But There Are No Jobs

[good40]

On this point I have to agree with Caulkhead, my cousin was desparate for work, he has a LGV 1 licence but nothing turned up.

He saw this advert for a Lgv 2 driver driving a road sweeper on a new build site for 25.5K but it stipulated: "Had to have experience of this type vehicle", which he did not have.

He went along to the Ind Este where the company was based, managed to see the transport manager & showed him his CV of all the trucks he had driven before etc . He offered to do the job for one month, no wages until he was trained. Yes he got the job & has been there for about 9 mths now. One point though Caulkhead, if this road sweeper job had been through an agency he would have had no chance, as the employer can not break the contract & an awful lot of the vacanies today are through agencies! It is tough out there for anyone job hunting & so I do count my lucky that at the moment I am gainfully employed.

Good luck to those looking & don't give up !!

[Randy Winkman]

Pothole said:

You don't have a fking clue, you tosser.

[New POD]

Got made Redundant in 2009. I'm a Chartered Manufacturing Engineer.

I had 3 plans.

1) Apply for Jobs Locally (North Merseyside) in Engineering, Manufacturing or other Technical Area.
2) Pay off Mortgage, get 16 hours at minimum wage, and let the benefit system help me out with working families tax credits etc.
3) Apply to be a train driver to every train company. (You get one chance at your childhood dream)
4)Apply for any job I could do anywhere in the WORLD, which after paying for my extra accomodation, would pay for my wife and kids to live where we live and go to the school they go to.

the result :
1) I have only in the last 4 months seen or heard of jobs for Manufacturing Engineers Within 40 miles of my home. If I'd have held out for that. I'd have been on the dole for 2 years at least.
2) I sent my 'revised' CV to over 100 local firms, and gave my CV to lots of shops and pubs and factories . I reckon 200 CV's in 2 weeks. About 6 months later I had one phone call about a bar job.
3) 7 applications or CV's and NEVER had one response.
4) I've been Ltd Company Contracting for 3 years and 1 month. I'm often getting approaches from RC's but I'm not about to jump ship mid contract. The money is before tax and expences is double what I'd get in a Permanent job in the Northwest, but I have to live away from home.

My belief, is that there are too many "under" qualified, but quite talented people, out there chasing too few menial jobs. And there are very few Qualified Engineers, for Britain's Recovery. And there are 6 times more people looking than there are jobs.

[chrisispringles]

It depends where you live and what your circumstances are too. I left school a couple of months ago and have been looking for work since, the only trouble is that I live in a sleepy village in Scotland. Nowhere in the village is hiring because the pubs and restaurants are seeing their business dwindle and everywhere else is family run and not looking for outside help. There are some jobs available reasonably close but, because I live in a small village with little by way of transport connections, my lack of a car makes me far less attractive an employee than someone closer by with a car. Many local employers even state that personal transport is a necessity and will not compromise on it. As a result employers aren't willing to take a risk on me, as commuting by public transport or by bike from a village some way down the road is less reliable than someone walking or driving from nearby.

A lot of the sort of basic jobs that school leavers used to be able to get, such as cleaning and bar work, now ask for previous experience too and will turn you down over the phone if you haven't any. So far I've had a trial shift at a golf club bar, which I didn't get due to lack of transport and distance from home, and a number of rejections. I'm lucky in that I still have the paper round I've been doing since I moved here 5 years ago, it is the best work I can get even now aged nearly 19. It's infinitely better than nothing though, it means I can pay my way instead of scrounging off my parents.

[Caulkhead]

good40 said:

On this point I have to agree with Caulkhead, my cousin was desparate for work, he has a LGV 1 licence but nothing turned up.

He saw this advert for a Lgv 2 driver driving a road sweeper on a new build site for 25.5K but it stipulated: "Had to have experience of this type vehicle", which he did not have.

He went along to the Ind Este where the company was based, managed to see the transport manager & showed him his CV of all the trucks he had driven before etc . He offered to do the job for one month, no wages until he was trained. Yes he got the job & has been there for about 9 mths now. One point though Caulkhead, if this road sweeper job had been through an agency he would have had no chance, as the employer can not break the contract & an awful lot of the vacanies today are through agencies! It is tough out there for anyone job hunting & so I do count my lucky that at the moment I am gainfully employed.

Good luck to those looking & don't give up !!

Agreed on the agency front - that's why I targetted local companies not multi-site nationals as the smaller companies rarely have blanket agency agreements and if you get to them before they send the job to the agency, it saves them money too!

I'm now an employer and I always consider anyone who approaches me in person for a job over a paper application.

[Rostfritt]

Tonberry said:

Says who?

I often browse the job market when I have an idle moment or two, and the amount of positions out there are staggering.

Practically anything you could ever dream of doing.

I've long said that those on the dole are work shy barstewards and I stick by that statement.

I'm talking basic minimum wage jobs here too which I imagine the majority of the unemployed will be looking for.

And for those who are 'holding out' for a position in their chosen field....maybe it's time you sucked it up and at least started attempting to put some food on the table for your children.

Go ahead and apply for them, hundreds are. There is nothing more demoralising than applying for countless jobs and not hearing anything back. Why would they be looking for minimum wage jobs in particular? I have never looked at a list of jobs and thought 'I want a job from some company that would pay me less if they were legally able to'

There will always be some positions available and these will be filled pretty easily, but to say the amount is 'staggering' is quite an overstatement. I doubt there are 2.5 Million vacancies. Add to that the amount of 'underemployment', people taking jobs that are 'beneath' them or not enough hours just to make ends meet. Just because the local paper has a few ads for cleaners and order pickers, doesn't mean anyone not going for them is lazy.

I guess by your standards I was a workshy barsteward because last year I signed on after 4 months of looking for a job, during which time I spent 2 weeks doing data entry and 1 day doing a traffic survey for minimum wage. To start with I was being a bit picky, but after a while you will try anything, then you end up spending just as much time chasing jobs you don't really want so end up back at only looking for what you do want.

[martin84]

It's not that theres 'no jobs' its that there aren't enough jobs. Even the oft quoted figure of 6 people chasing every job is inaccurate because thats just the unemployed-jobseeker-to-available-jobs number. That ignores the fact most jobs are filled by people who are already in work so in reality companies are receiving 50-100 applications.

When I stopped working for the DWP a couple of years ago, the Job Centre I worked at handled the claims of around 4,000 people and we had just over 300 jobs advertised.

[EDLT]

Pothole said:

You don't have a fking clue, you tosser.

This.

[Pothole]

Caulkhead said:

Pothole said:

Caulkhead said:

How many jobs there are depends on where you are to some degree. I ran a recruitment business for for a few years and I have to say a lot of the people who I spoke to who were unemployed not because they couldn't find a job, they couldn't find the one they wanted.

When I left a job in the mid-nineties and the new job fell through I swapped my £500 suit for overalls and delivered plant equipment and drove a bailiff round for months for £7.00 an hour until I found the opportunity I wanted. The key to avoiding unemployment IMHO is flexibility a lack of ego.

Nobody will give me that kind of a job these days. I know, I've applied.

No-one would consider me with my CV for anything like that either by application so I took to walking round trading estates and asking in person. It took three days of knocking on doors to get the plant hire one (which was temp cover for six months) but only half a day to find the bailiff one - for some reason people weren't keen on driving round bailiffs! I also got a 'platers' job (delivering cars on trade plates) the same way. Don't fill in applications like everyone else - knock on doors and find jobs that haven't been advertised yet.

Tried. I think my accent (not local chav) and my suit may have put them off. Also, this is not the mid-90s

[Digga]

This:

rover 623gsi said:

the place where I work recently had 120 applicants for a customer service advisor role paying £19k a year.

this:

ArmaghMan said:

In our place most of he "standard" admin jobs have 200 applicants for every job.

and this: a friend of our secretary works in a local estate agent's office. They advertised for an office assistant a few weeks back and they too had over 200 applicants, for a very basic job on fairly basic pay.

[Colonial]

A friend of mine is up to job application no.254

She volunteers time for charities as well so she isn't just sitting around the house.

The jobs she is applying for are "beneath" her. 26, uni grad, 6 years working in a post office through uni.

She has had one interview in that time. For a junior admin role. She was told she was over qualified for it.

[singlecoil]

A few years ago I, through no fault of my own I like to think, was in a no job situation. In a way I was lucky because I knew that, due to my age, I wasn't going to get a job anyway, even if there weren't so many people applying for every job.

So it was simple, stay at home or create my own job. Fortunately I was able to build on knowledge acquired through my woodworking hobby, found an inexpensive workshop on a nearby farm, and started making kitchens. It beats applying for jobs because prospective customers don't ask my age or my employment history, as long as I offer them a nice kitchen at a decent price I'm in business.

I know starting a business isn't going to work for everyone, but I would like to see people at least thinking and talking about it.

[Wacky Racer]

I remember way back in 1973, I worked in as an assistant manager in a sports shop in Stockport, had a row with the manager, (he was being an arse), told him to stick his job at 11.30 am, walked into the job centre across the road, saw a job as a van driver delivering electrical equipment that paid 50% more, arranged an interview for 1.30 the same day, got the job, started at 8.30 the next morning...

Great job, good mates, usually I was finished by 2pm, so spent the rest of day sunbathing in the park, then booked down some overtime.....


(Never felt guilty because the rich Jensen Interceptor owning owner spent most afternoons in Peter Stringfellow's "millionaire club" in Manchester with his sexy young "french teacher"...as he called her.....

[P-Jay]

As anyone who's actually looked for work since 2008 will tell you, the OP is talking crap.

I was lucky, I got the bullet in May 2009, dabbled with self-employment, got myself hurt and rested on my redundancy until Jan 2010, but even with a stunning professionally written CV, showing 10 years experience in my field and outstanding performance backed up with 2 written references from my old boss and regional head it took me 3 months, 3 recruitment companies and 4 interviews with different firms before I finally got a job - with a salary of about 60% of my former one, and compared with friends who got the bullet at the same time I do truly feel lucky.

It's good now, I've worked hard, expanded my role and got back to a little over my old income, but I wouldn't fancy job hunting again.

[wolves_wanderer]

A lex said:

Colonial said:

A friend of mine is up to job application no.254

She volunteers time for charities as well so she isn't just sitting around the house.

The jobs she is applying for are "beneath" her. 26, uni grad, 6 years working in a post office through uni.

She has had one interview in that time. For a junior admin role. She was told she was over qualified for it.

'Over qualification' is a buzz-word that afflicts not just the UK but everywhere.

My fiancee spent over 12 months looking for work, and by that I mean ANY work after she graduated. Supermarket shelf stacking, customer services, call centres, you name it - she applied. 2 interviews in 12 months, most came back with the 'over-qualified' response. Absolute ste - the truth is they'd rather employ thickos as they are easier to tell what to do and are less likely to have a mind of their own

I think "over qualification" is the most stupid reason for not giving someone a job that there is. Why would you not want someone "over qualified"? Even if they do bugger off in a few months they aren't hard to replace at the moment.

We recently advertised a 12 month pretty low-paying job and had over 70 responses, admittedly the job is more interesting than most, but still. I've given it to someone who has just finished a masters in Mathematics. If they get a better job then fair play but I'm not going to pick anyone but the best candidate I can.

[Gaspode]

I don't dispute that it's bloody hard to get a decent job these days, but I have to say that from my viewpoint many people don't seem to put much effort in - sending out boilerplate CVs instead of targeting them at the role an company for example.

At the moment, out team has contract vacancies for experienced MS SQL developers with data warehouse experience including MDX. We just can't find anyone decent, despite offering to meet their contract rate expectations (i.e. if they are any good, we'll pay them what they want).

[singlecoil]

wolves_wanderer said:

I think "over qualification" is the most stupid reason for not giving someone a job that there is. Why would you not want someone "over qualified"? Even if they do bugger off in a few months they aren't hard to replace at the moment.

I believe the main reason, with some jobs anyway, is that the ideal candidate is someone who is only just capable of doing it. Anyone above that level is likely to become bored and uninterested. Where there is some chance of advancement, then fair enough, pick the the one who can progress. Otherwise, pick the one who only just qualifies.

[Pothole]

Wacky Racer said:

I remember way back in 1973, I worked in as an assistant manager in a sports shop in Stockport, had a row with the manager, (he was being an arse), told him to stick his job at 11.30 am, walked into the job centre across the road, saw a job as a van driver delivering electrical equipment that paid 50% more, arranged an interview for 1.30 the same day, got the job, started at 8.30 the next morning...

Great job, good mates, usually I was finished by 2pm, so spent the rest of day sunbathing in the park, then booked down some overtime.....


(Never felt guilty because the rich Jensen Interceptor owning owner spent most afternoons in Peter Stringfellow's "millionaire club" in Manchester with his sexy young "french teacher"...as he called her.....

Cool story, bro. Anything even a tiny bit relevant to add?

[ofcorsa]

P-Jay said:

As anyone who's actually looked for work since 2008 will tell you, the OP is talking crap.

I was lucky, I got the bullet in May 2009, dabbled with self-employment, got myself hurt and rested on my redundancy until Jan 2010, but even with a stunning professionally written CV, showing 10 years experience in my field and outstanding performance backed up with 2 written references from my old boss and regional head it took me 3 months, 3 recruitment companies and 4 interviews with different firms before I finally got a job - with a salary of about 60% of my former one, and compared with friends who got the bullet at the same time I do truly feel lucky.

It's good now, I've worked hard, expanded my role and got back to a little over my old income, but I wouldn't fancy job hunting again.

I got TUPE'd then made redundant in 2010. Got a job on my doorstep as soon as my garden leave finished. took a 10% cut but no travel and more time at home. My 2 other collegues are also back in work and they were both in their 50s. Still I really wouldnt want to go through it again and I'm sure we're exceptions rather than the norm.

[Caulkhead]

Pothole said:

Caulkhead said:

Pothole said:

Caulkhead said:

How many jobs there are depends on where you are to some degree. I ran a recruitment business for for a few years and I have to say a lot of the people who I spoke to who were unemployed not because they couldn't find a job, they couldn't find the one they wanted.

When I left a job in the mid-nineties and the new job fell through I swapped my £500 suit for overalls and delivered plant equipment and drove a bailiff round for months for £7.00 an hour until I found the opportunity I wanted. The key to avoiding unemployment IMHO is flexibility a lack of ego.

Nobody will give me that kind of a job these days. I know, I've applied.

No-one would consider me with my CV for anything like that either by application so I took to walking round trading estates and asking in person. It took three days of knocking on doors to get the plant hire one (which was temp cover for six months) but only half a day to find the bailiff one - for some reason people weren't keen on driving round bailiffs! I also got a 'platers' job (delivering cars on trade plates) the same way. Don't fill in applications like everyone else - knock on doors and find jobs that haven't been advertised yet.

Tried. I think my accent (not local chav) and my suit may have put them off. Also, this is not the mid-90s

Well if you turn up looking for a plant delivery job in a suit it will put them off. Sounds to me like you've already decided everything you try will fail.

I don't know what's different between the nineties and now - I had a guy knock on the door a couple of weeks ago and I've just been able to give him three months work helping our cable installers on a big job. If he's any good I'll try to find him something permanent.