Paid Members BomberPat Posted March 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 15, 2022 Right, bit of soul-searching around my current job. I work in the Psychology department of a university, on a fixed term contract that runs out in mid-July, as there's a costly, controversial restructure going on that's seeing all departmental administrators either laid off or moved to a central team (and likely on less money). The heads of department want to keep me on, but haven't been given the authority to renew my contract (they already fought to have it extended from March to July). My line manager has already left and, as a result of the restructure, his job no longer exists. There was another part-time administrator up until January, but he got a job in another department. In 2020, there had been six full-time admin staff, so that was reduced to one and a half plus our line manager, and now it's just me, and it's looking like I'll be gone in July. A job was advertised last week in another department, for a Senior Admin role, so a couple of grades above mine and better money, but my experience from previous jobs means I fit most of the desired criteria. When it was first listed, it was as a permanent position, which I went for because they're as rare as hen's teeth in this place, and mean job security. I received an email inviting me to an interview today, but also a note that the role has been revised to a fixed term contract, also ending in mid-July, the same date as my current contract. Now, what we're angling for as a Psychology department is recognition that British Psychological Society accreditation for our degrees requires a certain amount of full-time, dedicated admin and technical support staff. If their next audit reveals we don't have that, we'll lose BPS accreditation, which basically renders our programmes all but useless in a competitive market. So far, management have refused to address that, but sooner or later shit has to hit the fan and they have to decide whether it's worth breaking ranks of an ideologically-driven restructure in the name of keeping one measly little job, or if they'll push through it all and tank the credibility of one of their most profitable departments rather than admit fault. So I'm basically in the position of choosing between sticking with my current job, and hoping that combination of departmental pressure around BPS accreditation and ongoing strike action to protect jobs will see management budge enough to allow my bosses to renew my contract, or jumping to another department for three or four months making more money, and having a better job title on my CV, but with even less guarantee of any future prospects after July. Plus - and I know this isn't really my problem - the issue of leaving my colleagues, and our students, in the lurch if I jump ship before July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenryck Pilchards Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 I have just been offered a dream job of being a Live Reporter to cover the World Series of Poker. It means I will be working in Las Vegas for 7 weeks. After a patient wait of 20 years this is first foot in the door of working in the media. This is also my first time working as a freelancer and I will be paid in USD, would I be best to open a UK business account which accepts USD payments or would it be best to get a Revolut account or something similar in nature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted March 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 23, 2022 10 hours ago, Glenryck Pilchards said: I have just been offered a dream job of being a Live Reporter to cover the World Series of Poker. It means I will be working in Las Vegas for 7 weeks. After a patient wait of 20 years this is first foot in the door of working in the media. This is also my first time working as a freelancer and I will be paid in USD, would I be best to open a UK business account which accepts USD payments or would it be best to get a Revolut account or something similar in nature? Congratulations on getting the gig! I don’t know what contracts you’ve signed, but when I’ve worked for U.S. companies in the past I’ve always invoiced and been paid in my local currency, but had to fill out a W8-BEN form I think it‘s called that basically says the U.S. company hiring me is paying me and doesn’t have to withhold tax for the IRS as I’ll be paying income tax in my own country (the UK). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Wretch Posted March 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Nevermind Edited March 23, 2022 by Wretch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted March 31, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 31, 2022 View from my office window is fair pretty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thicko Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I’ve handed my notice in on my current job. It’s a combination of things but the crux of it is I’m miserable and life’s too short etc. So I’m about to give up everything I’ve ever known (I’ve been a publican for 24 years, always live in) to move in with my daughter (temporarily) without a job. Fuck knows what I’m gonna do. I know I’m one of the older posters on here but anyone else got experience of starting from scratch later on in life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 hour ago, thicko said: I’ve handed my notice in on my current job. It’s a combination of things but the crux of it is I’m miserable and life’s too short etc. So I’m about to give up everything I’ve ever known (I’ve been a publican for 24 years, always live in) to move in with my daughter (temporarily) without a job. Fuck knows what I’m gonna do. I know I’m one of the older posters on here but anyone else got experience of starting from scratch later on in life? Do you have an idea of what you want to do? Have you contacted or looked at a service such as NCS (https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/) as they can give a lot of advice around this and signpost you to provisions. Have you perhaps thought about an apprenticeship (not just for young people) or about your transferable skills? The good thing is that employers are opening up more on this kind of thing and being more open minded as to who they look at, as to be quite honest, they can't afford to be that picky at the moment with the job market the way it is, so this is positive. Unless it's for a very specific skill of course. Feel free to drop me a DM if you like, happy to help if I can. A quick question for you PM people. I know where I want to go if I stay with my current business (strategic partnerships and key accounts basically, as this is what I enjoy and am good at) but I saw a FTC Project Manager role advertised internally. So I had a quick chat with my manager, who is a very pragmatic, honest person, and she said it's not quite right as they're looking for an experienced PM (I enquired as I thought they might be able to look at a junior option) but if I wanted to do a PM qualification, then that could be funded by the company (caveats apply of course) So which one is the most relevant/practical? And what the fuck is 'waterfall'??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thicko Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Thank you so much @SuperBacon, that’s already a great help. I took my first pub at 22 and have never really needed to look for work. That’s a great starting point, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted March 31, 2022 Moderators Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 hour ago, SuperBacon said: honest person, and she said it's not quite right as they're looking for an experienced PM (I enquired as I thought they might be able to look at a junior option) but if I wanted to do a PM qualification, then that could be funded by the company (caveats apply of course) So which one is the most relevant/practical? And what the fuck is 'waterfall'??? Projects are delivered by one of two overall methodologies - agile or waterfall. Waterfall means going through each stage of development one by one in order for the fill piece of work - ideating, design, build, test etc. Agile means doing similar steps but in a smaller scale - so building parts of the overall solution iteratively in small chunks. Prince 2 is the traditional waterfall PM qualification and is universally recognised. Places that are working more agile often won't really be looking for traditional project managers. They will want scrum masters / product managers/ delivery managers. A lot of places are 'transitioning' to agile or working some horrible messy hybrid so in reality the boundaries and roles will be very blurred and change from company to company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 23 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said: Projects are delivered by one of two overall methodologies - agile or waterfall. Waterfall means going through each stage of development one by one in order for the fill piece of work - ideating, design, build, test etc. Agile means doing similar steps but in a smaller scale - so building parts of the overall solution iteratively in small chunks. Prince 2 is the traditional waterfall PM qualification and is universally recognised. Places that are working more agile often won't really be looking for traditional project managers. They will want scrum masters / product managers/ delivery managers. A lot of places are 'transitioning' to agile or working some horrible messy hybrid so in reality the boundaries and roles will be very blurred and change from company to company. Thanks @Chest Rockwell much appreciated. So for someone looking to go into PM work (like others have echoed in the past, a lot of what I do is this but without the traditional parameters), what would you suggest as a base course to complete first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted March 31, 2022 Moderators Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) Definitely the Prince 2 Practitioner course. It's 5 days. You do the foundation first and then go on to complete the practitioner course.vi don't think it's worth doing the foundation on its own. Edited March 31, 2022 by Chest Rockwell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Are people here planning to ask their employers for a cost of living raise at all this year? If inflation is supposed to be hitting 8.4% by Q4, I feel like I basically need to ask my employer for a 10% payrise and that would be fair. I mean, despite the guy from the Bank of England telling us not to ask for raises, I feel like I should ask for one. How do you approach this? Just ask straight out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) 36 minutes ago, 69MeDon said: Are people here planning to ask their employers for a cost of living raise at all this year? If inflation is supposed to be hitting 8.4% by Q4, I feel like I basically need to ask my employer for a 10% payrise and that would be fair. I mean, despite the guy from the Bank of England telling us not to ask for raises, I feel like I should ask for one. How do you approach this? Just ask straight out? What kind of organisation are you working for and how much say would your line manager have in a payrise? Do they give annual pay rises anyway and how much? If an organisation does not always give them or gives out 1 to 2% ones then you won't be given more than 5 I'd imagine. But if they do always give them in an appraisal you could mention the inflation rate if you feel its too low. Edited March 31, 2022 by westlondonmist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Join your union. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 4 hours ago, westlondonmist said: What kind of organisation are you working for and how much say would your line manager have in a payrise? Do they give annual pay rises anyway and how much? If an organisation does not always give them or gives out 1 to 2% ones then you won't be given more than 5 I'd imagine. But if they do always give them in an appraisal you could mention the inflation rate if you feel its too low. Small structured finance news and data and events company. Very small, in fact. Not a huge org chart. Just goes me, my manager, the MD. I don't think they ever mentioned if we should expect regular pay rises or not. I will look into it. Yes, I really should, @Keith Houchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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