Please help - I'm literally paying to work!

Suzkin

pebblespop wrote: »

some companies don't let you have benefits unless you are permanent or have been there for say, six months twelve months etc.

benefits such as holidays are legal requirements so they have to give you at least the minimum statutory holidays. the other stuff is upto the employer.

Sorry for not explaining more fully: Pebblespop is right, or at least this is what my employer told me - as I'm a temp (i.e. not permanent), I do not receive / am not entitled to the same rights as others. I get the statutory holidays (the quota forms part of my standard 20 days yearly entitlement) but that's it.

Suzkin

Horace wrote: »

I haven't read all of the posts on this thread but do agree that the OP has a crap job and a crap house but she has no obvious debt.

Personally, I would sell the house - even stick it in an auction and then a builder will buy it and do it up. As for working for £8.50 an hour, all I can say is that they saw you coming:rolleyes: When I was temping in London back in 1995 I was getting more than that an hour plus I had a daily commute from Birmingham, in fact the lowest hourly rate I ever received was £5.50 an hour working as a filing clerk in Birmingham. My salaries since then have all been higher, although I now work for myself and have no salary as such but that will change. If I were the OP, I would be looking at other temp work in London, trot into an agency and say that the minimum hourly rate you will accept is £15.:D

I think too that you need to look at your transferrable skills and tailor your CV accordingly for every single job that you apply for. How about re-training to do something else? It's never too late - take me for instance I was made redundant last year and have spent the last 28 years working as a PA, now I am retraining to be a wedding planner (I just wanted a professional qualification because it looks good and will hopefully get me some more business). I am not suggesting that you become a wedding planner but try looking at doing something totally different.

Life is too short to have an air of doom and gloom about you, so get out there and live your life, ditch the house and get yourself a better job or even do some better paid temp work. Don't be afraid of asking for the salary that you want - if you don't ask you don't get and certainly don't let your employer think that they are doing you a favour, it should be the other way round.

If you want to move North - well there are plenty of jobs here in Birmingham, homes are cheaper, we have fantastic transport (tram, bus, train), with loads of nice shops and places to visit.

Good Luck.

Hello again, Horace, Good idea about the builder. I live in quite a studenty area, and so an investor might like my property - I could even perhaps bargain to get the price I want as the area contains a lot of properties for let. I actually thought about going to a highstreet job agency in London, but never registered (I only registered with 3 in my specific field). I shall see what I can do about that.

Hatster

No, I wasn't thinking you were a teacher - as you say, you wouldn't have such a low income if you were! I was thinking that one of the possible career options that you could consider as an alternative might be teaching . It's something where experience of life and different jobs can be very valuable, and you're clearly clever. Just throwing some ideas into the pot!

Horace

Aah I hadn't realised it was you Suzkin:D Still I am glad that you are now working again even though you are earning a pittance which we must do something to change. Here are some agencies that pay good rates and have good jobs both temporary and permanent.

Reed are a good agency - you can register with them online and you can apply for all sorts of jobs not just secretarial but other ones too.

Office Angels are also good and from what I recall - pay quite well.

A good newspaper to look in for jobs is The Times although rather than buying a copy go to Times Online and look for jobs there.

The idea with temping is not to limit yourself because by doing so you are narrowing your marketability. If you have good typing skills for instance you can command quite a high rate on the temp front from say £15 an hour min upwards (I think that temps in London are getting around £25 an hour these days). Temping can be fun but you have to like change because you could be swapping jobs each week and temps have more rights now than when I was temping all those years ago e.g. they get holiday pay and sick pay. Another advantage of temping is that you can get jobs that are referred to as being temp to perm where you start off as a temp and if you are suitable then the job becomes permanent.

You need to think outside the box a bit more too because you have already said that your chosen career no longer has the prospects that you expected, plus I think that a complete change of scene will do you some good.

I am not a builder but re the house, get an agent in to value it in its current state - they will note the need for a damp course and the bulging wall and any other structural defects and their recommended price will reflect that so don't try and negotiate upwards as you need to be realistic. Get rid of the money pit. Choose where you want to live and work and start looking in that area. If for instance you decided to move to Birmingham you will find that homes are cheaper, as is our council tax and you can travel all day on the bus for £3. As an example, I live in a 3 bedroom flat with parking space outside on a private road and my rent is £525 a month, you can currently buy a 3 bed canalside apartment in Birmingham City Centre for £152,000 which gives you an idea of price up here. There is a rather nice house not far from me that is a 1930s house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a garage, large garden and conservatory for £164,000 which actually isnt that much. Mind you there are parts of Birmingham that I wouldnt venture into at all but that goes for London too.

I don't know what sort of work you do but here in Birmingham we have 3 main Universities and I have noticed that some of the smaller colleges have started calling themselves Universities too, plus we have a huge range of different businesses from jewellery through to chocolate:D Plus the folks up here are friendlier and will pass the time of day with you whereas in London they won't even look you in the eye:rolleyes:

Thinking way off field now (I tend to think outside the box quite a lot) if you want to travel and like flying you could apply to become a member of cabin crew - I know they earn loads of money and get to stay in the swankiest hotels and get given expenses and receive lots of other perks plus they can get a fab salary, one of my chums is earning £45K a year.

Give it a go Suzkin - life is for living so live it.

Good Luck

paybacktime2008

I've been following this thread and just thought I'd add my 2 pence worth. 5 years ago i was living in the south east, loads of equity in my house, but struggling day to day. I sold up, moved 100 miles and its allowed me (kind of) to spend the last 5 years working part time to be around for my son ( I reckon i should of stopped at 4 years but heyho!) I live in a nicer house, nicer area, less traffic etc etc.

My point is....it's a big world out there. The south east is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Why be miserable and skint, when there is a whole country, continent, world out there. Take a big deep breath and go for it.

RosaBernicia

Well my two pennorth is just to agree that London is NOT the centre of the bluddy universe. I escaped it a year ago after ten years of muttering about how I'd never get a job at the same level anywhere else and frankly, I was talking out of my a**e. I can't think of a single field that doesn't have at least one other major city option, and I'm on my third career field by now, two of them very specialised!

I know it can seem like there are no jobs outside of London because the numbers of ads are smaller, but that doesn't mean you should stop looking - it just means the one you find will be extra special . If you don't want to live in London or do that commute long term then you do need to think about your other options. In the meantime, staying over part-time would seem a good idea - how about putting an ad in eg. Gumtree or the Evening Standard saying what nights and area you would want, just in case anybody else is looking for a part-time lodger?

Good luck

RB xx