Is anyone else bored with this doom and gloom?

iltisman

Cheer up its only going to last 10 years (so said a bloke on Radio 5).

ManAtHome

PasturesNew wrote: »

it appears that because I don't have a "True Brit" name, they assume I'll be an eastern european.

Dunno, Pastures sounds more like The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency to me - just shorten it to Pat...

FrankieBoyle

Some people have definitely lost all sense of perspective, but I suspect they dwelled on bad things even in the good times:p. Fun people will have fun whatever the economic climate. Doomy people can always find something bad to dwell on even in good times - perversely it's their idea of fun:rotfl:.

amcluesent

I reckon we can be gloomy until we get a good laugh at the shambles of the 2012 Olympics. Then gloomy again until death.

StevieJ

FrankieBoyle wrote: »

Some people have definitely lost all sense of perspective, but I suspect they dwelled on bad things even in the good times:p. Fun people will have fun whatever the economic climate. Doomy people can always find something bad to dwell on even in good times - perversely it's their idea of fun:rotfl:.

Spot on Frankie, I used to work with one, always had that downbeat hound dog expression

baileysbattlebus

PasturesNew wrote: »

What area are you in? Define "large numbers". Define "good rates of pay".

I've been looking for work this week and on the reed website it tells you how many applicants there have been for each job. A LOT are 50-120 applicants, for jobs paying under £6/hour (South Glamorgan).

£6/hour is £11-13k/year (hours depending). Let's say £12k. £840/month takehome. Not a lot if you're in private rented and living alone. There's not much left in that budget to increase the distance you can travel to work.

For the jobs I'm actually looking at, there's nothing to even apply for. So I apply for "similar jobs" and am not really hearing much back at all. In fact, not got one interview lined up.

So I looked at the website of the office temp agency I am registered with, they have just FOUR vacancies, three of which I wouldn't be able to do anyway. Office temp work pays about £6/hour.

I get about one call a week from somebody that's seen my CV on Monster, but I've just found a "problem" I didn't know I had. I actually asked the last guy that phoned ... it appears that because I don't have a "True Brit" name, they assume I'll be an eastern european. So now I need to change my CV to not give my first name at all so I am one of the first to be called and don't end up at the end of the list just because the CVs of the Brit-sounding-named people seem easier to call (the assumption being that they haven't got an accent and there definitely won't be a problem with citizenship).

My daugher works for Reed - and when I was looking for a job in November - I said to her it's not worth applying for most of the jobs on Reed as there are so many applicants - she said most of the cv's they get through the website won't get an interview for the jobs they are applying for becuase they won't have the experience etc for the job - basically people apply for jobs on there not based on their skills - but because they can.

She works in General Insurance and her problem is getting good candidates not getting the jobs. She is struggling to fill jobs because of a lack of suitable candidates.

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

So I looked at the website of the office temp agency I am registered with, they have just FOUR vacancies, three of which I wouldn't be able to do anyway. Office temp work pays about £6/hour.

I get about one call a week from somebody that's seen my CV on Monster, but I've just found a "problem" I didn't know I had. I actually asked the last guy that phoned ... it appears that because I don't have a "True Brit" name, they assume I'll be an eastern european. So now I need to change my CV to not give my first name at all so I am one of the first to be called and don't end up at the end of the list just because the CVs of the Brit-sounding-named people seem easier to call (the assumption being that they haven't got an accent and there definitely won't be a problem with citizenship).

I know PN's real name (and it's a really, lovely one too but is uncommon). I didn't think it was THAT E European.....but it's also not trad English.

Do you have any middle names? I have 3; F C A...the A has got dropped over the years and everyone knows me by the second name. The F is just for junk post/calls...a handy screening tool.

You could drop the first name and use the second...or is that name as exotic as the first?

Stupid, mainstream people...they really get on my nerves...come on, what's a name got to do with anything or anyones ability to perform a particular job.
Also, what's with the 'not wanting' Polish staff. If they have good skills plus are fluent English...what's the problem?

Good luck with the job hunting PN.....anyone that small minded not to interview someone because of their name.....perleeeze. Is there such a thing as name discrimination......could be an earner. Threaten to sue...back off for 5k......then onto the next one. 5 sueings per year = £25k .... better than 9-5.

fc123

Generali wrote: »

Can you Anglicise your name? I used to know a German bloke called Misha(sp?) who called himself Michael as a matter of course when dealing with Britons.

I can't think of one...it's more French really.

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

I know PN's real name

Yes, but the restraining order's working and I see you're not across the road under the hedge tonight as a result

One of the "problems" with it is people never having heard of it, so they guess at pronunciation - often, it seems, without even trying. They then decide that I must be a foreigner.

fc123 wrote: »

Do you have any middle names? I have 3; F C A...the A has got dropped over the years and everyone knows me by the second name. The F is just for junk post/calls...a handy screening tool.

Yes, I will use my middle, normal, name. I have lots of fake names for filling out forms online, so I can spot the spam.

fc123 wrote: »

Stupid, mainstream people...they really get on my nerves...come on, what's a name got to do with anything or anyones ability to perform a particular job.
Also, what's with the 'not wanting' Polish staff. If they have good skills plus are fluent English...what's the problem?

It's the way agencies work. They have a job to fill, their client brief is for them to provide 3 good candidates. Now, they don't CARE which three, but their job is to get 3 GOOD candidates in front of their client. No more. Agencies are sales people. So it's target-driven, they'll do the minimum amount of work to achieve a sale. 3 bums on chairs that can probably get the job, in front of the client, soonest. Especially where they aren't a sole agency.

So the agency wallah sits down at the PC and does a keyword search on their system and it chucks out 30 possibles. They scan through and identify 20 most possibles and print them out. With 20 CVs on their desk they go through with a highlighter and bin a further 8. So now they have 12 CVs on their desk and they know all 12 have a good chance at the job, now they have to ring round and find the first 3 that are interested in the job, to submit to their client. So, looking through, they will probably put them in some order: easy/common names, person that lives near them, somebody that went to the same school as them, somebody that lives in the same village as an ex. All random. But that foreign sounding name ... might be a foreigner, put them last in the list just because there's some affinity/connection felt with the others. So I think I'm in the list, just not the top of it.

fc123 wrote: »

Good luck with the job hunting PN.....anyone that small minded not to interview someone because of their name.....perleeeze. Is there such a thing as name discrimination......could be an earner. Threaten to sue...back off for 5k......then onto the next one. 5 sueings per year = £25k .... better than 9-5.

Thanks
It's all a numbers game really.

It's the agencies, not the employers at that stage. Can't sue anybody for anything. LOL/name. There is research that shows people whose last names are towards a Z in the alphabet haven't got as lucky as those closer to the A simply because the A's are seen first for everything as most lists are called or ordered alphabetically.

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

Can you Anglicise your name? I used to know a German bloke called Misha(sp?) who called himself Michael as a matter of course when dealing with Britons.

No. In fact, another thing is, people expect to be speaking to a man. Even though my name is female, they misread it as the male version of it and expect a bloke.

But my middle name is as English as anything, so I'll just put my first initial, then my middle name in full. I can get them to call me by my real name once they've taken me on

I'd expect Misha to be an indian man.