Forgot how bad job searching was :(

Iraklis F.C. · 4 Mar 2013 at 22:50

i have spotted in some ads the following

You will be responsible for undertaking work involving smoke free compliance

and they are looking for environmental engineers to do the job. Is anyone having any idea what kind of jobs are these? It seems strange to me they are looking for engineers to do this. Thanks

GAC · 5 Mar 2013 at 06:18

all i can guess is it means you will be expected to not smoke in company hours. a bit extreme but such is the world we live in now.

Richie · 5 Mar 2013 at 07:16

It's probably been brought about by the view that smokers take more breaks than non-smokers ergo a knee jerk reaction to keep things fair.

A2Z · 6 Mar 2013 at 14:41

So I have been offered a job...at a local supermarket.

Got myself into a little bit of debt after a 2 month holiday in Asia with no job to come back to(!) so I just need any sort of money coming in for now...

No offence to any supermarket workers but its a bit of a 'step down' and not a career for me. Unfortunately my potential career paths with HSBC and then Metro Bank both failed at the interview stage

I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of more prospective employers so there is potential to find something better...I will off course still be applying every day.

Thing is I would feel realllllly bad if I was only there for a couple of weeks etc and then just left...as I made no mention of any of this at my interview (duh!)

I shouldn't worry about this should I, I mean gotta look after #1 right?

GAC · 6 Mar 2013 at 14:45

for a supermarket honestly i wouldnt care as they wont care about mucking you about with shift changes if they need to.

as for it being a step down, id take it if i could do it as it beats jobseekers.

GAC · 6 Mar 2013 at 18:13

and here we go again.

The UK's largest civil service union, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), has picked Budget Day - 20 March - to start its industrial action over pay and pensions.

The day will be the first in a series of protests which are scheduled to last three months.

The union's members, who include Jobcentre, benefits and tax office workers, want a 5% pay rise, or £1,200.

maybe someone should remind these people that a lot of people havent had pay rises for a few years let alone a 5% one.

CREATIVE!11 · 6 Mar 2013 at 19:52

GAC said:
and here we go again.

maybe someone should remind these people that a lot of people havent had pay rises for a few years let alone a 5% one.

b0rn2sk8 · 6 Mar 2013 at 20:11

I would take the supermarket job, they wont hesitate to mess you around when it suits them. You don't also know when the next job you actually want to do will come round.

GAC said:
and here we go again.

maybe someone should remind these people that a lot of people havent had pay rises for a few years let alone a 5% one.

Fairly sure if you check your sources online most civil servants wont have had a pay rise for years.

GAC · 6 Mar 2013 at 20:32

are you 100% sure on that one, after a quick google i found this from the telegraph.

Almost half (44%) of staff at the business department received a rise in 2010 and more than a third (34%) were awarded one in 2011, figures released under Freedom of Information legislation showed.

The Government announced in November that public sector pay would rise by only 1% in the two years to 2015.

so why do civil servants think they should get paid more than anyone else ? just seems odd when you have people across the public sector taking pay freezes and cuts they get stroppy and demand a 5% rise.

ash_scotland88 · 6 Mar 2013 at 22:07

I'm really struggling to write a cover letter again, I'm that low due to work I really can't sell myself. =/

Also not quite sure the job is right for me and lacking a folio I don't think would help anyway , but I don't know if I'm just making excuses.

Ev0 · 6 Mar 2013 at 22:36

When I was public sector during these so called pay freezes I was still getting raises plus the yearly bonus (about a grand for that alone).

From what I remember (I left 2 years ago) cost of living increases didn't happen, but you still had your performance/level up within band increase as normal which was around 3 to 5% a time.

Certainly bigger yearly increases and bonuses than my now non public sector role (albeit the salary now is larger than before).

GAC · 7 Mar 2013 at 07:02

forgot to mention it but i got another letter from the work program, yesterday. funny thing is i should have had one to go down for last tuesday but now its next thursday. i get the feeling im being left to my own devices but this one is comedy gold with the first line of what im guessing is a form letter.

your next work programme appointment you need to attend is an Review appointment has been arranged for you on:

ignoring the english skills used, what the hell does a review mean when they are supposed to be helping me find work and have so far achieved sod all, i bet it will be a case of being told i need to look at all possible jobs not just a specific sector, something iv been telling them since day one. il do anything as long as i can actually do it!!!!

this is the 2nd adviser iv been seeing first time saw her was 3 weeks ago when again i told her il do anything as long as i can, so god only knows what il be reviewed on.

when i asked at the jobcenter who do i complain to about the work program they said i had to complain to the provider directly, so i have to complain to the people who arnt providing the service in the first place eh :rolleyes:

Richie · 7 Mar 2013 at 07:09

Ev0 said:
From what I remember (I left 2 years ago) cost of living increases didn't happen, but you still had your performance/level up within band increase as normal which was around 3 to 5% a time.

Certainly bigger yearly increases and bonuses than my now non public sector role (albeit the salary now is larger than before).

Yearly increases in your banding is not technically the same as a pay-rise. Many public sector jobs have bandings that increase the salary as it is deemed you gain more experience etc. If they froze these as well then the people who have not attained the top of their bandings are being penalised twice e.g.:

During pay freeze:

Person 1 is as top of a 10 year banding = 1 lot of pay freeze
Person 2 reaches year 8 before it is frozen for 3 years = gets to same level (experience wise) as person 1 2 years later but is paid less for it = 2 x pay freeze.

atpbx · 7 Mar 2013 at 07:37

A2Z said:
So I have been offered a job...at a local supermarket.

Got myself into a little bit of debt after a 2 month holiday in Asia with no job to come back to(!) so I just need any sort of money coming in for now...

No offence to any supermarket workers but its a bit of a 'step down' and not a career for me. Unfortunately my potential career paths with HSBC and then Metro Bank both failed at the interview stage

I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of more prospective employers so there is potential to find something better...I will off course still be applying every day.

Thing is I would feel realllllly bad if I was only there for a couple of weeks etc and then just left...as I made no mention of any of this at my interview (duh!)

I shouldn't worry about this should I, I mean gotta look after #1 right?

I did it with a truck driving job last month.

I was still on gardening leave and just wanted something permanent lined up as the kinds of jobs I was applying for were not ones that turned around in a couple of days (The one I wanted and got took me 3 months from initial application in November to the offer at the end of feb).
So I took the truck driving at the start of feb and only ended up doing it for four weeks before I jacked it.

CREATIVE!11 · 7 Mar 2013 at 09:24

GAC said:
forgot to mention it but i got another letter from the work program, yesterday. funny thing is i should have had one to go down for last tuesday but now its next thursday. i get the feeling im being left to my own devices but this one is comedy gold with the first line of what im guessing is a form letter.

ignoring the english skills used, what the hell does a review mean when they are supposed to be helping me find work and have so far achieved sod all, i bet it will be a case of being told i need to look at all possible jobs not just a specific sector, something iv been telling them since day one. il do anything as long as i can actually do it!!!!

this is the 2nd adviser iv been seeing first time saw her was 3 weeks ago when again i told her il do anything as long as i can, so god only knows what il be reviewed on.

when i asked at the jobcenter who do i complain to about the work program they said i had to complain to the provider directly, so i have to complain to the people who arnt providing the service in the first place eh

To be fair, saves you effort of going to more pointless meetings way I see it. I've not had WP apt for a while over couple months now. I've not heard anything though? no idea what they are doing... only risk I guess is me being sanctioned if JSA found out and said "oh you've not been attending" then I'd be in the crapp, but how could they? I've just not heard anything from them! not my job to chase them way I see it, All I know is I was meant to have a meeting when I spoke to them on phone, then they never got back to me. I shrugged and just carried on as normal waiting for a letter or phone call.

It was massive hassle to get too though for me and they really don't do squat aside pointlessly lecture you.

GAC · 7 Mar 2013 at 11:32

well not been lectured as of yet but every time i go down i ask what jobs are new and they just look at me lost as to what to say. i bet next week will just be a case of a half hour review turning in to a 15 min how are you session and then being told il get another appointment in a couple of weeks (months) time.

just shows how much of a shambles the whole support side of jobseekers is, especially if you dont have a uni education and have physical issues. sure im no cripple but god i feel like one some days of late, just seems im expected to find something myself and they will take the credit if i get a job while on this scheme. if i do find a job myself il fight tooth and nail to make sure these jokers dont see a penny.

Judgeneo · 7 Mar 2013 at 11:35

Pretty much all the jobs I want to go for are all listed as 'start immediately'. Hopefully I'll have some better luck when I'm close to finishing my masters.

CREATIVE!11 · 7 Mar 2013 at 11:54

GAC said:
well not been lectured as of yet but every time i go down i ask what jobs are new and they just look at me lost as to what to say. i bet next week will just be a case of a half hour review turning in to a 15 min how are you session and then being told il get another appointment in a couple of weeks (months) time.

just shows how much of a shambles the whole support side of jobseekers is, especially if you dont have a uni education and have physical issues. sure im no cripple but god i feel like one some days of late, just seems im expected to find something myself and they will take the credit if i get a job while on this scheme. if i do find a job myself il fight tooth and nail to make sure these jokers dont see a penny.

If you didn't sign the forms they pressure you to sign then they won't see a dime. I didn't and they got all flustered with me

. If you went day 1 they ask for permission to contact your employer and give u some bullcrapp reason they do this and if you just say oh I'll sign later (I never did he brought it up but I kept glossing over it) nothing they can do. Can't contact employer thus can't prove you're in work, thus no pay.

Maybe why they've not bothered contacting me? cause they 100% know they can't get a pay out when I find employment.

Dunks · 7 Mar 2013 at 21:09

Job interview, not sure why I'm so nervous!

Going over some stuff which might come up in the interview, I think I'm stressing myself out and going into too much detail!

Eeek.

semi-pro waster · 7 Mar 2013 at 22:21

Dunks said:
Job interview, not sure why I'm so nervous!

Going over some stuff which might come up in the interview, I think I'm stressing myself out and going into too much detail!

Eeek.

I think I'd be more concerned if you weren't a bit nervous about the interview as I'd have to wonder if you actually wanted it. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to feel some nerves provided they're not going to be debilitating, they can help to provide a bit of focus for you. It's not much fun while you're waiting for an interview to feel like that but I think it's a fairly normal part of the process.

Good luck.