Occupations

Originally posted by denisco_uk@Oct 11 2005, 08:32 PM
If you don't mind me asking Shadow Leader, how did you get into the odds compling game?

I ask because i'm hoping to get into it after i've finished my masters degree (Next Sept) and all the jobs ive seen for it requires two years experience as a compliler/traded. How on earth are you meant to get experience as a trader if a prerequisite of it is experience???!!

I'm doing a Masters in e-Business at Liverpool and i work PT at William Hill as a cashier. Ive seen jobs in Gibraltar and Malta on the bettingjobs.com site, but it doesnt say who the employer is, rather odd.
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To be honest Denisco, the best way into compiling/trading still remains to be gaining experience. You're certainly going the right way by gaining shop experience (I started in the shops, as did the vast majority of compilers/traders I know) but you'll probably find that there's a plateau as to what you can learn in the shops, particularly when it comes to trading principles - you just won't come across them in shops as the turnover is insufficient. A move into a call centre is generally a good idea - I did that when the punters were driving me loopy after two years of managing shops!

I started on the phones but was always willing to learn new skills & kept pushing myself to the bosses - within 3 months I was promoted to a managing role that involved a fair bit of trading. I've also shown willing to learn doing various other jobs in the call-centres such as teletext, and I had a job as a system manager for a while that taught me a lot too as it involved various tasks such as building/resulting events; settling events & settling manual bets (ones that couldn't be entered into the software package for various reasons) and general troubleshooting for the rest of the call centre - answering queries re: results, betting rules, bet types and so on. Such roles are worth getting into as you learn so much from them & if you show willing & keep on promoting yourself you are often in a great position to apply for internal junior trading/compiling positions.

The majority of junior trading positions are often filled from within; this is why the best way to break into a trading/compiling role is to work in a call centre/Head Office & sit & wait to work your way up. I have also always gone out of my way to promote myself to the relevant trading departments - discussing races & horses to follow, etc, with the racing traders & showing them how keen I was as well as offering to do menial jobs for them too. I pushed a few tissues in trader's face too, telling them I'd passed them on in case they fancied having a look at them, and so on.

As for the adverts for positions that are not naming companies - that is becoming fairly common. A lot of the time it doesn't take too much guesswork (or rooting about on the grapevine!!) to discover who it is who is recruiting either as the bookmaking world is fairly small & most people either have friends working in trading depts of other firms or someone in the office does, or a friend of a friend does, and so on. If you want to know who the companies are that are advertising (particularly the ones in Gib) feel free to PM me as I might be able to find out for you! I'd also be a little wary of bettingjobs.com as I've heard of late that a lot of the positions they are advertising have been filled, or are repeated in other ads with them.
 
I wanted to be a psychotherapist but on the application form I accidentally left spaces between the 6th and 7th letters and the 9th and 10th letters. So they banged me up in maximum security instead.
 
I was going to be a flea trainer but didn't come up to scratch.

Even got myself a proffesional name Ivan Ellovanich
 
I was an accordion player, but got squeezed out of the market.

I was once a banana trader, but was accused of being bent.

I was a tomato grower, but was always in the red.

I was briefly a stand-up comic, but all my jokes fell flat.

I tried to be an executioner, but couldn't get the hang of it.

I used to be a tailor, but my customers stitched me up.

I used to be a phrenologist, but couldn't get ahead.

I was once a big cat tamer, until I suffered from clawstrophobia.

I tried out as a traffic warden, but found it wasn't the ticket.

I was once a taxi-driver, but the pay wasn't really fare.

Back later, unless I'm paid to stop now... :teeth:
 
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