What do you think of management that is absolutely miserable? One of our team leaders never cracks a smile. When I say good morning he doesn’t say a single thing back which is completely rude. He has horrible people skills. I don’t know how people like him get into these positions.

I applied for a job that I saw advertised on Facebook. It’s with a local business that opened last year. Anyway I applied and the next day got an email to say they’re offering an interview next week which is great, I’m not getting that many interviews as many places don’t want an autistic physically disabled person with little to no work experience. I picked my timeslot and then got an email confirmation. Then yesterday I got an email saying the timings have changed, yet I login to their website and that info is still the same. I emailed the contact mentioned on the interview confirmation to clarify and the email bounced back saying the address is invalid. I’ve also tried to ring the business directly and it didn’t connect. I’m confused, should I just turn up at the time I’d originally booked? I’m wary of missing it because I know if I do I’ll likely be sanctioned by the job centre and if it turns out to be a scam or something then I’ll be disappointed cos im desperate to find work to get off benefits and contribute to society.

Have you ever accepted a counteroffer yourself, or do you know someone who did? I’d love to hear how it actually played out in practice and what the real-life outcome was. I think employers understand that many people would leave the job if they had a better chance so everyone is in a way potentially 'disloyal' to a company. But most companies are not loyal to their employees in the first place anyway so the concept of loyalty to employers is bizarre for me anyway.

I’ve seen claims floating around online, in blog posts, LinkedIn discussions, and Reddit threads suggesting that 90% or more of people who accept a counteroffer end up leaving the company within 12 to 18 months anyway.

However, I haven't been able to find any concrete data or credible studies backing up that specific statistic, so I’m wondering if it’s largely exaggerated or made up or actually true.

Obviously if the job title adds something like 'senior', 'manager', 'associate', etc to the job title then you can safely assume it pays more, but in my field (life sciences) each company has different job titles/ranks which makes it hard to compare.

How am I supposed to know whether moving to another company is actually worth it if I have no idea what it pays?

I cant be filling out long applications and attending interviews only to find out it pays £1/2k better...

As the title say. I know unemployment is at a 10 year high and a lot of companies are cutting back but there must be some places actually hiring. Ive been applying for stuff on LinkedIn but 90% of those seem to be screaming into the void and the 10% that actually respond seem to be a mix of not progressing and please buy our AI powered CV tool.

I've had more responses applying directly to companies but where do people find which companies are hiring these days?

I started a recruitment job recently, and I’m finding the learning curve quite overwhelming.

I’m still getting used to the role and trying to understand what good performance looks like at this stage. I sometimes feel like I’m not achieving enough, even when I’m putting in the effort, and I’m worried about whether I’ll pass probation.

My workplace is particularly strict, and there’s a lot of pressure to produce results quickly. I get the impression that there’s not much room for mistakes, which makes the learning process more stressful. I haven’t been told that my performance is a problem, but I’m constantly worrying that I’m falling behind or could be let go before I’ve had a proper chance to improve.

I’ve also had a recent sick day, which has added to my anxiety about how I’m being perceived.

For anyone who’s worked in recruitment, how long did it take you to feel confident in the job? How much pressure were you under during your first few months? And if you’ve worked somewhere particularly strict, how did you manage the pressure while still learning?

I’d appreciate honest answers, particularly from people who remember what it was like starting out.

I've been at a large UK company about four and a half years in a senior role. Generally well regarded and delivered some big pieces of work people still point to. Earlier this year I moved into a new area, headed up by someone who joined last summer. We're the same level on the company grading but her title is more senior with more responsibility. It's a mixed discipline team and I'm the most senior person in my discipline, so there's an expectation that I speak up and take ownership. I work with someone in her team day to day, so my direct interactions with her are minimal and mostly in calls of between 4 and 10 people.

In April she had a call with me about what I thought was one thing, pushing back in front of others on a director's request that was a classic case of "I want this" and not linked to what the project actually needed. By June concerns had gone to my manager and their boss, mainly about pace and keeping people updated. My previous team let me go away, do my bit and come back. This one wanted much more hand holding and constant updates, which nobody told me was expected until it was a problem. I initiated a reset in July and the person I actually work with said afterwards our pace had been great. She said she'd put more time in. That didn't really happen.

I’ve been told I'm being moved out of the area. The feedback was mostly examples she passed on: moving a packed progress meeting on when people were going in circles over small details of work in progress, how I challenged asks and an offhand joke about an expensive product along the lines of "who's buying this straight away, let's analyse the numbers." She herself has said the output of my work is excellent. My manager doesn't sit in the same meetings, so it's been reported to her as friction. Because it's lots of little things it's become a pattern and the consensus is that it's easier to move me out of that environment.

Some of it wasn't great and the joke probably shouldn't have been said. But almost none of it was raised with me at the time and nobody in that area ever asked me for feedback. The joke was so minor that it being on the list at all is what's annoyed me most. Since that April call it feels like because I challenged her, she's been noting things in meetings and passing them up rather than talking to me. Which is awkward when speaking up is part of what's expected of me.

I've accepted the move and I'm not raising a grievance. Am I right that this was someone keeping tabs or is this normal and I'm being oversensitive?

Hello everyone

So I did an interview for a customer advisor position with boots and I was rejected so I applied to another seasonal advisor role in another town and I have an interview again, did I do something wrong? Should I have waited 6 months before applying to the second position?
Also any tips for the interview? Since they rejected me after the interview, clearly I’m doing something wrong, appreciate any suggestion ( we will be on the floor and organising some things/ interacting with customers)

Long story short: 39yo. London Based. Work in the creative industry for 14 years. The last 6 has been freelance. Could see freelance work drying up since june and started applying for regular general work part time until the market recovers.

I haven't had a Customer service or low level/entry role since 2010/2011 and after sending I think close to 50 applications out, I get the idea that any and all jobs I'm applying for are seeing the huge gap between my last Customer facing role and just pushing my application asside. I've even been rejected from Kitchen Porter, backroom stock assistant and Barback roles.

Is it just a case of brute forcing as many applications as possible in the hope you eek in somewhere or are they seriously looking for experienced people in these low experience roles? Any other suggestions of low level roles with little or no experience that I might be able to apply for that I could be missing?

Any help greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Added age + Location for clarity.

Along with minimum wage, is this the latest employment nonsense?

I recently had one of the most disappointing interview experiences of my career, and I just need to vent.
I was interviewing for a Senior Product Analyst position at a fintech company. Before the interview, the recruiter sent me a detailed breakdown of the 60-minute session:
10 minutes of introductions.
15–20 minutes presenting a case study I’d completed beforehand, followed by questions.
Product problem-solving and scenario-based questions.
5–10 minutes for my own questions.
I spent hours analysing the data, building visualisations, developing recommendations and preparing what I was going to say during my presentation.
Then the actual interview happened.
After around five minutes of introductions, the interviewer told me I wouldn’t need to present my case study. Instead, we went straight into a live SQL exercise.
I was working through the question, building my query step by step. I wasn’t as quick as I’d hoped, and I fully understand that technical skills are important for the role.
However, after approximately ten minutes, the interviewer ended the assessment. The feedback felt quite dismissive of my SQL abilities, and the remaining interview sections never happened.
I completely understand that companies have technical standards and that not every candidate will meet them. I’m not arguing that I deserved to pass.
What bothers me is being explicitly asked to invest hours preparing a case study and presentation, only to have that work completely skipped.
I walked away feeling incredibly deflated. I’ve been working in analytics for years, and I don’t think I’ve ever left an interview feeling quite like this.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? Is it common for interviewers to abandon the scheduled format and end an interview early after a technical exercise?

I am a masters student studying part time at the moment with my degree starting 2026 and ending sep 2028. Most of my modules are concentrated in this academic year, with only my masters dissertation being next academic year.

The question is, I am aiming for a grad role starting in 2027 but my main concern is employers looking at my expected graduation date for the masters and immediately rejecting me. I already have a bachelors and most grad schemes have that as the actual requirement rather than the masters, but I am concerned if i do put 2027 expected graduation date for the masters i would be caught out in a lie.

How to approach this? I really want to target grad roles this year. If I do get interviews, would hiring managers be okay with me doing a dissertation spread out over 10 months while working full time (which I feel is very doable).

Its already difficult enough grinding for the assessments, i dont want to end up in a situation where i am working towards a dead end.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello!

So I start a new job in food production next week. This is a complete pivot from where I’ve come from(retail), and I think I’d like to try and work my way up the ladder.

I’ve got a probationary period of 3 months.

Would it be better to just get thru that first, or can I start building up to it right away?

What do I even do to show my willingness? I know the basics - turn up on time/work hard/offer to do any overtime etc etc…

But what would I need to be able to demonstrate in this industry to show I’d be good as a team leader/supervisor/what ever the next step up is?

Thank you!

Fixed-term warehouse associate contract until January. I'm a recent CS graduate who hasn't found a grad job yet, so this is what I've got for now.
Has anyone worked at an Amazon warehouse in the UK recently, or been in a similar position? What helped you get kept on or move into other roles, like training, IT or apprenticeships? Any first-week tips welcome.

Hi everyone!
I’m 22 and based in London. I’ve recently secured a seasonal Sales Assistant position at H&M, but I’ve also been invited to the next recruitment stage at Lush. I’m struggling to decide which would be the better opportunity.
Here are the details:
H&M – Hammersmith
£13 per hour
20 hours per week
Seasonal contract
Job offer confirmed
Induction scheduled for Monday

Lush – Victoria Station
£14 per hour
Seasonal contract
Weekly hours not confirmed yet
Invited to the next recruitment stage on Monday, after my H&M induction
I’m also studying towards my ICAEW accounting qualifications, so having a manageable workload, supportive management and a good work-life balance is really important to me.
I’d especially love to hear from current or former H&M and Lush employees:
Which company has a better working environment and management?
How stressful are the sales targets and daily responsibilities?
Which offers better staff benefits, discounts and bonuses?
How flexible are they with shifts, especially for students?
Are seasonal employees often offered permanent contracts?
Is Lush worth considering for the extra £1 per hour?
I’m planning to attend my H&M induction and potentially go to the Lush recruitment stage afterwards. Would you recommend keeping H&M or considering Lush if I receive an offer?
I’d really appreciate honest experiences and advice. Thank you!

Note to mods: this is not a rant. It’s a post asking for advice in response to a question about what I’m missing regarding what recruiters are actually looking for.

I’m 19, turning 20 in November and a 2nd year law student at uni. I’ve been applying to entry level retail jobs since leaving secondary school just over 3 years ago. In that time, I was tracking all of my applications at one point for about 5 months and in that time, I tracked over 300 applications that I made. So over 3 years I must have done a least 1k applications. This includes speculative applications via emails, but excludes the times I handed out my paper CV.

In those 3 years, I may have gotten about 15 interviews. No offers.

I put it down to lack of experience. So I started volunteering at a clothing retail charity shop. Have been there for 2 years now. I’ve become quite close to the staff there so I’m always coming back when I go back down to London for Christmas etc.

I had an interview yesterday for a 6 month temp paid job at this charity shop (but in a branch that is near my uni). It was my best interview yet. They acknowledged my extensive experience with their systems and everything.

I was certain I’d get the job. Waited for the call today and when i got it, he started talking me ‘we were very impressed, you spoke well,’ etc and i knew damn well a ‘but’ was coming and it did come. He had no bad words abt the interview or my experience yet i didnt get it.

I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. If I can’t get a paid job in a company where I already have 2 years worth of experience in, I must be bloody doomed.

What am I missing?

A bit of a long one but bare with

I applied to a certain coffee chain less than a week and was very pleasantly surprised when I got offered an interview not long after. I jumped at the opportunity and it was all booked for the next day, which seemed quite fast, but it’s also a minimum wage job so it didn’t seem too unusual to me.

I meet with the Store Manager and… first of all, a bit off topic but I really need to talk about this pet peeve of mine when it comes to Managers and ‘being too high up for the rules’. I get it to an extent when it comes to something like, uniform maybe, but just because you’re the Store Manager does not mean you can be representing an establishment that serves food and drink and have the longest, grimiest nails I have ever seen on a man. I was genuinely getting distracted when he kept waving his hands about during the interview and having to come into eye contact with the fucking length and dirt all over his long nails. I don’t care if you’re a Store Manager that’s above everyone else, you are not above hygiene and healthy and safety! Trim and clean your fucking nails!

Anyway back to the main topic. We both agree and confirm that I am in fact coming in for a Barista role, and then we do the basic ‘Tell me about yourself and why you wanna be here’ sort of questions. He then asks, ‘Are you okay with cleaning toilets?’ and I was like. Yeah occasionally if needed sure, I’m no stranger to it in my other job. But then he goes on to say ‘Well I need you to be more comfortable and certain because you will be cleaning 80% of the time in your role. Whether it’s toilets, back room or tables, customer service is not your priority task here’

And I’m just internally sighing at this point, because this is honestly not the first time I have applied to role just to be told it’ll be something entirely different (or in one case, I had a trial shift where I was doing what I applied for, but a month into the job I was doing the same specific role over and over and was told by management I would likely never actually take part in the other roles and tasks that made me apply in the first place!),

So I decide to confront him and say ‘With all due respect, the job posting and you just now said this is a Barista role. From my personal experience as a Barista, we do not get tasked to clean toilets 80% of the time like you’re asking, serving food and drink and connecting with customers is the primary task, wouldn’t you agree?’

And then he’s like ‘Yes I understand but we do not need anyone else behind the bar. Maybe if you work your way up to Supervisor you can make drinks and serve customers more often. Until then, you will be cleaning most of your shifts’. Like man… can you just ask for a fucking Cleaner next time? What do you get from deceiving people who have thought they finally found a decent job during these shit times?

If that wasn’t enough, he started going on about this rant about how recently he lost 2 Supervisors at once, which… idk why you’d tell that to someone who is interested in working for you, that’s a major red flag to me

And I know I’ll inevitably get people who’ll say ‘Well you gotta start somewhere and sometimes that means starting off cleaning toilets’… it was not like that 5 years ago. I got hired as a Barista and just did what you’d expect of the role. Serving customers. Occasionally cleaning, but not having it be my primary task. Was excited to work my way up the roles, but unexpected health issues stole my life for a few years. And now that I’m somewhat healthy enough to work again, of course shits gotten so bad work-wise in such a small amount of time :/

How would you approach this situation.

I got two job offers, one on Monday (job A) and one today (job B).

I want to proceed with job B, however I don't have a contract yet or anything beyond the email offer (same for job A).

A lot of advice I've seen has been not to reject your second choice until you have a contract in hand - which seems valid.

But it seems wrong to accept both offers if I know I'd only been proceeding with job B. Additionally I really liked the manager of job A, and while I don't anticipate I'd reapply for their position or company, I don't want to give them the run around.

Would it be sensible to reject A's email offer politely, and just proceed under the assumption job B is going to go forward with the contracts etc?

Edit: the last sentence was backwards, reject A and assume B will move forward. (It is now corrected)

Job A has sent all benefit etc and it looks good and they want to move onto signing contracts and want an answer by Monday - valid.

Job B I negotiated a better offer from using job A, including a better salary and position, and they streamlined their recruitment process to get me an offer today to beat out job A.

Hi, I'm looking at moving to another part of the UK. I have enough to move and survive for a couple of months but if I haven't got a job by then (which is a real risk) I've got problems.

It'd be a lot nicer to have something lined up beforehand but I always thought places wouldn't consider you unless you were local - especially the 'unskilled' min wage ones I'm looking at.

Am I going to have to go in head first as I expected, or is it worth trying to apply to some before I go? Apologies if this is a stupid/repeated question. Thanks :)

Hi all,

I've advertised and hired a few similar roles in the last few years (all full time junior/entry level office jobs) but for every one, there's been quite a big mismatch between the applicant experience/what they want and the role advertised, and I've never had an application from a school/collage/uni leaver, even for the entry levels that I've been clear on not needing prior experience in a workplace (as I personally hate the entry levels that need x years experience so aren't actually entry....). I dont specify "suitable for college leaver" or anything like it as they'd suit any age group wanting a junior/entry level role. I do ask for some demonstrable experience and/or interest in the topic area of the role or the key skills within it (e.g. data/numbers/Excel if it's a finance admin role, attention to detail/multitasking if role will have a lot of different parts to it etc).

I've redone, got AI to check, asked colleagues to review, all the role responsibilities, job titles, and the essential/desirable criteria's prior to and during the hiring process of all ads before, and they're all seeming fine and aligned with the roles being genuinely junior and entry. My company sets salary bands available and doesn't allow these on adverts.

So my question is - is this mismatch between role and applicants more likely to just be a sign of the current job market where the majority of people are just hitting apply on as much as they can (understandably), or is there more likely to (still) be something off in my job adverts, or both, or something entirely different?

Thanks in advance