Recession jobs

tallaghtmick

Mods please move this if its in the wrong section.

I was reading on another thread how 2.2 million people claim social welfare in Ireland and it got me thinking about my own job.Pre recession i earned 37k as a retail manager which i lost at the start of the recession but within 6 months i got a job in a call centre where id earn probably around 23k a year,Im now in this job 2 and a half years but still im kind of ashamed to be working there even though i know its a recession and im very lucky to have a job.

My question is,are any of you in the same boat as me i.e having a good job pre recession and now a not so good one post recession and do you find yourself ashamed of where you are.

I really dont understand why I feel this way as I know most of those 2.2 million jobseekers would love my job and I do get really annoyed when new staff in my place quit after a few weeks when someone else could have started instead.

RedXIV

keithob wrote: »

pack your bags mick and go to the airport..

this country is broke and will be for 20+ years.

there is not one glimmer of hope.

stay here in a dead end job low pay and poverty around us ... or get up and go to a country with a steady and growing econonmy..

your job is getting you by - dont be ashamed... but you are not living your life.

Thats not really 100% true or very nice for people to hear.

I'm in a job with a company that are recording growth and are still doing promotions by the wave

BrerWolf

There's always another job out there.

Even now, in the middle of the recession, there are plenty of jobs going - just have a look on the job sites.

your plan should be

1: Get a job - ANY job.
2: Look for a better job.

repeat until you retire.

When times are good you can let the company you're working for take you along, but in hard times like now, you won't get anywhere waiting for the people you're working for to promote you or give you a pay rise.

Unless you like your job and are happy with the benefits. Then just do a good job.

If you can't find a job doing what you were trained for/like doing, well then you will have to find a new area to work in.

tallaghtmick

I cant leave Ireland because i have a 2 year old son and i refuse to leave him,unfortunately retail management is hard to get a job in ive tried for trainee manager jobs told im too experienced and when i go for any other managers job im told someone with 20+ years experience got it.

silvershark

Pre recession on 55k plus 10% bonus at xmas, plus phone, plus pension contribution.
First to go was bonus, then Sal cut to 36k, then job gone.

Out of work for 7 months, got a 6 month job on 30k p.a, plus phone plus toll tag, out of work for 4 months and got a job at 30k again (all in). I dont think about the money as I have enjoyed both jobs equally.

There's a chance of a small raise now to bring me upto 33.5k which is just waiting approval so I'm hopefull of that. There's also the chance to make a bit extra by doing a bit of work for another section of the company which I'm qualified to do but that wont be till the autumn.

Although the job I have now is the same money as the 1st one the hours are alot less (about 16 hours less a week) so I'm using that time to do some extra training - have done 4 FETAC level 5 courses since i started here.

At the same time I'm keeping an eye out for other work. Have looked at going overseas but not an option at the moment - not everyone can up sticks and leave - as much as I would love to.

tallaghtmick

keithob wrote: »

bring your child with you assuming your with the mother...

no we seperated last year.

silvershark wrote: »

Pre recession on 55k plus 10% bonus at xmas, plus phone, plus pension contribution.
First to go was bonus, then Sal cut to 36k, then job gone.

Out of work for 7 months, got a 6 month job on 30k p.a, plus phone plus toll tag, out of work for 4 months and got a job at 30k again (all in). I dont think about the money as I have enjoyed both jobs equally.

There's a chance of a small raise now to bring me upto 33.5k which is just waiting approval so I'm hopefull of that. There's also the chance to make a bit extra by doing a bit of work for another section of the company which I'm qualified to do but that wont be till the autumn.

Although the job I have now is the same money as the 1st one the hours are alot less (about 16 hours less a week) so I'm using that time to do some extra training - have done 4 FETAC level 5 courses since i started here.

At the same time I'm keeping an eye out for other work. Have looked at going overseas but not an option at the moment - not everyone can up sticks and leave - as much as I would love to.

I assume a job that pays over 30k is quite a respectable one though.

Oranage2

Similairish pre recession I was making 3 euro more an hour for working in a supermarket than what I'm making now for a job with a lot more responsilbilty.


So pre recession i had a crap job that payed okay - I now have a crap job with crap pay.

Teyla Emmagan

keithob wrote: »

pack your bags mick and go to the airport..

this country is broke and will be for 20+ years.

there is not one glimmer of hope.

stay here in a dead end job low pay and poverty around us ... or get up and go to a country with a steady and growing econonmy..

your job is getting you by - dont be ashamed... but you are not living your life.

What a pile of absolute rubbish. As if 'living your life' means you have to be earning a fortune. The OP has a good steady job and is here for his son - he's doing what needs to be done. That's living your life as far as I'm concerned.

Personally I'm down a few grand on where I was pre-recession, but I'm not too bad compared to a lot of people.

fred252

there's plenty of IT jobs out there including IT presales.

they would look kindly on your retail management experience.

mickman

keithob wrote: »

pack your bags mick and go to the airport..

this country is broke and will be for 20+ years.

there is not one glimmer of hope.

stay here in a dead end job low pay and poverty around us ... or get up and go to a country with a steady and growing econonmy..

your job is getting you by - dont be ashamed... but you are not living your life.

u think ireland has poverty ?? u must never have been in any other country.

mickman

keithob wrote: »

Living your life means having a good standard of living a good quality of life in order to do things to satisfy your needs.

The banks Fkd up and we will have a ''sh1t quality of life'' for 20+ plys years.

As for seeing his son - excellent. i 100% think thats brilliant.

Some clowns in this country like to accept the cuts in pay and increase in taxes and do feck all bout it.

Overall what im saying in order to have a proper decent life you gotta get out of this hell hole for what it is. A BROKE COUNTRY THAT IS THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE.

if ur skilled and educated then there are plenty of jobs and well paying ones at that. im moving shortly to a new position that will be an increase on this years and last years. never took a pay cut

UMMMM

I feel for the OP but I am finding it hard to believe they are selling their CV correctly. I am a retail manager lost my job it is tough out there but quickly found a store manager role (not one I paticulary wanted) stayed for a year and the moved to another role and I only 4ish years of experience. I would wonder are you selling your skills correctly or just applying for any role? My organisation often still has problems filling management positions as those applying aren't talking KPI's profit etc..

mickman

UMMMM wrote: »

I feel for the OP but I am finding it hard to believe they are selling their CV correctly. I am a retail manager lost my job it is tough out there but quickly found a store manager role (not one I paticulary wanted) stayed for a year and the moved to another role and I only 4ish years of experience. I would wonder are you selling your skills correctly or just applying for any role? My organisation often still has problems filling management positions as those applying aren't talking KPI's profit etc..

i would agree. i have seen cvs come in for jobs i was leaving , they were a total joke. the layout was embarrasing to be fair. id throw them straight in the bin if they had simple errors and didnt look good

Jim2007

RedXIV wrote: »

Thats not really 100% true or very nice for people to hear.

I'm in a job with a company that are recording growth and are still doing promotions by the wave

Well said. People have a complete misconception of how things are like everywhere else, a point in fact, Switzerland where I live:

- There is no public health system and health insurance is mandatory by law: if you are destitute your basic health insurance will be paid by the government.

- Unemployment benefit stops after 18 months and there is no other form of payment after that. To qualify for the poor allowance, you have to show that you have sold off everything and have nothing left and are in fact destitute

- There is no agency like FAS, who might help with retraining. Here the give you a couple of days training on CV writing and interview skills and that is about it.

- At the company I work for we have let about 20% of the work force go over the last two years, many of them in their mid 50s and sad to say there was not a redundancy payment in sight!

- There is no such thing as redundancy payments or unfair dismissals and so on. You can work for the same company for 20 years and be terminated on 3 months notice without any need for an explanation and what is more they can even take someone else on to replace you while you are working out your notice. And it is a perfectly legal.

- Many pensioners can't afford to live on a full state pension and are forced to live abroad in places like Greece, Spain, Southern Italy and so on because it is cheaper. A full annual state pension would allow a couple to cover basic living expenses for about 3 months, I'd guess, so if you don't have a private income or pension there is no choice but to move abroad.

- It's true that professionals and so on are well paid here, but there are also many people on the poverty line, just as there are all over Europe right now.

- The Swiss unemployment rate is understated because after 18 months, you are no longer counted!!!

The reality is that we have been going through a world wide recession and everyone is in the same boat -some sectors are doing OK and people with the right skills are getting on. As for the rest it is going to be difficult no matter where you are, with one exception - Ireland, at least you have a good social welfare system to offer support, which is not the case in may other countries.

"Is glas iad na cnoic i bhfad uainn"

Jim (Switzerland - 20+ years)

Jim2007

tallaghtmick wrote: »

I assume a job that pays over 30k is quite a respectable one though.

What is wrong with working in a call centre??? Thousands of people do it every day....

Over the past 20 year I held just about every position in IT, the last few weeks helping out doing level 1 support as they are under staffed during the holidays, which is basically call centre work and I don't see anything wrong with it

Jim.

Jim2007

keithob wrote: »

Overall what im saying in order to have a proper decent life you gotta get out of this hell hole for what it is. A BROKE COUNTRY THAT IS THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE.

And where exactly are you heading for?

RATM

fred252 wrote: »

there's plenty of IT jobs out there including IT presales.

they would look kindly on your retail management experience.

This.

Yes there is a recession on but there is growth in certain areas, you need to find an areas that you like and re-train. IT is in the biggest boom since the early 2000's right now- as an industry it has grown by 6% last year and is predicted to grow by more this year.

At the moment I am working on getting Indian & Pakistani developers into Ireland- there just isn't enough Irish people who can do these jobs and sadly we have to look abroad as clients are screaming out for them. That said programming/developing are a unique skill set and they are not for everyone- you need an extremely logical and analytic brain to be successful in this domain of IT.

However there are a lot of pre and post sales jobs in IT for anyone willing to re-train a bit. Technical writers (staff who liaise with engineers can then then re-write their lingo in plainer english) are also in demand.

All of these positions are suitable for people with good retail experience, at the end of the day they are sales positions but with a bit more of a technical focus.

And most of them pay quite well, good IT sales people can earn massive bonuses, a lot more than other sectors from what I've seen.

jiltloop

RATM wrote: »

This.

Yes there is a recession on but there is growth in certain areas, you need to find an areas that you like and re-train. IT is in the biggest boom since the early 2000's right now- as an industry it has grown by 6% last year and is predicted to grow by more this year.

At the moment I am working on getting Indian & Pakistani developers into Ireland- there just isn't enough Irish people who can do these jobs and sadly we have to look abroad as clients are screaming out for them. That said programming/developing are a unique skill set and they are not for everyone- you need an extremely logical and analytic brain to be successful in this domain of IT.

However there are a lot of pre and post sales jobs in IT for anyone willing to re-train a bit. Technical writers (staff who liaise with engineers can then then re-write their lingo in plainer english) are also in demand.

All of these positions are suitable for people with good retail experience, at the end of the day they are sales positions but with a bit more of a technical focus.

And most of them pay quite well, good IT sales people can earn massive bonuses, a lot more than other sectors from what I've seen.

I'm working in sales at the moment and have been for 10+ years. It's not very taxing and basically just sales assistant roles but I have been very interested in retraining in IT so I find your post very interesting.
Any advice as to what area to train in to open up opportunities in these pre and post sales IT jobs?

Jimmy Bottlehead

In fairness OP, I'm a qualified journalist, an intelligent 25 year old guy who would have been fielding job offers left, right and centre a few years ago. I was earning 30k P.A. in 2008 doing a job I had no right to have. From 2008, I couldn't get an interview, never mind a job, of any sort for love nor money.

After being out of work for 18 months, I was damned glad to get a call centre job for 20.5k. It got me out, off the dole, made my life feel worthwhile again, and I've since been promoted with a salary increase. Also I'm currently on a business trip abroad for two months, which is a great experience. Later today, I've a video interview for a media role I'd absolutely love to get, and me being currently employed and with the call centre experience has a lot to do with it.

There's no shame doing what you can to stay afloat during tough times, we're all a little poorer than before - but no matter where you are, you have to find your own opportunities, and push harder and harder to get somewhere better. being employed, you're in a nicer position than a lot of people, so just keep plugging away and you'll find a job that is financially and emotionally better for you.

John Mason

keithob wrote: »

Living your life means having a good standard of living a good quality of life in order to do things to satisfy your needs.

The banks Fkd up and we will have a ''sh1t quality of life'' for 20+ plys years.

As for seeing his son - excellent. i 100% think thats brilliant.

Some clowns in this country like to accept the cuts in pay and increase in taxes and do feck all bout it.

Overall what im saying in order to have a proper decent life you gotta get out of this hell hole for what it is. A BROKE COUNTRY THAT IS THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE.

When did you leave? where did you go ? have you got a much better quality of life?

OP, i feel for you. i have been really lucky and not in your situation but my partner was unemployed for 9 months, he is working in a call centre at the moment and took a big pay cut. but he was one of the lucky and has been promoted a few times in the last year.

money isnt everything, i go to work, do my job and when i walk out the door at the end of day my real life starts.

this is a great country, i think some people just need to change their mindset, life isnt about money, its about living

silvershark

I assume a job that pays over 30k is quite a respectable one though.[/QUOTE]


Is it the low pay that is getting you down or the lack of respect? You've prob made more money than me anyway over the 2.5years as you've been constantly working whereas I've been only working on and off for roughly 6months at a time!

Keeping looking, from what people are saying here there seems to be lots of sales jobs out there and maybe have a look at your cv or give it to some friends to have a look over with a critical eye - I'm constantly rearraging my cv and trying to make it look better. I sent out over 400 cv's while i was out of work over the two spells, got about a dozen interviews and 3 jobs (one was a sales job on commission only - which i hated every second of and only stuck at it for a week). I sent lots of CV's to companies that weren't advertising and then I'd start the process again 6months later sending the cv out again to same companies with the new layout.

The tips I give people looking for jobs (cos this is what i did):

• A good cover letter - relevent to job advertised or stating its on spec
• CV - really get it looking good so its not thrown in bin straight away
• Check websites every evening - I did this so that I wouldnt miss anything that would be updated during the day
• Always have copy of cv, cover letters and envelopes with you when your out and about to drop in any place you come across
• Bring pen and paper to jot down company names/websites you might see when driving around/on the bus.

silvershark

keithob wrote: »

Living your life means having a good standard of living a good quality of life in order to do things to satisfy your needs.

The banks Fkd up and we will have a ''sh1t quality of life'' for 20+ plys years.

As for seeing his son - excellent. i 100% think thats brilliant.

Some clowns in this country like to accept the cuts in pay and increase in taxes and do feck all bout it.

Overall what im saying in order to have a proper decent life you gotta get out of this hell hole for what it is. A BROKE COUNTRY THAT IS THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE.

What did/would you do about it?
When I took my pay cut it was put to me that I could take the cut from 55k to 36k and work on till work ran out or finish up straight away so I accepted the pay cut and the work lasted 11months.

tallaghtmick

Cheers for the advice guys,I feel a bit of a knob now after some comments and i apologise if I offended anyone:o,I guess its the fact that im 27 now and just feel like im going nowhere also coupled with the fact that the job im doing I tend to make minor errors due to not paying attention simply because its not challenging enough:(

silvershark

Do you have yesterdays Metro, there's an ad on pg 19 for an assistant store manager, you can look it up on-line anyway

tallaghtmick

silvershark wrote: »

Do you have yesterdays Metro, there's an ad on pg 19 for an assistant store manager, you can look it up on-line anyway

Cheers for that:D

Jim2007

tallaghtmick wrote: »

Cheers for the advice guys,I feel a bit of a knob now after some comments and i apologise if I offended anyone:o,I guess its the fact that im 27 now and just feel like im going nowhere also coupled with the fact that the job im doing I tend to make minor errors due to not paying attention simply because its not challenging enough:(

Well you certainly did not offend me, so no worries on that one. A couple of things you can do though, first of all remember that at 27 most Europeans are just starting in their first job, so you have plenty of time to make a career yet. The second thing to realise is that the world of work is changing and the idea of career will be very different in the next 40 years, so don't be surprised if it turns out very different to what you'd expect. Some of Charles Handy's books are very good on this topic and may give you a very different idea of what you want to do. I can recommend the "Shamrock Organization" as a good place to start.

I've been through a few down turns over the past 40 years and on thing I always during a down turn is re-read some of the following books:

• The Panic of 1907
• The Great Crash 1929
• When Money Dies

This helps me to keep some perspective on things and reminds me that there will be an up turn again, just like in the past.

Jim.

xxlauraxxox

tallaghtmick wrote: »

Cheers for the advice guys,I feel a bit of a knob now after some comments and i apologise if I offended anyone:o,I guess its the fact that im 27 now and just feel like im going nowhere also coupled with the fact that the job im doing I tend to make minor errors due to not paying attention simply because its not challenging enough:(

i know exactly how you mick i was a trainee manager in a large supermarket chain than theydecided to let all there trainee managers go after i been normal staff at the company for 5and a half years.was a good salary now im an assistant manager in another supermarket chain but im still on 4grand less per year than what i was as a traniee manager in the company i trained with im happy i have a job dont get wrong i like my job but the responailibity i have is a fair lot than a trainee manager :eek: but i suppose im 24 and with a baby due in 4months and a mortgage to pay for i cant complain wishing u all the best

tallaghtmick

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

i know exactly how you mick i was a trainee manager in a large supermarket chain than theydecided to let all there trainee managers go after i been normal staff at the company for 5and a half years.was a good salary now im an assistant manager in another supermarket chain but im still on 4grand less per year than what i was as a traniee manager in the company i trained with im happy i have a job dont get wrong i like my job but the responailibity i have is a fair lot than a trainee manager :eek: but i suppose im 24 and with a baby due in 4months and a mortgage to pay for i cant complain wishing u all the best

Hey we where talking about this before im sure lol,let me guess the compnay began with D if i remember correctly we where all let go at the same time.

tallaghtmick

tallaghtmick wrote: »

Cheers for the advice guys,I feel a bit of a knob now after some comments and i apologise if I offended anyone:o,I guess its the fact that im 27 now and just feel like im going nowhere also coupled with the fact that the job im doing I tend to make minor errors due to not paying attention simply because its not challenging enough:(

Not to worry Mick, positive thinking and all that. In the boom most folk wanted greener fields too and were unhappy with their current roles/jobs. There was way more movement though so nothing felt longterm, take it day by day, enjoy the fact you are employed, make the most of it, enjoy seeing your son but do most definitely do be ambitious ans strive to get on jobwise, opportunities are still out there. Time is on your side, 27 early career wise

xxlauraxxox

tallaghtmick wrote: »

Hey we where talking about this before im sure lol,let me guess the compnay began with D if i remember correctly we where all let go at the same time.

hahaha oh ya i rmber and im still wit svalu lol

illdoit2morrow

RATM, can I pm you with regards to these developer jobs you are trying to fill? Basically i'm a developer with over 10 years in a financial services background but i'm looking to move along. I'll explain more in PM land.

RATM wrote: »

This.

Yes there is a recession on but there is growth in certain areas, you need to find an areas that you like and re-train. IT is in the biggest boom since the early 2000's right now- as an industry it has grown by 6% last year and is predicted to grow by more this year.

At the moment I am working on getting Indian & Pakistani developers into Ireland- there just isn't enough Irish people who can do these jobs and sadly we have to look abroad as clients are screaming out for them. That said programming/developing are a unique skill set and they are not for everyone- you need an extremely logical and analytic brain to be successful in this domain of IT.

However there are a lot of pre and post sales jobs in IT for anyone willing to re-train a bit. Technical writers (staff who liaise with engineers can then then re-write their lingo in plainer english) are also in demand.

All of these positions are suitable for people with good retail experience, at the end of the day they are sales positions but with a bit more of a technical focus.

And most of them pay quite well, good IT sales people can earn massive bonuses, a lot more than other sectors from what I've seen.

tallaghtmick

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

hahaha oh ya i rmber and im still wit svalu lol

i wish i could get in with them but alas theres no positions

mickman

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

i know exactly how you mick i was a trainee manager in a large supermarket chain than theydecided to let all there trainee managers go after i been normal staff at the company for 5and a half years.was a good salary now im an assistant manager in another supermarket chain but im still on 4grand less per year than what i was as a traniee manager in the company i trained with im happy i have a job dont get wrong i like my job but the responailibity i have is a fair lot than a trainee manager :eek: but i suppose im 24 and with a baby due in 4months and a mortgage to pay for i cant complain wishing u all the best

a trainee manager that cant use full stops or proper punctuation. wouldnt want you writing reports for my company :-)

chicken fingers

How has nobody mentioned this yet.....

2.2 million jobseekers?
That would be an unemployment rate of 60% or so....
Thats just not correct.

xxlauraxxox

mickman wrote: »

a trainee manager that cant use full stops or proper punctuation. wouldnt want you writing reports for my company :-)

sorry im in a rant and im assistant manger ;)i wouldnt wanna work for you anyway its ur loss

tallaghtmick

mickman wrote: »

a trainee manager that cant use full stops or proper punctuation. wouldnt want you writing reports for my company :-)

Well you should sack yourself for that.

tallaghtmick

chicken fingers wrote: »

How has nobody mentioned this yet.....

2.2 million jobseekers?
That would be an unemployment rate of 60% or so....
Thats just not correct.

I quoted that from another thread on boards.

Mrs OBumble

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

hahaha oh ya i rmber and im still wit svalu lol

Just a friendly reminder: no text-speak.

No warnings this time, but please just full words in future.

Mrs OBumble

tallaghtmick wrote: »

...are any of you in the same boat as me i.e having a good job pre recession and now a not so good one post recession and do you find yourself ashamed of where you are.

I was in a good professional job, pre-recession. But my fixed-term contract ended in Oct 2008 ... a very bad time to be looking.

Since then I've done all sorts of temp jobs, some for little more than minimum wage. I spent six months in a reception/admin role (started as a one-week temping gig, salary less than half the rate I'd been on in a professional job.

I didn't feel ashamed at all ... even when I was doing grotty stuff like surveying people outside supermarkets. I even applied to do grounds cleaning at the Galway races - and think it was the fact that I was cheerfully willing to do that which made the recruiter think "Ahh, I bet you can do this other job too".

Even better, I've just scored a professional job again. Same salary as before the recession.

The only slightly awkward thing is that I encountered one or two people in the reception job who I'm now running into back as a professional. They may be wondering how I could make such a dramatic change, and still be credible in the professional role. But I'm basically treating that as their problem, not mine.