with only a few staff on each stand to talk with people (I felt a bit sorry for some of them as they were overwhelmed). My OH wanted to chat to Immigration, but the queues to do that were enormous, so we didn't bother. When we left, it was "one in - one out" and there were long queues outside. For anyone considering going tomorrow, I'd say don't bother. There's nothing you can't find out on t'internet and via this forum :)

Oh well, you live and learn.

P

[Suniel]

oh dear!! I tried my best to make it but due to some reason or the other couldnot start my journey, it would have been a total waste (as it seems) to drive all the way along for 2 hours and return home with nothing... anyone with better experience today? I was planning to drop in by tomorrow... :-)

[Parsley]

I was planning to drop in by tomorrow... :-)

I honestly wouldn't recommend it. There are far better things to spend the £15 on. The Outdoor Show was good though, and I got some gadgets :D

[Suniel]

but any lucky fellas got any job? I've been aiming to come out with a job :-)

[Parsley]

There are very few organisations there actively recruiting. Some are taking details, some are giving out info. Depends on your line of work - if you're in teaching or healthcare (of any description) you'll make some contacts if you can be arsed to wait in queues for ages.

P

[TheNaylors]

We toyed with the last minute idea of going this year...so glad we didn't by the sounds of it particularly as we would have had to take the kids with us on a 4 hour round trip!:wah

[loobie]

We went and so wish we hadn't bothered. :wah
We got there about 10 ish and reading the posts above wish it had been a bit later at least we may have got a free "Outdoor Expo" ticket. :D

The Opps New Zealand one was (in my opinion) I pile of pants. We were there for all of 10 minutes as it took that long to walk around and as said Parsley said, unless you were in healthcare it really was a waste of time.

So for the cost of £38 ( 2 tickets and parking) wasn't really good value for money.

Definatley would not recommend going tomorrow.

[Suniel]

thank you guys... btw im into IT more sort of Business Analyst and BI Solution Designer role... guess its tough luck this time.. :-(

[Flutterby]

soooooo glad that we couldn't make it!

[sophiedb]

I'm really glad we didn't go in the end. Had a fab weekend pottering about locally with our daughter instead!

Hugs to all who did, and fingers crossed that they get their act together for the next one..

[Parsley]

On reflection, I'd also add that unless you work in conventional teaching or healthcare, you'd have been really disappointed. By that, I mean that I've got years of experience in adult education (teaching) and I currently work as an independent mental health advocate (health) but the best source of information for job oportunities for me is browsing the internet, not a fair like this. If you worked in teaching (primary or secondary) and healthcare (anything in the statutory sector/frontline medical) you'd have been more catered to, I think. Och well. That'll learn me to spend a bit more time looking at who's got a stand at these sorts of things. :)

[santhoshworld]

I also experienced the same, not much useful. I have learned more through this forum and websites than from expo. Its total waste.

and regarding job opportunities, I have told from hays consultants, the job market in NZ is slow and they wont give any offers while you are in UK

they will only likely to see your CV and discuss with you when you tell them your arrival date in NZ

[hosebergine]

I won't bore you with the breakdown of costs we incurred on this farce. Still combined it with a visit to all the grandparents etc so made a few rellies happy

Right then: Who has a contact name to bombard with complaint letters? It clearly states that there were to be opportunities for snr IT professionals on their website - not a sausage, not even an IT recruiter, eight jobs on a wall, all of them fairly junior. Mr Hosebergine is most grumpy, and as financial controller of chez Hosebergine, I'm seeing no return from my investment grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[JandM]

http://www.expo-newzealand.com/

I should think one of the links from here ought to do the trick. I'd be utterly persisted off, too.

[BeelzebubUK]

I went as well and walked out after 20 minutes. Had to queue for about 30 minutes. Got in and then walked around and realised that after 5 minutes I'd managed to amble and jostle my way through the whole thing !! I was expecting something much bigger....especially considering the current climate there was bound to be a lot of people turning up.

I was hoping there would be several recruiters there as I've already done most of the easy preliminary research that anyone with web access can do but sadly there were only a couple of company stands which neither were recruiting in IT.

[sophiedb]

Right then: Who has a contact name to bombard with complaint letters? It clearly states that there were to be opportunities for snr IT professionals on their website - not a sausage, not even an IT recruiter, eight jobs on a wall, all of them fairly junior. Mr Hosebergine is most grumpy, and as financial controller of chez Hosebergine, I'm seeing no return from my investment grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


I emailed a couple of weeks before about engineering jobs - hubby is mechanical design - and was fobbed off with this reply:

"Hays and the NZ Transport Agency are both recruiting engineers at the Expo. There will also be Job Boards featured which list many vacancies for Engineers in New Zealand."

Not enough to get us there, esp since NZ Transport will only want civil engineers, not mechanical!

The person who replied to me was Keri Ireton (info@workin.com). Very generic email address, but will certainly reach someone.