I'm sick of the sight of pizzas!!!

[Anonymouse]

This is because I'm now working at Stateside Foods in Westhoughton and I never thought there were so many pizzas in the world.

This job has me more firmly convinced than ever that:

1) "Warehousing" can be described very simply as "moving boxes from A to B";

2) In this day and age manual labour should no longer exist!

Oh, the job could hardly be simpler, and pizza boxes aren't exactly heavy, but I am not enjoying this at all. This is not what I did all that studying for, living hand to mouth. There should be a law against making qualified people do menial jobs. I gained all those qualifications in order to avoid this sort of work! What the hell went wrong?!

[admars]

I can only suggest that time of you carry on looking for work you want to do.

I've done work that I'm vastly over qualified for when I've been made redundant, but the bills need to be paid, you just have to make sure you don't get stuck in a rut, and carry on looking, polishing up on your skills you have, you could always find an opportunity where you are. I remember chatting to one guy who said something like

"don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem like you should be doing this"

told him why I was stacking shelves, and he suggested I speak to someone at the work place to see what they could do, unfortunately they couldn't do anything, but it was worth a go.

Also remember, some people are doing that work because they don't have the skills or whatever to do other work, so don't act like you're above them. Also, some ppl may enjoy doing that work after doing high flying stressful jobs.

Hopefuly you'll find an opportunity there., good luck

[Taf]

Many fast food outlets are staffed by highly qualified staff straight out of Uni's.

Qualifications and experience mean nothing when there aren't jobs available in your field.

Most of my Radio Telecomms colleagues now work in fields as diverse as vacuum pump manufacture to holiday reps.

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

There should be a law against making qualified people do menial jobs. I gained all those qualifications in order to avoid this sort of work! What the hell went wrong?!

No one makes you.

Plenty of people would love the job, or any job.

You come across as thinking you are better than them, I hope thats not the intention.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Taf

Many fast food outlets are staffed by highly qualified staff straight out of Uni's.

Qualifications and experience mean nothing when there aren't jobs available in your field.

Most of my Radio Telecomms colleagues now work in fields as diverse as vacuum pump manufacture to holiday reps.

Depends on how you define "highly qualified". Too many people studying narrow, pointless subjects which are of no use. Too many courses which have no need to last 3 years or more. How many people need 3 years to study "Events Management" or "International Hospitality Management"?

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

This is because I'm now working at Stateside Foods in Westhoughton and I never thought there were so many pizzas in the world.

This job has me more firmly convinced than ever that:

1) "Warehousing" can be described very simply as "moving boxes from A to B";

2) In this day and age manual labour should no longer exist!

Oh, the job could hardly be simpler, and pizza boxes aren't exactly heavy, but I am not enjoying this at all. This is not what I did all that studying for, living hand to mouth. There should be a law against making qualified people do menial jobs. I gained all those qualifications in order to avoid this sort of work! What the hell went wrong?!

What qualifications do you have?

[Anonymouse]

HND Computer Studies, BSc. (Hons) Computing with Mathematics, and several others. Unfortunately most of my knowledge is admittedly out of date, since I acquired these qualifications in the '90s; the most recent IT qualification is the post-grad course I did in 1997.

I just meant that people with degree-level qualifications should have more opportunities for jobs where they'll actually be able to put those qualifications to good use. You don't need a degree to work in a warehouse.

I will admit I don't actually know what else I could do. I just want a job which is worthwhile, where I feel I'm actually achieving something. Is that really too much to ask?

[admars]

you could get back into IT starting off doing 1st line support, brush up on things like SQL in free time, could come in handy at work so you can potentially move into 2nd line, and 3rd line. If you show eagerness to move on that can be rewarded.

I've seen it, we had a 1st line guy come in, not massively tech IT skilled, but started to dabble in SQL, picked up pretty quick, moved into 2nd line after a year or so, now a team leader

1st line isn't usually paid that great, BUT there is a career path if you want it, and can lead to opportunities outside IT if you want to go into project mgmt, business manager etc.

A lot of IT stuff you can learn at home for free dev, networking etc, create some VMs, all useful skills, even "out of date" languages show you can learn a language, if say you did C, you'd be able to pick up c#, and be surprised how easy it is to pick up and how much is done for you

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

HND Computer Studies, BSc. (Hons) Computing with Mathematics, and several others. Unfortunately most of my knowledge is admittedly out of date, since I acquired these qualifications in the '90s; the most recent IT qualification is the post-grad course I did in 1997.

I just meant that people with degree-level qualifications should have more opportunities for jobs where they'll actually be able to put those qualifications to good use. You don't need a degree to work in a warehouse.

I will admit I don't actually know what else I could do. I just want a job which is worthwhile, where I feel I'm actually achieving something. Is that really too much to ask?

if you don't mind me asking, what have you been doing as employment between 1997 and now? How did you end up moving pizza boxes if you're trained in IT / mathematics?

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

HND Computer Studies, BSc. (Hons) Computing with Mathematics, and several others. Unfortunately most of my knowledge is admittedly out of date, since I acquired these qualifications in the '90s; the most recent IT qualification is the post-grad course I did in 1997.

I just meant that people with degree-level qualifications should have more opportunities for jobs where they'll actually be able to put those qualifications to good use. You don't need a degree to work in a warehouse.

I will admit I don't actually know what else I could do. I just want a job which is worthwhile, where I feel I'm actually achieving something. Is that really too much to ask?

Qualifications get your foot in the door in the year or so after you graduate. After that it’s experience. I have qualifications in archaeology and journalism, but I haven’t practiced either in years. Nobody would employ me in either field today, and I suspect the changes in those fields are rather less marked than in IT.

It isn’t asking too much to want to feel like you’re doing something worthwhile, but you’re going to have to be prepared to work your way into a position like that. It might be worthwhile to identify a goal, and work out what steps you have to take to achieve it.

[Taf]

The tech fields move ahead so fast that it's hardly worth writing text books for students these days.

What I was taught in '83 was of little use when the next gen equipment came out in '85. And getting my foot in the door in the design and build of that new kit was impossible as the teams were effectively learning on the job as better components were released by manufacturers.

Our group assisted a guy who invented a decent bit of kit and had prototypes built. The customers were falling over themselves to buy it, and his orders looked very promising.

But then someone in the Far East came out with an alternative, based on mobile phones, and was able to deliver much faster at a lower price. Plus all unserviceable kit was simply binned and replaced on the same day, no repairs even attempted. He couldn't beat that scenario, so all his good work went down the drain, along with all the money he had raised.

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by Taf

The tech fields move ahead so fast that it's hardly worth writing text books for students these days.

exactly. this was why I wondered what employment has been kept, as if it were within the IT field, there is a constant need to keep up to date and take the latest exams. Not doing so is what would leave someone moving boxes after 2 decades of not keeping up.

[Carth]

Stick to Pizzas mate, annoying as it may be, there are opportunities.
Keep your head down and eyes open, look at working practices/methods and identify areas of improvement. Start showing an interest in quality control for example . . . if you show an interest they are more likely to notice and mark you as one to watch.

Sooner rather than later, a promotion opportunity or move to a better graded role will arrive, it won't be massive but it will be a step in the right direction. When applying, use the issues you've identified to show you are a 'team player' with ideas that will benefit the company.

I've seen people start in a factory and well within 6 months have a much better role than packing boxes etc

edit: If you're in a warehouse, is there an opportunity for fork lift training/stock control etc?

[Hom3r]

From 89 to 97 I worked to a software/Hardware distributor, they sold to places like HMV/Game etc.

I started on receiving stuff as it came in the door and putting it on the correct shelf, then in the afternoon picking ang packing.

Over the years I progress to the returns department, then I became the warehouses no1 with the ID software contract, I flipped between making boxes, picking, packing, putting delivery labels on boxes then shrink-wrapping the full pallet.

I moved on and for 15 years was a Technical Librarian in the aviation industry, before Covid-19 cost me my job.

I'm trying variations of my job title but its tough, as many require degrees or experience of software packages that I have never heard of like ASite.

I have a spreadsheet that I print each move that I can mark off every day all the e-mail and searches I do.

[OLD BOY]

You could even try looking for IT opportunities in your local authority. Six years ago, my council couldn’t find good IT staff for love nor money. I’m not sure if it’s still the same, but it’s worth a try.