Job woes/wins

[Happenstance]

Yep similar with me as well at my last job. Worked at a school that was a pretty friendly place, all of us admin/IT staff felt like an actual team, then the school group came. We became a school group with 2 other schools (1 senior school then us 2 prep schools) and the senior school started making a lot of the decisions, usually made from a senior school mentality, not understanding the needs of a school for younger children. I was managing the databases, phones, printers etc at the time and it became impossible to do my job. Contracts weren't paid so we kept losing access to software, everything became very corporate and all the staff became miserable. I left about a year and a half ago and since then they've lost multiple teachers and I'd say at least half of the admin team.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 6/4/2024 at 11:22 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

Me and the sax will forever be one.

This job though is horrendous. I'm trying to get back into NHS.

After several failed interviews (fuck the STAR method), I've finally managed to get an offer back at NUH and I can leave the firm I'm at now. 

Currently there's barely any work to do where I am, my colleague who works alongside me consistently falls asleep and is writing some sort of Norse fanfic/book and doesn't know that I know, and there's only so many stalkers and sex offenders I can deal with before I know I'll snap. Just waiting on the confirmed start date and I'll hand in my notice.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 8/24/2024 at 2:06 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

After several failed interviews (fuck the STAR method), I've finally managed to get an offer back at NUH and I can leave the firm I'm at now. 

Currently there's barely any work to do where I am, my colleague who works alongside me consistently falls asleep and is writing some sort of Norse fanfic/book and doesn't know that I know, and there's only so many stalkers and sex offenders I can deal with before I know I'll snap. Just waiting on the confirmed start date and I'll hand in my notice.

That start date is not coming now, as they've withdrawn the job offer and at this moment won't tell me why.

[Will]

For reasons I can’t go into I left my last job in the middle of July. I absolutely hated it so when I got the offer to part ways I jumped at the chance. I was a little worried with how things are in the industry right now but figured it was worth the risk to try and find something better. I decided to take the summer off and just enjoy things then September would be the time to start looking for something.

One of the guys who used to work with me introduced me to a team looking for someone to help them out and I had a few chats with them over the summer before going down to see them last week. Loved the team, great project and all the right things to go with it.

Had a call earlier today saying I’ll have the formal offer in the next few days!

[Ashley]

Congrats! Glad you got out of the last place if you weren't enjoying it. 

[MindFreak]

Had my first day at work after a little more than 5 months off due to paternity leave. And whaddya know - they weren't ready for my return. My boss has known since August that I would return at about this time, and I told everybody at a department event on November 1st that I would return this week, and there is absolutely zero tasks waiting for me. I did some e-learning on GDPR to kill some time, talked to people and had lunch today, was there for 5 hours before getting home to pick up the children from day care and school. But tomorrow I'll be back at work at 9 am and don't know what to do.

I was told I had to help make some changes to how our APIs work so that we can release new versions of those outside of "normal" (big) releases but our IT architect is not ready to talk about how we do that. So I'll have to take small tasks from here and there to spend the time. I find that a bit disappointing.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 9/5/2024 at 11:08 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

That start date is not coming now, as they've withdrawn the job offer and at this moment won't tell me why.

I managed to figure it out, was a bad reference from my previous manager. Which I tried to appeal and gave other staff members who could attest to my greatness which was escalated to HR. Their response was to ignore everything I gave them and just go back to the person who gave the reference to begin with, who apparently gave further examples of non-value behaviour, because apparently they only use the names/contacts of those I put on the application portal. I made a data request for all my files, including leave and more importantly, disciplinary files, of which there were none, so I had proof of either innocence on my part, or negligence on theirs.

So I applied for another position using a previous manager, got an offer and have made my triumphant return to the NHS, which I am keeping secret from many former coworkers at the moment just on the off chance a certain manager hears and plans some sabotage.

[Cube]

I'm being made redundant. I've got a couple of months to find a new job.

[bob]

18 hours ago, Cube said:

I'm being made redundant. I've got a couple of months to find a new job.

Ooh, that's rough. What's the job market like in your sector?

[Cube]

2 hours ago, bob said:

Ooh, that's rough. What's the job market like in your sector?

There's very little in my area. Any full time work will do, though. A really good website job has cropped up a five minute walk from my house, with them also has a second one (not as good but still better than my current job) .

 

There's also a few police jobs with IT in mind so those are good options. I applied for one some time last year and was in the shortlist of six for the interview, and the people I know in the force say that all jobs use the same guidelines.

[Will]

On 2/13/2025 at 9:04 AM, EEVILMURRAY said:

I managed to figure it out, was a bad reference from my previous manager. Which I tried to appeal and gave other staff members who could attest to my greatness which was escalated to HR. Their response was to ignore everything I gave them and just go back to the person who gave the reference to begin with, who apparently gave further examples of non-value behaviour, because apparently they only use the names/contacts of those I put on the application portal. I made a data request for all my files, including leave and more importantly, disciplinary files, of which there were none, so I had proof of either innocence on my part, or negligence on theirs.

It amazes me anyone would dare give a negative reference nowadays. I've had some terrible employees but the worst reference I can imagine giving it one that just confirms the details of their employment. Glad it seems like you've managed to sort something else - I'd have been tempted to bring up a damages claim if not.

On 2/14/2025 at 3:50 PM, Cube said:

I'm being made redundant. I've got a couple of months to find a new job.

Hopefully you at least get a bit of cash and some time to sort everything out. Hope the opportunities you've found so far work out. Definitely one to try and see the positives from and move on to something better.

[Cube]

30 minutes ago, Will said:

Hopefully you at least get a bit of cash and some time to sort everything out. Hope the opportunities you've found so far work out. Definitely one to try and see the positives from and move on to something better.

I've got four weeks of work and six weeks of redundancy pay on top of that. Plus for the rest of my time working, free reign to take time off for interviews (they're probably hoping I get a job that I have to start sooner, which means I'd need to quit before I can be made redundant).

 

To be honest, there was no going anywhere in that business. When the business did extremely well, there was absolutely nothing. Now it's struggling, and it's the workers that suffer. They might be doing better if they listened to the ideas the staff had. TBH, probably better getting made redundant than 6-12 months form now just being told "none of you work here anymore and there's absolutely no money to pay you". The main thing the job had was it was comfortable.

 

The business is going though a strange transition from a boss that works hard for growth, to his son that seems to just want an easy life and would rather be doing other things. The insane thing is that they've just agreed to buy a property and are getting builders to convert the run down car garage into a shop, which to me comes across as the boss trying to make sure his son has to stick with it. I really don't see it lasting as the location isn't really where people browse. 

 

Oh, and when I was told I was being made redundant, the boss mentioned that others are also being made redundant. But he hasn't told anyone else yet. Surely you tell them all on the same day and then tell everyone else that their job is safe (for now)? 

 

The other IT person has said that getting rid of me is a massive mistake, as he's not going to find anyone with my kind of experience and skill (and knowledge of our heavily modified website that has some odd quirks) for the wage he wants to pay if things do pick up.

 

A few fun examples of management.

I suggested a new logo for the website for years (it was awful), then I was eventually asked to design one, as they had a big shop opening. The people making the sign needed it in a week. I made some mock ideas to get an idea of what he wanted, and he went "yeah, send that one over". A new look for the business, done in an hour. Oh, and I was never asked to make versions for t-shirts or the van, so those look awful as it's using a background made for a rectangle. 

 

Another one was also when they wanted to move to another company for their order software. Me and the other IT person were told a week before we were supposed to switch. We gave our very important recommendations, including using the old system for a month until we iron out the kinks in the new system. We were given access slightly early, and expressed our concerns that it really wasn't suitable for our business and far too complicated for the staff. We were told "we'll work it out, we're never going back to the old one".

So we stopped adding data to the old one immediately, the new one was a disaster and a month later we went back to the old one. If only the IT team were involved in changing one of the major IT systems.

 

[Ashley]

12 hours ago, Cube said:

I've got four weeks of work and six weeks of redundancy pay on top of that. Plus for the rest of my time working, free reign to take time off for interviews (they're probably hoping I get a job that I have to start sooner, which means I'd need to quit before I can be made redundant).

Be careful with the sequencing of this. Any redundancy payment may be withheld if you take another job at this stage. 

Be sure to check the terms of the redundancy as I've heard of people being caught out by stuff like this. 

[Cube]

16 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Be careful with the sequencing of this. Any redundancy payment may be withheld if you take another job at this stage. 

Yeah, that's likely why they're happy for me to have time off for interviews. Hopefully, I can get a job that I can start shortly after, as I only have to inform them if I need to leave before the notice period ends. If I get offered something like this, I will not be telling a single person that works there (even the ones I get on with) until I get paid. 

 

But if I get offered a decent job that I can't delay until after, I think securing the work is more important. 

[MindFreak]

So... You've been fired but you are required to work another month? How motivating. I wouldn't want to do any work in that case. 

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

Yeah, that's likely why they're happy for me to have time off for interviews. Hopefully, I can get a job that I can start shortly after, as I only have to inform them if I need to leave before the notice period ends. If I get offered something like this, I will not be telling a single person that works there (even the ones I get on with) until I get paid. 

 

But if I get offered a decent job that I can't delay until after, I think securing the work is more important. 

There should be some clear terms attached to the redundancy notice and if there's not ask for them. Ultimately the redundancy pay is a way of helping you during a period of unemployment. If you find a job within your notice period and/or choose to leave early they can take that as a sign that you don't need the money. 

If they don't supply them then I'm sure they'll have no leg to stand on, but might be worth contacting Citizens Advice Bureau to be sure. Or even check trade union sites. They probably have general advice about redundancies and your rights. 

[Cube]

It's a small company and the boss doesn't really fully understand the process, so there are no clauses.

Looking into various law/government websites, it seems like you can get employment during the redundancy period without affecting redundancy pay unless there are specific clauses, so I'm safe on that end.

Supposedly, if I wanted to leave early, it's beneficial for the company to still offer the redundancy pay and leaving at an earlier date and just saving the money from the hours not worked, as refusing to accept it can potentially lead to lawsuits aimed at them and can be messy. 

[Ashley]

Yeah if it's a small place and they've not stipulated otherwise. 

I'd still play my cards close to my chest in case they really are struggling and suddenly think they can maybe get away with it. 

Good luck with the job hunt.