ARE THERE ANY JOBS OUT THERE???

[Steve Maskery]

And statistically speaking, if you become self-employed voluntarily and at a young age (sub-30 is young enough), you are much more likely to succeed at it than if you do so reluctantly and long in the tooth (I did my dissertation on that very subject).

So I wish you every success!

S

 

[tekno.mage]

I too really feel for you, Mike. The demise of engineering in this country and the subsequent loss of skilled jobs that has meant is a real tragedy. A similar thing happened to my partner in the mid to late nineties in field of electronics design & production engineering.

It's really beyond me why any real company wanting to employ "engineers" would prefer someone with lots of paper qualifications and minimal experience over someone with years of practical experience learnt on the job!

However, I think this is indicative of what has happened to an awful lot of british industry, and the comment that you are "over-qualified" probably just means they are looking for a "yes man" who will do as he's told and not make any waves while the latest bunch of financial wizz-kids at the top asset strip whatever is left and make off with the dosh (and maybe the pension fund) before the staff and customers realise!

In which case you are better off not working for such places - and it's definitely worth your while trying to set up on your own. Do plenty of research, and look into the availability of grants in your area for start up businesses.

I have a friend (the local blacksmith) and she has managed to win two grants this year - one to help her extend into a new range of products, which is funding the cost of buying in the materials and her time to develop new processes, and another for some specialist tools & training she needs. I know she also got a start-up grant (I think this was from the Princes Trust?) which paid the rent of her workshop for the first year and for some of the equipment she needed . Filling in all the application forms is tedious and onerous and you need to do a business plan and the like, but she has managed to find help with this (for free) from a variety of organisations.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

tekno.mage

 

[devonwoody]

Those garden centres are a source for contract work or recommendations. sheds/greenhouses etc. need erecting and more work can come from those contacts like new kitchens, bathrooms etc.

 

[beech1948]

Mike,
What may be a good thing would be to update this thread on a Daily basis. Nothing too onerous but just saying what you have achieved, whats next and when your going to do it.

We would all learn lots by seeing this ( a bit like workshop builds) and also you could ask for just-in-time advice from the many knowledgeable souls here.

best of luck
Alan

 

[jimi43]

When you're rubbin' shoulders with Simon Cowell - all we ask is remember us...



Seriously good luck my friend....and on the subject of car bootsales....her indoors made me a very proud man today...

Because I was working as I have to some Saturday mornings and missed the bootfair...she loaded her car up with tat from the loft (and I mean tat) and in ONE HOUR...came swanning into my place of work (before 8am) with £60 profit in her mits....

I'm really proud of her I am....

Jim

 

[dchallender]

Mike

as a fellow engineer I can understand your situation as it's a tough time for engineering at the moment but hopefully I may be able to help you out. A mate of mine has an engineering recruitment agency in Yorkshire, not sure if he can help you out with work as I don't know what he has got on at the moment. But last time I talked with him he was doing quite a lot with the nuclear industry, all turbines as well

His name is Bernard Smirke and tell him I put you onto him, if he can help he will, if not he should be able to put you onto the right track as he's been working this area for years and is a good mate of mine.

Here's his website and as you can see he's proud of the fact he lives in yorkshire

http://www.glossengineering.co.uk/

The only other companies that are still recruiting at the moment is BAE Systems in Barrow for subs (apparently they need 800 people and are struggling to resource them up). Rolls Royce are also recruiting as well due to Trent and also the forced draft fan for JSF taking off (literally!), unfortunately they will both mean travel so it may be worth talking to Bernard first.

I can really sympathize here as I left the navy after my apprenticeship on turbines and boilers and couldn't get a job, I ended up going back to college and doing manufacturing, after the demise of that I have now ended up consulting. I keep my skills up by doing woodworking and also model engineering (I was making wooden sheep at the weekend for a village event !!)

If you need anything else pm me and I'll see if I can help

best of luck

Rgds

Darren Challender

 

[MickCheese]

Mike

as a fellow engineer I can understand your situation as it's a tough time for engineering at the moment but hopefully I may be able to help you out. A mate of mine has an engineering recruitment agency in Yorkshire, not sure if he can help you out with work as I don't know what he has got on at the moment. But last time I talked with him he was doing quite a lot with the nuclear industry, all turbines as well

His name is Bernard Smirke and tell him I put you onto him, if he can help he will, if not he should be able to put you onto the right track as he's been working this area for years and is a good mate of mine.

Here's his website and as you can see he's proud of the fact he lives in yorkshire

http://www.glossengineering.co.uk/

The only other companies that are still recruiting at the moment is BAE Systems in Barrow for subs (apparently they need 800 people and are struggling to resource them up). Rolls Royce are also recruiting as well due to Trent and also the forced draft fan for JSF taking off (literally!), unfortunately they will both mean travel so it may be worth talking to Bernard first.

I can really sympathize here as I left the navy after my apprenticeship on turbines and boilers and couldn't get a job, I ended up going back to college and doing manufacturing, after the demise of that I have now ended up consulting. I keep my skills up by doing woodworking and also model engineering (I was making wooden sheep at the weekend for a village event !!)

If you need anything else pm me and I'll see if I can help

best of luck

Rgds

Darren Challender

This will upset him, he has his heart set on a change of career now! :lol:

Mick

 

[dchallender]

Mike

as a fellow engineer I can understand your situation as it's a tough time for engineering at the moment but hopefully I may be able to help you out. A mate of mine has an engineering recruitment agency in Yorkshire, not sure if he can help you out with work as I don't know what he has got on at the moment. But last time I talked with him he was doing quite a lot with the nuclear industry, all turbines as well

His name is Bernard Smirke and tell him I put you onto him, if he can help he will, if not he should be able to put you onto the right track as he's been working this area for years and is a good mate of mine.

Here's his website and as you can see he's proud of the fact he lives in yorkshire

http://www.glossengineering.co.uk/

The only other companies that are still recruiting at the moment is BAE Systems in Barrow for subs (apparently they need 800 people and are struggling to resource them up). Rolls Royce are also recruiting as well due to Trent and also the forced draft fan for JSF taking off (literally!), unfortunately they will both mean travel so it may be worth talking to Bernard first.

I can really sympathize here as I left the navy after my apprenticeship on turbines and boilers and couldn't get a job, I ended up going back to college and doing manufacturing, after the demise of that I have now ended up consulting. I keep my skills up by doing woodworking and also model engineering (I was making wooden sheep at the weekend for a village event !!)

If you need anything else pm me and I'll see if I can help

best of luck

Rgds

Darren Challender

This will upset him, he has his heart set on a change of career now! :lol:

Mick

DOHH!!!! :shock:

 

[Doctor]

Hi Mike, I have a cabinet making business and I suspect like most employers offering apprenticeships or qualified positions there is no way I would employ someone who has been on those previous earnings.

I know it's probably a wrong attitude, but my opinion is once you were trained up you would move on to a better wage or set up as competition.

So if you are applying for jobs reduce the previous earnings or I think your CV will be tossed.

I think Brads comments are the correct way.

 

[big soft moose]

So if you are applying for jobs reduce the previous earnings or I think your CV will be tossed.

.

I agree with doc - I work in a completely different feild (Countryside and rights of way) but likewise I would not usually consider someone for one our junior roles (paying circa £15k) if they stated their previous salary had ben 40k+ because this would raise questions in my mind about how they would cope (would they be constantly knackered at work from working two jobs to maintain their life style), what their attitude would be (ie would they take the job less seriously because the pay was low) and how long they would stay

I'm not saying that any of the above apply to you, but the way to demonstrate that they dont is not to mention your previous salary on your application