Jimbob Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Before the recession hit, i had a nice cushty job in bridge building as a CAD Technician. It was going strong, even when the recession hit. Unfortunetly i did lose the job, but it wasn't due to the recession primarily. It was partially to do with the company committing fraud on a scale as well. Have had 1 temp job previous to the temp job i am on now, which i much preferred to this job i am currently with. At least it had variety.
Beast Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 It was pretty hard to me to find a job, really. After I graduated college, the recession hit so it was really bad timing for me. I looked very hard for jobs all of the time, every day and all I managed to get in those years were four interviews but the fifth one I had, I was successful with so I'm happy. It's part-time in the evenings but full-time would be more awesome but I'm not complaining at all. Overall, the recession affected me and all those around me pretty bad.
nightwolf Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Page of writing Yes and yes, I'm in agreement with Dan. What I will also put here, in my opinion and in my Dad's is that the recession up north seems to be far worse than the recession to the South of England. Since I left university in May, I've been incredibly lucky, at university I had the shit jobs like everyone else, my last job before I left was a 7 month stint and I only worked 3 of those due to my contact, I earned £100 a month and was expected to pay most of that towards work clothes. Nowadays I've worked for Jagex and now work for Spotify, it wasn't an easy feat! For Jagex I spent more on moving to Cambridge than I earnt and ended up being replaced by students, for Spotify I've done much the same, except now my job is permanent. (which is great.) But it took a lot of effort, there is for the most part, nothing in the fields I want to work in (media/creative type stuff.) sure Sheffield had a bit of it, but with two universities in Sheffield, much the same for Manchester and nearby, it's almost impossible. My Dad has suffered the same, I guess suffered is the wrong word here, but it's the only type of word I can think of. He's basically travelling to the centre of London every week for well, not very much money, because his field of working (construction.) is dead in this country. Otherwise, I've not noticed major changes, I obviously had the inital shock of things being far more expensive down south, but that was going to happen anyway, I've mostly stumbled out of uni and managed to drop lucky in just about everything I've done so far. Other people haven't, most of my friends have stayed university for the security, others are now working in fields so completely different to their chosen ones because of money. R_A - I beg to differ about degrees and starting from the bottom, it entirely depends on chosen field and how good you are at it. But for most people it is true.
Fierce_LiNk Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 The recession has hit Wales pretty hard. Newport Town Centre is dead. There were huge plans for redevelopment, but due to budget cuts, we've ended up with something which is only 1/10th of what was originally envisaged. The actual shopping centre has about half a dozen shops, one of which is a two storey Wilkinsons and two of which are pound stores. It's an abomination. There was all this talk of the place being a haven for people visiting because of the Ryder Cup, when in reality they all hopped on the bus to Cardiff. Getting a teaching job there is impossible. I've met supply teachers working in Wales who have been supplying for the past 5 years, because they couldn't find a job. So, it was hard to begin with, but impossible once the recession hit. Very, very happy that I got out of there, because I imagine I would still be applying for jobs right now.
Emma Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Getting a teaching job there is impossible. I've met supply teachers working in Wales who have been supplying for the past 5 years, because they couldn't find a job. I found getting a teaching job difficult too. It took over 70 job applications to get my first interview, which was on the Wirral near Liverpool. Over 100 people applied, even though it was for a maternity cover position for 5 months. My next job (with 4 months unemployment in-between) in Sheffield was a part time temporary maternity cover, which was at a rubbish school and lasted for 6 months. After 3 months of unemployment I've finally started my new job which will last for at least a year, so things are finally looking up . There are too many teachers applying for too few jobs. Older teachers who should be retiring aren't and people graduating from university are becoming teachers as there's nothing else to do. It's a pretty bad situation really! However, I know there are people whose situations are far worse than mine.
gaggle64 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Getting a teaching job anywhere seems to be impossible. It was pretty difficult before thanks to the slightly idiotic and continuing government policy of throwing money at training as many teachers as possible without giving schools the money to actually bloody hire them. It was bad before but it's impossible now as schools cut budgets and reduce hours. I have a cousin who recently finished training who can't get a job anywhere. My mother had to leave our area (Dumfries & Galloway) as soon as the youngest of us left for Uni because there was so little work, but she's still only been able to find supply work which is ridiculous given her training and experience: She's a fully qualified music teacher and specialised in teaching kids with severe learning difficulties. She's done terms in secure units in inner-city schools in London turning the problem kids no one else wants around - we're talking about kids with assault charges and diagnosed behavioral problems no one wants to deal with. She's turned whole departments around in at least two different schools, vastly improving grades in just a few weeks. She's done work in both public schools and at least one private institute, but still the most she can get is supply positions with no definitive period of employment, often having to pick up after somebody else's mess. She's considering taking a position in Dubai because nowhere in the UK seems prepared to giver her a permanent job. To put it bluntly if someone like my mother, with all her skills and experience, can't get a decent basic position in this country I can't help but feel most of us are pretty much fucked. On a vaguely related note, I understand Tony Blair (the great architect of our current prosperity) is a very wealthy man now. I hope he drowns in something.
Goafer Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 On a vaguely related note, I understand Tony Blair (the great architect of our current prosperity) is a very wealthy man now. I hope he drowns in something. Is it possible for someone to drown in fire? I hope so. I'll have to have a word with my teacher friend about his experiences of finding his job. He seemed to get it straight from uni with very little hassle, but I could be wrong. Not sure if it was during the recession either, could have been just before.
jayseven Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Jimbo; lol newport. They get rid of that awesome moving clock with the intention to move it to a new 'centre' or something... and yeah. The place is a dive. So many empty shops, it's depressing.
Emma Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I'll have to have a word with my teacher friend about his experiences of finding his job. He seemed to get it straight from uni with very little hassle, but I could be wrong. Not sure if it was during the recession either, could have been just before. The answer is in the gender. Some teachers are lucky in that their final placement needed a new teacher, or that they know someone in a school. Same goes for everyone though, it's sometimes who you know..
Wesley Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 On a vaguely related note, I understand Tony Blair (the great architect of our current prosperity)... Really? Also I think that any ex-PM is generally going to be pretty wealthy... The media reports about his businesses, and those being in conflict with his UN position, are largely over-blown.
Rummy Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 I haven't read any of this thread, but short of the world/media/facebook etc saying 'holy shit we're in a recession!' I've probably gotta say that realistically I haven't actually experience that much different due to it. If anything I've got more work than I ever had(which is possibly more notable given I've nothing on contract) and the only way the recession is actually 'affecting' me is that I know about it and everyone talks about it and tells me about it and it actually makes me wonder if we didn't live in a world where this information is so readily everywhere would anybody actually even really notice that they're in the big 'credit crunch'. I get really shit pittance of interest on my money, actually. That's about it. Maybe I didn't get an annual increase on hourly rate either, but that's not really a valid point.
Dan_Dare Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 that lack of pay rise is important, though. On the surface it might look like you get the same money but food prices and bills are skyrocketing. The effect, which will become more pronounced over time, is that your wages are actually worth less than they were before. Combined with low interest on savings it raises the cost of living significantly, which is the real cost of the recession even for the employed. tl/dr: Everyone's fucked, even Rummy.
Rummy Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Oh, yeah, I'm aware of that. It's just compared to most people I know, an annual payrise(no matter how small it was) was actually more than they sometimes got! You know I haven't even noticed if it really was frozen, just cut, or what, people just say it's been frozen. (It's not just not just cos I'm an idiot of that that i haven't noticed, i've flitted between like 3 different pay bands this year and i never payed much attention to my base wage anyway to a.) underestimate my earnings in order to accidentally save and b.) because there's all sorts of weird additions on top that it's a bit irrelevant. Feel the need to clarify I'm not absent-minded/ungrateful for wages in these apparently hard times) EDIT:In addition to my previous post I should probably point out I still live at home and therefore have a lot less outgoings though I definitely have noticed a rise in price of almost everything.
nightwolf Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 It entirely depends, I move down south a couple of months back and am paying LESS for my current room than I was paying in Sheffield (if you include all the bills etc I was paying quite a bit in Sheffers and not getting as much as I do here.) But it depends, like I mentioned earlier, Cambridge doesn't compete with anywhere and I've been very lucky with employment.
DomJcg Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 My bursary got withdrawn before I started, I have 1000 pounds to live on until January, but I was already in debt when I started the course (400 pounds overdrawn). To get to my school placement it costs 40 pounds a week, foods risen so its around 25 pounds a week. I figure I have 175 pounds ish a month to live on? That goes after three weeks. Next year they are bringing the bursaries back. Yes it has.
jayseven Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Why's the bursary withdrawn?! You say £175 a month to live on - you need to break down precisely what that means. Nights out, of course, but what else? If you've already budgeted travel to uni and food, then that's roughly £40-45 a week to 'enjoy' yourself... Yeah it's not a great deal but it is do-able. You'll have to be selective with nights out, and really food-shop like a pr0. You'll need occasional money for toiletries... and mobile phone contract(s) you may have. I'd advise reducing any contract you have ASAP. And consider getting a part-time job. I totally could've done it a lot sooner in my uni career. There's a hella lotta free time, if you really need it. Honestly it's totally doable. I've lived on £200 a month which has included food, and it's fucking harsh but it is doable. You need to forgo a lot of social occasions. If you have a place to invite people over to then concentrate on doing that more than going out - or go out but just had a single drink/pre-drink more often. ... Otherwise yeah! Have fun :P This isn't the end of your life, this is going to be a good experience for you as to what real life can be like - shit hitting you from all sides. It will be long and tedious and unfair... but character building and all that schtoooof.
chairdriver Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 I'm hoping for a paradigm shift at some point when people realise the lows and highs of the economy in a capitalist are only going to get more and more extreme, and that people start making structural changes to the way we organise ourselves with regards to economics. We're only ever 5 meals away from Civil/Class War.
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 I'm hoping for a paradigm shift at some point when people realise the lows and highs of the economy in a capitalist are only going to get more and more extreme, and that people start making structural changes to the way we organise ourselves with regards to economics. We're only ever 5 meals away from Civil/Class War. It really is rather amazing/terrifying that so many people can keep believing that capitalism is the answer to the world's problems in the face of what's going on.
Coolness Bears Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 I spent all my money on burritos. Filthy, Sweaty but the oh so delicious taste of Mexico.
jayseven Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 I really do wonder how much the idea of 2012 being the end of the world in folklore and mythos is affecting the social subconscious :P
DomJcg Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 Why's the bursary withdrawn?! You say £175 a month to live on - you need to break down precisely what that means. Nights out, of course, but what else? If you've already budgeted travel to uni and food, then that's roughly £40-45 a week to 'enjoy' yourself... Yeah it's not a great deal but it is do-able. You'll have to be selective with nights out, and really food-shop like a pr0. You'll need occasional money for toiletries... and mobile phone contract(s) you may have. I'd advise reducing any contract you have ASAP. And consider getting a part-time job. I totally could've done it a lot sooner in my uni career. There's a hella lotta free time, if you really need it. Honestly it's totally doable. I've lived on £200 a month which has included food, and it's fucking harsh but it is doable. You need to forgo a lot of social occasions. If you have a place to invite people over to then concentrate on doing that more than going out - or go out but just had a single drink/pre-drink more often. ... Otherwise yeah! Have fun :P This isn't the end of your life, this is going to be a good experience for you as to what real life can be like - shit hitting you from all sides. It will be long and tedious and unfair... but character building and all that schtoooof. I'm on a PGCE Teacher Training course, when I'm not at school 8 til 4 I'm at uni 9 til 5, while I have weekends free I use them to do work for my classes and projects for uni. They took away funding to the universities so the universities took away the bursaries. They're giving them back in 2012 because of the increase in tuition fees. I don't reeeally have the time to have a job. My phone contract is 13 pounds a month, and petrol is 20 pounds a week if I stretch it. Food is at 25 pounds a week between the two of us, we are having competitions to try and get it as low as we can parking is between 2.50 and 5 pounds a day. What else is there? Already living rent free and bill free. Couldn't do the course if we weren't. Thank you for the uplifting message though jay thank you
Platty Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 (edited) 3 year pay freeze, higher pension contributions, working longer hours, higher living costs (like everything gone up), ridiculous rise in train fares. Paying for some crap sporting event in 2012 no one wants. All this = me being much poorer. Want to buy a property? forget it. Want to start a family? forget it. Want to buy a chocolate bar? forget it. Fuck the Tories. At least I have a job I guess. Thankful for that. Edited October 11, 2011 by Platty
Sheikah Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 its all about starting from the bottom, even if you spend 20 years getting degrees and various fancy certificates.... EVERYONE starts at the That's not true, in many cases qualifications can advance you from the very bottom. But more importantly they let you go for careers that require qualifications. Such as in science, if you want to be a professor one day you need a PhD. Starting a PhD during the recession was great since it's stable in that you'll not lose it due to the current financial situation. Not being taxed on your earnings and not paying council tax are also pretty sweet benefits. The starting salary for PhD jobs are also really nice.
Ramar Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 3 year pay freeze, higher pension contributions, working longer hours, higher living costs (like everything gone up), ridiculous rise in train fares. Paying for some crap sporting event in 2012 no one wants. All this = me being much poorer. Want to buy a property? forget it. Want to start a family? forget it. Want to buy a chocolate bar? forget it. Fuck the Tories. At least I have a job I guess. Thankful for that. I just don't get train fares these days, they go up by ridiculous percentages every 12 months and yet there is fuck all improvement to services. There seems to be never ending weekend engineering works on Thameslink services for the last god knows how many years. The exact same off-peak ticket on a weekday is £13.50 on a weekend it's £9.50. Explain that one.
Fifty Posted October 26, 2011 Posted October 26, 2011 It didn't really had much of a impact on me. Just a little but rise in my expenses that's all. I am the lucky one i guess
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