Steve gets a job!

[Stephen Coates]

Finally, the words you have all been waiting years for me to say:).

The job is the one I mentioned in the jobcentreplus topic with Edexcel. It is likely to just involve sorting exam papers and scanning them into the computer etc.

It will just be for the month of June, 37.5 hours per week, 6am-2pm and quite reasonable pay.

I start on the first of June. The pay is monthly, which is something I am quite surprised about, as this means I won't be paid until half way through July and will now probably have to give up my benefits. I would have thought a job like this would be paid weekly.

But, the 12 hour per week minimum wage floor mopping job which I applied for a couple of months back was also monthly pay. But that was a permanent job.

Hopefully, this Edexcel job will be a bit more successful than my previous job at Marks & Spencers.

[Phantom]

I wish you all the best in your new job m8. :thumbs:

[Tiago]

Good luck for the job!

[Puni/Void]

Good luck with the new job, Steve! Rock on! :rocker:

[Harrison]

Well done Steve. It's only a short term job, but it will get you some experience, and some money. All good for the CV.

Do you know what type of exams it will be dealing with? SATS, RSA, GCSE, A-Level?

[1980-20..]

Well done mate:thumbs:. But what did you do at marks, did you atack an old woman or something.:blink:

[Stephen Coates]

Do you know what type of exams it will be dealing with? SATS, RSA, GCSE, A-Level?

There ought to be GCSEs and A-Levels, but I think Edexcel are doing the SATs this year, after last years fiasco. That is if there are any SATs papers to process. I doubt there will be as many this year as there ought to be.

RSA stuff is done by the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA group (OCR).


But what did you do at marks, did you atack an old woman or something.

Nope, that's what the escalators are for. My Dad, who has worked at M&S for many years and used to be a First Aider, regularly told us about old women who had fallen down the escalator.

My M&S job was due to last 6 days over Christmas. On the first day, despite setting off a good hour earlier than I needed to, various public transport issues meant I couldn't get to Doncaster on time, so I call my grandparents to ask for a lift. They had trouble getting the car out of the drive and when we got to Doncaster we got stuck in traffic, so I ended up half an hour late.

One the second day, when i got back to Rotherham bus station, a bus I was going to get was cancelled due to snow and the other one (which I got on) was sliding about all over the place.

Third day went OK.

Forth day was Christmas Eve. There were to be no busses after the store closing time so I set off to go on my bike, but got a puncture 20 yards away from home. So I didn't make it in.

Fifth and Sixth days I just didn't want to take the risk and didn't bother going in :no:.

Something M&S ought to consider doing, is putting a sign up on the first floor, directing people to the escalator and stairs. When I first went there a couple of years ago, I couldn't find it and almost ended up going the wrong way down the upstairs escalator. Fortunately I found the downstairs one at the other side of the building. In my three days at M&S, the question that customers most frequently asked me was 'How do I get downstairs?'.

[Harrison]

You can imagine people stuck in there for months never able to escape.

Or at closing time. Message over the loud speakers, "To all customers on the first floor. The store will be closing in 10 minutes. A member of staff will be with you shortly to direct you to the exists of the store. Thank you for your patience and we hope you at least found the toilets!"

And you are right about the SATs. With so many schools boycotting them this year, there should be a lot less papers, which will at least mean they might stand a chance of being correctly marked this year!

[Stephen Coates]

I remember someone did actually ask where the customer toilets are. They srn't too difficult to find though upstairs.

[1980-20..]

Nope, that's what the escalators are for. My Dad, who has worked at M&S for many years and used to be a First Aider, regularly told us about old women who had fallen down the escalator.



Yeah its the same where i work. If you aint good on yer pins there to be avoided.

[Buleste]

Good Luck in the new job. If you find any amusing answers to questions you'll have to let us know.

[J T]

Nice one Steve, good luck.

[Stephen Coates]

Unfortunately, the Edexcel job didn't work out very well. To cut a long story short, I left after the first day.

Fortunately though, I am now working for the local council as a casual cleaner, and am currently working at a local primary school and will be doing for the next few weeks. First day went well, so hopefully I won't have any problems with this.

[Tiago]

after the first day?
what happend Steve?

[Harrison]

Yeah, what happened Steve?

Good news on getting another job though.

[Puni/Void]

Unfortunately, the Edexcel job didn't work out very well. To cut a long story short, I left after the first day.

Fortunately though, I am now working for the local council as a casual cleaner, and am currently working at a local primary school and will be doing for the next few weeks. First day went well, so hopefully I won't have any problems with this.

Too bad it didn't work out for you. :( What happened?

[burns flipper]

heh heh, I have 50 bucks on "I got bored" :lol:

[Stephen Coates]

To put it simply, I just didn't get on well with anyone.

Anyway, my new job with the council is a lot better :).

[Stephen Coates]

The cleaning job has gone well so far :).

But I have been off sick this week with tonsillitis. Feeling a bit better now though.

[Stephen Coates]

I'm pleased to say that all is well with the new job. Unfortunately there wasn't any work for me during the summer holidays :(. There should have been some in the building that I was working in, but the boss arranged that whilst I was off sick, and neither of us knew when I would be back.

But I returned at the beginning of September doing 3 hours per day for £6.29/hour which is quite good :). I'm still a 'casual' worker, but there could be a possibility of a permanent job.

I'm really surprised at the amount of rubbish that an Infant school manages to generate every day. Unfortunately, not much gets recycled either. Which is strange considering how enthusiastic our local council are to encourage individuals to recycle at home.

[Harrison]

Have you asked about recycling? Maybe the school would be interested in starting up a scheme.

[Stephen Coates]

Have you asked about recycling? Maybe the school would be interested in starting up a scheme.

There is actually a big blue paper bank which I didn't notice until a few months ago. A lot of paper still ends up in the main bins though.

I think one of the main reasons the bins get so full is the extremely large quantity of paper towels that the children use to dry their hands. For some reason though, the staff toilet has a hand drier.

The job is going well. Not had any problems. It is nice to have some money as well :).:Moneybag:

I am, however, thinking about going back to college next year. I have an appointment with someone at Doncaster College tomorrow regarding their full time HND in Electronic Engineering.

[Stephen Coates]

My 6 month probation ended on Wednesday. I am now sacked. Apparently my boss had a meeting with the headmistress, and she was not satisfied with cleaning. Conveniently though, this only came to light on Wednesday when I got sacked and they seem to have forgotten to tell me about it when I could have improved it. This is odd, as no one has complained directly to me about the cleaning, and even my boss has said it was satisfactory and has improved over time. As he neglected to say specifically what the problem was, I do wonder if there even is one.

I will be making a formal complaint in due course to try and find out exactly what happened. But, its back to the Job Centre for me next week.

Also, I have applied to do a full time HND next year. Took quite a bit of effort as one must apply through UCAS. Therefore you have to fill in a rather complicated and very strict form, then post it to someone in Cheltenham along with a cheque for 11 pounds, who will then photocopy it, scan it into a computer, and both email and post it to Doncaster College which is about 13 miles up the road from me.

[Harrison]

Sorry to hear that bad news Steve. You definitely have cause to start a complaints procedure if they didn't give you any warning prior to this, and you had no idea they were dissatisfied with your work. Employees are well protected in the UK. Go to your local citizens advice as it is free and they can get you started with what needs to happen next.

Also, good luck getting on to the HND. Would the new fee prices effect you on an HND? If so how much would it likely cost? And what was the HND you are looking to take?

[Stephen Coates]

Doncaster College do a course called 'HND Electronic Engineering and Computing Technology'. The bloke who runs the course told me that over the last 25 years or so, the computing stuff has gradually been reduced to the point where there is hardly any anymore, but, from this coming September, they are improving the course and adding some more microprocessory/computery stuff.

As it is an HND it will basically be the next step up from the ONC which I finished in 2009. I did start a part time HNC at Rotherham College in September 2009, but it was a bit rubbish, so I left in January 2010.

The new fees shouldn't affect me. I believe they only affect people who start a course in 2012. So I will only pay the current fees for both years of the course as I will be starting in 2011.

Doncaster College do also have a Degree top up course which you can do by staying on for a year after the HND.

[Harrison]

I think most colleges/universities offer HND graduates the opportunity to take an extra year to top it up to a degree. They did with all the HND courses when I was at university. Some of the people I went to college with, that also went to the same university only initially did HND's for the first 2 years, but then joined us for the final year of our degree course to make up the difference.

Have you also looked at other colleges and universities? I remember when I was looking around I initially planned on going to a different university because they had one of the best computer design courses, covering 3D design, CAD, DTP and graphics... but I still looked at other places and discovered Southampton actually had better facilities and were introducing a new pathway within their graphic design BA Hons degree specialising in Electronic Visual Communication, which covered everything to do with computer design and multimedia, new media and web design, so I ended up going there instead. So it does pay to visit and look around as many places as you can on their open days as you never know.

[burns flipper]

Aw, I remember you being 14 and telling us you were doing your ICT homework, now you're all growed up!

It's worth looking at other places if you're thinking of doing a HND or full degree - but then you have to look at your reasons for going local. When me and my friends were looking at going to Uni, no-one picked anywhere local. We wanted to go to the best place for our chosen fields, and moving away and becoming independant was part of that by necessity. As long as you can fund yourself in some way (I went to Uni when the local authorities paid your fees and gave you a grant, so I managed to scrape by), it's an option you might like to consider.

Also, I don't know how valuable degrees are nowadays. I did a sandwich degree, which means I did 2 years at Uni, then I did a year placed in industry doing actual work (and had to write reports on my progress for Uni), then went back to do my final year. Out of the 150 people on my course (BSc in Computer Science), 142 did a year in industry as part of the course. After we got our degrees, most of us got fully-paid proper degree-related jobs within the next few months but the ones who hadn't done the year out found it very difficult, because they had no practical experience (my degree was very theory-based). If you have experience in the field you want to go into, you have a much greater chance of getting a well-paid job at the end of your studies because of this.

Although saying that, the fact that you're going back to college shows employers you're dedicated to what you want to do which is a very powerful thing to be discussing in job interviews.

[Stephen Coates]

Aw, I remember you being 14 and telling us you were doing your ICT homework, now you're all growed up!

I eventually only got a C in GCSE ICT. It is a rather pointless and boring subject. All we really learnt is about how the four functional areas of Tesco make use of ICT. I think I have learnt more about computer related stuff by reading harrison's posts over the years than I ever did in school.

No one else round here does full time HNDs. Rotherham College where I did my ONC does a part time HNC, but I already attempted that, and it was rubbish. I could go to Sheffield Hallam University (a former polytechnic) and do a degree course, but a) I would rather go to a college, and b) an HND is probably more practical and is more of a step up from my ONC (degree courses do tend to be aimed at those who have only A Levels). You do only need one A Level to get on an HND course, but personally, I think you would struggle on an HND with A levels, even if you have more than one.

It is obvious by having a look round Doncaster College that their facilities are much better than Rotherham's. For starters, they have more than two rooms and the equipment appears to be permanently set up on benches and not shoved away in cupboards. I had a discussion with the course leader at Doncaster and the course sounds ideal. TBH, I'm not sure you will find many similar courses which include programming/microprocessor stuff unless you did a degree in Electronics.

You do have to consider the teachers though as well. Even though the equipment at Rotherham is poorly maintained due to lack of a technician etc, some of the teachers there were excellent, and if you have the enthusiasm, you can certainly make the most of what is there. For example, John who was in charge of our course knew just about everything. He used to teach a computer/electronics servicing course so knows a lot of practical stuff and was able to get a good understanding of my computer based project. As an ex chemist, he was also able to help with another student's project which was to build a pH probe (coincidentally, this student has a degree in chemistry) and also had a very good understanding of science. He made some excellent course material and was perhaps the world's best person at creating diagrams in Microsoft Word. He retired last year though.

My maths teacher at Rotherham was also excellent. You would be pretty much guaranteed to learn/understand something from him even if he did allow you to take in your entire folder into his phase tests, and the tests had virtually identical questions to last weeks practise questions (just slightly different numbers).

I am certainly not moving away anywhere. I'm currently at a point in life where I have more important things to worry about than getting rid of the parents ASAP, drinking away my student grants and getting loads of girlfriends. Somehow I doubt that would help me pass my course anyway.


Also, I don't know how valuable degrees are nowadays.
I gather they are quite useless, but I might as well do one eventually anyway. If you look at the current jobs market, you will see why I was in no rush at the end of my ONC to get a degree.

[Stephen Coates]

I had a meeting with the department manager the other day. She later sent me a letter which mentions the following:

At the meeting I highlighted the comments on your review which your friendly personality and reliability in timekeeping and attendance, however there was a continuous reference through-out the 6 month period to lack of methodical process and acceptable standards of cleaning.
...
has documented the number of occasions when this poor standard has been highlighted and unfortunately there has been no improvement.

Apparently they were generally just not very happy with my cleaning. Also it appears that mopping a floor and then walking over it is a lot more serious than I thought it was.

On the positive side though, they have said they will give me another months wages as they terminated the contract immediately, whereas they should have given me a months notice.

It wouldn't surprise me if something a bit fishy is going on somewhere though.

But to make matters worse, I have just received an invoice from Rotherham college for £236.76, which as far as I am aware, I do not owe them.

[Harrison]

At least they are giving you one months money now. Although I agree that something isn't right there. Doesn't sound like the followed official procedure and are now covering their tracks. Probably less hassle just to accept the money and put it down to experience.

[Stephen Coates]

Probably less hassle just to accept the money and put it down to experience.

That's what I will do (provided my relatives stop making a fuss:mad:)

I will keep an eye out for other jobs as being unemployed gets boring. Whether or not I will find something I don't know. I spent most of the last year without work.

[burns flipper]

...and everyone who's employed full-time complains that they don't have enough time to do all the stuff they'd want to do if they didn't have to spend all their time working.

Part-time is the way to go! The trick is to get paid a full-time wage for a part-time job.

[Stephen Coates]

I'm pleased to say that I got a letter today saying that I can have a place on the HND course. Now I have to contact the pain-in-the-backside-service Universities and Colleges Admissions Services to formally accept it.

[Submeg]

...and everyone who's employed full-time complains that they don't have enough time to do all the stuff they'd want to do if they didn't have to spend all their time working.

Part-time is the way to go! The trick is to get paid a full-time wage for a part-time job.

Have you worked out how to do this yet?

[Harrison]

It's called being a consultant! Doesn't matter what your profession, if you can get to become a consultant you are set and don't need to work more than a couple of days a week at most.

A friend of the family works for a government research centre and decided to take early retirement a few years ago, and was asked if he would go back as a consultant. He now earns about 4 times more money and ony works a couple of days a week. At at the moment his boss has said he should write a book about everything he has ever invented, and to give him incentive to do it, said he can write the book whilst at his desk, so he will be getting paid to write a book instead of working. Quite cool. He must be good at what he does because he's got a CBE and MBE from the Queen. I do know he's invented some of the mine sweaping equipment used in the Middle East, and a lot of other stuff to help out the armed forces. Not sure what else as most is top secret... which makes me wonder if most of the book will contain blacked out lines! :lol:

And my Uncle is the same. He worked for the Police for a very long time, then took early retirement. He is now a consultant to the Police force for legal matters, and advises Police on their legal and job related rights. He only works a couple of times a week at most, and only when called to be needed, but is on a good retainer and said gets paid a lot more when he is called in, than when he ever worked there full time as a Police man. He actually no has enough money that he bought another house as an investment and rents it out.

[Submeg]

I'm down for that, now I just have to be good at something ;)

[Stephen Coates]

At least they are giving you one months money now. Although I agree that something isn't right there. Doesn't sound like the followed official procedure and are now covering their tracks. Probably less hassle just to accept the money and put it down to experience.


I did get an extra weeks pay. No sign of the remaining months pay though. And my P45 came the other day. I did write to the manager and ask for some more detailed feedback, but I didn't get a response. I'll write to the Human Resources department and see if they can be of any assistance.

[Harrison]

Have you had any luck finding any other work?

And are you all setup ready for college?

[Stephen Coates]

I've not found any more work yet.

I managed to formally accept my place at Doncaster College through UCAS. Now to sort out finance through the Student Loans Company.

[Stephen Coates]

I'm pleased to say that the student loan application form was nice and easy to fill in.

I got a letter today from a 'Human Resource Consultant' at the council. She said I will definitely get the rest of the money that they owe me.

I will now have to try and figure out how to make a formal complaint.

[Submeg]

I will now have to try and figure out how to make a formal complaint.

Setting stuff on fire is a pretty formal complaint. :cool:

[Stephen Coates]

I will now have to try and figure out how to make a formal complaint.

Setting stuff on fire is a pretty formal complaint. :cool:

Sounds good :flame:

:biggun:

[J T]

I recommend a dirty protest.

(Not from experience, mind).

[Stephen Coates]

I have a meeting with the Human Resource Consultant and the Facilities Services Manager tomorrow.

I'm going to have to get those arguing skills out which have not been used much for a few years:mad:.

[J T]

Make sure you don't lose your cool, as then you've pretty much lost. Is it worth taking notes of things that they say?

[Stephen Coates]

Yes, but I have a pretty good memory. I don't think they'll offer me the job back, not that I want it back. But they are not getting away with it.:ninja:

[Stephen Coates]

It didn't go too badly and I didn't loose it.

They kept bombarding me with rather vague sentences and explaining that 'this is the procedure', 'the procedure has been followed', 'the standard has not been met' etc, and not really explaining what I asked for. They seemed to be going round in circles and it was obvious that they didn't really know what they were on about.

But, I managed to be very persistent and strict with them, and eventually they agreed to contact the school after the holidays to find out what they thought was wrong with my cleaning, and to have a look to see if there are any written records of the complaints made by the school.

[Harrison]

Did you take anyone with you? because by law you can be accompanied by someone to witness the meeting and to give a third perspective on it.

[Stephen Coates]

No.

This meeting was not in accordance with any procedure or legislation, do I doubt the usual rights about taking a colleague or union representative would have applied. So they shouldn't have objected to me taking someone else. I did mention in my letter that I may take someone else, and they didn't tell me otherwise. However, I couldn't find anyone to take.

[Stephen Coates]

I got a letter back from the council the other week.

To summarize so far:

*Supervisor says the problem is 'little things'
*Manager says there is a lack of methodical process and general standards of cleaning.
*Human Resource Consultant repeats this.
*My personnel file reveals that 'methodical process' refers to the fact that I walked over some clean floors, and 'general standards of cleaning' refers to some slightly dusty window sills, which were filthy before I cleaned them, the week before the supervisor inspected them.
*Meeting revealed that complaints were made, but it was not known what the complaints were, who made them or when, and that there may not be any record of this.

Guess what the letter says. (I expected either a load of made up crap OR a proper detailed explanation of what was wrong with my work).

... has now made further enquiries with regard to the issues raised by the school.

It has been confirmed that, as discussed at our meeting, the school had raised issues with regard to your work. This included the lack of method, for example cleaning a floor and then walking back over it, and the cleanliness of areas you were responsible for, such as window ledges.

Our records show that you were made aware of the issues through discussions with ... ... during site visits and in your probationary review meetings.

All available avenues of investigation into your concerns have been exhausted and we now consider this matter to be closed.

Rotherham Council should be ashamed of themselves.