I need a proper job, and fast.

matherto

matherto

20 times 20 times Man United
13 October 2004
St. Helens, Merseyside.
Manchester United
Well I'm trying to drop out of Uni, but the parents won't allow it unless I have a full time job lined up.

I've currently got the typical studenty type job, just working at Next on tills and so on, but obviously with the parents this doesn't qualify as a 'proper' job, and with Next (and the rest of the world) doing so shit, they aren't offering full time hours anyway, so that's that ruled out.

I wouldn't mind doing some kind of IT job, and there was a technicians job at a local high school on offer, but I figured I'd never get it being 19 and not knowing everything and anything about computers.

Now I see adverts for Computeach and stuff like that all the time, but how easy is it to get a job after doing something like that?

I've honestly not got a clue where to start looking for stuff, and it's probably a fruitless task anyway because of the economy.

Any help would be appreciated either way.
 
Well they say they guarantee to get you a job after doing those courses, but they cost about £3,000 to do :((.

P.S. I used to work at Next :DD.
 
I think you should stay in Uni and get your degree, since your job prospects would be better with a degree. It's good for your long term future.

Why do you want to drop out of Uni? Don't you enjoy it or are you doing badly in it?
 
I just hate the place I'm at now, it's just secondary school but further away and without the people that made secondary school bearable.

It's in Ormskirk, which is a small market town in the middle of nowhere, nothing happens there because there isn't anything there at all. Living in there would be unbearably boring, yet I feel like I'm completely missing out on proper Uni life because I'm not living in. Everytime I go and visit my mates in Manchester and Liverpool I'm reminded that living in a major city like that would be great, and I'd have a great Uni experience, so it's annoying to think that I was so lazy and not bothered about picking where I went, and just picked Edge Hill because it was the nearest to my house.

Unfortunately it's dawned on me that to live in and start again next year would cost me a whole load of money that I don't have, and for one thing I'd have to sell my car (this is of course, after convincing my dad to let me start again, as he doesn't even know that I've hardly been in this year...) and I've only just got it, so I do not wanna sell it.

Plus I pretty much picked the wrong course. The lecturers and seminar leaders know less about the subject than we do (that might sound a little exagerrated or arrogant, but it's true. I asked one of them to explain what he was actually on about and he couldn't). Plus the fact, half the time they're never in or they don't tell us if there is a room change or something. Checking the website, or the usual notice boards usually leads to nothing, and asking people if we should be somewhere else also leads nowhere.

So I rarely bothering venturing the 15 minute journey to Uni, just seems like a waste of petrol.

It's funny though, I've done all the work that's needed to be done uptill now, and although I've only been in long enough to get the marks back for two of them, I've had a first and a 2.1, so I can't be doing too badly.

Oh and Tim, you'd love working at Next now, because the economy is so bad, we're down to four hours a week, but they haven't cut the amount of workers coming in on any given day, so before I was doing full days on Saturday in the stockroom, and there'd be five other people in the stockroom with me, sorting delivery out and so on, now those same people are just coming in and standing around doing nothing because there's no delivery, and there's too many people out on the shopfloor. It's hellish.
 
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Matherto - you may be a Manc but football is only a game and I feel I need to offer some advice. Edge Hill I guess is more known for teacher training than degree courses I guess, but I'd really recommend you staying at uni- it WILL affect your future unless you are working for yourself or really luck out with a small firm to get a decent job.

I myself went to uni and it was in a boring town isolated with nothing around it. About halfway through my first year I wanted to change and DID change courses. I was tempted to change uni - and its fairly easy to do - but decided to stick with it. Your parents are right though about not quitting without a full time job lined up - it means you will drift for a while and probably lose heart if you can't find a job quickly. It's hard to find a job normally and with the job market and your lack of real world experience job-wise it will be difficult to find something appropriate.

It sounds like you have your head screwed on academically despite the crap lecturers, so I'd consider your options carefully. Good luck.
 
Mat I would look at a change of Uni or even take a year out and travel, it's the time of your life my friend.
You have a lot of years for your career but you only have the real freedom that youth provides once. You will work for a long time, enjoy life first...
 
nah, that's a myth, mate...

edit: the only thing i have is a fecking massive wallet! and a gazillion days off a year! :)
 
you just need to have 'been' to university - don't even need to have completed the course...

having said that, there were some people on my course who hadn't been...

just apply - it costs you nothing and can be done online! they are screaming out for trainees!
 
Hmmmmmmm I'd fancy that for a career change.

The following are the minimum criteria you should meet in order to become an air traffic controller:

• Be at least 18 at the date of application.

• Have five (5) GCSEs/Standard Grades (or equivalent) at grade C or above, including English Language and Maths.

• Be eligible to work in the UK.
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Nick Cave said:
Man £85k top earners...
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thats basic!

you can do upto a maximum of 25 overtime shifts in a year too, which is £550 for one 8 hour shift, and when you consider that you usually do half-hour on RADAR, then you have a half-hour break to 'recover', then it's not too shabby for 4 hours work!!
 
Holy crap I think I've found my calling.

Just read something about getting rid of Manchester and sending it all to Scotland though?
 
yeah - you can't guarantee where you will be sent.

there are 3 'disciplines' - tower, approach, and area (high level)

after finishing the initial generic introductory college course, you get branched off into one of the three...

for tower, you can be sent to any NATS airport in the UK.

for approach, you may get sent to a regional airport like birmingham, or glasgow, but most likely you will end up where i am in southampton and do the approach for either heathrow, gatwick, luton, stansted or london city.

for area (high level), you will either goto southampton, manchester (which you are right is moving to prestwick in scotland), or you could just be sent to prestwick anyway straight from the college.

the college btw, is in bournemouth, where you will spend the first 6-18 months of your training (time depends on discipline - tower being easiest and fastest to complete, followed by approach, then area)


edit:

forgot to mention, that you can put in a preference of what you want do to and where you'd like to go after the initial phase, but not many people get what they want, unless you have a bloody good reason!!
 
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Jumbo_ said:
Holy crap I think I've found my calling.
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money isn't the best part though!

we work 6 days on, 4 days off. days on are 8 hour shifts, and if you consider that the average time actually on RADAR is half-hour on, half-hour off, then it works out at about 72 hours a month of ACTUAL working time. although, sometimes you will work an hour with a half-hour break, and on other occassions, you will work a half-hour and have an hour and a half off...

we get 36 days leave a year, and when you consider the shifts are 6 on, 4 off, if we take 6 days leave, we actually get a whole fortnight off, so in theory, we can work for 6 weeks, and have a fortnight's holidays, and do that do infinity!! :)
 
I'm not sure that'd suit my situation really, I wouldn't mind moving I suppose but I wouldn't wanna live right up in Scotland and wouldn't fancy having to move more than once in a couple of years either.

Does sound like a really good job though, all that you just said sounds awesome and it sounds both fulfilling and well paid on top.
 
it's a fantastic job - being on radar is just like playing a computer game! once you have cracked the hardest level, you're set!

even when you are on radar, it seems like you're only in there 5 minutes and there is someone standing behind you wating to take over!

and the pure adrenaline rush you get when things are going fucking mental is awesome!

it's tough to get there though - just getting out of the college is hard enough, then you have to validate on a live sector!

good luck if you apply - like i said, you've got nothing to lose...
 
Jumbo_ said:
I'm not sure that'd suit my situation really, I wouldn't mind moving I suppose but I wouldn't wanna live right up in Scotland and wouldn't fancy having to move more than once in a couple of years either.
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sorry, i might have mislead you slightly...

once you get posted to a place, you are there for life. you can put in posting requests, but they take years to go through.

unless you are prepared to go move anywhere in the uk, then there's not much point in applying.

one lad from my course get sent to aberdeen (he was from leeds originally) and wasn't happy, but he still went. last i heard he as enjoying it up there. i guess it just takes a while to get used to...
 
I agree with what crayon said. You should stay in Uni.

You said it's boring in the city you're in and there's nothing there. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise. You have no distraction and you can get on with your work.

You might want to go out and party and have fun in the Uni's that your friends are in, but that whole party life thing it's a bit overrated. Once you do it when you first get to Uni it's alright, but after that it's basically just getting pissed. lol.

There's students in my class who tell talk about what they get up to last night...which is usually staying up late, drinking or smoking weed and pissing about aorund the Halls of residence. If it's not that, it's going to the same club they went to the other day.

Maybe i might just not be a party, but i don't think it's all that. It's exciting knowning you can go out and comeback anytime you want, without knowbody telling you anything, but after a while that wears out for me.

I don't see Uni life being the best part of my life, i just see it as what it's going to be like being an independent person, making some new friends, being able to manage your time right and also controling yourself. When you get a good degree and start working and earning lots of money, you can do anything you want!

Anyways, it's up to you what you want to do, but i would say you should stay in Uni and rough it out. It'll better for you in the long term.
 
I'd say complete your degree. Job market is so tough for us inexperienced students, so its probably wise to stick to education. This dip will probably last for another 2 years, so might as well rack up qualifications. The service sector has basically nothing left.
 
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