matt85

Well, short of working for yourself that is.

It just seems to me that every other job you ever see pays £12-16k a year, usually in on office/call centre/shop. How do people seriously live on this? With that i mean is buying a house, car/insurance, washing machine, holiday etc. In my new job ive worked 160 hours and been paid £624 after tax (£3.90ph). To be honest im mildly pissed off (taxman had my eyes out) but im not going to get the razor blades out just yet as im not going to do it for the rest of my life. I live at home, go out once a month, buy clothes when my old ones have holes in and have no real outgoings. Im so glad im still young!

Seriously though, WHERE are all the good jobs? And why do the people in them all seem to be c*nts?? And does anybody actually get paid well AND enjoy their job? And more importantly how did you get it?

And to top it all off i cant even get a fu*king swich card or a half decent bank account despite the fact i work from 8am-9pm every day. 'sorry you failed the credit check'.

Theres no way you could call what im doing living. Its barely even existing.


Theres something fundamentally wrong with this country.

djuk

chaos... is that you?

Old_Fart

I moved to London to get a job as a security guard, got bored, took a job in a bank paying £8.5k a year (that was in 1989) and worked my way up from there, today I manage to get by on what I earn and enjoy the job to boot.
Think there has to be an element of luck in it though...very hard to pick a profession when you are 16/18/21 in my opinion...had no idea what I wanted to do..untill I managed my first six figure salary year that is Oh, I'm widely regarded as a c*nt though, so that must help
Cman

ProperCharlie

out of interest, what job are you doing?

angrynorth

Don't mean to sound cocky but the best way to get a good job is to be good at what you do.

Pick a profession and master it.

ChrisB

Become a bricky for T5 at Heathrow:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3643673.stm

Chuck,

That's a bit strong personally - I'd stick to wbanker

djuk

£55k as a bricky at 17... wow!

matt85

HaHa! It did sound like a whinge didnt it? (Probably because it was!)


ProperCharlie: i work in 2 call centres. both awful, awful jobs.

i absolutely hate it. I honestly couldnt fathom working for the next 46 years in a job that, the second i go into the building im looking at the clock wanting to go home. at least its only for a year before uni. it will probably be a good thing in the long run though because it will make me work a bit harder so i never have to go back!

although when i graduate theres not a chance in hell im staying in this country anyway. for reasons that we shall go into another time!

BexTait

Anything to do with not being in the tax system here and therefore not paying back student loan?

matt85

agree totally..

its what im intending to do just dont have the facility to do it for a few years yet as im stuck in the poverty trap!

haha.. i forgot about the student loan issue as well. Thats a good thought actually!

CC

second that, pick a skill thats pays well preferably and get good at it through education/self learning/on job experience.

at a young age i didnt have a clue what i wanted except for loadsa money and therefore went from job to job, not a happy time career wise. but ive learnt that most of us will have to do **** in order to progress.

then did a degree in comp studies (not necessary for comp career imo).

got a p/t job in a factory whilst a student. for some reason i worked hard and did well got promoted still only p/t mind. on completion of studies was offered a job in the company f/t but wasnt in the IT dept but i had my eye on it. as soon as an IT vacancy arose, about 3-4 months, i went for it and got it.

stayed there a while and cos of crap money moved on when i got some experience now contracting. not minted by any means cos the more i earn the more i waste ofngreat nights out and scoobys but hey u cant take it with u .

TonyNesta

I would echo earlier comments about learning a skill or a trade and mastering it, but I would also add its not just what you know, but who you know.

Whatever job you do, if you're good at it, people will notice you. The same applies if you are **** too ! You need to identify the people that can further your career, and take every opportunity to impress them, go the extra mile, stay late, fix problems, whatever. Its all about building up a network of contacts. Eventually, they will come to you, but it doesn't do any harm to put feelers out with those you have a good working relationship with, just to find out if anything good is coming down the line. Try to keep your desperation in check though

It won't happen overnight - anyone thinking they can walk straight into a well paying job (and that includes graduates) is sadly deluded - but if you bide your time, and work hard to impress the right people the world is your oyster. The last 3 times I have changed job has been down to doing a piece of work for someone in the past who has then had a requirement where I would be suitable, and have then sought me out. People remember good workers.

I would like to add that I have had SIGNIFICANT pay rises each time I have moved, whereas the annual pay increases within the same job have been almost imperceptible. If you want the big payrises, you have to move company in most cases, unless your dad is MD !

Trouble is, there's always more good people than there are good jobs, so you have to work at it. It can, and probably will take years - in my experience, the opportunities to 'fast-track' to higher levels are few and far between. Stick at it.

I come across many people, usually aged 18-28 who are firmly convinced that the world DOES owe them a living, and expect a fantastic paying job to literally fall in their laps. Having been a graduate mentor, and having worked with many graduates, I find many of them have an appalling attitude to work. Given that they have walked in to a job at £5k more than similar aged non-graduates, they still bleat on about how they are not paid what they are worth. I attempt to enlighten them as to the ways of the real world, but they rarely listen strangely enough, being over-convinced of their own worth in real terms.

And no, I don't have a degree.

T

Jerome

I didn't start earning respectable money until I was 27 - and I work in IT!

Until then I seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Looking at some of the toys, and obviously huge disposable incomes, some people on here have, I would also like to know where all the goods jobs are.

NACRO

quote: "WHERE are all the good jobs? And why do the people in them all seem to be c*nts?? "

It's a pre-requisite for the decent cash I'm afraid, basically my recipe for success invloves having no sympathy for your bosses and picking the largest company possible to rip off/work for.

bluenosewrx

iTrader: (2)

Become an Asylum seeker,register yourself as 3 different ppl,let the council give you a house and let the benefits roll in,seems to work for the one's around me,all driving nice motors and never seen them lift a finger,IMHO of course,
all politically correct people need not reply,i already know your views etc,etc.

mac

GTB Limited

Too many fast track graduate schemes IMO.

Plus the fact that firms require a degree for anything remotely complicated.

To move from the shop floor (blue collar), upwards (white collar), is becoming increasingly difficult. With experience counting for very little.


Mark

TonyNesta

Agree with Mark - employers these days place far too much emphasis on being a graduate. They take 'em on, train 'em up, and they then fvck off elsewhere sharpish. Far better to promote from within, from people who have a background in the particular line of work, and can see/shape where the business needs to go.

I don't wish to disrespect graduates in general, I have met some who really are outstanding individuals, but not because they have a degree. They are the kind who would make it whatever they choose to do.

T

kammy

hi,
im a student and its all to do with the oppourtunity cost (the next option you could have chose.) i could have got a job, full-time, as a say a shelf-stacker and probly saved up for a few years then bought say a scooby instead off going to uni. but i have choosen to go to uni, run up a massive debt, sacrifice earning say 12k a year, with the vision of earning much much....much more in the future.
what im trying to say, from my experiance, unless your lucky, your best of getting a degree under your belt, or some form of punch, i.e a GNVQ in something decent, and invest in your future. Its the longer way to it, but its more reliable and you will in most cases reep(SPG?) the benifits when your older. Im only 20, and having a right **** time at the moment, i have no car, im in my room revising for my exams, and reading SN but its most likely pay off later, with a monster car, mansion of a house and a super-model wife who loves me....errrrr....???
hope it all works out for you, and work hard kam.

fatherpierre

I hope your degree is in a subject other than English, mate.

imlach

You certainly won't get anywhere by whining about why you aren't getting anywhere.

Being the "good guy" won't always work. Most of the top people are the "bad boys" and just got there by deceit, sucking up to the right people, etc.

It's no surprise that most of the top people have a background in sales or marketing, ie, bull****ting has been their trade from day one

imlach

In your case it is easy.

a) Learn to spell and use punctuation. This will get you far. I find it quite worrying that the only word you thought you got wrong in all of the above was "reep". Let's not begin on the punctuation

b) If you're only 20, and are a student, a car should be FAR from your thoughts. You don't need one. Waste of money when a student. Concentrate on your studies, and use your Fri & Sat nights productively by sowing the seeds of your thoughts amongst the ladies

imlach

Actually, this is getting my goat now.

In my day, further education generally meant that one had received a level of school education which meant one had a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the english language.

Given the evidence, not just of the above post, but of many SN posts, the level of english teaching has clearly detoriated by a significant margin.

More worrying, is that people with a lack of understanding of the english language are now being taught a specialist subject in further education without a decent level of understanding of english.

Most CVs & covering letters we receive at our company meet the required standard thankfully, but does this mean that we are to expect a decline in standards in the future? Or is it just lazyness which makes people use english so badly?

Worrying.

fatherpierre

True.

If the post I reacted to is the result of the UK's A level system then we are doomed.

Imagine a person with that poor grasp of English being in charge of, and having the respect of his/her peers?

matt85

its ok now guys.

i just had phone call from a large investment bank wanting me to be the managing director. they didnt mention the money but im not getting out of bed for less than 500k pa.

Drunken Bungle Whore

Start with what you're interested in and work from there. Say you're intersted in cars (being on SN was the clue). Well - go to a load of car dealerships, they're nearly *always* looking for people. The basic may be cr@p but there's plenty of chance to make commision if you're any good. Plus you'll get use of lots of cars! As you still live at home I'd say it was a worthwhile gamble.

Once you've got some sales experience under your belt then you'd be amazed where you can get into. Yellow Pages pay pretty well for their telesales.

And just for the record, I'm one of "them", I'm not a ****, I've never trod on anyone to get where I am, I get paid jolly well and I love my job. My first job was as a Saturday girl in Woolies in the 80's and I've worked up from there so ya boo sucks to you all!

kammy

Drunken.. good advice, its always good to follow your dreams, or atleast your passion. As for father.. since when did SN become a place for critically reading other members posts, i can not be arsed, sorry "bothered" to hear you winging about S.P.G, were not retards on SN and can cope with the odd word mis-spelt or the odd punctuation error! If you want to read perfect english i would be more than happy to forward some of my mind-numbing essays concerning why the exchange rate mechanism failed, and the consequences of this on the british, (British) economy. I do agree with you however, some posts (posts') have been written (wrote) in a poor standard of English, but this is SN not an English lit. board. No hard feelings, and please stick to answering the threads.
cheers ( Thank you dearly) Kam

imlach

IMHO, I think bad spelling & punctuation on the same thread where people are asking how to further their employment is quite ironic - ie, it's gives a bad impression. Suffice to say Kammy, if you were to come to me for a job, I'd now be checking up on you more than I would have done. Reason being, your bad english stands out like a sore thumb.

Irony.

kammy

dont worry, i would not be coming to your for a job, i am online for a 1st/2.1 in Economics, and my english is more than up to the standards when required. if you want to keep giving me irrelevant, childish diggs, feel free to PM me. why you would not employ someone with poor english on a BB is frankly stupuid.
Take it easy bro, and dont get too in to issues such as these, take some things of life on the chin, its only a board. 'nuff-sed-bredrin' just kidding. xkamx

imlach

I could give you some advice on the real world, but I shan't bother.
You're clearly far too intelligent for that given you'll have a degree soon.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

The thing is, kammy, that you will be judged on the standard of your English, whether you believe it to be important in a particular role or not.

The quality of someone's English is a perfectly good indicator as to the standard that person has reached in other subjects too. Smart people find that good English comes naturally. People who care about how others perceive them will make the effort to write good English whether it comes naturally or not. You might say, "it's only a bbs", but you can't then complain when others treat you as if you're ignorant or lazy. Respect has to be earned.