The recession, benefits, the safety net, and the learning curve

fc123

mizzbiz wrote: »

I know, what's ironic is I used to be a regular poster on this board before all the sock puppet stuff kicked off. Well, I was a real bear, and I was one of them saying that things were going to get really bad, house prices, jobs the lot.

However, I was looking at it all from a 3rd party perspective, I never thought it would impact on me so soon, but it has.[QUOTE]


Probably all of us did at some point.
I get the feeling some are still able to...often older posters I notice though....and those in secure professions.

We were on the front line in terms of sector and location and *bam* did it happen quickly. Talking about it and living through it are 2 different things entirely.

However ''knowledge is power'' and all that, and we got going on making changes ASAP.

I have to say, I felt the past 20 months has been like running in front of a tidal wave looking over one shoulder all the time.

I really should blog about it but all the corp stuff makes it tricky to be candid about things.

In the end, we made 2 new jobs for each of us and I have just 'made' a new job of 40 hrs p wk @ £7 ph for another person.

Good Luck Mizzbizz...have you considered downgrading your CV a bit? Could be worth a try? Might open up doors for the jobs you are overqualified for?
Worth giving it a go for a few months...or have 2 CV's on the go..the proper one and downgraded one depending on what you are applying for.

bo_drinker

2CV's ?? like this??
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Slough-built-English-1955-Citroen-2CV_W0QQitemZ120451353481QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item1c0b75cb89&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Max_Headroom_3

mizzbiz wrote: »

I know, what's ironic is I used to be a regular poster on this board before all the sock puppet stuff kicked off. Well, I was a real bear, and I was one of them saying that things were going to get really bad, house prices, jobs the lot.

However, I was looking at it all from a 3rd party perspective, I never thought it would impact on me so soon, but it has.

What seems to have struck me is that it's not really the unskilled, low paid people that are struggling, it's the middle management, mid-range salaried people. I always said that when things were really bad, middle management would go first. That appears to be the case. In my case, i'm lowering my sights job wise, however, I'm getting the response that although i'm an excellent candidate, i'm over qualified and will get bored and leave as soon as I find something else. If I didn't have experience and a degree, i'd be employed now, that's for sure.

I'm in the unlucky position that what I do is not 'core business process'. I don't produce products, I don't design products and I don't sell products. I look at businesses and their systems and look for ways to improve them. In boom times, i'm well sought after. In this day and age, not only are there very few jobs advertised in my discipline, but there's so much competition that unless I have used X software, or Z process, my CV is rejected. They don't want anyone who can think outside the box and learn the skills when they have 10 CV's from people who have done exactly what they want in the past.

That, in a nutshell, is the big issue. Why employ someone who would be perfectly fine at the job when instead you can employ someone who is exactly fine for the job?

Which means that if you come from a currently defunct niche area, even if you're trying to do the exact same thing in a slightly different field, you're up against those who've been there already.

Frustrating indeed...

Bogof_Babe

I can't imagine that many jobs are exactly the same as the same role in another company. Surely most have tailormade inhouse sofware and processes to deal with the specifics of the market they operate in? e.g. I worked in the drinks industry, and our processes were developed to meet the demands of what we were selling and who to. Totally not transferrable to e.g. a job with a food manufacturer (excise duty for one thing).

You'd think they wouldn't want a clone from another outfit to plonk into the job, what about the "dynamic, innovative etc." on the job description?

Anyway I'm probably missing the point, having been out of the workplace for some seven years now. Times move on, and the streamlining of working practices probably irons out the skill differentials nowadays.

On another matter, Max do you mind me asking, but is your blog still factual? I only ask as I got lost on Thursday's entry when you said it was Sunday! Wondering whether the job interviews have actually happened, or are just how you envisage them.

Max_Headroom_3

BoB, still catching up at the mo (I started the blog about 2 months after the actual redundancy, which is of course where the blog begins).

So whilst I'm nearly caught up with myself, it is still slightly retrospective at the mo.

So I know the outcome, and no one else does!!

Bogof_Babe

Max_Headroom wrote: »

BoB, still catching up at the mo (I started the blog about 2 months after the actual redundancy, which is of course where the blog begins).

So whilst I'm nearly caught up with myself, it is still slightly retrospective at the mo.

So I know the outcome, and no one else does!!

Aww that's mean! :rotfl: Can't you catch up a bit faster lol?

vivatifosi

Max_Headroom wrote: »

So I know the outcome, and no one else does!!

Ah... that explains. I wondered why you seemed to be going for an interview on a Saturday, DOH!

fc123

Me too doh. It's like a soap Max (and I don't do soaps) not like a book where you can read all night AND scoot to the end to find out what happens or skiving off essential tasks to finish it.

lostinrates

Surely the Blonde is part of the outcome(to this point?) otherwise her role in the saga so far is overegged and Max is getting us excited for nothing!

bluey890

Max_Headroom wrote: »

So I know the outcome, and no one else does!!

I think the big grin is the give-away.