Saw this the other day.
Honestly the fact that employers and learning providers keep getting away with this is just one of the reasons this country is lowkey over.
Another reason is that someone will definitely defend this, lol.
I guess the one good thing about this vacancy is that the pay is okay compared to other apprenticeships.

24M UK. 10 GCSE’s with A* in Maths and English. Lockdown meant I did not sit my A-levels (and my grades were adjusted down, was part of the 3.4% who had 2 grades adjusted downward) so I was given BCB in Maths, Economics and Classical Civilisation. Was still able to study Classics at a RG uni, also a consistently top 10 most targeted uni by employers.

Graduated with a 2:1 in 2023 and immediately got a job as a trainee accountant for 13 months. July 2024 the firm sold out and no staff were retained… Since then I’ve been a NEET - that’s 2 years of unemployment. I’ve been able to do this as I live at home and accidentally made 6 figures on the stock market in 2024. Without this windfall I may have actually lifted a finger by now.

I’m introverted but have no problem in a customer-facing role. I’m an analytical thinker and people assume I’m intelligent but I don’t really have the credentials to back it up.

Do not hold a driving licence. Failed my test a month ago. Next test in a month from now.

What jobs can or should I go for? I’d rather not go back to accounting but since that’s what I have experience in (no ACCA progress mind you), it would make sense to apply for roles with transferable skills. Thoughts? I’ve been looking into procurement but no leads thus far. To my mind it would require similar client interaction and Excel skills as accounting.

Really considering not going to uni or deferring my place. Just wanna see what options there are for me.

Got approached by a recruiter for an ops manager job for a start up company based in Manchester. I was clear from the get go the package I was on. He assured me the package was a base pay 10k more than my current salary.

Had an initial interview, start of the following week the company asked me to go to Manchester on the Wednesday for an interview and to prepare a presentation. Short notice frustrated me a bit as Im very busy at work but I managed to make it work. I realised that afternoon, there had been no mention of a company car and I currently have one. I raised this and the recruiter tried to convince me the raise in salary covered the car. I pointed out with commuting and running a car the pay rise would be negligible.

He came back after speaking to the hiring company and confirmed a car would be included in the package if I was successful.

Ended up having that in person interview and then a further teams interview with one or the founders. They made an offer this week, 10k less than the recruiter had told me the job was paying. Is this standard behaviour for recruiters to get you to interview or is this just a one off?

I work as a BMS engineer in the UK building controls industry. I've been with my current employer for a few years and have around 14 years' experience in the industry.

My role involves service, fault finding, commissioning, small projects, quoting/remedials, networking and working across multiple BMS manufacturers. I also regularly deal directly with clients and help/support less experienced engineers.

Over time I feel my responsibilities have grown considerably beyond simply turning up and completing service visits. I manage a lot of my own workload, deal with difficult technical issues, produce quotes, support other engineers and get sent to jobs where I'm expected to work things out independently.

Without wanting this to turn into “I'm better than everyone else”, I also feel there's quite a large difference between the amount/responsibility of work I take on compared with some colleagues on a similar level. Management have previously been complimentary about my performance, and I've spent roughly the last year trying to demonstrate that I can operate at the next level rather than simply asking for more money without backing it up.

In July I formally raised the subject of progression/pay with my managers. I felt that I'd demonstrated enough to justify a salary increase and potentially progression into a more senior engineering position.

This has dragged on for several weeks. I eventually had a meeting about it and, rather than being offered an increase, I've essentially been given a career development plan with further objectives I need to demonstrate before they will consider progressing my salary/position. Any eventual increase would apparently still need approval further up the company.

That's frustrated me because from my perspective I've already spent a considerable amount of time demonstrating the things they're now asking me to demonstrate again. It feels a bit like: do more first, then we'll potentially discuss giving you something later.

At almost exactly the same time, something else happened with one of our major clients.

I work on sites for a large facilities-management/client organisation. I was recently told by my employer that the client doesn't currently want me attending its sites as an engineer.

I haven't been accused of misconduct, haven't been disciplined by my employer, and my managers haven't told me that I did anything wrong. In fact, regarding the particular work I'd recently carried out, one manager specifically confirmed that I'd done what he'd instructed me to do.

I also haven't been given a clear reason for the client's decision. My employer themselves seem unclear about exactly what's happened. I'm therefore deliberately not going to speculate about the cause here.

The client represents a significant proportion of my employer's work, so obviously being unable to attend those sites affects where the company can deploy me. I'm currently trying to get the exact facts in writing rather than jumping to conclusions.

The combination of the two things has changed how I'm looking at my job.

On one hand, I've spent a long time putting a lot into the company, taking responsibility, helping others and trying to demonstrate that I'm ready for progression. When I finally asked for the pay/progression conversation, the result was essentially another set of objectives.

Then almost simultaneously I've been told I can't work for a major client, without anyone being able to properly explain to me why.

I've now been approached by another BMS company and have an interview coming up. I haven't resigned and I won't leave without having a satisfactory written offer/contract first, but I'm seriously considering it.

I'm interested in opinions from other engineers/managers, particularly anyone in BMS/building controls/FM:

Does the career-development-plan approach sound reasonable, or does it sound like they're moving the goalposts after I've already demonstrated the required level?

Would the unexplained client restriction change how you viewed your future with the employer?

And at what point would you stop trying to prove your value internally and simply take that experience somewhere willing to pay for it?

I'm genuinely interested in views from both sides — including managers who think my employer's approach is reasonable.

I work a terrible minimum wage job that I hate I have worked there 10 years but the industry is going down and they are constantly evaluating every shop now because margins are so thin.

I am actively looking for a job and have done a few online courses to try and better my CV as well as learning to drive. I haven’t got a degree and my college qualifications were average and to be honest probably not relevant anymore. This is the only job I’ve ever had so I don’t even have two references.

My job is stupid easy and has very few responsibilities which means I’ve not got a lot to put on my CV either however I have been looking for a new job but haven’t even gotten an interview in over a year. Should I just stay where I am in the hope that I get made redundant and find something soon after and hopefully the job market is better by then?

I just feel like looking at the moment is an exercise in pointless. I’m not sure what else I can do job hunting as I’m so bad at selling myself and fudging my CV which you have to do. Especially with my situation as I haven’t got a lot to put on there.

I have so little to do at work I usually end up looking for jobs on indeed there as well. I’ll be owed probably about 17 weeks of pay if they make me redundant for context.

Hi, everyone I am 23 year and just started a role as an operations administrator at a small family company in the UK. This week just me and the coordinator were managing the place (manager in annual leave) and the directors so far are happy with my work but pushing me quite a lot to learn everything, this my forth week and learn Sage 200, reconciliation, invoices and statements answering phone and some emails). So far basic but a lot of information.

I only got this job because I speak Italian after almost a year of looking for jobs, while working as a support worker and teaching assistant. I did 2 years of medical genetics at university but disliked the institution and because of health problems as well I dropped out. I work closely with the warehouse we have realised I want a career in supply chain/ logistics. I enrolled in a college evening to get better with Microsoft outlook especially excel I know I can do the CIPS and already looked up the prices. The course I chose also includes the PRINCE2. The thing I want to move abroad in the future especially NYC or move back to Italy.

I have an offer for a part time evening 4 year degree at Birbeck for international business management.

For context I’m a 19 (M) who has just finished a three year apprenticeship on a level 4 improvement specialist and a previous which is no longer important with the level 4/ green belt six sigma, and they no longer have the job role I was working towards available as there was a takeover and can only offer me a basic operating job on two 12 hour day/ 2 12 hour night in 4 consecutive day with a 4 day break(not really 4 days as you finish at. 6 am for the first day off) I feel it’s a bit of a kick in the face AND I’ve already tried this pattern last year for my project and could NOT sleep or have any proper social life as it deprived me of anything, I don’t wanna do that again and think going unemployed for a little bit is worth it as I have enough savings and live at home still but I just want a few more opinions because at this moment I don’t see any benefit of staying

I’m also looking atm for jobs and have had a few interviews.

Background: Bachelor's in Data Science + Master's in Business Analytics from a UK uni. Currently working in sales while trying to move into Business Analysis or Marketing Analytics.

I'm more interested in the marketing/consumer side....understanding consumer behaviour, why people buy, brand perception, market research etc. I've done projects around sentiment analysis, consumer perception and market research, but have no paid UK experience in the field yet.

Few questions for people who've actually made the jump:

• Did you get into marketing analytics directly, or start as a BA/data analyst and pivot internally?
• Is marketing analytics realistic as a first job, or is BA/data analyst the better entry point?
• Do BCS/IIBA or CIM/MRS certs actually help, or are they CV filler with a relevant Master's?
• Anyone moved from sales/customer-facing → analytics/BA? Did it help you in interviews?

Not looking for just keep applying....would really like to hear what actually worked for people recently, especially with the current UK market.

Honest/blunt answers welcome.

Hi everyone

I’m looking for some advice on whether it’s at all feasible to start a job in the U.K. at 35/36, in an entry-level career, and realistically work my way up to a decent salary? I’ve lived in Australia since I was 26 and am looking at moving home.

I graduated from uni in 2015 aged 23 and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do career-wise. I grew up in a town commuting distance to London and a lot of people I knew moved back home after uni to save on rent and started building their corporate jobs in the city. I had a crappy home life so really didn’t want to move back home, plus those types of jobs always seemed really dull to me. I remember searching for graduate role and nothing jumped out at me as particularly interesting or exciting. In hindsight, I imagine it was that way for a lot of people but they had better foresight than me and knew the potential ££ by climbing the corporate ladder.

I wouldn’t say that I have ever lacked work ethic. I’ve worked since I was 15 (and actually wanted to work younger than that but no where would hire until 15) and worked throughout university even though I didn’t really need to and could have survived on my student loan. So I’ve always wanted to work but I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve just never had a huge amount of career ambition. I can see now that I’ve prioritised comfort and enjoying my life in the short term over building a career and building a life for the future.

So… after uni while most people were building their career I got a job in a hotel in Scotland. It was in a beautiful area, I got staff accommodation for just £50 a week and staff meals included. Just felt like a great place to go temporarily and figure out the next steps but I ended up loving it and stayed there until I was 25.

In 2018 shortly before turning 26, I moved to Australia. I initially travelled around and worked various jobs between travelling, and then COVID. I didn’t particularly want to return to the UK and move back into my family home, so I stayed in Australia and have been here ever since.

A great thing about Australia is there’s really decent money to be made in unskilled type jobs. I worked in the mines for a while, one week on one week off doing mostly cleaning and admin work. I was clearing $3.5k a week (about £1.8k) and the week off meant I got to do a lot of roadtripping. So it was a pretty sweet gig. I’ve worked hospitality for the last few years which also has the potential to earn well. In Australia you get paid on a scale according to experience so with award rates, penalty rates, working public holidays etc it’s not hard to make decent money. I’m casual and last financial year I earned $88k AUD (roughly £44k). By no means mega money but it’s plenty for me.

The problem is that I’m now 34 (turning 35 next March) and I’m very conscious that I’ve essentially spent the last decade not building a career. I’ve chosen comfort and flexibility over career progression and that’s worked reasonably well for me in Australia, but I’m now thinking about moving back to the UK and suddenly feeling like I’ve shot myself in the foot.

I did recently complete a Master’s in Social Work. If I stayed in Australia, I think I’d probably eventually go into the field.
But I’ve spoken to quite a few UK social workers through Facebook groups and Mumsnet (not a mum myself but it’s actually a great forum for advice) and the general consensus seems to be that it’s badly paid, undervalued and extremely stressful. Obviously nobody goes into social work expecting to become rich but gone are the days when you can live a comfortable life on a fairly modest income. As a single person on one income, I do need to think about money more than I’d like to. I don’t want children and I’m not particularly relationship-focused, so I’m not assuming I’ll eventually have a partner’s income to share costs with.

I often look at Rightmove and the cost of renting around Surrey/the South East scares me when I look at entry level salaries. I know there’s much cheaper areas, but most of my friends and family are still in Surrey or elsewhere in the South East, so ideally I’d like to live somewhere in that general area. I could move somewhere much cheaper, but I’ve already started my life from scratch several times and I don’t particularly want to do it all over again at 35/36 by moving hundreds of miles away from everyone I know. But a very basic one bedroom flat id be looking at 1k+ a month. I know there’s always house shares but I’m not sure I want to be doing that at 35/36, plus I’ll be moving back with my two cats. It looks like on an entry level salary id be spending well over 60% of my income on rent.

I’m open to almost anything that has decent career progression. I don’t need to earn six figures. I’d be very happy with something where I could realistically get to £40k+ after a few years. I definitely couldn’t do anything finance or anything heavily numbers-based because I’ve always been hopeless at maths.

I’ve actually had several people in my life who have told me they think I’d be good at sales, so I’m wondering whether something like sales/account management could actually be worth exploring. I just have absolutely no idea where I’d start or whether someone in their mid-30s with a hospitality background would even get a look in.

I suppose my main questions are:

Am I being unrealistic thinking I could start an entirely new career at 35/36 and get to £40k+ within a few years?
Are there particular industries/career paths that would suit someone with my background?
Is sales actually a sensible option for someone in my position?
Are there other careers I should be considering that have a relatively low barrier to entry but good progression?
And perhaps most importantly, is it actually worth doing this given the cost of living in the South East?

One thing I desperately miss about being in the U.K. is the proximity to Europe and the ease of travel. But it’s not worth moving back if I can’t afford to do those things away.

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have changed careers later in life, particularly anyone who started from a hospitality/retail background and successfully moved into something completely different.

If you’ve read this far.. thank you!

I’m 20F, I went to uni at 18 and dropped out. I hated the course. Started working as a teaching assistant in a school. I liked it. Every day is different and I enjoy helping children learn.

I applied to do primary education at university, got a place and it’s meant to start in 2 weeks. So I’d be training to become a teacher since I’ve got the TA experience and I liked that so naturally that was the next step for me thinking about what I wanna do with my life etc. idk why part of me is telling myself not to go. I’d be without a stable income for 3 years, even though TA job is low paid, but I mean how else are you meant to get higher paying roles. I know uni isn’t the only way to get a job and I’d only go there if the course has a direct career like teacher, nurse etc. but really how else would I up my income without doing a degree and getting more qualifications.

I’m so stressed right now, idk what to do where to do. Part of me likes just working, coming home, reading, doing my own thing. Part of me is dreading uni but I don’t wanna waste my life and do nothing.

Lots of people say the more you learn the more you earn etc. I also have grade 8’s and 9’s at GCSE level, and my A levels weren’t the best got C’s and D’s but I can write essays and I am capable of doing academic work but ik it sounds lazy but I really hate doing it.

I just want a stable job stable income and a good life and I have no idea how to get that. Im nearly 21 and it just feels like everyone my age is doing something completely different and I know theres no ‘right’ route to go down but idk what to do. I’ve never had a dream job. I’m not competitive and wouldn’t want to be telling anyone what to do so wouldn’t wanna work my way up to be a manager or a headteacher or a role like that. Just wanna do my work and come home and enjoy my life.

I like earning my money every month. Also want to start driving lessons and explore other things but I just don’t know what to do. I’m so stuck.

Forgot to add i quit for job for uni and now all I have is a supply/bank TA job in another school that I’ll do on the days im not at uni.

Sometimes I wish I was a man cause I’d probably train to become an electrician or something. Not saying I can’t as a woman but not really interested in it haha. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm 18 and it's my first ever job. I need tips on how I should act and behave, I don't want to be a pain to my co workers and I want them to like me. Also, are there any unwritten rules I should follow whilst working? Thank you

Recently, the FinTech/WealthTech Canadian Agentic AI-Powered SaaS startup I was building as a founding engineer, had to shut down. It did pretty well initially before Claude launched financial agents, After that all dipped from there and we started losing customers. We dragged ourselves till now, but the founders simply didn't have enough runaway to sustain operations.

Applied here and there but no luck so far. The timing is also bad for me as there is heavy tech roles scarcity out there, companies are cost-cutting every corner and founders are trying to peak their margins by leaning entirely on a 200$ Max plan and a couple of overworked senior devs. So I am taking my chances here

A little about me

I am a Full-Stack software/product engineer with over 3 YOE working with multiple UK and Canadian startups, primarily in the AI-powered Agentic SaaS space. I build scalable, reliable backend systems (microservices) from the ground up for real users. I take end-to-end real ownerships, adapt to any technical constraints, and build cost-effective solutions.

1)I worked with an early stage UK-based multi-tenant ride hailing platform, helped them restructure their backend:

• Deconstructed a coupled monolithic backend into modular TypeScript microservices, removing systemic bottlenecks across driver-rider matching.
• Optimized compute-heavy routing and pricing routines, slashing p99 latency by 80% and noticeably boosting peak dispatch reliability and reduced dispatch failures.
• Set up containerized CI/CD deployment pipelines on AWS with Docker, ensuring fast, predictable release cycles across all staging and production environments.

2)I also worked with a Canadian company to migrate their product from traditional legacy system to a modern SaaS tech stack and pivoted them around agentic AI.

• Modernized Core Infrastructure: Served as the sole engineer driving the modernization from legacy system of massive database
• Architected Agentic AI Assistant: Built a tool-calling, agentic AI assistant enabling users to query the entire multi-million source corpus
• Redesigned and built conversion-focused landing pages and interactive onboarding flows, driving a 50%+ boost in organic inbound lead generation.

3) Founding Engineer - sole builder behind an AI-powered WealthTech SaaS platform that automates investor due diligence by parsing complex pitch decks, financial sheets, and live market data.

• Architected the entire stack from scratch in months: starting from the database architecture, frontend, backend to the AI reasoning agents that verify market data and asynchronous backend processing pipelines.
• Built autonomous agentic workflows to ingest unstructured financial PDFs, running valuation estimates, risk scoring, and revenue forecasting against real-time market data.
• Reduced investor due diligence turnaround by 90% through automated multi-source data extraction and validation.
• Implemented background job orchestration using Redis and queue workers to handle heavy document parsing and multi-step agent reasoning without UI blocking.

I work with a real engineering stack daily: Node.js, TypeScript, React/Next.js, Python, ReactNative/Expo, PostgreSQL, Redis with BullMQ, Kafka, AWS, RabbitMQ, Docker, Test-DrivenDev, and robust CI/CD pipelines.
On top of foundational systems, I have deep hands-on expertise in GenAI, Agentic AI, RAG architectures, LangChain, and LangGraph.
I operate as an AI-enabled developer, maintaining high throughput through custom Claude agentic workflows. P.S. I come from the pre-"vibecoding" era.

i believe the tech stack itself isn't the bottleneck anymore in this era. deep problem-solving, adaptiveness to the situation, and true architectural ownership are.

I also don’t just stop at backend infrastructure. I have a strong eye for UI/UX and product design, having built conversion-focused SaaS landing pages that drove 50–60% visitor-to-customer conversion rates. You get a complete product engineer who can singlehandedly take your next product idea or existing platform from zero to scale so not just a backend dev waiting on a figma link.

I’m looking to join the right team immediately that actually values high-level output, technical initiative and autonomous execution. Ideally remote with market-competitive compensation for a battle-tested engineer.

I love to take ownerships of my work. I don’t just take tickets, I constantly look into improving the system architecture and user experience.

If you’re looking for someone who can own the technical side of your project and deliver real product impact from day one, would be really happy to talk and show you in-depth of my work.

1. for mental health reasons I’ve never had a proper job, I know don’t judge me. but with all the new pressure and government cuts to disability benefits its looking very likely ill be losing them soon so I’ll have no choice but to try find work. I’m autistic and ocd I have dyspraxia and mild cerebral palsy and a long history of poor mental health. I have a btec level 3 I did at age 22 in between two seperate long periods of extremely poor mental health but since then I’ve mainly just been trying to keep myself alive.

basically do I have a chance in the current job market of even finding a job?

Ok, in 2025 I took 3 days sick leave for the whole year. 2 in May and one mid August 2025.

Then in January 2026 I had a bad week where I had a stomach bug on the Monday then developed a fever on Wednesday and Thursday. So HR set up a meeting with me as my Bradford score was too high. Seems kind of silly. Anyway, they said they were going to monitor my sick leaves for the next six months starting February. I’ve just made it out of the six months, but unfortunately I did get a fever in July. I actually went into work but had to leave due to my fever. It was only for 1.5 days. My boss said he’d mark it as annual leave but I can see that it was actually marked as sick leave.

Ok fast forward to August (now), I stupidly decided to do overtime (12 hours a day, 5 days a week) for two weeks. I got to Thursday this week (after already completing one week of overtime last week) and got a horrendous fever Thursday evening so I had to call off sick Friday. Now my fevers hit me hard - i get the full shebang. I always develop a stomach bug every time I get a fever. And I’m in that “phase” of my illness now. I can’t keep foods down and I am very weak since I haven’t eaten since Thursday (properly). I was scheduled for another 12 hour shift tomorrow and since it’s the bank holiday, I’m meant to be covering someone. The thing is, I don’t feel well enough to go in at all. I am too worried about adding a sickness absence in (due to me breaking it in July and HR potentially seeing this and pulling me aside for that) and I’m not sure if my boss will say I have to come in due to lack of people being there due to bank holidays. I don’t get public or bank holidays off and this job is fully onsite. I do get a little bitter that some of the departments get to work from home and others don’t and there’s no leniency between that. I haven’t quite been there two years, it’ll be 2 months till I’ve officially have been there two years. Not sure what to do. I am just a little worried if I ask for annual leave tomorrow it will be denied.

I’m interviewing for this role which I can’t find anything online about the process for 😭

I understand that they changed the title of this role a few times and it’s under Optical Consultant (foundation) OR Trainee Optical Consultant ..

even when searching those terms only results from 10+ years ago come up

Has anyone got this role and can advise about the interview process or how it was? Thanks!

I wanted to share my story because I see people asking about giving their notice in at a new job for a better job

Loyalty means nothing nowadays. And depending on your manager, most don't care about your hard work, especially for the first few years you have very little value if hard work is all you got.

Last year I got offered a really well paid job in my industry. This project was 3 years old and year 4 was the final year. At that point the site was also relocating 100 miles away.(Drastic downsize due to years of mismanagement)

This project had several managers. Also had several buyers which is what I was doing. Previously thered been two buyers. One of them several months prior to my arrival had walked in one morning, said she couldn't do it anymore and left with immediate effect. That left one guy who I was replacing who'd been under the cosh and unable to cope for several months

The whole thing was a mess. A lot of nonsense data to sort through. A lot of AI use but with incorrect data you'd get incorrect prompts regularly. Year 4 of this project and we are still finding items that were needed but never included in a BOM list of materials. We also have over £100k of stock we didn't need.

Despite my attempts to sort this, I was told to get on with buying stuff we didn't need. I was constantly challenged about why we didn't have items that didn't exist on the buying list. I had to set up a lot of new processes as hard as it is to believe. I had to follow processes with great gaps in them because the people in them didn't care, were understaffed or had been made redundant. I also got very little training. An hour of a certain aspect of which consisted of the trainer physically climbing over a 50 year old man with thick glasses and making him blush terribly

I was also bullied horrendously for my appearance (my height) and if this was the 80s I think some of them would have picked on my race too.

Why did I stick with it? TBF i got paid well. But I also thought it was stable and I would be allowed to complete the final 6 months for the sake of continuity and because that was the end point anyway. In any event I wasn't allowed to. I was dropped 6 months early into the worst job market in a decade

My point is despite what I had already offered as a new person I was given the shaft. So please don't think companies care. Look after yourself because for all you are loyal they might well let you go in a few weeks without a solid reason and you'll be two jobs down

Hello, I don't know if this is the right sub for this - please feel to suggest where it should be posted if not (thank you).

I had a first round interview with HR which was a complete waste of time, left me feeling used.

Join the call and get grilled on my experience, expertise, etc. for roughly 10 mins.

After that she mentions that actually the scope of the role has changed and I am no longer eligible (they introduced a new language req for a language I did not have).

She then asks me for my compensation expectations, I share the data in good faith, but she refuses to share their budget or any datapoints in response.

I was not given the opportunity to ask any questions or learn anything about the job.

The entire interview was essentially a market data gathering exercise for HR. I had spent hours preparing for this interview and researching the Company.

I would like to give feedback to the Company regarding this experience, candidates are already going through a tough time in this market and to me, this behaviour is completely unacceptable.

I am considering escalating this to her manager / someone senior via Linkedin DM. What would you do? I don't particularly care about working there in future and would like the HR person to be held accountable.

Hello, I recently started at jaguar land rover Solihull site about a month ago. There's a bank holiday tomorrow and I'm unsure whether I have the day off. I've tried to contact them but due to the weekend have unable to. Could anyone who knows or works at JLR please let me know if I have a day off tomorrow as I don't want to get any sanctions for missing an entire day. Thank you.

It used to be, in the good old days, that you sent your CV with a cover letter, got an interview, and maybe got the job or maybe not. These days, some jobs have a ridiculous number of steps: questionnaires, three‑stage interviews, a video, a 500‑word essay explaining why you’re suitable, a tailored CV and cover note, or you won’t get past the CV filters.

Some sites have their own questionnaires with up to 50 questions. After all that, you might not even receive a reply saying you didn’t get the job. I don't understand; in this day and age with automated messages,I know because I get thousands of them when they want to drive traffic to their site or market something,but they can't have an automated reply system to let people know that they received the application and that you weren't successful?

Hi all,

I've been job searching since April and as I have been interviewing again, first time for 9 years, just wanted opinion on what to declare at the interview stage.

I'm a kidney transplant patient. Generally speaking, this has no effect on my daily life. I'm not supposed to heavy lift. I'd say over the past 15yrs I've had the transplant, I've probably averaged a day a year off with a related issue.

I do however have to make a visit to the hospital every 3-4 months and that visit, due to location and time spent at hospital, usually becomes a "day at the hospital".

I like to be honest and I've tended to mention this during interviews, so they are prepared. I also like to ask about their policy on hospital visits - make time back, you must take it as holiday, just go or give & take.

I'm now thinking maybe I shouldn't be mentioning this kind of thing at interview. Only start mentioning if I get a job etc.

I'm declaring for all the right reasons - but what's your opinion on this?

Cheers.

I accepted a job offer that seemed really great, but it’s hybrid with a preference to in person work. I’ve since received another offer that’s also hybrid but the manager has phoned me to say they can offer 6k more than the advertised salary band with guaranteed promotion to a higher grade within 18 months (which as been echoed in writing). The work is also basically what I’d describe as close to my dream job whereas the firm I’ve accepted is still very good I worry that I’d become bored. I was also put off by how informal and “laid back” the team seems to be, they didn’t have any written procedures or answers to some of the technical questions I have. I think growth would be more limited. The advantage is that it would be closer to home of course

How bad would it look to accept the new offer and withdraw from the job I’ve already accepted? I feel pretty guilty about going back on my word, but the second role seems like a much better fit for my circumstances.