Work

[Ted]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

There isn't an MH thread anymore so yeah, I'm on Universal Credit still. I'm not fit to work yet, but I'm hoping to at least get some help rebuilding my CV with the National Careers folk. Anyone know if they're shit? I very much would like anything that isn't retail (11 years of that) or anything that involves ringing old people selling stuff as the idea just makes me feel sad. The other issue is, I don't want a 'career' just something eventually that doesn't mean I'm massively anxious spending anything with so little money. 

I find everything really frustrating at the moment. I've lived in Manchester for over three years and just finally got a bike fixed. But I've got nowhere to go or really anyone to see. I keep catastrophising and it's difficult. 

It’s a couple of years since I was in Manchester but NCS wasn’t great in that area, they may have improved now but there were a variety of other organisations offering CV help that were better than NCS so I’d have a look around.  If you send your work coach a message they should be able to signpost you to some.  Also, there will be a bunch of provision that the jobcentre has access to who can support you, even if you’re not fit for work at the moment they can help with CV, cover letters etc. (It’s classed as taking steps to prepare yourself for work, no pressure but support at the rate you’re comfortable with) so you could ask for details of them when you feel up to it.

[LaGoosh]

Outside of their full time jobs, does anyone have any side hustles going? I'm usually home by 430 and have a lot of spare time most evenings and would like (and need) to make a bit of extra cash. Not looking to get a proper second job but something I can do every now and again would be useful. I have no idea where to even start though. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Outside of their full time jobs, does anyone have any side hustles going? I'm usually home by 430 and have a lot of spare time most evenings and would like (and need) to make a bit of extra cash. Not looking to get a proper second job but something I can do every now and again would be useful. I have no idea where to even start though. 

I'd just follow things and places you like on socials and see if they mention anything on there. I started as a freelance fact-checker for BBC History magazine a few months ago and got that following a Facebook post saying they were looking for people. It's not a lot of extra cash but it's quite fun to do for a few hours each month.

[Chili]

I am finding the days extremely long with nothing to do. Though that might be down to also not feeling inspired to motivate myself to do absolutely anything. Thanks feelings of worthlessness. 

[Your Fight Site]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Outside of their full time jobs, does anyone have any side hustles going? I'm usually home by 430 and have a lot of spare time most evenings and would like (and need) to make a bit of extra cash. Not looking to get a proper second job but something I can do every now and again would be useful. I have no idea where to even start though. 

Yup. Your Fight Site is my side hustle outside of my 9–5 as a tech lead for a software team. So I spend some of my free time tinkering with my two main “products”, a wrestling website platform (essentially a tiny Squarespace specifically for wrestling websites) and my video on demand platform.

Neither are making me rich, but I enjoy building and developing them, and offering wrestling promoters affordable yet professional products. The on demand platform, I built from scratch in 2014 just because things like Netflix and Prime Video were becoming commonplace and I wanted to learn about video streaming. Now video storage, transcoding, security, and delivery is something I can put on my CV as something I have demonstrable knowledge of.

[westlondonmist]

On 11/1/2021 at 4:39 PM, Slapnut said:

I’ve just been turned down for a job interview which guarantees an interview for all who declare a disability providing they meet the minimum criteria. I declared my disability, and I comfortably meet the minimum criteria and went into great detail for each point in my application, yet no interview.

Does anybody have any experience with this? It’s quite a large company so I have little hope of speaking to anybody about how this decision was made, but I’m not happy to just sit back and accept the decision without further clarification.

I've been told in the past by recruiters that this can be due to software pre-screening your CV and the words and phrases it has been designed to pick up were not in your CV. A human could read it and twig you are the right fit but the software is set to find certain things. Places who expect high volume numbers of applications often use them. 

I've wondered in the past why I didn't get interviewed with big organisations who have said they would interview disabled people who meet the criteria. 

Edited November 2, 2021 by westlondonmist

[King Coconut]

Probably not the disability they're looking for.

[Tommy!]

I was helping in interviews once and a woman turned up on crutches, it was a while ago now but I think she had MS. I thought she was great for the job but as soon as she left the woman I was with started moaning that the agency "could have told us". When pushed I was asked if I'd put someone "like that" Infront of our MD.

That it was at a co-op that made a big deal about it's ethics and morals when it advertised roles, there was just a big gap between the people who wrote the template's and policies and the people actually makeing the decision on the ground.

[Slapnut]

So I managed to find an email address for their hiring department and sent an email requesting further information on how this decision has been made, and today I’ve unexpectedly received a response asking if I’d like a call to discuss further. I’m not hopeful of being reconsidered, but I’m feeling a little more positive about at least discussing their decision.

However, I’ve since re-read the email I sent them requesting clarification and I’ve spotted 3 typos, so I’m fully expecting the reasoning for not offering an interview to be “you can’t fucking spell, mate”.

[westlondonmist]

13 hours ago, Slapnut said:

So I managed to find an email address for their hiring department and sent an email requesting further information on how this decision has been made, and today I’ve unexpectedly received a response asking if I’d like a call to discuss further. I’m not hopeful of being reconsidered, but I’m feeling a little more positive about at least discussing their decision.

However, I’ve since re-read the email I sent them requesting clarification and I’ve spotted 3 typos, so I’m fully expecting the reasoning for not offering an interview to be “you can’t fucking spell, mate”.

It's good that they are being called on it. If people start chasing up then they will eventually have to start practicing what they preach. Something I should have done in the past so fair play to you. 

I think they will interview you now. You may not get it but at the very least you have a chance to tell them why you should. 

[Chili]

I'm off lads. X

[69MeDon]

Hello, @Chili. Where are you going? Let's chat.

[Michael_3165]

Anyone got any suggestions on how yo address a colleague that is WAY over prepped and rigid in what she does? I am probably a nightmare to work with as I am the least prepped and least needing of any form of control in my job. At the same time  I walk in and just do my job, winging it much of the time. When I throw her off track w something unexpected he freaks out. I am certainly trying to be much more consistent and have acknowledged my faults. Our job is my definition a very fast paced, anything-can-happen position dealing w lots of complex factors that move without much warning.

 

Also how do you raise a retention issue w managers who don't seem to want to hear it? Everyone is terrified of asking the question, preferring to blame a nation wide shortage without admitting we lose many more than other areas. Losing 12 staff in 14 months (we only have 10 staff in total at any one time) seems not a problem for the boss. Baring in mind we used to lose maybe 1 a year at most. 

 

Thoughts appreciated.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Michael_3165

[FLips]

In a sort of limbo at work at the minute.

I'm covering as a manager until May in a new job after Mike Ashley fucked us all over in my last job. It's 39 hours a week and while the job itself is pretty relaxed, I'm in charge of the one stressful part of it that due to the outside company that deals with it messing up constantly is currently a nightmare to constantly be running and fixing. 
Also my last job was 20-30 hours a week which gave me a brilliant work/life balance as when we had the staff I was working 4 days a week and had some early finishes (3pm) in there.  Here I'm 39 hours a week, 9-6, 5 times a week but due to getting the bus it's essentially 8am-6.30pm.

The job is as good as guaranteed to keep me on in May as we're understaffed and I'm doing well there but I'm just not sure what to do. I don't know whether to stay and then renegotiate my contract in May to go down to part time to get that balance back, or whether to apply elsewhere and find something else. I know negotiating is possible because one of our salesmen is contracted never to work past 4pm or weekends.

I found a work from home  inbound phone job that has negotiable hours and no weekends though, so where I'm not a fan of call center work, the idea of doing it from home on my own agreed time is one I see a lot of upside to in terms of work/life, travel and spending, and being in a comfortable and stress-free surrounding that retail isn't currently offering me.
That's not to say it's one or the other, I am looking at all options. I'm just not sure the job I'm in now is giving me what I want from life.

[Keith Houchen]

Going to sign up to one of these courses, if only for my own self esteem. I’m unsure how good they’ll be in terms of getting jobs but there’s no harm in trying is there? Or will this be a waste of a tenner?