Support Each Other In Looking For Work?

dickydonkin · 4 March 2011 at 11:47AM

Sorry to drift off the thread, but in response to this regarding charging
for safety shoes etc.

“We can supply them at about £12.00 taken out of first weeks pay, what shoe size are you” “and can you start tomorrow”

An employer may not charge his employees for anything done, or equipment provided for health and safety purposes - even deposits.

An employer cannot ask for money from an employee for PPE, whether it is returnable or not. This includes agency workers if they are legally regarded as employees.

If employment has been terminated and the employee keeps the PPE without the employer’s permission, then, as long as it has been made clear in the contract of employment, the employer may be able to deduct the cost of the replacement from any wages owed.

An awful experience Linda - but sadly, not surprising.

katkim · 4 March 2011 at 11:49AM

Welcome Butterfly

Sorry you have to be here, I hope your stay is short and you find a job soon!

Sounds like chaos, Linda! The job's been filled? That's unprofessional. I'm sorry it didn't turn out well, but you're probably best out of it.

Finger's crossed for you Drea, I hope you get good news.

I think you're probably being a bit too harsh on yourself November. We're always hardest on ourselves. I find CVs hard to do as well and I'm never satisfied - I think because there's no right or wrong and it's all so subjective, but I'm sure it's fine!

*

I've had my nudge towards a job abroad - had a brief chat with a employer on the phone this morning about an opening in Singapore. It was just an introductory chat, a bit about his company and type of work, a summary of my work experience and I confirmed that I was willing to move wherever they needed me. I think it went well because he asked me to send him my CV and examples of work. I'll think I'll spend the weekend working on that.

They have a branch in Newcastle, but he said there was virtually no work there at the moment and not recruiting. Apparently they've relocated a few UK workers to their Asian branch instead of making redundancies

Still, a job prospect is a job prospect.

Mischa8 · 4 March 2011 at 12:39PM

Just wanted to post my experiences of agencies and work.

I was unemployed for 3 months last year but had spent the previous 2 years temping in public sector, mostly short term - eg 3-4 months or longer where I could get it (central government). Not out of choice, out of necessity. Sometimes the HR depts of government would be helpful and give you as a temp (contract worker) a 'heads up' about other possible contract roles available.

I have to say, a friend of mine (an actual friend from school) who is a recruitment consultant had to change tack and rather than place people in banking/legal temp PA/secretarial roles had to rely on government temp roles. I think she's left her position now, went travelling.

Out of interest, how many people have targeted the many *growth* areas in England, Wales, Scotland, NI etc, eg recycling, environment etc? I recently met a young lady (well young, I mean 30) who had done a degree in some sort of ecology/environment role, now worked in a private company, in a growth industry, she was a young director but had been told at school 'not to bother' with her particular degree. of course, she proved them wrong and now is working.

My experience with the job centre I must say last year was awful, I felt terrible signing on and really didn't want to be there. However, to give them their credit, the advisors who spoke to me did refer me to an recruitment agency who specialised in 'tarting up' my CV and targeting certain employers etc. All things I thought I knew but maybe hadn't looked on with fresh eyes. I was also relieved when I signed on to notice that a few people signing on were similar to me, youngish (30's) professionals and not just dossers.

Eventually I got my current role as legal secretary/PA through a friend of a friend. This is much the best route sometimes. Basically a lady working there was due to retire, they knew me, and I was fairly newly qualified as LS/PA, I went for the interview, my friend knew the boss very well as a personal friend and I was offered the job. Been there 7 months now, very happy, work hard and am doing very well.

Word of mouth I do find can really be helpful or even setting up by yourself. If you have the know-how, work ethic etc.

anyway good luck to all here.

katkim · 4 March 2011 at 1:38PM

Argh, just got a rejection email from a job that was 30 mins away from where I live and a role I have experience in. These are so few and far between that I really wanted it and spent ages on the application form, tailoring it to fit exactly to the person specification.

I'm gutted I didn't even get to the interview stage

God, this is depressing.

lexilex · 4 March 2011 at 2:30PM

I could really do with an impartial opinion.

As you may know, I was offered a job in events last Friday. I was absolutely chuffed to bits. The job isn't what I expected, although I still know very little about it. It is based in a community centre on a council estate, and I would guess budgets are very limited. The money and hours are far from perfect, but it felt like I was finally getting somewhere, getting experience in something I wouldn't mind doing as a career.

Before I went for this job I had already been for an interview for a credit controller job. They rang me this week asking to meet again, which we did today.

Because I haven't experience in the role, he wants me to start soon part-time (it was really advertised as maternity cover starting in july) spending half my time with the lady currently doing credit control, and the other half doing general office duties. He's warned me a lot of the job will involve taking abuse from from people who don't want to pay up their debt.

I came out wanting to cry. It's likely the job will lead to something permanent but it just sounds so not me. Working in an office has always been my idea of hell, but I just don't know if I can deal with people screaming down the phone at me. I am really not a very confrontational person. Even the guy interviewing me said we would have to improve my assertiveness and confidence in order to deal with this. At this point I wondered why he was even offering me the job.

The events job is 25 hours spread over 5 days on minimum wage. It's fixed term 6 months, and is about a half an hour drive from home.

The credit control job is 3 days for the first month, moving to 4 days, and then hopefully soon after becoming full-time. The money is also considerably better. The office is a five minute drive from home, and the other advantage is I could walk if need be.

What do I do? Neither job is perfect, and whichever I chose to do I will still be looking for another job, one which I went to university to do. I think the thing that has really upset me about the CC job is the idea of sitting there on the phone with someone shouting at me. I don't have much confidence at all, and I just don't know how great I would be at handling it.

There is a week between the start dates with the credit control starting first. In theory I could give that a week, or even a few days and see how it goes before contacting those at the community centre about the events job. That would be really awful of me letting them know at such short notice, but one of the guys at the job centre did tell me I should look after myself, because nobody else is going to, and I guess he is right.

Sorry for such a long post.

November5th · 4 March 2011 at 2:42PM

Hi Lexilex,

Is it a nice office and nice people? That would be the deal breaker for me.

Credit control doesn't have to be an angry stressful task, and I have often become friendly with people owing us money, you can do the job with charm and wit

Spending some time with the current post holder will tell you if you can do it, so I would give it a try.
I never got shouted at in four years of doing it (small part of other job tho) at a great company!
With Credit control you are likely to be phoning the same people every week, so it's best to make friends, I am a bit suprised at what the boss said. As the person also deciding who got paid and when, it was always better to be nice to me too.

XX

littlestar1981 · 4 March 2011 at 2:52PM

Sorry there seems to be lots of stress and frustration going on today.... I hope things get better soon.

On a brighter note, I have a job :j

I was very very lucky, I appreciate that - I have only been looking for work for 3 weeks, applied for around 10 jobs, this is the first job I got a face to face interview for and I got it! Start a week on Monday, giving me a week to sort myself out so am fully prepared.

It's by no means perfect - temp for 3-6 months and not full time (30 hours), but I'm looking at the positives... have time to study, do voluntary work on the weekend to get experience towards my desired career, (working in charities internationally) and finish at lunch time on a Friday!

Hope more positive news arrives for someone today xx

lexilex · 4 March 2011 at 3:03PM

November5th wrote: »

Hi Lexilex,

Is it a nice office and nice people? That would be the deal breaker for me.

Credit control doesn't have to be an angry stressful task, and I have often become friendly with people owing us money, you can do the job with charm and wit Spending some time with the current post holder will tell you if you can do it, so I would give it a try.
I never got shouted at in four years of doing it (small part of other job tho) at a great company!
With Credit control you are likely to be phoning the same people every week, so it's best to make friends, I am a bit suprised at what the boss said. As the person also deciding who got paid and when, it was always better to be nice to me too.

XX

I did my work experience there, 8 years ago, but most of the same people are still there. From what I can remember everyone is pretty friendly.

I suppose I could take a different approach to it, lot's of shouting isn't me at all, and I don't believe it can be the best way of dealing with a situation.

What you have said has made me feel a whole lot better. Thank you!

Fruitloops · 4 March 2011 at 3:06PM

Lexilex,

can I just ask what job you would be looking for that you went to uni to do? (sorry if you've mentioned this before and I've missed it).

Also, I'm sorry you're having a tough time... what you said about office work reminds me of myself!

Fruitloops · 4 March 2011 at 3:32PM

It's sad to read about everyone here having a bad time, I've had an awful week too

what is going on?!

I hope we all manage to come through this and feel a little more positive next week. We have to keep on hoping, as tough as it is.

Keep on keeping on, everybody!

Support Each Other In Looking For Work?

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