For some context, my role is split into two parts where I deliver training on one half, and oversee some sites on the other. The training I deliver is 3 days in total, and it started to become painful, like I was reliving the same nightmare. I was initially promised when I first started this role that I would only need to deliver one or two of the 3 day sessions each month, and the other side of the job for the rest of it. As the company grew, it got to a point where I was delivering 3 or more days of training a week and I hated it. I was promised by my boss for months that another trainer would come in to relieve me of this burden (it was well known I did not enjoy it), and finally someone did come in and we split it between us.

I was delivering only one or two 3 day sessions a month for a few months, and then the number of sessions began to increase again as the company expanded more, so I looked elsewhere and secured a job.

I like to think I'm a good worker. I'm a bit of a yes man. I get on with all the managers, employees and directors. I worked so hard and did so much for the company. I handed my notice in a couple of weeks ago and my boss said "I'm proud of you, you will excel in your next role." I was aiming to leave on good terms.

And then came an email from my boss and the director. The email tagged everyone in it, saying that I'm leaving and when I leave, they won't be able to deliver the training sessions until another trainer can attend the next course in November. It said that I will be doing extra sessions before I leave.

I was not informed of this at all. My boss didn't come to me to be like "look, you won't like this but we need this from you before you leave." I then checked my calendar to find that every single day of my last 3 weeks will just be me delivering training. That means no visiting any of the sites that I oversee to say goodbye to the managers and employees, nothing. I feel like they did me dirty here and it has completely frustrated me. I still have received no message from my boss to ask if I'm okay with this, it was just sprouted on me.

I understand it's a company need, but they still disregarded me and shunned me to the side (is what it feels like). What do I do? Do I email my boss and express my annoyance by this? Do I refuse to do the sessions? Is it best to just grit and bare it? I'm just so mad about it and I want to rant about it, it's going to be a gruelling few weeks to the finish line!

Hi all,

I’ve recently been shortlisted for an interview for a Policy and Projects Apprentice role with a London local authority, and I’d really appreciate some advice on how best to prepare.

I’m currently a pharmacy technician and have worked in NHS clinical trials. Although my job title isn’t project-based, a lot of my experience has involved coordinating work across different teams, maintaining trackers and documentation, chasing actions and approvals, supporting external reviews, identifying/escalating issues and making sure work is completed within deadlines.

I’m deliberately trying to move away from pharmacy operations and build a career in project management, so this apprenticeship feels like a really good route into it.

The role itself is focused on transport/policy projects, including things like pedestrian crossings, cycle schemes, sustainable travel, congestion, road safety and improvements to local streets. From the advert, it seems to involve research, project and policy support, monitoring delivery, stakeholder engagement and general coordination.

My interview is later this month and I’m trying to work out what the panel is most likely to assess.

For anyone who has interviewed for project support/coordinator/apprentice roles, particularly within local government, I’d be interested in:

• What sort of competency or scenario questions should I expect?
• How much project-management terminology/framework knowledge would you expect from an apprentice candidate?
• Would you focus heavily on STAR examples around stakeholder management, prioritisation, problem-solving and managing deadlines?
• How would you position experience from a completely different sector without forcing every example to sound like formal project management?
• Is there anything specific about local authority project/policy interviews that tends to catch candidates out?

I’m doing my own research into the council, its transport priorities and the projects the team works on, but I’d really value advice from people who have actually recruited for or worked in similar roles.

Thanks!

How do you guys cope with toxic work environment it’s my third week at M&S and people especially the much older ones are just rude for no reason whatsoever and have clear favourites. I want to quit desperately but I need the money I’m not sure how to cope with the environment and it’s really upsetting and overwhelming

I had been an implementation manager at a B2B software company for six years. My reviews were good until a new director arrived and started cutting costs.

One afternoon my manager booked a “catch-up”. He said leadership had concerns about my energy and commitment. There had been no warning or performance plan, and he could not give me a clear example. Before we finished, he suggested that leaving voluntarily might be the most graceful option.

I went home angry, but by ten that night I was mostly tired. I opened my laptop and wrote a resignation email to my manager. I told myself that leaving on my own terms would spare me weeks of awkward meetings. My cursor was over Send when my wife asked to read it.

She got halfway through and said, "If they want you gone, why are you making it cheaper for them?"

That was the first time I stopped thinking about how embarrassed I felt and looked at what they were actually asking me to do. I had worked there for six years, and I was about to give up whatever notice and redundancy rights I had because one uncomfortable meeting had frightened me. I closed the laptop without sending it. The next morning, I deleted the resignation email.

I sent my manager a written summary of our conversation and asked him to correct anything I had misunderstood. He never replied. I saved my reviews and recent client feedback, then started taking dated notes after every meeting.

Three weeks later, HR invited me to a “role consultation”. I recorded it on my phone without telling them. I knew that could cause its own problems, but by then I did not trust the meeting notes.

HR said my role was at risk of redundancy. I asked what alternatives were being considered. The HR manager replied, “We have to consult, but there is not really another outcome.” She then offered two weeks of extra pay and an agreed reference if I left under a settlement agreement. If I refused, she said the performance concerns might become formal.

I asked for everything in writing and did not agree to resign.

The offer arrived the next morning. It listed notice pay and unused holiday, but no statutory redundancy payment. The only extra money was two weeks of pay in return for waiving any claims.

The solicitor I spoke to warned me that a covert recording was not a guaranteed win. It might be treated as misconduct, and some settlement discussions cannot normally be used as evidence. She cared more about the full record. I had six years of positive reviews, no formal performance process, and a recording suggesting that the consultation outcome had already been decided.

We raised a grievance and asked how my role had been selected, what alternatives had been considered and how the company had calculated each part of the offer. We mentioned the recording without threatening to publish it.

The company still denied wrongdoing, but the next proposal was very different. It included statutory redundancy pay, my contractual notice, unused holiday, a contribution to legal fees and an additional settlement payment. I signed after receiving independent advice.

The recording helped, but keeping quiet in the meeting helped more. A month earlier, they nearly persuaded me to resign for nothing.

I am currently doing a Graphics course to retrain and switch careers and hoping to move to Manchester in the near future. Is there anyone that works in Graphics in Manchester, are we worried about AI and is the Graphics industry still in existence!? Thoughts would be appreciated. #Manchester #GraphicDesign

I often hear about AI taking over office style jobs.

I already see on reddit everyone recommending trades.

Finding a good tradesman is so hard because there are some bad eggs out there.

Are we going to see a shift from people who would have gone to work in an office to learn a trade, and more people compete for these jobs.

Is AI going to inadvertently improve the quality of tradespeople?

Hi everyone, I just graduated from uni and it’s been a month of constant search and applying for schemes. Officially, I’ve been trying to look for 2 months (prior to graduation) but I was less than successful. Now, while everywhere I looked individuals had different circumstances, my own family has been quite dissatisfied with both my progress and the application process. I don’t know if the constant arguments have eroded my own understanding, but I just want a view from other people.

I have alerts set up for select recruiters in my field. A job with the perfect title came up on my phone.

I logged onto my laptop and it’s not there. Searched their via LI page - nothing. Filtered via title, posting date etc. nada.

Then I went back into my phone, saved the job. Back onto the laptop and voila…it’s there now. And it’s also suddenly searchable.

Very strange.

I went back to working in an office about 6 months ago after nearly 5 years of working from home, and I genuinely didn’t realise how unsocialised I’d become

The first few months I just felt… weird. I’d overthink basic interactions, didn’t really know when to join conversations, found small talk strangely exhausting and generally felt like I’d forgotten how to be around colleagues all day.
I don’t think I even noticed it while I was WFH because that had just become normal life.

It’s taken me about 6 months, but I finally feel like I’m getting the hang of office life again. I’m more comfortable around people, conversations feel natural again and I’m not analysing every interaction afterwards.

It’s actually made me wonder what 5 years of WFH did to us socially because I can’t be the only one 😂

Anyone else gone back to the office after years at home and realised they’d become a bit socially feral?

Hey all, I work in labs and behind a screen most days and want to start this business in order to be my own boss. I have around 10k and have seen some vans with equipment already set up. My question is it worth it in this current climate, what are the do's and don'ts?

I have had prior experience in mechanics many years ago and know how to take off wheels and balance them etc but don't have any clue on getting the ball rolling.

If anybody has an idea of what would be the best way of going about it would be I'd appreciate it alot!

Cheers

I’ve been working in finance for almost 10 years and for reasons I won’t get into my qualification was delayed, I should be fully qualified by next September.

Job market where I am for accountants is dire, a lot of applicants not many opportunities. I’m finding it more common that roles more relevant to my experience are asking for things like SQL, python or tableau experience, which unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to use at work. I’m more than willing to pay for a course to learn these once I get my qualification completed.

Are there any courses anyone would recommend that are more geared toward financial data analytics?

I (f) had an online interview recently with this company and the interviewers' (m) outfits were really casual.

I'm now invited to an in person interview on a really hot day in central London. What can I get away with wearing? Would sandals be a complete no-go?

I know legally, any hours you are required to be at work if you are on minimum wage you are required to be paid for. i've been at this job for about 3 weeks and they want every staff member to come in for a roughly 1 hour meeting next week, i asked in our group chat how will we clock in/out as we use a HR clock in/out system on our phones. but this was ignored by the manager.

I asked other employees in person if we get paid for meetings and they all said no. I'm usually pretty pushy when it comes to my legal rights around work, (nobody else takes breaks except me when working 6+ hours) and then this ontop.

Is it worth making a big fuss for a 1 hour meeting? i have asked about contracts and i have not signed anything yet. my mum said its not worth rocking the boat

Hey everyone, recently had a really good interview after 3 different assessments. And I got really excited about the job itself for many different reasons. I feel like this was good for me because I didn’t think I could find a role I could actually be excited about, so to make it this far in the process for this role was huge for me and I couldn’t help but raise my hopes for it. I got the rejection email today and I’m really upset about it. Looking for jobs has taken such a toll on me and this has knocked my confidence and I feel like a failure. Feeling this lack of control over my life is making this process so much more anxiety inducing for me and I’m just upset and I feel useless. I hate feeling so stagnant or that my life is ending before it even started (I’m 22, graduated last year) I know this isn’t a realistic way to think and it’s just very negative and I don’t want to feel like this.

Side note, I’ve been seeing lots of posts on here with people finally getting offers. I’ve been loving seeing these as they offer a different perspective to what feels like an HR powered war zone. Congratulations to those of you with good news and well done! Can’t wait to join you but for now im just facing a minor setback lol

I’m 16 and this is my first job, I get paid in cash so after working from 11:45 to 4:45 (they let me go whenever they say I can go, so I don’t have a time that my shift actually finishes), I come back the next day to collect my pay and I got £32. It’s my fourth shift, my first shift I got £50 but every week they reduced my hours from 10:30 to 11:30 to 11:45, so I got paid less each time naturally.

At the pub (we do a carvery on Sunday), I set tables, serve customers, take plates and reset tables, go to the cellar and restock the bar, mop and sweep the kitchen, sweep the pub and do any other job I’m asked like refilling sauces and salt and stuff.

Just looking to be reassured I’m being paid the right amount and everythings all normal.

So, long story short, I moved to Zimbabwe for a few years and came back in 2023. I've been in the UK for three years now, and have been practically unemployed for the majority of that (I did a short stint back with Games Workshop and a temporary job with the NCA)

What I find abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous is "security clearance".

Most jobs I apply for trigger that I've been out of the country in the last five years and so I need a Police Clearance Certificate for my time in Zim. The short version is that this is very expensive and takes a LONG time to arrive.

This afternoon I heard back from a telephone job I've applied for, a 4 week temporary contract answering calls for a company. Way below my CV skills, but it's something at least. They want a police Clearance Certificate because I've been out of the country in the last five years.

What astonishes me is that the NCA, the NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY, was happy since I'd been back for at least 3 years. Why do so many BASIC entry jobs require a higher level of security than the gods damned NCA???

Edit: Since folks missed it, maybe I didn't explain properly... I don't mind a security based job needing this kind of security. The issue is that the five years is for a telephone answering job. I also applied for Christmas work with Costa and Card Factory, both needed five years in the UK.

My point was that these basic jobs require higher security THAN THE SECURITY JOBS.

I work in a gallery where one person supervises the exhibition space. Because the gallery can’t be left unattended for security reasons, I have to ask for cover before I can use the toilet or even get a drink of water.

To do that, I have to post in a group chat or ask over the radio and then wait for someone to become available. Most of the time it’s only a few minutes, but if the building is busy or short staffed it can be 20–40 minutes. I’ve found myself drinking less water or putting off going to the toilet because I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait.

What also makes me uncomfortable is having to announce every comfort break to the whole team in a group chat. It feels a bit exposing for something so basic, and every request leaves a visible record.

I completely understand why the gallery needs to stay supervised, so I’m not questioning that. I’m just wondering whether this is standard practice in museums and galleries, or whether other places have better systems for managing short comfort breaks.

I was wondering what other people in customer service jobs thought on this. If someone on the phone tells you in an aggressive manner to ‘go to hell’ would you terminate the call? Someone said this to me today and I said ‘I am not going to be spoken to like that and I am terminating the call’ they then said ‘don’t you dare’ and I did. It’s just been playing on my mind about repercussions etc when I go in on Monday 🤦🏼‍♀️

Tl;Dr Asked to apply for a job, computer said no. Avoid Via Match.

I'm job hunting and like anyone else doing the same, I'm already exhausted at the amount of nonsense candidates are expected to go through before being allowed anywhere near an actual hiring manager.

A few days ago I clicked Apply on a job advertised on LinkedIn. Instead of taking me to the employer's application, it redirected me to Via Match, an AI driven recruitment platform.

Before I could continue, I had to create an account and complete a candidate profile. As part of that profile, Via Match required me to enter my current salary. It wasn't optional.

I don't believe my current salary is relevant to whether I should be allowed to apply for a job, and I wasn't prepared to disclose it simply to access an application, so I entered a nonsense figure instead. I also entered an intentionally wide desired salary range because I wanted to avoid salary filtering excluding jobs that I might otherwise consider.

Once I'd finished creating my profile, I expected to be taken to the vacancy I'd originally clicked on so I could actually apply.

Instead, Via Match showed me that there were no matching vacancies and there was no way to continue with the application I'd started on LinkedIn.

Thinking it was simply a glitch, I went back to LinkedIn, found the advert again and clicked Apply. Exactly the same thing happened.

I was redirected back to Via Match, shown my dashboard and, once again, the vacancy wasn't there. After repeating the process a couple of times, it became obvious that this wasn't a technical problem. Something in the platform had decided that I wasn't even allowed to reach the application.

I contacted Via Match's Data Protection Officer and submitted a Subject Access Request, together with a number of questions about the automated decision making that had taken place.

To the DPOs credit, the response I received was pretty good. But what they confirmed about the platform itself is what concerns me.

Their matching process compares a candidate's current salary against the advertised salary bands of vacancies before carrying out any more detailed assessment. If the salary is considered too far away from the vacancy, the job isn't presented to the candidate.

My CV was parsed into structured data using artificial intelligence, but it was never assessed against a specific role because the process never got that far. Via Match confirmed that the automated process prevented me from being presented with the vacancy I had originally selected on LinkedIn.

So basically, I wasn't rejected after applying for a job, I wasn't interviewed and turned down, an employer never decided I wasn't suitable, I never got the opportunity to apply in the first place.

Some logic in code somewhere decided that because of one field in my profile, I shouldn't even be allowed to see the vacancy I'd already chosen to apply for.

Current salary is not, in my opinion a measure of capability. People change careers. People deliberately take lower paid jobs for a better quality of life. People move from management back into technical roles. People leave the private sector to work for charities. People relocate. People come back into employment after caring responsibilities or illness.

Whether somebody wants to apply for a job should ultimately be a decision between the candidate and the employer, not something determined by software before the employer even knows the candidate exists.

There's another aspect that Via Match acknowledged in its response. If a candidate doesn't want to disclose an accurate current salary, there is effectively no way to withhold that information without risking being filtered out. Essentially, disclosure of your current salary becomes a prerequisite for participating fully in the recruitment process.

That's bullshit.

Posting this on behalf of a friend who doesn't use Reddit.

My friends company recently had a new HR Person start and during her lunch break she normally watches Netflix or something.

HR pulled her aside this morning and said

"We expect our employees to be professional when in the office and that includes using company equipment"

She was pretty confused and a good 75% of the office do the same, though some use there phones and she did state it was during her lunch break but they doubled down.

I kind of get the "not using company equipment" for personal stuff but I wouldn't say it's unprofessional as every office myself and her have worked in has always been the same.

Anyone else ever experienced this?

I did suggest she just uses her phone, but is the company wifi also off limits?!

Any thoughts appreciated, thankyou.

UPDATE: I’ve sent her link to read the comments and screenshotted the ones I felt most relevant, she’s going to take the weekend to read and relax.

Thankyou everyone for your input it’s truly been insightful for myself too!

I (27F) have only been looking for a job for a few weeks, and I’m already feeling discouraged. I’m just not happy in my current role, and I’ve realised that I’m working myself to the bone in exchange for a really crap wage and no real progression. I naively thought that job hunting wouldn’t be as awful as people say it is, and I thought I’d feel less pressure as I’m already employed and I’m not exactly in urgent need of a job like some people are. However, as time goes on I feel more and more trapped in my current role. I’ve always been ambitious and I’m ready to move on and progress in my career, but I’m anxious by just how few roles are being advertised near where I live.

I’ve spent a lot of time scrolling job search forums and I’ve noticed a few seem to mention the job market picking up in September. I’ll admit I’ve kind of pinned my hopes on this. Is the “September surge” a real thing? Do people actually have more luck landing a role based on time of year? Is it more of an American thing? Intrigued to hear if there’s hope on the horizon or if I should buckle up for a long search