Example of the current job situation in the south east

[Bipedaldriver]

I live in the south east and a lot of people don't realise how bad the job situation is down here. I got the idea for this thread from replies in my "26 and only had one car" thread.

I have the perfect example. A little under a month ago, I went for an interview for a position for a BP service station. The role was as a "forecourt conductor", i.e., a womble in a highvis jacket directing cars to pumps to achieve the maximum throughput of traffic during peak hours.

I haven't heard anything back from them so today I call them up regarding the results of my interview.

Apparently they are still interviewing people! They have had over TWO HUNDRED applications for this position!

Now, bear in mind this is a part time position-20 hours per week.

A bare basics job here, not even full time hours and you would be lucky to get it. That's how dire it is down here.

So many people and no jobs.

What can you do eh?

[zeDuffMan]

We can't get enough radiographers through the universities to fill the jobs. My boss has gone out to the Philippines to recruit 20 radiographers just for the trust I work in (we have a 30% vacancy rate). It's the same for most healthcare professions. Get the right skills behind you and you can pick where you work.

[Bipedaldriver]

Yeah but I don't have a radiographer qualification otherwise I would not be looking at petrol station jobs now would I

[zeDuffMan]

Bipedaldriver said:

Yeah but I don't have a radiographer qualification otherwise I would not be looking at petrol station jobs now would I

Did you not read the last sentence of my post? That was my answer to your original question.

[Flooble]

zeDuffMan said:

We can't get enough radiographers through the universities to fill the jobs. My boss has gone out to the Philippines to recruit 20 radiographers just for the trust I work in (we have a 30% vacancy rate).

Ha, is that what she told you :-)

I might try that line on my boss when I fancy a holiday!

Interesting that there are so many applicants for unskilled jobs, given the news stories which claim low unemployment.

I've noticed that there are a huge number of jobs advertised and I even have agents ringing me about work, however, companies are being very picky about their recruitment processes now ...

[Willlll]

I think you've gotta move tbh.

Out of interest what sort of pay was you looking at for this job?

[Bipedaldriver]

To answer your question, £7.32, 20 hours per week.

[alock]

Bipedaldriver said:

So many people and no jobs.

There are lots of higher paid jobs but very few people with the correct skills.

Is it the individuals fault for not getting the correct skills? Is it the employers fault for having unrealistic expectations? Is it the politicians fault for not educating the population for the changing job market? Probably a little bit of all of the above.

What I do know is that individuals are given free education to 18 and very affordable loans to fund education to 21. If you take advantage of this and you make the right choices you can walk into a job on a reasonable salary with good career prospects.

[jammy_basturd]

alock said:

Bipedaldriver said:

So many people and no jobs.

There are lots of higher paid jobs but very few people with the correct skills.

Is it the individuals fault for not getting the correct skills? Is it the employers fault for having unrealistic expectations? Is it the politicians fault for not educating the population for the changing job market? Probably a little bit of all of the above.

What I do know is that individuals are given free education to 18 and very affordable loans to fund education to 21. If you take advantage of this and you make the right choices you can walk into a job on a reasonable salary with good career prospects.

This exactly.

A job that doesn't require any qualifications or experience? Yup, I can imagine a fair few people will be after that. Especially with so many going off to university, getting useless degrees, remaining virtually unemployable and then wondering why they can't get a job.

[Wacky Racer]

Good luck, hope you get something sorted soon.

One of my lads is a Ruby developer in London, and can pick and choose from lots of well paid jobs at the moment he says.

The cost of living in London is another matter.

[Willlll]

Bipedaldriver said:

To answer your question, £7.32, 20 hours per week.

In the Midlands as a Production Operator (No Quals required other than having some intelligence) double both the hourly rate and the amount of hours that you just quoted.

You could do a H&S course or something to do with industry that would make you stand out a and go for something like that.

[abbotsmike]

There is work, you just need to broaden your horizons.

In my time (and I'm only 24) I've done:

Mechanics, IT, Kitchen fitting, carpet fitting, labouring for builders & electricians, Market stall work, Web dev, broadcast work, Electrical work off my own back, CCTV installation and probably other stuff I've forgotten. I've worked part time since I was 13 and even managed to work through uni. IME no-one cares what you are (student etc) as long as you are willing and reliable. Even uni's have a load of jobs available for students!

Did a degree in Electronics, now an electronic engineer.

All in the south east.

It took a lot of work and effort, and some hellish commuting at times, but the opportunities are out there. All the employers I know have jobs, just can't find good people to fill them.

[98elise]

zeDuffMan said:

We can't get enough radiographers through the universities to fill the jobs. My boss has gone out to the Philippines to recruit 20 radiographers just for the trust I work in (we have a 30% vacancy rate). It's the same for most healthcare professions. Get the right skills behind you and you can pick where you work.

Agreed. I work in IT and 50% of my team were recruited from India or Europe as we can't get the skills here. We recently needed someone with experience in a particular field and the only applicant who came close was based in the middle east.

Get some training and work on a career path and you should never be out of work in the South East.

[edc]

Good luck in your search but 200 people and still interviewing? Are they trying to interview all of the applicants?

Somebody at BP needs to sort their recruiting processes out as you would not think it would take 200 interviews to find a decent enough candidate for this job ... They want to maximise revenue and throughput? Get the person into the job quicker!

[Frimley111R]

edc said:

Good luck in your search but 200 people and still interviewing? Are they trying to interview all of the applicants?

Somebody at BP needs to sort their recruiting processes out as you would not think it would take 200 interviews to find a decent enough candidate for this job ... They want to maximise revenue and throughput? Get the person into the job quicker!

Agreed, that's bloody ridiculous. The cost of time wasted recruiting for this level of job is ridiculous. Someone higher up needs a boot up their arse!

[Flooble]

He said 200 *applications*. They probably only interviewed the first two or three and then binned the rest.

[edc]

Flooble said:

He said 200 *applications*. They probably only interviewed the first two or three and then binned the rest.

I think we know that

But 200 applications and 1 month past the initial application date and still interviewing does not read like interviewing the first 2 or 3 ...

[anonymous-user]

zeDuffMan said:

We can't get enough radiographers through the universities.

I'm 35 not doing a fulfilling job, fairly intelligent have an a-level in biology, looking for a more fulfilling role, is it worth something looking into?

[Flooble]

edc said:

I think we know that

But 200 applications and 1 month past the initial application date and still interviewing does not read like interviewing the first 2 or 3 ...

Good point. I took it to mean that HR had left the ad open for a month and only then started interviewing, on the basis that the OP heard nothing until he rang up. But could equally be as you've pictured it, they have been interviewing all this time.

Not sure it would apply to the sort of job mentioned by the OP, but I had an interview two weeks ago and, unusually, the agency is ringing me every day to say they have not heard back from the employer. My suspicion is that the employer is waiting on the economic climate/new contracts/whatever before committing. Seems to be quite a lot of that going on - one firm near here is notorious for interviewing weekly just in case it gets some work in.

[rog007]

The Spruce goose said:

zeDuffMan said:

We can't get enough radiographers through the universities.

I'm 35 not doing a fulfilling job, fairly intelligent have an a-level in biology, looking for a more fulfilling role, is it worth something looking into?

Universities set their own entry requirements so it's best to look on their websites to find out more about this. The general requirements are usually 240 to 300 UCAS tariff points, good maths and English GCSE/standard grade passes and A levels/highers or equivalent in science subjects.

If you don’t have the standard entry qualifications, universities will often look at your educational achievements and experience to see if they can offer you a place. If you don't have the relevant science background, there is the option of taking an access course. Access to higher education courses are flexible programmes for adult learners (19+) who do not have the traditional qualifications required to study at degree level. Science access courses are preferable to healthcare ones. A full list of courses in England and Wales can be found on the Access to Higher Education website, or here for Scotland.

Some radiographers access the profession via the assistant practitioner route. The role of assistant practitioner was introduced to allow career progression opportunities for the support workforce in clinical imaging and radiotherapy services.

Assistant practitioners are able to undertake a course of study towards the Foundation Degree in Radiography or equivalent qualification.


http://radiographycareers.co.uk/how-do-i-become-ra...