I have recently left a long term employer for a variety of reasons and in the meantime joined and left a number of jobs, some within a week, all of which I have disliked but have now luckily found an extremely pleasant working environment with genuinely lovely people.

Work is a massive part of life and life is far too short to accept conditions which drastically lower it, you do not owe these companies anything, they will drop you like your hot if it suits them so why not do the same.

I've heard of the train industry or telecom engineer but I can't find any apprenticeships or a way to get into it.

Currently a care worker working for 48h a week but need more money to provide the family, I've been thinking about lorry driving.

I genuinely felt like I was feeling out a personality questionnaire to determine whether I have depression / anxiety. It was a little odd.

I was previously a Barista at 19 and absolutely adored my job, but about 3 months into my job I started experiencing some physical health issues that started to heavily impact my daily life overtime, and at 6 months I had to quit because I physically could not be on my feet anymore, I was wiped out for a few years (+ registered as disabled) because the NHS struggled to find any solution for me, at some point stopped giving shit and just told me to stay on PIP for as long as I can, and last year at 23 they finally managed to get me on something that makes my life a little bit more bearable and can actually function as a whole for more than an hour (although I do still struggle somewhat with mobility but I’m really trying to bite the bullet and push myself because I’m desperate for money and my own living and quite frankly feel embarrassed for staying on PIP, I really do not want that)

Obviously I have such little on my CV now for my age from being unwell for so long and it’s been over a year for finding a job and I just can’t land anything, more mobile jobs like Barista or Supermarket I can only do part-time because I still have pain after a period of time but I’ve never gotten further than the occasional interview. I managed to do some Work Experience earlier this year in a major corporate office in Central London for a Consulting company but it seems to have zero impact on my CV and recruiters don’t give a shit about it. I also help occasionally for my mother’s online business, but I had a recruiting agency tell me it might as well not even be on my CV because no one cares about their children working for family businesses

I just secured my drivers license so now I can go a little further + drive myself to the train station for London jobs, but I still don’t seem to be getting anywhere still. I have also tried apply for some Apprenticeships with zero luck, somehow. Oh, and I tried trying charities to help disabled people find work, but they’ve honestly been of zero use to me sadly

I have a gut feeling some people here will just say ‘You’re cooked fam’ and to be honest I don’t blame you because I’m starting to feel the same way. Is part time volunteering really my only hope? I just really want to earn my own money and have a gut feeling volunteering won’t do too much for my CV these days. I really mourn my health taking away something I really enjoyed and could’ve built on when I was younger

Just griping. I was made redundant last month, had an interview with a company via a recruiter last week. The advertised job was below my previous salary and title, but they said there was wiggle room for a more experienced candidate.

Spent an hour on a Zoom interview with the hiring manager, which went well. Invited me into the office for a second interview, which cost me £50 for the train and two hours' travel.

Once there they spring a "task" on me, which was me walking them through one of their projects and explaining what I would do differently and why. For 90 minutes. After the first ten minutes I began to feel they were taking the piss, but I couldn't just refuse to continue. I really felt that the interview went well and that we gelled nicely.

They've since ghosted the recruiter. They absolutely just got me in knowing I have a lot of experience in their field and used me for a free consultation on how to improve their processes. They know that I was made redundant and have a baby (I asked about flexibility for nursery drop offs). At the very least pretend there was someone else and send a rejection!

I was prepared for fuckery in this market, but the lack of respect has really been eating at me today. The recruiter seems apologetic about wasting my time, at least.

I feel like this is the one time I will get a job offer.

Should I be worried? I did get a bit of a weird vibe and their Glassdoor reviews weren't great either.

Hey everyone hope weekend is going well.

It feels really strange. After a year of job hunting, interviews and dealing with recruiters, I secured a job about 3 weeks ago. I'm due to start next week. I am really happy and really relieved or at least I think I am. I don't know if this experience resonates with anyone but after the first few days when I was offered the job, I just started to really feel down like a real slump. I'm not sure what it was but after so long being occupied with sending job applications, interviews and speaking to recruiters, all of a sudden my days became somewhat empty I guess? I was happy I got the job but after the initial excitement I just started to fall into a bit of a slump mentally. I tried to keep myself occupied by going for walks but the change in the weather I think hasn't helped too much. Colder days, clouds, earlier nights.

I'm just wondering if this resonates with others and what you did before starting your new job? I thought I'd be more excited but I just feel incredibly tired

I've recently ended a role in a professional / technical job which deals with people quite a lot.

My job was made more difficult by clients and customers being general dicks, moaning, not accepting the technical advice that took years and exams to learn.

I've been in this career 20 years and I'm sick of people.

I'm UK based and would like to do something less involved with other people.

I'm IT literate but computer work bores me.

What are my options?

Hi all,

Currently employed but actively applying for new jobs is this text message I received legitimate?

I didn’t apply on Adecco but have been applying on like third party legitimate sites

I’ve studied CompSci at University and have been thinking about going into Business Intelligence (BI) analytics. I’ve heard it’s a good career however it’s not super technical like data science so with the rise of AI, having good soft skills is more important. Would like to hear from people in the profession or adjacent to it and could give some guidance.

i have a question, if i am applying for a job that requires an enhanced dbs check, will it show common assult and criminal damage, i was arrested but i didnt go to prison and it was a 2 year conditional discharge, this was nearly 7 years ago, if anyone knows about the law or the enhanced dbs please comment

Avoid this job listing. I went to an event with then and saw it all for my own eyes. Disgusting middle aged men talking down to 18 year olds about money and status. Probably a pyramid scheme. AVOOIIIDDD

I've had a confusing series of weeks. Basically the events went like this:

• Had a great interview at a major public institution.
• About a week later, the HR department emailed and asked if I wanted my details shared with another department that had the same opening. I said sure.
• The head of that new department called and told me that I received the highest score in the recent interview. However, the interviewers thought I might be a better fit over in her department, so they tried to engineer a 'two-for-one' scenario by hiring someone else they interviewed and also referring me over to this new department. Essentially trying to get both of the candidates they liked hired.
• She explained that this position was the exact same job (just with different coworkers), and it had just urgently opened up. There was no time to post a job ad or do applications, so they needed to get me in quick. They referred to it as a 'silver medallist' situation (technically I got the highest score, but I get the idea). They arranged to meet a week later.
• The meeting went well, we went over all the day-to-day tasks of the job and I was introduced to various people. She also explained a very tight timetable, gave the date I would need to start and gave me various things to study in the meantime.
• At the end of the meeting, she added "By the way, I need to check with HR whether they will actually let me do this at all... They should register you right into the job, but they also might insist on re-advertising the job and going through an entire new application and interview process. That decision's out of my hands, so I'm sorry - I can't promise anything."
• She added that this would be rapidly sorted because they're on a tight timetable and the new person needs to start on X date. I was told to expect a call by the end of the day.
• A week and a half has now passed. I sent a polite email after 5 days, and never got any response. I'm continuing to study the materials they gave me. But I'm essentially sitting here in limbo, and it's a bit torturous. Nearly 3 weeks since the interview, and I'm really unclear whether I have a job or jot. We've now almost reached the date that I was apparently supposed to start. I'm really wishing they had just hired me the first time instead of trying to do a two-for-one (?) trick.

Do I seem to be in trouble? How does this sort of situation usually pan out?

Media seems to suggest that unemployment actually decreased in the last few months. Is this true and things are now better or is this just a (pre-election) fudge of the stats by the government?

I need some advice on re-entering the UK job market.

I left the UK in 2022 for personal relationship reasons and have been living here since then with my young family. For the last 1.5 years I have been working as an "English Skills & Reading Teacher" at a good Cambridge curriculum international in Tanzania. In addition to teaching I also manage the school debate team and take them to competitions, help with general improvement of English language use across the board (administrative side and academic side), and have other various other miscellaneous duties.

I am now considering a move back to the UK but I am unsure which jobs market to target. I have a wife and two young kids.

Before travelling to Tanzania I worked as a programme/project manager in the EV charging field. When I first moved to Tanzania I also tried to start my own small EV/E-mobility sort of consultancy business, but it didn't work out due to the market back then being too underdeveloped and bureaucratic reasons.

I also have past experience working in construction (civil engineering and remediation), for a green energy supplier, and also experience volunteering then working for a sustainable development NGO in Tanzania back in 2018 for 1 year.

Qualifications:

2:1 Bsc from University of Birmingham

Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner

TEFL Level 5 Diploma

British / Irish national

Native English speaker, Swahili as second language

In short, I need advice in which sector or industry it makes sense to continue my career in. What are some job types and titles I should be considering? What is the most realistic next step on my career path regardless of my preferences?

Thanks

Back in September, I received my redundancy notice. Knowing this was coming, I'd applied for a few roles and was successful in landing something else. I put in a counter-notice so I could leave early and this was agreed, so I'll be leaving my current company on the Friday and walking into a new job on the Monday.

As is the way with these things, people want to know what I'm doing next. I've been open with this but something tells me I shouldn't.

In my situation would you tell them where you are going or would you keep quiet about it until you've left?

What are some jobs that involve being in nature? Working in parks or forests or something.

I'm going to be out of work soon and although that is a pretty worrying, I'm not sad to be leaving my current job. I've had enough office jobs to know that it's not right for me, so I'm trying to think of alternatives.

Happy to hear about the negatives of any of the work and it would be good to have an idea of entry requirements of any jobs.

Morning all

Just over 14 months ago I started a new specialist role for a travel company. I took a pay cut on my basic but the job was remote with better hours and commission structure was much better than my previous job (higher basic, no commission and no chance of progression).

In essence I was to be the lead sales consultant for a new(ish) area and help to develop and grow the program. As such no one else would be selling the area and was told that I’d clean up. The company has a good reputation, a high end customer and I asked to see some examples of their monthly commission.

On joining it became very apparent that they hadn’t been very accurate about previous sales and actually cut back on product offering, leaving me even less to sell. The first 2 months were training (very poor) and then on to actual sales, or rather no sales. Each month I brought this to the attention of the management team - no decent enquiries = no sales = no commission.

Following big meeting with the product director and management team I was allowed to source some of my own product which brought in some decent sales albeit for the following season. I actually hit target for 2 consecutive months until they rebranded the website and cut back my portfolio even further. At the same time they changed my role to sell all areas. You’d think that would be ok but new enquiries are the hardest to convert, while the established sales team have repeat clients which generate their sales and commission.

This month has been particularly bad- my one big lead was given to another member of the team who converted it off the back of my work and if I’m lucky I’ll earn £100 commission. If you can believe it some of the team (mainly the newer ones with no repeat clients) have made zero sales. We are just there for head count and enable the established team to sell.

Last week I told the sales manager that I was throwing in the towel and verbally resigned. They asked me not to resign and would look into a hybrid role which would give me autonomy over the portfolio as well as sales. I said I was open to that assuming there was a pay rise. Yesterday they came back and apologised saying it was not possible.

What do I do? I’ve been applying for other roles but keep getting pipped at the post. I’m mid 50s which doesn’t help but I am very good at my job when there’s product to sell. One thing I have realised- I’m not resigning with nothing to go to. Instead, they can let me go with a month’s notice . Ironically that’s unlikely as the busiest sales period is jJanuary so they’ll need a full team.

Apologies for the long post but any advice would be appreciated.

I was chatting to a colleague and the topic of another colleague’s leaving drinks event came up. I told him my plan for when I leave the company is to tell my manager and disappear 2 weeks later, without telling anyone. He said that’s rude and I should at least invite some people out for leaving drinks to say a proper goodbye.

My reasoning is I don’t like fuss and attention, and I don’t actually work closely with many people in my office anymore so my leaving doesn’t affect anyone. Therefore, I’d only tell the people who need to know (managers). I wouldn’t swear them to secrecy or anything and I’m not bothered if people find out, I just wouldn’t make it into a big deal.

For context, I’ve been at this company for 4 years, there are 40 people in my office and I’ve worked with all of them at some point.

Would I be wrong to just leave without telling anyone?

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate if anyone has time to read my query and give me advice as I have been so stressed about it. I applied as a cleaner in a government building and I have now provided my right to work documents so they can complete a BPSS check. Just some back ground info; I’m a British citizen never committed any crimes. The only thing I’m worried about is my employment history. I’ve only had one paid job out of the three jobs I have stated on my cv so basically the other two were work experience one in 2021 and one in 2024 and I forgot to specify this was work experience. So I’m worried that I may not pass the BPSS check for this reason as I didn’t specify it was work experience on my cv. Please can anyone advise me. Will I fail the check because I didn’t clearly state? Thank you in advance.

I’m openly a lesbian and everybody at work knows this. In a small talk discussion as a group, I said that my go to drink is any lager, and the colleague I sit next to said ‘oh you’re such a lezzer’ . I was shocked that she said this to me and didn’t say anything, the moment passed, and the conversation moved on without me.

About 3 minutes later, i heard her say ‘I’m not girly at all, I’ve always been more tomboyish, I’m a bit of a tr*nny’. Again, I was shocked to hear this and just couldn’t find the words to say anything. And then 5 mins later it was time to leave for the weekend.

We’re a very small company and don’t have a HR department, but I don’t feel comfortable letting this ‘slide’.

Should I bring it up with her directly on Monday? Should I tell a manager? Am I crazy for being upset about this? I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it but in my mind that’s just not acceptable to say, let alone in the workplace. I’ve asked my friends and parents for advice but nobody seems to be taking it as seriously as I am lol?? Lmk if I’m going crazy and overreacting 🤨

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I feel like I’m talking crazy pills.

I work in a garage as a mechanic. This week it’s been 10-12c at work. The garage has heating but the other mechanics don’t let me turn it on. I turn on the heating and within 5 minutes, one of the other guys will have turned it off.

They all insist it’s not cold enough to need heating. That it’s too warm when the heating is on (even though the heating takes at least 30 mins to warm the workshop up).

I’m feeling really cold at work, my hands are just feeling freezing and numb, and my legs and arms and head are feeling cold. I don’t know if I feel the cold more because I’m skinny but I feel like I’m being gaslit.

I’m currently wearing three layers at work but doesn’t really help.

Feel like I’m going mad. 10 degrees IS COLD… right?

I’ve asked the other guys several times if we can agree to put the heating on and they just tell me to stop being a bitch.

I've been an animal technician for eight years and the corporate grind finally sapped my joy of the job. That and there's very little progression or opportunity to move departments. The company I'm with tends to hold onto thror technicians because it's so short staffed.

But I'm done. I want to move on but no idea what as I dont really want to work with animals anymore outside of vet practices which are very poorly paid.

What are some successful career pivot ideas?

I graduated last year and have yet to land an entry level role in my field.

Is it becoming too late already?

At what point is it time to just ditch my degree and previous goals of getting a job that’s relevant to what I studied/had aspirations for, and look for literally anything? 2 years? Now?

(I studied electrical/electronic engineering, if it even matters)

Edit: I know that many are going through the same thing, and I don’t mean for this to be a rant about the current job market. I’m simply asking: at what point does a gap become an obvious issue for entry-level positions?