This Business and Moment...
- Thread starter randomshenans
- Start date
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,064
- Location
- France, Alsace
Ours have. We're under half of our usual number of cases in June/July this year compared to the last 3 yearsQuiet times ahead..
What sector are you in? I think it's all down to perception at the moment, and confidence. I reckon once an actual plan is set out, it could have a good effect on the economy. Though, it's run by morons, so you know...
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
Conveyancing. Just lots of uncertainty I think. Wouldn't have put me off if I was buying but seems to have had an effect on most.
Probably a good time to buy at the moment, snag a bargain with impatient sellers
Should find out about the mandate today - there are three firms vying for either all four headcount, half the headcount or nothing. Even if we manage to get the mandate for two of the planned hires, that should keep us busy for the next quarter alongside all of our other processes we're working on.
Good to hear your primary employment is sufficiently flexible to allow you to have a crack at your project. Have you started to see any revenues come back in to you yet, or are you at the pitching stage?
Decided I am now 100% sick of my job and although still waiting to hear from the Police decided to brush the cobwebs off my CV and go out apply for some completely new roles.
Although working for the right company I may get my sparkle back in the sales role, I have seen a few jobs that tickle my fancy in the Purchasing role so going to send out a couple of CV's.
The police is still my number 1 priority but not sure how much longer I can stay in my current role, getting really bored!!
Although working for the right company I may get my sparkle back in the sales role, I have seen a few jobs that tickle my fancy in the Purchasing role so going to send out a couple of CV's.
The police is still my number 1 priority but not sure how much longer I can stay in my current role, getting really bored!!
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,064
- Location
- France, Alsace
Just had a meeting with a company in south africa that are trying to make it easier for people to get courses etc. wanted our product, starting with a 500 user / student license and review useage monthly with them as it increases. Guy was like send me over the invoice and let's get started.
Which is wicked!
Rather than, the process which is STILL ongoing with Arizona state uni, which has been 6 months now and taken me a lot of time and therefore money! Still, we're getting there...
Small deal but deal's a deal when it's yours!
Which is wicked!
Rather than, the process which is STILL ongoing with Arizona state uni, which has been 6 months now and taken me a lot of time and therefore money! Still, we're getting there...
Small deal but deal's a deal when it's yours!
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 8,605
Flippin' part time accounts man coming in telling everyone they suck. Doesn't actually explain what has been done wrong, as actually what I've been trained to do was all originally taught by him...
Just leave the company already!!
Just leave the company already!!
Company made 4 positions redundant (IT, blogging/social media, development and SEO/adwords) merged them into one and basically gave it to me (but still had to interview for it).
Offered me £1k more a year bumping me to £16k but my manager said they'd offered £3k more bumping me to £18k. Brought this up in the interview.
I don't work Thursdays due to childcare issues but I do a **** load of work from home and even during Thursdays while I have the kids I am always available. Brought this up in the interview as told to by my manager, as I do the extra hours tell them I want paying full time rates. All my work is tracked by me, dates and times etc and I produce results to back those records up.
Had my first pay slip, still being paid the same as I was before the merge of jobs.
Chased my contract up with HR who knew nothing about the pay increase.
I was told what we had spoken about in the interview had been agreed so I assumed i was on £18k full time pay.
Turns out I'm on the £1k more, not being paid for Thursdays meaning that i'm effectively on £12,800 a year, £5,200 less than I thought. It's even £500 less than the lad who was made redundant from the IT role.
I have no travel costs with this job so wasn't fussed about the lower wage when I first started, £15k + a £3k saving a year on travel meant I was effectively on £18k a year.
But this has really annoyed me to the point I am tempted to tell them to stick the job and start looking for something else.
Offered me £1k more a year bumping me to £16k but my manager said they'd offered £3k more bumping me to £18k. Brought this up in the interview.
I don't work Thursdays due to childcare issues but I do a **** load of work from home and even during Thursdays while I have the kids I am always available. Brought this up in the interview as told to by my manager, as I do the extra hours tell them I want paying full time rates. All my work is tracked by me, dates and times etc and I produce results to back those records up.
Had my first pay slip, still being paid the same as I was before the merge of jobs.
Chased my contract up with HR who knew nothing about the pay increase.
I was told what we had spoken about in the interview had been agreed so I assumed i was on £18k full time pay.
Turns out I'm on the £1k more, not being paid for Thursdays meaning that i'm effectively on £12,800 a year, £5,200 less than I thought. It's even £500 less than the lad who was made redundant from the IT role.
I have no travel costs with this job so wasn't fussed about the lower wage when I first started, £15k + a £3k saving a year on travel meant I was effectively on £18k a year.
But this has really annoyed me to the point I am tempted to tell them to stick the job and start looking for something else.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 15,979
- Location
- Fareham
Is this the going rate for this kind of work in Stoke? Seems on the low side to me. Our basic support team are probably on the same kind of money as you, and they don't really have any special skills that make them stand out in a crowd.
Remember to always look out for yourself, don't put in extra work that you won't get paid for, especially if you don't feel the wage you are paid is what you are worth anyway.
I learnt a long time ago that doing work for free was bad. Some give/take in terms of flexible working is appreciated, but I don't spend my free time in the evenings/weekends doing work unless I am being paid over time for it.
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,064
- Location
- France, Alsace
Mate you're being ****ed with. Find something else and stick it to them.
So a little update from me, a few weeks after being in Portugal and I've been offered a job working for a medium-ish size company. I had two excellent interviews. In both I was repeatedly told that they're not a Portuguese company, their head office is in Geneva. And as such, my lack of Portuguese would not be held against me as it is mandatory to speak English in this company.
During the interview we pre-agree on €1500 net per month as a salary. This may not sound like much, but in Portugal this is an absolute fortune. Considering the minimum wage is 1/3rd of this and that generally speaking you can live a very very good life on around €800-900 a month. Also in PT pretty much everyone is on a 6 month renewable contract, it's standard here.
Fast forward to Friday. I get an offer for the job but for €1000 gross per month. To save anyone doing the maths, after all the taxes this works out at €860ish, then we add a few extras (we get a food allowance, travel allowance and on call money) and it comes in at just under €1000
I email them to say thanks for the offer but can they clarify just why its such a significantly lower amount than we discussed.
They tell me that even though I have all the skills and more, a great personality and attitude...the lack of Portuguese is a disadvantage.
This left me feeling very angry and more so...disappointed. To be repeatedly told and reassured that something specific was not a disadvantage, and then they use that to leverage LESS money. Well...I told them I'll take the weekend to think about it, I needed to calm down.
So late last night I sent an email back saying I accept but I want the salary increased to €1200 gross per month I tried the sympathy vote that we have just signed an agreement on an apartment and even though I would be paying more tax (this was another justification for the lower salary from them) that the overall take home would still be better and every little helps. I thought about reinforcing how totesamazaballs my skills are but decided against it as they've already accepted this both face to face and over email. So tried the sympathy route as well.
I also asked if it could be put as part of the contract that upon renewal after 6 months that my salary also be reviewed. I stated to them that during this time I intend to study Portuguese everyday (which always was the intention anyway) with the eventual goal of becoming fluent, so during this time I should reduce any disadvantage I have as much as possible.
They've just replied, offering me €1100. I expected them to meet in the middle, so that's ok. Still not what I expected but hey, it's a 6 month contract.
They also said that they will review the salary etc at the point of renewal but not add it as a clause to the contract. Legally it makes things more complicated for everyone and gives me further grounds to give them the finger if they don't meet my demands.
I can understand this. Why should some expat be dictating under what terms he wants to work when its an employers market?
So now I am going to accept and see how it goes. If after 6 months I either don't like it or they try some other ******** justification to not increase the wage to what I'm worth, I'll just walk away. By that point my Portuguese will be less of a problem to me and other companies so I'll have less problems finding a job anyway.
Ahhhh fun and games.
During the interview we pre-agree on €1500 net per month as a salary. This may not sound like much, but in Portugal this is an absolute fortune. Considering the minimum wage is 1/3rd of this and that generally speaking you can live a very very good life on around €800-900 a month. Also in PT pretty much everyone is on a 6 month renewable contract, it's standard here.
Fast forward to Friday. I get an offer for the job but for €1000 gross per month. To save anyone doing the maths, after all the taxes this works out at €860ish, then we add a few extras (we get a food allowance, travel allowance and on call money) and it comes in at just under €1000
I email them to say thanks for the offer but can they clarify just why its such a significantly lower amount than we discussed.
They tell me that even though I have all the skills and more, a great personality and attitude...the lack of Portuguese is a disadvantage.
This left me feeling very angry and more so...disappointed. To be repeatedly told and reassured that something specific was not a disadvantage, and then they use that to leverage LESS money. Well...I told them I'll take the weekend to think about it, I needed to calm down.
So late last night I sent an email back saying I accept but I want the salary increased to €1200 gross per month I tried the sympathy vote that we have just signed an agreement on an apartment and even though I would be paying more tax (this was another justification for the lower salary from them) that the overall take home would still be better and every little helps. I thought about reinforcing how totesamazaballs my skills are but decided against it as they've already accepted this both face to face and over email. So tried the sympathy route as well.
I also asked if it could be put as part of the contract that upon renewal after 6 months that my salary also be reviewed. I stated to them that during this time I intend to study Portuguese everyday (which always was the intention anyway) with the eventual goal of becoming fluent, so during this time I should reduce any disadvantage I have as much as possible.
They've just replied, offering me €1100. I expected them to meet in the middle, so that's ok. Still not what I expected but hey, it's a 6 month contract.
They also said that they will review the salary etc at the point of renewal but not add it as a clause to the contract. Legally it makes things more complicated for everyone and gives me further grounds to give them the finger if they don't meet my demands.
I can understand this. Why should some expat be dictating under what terms he wants to work when its an employers market?
So now I am going to accept and see how it goes. If after 6 months I either don't like it or they try some other ******** justification to not increase the wage to what I'm worth, I'll just walk away. By that point my Portuguese will be less of a problem to me and other companies so I'll have less problems finding a job anyway.
Ahhhh fun and games.
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,064
- Location
- France, Alsace
Ah man what a ballache on the negotiations but least you managed to find a middle ground you were happy with.
I know it's easy to say this as it's not me trying to get the job, but if they repeatedly told me during the interview that not knowing Portuguese wouldn't be an issue and then used this fact to reduce the pre-agreed salary I'd be telling them to shove it.....
But easier said than done when you need a job.
But easier said than done when you need a job.
Well this is the thing I do not need the job. I have plenty in savings and I'm living frugally. But more that I want to go back to work. The company also seem pretty good and different overall.
But at the same time more options in the country are limited because of my only basic Portuguese skills.
Which is why I'm taking it. Use it to bide my time to improve the language, fill a gap on the CV and if they don't deliver in 6 months just leave. I will be more employable by then.
But at the same time more options in the country are limited because of my only basic Portuguese skills.
Which is why I'm taking it. Use it to bide my time to improve the language, fill a gap on the CV and if they don't deliver in 6 months just leave. I will be more employable by then.
Last edited:
Yeah, good point. Best of luck.
Got confirmation yesterday from the police I had passed the assessment centre
Starting to feel quite real now, still a little way to go but pretty much after medicals and fitness it is the final interview to go.
This will be a massive career change for me, the last 12 years have been me working in office/sales environments although parents are and have been police officers it is in my blood!
One big hurdle for me is the fact I have worked so hard to get to where I am with salary/package the starting wage for a bobby is around £20k per year less than my current package (including bonus etc)! #
My wife has been very supportive and luckily started back full time a couple of months ago, that and as she does the budgets on my basic wage says we will be fine.
Keeping fingers crossed, knuckling down doing my research and hope I smash the final stages.
Starting to feel quite real now, still a little way to go but pretty much after medicals and fitness it is the final interview to go.
This will be a massive career change for me, the last 12 years have been me working in office/sales environments although parents are and have been police officers it is in my blood!
One big hurdle for me is the fact I have worked so hard to get to where I am with salary/package the starting wage for a bobby is around £20k per year less than my current package (including bonus etc)! #
My wife has been very supportive and luckily started back full time a couple of months ago, that and as she does the budgets on my basic wage says we will be fine.
Keeping fingers crossed, knuckling down doing my research and hope I smash the final stages.
Think I'm going to have to put myself back on the market - only been with the company 8 months but I'm just not feeling it.
When I came in the place was a mess, and month-end was taking 15+ working days with 95% of the Excel work all being performed by manually hardkeying things in. I'm at the point now where I can do all my month end bits comfortably in 5 days, I could easily get that down further but review process here is overly stringent so I spend a lot of time waiting around for my work to be "reviewed" - which is pointless as the review has never picked up anything, and when there have been errors they've been caught by my own built in checks further down the line.
Problem is that once we get out of month end I'm pretty much twiddling my thumbs, I've got a few bits I'm working on to further enhance processes outside of my area, but other than that I'm being pushed towards things I have absolutely zero interest in. There are a lot of good things about this job, the salary is good considering its not in London, its 30 minutes door to door from home and the lack of a workload means that I never have to work anything more than 9-5 but I need a challenge before I go stir crazy.
Sorry, just needed to vent.
When I came in the place was a mess, and month-end was taking 15+ working days with 95% of the Excel work all being performed by manually hardkeying things in. I'm at the point now where I can do all my month end bits comfortably in 5 days, I could easily get that down further but review process here is overly stringent so I spend a lot of time waiting around for my work to be "reviewed" - which is pointless as the review has never picked up anything, and when there have been errors they've been caught by my own built in checks further down the line.
Problem is that once we get out of month end I'm pretty much twiddling my thumbs, I've got a few bits I'm working on to further enhance processes outside of my area, but other than that I'm being pushed towards things I have absolutely zero interest in. There are a lot of good things about this job, the salary is good considering its not in London, its 30 minutes door to door from home and the lack of a workload means that I never have to work anything more than 9-5 but I need a challenge before I go stir crazy.
Sorry, just needed to vent.
Totally knackered.
Been working on a project that was scoped for 5 weeks, proof of concept work for broadband subscriber termination - for one of the larger ISPs,
turned out there was so much reverse engineering involved that it ate into so much of my actual time, that by the time I got around to running through the scenarios - I had to work until midnight every night week and last week to stand a chance of hitting tomorrow's deadline, with the occasional Overwatch session whilst I waited for IXIA to load quarter of a million simulated DSL subscribers
Thankfully I'm on the home stretch, managed to get a stable build of configuration and software operating at 160Gbps for 256k subscribers per box, i go on holiday tomorrow for a week - I don't think I've ever felt like I *need* a holiday before, but I do now!
Been working on a project that was scoped for 5 weeks, proof of concept work for broadband subscriber termination - for one of the larger ISPs,
turned out there was so much reverse engineering involved that it ate into so much of my actual time, that by the time I got around to running through the scenarios - I had to work until midnight every night week and last week to stand a chance of hitting tomorrow's deadline, with the occasional Overwatch session whilst I waited for IXIA to load quarter of a million simulated DSL subscribers
Thankfully I'm on the home stretch, managed to get a stable build of configuration and software operating at 160Gbps for 256k subscribers per box, i go on holiday tomorrow for a week - I don't think I've ever felt like I *need* a holiday before, but I do now!