<< Actually thought of not sending this; 
but, what the hell ;-)>>
Nah you were right to send it.  I had a long spiel ready to send on ways of
making jobs for us but held back to see what you would say---didn't want to
be  teaching granny about eggs!
<<Who are all these 'advisers' and 'consultants' who seem to populate the
DoH, IMG, NHS E etc forever?  I can advice.  I can do that.  Giz a job!>>
Like you I see some of the morons who get those soft jobs.   perhaps the
problem is that you are unable to act moronic enough to pass the
interview---don't laugh,  I had exactly that experience years ago at a GP
tutor interview---basically they wanted a retarded arse-licker, not an
adult.   But have you made it your priority for say six months to go all
out for one of those jobs?  Means every minute of every day it is not far
from your mind,  every day you do something more to increase your chances,
every week you take to lunch another person in a position to advance your
name up the hierarchy, every month you send in an updated cv with what
relevant and appropriate things you have accomplished that month etc etc.
Sorry if I start to sound like Tom Peters here!

<<All I seem to be doing is giving the stuff away for free only to find
some other 'banker' getting the job.  However,  sharing and MidEast
generosity of material and spirit is in the blood.  One cannot change
one's nature,  can one?>>
Agreed.   Sure I'm the same meself.....seriously, the NHS is full of people
like us who give of our time and expertise to anyone who asks and then find
some of those" helpless" souls turn out to be complete w*****s who use what
we have given them to advance their own careers.  So get a little bit
tougher. Just a little bit. And read Tom Peters on the importance of
networking and helping others out---so they will help you out.   Hey dude,
remember that web page I did for you? Well can you do something for me.....


<<I couldn't even get the job of (non-technical) Internet adviser for a
pharma company! Who was it that was more qualified than I am?>>
Ah ha! Now we get to it?   Were you in fact over-qualified? enough to
frighten the interviewers?  It happens. Do you know (or can you find out)
what exactly they were looking for? I have had enough experiences with
hidden agendas on interview panels to fill at least a few pages.

<<
This stuff is in my blood.  I breathe it day in day out.>>   Passion, as
Graham Parker put it many years ago, is no ordinary word.  The real
fire-breathing movers and shakers of IT want folks with passion.  It seems
to me that you need contact with some of aforesaid movers and shakers as
opposed to assholes whose sole existence is to ensure no-one smarter or
better than they gets into the company......

<<Not enough anyway to pay all my bills and finance my discerning life
style am afraid ;-)>>
right now------ this is a problem.  I don't think any of us can hope to go
in on Monday to the practice, say shag it and take up a well-paid IT job
Tuesday.  Our fear of losing out financially holds us back from making the
jump----I had that fear for a long time.  I have two failed ventures behind
me--medical software and medical publishing---and even though I knew that
success demands pedal to the metal commitment I still could not free myself
from the demands of the surgery.   And the biggest fear without doubt was
being poor.
But if your health has suffered seriously from being a bloody good GP (as
mine has) and your ass is poor (well, relatively) it gives you a whole new
perspective on things.  In short illness has made the break for me and I am
in a weird way grateful to God-or-whoever's-in-charge for it because now I
have some kind of a choice about going back to the awfulness of full-time
GP.  
ANd remember that no way can you make decent money working for other
people. Free lance. Risk, Inc. Sell yourself. Stuff the corporate politics
and the idiots who sit on interview panels. Those who do, do. Those who
can't, teach. And those who can do nothing else, sit on interview panels. 
I'm not really that cynical.
<<Not my style I am afraid.  I'll give the stuff away for nothing for ever
and not have my thought fettered,  raped or brutalised.

Thought is the most precious thing anyone can have.  Within it,  I am
*totally* free.>>
Christ Ahmad that is beautiful. Reminds me of a science fiction story by
Joan Vinge where some folks had a company called "Mein gedanken sind
frei"---it was supposed to mean "My thoughts are free"---not free to others
but free in the sense that you mean there. 
<<My thought and intellect are the only remaining domains where I don't
feel raped.  The soul has a long long journey to make to get to that
core and to finally dwell there.  Forever.>>
Ahmad old son it is long past time you got out.  Remember the change from
LSD to decimal currency?  How it was so confusing when you had both in
circulation but once it was down to just one it was much easier?  I won't
go on but you should get hold of a book by Tom Peters---"The Tom Peters
Seminar" and read it.  I think you will find any number of references there
which will encourage you. 
Happy to go on for ever on this topic---like I say the GP-UK alternative to
Careers Focus??
Declan




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