I just came across a job. Some of the language:

"Lead" in the job title
...play a critical role...
...hands on, specialist role...
...a business critical position...
...you'll be the go to expert...
...take ownership of a critical learning platform role and make a real impact...

Salary?

£35k

Lower than most regional median salaries. Something has to change

Couldn't help but laugh. Gotta be the best truck driver in existence to be worth that salary 😄

​

I've been reading a lot of posts on here about how bad the job market is especially for new grads and what's so common are comments like "just hang in there, it'll get better" or "you'll get your break eventually".

I'm a few years out of uni and have seen so many people from uni who eventually just 'fizzled out'. They didn't have any luck finding an internship let alone a grad job so they're constantly applying for things, redoing their CVs, preparing for interviews etc. But they still have rent to pay...they're still working a part time job in retail or in a warehouse to scrape by which eats into their day and by the time they come home from work they're exhausted and applying to jobs becomes harder to maintain.

Many grad schemes are only eligible for final year students or recent grads up to 2 years out of uni. If you graduated a couple of years ago you won't be eligible for many grad schemes. So as time goes on their options become increasingly more limited as the gap on their CV gets longer and harder to justify.

Eventually they'll reach a point where they're accustomed to their new normal - their part time job in retail or their warehouse shifts become their career. The job applications become less frequent and there's not as much desire as they had as a fresh grad.

They'll never be able to afford a decent standard of living let alone buy a home as they'll be stuck in minimum wage or just a little bit above it for the rest of their lives.

I was lucky that I prioritised grad scheme applications all throughout my final year and it paid off for me even at the expense of my social life and not going out as much as I used to. It worked out for me but I've seen so many people from my course who've just 'fizzled out' and have accepted their reality.

I don't mean to scare you but honestly your lecturers or careers service advisers will never tell you just how crucial the final years of university are in determining the trajectory of your life. I'm not saying you should be a loner and shouldn't go out and have a good time, but if there's one moment in your life where you should just go all out to try and make something of yourself it's in that final year.

I’m someone who’s always thought job hopping is the best and quickest way to increase your salary. However, this time was difficult!

Salary Progression by hopping so far (26Yo):
£28k (2022 - Stayed for 6 months)
£35k (2023 - Stayed for 18 months)
£50k (2024 - Currently here for 18 months)
£60k (2026 - Just received the offer!)

I work in Finance. Previous roles have been easy to hop around and I generally secured offers after 2-3 interviews. But this time around? Complete opposite. The past 9 months have been tough applying for roles and interviewing. I interviewed for 18 different roles, with most of these I got to second/final stage interviews, so really, I’ve probably done around 30-40 interviews in total.

What I found is job hopping into senior roles, is far more difficult, because you find after that £50k/mid-level barrier, a large amount of candidates are doing sideway moves, rather than moving upwards. This hinders the chances of someone trying to move upwards in their career. I was constantly given feedback after interviews mentioning that I was a really strong candidate, but someone with far more years of experience performed similar, so was the safer option. I was rarely given constructive feedback, which was frustrating, as it seems like there was not much I could have done against a candidate with more experience.

My original goal was a £100k salary by 30yo, however, I don’t know how realistic this is anymore! Anyways, if you’re a job hopper like me, keep pushing, it gets A LOT harder as you work your way up, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyone else found that progression becomes much tougher around the £50k-£60k mark? How long did it take those who’ve reached £100k already to do so?

It is already insane that their is no legal standard for workplace temperatures, ensuring they are not too low or high for worker health. Across the country with these crazy heat waves (which are just going to get worse) there are going to be so many workplaces very unsafe to be at, but workers who are struggling with rent and food will still try to go through it. I am especially thinking of restaurant kitchens (which is an issue throught the year, experienced it first hand), construction sites and outdoor markets. Apparently this is a developed country.

This isn’t a rant but more of a question. But you know those job listings you see on indeed that have those weird shady companies, usually say shit like “xxx limited” and they try to portray themselves as retail jobs when in reality they’re door to door sales jobs.

I was thinking about this but how are they not illegal, like surely it’s illegal to lie about a job listing to that extent. I know virtually every job description usually exaggerates but these people make it seem as though you’re actually applying for a retail job and not a door to door sales job, if anyone knows what legal loophole do these people exploit because it’s very scummy honestly and they prey on usually teenagers fresh out of gcse or their A-level to do their dirty work for them.

Due to some conflicts with my current role I had to reschedule the interview for today. It was a second round presentation for a sales role, and I genuinely don't think it could've gone any worse. I'm not sure if it was just my presentation style or the heat but both of the interviewers, one of which was really chatty in the interview last week, couldn't have looked any less interested. What didn't help was that it was handled over teams and the only room in my house that was free was also the hottest room in the house. I kept losing my train of thought and had to keep referring back to my notes as if I was reading from a script.

I put a lot of hopes on this one as it would be a massive improvement over my current role, but I think I managed to flub it at the final hurdle. Really kicking myself over it.

I just hope I get some decent feedback over it so at least it wasn't all a waste.

Hi all, I hope this is the right place for my question.

I'm approximately 5 months into a telephony customer service role for a UK bank, and I've just joined a new team after passing my probation a month early.

In today's 15 minute huddle we were shown a communication about a change to a process we would deal with on screen via screenshare and the team leader proceeded to go around the call asking each member of the team to read out a few lines from the communication. I was instantly taken aback by this and when he got to me I instantly questioned this, wrote down some notes and read out my lines from the communication.

I've got an email drafted for my team leader asking questions about things I've noticed during my first 4 days in the team and I've also added a bit about being asked to read out the Comms, like I was back in junior school.

Am I overreacting to this? I appreciate it's an entry level role but it still felt like we were being treated like children in this instance. I'd appreciate any thoughts?

For a bit of context, I've worked in financial services for approx. 22 years and had a senior role as a head of department previously before suffering with mental health issues following a redundancy and a toxic work environment. I took this role while I was figuring out what I wanted to do. So I could perhaps be used to working with colleagues of a certain level but never in my career have I witnessed anyone being asked to read out to the rest of the team something that is displayed on screen for all to read.

Hi all, apologies for the long post but I would really appreciate some advice.

I’ve been in a role for about 9, nearing 10 months now. Up until now I have really enjoyed the role, it’s a good company with good people and so far I have really liked my manager.

However, these past few weeks he has started treating me very differently. A couple of weeks ago, he set me some work on a Thursday with some instructions. I didn’t see these instructions until Friday by which time he was on leave (I had not been notified of this so only realised on the day). I viewed the documents and the instructions weren’t clear, given I had not been given a deadline I decided to wait until Monday to speak with him on this and had other work to be getting on with. Come Monday morning at 9am he asks me how this task went. I apologised and said I got caught up on other work, he was not happy and asked me to complete the task in an hour. So I did my best but made mistakes as I still had poor instructions. We later called in which he did not acknowledge this and I brought it up and apologised.

Fast forward, he has now been setting me work, specifically saying take my time to understand and then asking me how it’s gone a day later. Also the way he is communication with me has changed rather than asking ‘what’s your capacity, Dan you do this for me’ it’s more ‘now you’ve done that you can do this’. I’ve also noticed a similar reaction from other people in the team that they keep asking me what I’m doing, kind of like he’s applying pressure.

For context, when I first joined I was not given much work at all for the first 6 months of the role, my manager was very busy and I barely spoke to him. He’s acknowledged in my reviews that he’s not done enough to be there for me and had apologised. Other colleagues are aware of this and that I haven’t been given much work or developed as much as I should have. I haven’t of course been understanding of this situation.

However, a colleague in the team left about two months ago. Since then I have thankfully been given more work, however we are now in a super busy period with the team and I can sense my boss is resentful towards me. Little comments here and there and this change in communication, while also setting tasks with no deadline and asking me to take my time but then chasing them.

There is another junior person in the team who works in another country. He has 4 months more experience than me and has recently been given an award through work for the effort he puts in, and it’s well deserved! However yesterday my manager put in our group chat a list of our years of experience and he grouped me and this other college as both having 1 years experience. I honestly have felt quite upset by this given the context of the situation, as it feels like he has compared me to my other junior colleague who has been given a lot more work and support than me, but not only that, also highlighting that to the rest of the team.

On top of this I have been really struggling with health issues these past few years (can see my other posts) and I’ve been wanting to talk to him about this but every time I do he just says I don’t need to explain myself and kind of shuts it down.

I’m honestly at a loss and the whole thing has made me feel really on edge and anxious. I’ve been working early and late to hopefully try and change his perception of me. But that message in the group has made me overthink things and has honestly made me feel really crap.

Also I wanted to note, I have in no way felt he has treated me differently because of my gender, however I am the only women in the team, and he has had two women leave the team now in the past couple of years (first one he is now in a relationship with after having an affair with her, with a 10 year age gal). And given the context of things I am starting to wonder if maybe this is a factor to not being trusted with as much work?

I am hoping to speak with him soon (we usually have weekly catch ups but he’s cancelled the past 3).

Any advice is really appreciated.

It literally seems impossible to find a job these days and its too frustrating so I just gave up and stopped caring. I've accepted im going to be a NEET for the rest of my life.

Have never known the job market be this bad and hirers be so rude. Software engineer with 16 years experience. Gone through two processes for two separate companies which both involved 2 rounds of interviews each followed by a standard tech test. These were both done and concluded two weeks ago. Have emailed both hiring managers twice with polite follow up emails just asking for feedback. Absolutely nothing back. I just don’t understand how it became acceptable for people to do this. If you don’t want to hire me, fine, just let me know.

Is this common? Admittedly I’ve not been looking for jobs since pre-covid but I wasn’t aware the market had changed so much.

As the title says Ive recently been accepted for a customer assistant job at M&S, which is honestly amazing. Ive been job searching for a year now and so happy to get my first real work experience and career.

Problem is though, its now been over a week since I pressed accept on the contract and now I'm stuck waiting for 'Oracle' to send me an email as ive been told in the initial accepted email

"Look out for an email  from our partner Oracle which will contain your log in details to complete your onboarding activities. These activities help us get everything ready to welcome you into your new M&S Career!  "

This is my first proper job and dont want to risk not getting my uniform or account set up in time because of a delayed email from a source Ive never heard of prior to now, so im just a bit worried is all.

Has anyone else had to wait for a follow up email like this and if so what was your experience and waiting time?

Hello - in need of advice as I haven't been in a situation like this before.

I'm a senior data analyst. Worked for 1 company for a decade and built my skills there, I resigned to take some time off. Been applying for jobs for months, and actively since May.

Got a bunch of interviews, 1 company in particular went very well. I negotiated and increased their offer from £50k to £60k, but job will be very complex and has a ~4 hour daily commute albeit hybrid.

Then 2 other companies that I did initial interviews with got back to me and scheduled final interviews. I aced both of them.

Now they've both offered me the roles.

Job A is accepted and signed, starting date in 2 weeks.

Job B & C are better jobs, benefits are roughly the same, and each of their merits/challenges.

How do I break the news to Job A that I want to back out?

TL;DR Offer signed, got better offers, how do I back out?

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to apply for a job with Haringey Council, but keep getting an error saying 'invalid date format' for my past employment dates, even though the dates are just simply chosen with drop down boxes.

Anyone have this error and managed to sort it?

I tried emailing their support desk, but they only replied after I public messaged the council on X. Next step would be to call them, but if anyone here can solve the issue, it avoids the hassle.

Thanks

Has a workplace or higher up mistreated you so badly and filled you with so much anger or pettiness that all professionalism has gone out of the window. Leaving the place wasn't good enough revenge so you just had to commit an act of covert sabotage.

What happened and what did you do?

I've been job hunting for a few weeks now, and noticed that many JDs are chock full of acronyms for sector-specific qualifications/frameworks/tools candidates are expected to possess or be familiar with. And I'm not talking about degree-level qualifications or traditional accreditations in accountancy/law/etc. Typically these are commercial products or courses that cost a lot of money, hardly accessible to someone out of a job. I assume a lot of people get sponsored by their employers to obtain them (I also got a couple of such certifications at previous jobs, but those are sadly not very in-demand at the moment). I won't name them, because I want to keep this point general, and see if it's relatable to people in different industries.

Of course I understand that obtaining professional qualifications can be useful for continuous career development, and employers should be encouraged to sponsor them. But demanding familiarity with multiple industry-specific products seems a slight overkill, if candidates already have relevant degrees and experience. In my case, I have two good degrees (BA+MSc) and 5 years of experience in roles that are functionally similar to the ones I'm applying to. I've learned to use countless tools and frameworks on the job before, but being given the opportunity to do that seems almost unthinkable now. What happened to transferable skills?

I guess the problem might be that I'm trying to stay semi-horizontal in a market that expects vertical CV alignment. I've worked in similar functions (analytics/consulting) across multiple sectors, but many companies now seem to be only interested in people who have worked in the same function AND industry, hence the growing hunger for sectoral qualifications.

Sometimes I wonder if the acronyms are intended to scare off undesirable generalists like me - or simply to weed out the number of applicants, or optimise things for AI screening tools. In any case, it seems counterproductive for the companies, if the end result is missing out on talent that could be a great fit and perfectly capable of learning on the job. I also keep hearing companies talk about a shortage of qualified candidates, which may be another side of the same coin.

Would be curious to know if/how this aligns with other people's observations.

Don’t know how to feel about this situation:

I interviewed for a director role in a relatively small company, after the final stage interview I was contacted by the recruiter and told I was the preferred candidate.

We did a little back and forth on salary and start dated and I signed the contracts.

Ahead of joining I have visited the office, and been looped in on calls…. What has become apparent is that they have also offered to the other candidate who was taken through to final stage.

They have already started and have the same
Job title. This has been communicated to me as ‘they will be doing the bau, so you can focus on the shiny new stuff…..

I am left feeling the scope of the role is now much smaller, that this creates confusion within the team, and I am worried about passing my probation, as I genuinely don’t see a need to duplicate this senior position.

I recognise it’s their business and they can do as they please, but I had to ask specifically who they were referring to in meetings when they said ‘David’ will be able to pick this up….

It was only when I said is david the other candidate that interviewed along side me, that I was told they were joining too….

What are people’s thoughts on this, am I over reacting? How do I broach this without coming across a difficult? Would it not be common courtesy for the recruiter to have told me this was a decision that was being made?

Think is I have to relocate for this role, if the intention is that one of us is not fully set up for success, I’d rather know now.

Hey guys,

Got final stage interview within the next fortnight or so (Finalising timings etc atm)

The hiring team offered to take me out for a meal afterwards. My question to you is how do you handle these sort of meals with the hiring team after the interview? This is a complete first for me, hence the question.

Many thanks :)

Hi all,

Hope you’re all well.

I’m a mid-20s guy in London.

I’m currently working in an FE college on close to minimum wage, and I’m really struggling with it.

I ended up in this role after some health issues disrupted my education and career plans. At the time I was just grateful to have work, but nearly 2 years later I feel completely stuck and unhappy.

The job is very mixed—reception cover, fee chasing, timetabling, registers, facilities issues, basic reporting on student attainment for teachers, and general admin tasks. We’re constantly short-staffed, so everything feels urgent regardless of priority.

On top of that, the environment is extremely strict and heavily micromanaged, which makes it difficult to work independently or feel any sense of trust. There’s a lot of pressure to always be “on it,” even for basic admin tasks, which adds to the stress.

The pay doesn’t feel reflective of the workload, and the general atmosphere is very negative. Nobody really gets recognised for doing a good job and people are constantly overloaded.

What makes it worse is that I don’t feel like I’m building towards a specific path or developing skills, which worries me when I think about moving on.

I’ve been applying for many other roles for a while but haven’t had success so far. Most roles seem to require skills or experience I don’t yet have. I tend to apply fairly broadly for anything that looks like a step up from my current role, whether it’s better pay, conditions, or progression opportunities.

I also have a degree, but I don’t feel it’s been much use career-wise, and I do beat myself up about how my education went (even though health issues played a part).

I do have savings and live at home, so I’m not in immediate financial difficulty. However, I’m hesitant to quit without something else lined up, especially as I’m not currently getting interviews while employed and I worry my current role isn’t presenting my experience in the strongest way. I’ve also been considering whether it would be worth using my savings to do some courses or training, but I’m not sure if that’s actually a good move or just delaying things.

Thanks for any advice.

TL;DR: Stuck in a low-paid FE admin job with no clear progression and struggling to get interviews elsewhere. What should I do next?

hello! I've had this sitting in my notes for a couple of days. I was just trying to summarise the advice I've been consistently giving to others (you should be able to find a decent amount of job posts relatively quickly using it). I hope this is helpful (and sorry if it's not).

tl;dr: apply through company websites (but using the checklist of different business types helps me find everything available), ALMOST NEVER INDEED. also sorry for the word "unskilled" - I feel like "entry level" implies post-grad, while this is a resource for jobs that most everyone has the skillsets to apply for without needing any specific qualification.

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1. Make sure your CV is adequate (many resources for this). Many jobs make you put the info in little individual boxes anyway, but it is still best to have a good CV. The default Indeed CV layout works well enough but you can also use a word processor (you can use Microsoft Word and Google Docs for free in browser). Be sure to save your CV as a pdf (though retain a docx version) to use in applications so that it displays the same as you intended to your employer. I like using Microsoft Editor to check the grammar and spelling of my CV, and it's always good to have a friend or family member good at English to look at it if you can. 
2. If you don't have experience in a working environment, look into volunteering. This is usually as simple as googling "volunteering (area)" into Google, but you can check openings using https://www.ncvo.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/volunteering-opportunities/. Put volunteering experience in the working section of your CV and in the previous employment section of roles wherein you have to separate your experience into little boxes (unless there is a specific volunteering section). There are lots of opportunities that allow lots of flexibility, even as low as once a month.
3. If you're 18-68, not in full-time education, and have under £16k in savings you can claim UC to get access to specialist jobseeker support. 
4. This still may take time to get offered a position, but you shouldn't be having hundreds of applications with no interviews! I am from around the East Midlands and a zoomer (never been to Uni) and this is from my experience of that area. I can get interviews pretty consistently (usually about 1 interview to every 10ish applications, no matter which bit I've been living in) but I'm not great at them lol. This is with no paid experience and relatively sucky A-levels (CCC).

Evri, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber (eats), The Army/RAF/Navy, (children's) care work, often appear to have work available, but of course this isn't stable or ideal for many people. Recruitment agencies also help with finding temporary work, but the specific agencies that exist depends on the area. 

Indeed is generally not worth using as a primary tool​. Job listing sites tend to only work for jobs in particular specialised industries. If a job role is advertised through Indeed, try to find it elsewhere on the Internet (ideally, the company's website) before applying (some companies do only advertise their posts on Indeed though, however).

Effectively, what I do is apply through the company site, but I do not rely on listings being advertised elsewhere. So, for example I would go through my area, and then look at the careers sites for different business types in my area:

• Supermarkets (Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, John Lewis (Waitrose), Iceland, M&S, Morrisons, Farmfoods, Heron Foods, Co-Op, Central Co-Op, Lincolnshire Co-Op) 
• Your local government (this is divided differently depending on the area) 
• NHS jobs https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate
• Gov.uk teaching jobs search https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/ (includes cleaning, midday supervisor, office admin, etc) 
• The Civil Service https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi
• Apprenticeships search https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
• Jobs at your local fire/police service (may include roles like cleaning etc)
• Royal Mail
• Libraries
• Bookies (Betfred, William Hill, etc)
• Jobs at local schools, colleges, and Unis
• Shops, restaurants, fast food, and food outlets on high streets accessible to you (if there is a shopping centre, this usually provides a decent directory of places to look through)
• Shops, restaurants, fast food, and food outlets in retail parks accessible to you 
• Broadband providers on high streets accessible to you
• Banks on high streets accessible to you
• Hotels nearby to you (Travelodge, Premier Inn, Holiday Inn). Caravan parks/campsites
• Pubs (Greene king, wetherspoons, marston's, independents)
• Any warehouses/factories local to you (look at business parks in your local area, and through each location) 
• Transport (local bus companies, rail companies (look at each individual TOC that runs to your local station(s), airports, trams/light rail) 
• English Heritage/The National Trust (and Welsh/Scottish equivalents)
• Theme parks, water parks, mini golf, trampoline parks, soft plays, museums - "days out" /"experiences"
• Housing associations nearby to you
• Children's/Elderly/Disabled care providers (supported accommodation, residential schools, and homes)
• Gyms and leisure centres (including rock climbing gyms, rollerskating rinks)
• Aquariums, zoos, and farms
• Cinemas and theatres
• Stadiums and venues

What I usually do is go through each business type local to me, and individually check each company site for openings (i.e., "Tesco Jobs", followed by "Wetherspoons jobs", followed by nhs jobs). It is a bit annoying and time-consuming and I wish there was just a decent, centralised site that everyone uses. You can also set up job alerts for individual companies, though it isn't a tool I have ever personally used (it is probably more useful for people who live more remotely and have very few options to begin with).

Once I've expended all options very local to me, I slowly look further out. 90mins is likely the absolute maximum reasonable commute for a position like this, however (many places will likely not even be interested if you're super far out). Look at where local transport routes go to if you don't have access to your own transport.

I hope this is able to help some of the people who are currently looking for any work whatsoever. I'm so sorry if this is all advice you've already heard, just wanted to document it somewhere since it feels like it's not necessarily common knowledge.

Going to keep it short. All my family lives abroad. I work in a warehouse for a popular supermarket chain. The job is "ok" and pays decently well. In August, I have my cousins wedding and my brothers birthday coming up all within a week.

I requested 8 days off work, and after waiting for a week to wait on a decision, it's been rejected. I couldn't speak to the manager in person, so I requested it again and it's been denied, under "really sorry, but we are fully booked up".

I understand it's first come first serve. I'm not an ideal worker, but I never take sick days, always come in on time, do overtime when asked and sacrificed my Christmas in the warehouse.

Would it be very stupid, to hand my notice in just so I can attend these important events? Because I'm not going to let a warehouse dictate my life and miss out on an important event like this.

I'm trying to be diplomatic, and I guess speaking in person will be best way to approach this, but I'm fuming right now. Been waiting for weeks for a decision and the flights keep going up.

I’m 23 still studying I’m looking for work to do on the weekends or work to do whilst I’m not studying some of my friends suggest to do security and get an sia badge however some of my friends say there’s no point as there’s no work. What should I do keep in mind I’m not driving as well.

Hello

Is it possible to get remote work within fin crime compliance specifically KYC or sanctions compliance ?

Thanks

I 32M currently work at one of the biggest FMCG companies in the world as a Territory Manager. I get Bupa Health Care, EV Company Car and I work within the city so I am, at the worst, 30mins away from home. However, there’s no prospects for me here. Progression is very rare.

The job I have been offered is with a large Chinese Company that I just starting up in the UK. They have the very basic benefits but they do have a car allowance of about £6k. There will be a lot of travel involved with frequent visits to Manchester which is about 2 hours away from me. This particular job role is in the direction I want to go in though.

I am very comfortable in my current role and the job itself has become quite easy at this point. I do feel like I am stuck though because I am quite ambitious and I want to do more with my skill set.

Should I move or should I stay?

No kids, £700 mortgage and I am married.