I've been told to pretend I don't have any qualifications!!!

Ianna

andyrules wrote: »

That's shocking! are you sure this is so? Only I am becoming fast disillusioned with the whole concept of a degree, unless it is something very specific like science for research for example.

Sadly so. Why would an employer choose a candidate who had spent three years doing something completely irrelevant compared to someone who spent three years doing something relevant? Not to mention the negative stereotype that goes with students: lazy, superiority complex, not used to working etc

Wiggynut

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

i started on YTS and now i'm on 30k in the same industry, It's like experience college.

I started on YTS when I was 15 - had to leave home and pay rent at 15! so I wanted a job that would give me some training - went to 6 schools and missed two years of school = 1 'O' level. 2 years later I took some more 0 levels part time - got 5 now!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a very nice company and they paid me £1.50 for overtime - took 8 hours a day traveling to get to work - it was in the middle of the countryside and only 1 bus a day! They also didn't pay me £350 which they owed me for all the overtime. No training of any type, It was up to me to train the full time staff who recieved a proper wage! I got £40 per week and had to pay rent of a horrible bedsit, train & bus fares which was over £20 and food. some how I manage to save £300 of this! HOW????? (didn't eat in those days )

years later I was earning £8,000 less than my colleagues but yet I was the one who trained them. I'm also given the urgent work as the ex students were not quick enough or have the amount of experience as I do - they still work to student timetables which is not compatible to the deadlines of a job! (not all students are like this so please don't think I moaning at ALL students there are a few that have too much confidence and no work ethic! )

I tried to do a HND and was allowed onto the 2nd year because of my work experience but the students who had already compeleted one year of the course had to be shown how to turn the computers on and what software to use! (the course is central to the Mac's and software so there is no reason as to why they didn't know anything!) The tutors didn't turn up for most of the classes either so I decided to go back to work instead! Not having much luck there was I! :rolleyes:

I would love to study but confidence at a low at the moment and so is my bank balance. Would like to do a part time course and have been nosing around to find more information on how to fund it and reading the stories of people who have fought hard for their degree through all odds is positive - I seem to meet a lot of students whose families helped them out a lot and had fairly good schooling which I'm sure helps somewhat! Nice to hear the other side of things, If that makes sense.

shelovestobuystuff

I have heard about a grant for education or training which everyone can get,I will look up the name of it and post it here but it is £100 a year for everyone and £200 for those on low incomes.

shelovestobuystuff

Wiggynut wrote: »

I would love to study but confidence at a low at the moment and so is my bank balance. Would like to do a part time course and have been nosing around to find more information on how to fund it and reading the stories of people who have fought hard for their degree through all odds is positive - I seem to meet a lot of students whose families helped them out a lot and had fairly good schooling which I'm sure helps somewhat! Nice to hear the other side of things, If that makes sense.

I remember the YTS schemes you were speaking about.I started mine just when they started at first so my weekly wage was a very grand £29.50 :eek: off of which my mum wanted £20 digs and bus fare to work was about £16 a week,I had to buy my own bloomin uniform too £20 per blouse as far as I remember.It was in Dorothy Perkins:rolleyes: .
But to the point.Well done on wanting to improve yourself and your prospects.Theres a thing called an Individual Learning Account or ILA available in scotland and Wales:cool: .You can get £100 each year,£200 if you are on a low income,towards training or education to improve your prospects.Its dished out in the form of a little electronic card which is credited with the amount and presented at the college or wherever to pay towards the course.You cannot accrue it,if its not used within the year it vanishes and you have to ask for it to be renewed each year.Good because you can get this amout each and every year.
The web sites are www.ilascotland.org.uk and www.ila-wales.org.uk

In England there is a different scheme called the Adult Learning Grant or ALG:cool: .You can get a weekly grant which you can use however you like so it would help offset the cost of the course.Its dished out on a sliding scale according to your income and can be as much as £30 a week if your earnings as a single person are up to £11,810,£20 up to £15,405 and £10 up to £19,513:cool: .Its increased limits for couples so that couple earning up to £30,810 between them one of you can still get £10 a week.:D
The web site for this is www.direct.gov.uk and just search for grant info.

Wiggynut

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

I remember the YTS schemes you were speaking about.I started mine just when they started at first so my weekly wage was a very grand £29.50 :eek: off of which my mum wanted £20 digs and bus fare to work was about £16 a week,I had to buy my own bloomin uniform too £20 per blouse as far as I remember.It was in Dorothy Perkins:rolleyes: .
quote]

£29.50!! I would have had to walk the 40+ miles if I got that... Dorothy Perkins... that's just plain evil :eek:

The YTS course was in Dorothy Perkins? I would have thought you'd get more money working through them than the YTS. I suppose college one day a week would have helped... I was doing Computer Graphics and there weren't any colleges doing courses for that then so I had to study printing which had nothing to do with the job...?!

I will check out those links too - I could do with an easy short course to kick my brain into gear.. I have the concentration level of a Gnat (appologies to any Gnat's reading this ) so need to learn how to study effectively would be useful too.

Back to the original posters thread (oops... sorry) I have been told by many agencies and job centres to lie on my CV... ie: take stuff off. I have two CV's one for admin jobs and one for creative (I take any type of job inbetween the decent ones as I hate the dole - don't recommend working for a call centre though unless you like people screaming abuse at you all day despite being helpful! - but call centre's will not ask for your CV, just turn up.. that's all that is required!).

I was always told that the more skills you have the better but, I find the opposite is true or if you have done different types of jobs like admin/creative... it's difficult to get an interview. It doesn't make me useless or work any less - In fact most places I've worked get me working in different departments to help them out when they are busy! they don't appreciate it though - shame.

:cool:

shelovestobuystuff

Wiggynut wrote: »

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

I remember the YTS schemes you were speaking about.I started mine just when they started at first so my weekly wage was a very grand £29.50 :eek: off of which my mum wanted £20 digs and bus fare to work was about £16 a week,I had to buy my own bloomin uniform too £20 per blouse as far as I remember.It was in Dorothy Perkins:rolleyes: .
quote]

£29.50!! I would have had to walk the 40+ miles if I got that... Dorothy Perkins... that's just plain evil :eek:

The YTS course was in Dorothy Perkins? I would have thought you'd get more money working through them than the YTS. I suppose college one day a week would have helped... I was doing Computer Graphics and there weren't any colleges doing courses for that then so I had to study printing which had nothing to do with the job...?!

I will check out those links too - I could do with an easy short course to kick my brain into gear.. I have the concentration level of a Gnat (appologies to any Gnat's reading this ) so need to learn how to study effectively would be useful too.

Back to the original posters thread (oops... sorry) I have been told by many agencies and job centres to lie on my CV... ie: take stuff off. I have two CV's one for admin jobs and one for creative (I take any type of job inbetween the decent ones as I hate the dole - don't recommend working for a call centre though unless you like people screaming abuse at you all day despite being helpful! - but call centre's will not ask for your CV, just turn up.. that's all that is required!).

I was always told that the more skills you have the better but, I find the opposite is true or if you have done different types of jobs like admin/creative... it's difficult to get an interview. It doesn't make me useless or work any less - In fact most places I've worked get me working in different departments to help them out when they are busy! they don't appreciate it though - shame.

:cool:

When the YTS started at first in Scotland employers must have thought all their chrismases had come early.They stopped taking on young staff and weekend staff and just had cheap labour via the YTS scheme instead.We didn,t get any college either,we worked full-time along with everyone else.we were supposed to get one day off during the week but when your YTS place was in a shop you just had to do a Saturday instead.
There was supposed to be some sort of on the job training but they would just tick boxes on a form from time to time and tell me,"sign this to say you,ve done it,don,t bother reading it,its just a formality."
YTS was legalised slave labour:mad:
They had set up the YTS before they even had the college courses set up to support it.

Wiggynut

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Wiggynut wrote: »

When the YTS started at first in Scotland employers must have thought all their chrismases had come early.They stopped taking on young staff and weekend staff and just had cheap labour via the YTS scheme instead.We didn,t get any college either,we worked full-time along with everyone else.we were supposed to get one day off during the week but when your YTS place was in a shop you just had to do a Saturday instead.
There was supposed to be some sort of on the job training but they would just tick boxes on a form from time to time and tell me,"sign this to say you,ve done it,don,t bother reading it,its just a formality."
YTS was legalised slave labour:mad:
They had set up the YTS before they even had the college courses set up to support it.

Yep... agree totally. I wasn't allowed to do the course all the time so I could attend every couple of months just in case they got into trouble!

But as I never heard from the YTS people again ... it didn't really matter... you had to sign forms???? also, because there were no relevant courses they sent me on a Flower Arranging class????????????????????? :rotfl:

As there was only one bus I had to rely on a friend of the boss to drive me home.. I would have to wait until he finished in the pub (???! drinking!) and then drive me home after 11pm... I left home at 4.30am got to work at 9.30, if the one bus turned up! didn't always especially if new driver - I was the only person on it) and would leave about 7pm if the 'friend' wasn't busy... then catch a train the rest of the way... got home about 10pm... 4 hours sleep if I was lucky... I can't believe I did all that £40 per week - I'm sure they gave me £40 per month extra on top but that mean't I had to do more overtime - then for saturday & sundays I got £1.50 per hour - well that's what I had to tell people but I think I only got that a couple of times.

They didn't want to pay me holiday so they forced me to take a week off... I finally caught up on sleep and brain cell woke up... handed in my notice the following monday! Can't believe I took all the rubbish - they weren't nice to me either but, unfortunatly my 'home' live was worse so I didn't have very high standards to go by.

Do they still have these YTS things??? I would not recommend them.. sounds good in theory but in practice a pile of poo!

clairehi

I am aghast at the "careers advice" offered to the OP. Whoever offered it should be sacked immediately.

I have worked for a number of public sector organisations in the last 5 years and they have all, for all but the most junior admin assistant roles, required graduates for ALL posts.

We had a temp 2 years ago who had just graduated from Leeds Met. She was streets ahead of most useless agency temps that we have had and was offered a permanent job after 6 months.

Temping agencies should (if they have any sense) be falling over themselves to get new graduates on their books, as they will usually be highly motivated to gain experience and make a success of themselves.

To the OP, if you have not already done so try and get some temp work , to get some recent experience and gain confidence.

shelovestobuystuff

Wiggynut wrote: »

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Do they still have these YTS things??? I would not recommend them.. sounds good in theory but in practice a pile of poo!

Heard of "TRAINING FOR WORK" or "MODERN APPRENTICESHIPS" they are the new and evolved breed of YTS fiasco;) .
As far as I can see they were the death of the traditional apprenticeship positions which young people used to clamber for after leaving school:mad: .Like I said before,legalised slave labour:mad: .
I have a bee in my bonnet about this sort of thing as you can probably see.I think our education system should be re-named as our training for dead end job system.:D
Where is the education,its just all training,when and how did these two things become one in our society?
Just look up the definition of the word education in any dictionary to see that things have gone terribly wrong,and have been that way for a long,long time!!!