Life Turning Point...

I'm in the same boat at the moment - i.e. not being paid what I'm worth and few opportunities and training within existing company. I have looked around and can get another 4-6k (+ bonus and other benefits) quite easily, so am looking into them now.

Hope you get sorted.
 
Duke said:
I'm in the same boat at the moment - i.e. not being paid what I'm worth and few opportunities and training within existing company. I have looked around and can get another 4-6k (+ bonus and other benefits) quite easily, so am looking into them now.

Hope you get sorted.
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The problem I have is not that I am underpaid (I am! :mad: ) but rather the fact that I am too comfortable with my life in the Public Sector.

Training prospects are good but as for job interest and job satisfaction. What are they?

I need to motivate myself (not yet though, still want more training :D ) to move into the private sector.
 
Just to update you...

I have got a second interview on Thursday 9am, I dont know what I was thinking either... they gave me a choice of 9am or 12pm was not sure, so I thought he might as well...

Stelly
 
You have a masters and you are earning 21K after 5 years ? Are you serious ?

Most of the guys on my shift have O-Levels, couple of A-Levels and an NVQ - nothing more. My closest workmates have an OND or HND and left school at 21.

And even though we work a 48h week, we start on 28K going up to £35,000 after 4 years. WE have ample overtime and a profit share, so some NVQ qualified staff can earn nearly £38,000 - and as I said, they just have O-levels and NVQ's (some left education at 20, so they are earning 38K before 25 when they do 15 days extra a year)
We fix machines, nothing more. No real thinking, no pressure, no stress, no projects & we get 4 days off every week as we work a 4 day on, 4 day off shift.

What's even more unusual, is that I am based in N.Ireland. Where the average wage is £17,000 I think.

What can I say......


Get looking and get moving quick, because in a few months, I think the decent paid jobs will be getting harder and harder to aquire (and there most definately will be less of them)
 
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My advice to you is get out of the public sector.

But if you have been there a while it can be a bit of a shock to then get a job in a private company.

The difference in culture is miles apart.

Public sector jobs are, in the main, cushy & comfortable jobs ( not many Public sector people get the sack - even when they cant do their job - and they know this!) with a good pay out at the end.

Also dont expect to get a job first time in a private company when you have no private experience. My recommendation is to go temp/caontract for a while and build up relationships in the companies - if they like you they will extend your contract and if you are good ( as I was) they'll offer you a permanent one. I found the best way to secure a future at a company you want to work with, is to temp tehre and develop niche knowledge which is business critical. that way you integrate yoruself into their business and become a major asset to them. When it comes to contract renewal, you will have chips to bargain with and it qwould cost the company more on time training you up and losing that niche knowledge than what they will gain by offering you a contract.

Thats what I did and it worked out very well.

Bear in mind most private companies do not like public sector experience because it is such a stagnating environment and does not foster compettiveness, compare that to a good company and you will see that the company tends to generate an environment where each employee is compettive with not just their peers but also their managers (think succession planning). You seem to be compettive with managers which is ok, too much is bad.
Remember managers dont have to know what you know at your level, thats why they are managers, they manage people/circumstances not solve the problems their staff deal with!
 
Hi Guys,

The thing about it is that I dont know what I shoudl be looking for and everytime that I try for big bucks I either don't get call back, or dont get calls at all... see where I'm coming from, since I'm on £21,500 about at the moment they are asking my to justify it or say that its too big of a jump, so I dont know what to do...

Stelly
 
Yea, this is a tough problem to have. Companies *should* work on market value, but I know from my own experience, the first thing recruitment agents ask is always 'what are you on now'.

It is possible if you hang on for long enough you'll find an employer who needs someone with your skills asap? Or perhaps if you consider a slight role\location change?

What's big bucks? And what exactly do you do? Sorry if this has already been said.

Skidd.
 
damn public workers always take the private sector jobs at lower wages then the rest of us.

seriously with your qualifications get into the private sector quick smartish.

Junior web developers should i would say get at least 23/24+ even in the north west.
 
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Stelly said:
Hi Guys,

The thing about it is that I dont know what I shoudl be looking for and everytime that I try for big bucks I either don't get call back, or dont get calls at all... see where I'm coming from, since I'm on £21,500 about at the moment they are asking my to justify it or say that its too big of a jump, so I dont know what to do...

Stelly
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You don't have to justify a thing. You are below the market rate, just tell them what experience you have and what salary range you are looking for (realistically 30k minimum). Don't rely on the recruitment agents, hit jobserve.com, cwjobs.co.uk, jobsite.co.uk, and sometimes even googling the role (e.g. ASP.net developer) and the area (e.g. Manchester) will bring up stuff you never thought of.

Please don't sell yourself short, if you are going through the hassle of moving jobs you should be looking at a decent bump to make it worthwhile. I really don't think you're asking for the earth.
 
Stelly said:
Hi Guys,

The thing about it is that I dont know what I shoudl be looking for and everytime that I try for big bucks I either don't get call back, or dont get calls at all... see where I'm coming from, since I'm on £21,500 about at the moment they are asking my to justify it or say that its too big of a jump, so I dont know what to do...

Stelly
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I hear you. Take the advice of others and move out of he public sector. An improved salary etc. may need to be obtained in incremental steps. So one step at a time, I would start looking for private work in the same field but in the private sector. You should be looking for a hike of at the very very minimum of £2000. Justify it through your qualifications and the number of years of experience you have had. Hell, find an average figure for your region and I bet it will be higher. But you have to be very confident and convincing.
 
In your position I would contract for a short term to build experience, then see what the world offers. It is unstable work but it proved to be up there with the best work experiences as an IT technician when I did it. But as you know I'm getting out of IT altogether!
 
Whilst ditching the Public Sector may be a good move there are plenty of well paid jobs with good prospects in the Public Sector. Combine this with the nasty horrible cut throat stab you in the back lack of job security nature of the Private Sector and the wage jump better be big!

Oh and with the current Credit Crunch having a job in the Public Sector suddenly is not a bad thing but actually quite a good thing...
 
Hi All,

Second interview went ok, the HR manager was a little of an arse, playing down my experience with being in the public sector, it was quite interesting... I should hear tomorrow... I'm thinking about taking it but still looking, what do you all think about that? I'm not sure if it would be seen as a bad thing to accept a job and then turn it down for something better?

melbourne720 I have emailed you mate, can you please respond :)

Stelly
 
I wouldn't go into I.T. fullstop. Engineering is the one in demand. In two days i've had 11 phone calls from different companies, i've had to remove my CV and pretend i'm taken. When asked about my CV and qualifications, i said "it's mainly experience haven't really got proper qualifications, just the little degree in I.T." haha! There's 50+yr olds going into I.T. now, there's infinitely more candidates than jobs. Unless you are bloody good, i mean proper 2 inch thick glasses good, forget it.

With me, i can be a complete lazy arse and ask for a 3k payrise for the extra 9 months xp i just had. Zing!
 
V3g3tto said:
There's 50+yr olds going into I.T. now, there's infinitely more candidates than jobs. Unless you are bloody good, i mean proper 2 inch thick glasses good, forget it.
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There is a lot of posts in IT that cannot be filled because there is a shortage of candidates. Sure you average Helpdesk job will have a lot of candidates but that is down to people thinking IT = MegaBucks and those stupid Earn 30K adverts.

Saying there is too many candidates in IT is a misnomer and a somewhat sweeping and inaccurate statement.
 
LordSplodge said:
There is a lot of posts in IT that cannot be filled because there is a shortage of candidates. Sure you average Helpdesk job will have a lot of candidates but that is down to people thinking IT = MegaBucks and those stupid Earn 30K adverts.

Saying there is too many candidates in IT is a misnomer and a somewhat sweeping and inaccurate statement.
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Exactly, idiots with no interest or clue applying for everything. Still, competition is fierce, i don't see many good I.T. jobs about that don't ask for stupidly varied skills "Urgent, ASP.net, C++, Java, Cisco Network engineer/Web designer/programmer/software engineer with 10 years experience - £25k + bens.!"

Total exaggeration of course, but the skills/wage ratio is stupid and the wage progression hits a wall after a bit. I could go into web design sure, but what pittance would i start on and it would cap at what? Not much. Also, getting proper industrial experience, unless with a good university offering work placements, is dam, dam hard, they want the skills and experience then and now.

I would enjoy it, but just about every other profession offers a better career progression to be honest.
 
V3g3tto said:
There's 50+yr olds going into I.T. now, there's infinitely more candidates than jobs. Unless you are bloody good, i mean proper 2 inch thick glasses good, forget it.
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There's a lot of difference between being a helpdesk money and having a decent IT job. Sure IT has a low entry barrier but skilled programmers / people with a strong technical backgrounds are very hard to find.
 
Una said:
There's a lot of difference between being a helpdesk money and having a decent IT job. Sure IT has a low entry barrier but skilled programmers / people with a strong technical backgrounds are very hard to find.
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It doesn't help that requirements are set so high and trainee level opportunities literally don't exist. At all. You could have a masters in computer science, few companies would touch you with a half decent wage without a couple of years commercial experience.
 
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