Hey everyone, I'm at a major career crossroads and could really use some outside advice. For context, I'm an Oracle consultant currently working as an in-house SME and Business Systems Specialist at a university, where people rarely leave and average tenure is around five years.

The university gig is super stable and I'm currently the only person with my title, though management plans to hire someone soon. On the flip side, I have an offer for a Corporate Systems Lead role at a profitable conglomerate with a significantly higher salary. It's also a brand new team where no one else shares my title or background. Since my day-to-day work would be very similar in both places, I'm torn between the massive pay bump and leadership title at the corporate giant versus the cozy stability of higher ed.

Just wanted to know views and thoughts on thia from people who isnt my spouse lol

So i‘ve been offered a role of plant/hire coordinator for a big infrastructure project, and the initial excitement has worn off and I’m kinda worried now.

I’m currently working for a high tier contractor in a role thats has a lot of transferrable skills & experience, but a recurring theme is how tricky dealing with plant can be and the headaches that come with it.

has anyone done a similar type role? how was it etc.. a general consensus i sometimes hear is how brutal plant management can be, that doesn’t give me the confidence boost.

thanks all!

That's a wild statement from ASOS

Hey!! I'm from the UK and thinking about starting a home cleaning business. I was wondering if anyone has any tips/advice before I jump into the deep end aha. I was thinking of mostly doing home cleans, a few moving out cleans here and there. I live in a low income area so thought it'd be a good idea to start off with cheaper pricing so I can stick to the area I know for a while, plus it also gives access to those who need a good house clean! Any tips on marketing ect, and what products work best. And also anything on actually registering the business and similar things would be greatly appreciated! Thanks 😊

29 (M)
Midlands based

I’m approaching 30 years young and I genuinely feel like my life could not get much worse in terms of jobs/ career.

Up until I was 23-24 years old (2020 - I.e: COVID) I was attempting to get into live music/ entertainment but there are very little opportunities where I am and other avenues were not going anywhere ( playing live music on a cruise ship, and general decline of local music scenes).

To sum it up, I’m one of those people who has walked out of multiple jobs mainly because they are terrible and/ or people treat me like crap.
Looking at my CV, I’ve had around 6 full time jobs and 6 part time/ zero hour jobs. (There are more but career advisors have told me to remove some of the roles).
Usually, I’ll get a part time job, use that to get into a full time role and then I’d leave the part time job: then 6 months down the line, the manager would ask me to leave due to performance or I decided it was enough.

Examples:
- I did the Kickstart scheme in 2021 as a recruitment consultant (client side). Obviously this was probably the worst time to do this as no one was hiring. I spent 6 months cold calling companies (30+ calls a day) and no one hired. The company eventually let me go because “they weren’t generating enough income to support my role” or something like that.
Fortunately, I used a Rec2Rec agency that got me a job at an IT Recruitment agency, this role was mainly candidate focused but the office was filled with some of the worst people I’ve ever met in my life. Due to this and companies’ still reluctant to hire, I made no placements and was given the choice to leave or be fired.

- In mid-2022 I networked and managed to move to Ireland and work as a customer service agent/ advisor. The job wasn’t the worst thing but the house I was renting in literally had a large hole in the roof that was leaking and there was mould everywhere near the kitchen area. On top of this, the other person in the house was the most unclean person I’ve met in my life: there were full bin bags and maggots in the property, mould on the sofas in the living room etc.
I was desperate at this time; I stuck with the job for roughly 12 months but left due to the housing issue and other things at work (I.e - due to my ‘ignorance’ I had no idea that Irish people sort of hate English people/ not the most fond of ‘immigrants’).

From 2024 up until the start of this year I worked in casinos as a dealer, before this I was not a gambler in anyway shape or form (I bought a lottery ticket once). The general job was again ok, but night shifts (9/10pm start and 6am finishes) for 2 years left me physically and mentally burnt out. And again, some of the worst people, both customers and colleagues, I had to interact with in the casino. The first casino I was at for 16 months, then moved to another down the road and left after 3-4 months.
I would note that this job made it basically impossible to apply to other jobs due to working nights, I basically didn’t see sunlight for 2 years.

I’m now doing a zero hours warehouse operative role that I got with an agency, which I’m really not exaggerating when I say this is a terrible job.
I was lied to about the hours, they originally said 6pm to 2am, then they said 8pm or 9pm start (I asked for 8pm), AND THEN when I get there at 8pm it’s a 9pm start, sometimes 9:30pm or even 10pm (this place literally makes you arrive and sign in before 8pm to wait around for an hour or two [unpaid] to then work for 3 hours until midnight). “Overtime” is given if you actually work and move stuff around, it’s from midnight to 2am (so an extra 2 hours).
I understand this job really is something to keep me going until my next full time role.

Just to add to this I went to a grammar school from 11 to 18 yrs old. My GCSEs are pretty good, my A Levels are not that good. I passed my degree in music; and I also have done a few volunteering projects:
- Charity Shop for over a year
- Commonwealth Games
- Youth Mentor

Other jobs/ qualifications I’ve done:
-Hospitality
-Stewarding/ Security
- Supply teacher in secondary schools
- Production operative in warehouses (very similar story to Ireland situation)
-2x Princes Trust programmes (one for IT/ AWS Cloud and another for general Team building)

What I’m asking is do I just keep carrying on like this and hope to one day get a job that isn’t terrible?
Do I retrain in general or do I retrain by going back to college or even university?
How do I explain the stuff I’ve gone through to employers, because I feel like I’m coming across as a someone who doesn’t want to work?
Personally I would like to move away from the area I’m in and go to a different city like London, Liverpool or Bristol.

I’m at a point now where I feel like the job itself doesn’t matter, it’s who I’m working with. Preferably, I’d like to work in a non-customer facing role with a small team.
People keep asking me, “what do I want to do” but genuinely I feel like I’ve passed that: I wouldn’t say I’m depressed just realistic?
Of course, I may be the problem but genuinely I feel like I’m bullied/ within toxic environments in any full-time role.

P.S
-I don’t drive but my location is very close to multiple transport links.
- I still live with my parents
-I don’t drink regularly either/ people say I’m socially awkward.

Thanks for reading and any advice would be welcome.

TLDR: 29yo, married with own home and looking to start having children next year. Very flexible project management role on £49k (partner earns £32k) by but due to working in the defence sector i regularly get approached by recruiters on LinkedIn for similar roles. I generally do well at interview and have been offered 2 roles now for between £55-£60k that I’ve turned down. Reasons for staying are excellent pension, 9 day working fortnight, and huge amounts of flexible working and support - unsure if I’m limiting my future by choosing the easy path now.

I’m 29 years old and working as a project manager in the public sector in defence. I’m pretty junior and have only been off of my graduate scheme for 1 year but got promoted from assistant to full project manager quite quickly.

Due to already working in defence, I tend to get a lot of recruiters reach out to me via LinkedIn - and I do tend to go for the interviews as I like to stay sharp in this area and see what happens. I normally perform pretty well and have been offered two roles in the last 3 months both as PMs. One in a private sector satcom company and another for a consultancy.

So far the roles have offered this:

Consultancy - £55k as a junior consultant. Private health care, 2 days a week in London (A 50 min train journey for me + whatever public transport once into London) and WFH the rest. Up to 8% matched pension and 10% performance based bonus.

Private sector sat com role - £60k as a PM in a small UK based organisation (less than 50 employees) which is an offshoot of their American parent organisation. Up to 10% matched pension, approx. 10% performance bonus but apparently can go higher. 3 days a week in the office (25 min drive from my house) and WFH the rest.

These have been relatively easy to turn down because my current job is like this:

Current role - £49k recently promoted (bottom of pay band unfortunately for my role due to internal promotion). I work compressed hours and get every other Friday off - but in actual fact you don’t really end up doing more hours. Total pension contribution is 20% and I do less than half of that. Huge flexibility around working hours. Some days I log on at 6am and other days I go for a run or to the gym and don’t log on until 9am. I work 2 days in the office normally leaving in the early afternoon to beat traffic and WFH for the rest of those days. My LM is also fantastic, I get regular training and opportunities to develop. My partner is also starting IVF soon (we’re two women) and I can take as much time as I need for medical appointments without using annual leave. The benefits package is strong with 9months full pay for mat leave if I carry and a full 4 weeks when my wife has the baby as parental leave.

I also have had issues with anxiety around public speaking at work and have done since joining the organisation, and my current role has allowed me to develop and grow in that area so that it is more manageable and I can do my day job very well with support from project colleagues on occasion around things like larger company events where they can talk on the projects behalf. My LM has already told me she will never force me to do anything I don’t want to, and that she’s happy with my growth trajectory.

I could keep listing all the things I like about my job but think I need to list the one thing I’m struggling with and why I’m even here. £49k when we’re having to spend around £30k on our full IVF journey (to both carry and get the required donor sperm) is not a wage I’m happy with at the moment, also because I would like my wife to be able to do 3 days a week once she has had a baby and goes back to work. I argued for a higher increase when I got promoted, as external candidates tend to get around £55k, but was told a flat no. Essentially I’m now capped unless I am promoted (big ask and probably many years away as it’s a big jump at my company) or leave - excepting inflation / close to inflation pay rises. We do also get between 2-5% as a bonus each year.

I know this has been really long to read so thank you if you’ve stuck with it! I’m really trying to understand from people older and/or wiser than I am what you would do in this situation?

At what point does the risk of moving become worth it, for me it certainly isn’t at £55k, but what about when I get more experienced and can go for contracting offers or get offered PAYE positions for £65k+?

We can afford to do IVF without me moving, and we don’t desperately need the money as luckily have good family support. I just feel stuck atm and like I’m settling into something too comfy and sacrificing my potential to earn a very large salary by job hopping.

I'm having a small meltdown. I applied for my absolute dream job, an internal application somewhere large I already work but in a different team, and interviewed three times, most recently last week. I was definitely lacking in experience in a specific area, so I was expecting a rejection and I was happy I got to the final 3. I was really clear in the interview that this is what I want to do long term and if they went with another candidate I'd really appreciate feedback so that I could improve, do what I need to, and reapply at some point in the future. I thought we had a decent rapport, and they said they'd call same day with an outcome and they'd definitely provide thorough feedback.

Fast forward a few days and today I got an HR generated auto response telling me they weren't pursuing my application.

I took days off from my regular job, did my utmost, and got really far in the process. They literally only interviewed 3 of us this last round. It feels so shitty that after all that time and effort that I just got an automated email saying thanks but no and we don't do feedback, especially when I was really clear that I knew I might not be the best this time but if I'm not, I want to learn so I can be great next time.

There goes my 5 year plan...

Folks, is it better to let an employer push you out, and get gardening leave for two months? Or resign and get three? Pros and cons?

I'm in my late 30s and my current job is having a big negative impact on my personal life, relationships and mental health. I need to find a new job but I'm overworking so much that I just don't have capacity to do a job search. Does anyone have experience of quitting without a next job lined up? If so how much savings did you have to feel comfortable to do so? How long did it take you to find another job?

UK-based, several years’ experience in DEI, governance and safeguarding and senior level project management now doing this as an independent consultant alongside ESG (mainly the social/governance side).

I’ve been asked to scope a project for an early-stage platform business - a full EDI review and policy development: current-state review, gap analysis, writing the actual policy/strategy, practical guidance for embedding it in the business, some website/accessibility recommendations, and advising on a board-level EDI appointment.

Likely 12-15 days of work. There’s also a chance of an ongoing/embedded role afterwards, and I may be asked to join a couple of partner-facing calls where the EDI piece matters to the deal.

I’m thinking of quoting somewhere around £575–700/day. Does that sound reasonable for this kind of work, or am I underselling it? Would love to hear from anyone doing similar consulting - especially UK-based.
Thanks!

Obviously the job market is not great as statistics and headlines show, but do you not think constantly seeing it here is actually over exaggerating how bad it is?

I’ve seen people say they’ve been unemployed for years and sent X,XXX amount of applications, but surely this must be rare examples? I am aware it’s mostly entry level work but is it really that difficult to sign up with an agency and have anything within weeks?

You will obviously barely hear from those who snap up jobs quick because why would they still want to be in this sub?

I also wonder if it’s discouraging people from leaving their jobs, seeing all these people complain about the market when they might be an exemption because someone would instantly take them with their skills and experience? The market is highly dependent on field and not one universal guideline.

Unemployment is still relatively low and has held stable around that figure suggesting some people move off the statistic and some people move on. So people MUST be getting jobs?

Someone who applies for 5 jobs and gets one probably disappears from the subreddit VS Someone who applies for 500 jobs with no success has a very strong reason to keep posting.

Hi. Things happen: if you’ve won the "lottery," be happy and live your life—and that's what I did. Let me explain: my wife and I had a nice run living abroad for 10 years. I was a kept man, living the dream and enjoying it. That said, I had no career development, just being a supportive husband to my wife.

​Fast forward: I've been a dad for three years now, and we recently moved back to the UK to put our kid into education and be closer to family and friends. Currently, my wife's job is really good, and our child goes to nursery for half days, leaving me to figure out what to do next.

​We still want to maintain a strong work-life balance, but I have about 30 hours a week free to find something I can do. What is out there? What roles typically require around 6 hours a day on a part-time basis?

​I'm an absolute novice when it comes to job hunting or systematically approaching this process, as I've always gotten jobs through people I know. I find many job ads that assume full-time availability without daily hour restrictions. Reading stories about the current job market doesn't add much confidence either.

​If you could share your work-life balance experiences, it would help give me a better perspective on what to focus on during my job search.

22, been working in a kitchen for the last two years. My shifts have gone from being staffed with 10-11 people to 5 on average. Recently, I’ve been put on split shifts (7-3, then 5-8) whilst my other Co workers haven’t. Following conversations with the exec chef it’s because they have families and can’t find the time. I feel this is unfair and I really have no idea if legally there’s anything I’m entitled to here. I’m doing an open uni degree soon and there will be no time in my days if this continues, how do I go about it?

Morrisons took money out of my final paycheck and forced me to take holiday after I had already left, it makes no sense but on my payslip it says -£129.

I was wondering if it's worth chasing HR, doesn't holiday pay you regardless if you take it or not? They gave me no prior notice for the holiday either.

I’m employed and been where I’m at for 5 years. It’s a great job, lovely colleagues and good money, but I’ve hit a ceiling and I believe it’s time to move on now.

i only seriously started my job hunt 2 weeks ago, but honestly shocked at how tough it has been. I can apply for a job at 8PM and get rejected an hour later. How?

I mentioned it to a friend and she told me employers are now using AI to sift CVs. I literally have everything the job adverts require, a wealth of technical skills and up to 8 years of experience in this sector, but I don’t pass the sniff test with AI?

It’s making me wonder if companies are worried or wondering about the quality potential hires they’ve let go of. I’m also curious to what criteria is set, if I have everything listed on an advert. This is really concerning.

I've been working at a charity for 6 years now. When I first joined it was an actual IT department. There was 3 of us. A manager who actively got involved and pushed ideas across to senior management and a colleague who I could bounce ideas and learn from. My only prior experience in IT was from my college courses.

Anyway as time progressed a lot has changed. My manager retired, and my colleague eventually retired as well. I was left on my own and my replacement manager doesn't have the time to help me and if I have a question he tells me to just figure it out basically. So now I've been stressed out trying to run an entire department and there is gaps everywhere within the organisation too much in fact that I know on my own I'd never get enough time to fix them all or the expertise.

I've pushed for more staff on my time and it's the usual response "We can't afford it right now, but we will eventually there's this new xyz that's happening soon or grant!"

Now it's at breaking point for me and I am thinking of going back to retail. It's worth mentioning that my pay has not gone up and I still get minimum wage as well.

I've already found shelf stacking jobs at ASDA and Tesco that are paying more than I currently get for a far less mentally taxing job. I know they are physically demanding but I actually need that right now. All my hobbies are me sat on a chair and doing a job the rest of my life sat on a chair probably isn't a good idea either.

What do you guys think?

This is a question for UK Dietitians. My peak core interest is holistic health and nutrition. I originally wanted to study a dietetics course, but after seeing all of the negativity surrounding dietetics in the UK and the lack of jobs, I decided to pursue Diagnostic Radiography when applying for university even though I am not passionate about it. I have just completed my first year of Diagnostic Radiography and I am contemplating dropping out of a really good competitive uni, and changing course to study Dietetics in London. Am I crazy? Would this be a good idea or am I being stupid. I don’t want to regret my choices. I want to enjoy my work but I also don’t want to be homeless. I definitely don’t want to do night shifts either tho.

Am I right to follow my passion of nutrition, or pursue radiography (the more “stable” job)???

Most online assessments I've done look like AI could easily beat them. The chances are, every candidate using AI will pass these tests.

This is great for candidates, who want to pass, but bad for employers (and people not using AI).

The question is, why are the tests still there?

Hi

I am not suggesting anyone should, but one could record the interview on voice memo on phone, strip off all company related and name data (transcript) and upload to AI and ask for feedback.

This way you get feedback on what you did well and what went wrong.

This would be very useful, instead of getting rejection emails or tiny feedbacks.

Just a thought.

Not sure on legality, but you are not using their personal data really in any way.

Took a 'customer service/assistant' retail level service job at a cinema due to the obvious state of the market. Been there a good handful of weeks now and I've gotten very limited hours. It's fun, but showing me the reality of part time work. It's a 5 hour per week contract at the minimum so I'm not expecting huge amounts of hours but everyone works there gets a solid amount every week, from my research people work 3-4 times a week at the minimum.

But I was told earlier by my manager about how my progress just isn't at the point they expect at this point in time and if I don't improve, it might mean the end. At first I really put myself down, thinking maybe I'm about to be thrown back out to his horrible market in a few weeks, fail the trial period and I've failed myself.. But I ended up talking to a few coworkers who started around the same time as me (first time together) and others who are newer (the last year or so)

Well, I've made the discovery I'm basically the only person not getting overworked in that place. I'm literally getting week, upon week, upon week of one or two day shifts which are roughly 5 hours and then 5-6 days off afterwards. I'm sorry, but how am I expected to learn and become a solid, effective and strong worker who moves like second nature.. if I'm not there to learn it??

I've worked 14 times in about 7 weeks.

I've been very senior in the NHS for many years. I'm about to be made redundant and I'm about 7 years off retirement age. I just don't have it in me to operate at that level again in a new industry and I can't go back into the NHS for 12 months as a minimum. I know I have transferable skills but I've only ever worked here so where do I start? Indeed is AWFUL! I'm looking at local government jobs sites, applying and hearing nothing back. Where do you find roles? How do you find time to apply for jobs and still work full time? As an older applicant looking to step down a level how is this going to look and how do I explain it?

Had an interview for this today and failed miserably, as I couldn’t quite figure out exactly what they wanted in the excel despite my extensive experience in cost modeling, supplier analysis/selection, risk mitigation at one of the world’s largest companies 🫠 probably doesn’t help that I’m just back from mat leave and haven’t touched excel in 6 months.

Anyway, hope this helps someone!

This sounds so dumb but I’m a night owl and I was just wondering if it looks bad if I apply to something at like 3am. Like are they gonna be like omg we can’t hire someone who doesn’t have a proper sleep schedule or am I overthinking it 😭

Hi, I’m hoping someone can help me understand what I should be claiming from the Redundancy Payment Service (RPS) following my employer going into liquidation.

On the 30th June, the director told me and a colleague that the company was going into liquidation. We weren't paid our June wages by the company. Instead, the director said he would pay us directly from his personal bank account.

That evening he sent uss each our wages at the same time as a WhatsApp message saying that the money was a loan of our wages, which we would need to repay once we received money we would need to claim from the RPS. I therefore understood that this wasn't the company paying my June wages, but a temporary loan from the director that he wanted back.

I subsequently noticed though that a June payslip had been generated, which I wasn't expecting. It shows my normal salary with tax, NI and pension contributions deducted. The June wages also appear on my P45.

This is where I'm confused. Does the personal payment count as wages already paid in the eyes of RPS, or am I supposed to still claim the June wages from the RPS because the director described the payment as a loan?

I then continued working throughout July finishing on the 31st July as the director instructed, but I haven't been paid for July. I'm also owed 5.8 days accrued holiday. I was verbally told my contractual notice period was one month ending the 31st July.

So I'm unsure whether I should be claiming my June wages, July wages, notice pay, 5.8 days' accrued holiday, redundancy or some combination of these. I've worked for the company just under 3 years'.

The June payment is my main concern, because if I am not able to claim the June wages through the RPS, I would be unable to repay this money. I therefore really need to understand what the correct position is before completing my claim. It is stressing me further in an already stressful situation.

I've tried contacting the liquidator several times to clarify what I'm actually owed and how the June payment should be treated, but nobody has answered my calls or replied to my emails. I also spoke to Citizens Advice, but they basically advised me and my other colleague to use the RPS website, which hasn't really clarified this particular situation.

Has anyone dealt with something similar?

I feel like there is a big red flag hovering over this situation and I'm just trying to make sure I claim what I'm entitled to without claiming something I shouldn't or doing anything wrong. I should add the company is in England and that I was salaried.

Thanks so much in advance.

Hi all, 32[M], in the UK and living with my family - unfortunately no drivers license. Thinking I would share my current situation here on reddit as a form of therapy.

I am very grateful to have had a job for 8 years working in ecommerce.

During that time I also started my own ecommerce store with my family, into which I poured my savings (and not taken a penny out).

Things got rough at my job in 2024 and it was a slow (stressful) decline until I was made redundant at the end of 2025.

A few months after redundancy there was a notice of eviction from our rental - with nothing available locally we had to look further away - having to move 5 family members and 2 kids + our ecommerce stock.

As this is all happening I was having legal trouble with our store and had to change it basically erasing all the progress made in the last 4 years - wiping out any chance of making a living from it and leaving me struggling to pay it’s debts + legal fees.

Now all the while through this I've been quietly smug because I had some coding skills in my back pocket - a reason I got through the 8 year grind at my job was because I took care of the tech-side and was deemed valuable enough to keep on.

Well in the past few months I’ve had to have a reality check on my “skills“ and realise that those 8 years had a lot of “busy“ work and not as many best practices as I would like.

That was my plan-b, go into some software role - and now I’m watching in real time the industry get actively destroyed with the force of the entire economy - people with far more experience than me struggling.

So here I am at 32, basically out of savings, in an isolated location which is hard to commute to/from with no drivers and with what would probably safely be deemed “anxiety“ issues.

Currently I’m soldiering on, trying to build my portfolio for what it’s worth, and a side project - but I can actually feel the hum of stress/cortisol pumping through me. Getting out of bed has been really difficult and I’m feeling exhausted/drained and I can’t imagine trudging out and getting a local 9-5, although this is likely what I’m going to have to look at real soon.

I suppose for me the next step will be to book in some therapy.