minimum wage jobs - your opinions please

artyeva

Looking for your opinions on this one:

Would you take a job if it:
- paid €37 more than the dole but when you factor in petrol for the commute would pay about €20 less
- is not in your field so when things pick up [eventually] it's not going to progress my CV really
- the letter for the next application stage spelled your name and address incorrectly, had numerous spelling mistakes and outlined minimum wage as €8.50 even though it's €8.65

I mentioned to a few mates that it wasn't worth it and they all kinda jumped down my neck :eek: saying ''ffs - it's a JOB isn't it???'' etc., etc....

What do you guys think?

petes

As someone said in another thread, it shows that you have a work ethic. Goes a long way when looking for another job.

AARRRGH

I wouldn't take that job. I'd sit at home, on the dole, trying to create an alternative revenue stream, perhaps through a website.

That's just me though.

InReality

your probably better off (mental health wise) to be working even if your making less than you would on the dole.

You might be able to get paid more after your there a few weeks if your boss has that power etc.

artyeva

It's a community thing so a pay rise is not on the table. Also, as I'm just barely surviving now, I can't see where that other €20 a week would come from.

I think I've just anwered my own question, haven't I... doh :rolleyes:

Seoid

Guess it depends on the job and on what you'd do with your time if you were on the dole...

In principle, I'd prefer to have a job than accept the dole - even if it was the same financially. It's better to have been working in a different field - even if it's just as a waiter/waitress - then to have to admit you were unemployed in a future job interview. If you plan on spending your time looking for another job then I'd take it temporarily and continue to look. On the other hand, if you're the entrepreneurial type or a struggling musician then I wouldn't take the job and would spend the free time trying to develope other streams of income. Personally, this is what I would do.

The other thing, if you're really committed to your field, is to further your qualifications and do a course in the topic.

Raskolnikov

Would it not be possible to take the job, but still claim some of your dole money?

Kipperhell

Is it a community job provided for people to get them off the dole?

Person circumstances come into play personally I earned more in a day than on the dole for a week. Taking a job just to be off the dole would effect my earning power in the future so I wouldn't. If it was a something I really felt interested in maybe I would.

dh0661

After hearing about all of the "over qualified people" that applied for jobs in McDonnells Ennis you wont be alone.

the_syco

If I had no job, I'd take it. Sitting at home doing nothing sucks.

Rb

the_syco wrote: »

If I had no job, I'd take it. Sitting at home doing nothing sucks.

QFT.

Things are going to get worse in this country before they get better, were they not talking about half a million being on the dole by the end of the year recently? So take what you can get, even if it's not in your skill area it will stand to you in time and as is always said, it's much easier to get a job when you already have one.

donegal lass 4

Hi,
I have this debate many times in my head, Im currently working for min wages and after my rent/expensives etc is paid, im left with very little.....
I started this job in July 2008 as a temporary thing, but soon discovered it was going to become a permanent arrangement
I would take the job, it may easier to find a job when you have a job! yet to prove this

taking this job shows your willing and able to work, and try your best, which is an important skill many employer may look for in the future.

artyeva

thanks everyone for your replies but i've had to decide against it. i have bills and loans i'm trying to manage as best i can and that extra few quid i get on the dole is keeping my head above water [barely].

i understand the opinions about keeping busy, it being easier to get a job when yer in one already etc., but i just can't afford to take a drop in income - sure €20 or so a week may not be a lot for some peeps but to me it's the difference in paying the rent or not :rolleyes:

thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply

may the search for a job continue!!!:pac:

CiaranC

the_syco wrote: »

If I had no job, I'd take it. Sitting at home doing nothing sucks.

I think you underestimate how soul destroying working in minimum wage jobs can actually be. Id say actively looking for decent work everyday is better for morale than working in a McJob, at least for the first couple of months.

doolox

In life there is no fairness and many minimum wage jobs are worked by people with little hope of getting anything better paid. It doesn't mean they do not work as hard as people in other jobs. It is just that the economic system allows their employers to pay them small money because there are hundreds of desperate, hungry people waiting to take their place if they give up and go.
Do not for minute think that minimum wage job will be a doss, it will be intensive and demanding in its own way as any other junior job and with less power to counteract the bullying nature of bosses and supervisors in general.
On top of that most minimum wage jobs are in retail and the private sector so the demands of a shrinking customer base, foreign competition and shrinking profits will also eat into this vicious circle of decreasing opportunity and increasing want.
They do not call economics the dismal science for nothing.
Unless you have no alternative but penury you'd be better off on the dole than in a minimum wage job unless it is within walking distance of your house with a break so you can eat at home at lunch and without the need for "neat dress" required in many front line jobs.
You will not be able to afford any luxuries like motor transport, non-domestic catering or regular wardrobe updates demanded by many employers in the city centre of many on minimum wage.
Most of the people on minimum wage who hack it work in or close to home or have some other small advantage that reduces the cost of getting to and being in work.
For most it is a stepping stone to better things and a temporary thing, but that will change now in the depression.

the_syco

CiaranC wrote: »

I think you underestimate how soul destroying working in minimum wage jobs can actually be. Id say actively looking for decent work everyday is better for morale than working in a McJob, at least for the first couple of months.

I've been on the dole, and I've worked plenty of min wage jobs (and before I was 18, worked at £2 an hour). Being jobless is soul destroying, getting refusal letter after refusal letter. Having a job, and getting these letters is less soul destroying, as you're earning something.

Minimum wage jobs were cinema (when it's busy, it's hell, when it's not busy, it's you and one other person cleaning 12 cinema rooms), shop assistant (assist in anything that needs doing), net cafe (crazy shifts, crazy hours), lounge boy in a pub, cleaner in a university and working in a kitchen of a restaurant. Pretty sure McDonalds paid a decent rate.

The day flew by, I'd enjoy my time off, and yes, I tried to bring in my own food to eat most of the time to cut down on costs.

In most minimum wage jobs the boss was the unquestioned leader, and most of the staff didn't know their rights.