How bad will it get?

Bismarck

PasturesNew wrote: »

3 examples of how I can jinx things, all from the last 8 months since I moved here:
- company I planned to approach for work as I'd contracted for them before ... announced a downsizing and laid off 100 IT contractors.
- BBC I was half way through submitting an application to, announced job losses and the potential selling off of the whole building in these parts
- company I went to temp for, was bought out/merged and the MD himself was even leaving the organisation as a result of that.

8 months I tell you .... and all I did was think about working for those or step into their premises briefly!

whoa pastures new...you're not going to jinx the forum are you?

bet your job interviews are entertaining, though

"Right, let's run through your CV..."

you must think, "do I have to?...."

PasturesNew

Bismarck wrote: »

whoa pastures new...you're not going to jinx the forum are you?

bet your job interviews are entertaining, though

"Right, let's run through your CV..."

you must think, "do I have to?...."

Yes. It's not good ....

Bismarck

I'm sorry, I think the next 12 months are going to be peppered with a lot more people having interesting interviews too! Not that that's much consolation...at least rival interviewees will not have pristine CVs either...

thriftybabe

Have just a phone call today that one of my OH sites has had a lot of cancellations therefore not going to be a build out as previously thought. We are now looking at paying people off. We have 5 apprentices and will be sending our first pay off letter out in the next week. In addition the Subcontractors that work for us will be next. Starting to get worried that it might be worse than even I though and I am a very pessimistic person!!

johnycoldears

I'm a Quantity Surveyor for a top 100 contractor specialising in Civil Engineering ( roads and bridges etc.) . A lot of our turnover is funded by developers, either through direct contracts to us or via section 278 payments to Local Authorities.
Six months ago sub contract trades used in both civils and building were impossible to get hold of (Brick layers, concreters etc) and we would virtually have to beg these guys to work for us at whatever rates they demanded.
Over the last couple of months I have been receiving an increasing stream of enquiries from these same companies, all looking for work at discount rates and all saying how quiet they have become.
Our own workload is now becoming affected as developer led schemes are shelved and Local Authority budgets reduced (by developer contributions). We currently have work for about three months at full capacity and then it drops off the edge of a cliff. Even allowing for our winning the appropriate share of tenders through the door I can see redundancies at all levels coming in the next six months - something that has not happened in this firm since 1992.
The next couple of years are not going to be a good time to be in construction

thriftybabe

Sorry to hear that Johnycoldears. A lot of people do not realise that it is going to affect the wider economy. Hope it works out ok for you.

johnycoldears

thriftybabe wrote: »

Sorry to hear that Johnycoldears. A lot of people do not realise that it is going to affect the wider economy. Hope it works out ok for you.

Should be ok short term - I've got my own work stream organised till next May (long term LA contract).

After that ? - I'm on three months notice and i've been with them for twenty years , so it's going to cost them - unless of course they go bust !

thriftybabe

Nice one! We are waiting on a news that we were told that we had and they have now asked us to reduce our prices. If we get that we should be okay however we need at least 3 to keep our apprentices, staff and subcontractors. If we don't we need to let some of them go. We are already going to let an apprentice go.

izzybusy23

PasturesNew wrote: »

Every day that anybody goes into work is a day they might be laid off.

This has pretty much been true of most of my life, but most people don't realise just how close they are to it. They think their job is safe.

To me, I have the viewpoint "I have a job today, by 6pm today I will know if I have a job tomorrow".

Most people have never known a downturn. I've probably been hit by more than any other person ... I've been known as the Black Widow in jobs because of my ability to consistently only join companies that are about to sell up/close down/relocate/downsize/get taken over .....

I've probably been laid off at least once a year for the past 25 years.

Makes your CV pretty grubby looking, as if it's your fault... so maybe I just become more attractive to poorer companies because of my ability/skill set and they hire me in their last dying moments. Too little, too late.

He he

I've been made redundant 3 times in my 16 years of work, and had numerous contract jobs here and there... and every partner I've ever been with has lost their jobs whilst with me too... so it happens to others as well... you are not alone!

I've now got the outlook that no job is safe.. I work in Government and even that keeps getting restructured and jobs look very dodgy. I'm always looking to the future asking myself when will the dreaded axe fall again, because it will, without doubt!

thriftybabe

My OH signed the contract today for housing association job which will keep us going until Christmas so we are very happy for the next 6 - 7 months. Thank goodness can now eat that cake that I have not been able to eat all day.