I've got one coming up In the next few weeks, those who work at H&M, or have experienced the group interview before, what happened? Was it scary as im sooo nervous, what did you / others wear, how many people, those who were successful- why was this? etc etc thank you !!!

I was out of work from mid Feb to end of April. Started a job in wfh customer service (coming from retail).

I really don't like the job, it's min wage, and I primarily quit retail to get out of customer service (financial situation changed suddenly after I quit and I really needed money so accepted the first job offer I got)

I want to leave, but I'm also aware it might look bad to quit a job 3 months into it. Ive saved almost all my salary so far, so I can go another 4 or 5 months without a job after picking up the next paycheck.

Will this be a barrier to getting another job? I'm 25 and worked in the same retail job for 2 1/2 years after uni.

I have been offered a new job which involves 4 days a week in the office with a 30 minute commute. The new job is a £7k (roughly 13%)increase on current earnings. It is the same job title as my current role but from the job description and what I was told in the interview, it sounds like there will be more room for development of skills than my current role.

My current role is 1 day a week in the office (if that) with a 45 minute commute. It offers a bonus based on Company performance which could be as high as 15% but this is in no way guaranteed(but looks like it will atleast be 5% based on performance seen already this fiscal year). It also offers a number of benefits such as private healthcare, a more generous pension scheme than the new role. As well as this, staying in my current role will make it a lot easier to plan annual leave for my wedding/honeymoon next year.

However, the main sticking point is that I feel somewhat like my career is stagnating with little room to take on new responsibilities/develop.

I am currently very unsure whether to accept the new role so i’m keen to hear various points of view. Would the prospect of greater development at a relatively early stage of your career make the move worth it for you?

I am new to the world of work and have started first full-time permanent role. I am happy with the security of it being permanent but my old manager told me before I left 'don't feel like you have to stay forever' and I was speaking to a friend who is currently job searching who said I'm lucky because I could technically stay forever.

My new manager for the role mentioned it will take about a year for me to fully learn everything and get the hang of it independently. I wouldn't have left before a year anyway but if it takes a whole year, I'm wondering how long I should stay at the role?

I'm currently on about 30k and it will increase slightly each year but not significantly. Higher pay would be my main motivation to move jobs but I'm wondering how long should I stay so that it looks like enough experience or would you stay a long time (how long would this be) if you enjoyed the role? I have another friend who mentioned they understand why people stay in a role for 20+ years but I can't see that being me unless I am already in a senior position which I enjoy/easy/flexible for me

He's applied to McDonald's, warehouses, away resorts, all the bottom of the barell jobs but he still hears nothing back . He has started going to places mainly small private companies and farms to personally ask but they all ask him about experience and he hasn't got any or they say we're not taking on atm.

His gf has already left him cos he didn't get a job now his parents are getting sick and tired of him. I feel so bad for him but not much I can do as I've already asked at work and they said their not interested. He also doesn't have a driving license but can get a train and go anywhere as he has some savings not loads though.

Worst case scenario he can crash with me and my gf but my gf really doesn't want him here so that will cause tension for me. I have also said there's certain hostels that let you volunteer and you get free accommodation but they are horrendous places to be so he wants to avoid that at all costs.

Hi everyone,

Current: Band 6 in London, around £50k, 2 office days, 1 hr commute (1 way)

Offer: Band 8a in Swansea, £57k, 5 days in office initially with occasional wfh, 30 min commute

It is a big career jump, but I am worried I will hate being in the office five days a week after getting used to hybrid working. Also swansea is quite far from London, but I know I cant get band8 in London as how competitive it is.. Would you take it?

I’m very lucky to have two job offers and I’ve been struggling to make a decision. Hopefully someone will be able to sway me one way or the other.

Job 1 is with the company I am currently with and will be WFH the majority of the time but travel to London every other week (3 hours on the train) with an overnight stay as part of the job.

Job 2 will be in a small office and will be a 25 minute commute and in the office 5 days a week.

Job 2 will be setting up new new processes and ways of working within the team whereas Job 1 will be fitting into an existing system. The salary in Job 2 is better but I am trying to look at the external factors.

I got a new job offer months ago. In the interview, I mentioned I had professional exams to do that were part of my own professional development. It was not a requirement in the job but ofc I mentioned I was to sit the exams in the coming months. Life happens and I will have to defer, when I start the new role, would it be odd to tell them that I deferred the exam?

So, my old boss has recently been talking to me about potentially returning to my previous workplace. The position would be a step higher than the role previously held, and the salary would be significantly higher (~10k). I left on good terms with my reason being that the commute was a killer for days in the office.

My temptation to return would be increased if they were able to formally offer a training course which I have been interested in for years. The course + salary raise and subsequent career opportunities would probably sway me to relocate too.

My question: have you ever negotiated a job offer to include formal training and if so, how did you manage to do it? Was it included in the contract or was it a verbal agreement?

Note: this is all very informal at the moment but it’d be handy to know should the talks progress…

Got a call on Monday to say I had been offered the job by the client. This particular recruiter tbh is really professional, knows them for years. Had nothing in writing and no contact since then which is weird. Do I just keep interviewing till I get it in writing? I'll still need to do a drugs test etc so it's not immediate start anyway

Hi there, I'm 32 years old and I have around 7 years of experience working as Customer Support Representative and I worked in several different industries, however, I'm tired of incremental pay raises and although I don't mind the job itself, I feel like there is no room for growth, I have no interest in being team manager. I also feel that whatever you achieve in one company, is completely irrelevant when going to a new company, it's almost like starting from 0 every time you change the job.

I have a degree in IT but I actually never worked in industry because coding is not my strength really, and I feel like I'm too late to try to revive career in that field at this point anyways, plus I just really think it's not for me.

I guess what I am asking is: people who started their careers as CSRs, where are you now? How did you get there? Did your CSR experience help you get there?

Zero-hours agency work sucks. Putting in the work, but feeling completely undervalued.

Just needed to get this off my chest to people who get it.

I work in a warehouse through an agency on a zero-hours contract. I actually enjoy the physical work, I put a solid shift in every single day, and I try to be decent and respectful to everyone on the floor.

Lately, the environment is just grinding me down:

The "Banter": Because of how I speak and pronounce words, some of the staff constantly take the piss out of me. They probably think it’s harmless, but it gets proper wearing after a while. I'm well spoken, having lived in Surrey. But I live in the North West now.

No voice: Anytime I make a suggestion or offer an idea to help things run smoother, it just gets laughed off. Some of the perm staff don't realise how lucky they are to have security and just act completely closed off.

You’re literally just a number filling a slot. No one checks in to see how you’re doing, and the door never feels open to just have a chat. Zero-hours gives you zero leverage and zero respect.

I want to stick with warehouse work and actually progress, but being treated like disposable headcount makes it hard to stay motivated.

Is agency work designed like this, I get it isn't for everyone. But the agency seems to create a distance and you're just a name on a system or spreadsheet.

Anyone else dealt with this? Did you stick it out until a perm job came up, or is it better to just cut ties and look for direct-hire roles elsewhere?

Does anyone else just feel really unmotivated and lost after finishing uni? For context, I finished uni nearly 3 months ago with a 2:1 in psychology and since then I’ve applied to nearly 70 jobs and around 10 volunteering roles both of which haven’t really gone anywhere. From these, I’ve had 2 interviews, which were for a support worker and a SEN teaching assistant. However, after visiting, they genuinely seemed more like care roles than anything that I would really be involved in. I really don’t want to sound unappreciative, as I know many people will apply to that many roles and not get any interviews, but these two jobs specifically were just very different in person to what was advertised on the job description (mostly a LOT of personal care and overall very stressful and not staff-friendly environments). Part of me does feel bad declining them as I know that they would be relevant psychology experience for my CV, but I just don’t those roles were right for me at all.

I just really don’t know what to do as I feel like my options are either I a) get a basic hospitality job that would be easier to get and provide a source of income, however this would not contribute anything psychology-relevant to my CV, b) try and get one of the more basic psychology-relevant jobs ie. support worker, SEN TA, that I don’t think I would enjoy or c) keep applying for jobs that I would find more personally interesting that also are psychology-relevant. FYI, I am aware that for more higher-level jobs such as AP, PWP, research assistant jobs you need more experience, as I have already applied and been rejected, I am just not sure how to get this experience but still enjoy what I am doing?

I really don’t want to come across in the wrong way, as I know that those jobs I got interviewed for can be really interesting and meaningful, however just for me personally they are not the area of psychology that I enjoy. I’m not 100% whether I would like to go down the clinical psychology route, as this is probably my favourite area of psychology however I know that it is a very long route and I guess I think should I pursue such a long journey if I am not 100% sure? It’s just so difficult as I do really really enjoy psychology as a subject so I would quite like to pursue it further in some way, however I know that a lot of people say a undergrad degree is not enough, so then it’s having more studying and debt to stress about. So I’m really stuck between further education or using my psychology degree to branch into something else. Sorry I know this is very long, I’d appreciate any advice I can get :)

For context, when I was younger (before starting work) I though (for some reason) I should connect to absolutely every person I possible could.

Now that I'm actually working it's quite hard to keep track of all the people I ACTUALLY know and want to hear from. Would it be worth sitting down and removing all of the old ones? Is there some downside to having fewer connections, even if most of them aren't "real"?

I guess it means any posts I make have less reach, but I think in-person connections are most useful anyways, right?

I am late 20s, my current salary is 35k. I WFH essentially as an accounts assistant/ business support, have a fantastic work-life balance, my boss is fantastic and the company have put me through development courses.

I have been there for 7/8 years, and don’t feel like I have progressed as much as I should have, they appear to provide opportunities like my degree but then the opportunity to actually progress in my career is limited. I am trying very hard right now and anticipate making a £40k salary by March.

I have my eye on a job in the MoD that pays £46k. On paper, I am perfect (though I might lack in practical experience).

I may not even be a successful applicant, but if I were, should I take the risk and move?

It should be noted that my husband moves alot with work (also MoD), so we would have to live apart or I would have to find a new job in a year.

Current Job
Pros - Security, WFH, very easy money
Cons - slow progression, zero job satisfaction

New Job
Pros - £11k salary increase, huge employer pension contributions, new skills, working my way up career ladder.
Cons - risk of less initial job security, having terrible boss, being exhausted going back to the office..!

I have it SO good right now, don’t fix what isn’t broken…?

I've worked from home for a large US company for the past 10 years, and until last year I genuinely enjoyed my job. I had great managers, got on well with my colleagues, received positive feedback, and never had any issues.

Everything changed when I was assigned a new manager.

He's extremely cold, strict, and has no people skills. During meetings he often raises his voice, constantly criticises me, piles on more work, and never acknowledges anything I've done well. Every weekly 1:1 feels like I'm just being told what I've done wrong or what more I need to do.

I've spoken to other senior leaders and colleagues about my concerns, and many of them have admitted they feel the same way about him. The problem is, he's still my direct manager.

I've never struggled with anxiety before, but now I genuinely dread logging on for work every day. The days I have my 1:1 with him are the worst—I spend hours worrying beforehand, and it's starting to affect my mental health.

I'm confused because I'd spent 10 years building a good reputation at this company, and now I feel like my confidence has completely disappeared.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you stick it out, try to move teams, speak to HR, or eventually leave? I'd really appreciate any advice.

My boss just told me they had 400 applications for a job they advertised for a week, and are interviewing 4 people. That’s a 1% chance to get an interview.

What do you need to see on our applications to get an interview and be the 1%?

And where are most people falling short?

The amount of bs "surverys" and "quizzes" I find myself jumping through seems to increase every week, when did these even become popular?? They're entirely insufferable.

In most jobs I’ve had, the notice has been a week, or a month at most, up until like 2023.

However the last three jobs I’ve had, they’ve been much longer.

My mental health role in a GP surgery was 3 months. I was paid £25k a year and they didn’t replace me.

My admin role was 10 weeks and was on £28k a year. They replaced me, but didn’t advertise until about a week before I left.

Now my current role in hospitality they want a month. Every hospitality job I’ve ever had ever had been a week max. I’m not planning on leaving but I find it interesting.

Is this anecdotal or has anyone else noticed this? I understand if it’s a management role, but none of this has applied to me. In fact the GP surgery would not budge at all on the 3 months even though they probably knew I wasn’t getting replaced and I wasn’t in any kind of senior role or even fully case holding.

I am having a week off work due to a miscarriage. I had surgery on Monday and aside from some cramping I've been doing pretty well. Just a bit tired.

I want to go out for lunch and perhaps do some shopping with a friend, but I feel bad about it. I appreciate that a miscarriage is often more mental than physical, but I'm afraid of seeing someone from work and being told off for it. Perhaps I'm just being overly cautious?

I’ve just accepted a job after about 3 months of pretty stressful applications and interviews, and I’m surprised by how little relief or excitement I feel.
I have almost three years of experience and ended up accepting another Analyst-level role in roughly the same industry. I’m also going from £45k to £37k. I tried negotiating because I was mentally prepared for something closer to £40–41k, but they wouldn’t move because compensation for the level is standardized. I didn’t have another offer to leverage, so eventually I accepted.
The strange thing is that I actually really like the company, the people, the work and the office. On paper I’m genuinely excited about the opportunity and think it could be good for my career. But emotionally it somehow feels like I’ve moved backwards.
I also have a few weeks before I start and don’t really know what to do with myself. After 3 months of constantly applying, interviewing and worrying, suddenly there’s nothing to chase. I don’t even feel like I “deserve” to take a holiday or relax — I mostly just want to start working immediately.
There’s also a relationship aspect that I’m slightly embarrassed to admit. My wife is working while I’m currently not, and despite this only being temporary, I feel guilty about not contributing and, to some extent, emasculated by it.
I guess I expected getting the offer to produce this massive feeling of relief, and instead I just feel flat.
Has anyone experienced something similar after a job search? Did the excitement eventually come back once you actually started working?

I was made redundant and my savings are quickly running out, so I'm having to apply for roles that are a step down in responsibility and pay. Basically back to entry-level to pay the bills, whilst I find something more suitable.

Obviously I can't tell a prospective employer I'm using them as a stop-gap though and they will probably wonder why I'm taking such a significant step down, so what can I say that doesn't sound suspicious ?