Advice for friend looking for work
Discussion
Ok, here's the situation, first of all, he's not claiming anything but looking for work - living at home with parents, mid-20s, bright, educated to degree level, no physical/health problems, male so no tit shots.
He's considering a job with a financial information provider in the "city" (London to you Northerners). The job will mean he'll either be working 6am-6pm or 10am-10pm every day. The pay will be in the region of £20-30k PA depending on what he can negotiate. Due to where he lives it looks like in order to get to the office for 6am he'll either be required to leave his house at 4.30am to get there or relocate into central London.
If he relocates he'll be paying for rent + food + travel expenses and after tax his disposable may not exist. The job doesn't have much progression in terms of the pay scale where he's likely to earn a lot more.
He is concerned that if he gets offered the job and takes it there won't be any time to have a social life etc. As a result he'll just be working and breaking even financially.
Personally, I can't help thinking he'd be better off looking elsewhere and he's in two minds about bothering. If it were a normal 9 to 5ish then I'd tell him to use it as a career stepping stone as we've all done and suck up the lack of money he'll save but as there's a chance he could lose money in expenses from rent etc plus there's no obvious future prospects and crazily long hours for the responsibility level, I'm tempted to recommend he doesn't bother.
So what do you think?
He's considering a job with a financial information provider in the "city" (London to you Northerners). The job will mean he'll either be working 6am-6pm or 10am-10pm every day. The pay will be in the region of £20-30k PA depending on what he can negotiate. Due to where he lives it looks like in order to get to the office for 6am he'll either be required to leave his house at 4.30am to get there or relocate into central London.
If he relocates he'll be paying for rent + food + travel expenses and after tax his disposable may not exist. The job doesn't have much progression in terms of the pay scale where he's likely to earn a lot more.
He is concerned that if he gets offered the job and takes it there won't be any time to have a social life etc. As a result he'll just be working and breaking even financially.
Personally, I can't help thinking he'd be better off looking elsewhere and he's in two minds about bothering. If it were a normal 9 to 5ish then I'd tell him to use it as a career stepping stone as we've all done and suck up the lack of money he'll save but as there's a chance he could lose money in expenses from rent etc plus there's no obvious future prospects and crazily long hours for the responsibility level, I'm tempted to recommend he doesn't bother.
So what do you think?
So, he has the choice of sitting at home all day..
Or getting a full-time job which will make him a small amount of money and teach lots of new skills, and give him the opportunity to use the experience from that job to progress in that business or as a platform to move forward with a career.
If he's not claiming the dole then his disposible can't be much now anyway?
Unless it is going to literally cost him money, i'd be all over it. Right now, a job is a job and it's easier to get another job if you're already employed. You learn to fit your social life around work, people do it all the time. Getting up at 4.30am is nothing special. Again, plenty of people do it regularly and you adapt into a pattern that makes it perfectly manageable.
Or getting a full-time job which will make him a small amount of money and teach lots of new skills, and give him the opportunity to use the experience from that job to progress in that business or as a platform to move forward with a career.
If he's not claiming the dole then his disposible can't be much now anyway?
Unless it is going to literally cost him money, i'd be all over it. Right now, a job is a job and it's easier to get another job if you're already employed. You learn to fit your social life around work, people do it all the time. Getting up at 4.30am is nothing special. Again, plenty of people do it regularly and you adapt into a pattern that makes it perfectly manageable.
tty deal.First off, can I say big respect to him for not going straight on the dole if he doesn't need to.
As much as I believe that there are some circumstances where you should take what is given to you and use jobs as a stepping stone, I think that what you're mate is being offered is a terrible deal.
If he takes that job, as well as all the other points made, he won't really have any chance to look for another job, I.e go to interviews etc.
If he's in the financial position to pay his expenses for the next few months until he can find something better, i think he should do that.
As much as I believe that there are some circumstances where you should take what is given to you and use jobs as a stepping stone, I think that what you're mate is being offered is a terrible deal.
If he takes that job, as well as all the other points made, he won't really have any chance to look for another job, I.e go to interviews etc.
If he's in the financial position to pay his expenses for the next few months until he can find something better, i think he should do that.
RemainAllHoof said:
living at home with parents, mid-20s, bright, educated to degree level, no physical/health problems, male...So what do you think?
I think he should take the role, move out of his parents house and give living away in Town a crack; isn't that what being single and in your 20's is all about? He'll have a great time and this role could well lead to other things. Wish him luck!fido said:
1. £25k - assuming he can negotiate that is enough to live in London (houseshare)
2. IMO job/experience is better than no job/experience
3. interviews - take a day off
Sounds like a reasonable idea.2. IMO job/experience is better than no job/experience
3. interviews - take a day off
I graduated in 94 but couldn't get anything until Jan 95 (ERM recession) then it was 11K per year. But once you've got experience in your field you can normally move on. If it's one of the blue chips I'd go for it if I were him.
If he wants to be in the city it's worth a grab as a year doesn't last long. The key will be to make sure he looks like they're under-employing him and they may make space for promotion; especially in other teams of the same company. There are books on how to do this.
Seriously it's not how good you are at your job but how good your bosses think you are.
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