ARE THERE ANY JOBS OUT THERE???

[mike-reid]

Afternoon folks

Went for an engineering job interview lastnight. wont bore you with the details but basically the agency LIED to the company to get me there and made me look a FOOL! not happy.

So that is it! i quit the engineering world for good as all i have been told for the last 2 years is you arent qualified enough.

Mods, bare with me, i do have a point to do with woodwork in general.

I am earning a pitance, in a call centre and man do i hate it. so i have come to the conclusion that if i am gonna get paid crap dosh, i may aswell try and get an apprenticeship and go to college.

Can ANYONE here offer me a place in their workshop as an apprentice, within yorkshire? i am happy with crap wages till i progress and i can get funding from the royal navy to pay towards training and with certain benifits i will get funding towards an NVQ etc.

I do have experience, which is checkable, and you will not find a more commited 28 y/o father, thats needs to make a change for the sake of his sanity.

Please let me know. if given the opportunity, I would not let you down and prove to you that I am worth the risk. If anyone would like further info, please pm me.

Warm regards to all

Mike Reid

 

[Steve Maskery]

Sorry, I can't help, but you have my sympathies.

I've been applying for jobs for six years. For every graduate job there are 50 or seventy applicants. For unskilled work like a receptionist (and I have every respect for good receptionists) it's more typically 200. I'm told I "don't have experience" and am "over-qualified".

The answer to your question is "No", or at least, nowhere near as many jobs requiring people as there are people requiring jobs. As well as the huge number of unemployed people, there is also a record number of people like me - not Unemployed and a burden on the state, but not properly economically active either. I'm seriously looking a getting a job overseas, but I'm really not convinced that it would be any better anywhere else either.

An old school-friend of mine has recently emigrated to NZ. They have had several holidays there and decided to got out. He hasn't got a job yet, she has temporary work, in the local benefit office, dealing with the jobless. Sound familiar?

I really feel for you, but I'm afraid I don't have an answer.
S

 

[Oryxdesign]

I'm sure someone will give you a go, if you were in Kent I get you to tryout myself.

Goodluck

Simon

 

[markymark12]

Pretty quiet at the moment, lots of guys looking who have been in the job for some time that are willing to work at greatly reduced rates.
Sorry not better news Can't see it getting any better any time soon, i have less calls now than 3months ago and they were not many. And clients think you will work for nothing.

 

[Digit]

Strangely enough I was offered a job today in a local tool room!

Roy.

 

[Dibs-h]

Sorry mate - I feel for you there. If I did this for a living I'd give you a go, but I don't.

Is there no possibility of work for folk you know? Odds & sods - it would help with the cash flow, get some tools in and be a temporary relief from making the "Emperor's New Clothes" all day long.

Engineering - frankly my feeling is in this country that sector is almost dead and buried - unless your in some truly niche sector, but that usually requires more letters after your name than one has in the name.

 

[Mike.C]

Sorry, I can't help, but you have my sympathies.

I've been applying for jobs for six years. For every graduate job there are 50 or seventy applicants. For unskilled work like a receptionist (and I have every respect for good receptionists) it's more typically 200. I'm told I "don't have experience" and am "over-qualified".

The answer to your question is "No", or at least, nowhere near as many jobs requiring people as there are people requiring jobs. As well as the huge number of unemployed people, there is also a record number of people like me - not Unemployed and a burden on the state, but not properly economically active either. I'm seriously looking a getting a job overseas, but I'm really not convinced that it would be any better anywhere else either.

An old school-friend of mine has recently emigrated to NZ. They have had several holidays there and decided to got out. He hasn't got a job yet, she has temporary work, in the local benefit office, dealing with the jobless. Sound familiar?

I really feel for you, but I'm afraid I don't have an answer.
S

I do not mean to be ignorant, but what the hell does "Over Qualified"
mean? I hear it said time and time again but cannot see how anyone is over qualified. Surely as long as you are qualified to do the job you are applying for that is all that matters?

Sorry to hear about your problem Mike. I hope that someone takes you on.

Cheers

Mike

 

[promhandicam]

My father, now retired, was a chartered accountant. He was unemployed for about 18months and many of the jobs he applied for he was told that he was over qualified. For example no one would employ him to do book keeping - something that he could do without any problem, as he would in all likelihood have a higher qualification and more experience than his line manager which would probably lead to resentment or other difficulties down the line. I would say in general, the higher your qualification the narrower your job options.

Steve

 

[Dibs-h]

I do not mean to be ignorant, but what the hell does "Over Qualified"
mean? I hear it said time and time again but cannot see how anyone is over qualified. Surely as long as you are qualified to do the job you are applying for that is all that matters?

Sorry to hear about your problem Mike. I hope that someone takes you on.

Cheers

Mike

Means many things,

- we don't employ your sort, but have to come out with some BS as opposed to the truth,
- Bloody hell you're more qualified\experienced than me and you'd be reporting to me. Can't have my staff better qualified\experienced than me, as they'd be after my job.
- You genuinely have experience\qualifications that put you in the upper quartile for that sector, yet for reasons they don't know (like your sick of working with w@nkers) you apply for a job in the 1st quartile.

or a mix of the 3 and then some. I'd like to think that a savvy interviewee knows when it's Nbr 3 and when it's Nbr 1.

 

[Oryxdesign]

I'd like someone to work for me that knew more than me and was better qualified.

 

[Henning]

Having been on "the other end of the table" so to speak, it usually means that your qualifications most likely means you'll be on constant lookout for a new job after 6 months and that is expensive for a company. At least that's how i've been looking at it. It would be a big minus for me if i employ someone with a world of qualification knowing that i can not offer immediate career opportunities and see someone we've been training in systems etc. dissappear again in a short time. Depending on the size of company i'd say that is mostly what over qualified means. It can also mean i'd be ashamed of paying you, with your qualifications, the wages i've been given to offer. I do appreciate the fact not everyone thinks like this though, before anyone get an urge to shoot me down in flames

 

[joiner_sim]

I was looking for work last year from about september, I was checking the jobcentre website EVERYDAY and applying for every job. It got me nowhere I'm sorry to say. I was still applying in February this year, and there was a job going that perhaps I wasn't skilled enough for but that week in my old job was probably one of the worst I'd had and knew I had to go elsewhere. So instead of just sending my C.V. and a small cover letter, I sent a truely personal letter saying how much I wanted to move into the companies line of work, I got to admit I think I practically begged them for the job.

Out of all the jobs I applied for this one actually called me up for an interview, and I work for them now!

I guess what I'm trying to say is do what I did and hopefully something will come along that you want, don't give up! All those companies advertising for skilled bench joiners, apply stating your willing to learn at of course a much lower rate for the advantage of gaining experience from such a good company.

 

[Dibs-h]

I'd like someone to work for me that knew more than me and was better qualified.

Yeah but that's because your confident in your own abilities - you'd be surprised how many folk out there either aren't confident (& insecure) or just plain crap and feel they'll get found out if they take someone "better" on.

 

[Mike.C]

I was looking for work last year from about september, I was checking the jobcentre website EVERYDAY and applying for every job. It got me nowhere I'm sorry to say. I was still applying in February this year, and there was a job going that perhaps I wasn't skilled enough for but that week in my old job was probably one of the worst I'd had and knew I had to go elsewhere. So instead of just sending my C.V. and a small cover letter, I sent a truely personal letter saying how much I wanted to move into the companies line of work, I got to admit I think I practically begged them for the job.

Out of all the jobs I applied for this one actually called me up for an interview, and I work for them now!

I guess what I'm trying to say is do what I did and hopefully something will come along that you want, don't give up! All those companies advertising for skilled bench joiners, apply stating your willing to learn at of course a much lower rate for the advantage of gaining experience from such a good company.

Simon your letter and interview got you the job, in the end that is all that matters =D>

So if you find yourself in Steve's position do you lie and hide some of your qualifications to put food on the table or do you tell the truth and in the end claim state benefits?

Cheers

Mike

 

[mike-reid]

thankyou for all your comments so far.

i have experience of being told i am to ambitious, by aggreko the diesel generator company. my main problems are that i am ex-forces, worked on the oil rigs as a fitter/roughneck(42k a year) for 3 years and then built wind turbines around the uk for a year(70k!!!). alas it was too good to be true and the first week after xmas 09 we were all laid off for cheap foriegn labour... please do not comment on this last part, i would like to remain untainted within this forum. :|

if i wanted to work away again it wouldnt be a problem gettin work, but the roles i used to do got me no where but divorced and now my ex has begun playing dirty, i havent seen my 2 kids since december. i now have a beutiful baby boy, Ash, with the woman i should have met so long ago. i am not making the same mistake again. its too expensive

dibs, you are absolutly right, it is as good as buried. an old school trained fitter/rigger/mechy is no good anymore. you need electrical/gas/machining/degrees/hnc/onc and MD before they look at you, for a maintenance role, and they can wait nowadays, because so many are looking for work!

i just want to get my hand tools over time from cheap/free soources, build my knowledge and create some items of quality and longevity and gain some respect about myself again. i want to prove my worth. show i am not just all talk but a man of skill with a keen hand and keener mind.

being told NO, at so many interviews takes its toll on you, believe me.

I couldn't thank you all enough for your help and comments, especially those from the oposite perspective, opens my eyes a little. but after working so hard for 12 years and loosing it all, i refuse to sell myself short by dumbing down. i earned the right to be proud about what i have achieved in the past. i made it out of a few war zones and can tell the tail, have seen oil rigs by firelight and have rode a turbine blade 100m in the air. was it all really for nothing? does it count?

 

[jimi43]

I think a huge number of people here have the greatest sympathy with you my friend.

I spent 28 years working overseas...mostly with the family but when they needed higher education in the UK I had to go it alone...it was horrible.

The recession hit and at 50 I found myself looking everywhere for a job. I started out trying to find a job with the same pay/skills requirement but whatever they say about ageism...it is alive and well and living in the UK!

I am a fully qualified engineer, have nearly three decades of experience of being dumped in the deep end on islands in the middle of nowhere and having to fix almost everything from diesel engines to trench diggers...electrical systems to marketing would you believe. And yet nobody wants an old git!

I refused to go on the dole and got a job in the local hotel as a night porter...and worked my way up to manager over the last year...being in the right place at the right time. I want to do something more constructive with my manual skills but the wolf is at the door and the poor wages keep him in the hedge at the moment!

I say all of this not to bore you but to firstly give you hope and secondly say...at 28...you have your age on your side...you are at the optimum age...experience plus maturity and a hell of a lot of great experience at that!

Keep yer chin up mate...you will get what you want - I am sure of that! You are certainly not short of trying!

Best of luck

Jimi

 

[Digit]

It's crazy! Here we have a guy only too willing to work and he can't get a job. I sympathise my friend and wish you all the luck!

Roy.

 

[mike-reid]

roy, jimi thank you. i do hope my age helps, but trying to get an apprenticeship at 28 seems like an impossibilty.

keeping the wolf in the hedge. easier said than done i think considering i worked 36 hours at 6 an hour last week and walk away with 130 quid after the ex takes her chunk. csa are ridiculous, but i digress.

i know, without sounding arrogent, i am a good craftsman. i love, have a passion for wood and using old REAL tools to make beautiful functional items. its what i should have done from leaving school, but parents know best....

i have to do this, just to be happy and feel fulfiled. at the risk of sounding like a hippy (which i am :lol: ) i will stop here

atb to you all and i hope those in a similar position, can find a better way too

 

[BradNaylor]

I can only reply from my own perspective; a 50 year-old bloke with no formal qualifications beyond A-levels who has never worked for anyone else in his life.

In your situation I would have no hesitation; I would set myself up as a self-employed handyman specialising in carpentry jobs. An old Transit van and some basic tools are all you need to get started - stick a few cards in newsagents' windows, get a website up and running, start knocking on doors. Unquestionably you have the skills required, and before long you should be busy earning between £100 and £150 per day. Best of all most of it would be cash and the ex need never know about it! :wink:

The exciting bit is where this could lead - the progression from putting shelves up to fitting B&Q kitchens for people to selling and fitting your own kitchens to owning a big kitchen company is achievable within a few years for anyone with the right drive.

And that's just one possible progression. The world's your lobster!

Good luck.

 

[wizer]

I missed the fact you was 28. For some reason I assumed you was more like in you 50's.

Take Brad's advice. You've got nothing to loose. Reputation is built on WOM.