The Why Don't You Get a Job Thread

[mim731]

On 27/04/2018 at 2:15 PM, SpursRiot2012 said:

Well, it's a moot point now as the writing job decided I'd be "more suited to a journalism role than a PR role" and retracted their offer. I'll just go pull a journalism staff job out of the dying embers of the paid-for journalism industry, shall I?

I'm not going to accept my MD's offer either, though. I will just do my masters this year and work part time, either here or, ideally, somewhere I enjoy.

Have you looked at the sports desks for the tabloids? I know it's not super ideal, but I had a mate who got loads of casual shifts on the desk at the Daily Star ( I think, was a while back) there because a lot of it shift work, shortly after he graduated, especially over the weekends. Might be worth a look.

Edited April 30, 2018 by mim731

[SpursRiot2012]

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

Have you looked at the sports desks for the tabloids? I know it's not super ideal, but I had a mate who got loads of casual shifts on the desk at the Daily Star ( I think, was a while back) there because a lot of it shift work, shortly after he graduated, especially over the weekends. Might be worth a look.

Might be an idea. I shall look into this - although my darned principles might get in the way of working for a place like the Star. Not really sure how I'd go about doing it - maybe just email the sports editor or something.

Edited April 30, 2018 by SpursRiot2012

[BomberPat]

I had a friend go from working for Television X to writing for the Express and the Star, and he once told me he was so ashamed to write for the Express that he still told his Mum he worked in pornography.

[mim731]

Just now, SpursRiot2012 said:

Might be an idea. I shall look into this - although my darned principles might get in the way of working for a place like the Star.

It might be the likes of The i, The Independent or the Guardian do something similar (I imagine they do), it's just that I know of someone who did it at The Star.

He justified it because working on the sports desk allowed him to avoid doing anything that meant having to endorse their political stance, and as a short-term deal, it meant once he was done and had seen himself through his masters, he would never have to work for someone for whom he disagreed with the principles and politics again. 

[Slapnut]

I’ve just had feedback from an unsuccessful promotion interview I had last week, and it’s no wonder I didn’t get it. Apparently at one point I was talking about an email I’d sent to a Senior Manager where I referred to “ripping her a new one”.

I can’t for the life of me remember saying it, but to say I’m absolutely mortified would be an understatement.

[Keith Houchen]

Are you sure it was you and not Slapnuts? I mean, you've been confused for each other on here a lot.

[Slapnut]

12 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Are you sure it was you and not Slapnuts? I mean, you've been confused for each other on here a lot.

Is that the one who had a really shit haircut?

[Carbomb]

I don't know if this has been posted on this thread or not, but I was recommended this weekly newsletter for writing jobs by @Chris B. It's pretty good for varied roles, both in terms of industries, and hours also: https://tinyletter.com/freelancewritingjobs

EDIT: @SpursRiot2012 - might this be of interest?

Edited May 1, 2018 by Carbomb

[King Pitcos]

My job has become very shit. I’m also skint. I am considering that the solution to this is to move to London.

The midlands offers very little in terms of sideways moves without taking a significant pay cut (and adding on travel costs, whereas I can walk to work now). I’ve found that London has loads of stuff I’d be suited to, as most head offices in my sector are there. It’s also where the action is for my creative endeavours.

I could get a little room in a shared house there for a fair bit cheaper than I’m currently paying renting this flat, and with London weighting, I should then be a few hundred quid better off each month than I currently am. I could do that here as well, but it’s conceptually more depressing living in a shared house in Birmingham than it is down London. But I may be missing something. Other than public transport, what else makes living in London so expensive?

 

[Carbomb]

The main cost of London is living space. It's pretty bad. If you've found an affordable space, great, but bear in mind that the cost of a flat in Birmingham is likely to get you a box room in a shared house in London. The other thing to bear in mind is that the kinds of places that are affordable in London are usually a fair distance from where most jobs are, so you end up paying quite a hefty amount in fares. Add to that an overall higher cost of living in terms of bills and socialising, and it can be daunting.

If you're OK to deal with those, and are confident that your new job, whatever it is, will pay well enough to offset these, have at it.

[gmoney]

On 01/05/2018 at 11:31 PM, King Pitcos said:

My job has become very shit. I’m also skint. I am considering that the solution to this is to move to London.

The midlands offers very little in terms of sideways moves without taking a significant pay cut (and adding on travel costs, whereas I can walk to work now). I’ve found that London has loads of stuff I’d be suited to, as most head offices in my sector are there. It’s also where the action is for my creative endeavours.

I could get a little room in a shared house there for a fair bit cheaper than I’m currently paying renting this flat, and with London weighting, I should then be a few hundred quid better off each month than I currently am. I could do that here as well, but it’s conceptually more depressing living in a shared house in Birmingham than it is down London. But I may be missing something. Other than public transport, what else makes living in London so expensive?

 

Pubs, eating out, groceries can all be more expensive, but if you know what you're doing you can minimise all of these by doing a bit of research. Eat like an oriental king in one of many all you can eat Chinese buffets. Transport is probably going to be a lot cheaper too. It was for me anyway.  

[King Pitcos]

Thanks guys. I've no problem with a box room really, as long as it'd come to under about 650-700 a month including bills... Does that seem viable?

[Carbomb]

14 minutes ago, King Pitcos said:

Thanks guys. I've no problem with a box room really, as long as it'd come to under about 650-700 a month including bills... Does that seem viable?

Yeah, I've seen places for about that, should be doable. The main risk is shitty housemates and landlords, but that's the case in most places.

[The Gaffer]

Anyone ever get chewed up and spat out by nightshiftin'? 

I'm doing player support for a mobile games company at the mo and have been 08:00-07:30 since last October. I'd normally never do a call centre environment but it's a text support only contract with nobody watching over us on nights. The team lead doesn't care what you do as long as you hit your numbers, I think I'm the only one there not going out smoking weed at 4 in the morning, we have FIFA 18 on the big screen and the whole environment is that pizza and beanbag trendy thing. All in all not a bad gig for the unsociable hours bonus when I try and do my bits of writing on the side. 

The contract's ending in October and we're been moved back to days in August. I'm finding that I absolutely can't wait, and am using the time to reflect on what absolute shit the shift has made of my head. It's like I didn't realise it as it was happening, because I thought it wouldn't affect me for a year, but it's done a fair number.

Staying up I find piss easy. I don't even drink coffee throughout the night. It's getting home and waking nearly every other hour is the problem. We do 4 on, 4 off and my 4 nights off have been privy to some of the most insane sleeping patterns known to man. Most weeks I can just never get it right. Bed at midnight, wake at 2, arse about until 12 noon, 2-3 hours sleep again, wake feeling more tired than ever. 

It's had me in a constant fugue since last year. Winter was balls rough. Still, the lights at the end of the tunnel now! I'm just shocked by the sudden awareness of how unhealthy it's been for me. 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Gay as FOOK

[gmoney]

I think I would find it difficult to do for a long period of time.I used to do it in the summer for a retail job I had. It wasn't 4 nights on/off like a lot of night shifts, it was Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday for 8 weeks, so you never had time to get back to a normal on your days off. That was pretty shitty as it meant you were pretty much cut off from the real world for that time, and I could never tell what day it was. All my housemates at the time had unusual working patterns at the time, and it felt incredibly weird to be eating my dinner at 7AM as one of my housemates was cooking his breakfast. The money was better than when I did day shifts (though looking back, still shit) and if you were doing it with people you liked it could be really fun. it was also nice to be in the shop without customers, so it was really relaxed. The last year I did it though, I was given a team which consisted of a woman with a young child who was absolutely exhausted the whole time (understandably) and some useless prick who would hide out the back doing fuck all, which made it a lot harder than usual, so I said I wouldn't do it again, then I changed jobs.  

In my current job we have to do do nights twice a year a week at a time. It's an office based thing, so you're sitting in a comfy chair all night and you can watch Netflix/WWE network or whatever. Once the small amount of work is done, you're just reacting to whatever comes in, which is hopefully nothing. I almost actively enjoy these to be honest.