What's the job situation like in your area, is it really as dire as it's made out?

LL30

I mentioned a little while ago that my brother was struggling to recruit for IT roles within a very well known bookies - he's still struggling now! He said that the standard of applications is appalling and people don't follow the personal spec when filling in their suitability for the role - automatically means their app is binned even if they miss one point.

I'm in Nottingham, not sure how bad it's 'supposed' to be here, but I was made redundant and landed a new job within 3 weeks...damned CRB is taking it's time though. Tbh, the best advice I can give is to ignore all the negativity and just concentrate on searching for jobs and making your skills fit the spec. I honestly thought I'd be unemployed for months and was prepared to not even hear back from applications, so I was very surprised to say the least when I got something so quickly. It can and does happen - I'm not anything special, and I had a whole host of limitations as to when I could work due to childcare issues! Keep your chin up and don't believe in the hype

pompeyrich

Great words LL30, had a very similar experience to you, worried reading the doom and gloom on here but seems plenty about in my experience.

chris1973

the factory that i work in generally stuggles to find workers that are prepared to do the low paid generic factory work.

Ditto with our place - in East Cheshire. I admit its not the most attractive places to work and the boss is something of a....well lets just say eccentric and occasionally difficult to work with, but at the end of the day the company has been in business for 40 years, the work is there, there is little pressure and the pay always goes into your account and its a JOB!. Just dont expect works outings, Xmas parties, a company Gym, Healthcare, Sick Pay and a jovial atmosphere, you get NMW and the bare legal minimum in relation to holidays, a 30 minute lunch break and other statutory entitlements.

The boss doesn't 'do' appraisals, thank you's, Radio's and bonuses etc, but i've stuck it for 17 years and some have been there for 30+ so its not that bad, and certainly compared to how some portray life on benefits it surely must be a butlins in comparison?, certainly enough to create a queue out of the door and stretching around the corner whenever the positions are advertised? - Nah!, nobody waiting outside our factory gates at 8AM the day after a Job advert has been run, you need to launch a new mobile phone to see that - priorities etc etc.

However we have advertised in the past, for several varied positions from cleaner to Admin work to general shopfloor assembly work (painting brown boxes brown, sawing pieces of wood, screwing in 2 little screws etc, sticking 'CE' lables on cardboard boxes) - eg something anybody can do whether 17 or 87

Filling such positions has been a NIGHTMARE, seriously. Often the boss will interview around 12 - 15 people from a shortlist of CV's (Sometimes he may only get as few as 5 actually apply). Once the interviews are over, he'll make a decision and ring the person up to tell them the good news, often finding a response that they are no longer 'interested' in the position, this is happening frequently. Now I know that the place is not the nicest in the world and its certainly nobodies dream job, but its not the set of "Friday the 13th" either!.

Other times, people have been taken on, but haven't lasted long, either they just got fed up and told the boss the job isn't for them, or they've been dismissed after several warnings because they think its ok to chat all day to their colleagues or have been found at their bench in works time constantly yakking on their mobile phones or updating their facebook profiles - seriously!. I dont have anything to do with hiring and firing, but I do have eyes and I'm getting a little un-nerved by what some people's idea of 'going to work' is these days.

I dont like to pigeon hole people, but its a fact that the suitable people we have eventually found who have actually stuck it and put in the effort, and who are filling these positions now, have been people in their 50's, thats not to say that the opportunity hasn't been given just as fairly to other age groups, it has, including work experience and school leavers, but they usually dont stick it for longer than a week or two, and in fact he recently reported two work experience students to their schools for going AWOL on their second day.

I know that sounds terribly stereotypical but its a fact thats in front of me each Day, no smoke and mirrors and no pack drill.

lincroft1710

Horace wrote: »

I am in Birmingham which has the highest rate of unemployment in the UK.

How the world has changed!

Back in the late 1960s I was talking to the owner of a printing works in Birmingham, who had difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff as "they all left for higher paid jobs in the car factories".

chris1973

"they all left for higher paid jobs in the car factories".

British Leyland alone, at its peak, employed around 200,000 people in its own factories and dealers across the UK.

Those were the days which will never return. That was a long forgotten era, where the UK had an industry to be envied, whether it was pottery, shipbuilding or the motor industry. We even used to make hoovers and washing machines, before the 'Dyson Effect' took hold. Creda, Belling, Hoover etc, were all large employers in the UK

Nowadays, you are lucky to even have a call centre based in the UK, and what manufacturing is left is just kit building from containers sent in by parent companies in Japan or Europe.

We couldn't even hang on to Cadbury's, we just got sold out piece by piece until there was nothing left.

Suffice to say the only growth industry left in the UK is Unemployment, and rising energy bills.

wellused

We just couldn't make cars as well as the undeveloped world could and we wanted too much money for doing it, it came around to bite us as we all knew it would. I wonder where Red Robbo is now?

TrixieB

pompeyrich wrote: »

Not sure if the local paper and the job centre are the most common method of advertising jobs these days. Most jobs will be found on-line, either through the company website or through recruitment agencies. CV Library was good as the agencies can see your CV and contact you directly with anything suitable.

For professional jobs maybe but not your "average" unskilled NMW job perhaps?

I do wonder with the ever increasing advent of new technologies that have already replaced 100 workers with one machine if it will get worse.

ohreally

Male unemployment in some areas nearby are around 40% - personally I suspect the true figure to be nearer 60%

Bored

Where I live has one of the highest rates for youth unemployment, so I'm looking for work all over the country and relocating to where ever I find a job.

pompeyrich

TrixieB wrote: »

For professional jobs maybe but not your "average" unskilled NMW job perhaps?

I do wonder with the ever increasing advent of new technologies that have already replaced 100 workers with one machine if it will get worse.

My point was that all avenues should be explored when looking for jobs and in my experience the local press and the JC are not always the best places to look. Just like "Rightmove" has totally changed the way we look for property, click in a postcode and all the properties for sale or rent are displayed instantly.

Indeed.co.uk is another good tool, a search on there will flag up relevant job ads in the specified area/skill base, some of the ads are duplicates and there are often some dodgy work from home ones that get in there.

Technology and automation, has and always will be a threat to jobs, in all areas, not just manufacturing. One local paper around here gets all it's artwork/page layout stuff done in India via the internet, so yes things will undoubtedly get worse.