To those who have began their working life in the recession...

quantic

I got my first job in late 2007, 5 years on now all I've known is recession, economic woes and what feels like endless half empty attitude within society. I must admit, that before I had my first job I had very little interest in the economy, politics, house prices or anything of that nature - you might say that I was completely ignorant to it all.

I have been employed since before even leaving University but it has not been easy. I have had 3 jobs since University, none of the companies I have worked for have ever given anyone within them a pay rise, no bonuses, all have experienced pretty heavy redundancy and generally speaking its been a pretty depressing experience.

I have not really known anything other than this in my working life, sure I had 7-8 part time jobs before all of this but that was pocket money. So to my question, I'd love to hear from others to see what their working experience in life has been like, both people around the same age as me (mid 20's) and also other people with more experience.

Its beginning to feel like this on going economic struggle is going to be all I'll ever experience, will the UK recover or have we peaked? I can't decide if times are really as bad as we think or just if we have better tools now to moan about them (internet, social media)?

Hows everyone hanging in there? :beer:

EDIT: Sorry if this comes across as me just wanting to hear from other graduates, I guess that an unintentional mistake, I was mearly showing my background and where I come from. I'd love to hear how people with differing working lives, education and experience have managed so far.

Masomnia

Not great, similar-ish situation to you. I graduated in 2010, and really have just been doing bits of part time jobs to pay the bills and get experience where I can.

My experience of the world of work is mainly therefore rejection letters from countless applications. Oh well!

worldtraveller

The current UK recession is my 4th or 5th, depending on whether you believe that the current "double-dip" is really just the same recession as the late 2000's. I don't remember any real problems for my parents in the mid-70's when we had the oil crisis, apart from the power cuts at home. My fathers business was able to carry on pretty much as before. In the recession of the early 80's I had only recently started working. I was able to keep my job, but it was tough, with no wage increases for 3-4 years. My father had to re-mortgage the family house to support his business, which, like many, really struggled. I managed to scrape enough money together for a mortgage on my first house in the mid/late 80's, only to be hit with interest rates of around 16% at one point. I don't think I had any furniture in the house for a couple of years, slept on a mattress on the floor and cooked on a primus stove. Meals out weren't heard of, apart from maybe once every 3-4 months or so. Things started to improve a bit until the early 90's when we had the next recession, but that wasn't too bad in my own experience, but I do remember that one of my sisters lost her house after going into negative-equity. Things were great then for me in the mid/late 90's and early 2000's but I was always very careful with money and very critical of others that spent what they didn't have. Having seen my father go through serious business problems over the years, on and off, through no fault of his own, it taught me to be careful and only spend what I had (apart from the mortgage which I had budgeted for without too much potential stress). It amazed me seeing the mass profligacy, spending & greed of the consumer (and Government of course!) in the mid/late 90' & early 2000's and I'm really pleased for the lessons I learn't from my parents, as it kept me in good stead then & now. I didn't really spend any more in real terms than I did in previous years and luckily saw the bust coming (but not to the extent that actually happened). As for the current recession, IMHO it's going to be a long one. As I've posted before, several times, I don't think that the previous one ended. It's going to be a hard battle for many, but I do believe that things will eventually get better and a lot of people will have learn't some valuable lessons. Hang in there!

chewmylegoff

i graduated in 2000. quite a few of my peer group used to moan about coming to the party too late - we didn't have enough money to get on the housing ladder ourselves and/or buy BTLs when the property market was booming, and we weren't senior enough at work to take advantage when bonuses started getting silly from around 2003 onwards.

no one is moaning now, however. i would hate to come to the job market now. whilst the recession will not last forever, it would be difficult to get the right work experience that is so crucial for moving your career along. this wasn't handed to me on a plate back then, but it was much easier to get than it is now. the trouble is that 5 years of scraping around making ends meet will put you in no better a position than someone who graduates in 5 years from an employers' point of view. sorry if that is a bit depressing!

quantic

worldtraveller wrote: »

The current UK recession is my 4th or 5th, depending on whether you believe that the current "double-dip" is really just the same recession as the late 2000's. I don't remember any real problems for my parents in the mid-70's when we had the oil crisis, apart from the power cuts at home. My fathers business was able to carry on pretty much as before. In the recession of the early 80's I had only recently started working. I was able to keep my job, but it was tough, with no wage increases for 3-4 years. My father had to re-mortgage the family house to support his business, which, like many, really struggled. I managed to scrape enough money together for a mortgage on my first house in the mid/late 80's, only to be hit with interest rates of around 16% at one point. I don't think I had any furniture in the house for a couple of years, slept on a mattress on the floor and cooked on a primus stove. Meals out weren't heard of, apart from maybe once every 3-4 months or so. Things started to improve a bit until the early 90's when we had the next recession, but that wasn't too bad in my own experience, but I do remember that one of my sisters lost her house after going into negative-equity. Things were great then for me in the mid/late 90's and early 2000's but I was always very careful with money and very critical of others that spent what they didn't have. Having seen my father go through serious business problems over the years, on and off, through no fault of his own, it taught me to be careful and only spend what I had (apart from the mortgage which I had budgeted for without too much potential stress). It amazed me seeing the mass profligacy, spending & greed of the consumer (and Government of course!) in the mid/late 90' & early 2000's and I'm really pleased for the lessons I learn't from my parents, as it's kept me in good stead then & now. I didn't really spend any more in real terms than I did in previous years and luckily saw the bust coming (but not to the extent that actually happened). As for the current recession, IMHO it's going to be a long one. As I've posted before, several times, I don't think that the previous one ended. It's going to be a hard battle for many, but I do believe that things will eventually get better and a lot of people will have learn't some valuable lessons. Hang in there!

Like yourself I am pretty strict with myself when it comes to money, something which has lost me friends over the last few years (I know a lot of people who spend on credit cards like its going out of fashion and don't understand when I say I can't afford something but hey thats for another time).

I was actually thinking about the higher interest rates of the past yesterday, while its tough to get a good income these days and bills seem to be going through the roof mortgage interest rates have kind of levelled some of it out (well for mortgage holders).

I have formed this kind of attitude where if I can struggle through this recession surely when its over things will only get better (maybe thats just wishful thinking, though?)

ILW

OP - what is your degree in?

Is it something that is of any use to an employer?

quantic

My degree is in Web Development. You pretty much cannot get a job in my industry without it. Why do you ask?

ILW

quantic wrote: »

My degree is in Web Development. You pretty much cannot get a job in my industry without it. Why do you ask?

It does appear you may have gone into a career with a lot of competition. We get 3 or 4 calls a week from web developers touting for business.

bugslet

Briefly, left school in 1982 with three A levels and no interest in going to uni. Worked for my Dad until 1985 when the tough economic times kicked in for him. IIRC, the unemployment numbers were scary high then. Spent 10 weeks on the dole, which fortunately has been my only experience of it, before working at about four or five jobs, none of them great and all badly paid until I started working for myself in 1991, which is what I'm still doing. Bought my first house in the late 80s with not a lot of money to spare, I can remember a leaky roof with no money to fix it for a while.

Not entirely dissimilar to World traveller and I agree with him, tings will get better, but not for a good few years ( sorry) and it's a case of looking to see what you can do to improve your prospects. Not knowing much about web developement ( frankly much about computers at all), I don't know how much competition there is in your line of work. If there is a lot, then you will either have to resign yourself to wages being depressed and competition for jobs being difficult, or to either seeing if further quals in your field will help, or changing tack completely. I hope it works out for you whatever you do and yes, hang on in there.

quantic

ILW wrote: »

It does appear you may have gone into a career with a lot of competition. We get 3 or 4 calls a week from web developers touting for business.

It is quite competitive but I have friends in lots of different fields of work; Teaching, Marketing, Police, IT, Finance - the landscape for a lot of professions seems pretty rough.

quantic

bugslet wrote: »

Briefly, left school in 1982 with three A levels and no interest in going to uni. Worked for my Dad until 1985 when the tough economic times kicked in for him. IIRC, the unemployment numbers were scary high then. Spent 10 weeks on the dole, which fortunately has been my only experience of it, before working at about four or five jobs, none of them great and all badly paid until I started working for myself in 1991, which is what I'm still doing. Bought my first house in the late 80s with not a lot of money to spare, I can remember a leaky roof with no money to fix it for a while.

Not entirely dissimilar to World traveller and I agree with him, tings will get better, but not for a good few years ( sorry) and it's a case of looking to see what you can do to improve your prospects. Not knowing much about web developement ( frankly much about computers at all), I don't know how much competition there is in your line of work. If there is a lot, then you will either have to resign yourself to wages being depressed and competition for jobs being difficult, or to either seeing if further quals in your field will help, or changing tack completely. I hope it works out for you whatever you do and yes, hang on in there.

Thanks for the post and encouragement, I hope my OP didn't come across as being too much of a whine, it wasn't intended for that purpose at all. I am very grateful for what I have and the (somewhat limited) opportunities that I have so far had.

I'm more interested in what other people have to say about their experience, I can't decide if things are harder than they have been before or if my generation is just a bit wet behind the ears.