If you lost your job during the recession....

[Mario149]

....and couldn't get another one within a reasonable amount of time, you're clearly not as good as you thought you were, or you don't have enough transferable skills. Either way, the buck stops with you. Discuss!

I thought I'd post this as off hand I can think of at least 5 friends who got made redundant directly because of the recession, but who were all back at work within a couple of months doing similar-ish jobs for the same or even better pay (in fact I wasn't working for 3 months, so technically I did the worse than all of them). Thusly, I'm tending to agree with the statement above. But equally, I'm sure others have a point of view as there are always shades of grey....

[Pothole]

Depends on the sector, imho. Also in my experience, getting a job is not only about how good you are at doing the job. Major factors are how good you are at interviewing AND how good the interviewers are at the process.

[patmahe]

I think a lot would depend on the type of industry you work in and the type of experience you have, if there is little demand for your skills then I'm afraid you have little choice but to upskill or be more flexible in what you want to do.

As a general rule though, yes I agree, if you want/need a job badly enough you will find something but it may not be ideal.

[lord summerisle]

since being made redundant 13 weeks ago, i've had several interviews.
of those - turned down because A) they wanted someone experienced in a highly specialized area, B) turned down twice for being over qualified for the role and C) went for someone with slightly higher qualifications.

[Chris Type R]

I think that geographic area is also a factor.

[neilr]

I think also getting the interview in the first place is becoming more difficult fr a lot of people in certain sectors due to recruitment agents not really being good enough. I have 10 years corporate IT skills and IT qualifications behind me, however, due to no having a degree recruitment idiots are unwilling to put me forward for intervews.

This wasn't an isolated incidednt that im extrapolating to use as the reason for all the failures to get interviews, looking back at my replies I can say that easily 65-70% of teh rejection reasons from recruitment lackys are 'Sorry you don't have a degreee' (and no, I wasn't applying for positions that state that requirement). Telephone conversations with these people on the subject were amusing too. Serveral of them, when posed with "so 10 years experience counts for nothing then" actually said " yes, we prefer degrees".

Seems very short sighted to me, I know that in an interview situation I would aquit myself well (only a fool would say they would get the job). So whilst to an extent I would agree with the OP, it doesn't hold true everywhere.

[Wanta996Gotta]

Chris Type R said:

I think that geographic area is also a factor.

+1 along with what skills you have. Another thoughtless post on Pistonheads politics section.

[Mario149]

Wanta996Gotta said:

Another thoughtless post on Pistonheads politics section.

Easy there, was just trying to see what other people thought and what their experiences were. If you think it's pointless, don't reply

[Rusty Arches]

Mario149 said:

....and couldn't get another one within a reasonable amount of time, you're clearly not as good as you thought you were, or you don't have enough transferable skills. Either way, the buck stops with you. Discuss!

I thought I'd post this as off hand I can think of at least 5 friends who got made redundant directly because of the recession, but who were all back at work within a couple of months doing similar-ish jobs for the same or even better pay (in fact I wasn't working for 3 months, so technically I did the worse than all of them). Thusly, I'm tending to agree with the statement above. But equally, I'm sure others have a point of view as there are always shades of grey....

It's true. . . . but that doesn't help one get a job.

I'm sick of being on the dole, but when a factory turns you down from a job sweeping up . . . things can be quite bad.

I should be going back to college to train as a electrician over the next few years, I want skills I can travel with, but in the mean time, getting a job when you don't have enough qualifications is hard. Things you do as a child can really screw you over.

Edited by Rusty Arches on Wednesday 23 June 10:34

[Matt p]

Rusty Arches said:

Mario149 said:

....and couldn't get another one within a reasonable amount of time, you're clearly not as good as you thought you were, or you don't have enough transferable skills. Either way, the buck stops with you. Discuss!

Sorry to jump in here but this is what happened to me too.

I pretty muched worked in warehousing/forklift driving since I'd left school. Until just over four years ago I thought sod this I don't want to end up doing this for the rest of my life.

So I applied for a handyman/oddbod job at my friends FM company, got it but was on £14.5k a year. I just got my head down and cracked on so after 6 months they asked if I'd like to go to college, to say I ripped there arm off is an understatement!.

I looked at the different trades and my MD said that sparkies are two a penny and at that time everyone was jumping on the plumbing bandwagon.

I enjoyed working with one of the old boys that was a fridgie so opted to do that. So after four years of hard graft and sticking at it I'm now fully qualified on £30k pa just moved into my own place and going back in sept to do my HNC if commercial A/C oh and I'm 28 so call me a late bloomer lol!.

In short there are opotunities (sp) out there it just depends if you want to re train and stick at it

matt

I thought I'd post this as off hand I can think of at least 5 friends who got made redundant directly because of the recession, but who were all back at work within a couple of months doing similar-ish jobs for the same or even better pay (in fact I wasn't working for 3 months, so technically I did the worse than all of them). Thusly, I'm tending to agree with the statement above. But equally, I'm sure others have a point of view as there are always shades of grey....

It's true. . . . but that doesn't help one get a job.

I'm sick of being on the dole, but when a factory turns you down from a job sweeping up . . . things can be quite bad.

I should be going back to college to train as a electrician over the next few years, I want skills I can travel with, but in the mean time, getting a job when you don't have enough qualifications is hard. Things you do as a child can really screw you over.

Edited by Rusty Arches on Wednesday 23 June 10:34

[Matt p]

^^^^^^
ahh crap can someone fix that for me. I've not quite sussed out how to do it properly on my iPhone

Matt

[zakelwe]

Mario149 said:

....and couldn't get another one within a reasonable amount of time, you're clearly not as good as you thought you were, or you don't have enough transferable skills. Either way, the buck stops with you. Discuss!

Do you really think it is just down to those two factors, both of which seem to reflect negatively on the person?

Age, geography, financial, family have more influence.

[Corsair7]

Some people, who have been in a particular job for a number of years and have had substantial pay rises, find it very difficult getting back into a similar job due to the salary rate being much lower than their previosuly accrued wage structure. Literally, unable to afford to take the same level job, because it doesn't pay the bills.


The relality of that situation must be hard to deal with.

[KaraK]

There are alot of factors that affect it with industry being the biggest IMO, when I was "at risk" last year I managed to find something that was both a better paid and a "promotion" before it came to being redundant. I also had a couple of other offers on the table but then I'm in development/IT so lots of companies across a broad range of industries will potentially have need of my services so I stand a better chance of there being a company that's doing well and hiring. If you work in say car manufacture and the entire industry is laying people off then you'll struggle to get more work in the same field.

[rypt]

lord summerisle said:

B) turned down twice for being over qualified for the role

I swear that is one of the stupidest reasons why yo turn someone down

[fido]

I just handed in my resignation - bring on the golf! I'm relying on my personality on charm to get me through the abyss. And big cajonas.

Edited by fido on Wednesday 23 June 11:44

[PintOfKittens]

I lost my job last April thanks to recession, and it took me 3 months of constant interviews (talking 3-4 interviews a week with diffo companies) till I found one that would employ me - majority of jobs I went to came back with "Your good, your very very good, we wont hire you because in 6 months you will leave us and go find a better job".

Flattering though it was, it was also a major pain in the arse.

[Mario149]

rypt said:

lord summerisle said:

B) turned down twice for being over qualified for the role

I swear that is one of the stupidest reasons why yo turn someone down

Agreed. If people have been getting that reaction, I wonder if "dumbing down" your CV might work? You're technically not lying, just make it sound like you did less than you did. For example I don't see why you should have to tell someone you have a degree. If they ask what you did during that period, just tell them what part time work you did at uni, and conveniently forget to tell them you were studying at the same time

[TheEnd]

rypt said:

lord summerisle said:

B) turned down twice for being over qualified for the role

I swear that is one of the stupidest reasons why yo turn someone down

I've had that done also.
I can see the point actually, and if i was interviewing people, i'd probably do the same.
The reason behind it is you could take on someone, get them all sorted in their job, and then 6 months later, they go and take the better paid job they are skilled for, and you are back to square one.
It all depends on the reasons and people taking the jobs, but if i saw someone take a permanent job which looks like they'd treat it as a temp, i wouldn't be interested.

[cazzer]

PintOfKittens said:

I lost my job last April thanks to recession, and it took me 3 months of constant interviews (talking 3-4 interviews a week with diffo companies) till I found one that would employ me - majority of jobs I went to came back with "Your good, your very very good, we wont hire you because in 6 months you will leave us and go find a better job".

I had that one a lot. Until finally I found somewhere that added "But we don't care, we'll just make the most of you while we have you"