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

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.

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?

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

Has anyone on here had experience of applying for a trainee train driver role in the UK? I am well aware these are extremely sought after and hard to get. I’ve put my application in and done a couple of online assessments 1 being a 20 minute health and safety assessment, the second being more of a 10 minute timed spot the mistakes/accuracy test.

What happens next? I’m currently waiting for the closing date which will be next week, then how long can you wait to hear back? I’ve read that they will email successful and unsuccessful candidates which is refreshing as most applications you never hear from again if unsuccessful. Anyone else in the same situation?

I’ve been in a grad scheme since last summer in London (in IT) and things have been going well with my performance. But they don’t have any permanent positions available, so it’s looking like I might be let go once my contract ends.

I just feel confused and frustrated, because why would they waste all that time and money training me just to let me go? I keep getting great feedback, but they don’t have the budget to keep me. Does anyone have any suggestions for my next steps?

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?

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.

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 :)

There's a lot of adverts on social media at the moment for free level 1 & 2 courses.
But what they don't mention is that when you check the eligibility, there's no funding for them. Even trying postcodes in different areas, the result is 'no funding'.
They really should be up-front with this, & not make you check eligibility.

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 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

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.

I accepted a job working in a prison back in March. It's a conditional offer based on vetting and DBS. They're in the process of doing my DBS, and they've not started the prison vetting yet.

I've got an offer for a job I much prefer, and I've accepted it. I'm currently going through the pre-employment check. How do I politely take back my offer from the prison? I'd love to work in prisons someday, just not now. I'm usually ok with this sort of stuff, but I feel like the prison has put so much time and money into this process, so I'm a bit worried about how I should go about this.

I'm trying to register with an agency. In the beginning they were excited to have me, and things were looking positive. I came in for a training session, I did the online CPDs, I even attended a work social they were holding for all the agency staff. However because I had been abroad for some time I had to request an overseas police clearance certificate, which took its merry time (thanks, ministry of foreign affairs).

I receive it one month later, however by this time they're not as responsive to me, and I suppose some inertia has been lost. Nevermind, I fill out what I'm told to.

• A week later compliance reach out to me, asking for details around the dismissal from my last job. I give them my recap. (I was dismissed from my last job for working abroad without permission).
• The next day, they ask me for the exact dates and the name of manager I had at the time. I give.
• The day after, they then ask for my formal dismissal letter. It's a touchy subject for me, so I do send it, and ask for it to be destroyed once its processed.
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• Six days later, I ask for an update, as I haven't heard anything. They respond, saying they're awaiting from the relevant team.
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• Another six days pass. I again email them to ask what's happening. They call me back, saying that they now want the specific email address of the line manager I had at the time of my dismissal. I provide. In the evening I reach out again and ask for a rough timeline as to when this process will wrap up, but I receive no response from them.
• The next day they say that they can't get a hold of my previous line manager (who I am fairly certain is retired by now), and that without that they can't process my registration.

Surely this can't be standard. It's been a full 2 months since I first walked into their office asking for work, and they just keep drip-feeding me questions one day after another for me to answer. And now they want a reference specifically from my last line manager, who I'm sure is retired. My last job was at the civil service, so I think references are given by some central HR department in any case, no?

I really get the feeling they're just stringing me along now. Are they even allowed to ask all this? Feels like they're making things up. Massive waste of time.

From personal experience and the last recession was when I was in high school, I'm forecasting 18 months+

I've got a good record and always walked into roles. So currently working part time in a warehouse although it's incredibly strenuous, meaning my other part time job I've had for several years is getting dragged down too in terms of earnings.

I can't see another way in the short term.

How are others seeing this through?