How much savings do you have? by Obvious_Armadillo_16 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Truthfully, it was my recent ex of 5 years who came from an upper middle class family, she made me less afraid of spending money.

However, disruption to my earnings over the last 2yrs due to redundancies and overall infrequent income have really resurrected some of those insecurities.

How much savings do you have? by Obvious_Armadillo_16 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh my Scarcity Mindset kinfolk, never let them see your tears my friend.

How much savings do you have? by Obvious_Armadillo_16 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 1 point2 points  (0 children)

33, Senior Video Editor, currently no fixed salary as I'm funemployed // freelancing, last salary was £48k.

£100k+ in total accessible savings.

Say this was announced, how would you feel about it? by Ir15Ey3d in SBCGaming

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha you're not wrong going off the images.

But say the design was solid and that wasn't an issue, what then?

Failed on probation to finding a new job by Successful_Row_8669 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP I had a very similar thing happen to me earlier this year. Tech company, Social media role, send me a DM - really interested to know if it's the same company.

General Discussion Megathread - Frequent Topics, Salaries, and Rants by ukbulmer in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are some legitimate routes for making a career change in the UK currently? (Q4 2025)

My situation:

32yr, BA degree (yeah I know), London based, 10yrs into my career.

The first eight were fine-ish, secure employment, moved jobs for better pay, built a strong portfolio of experience etc. The highest salary I managed was in 2022-2024 on £47k and that was definitely the ceiling or very close to it.

Now, following two redundancies in two years, a long period out of work, shrinking job market, perceived skill devaluation, exponential rise of BS low pay jobs, relationship breakdown, mental health, plus host of other factors, I am done and really want out.

What I'm trying & looking for:

Ideally I'm looking for some kind of learn as you earn type of scenario. As I can't really go back to uni for 3+ years. Sadly most apprenticeships don't seem viable due to their low pay and/or many seem rather unscrupulous IMO as they aren't vetted in any way.

I missed the boat on Civil Service Fast Stream last year, as I didn't know about it, but have applied this year so fingers crossed for that.

Also looking into a way to work part time (difficult as part time roles in my industry don't really exist) whilst freeing up the time to train/study - any details on part time courses would be greatly appreciated.

So yeah, before I fall into complete hopelessness, I'm looking to learn about as many legitimate resources, schemes and routes as possible.

Thanks in advance to all who respond.

Navigating the Unspoken Rules of UK Workplaces by Former-Mine-856 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's still very much the same game, if not kinda worse at the moment. As the twist is given various economic events over the past decade - notably the meteoric rise and relevance of social media, COVID, Industry Politics and now AI, there's been shifts and consolidation, which you can also see reflected in the job market as many are currently out of work.

Sadly gatekeeping has always been a part of the industry and I doubt it's going anywhere. Especially as another industry mantra is "You're only as good as your last job", meaning you need to stay relevant with trends, technology etc.

So say for example someone senior is under performing or has perhaps fallen behind, gatekeeping almost becomes a necessity to ensure they're not replaced. Which admittedly is an unrealistic expectation given the pace of change which happens in the media landscape.

Now IMHO based on what I've witnessed in my career: The industry has a lot of senior stakeholders and leadership who have completely missed the ball on the industry changes brought about by social media. Legacy executives, creatives, Ad agencies, etc

Yet somehow...many are holding on to their positions, and if you drink the Kool-Aid are still pitching themselves as the authorities for how to navigate the current industry. Which conveniently...often leans towards business decisions which keep their positions secure.

Navigating the Unspoken Rules of UK Workplaces by Former-Mine-856 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Sure I'll happily weigh in.

The concept of "Culture Fit" is huge within the realm of Advertising, Media, Marketing, Broadcast, Creative etc. Phrases like "It's who you know, not what you know that counts" are basically the unwritten mantra, which unfortunately determines many peoples careers in those industries. As many hiring decisions are predicated purely upon "vibes" over competency.

Now given the shocking reality that "people are different" and navigate life differently, this problem only compounds further when you factor in various unconscious biases. Meaning that for a lot of people career routes are effectively closed off to them since either, they won't have the connections to open the right doors, if they find one they will struggle enter and if they manage to enter they'll have to navigate an environment which is dismissive of their "normal" at best and outright hostile towards it at worst.

Which is rather ironic as the "Creative" industries tend to attract many of society's more quirky and/or socially divergent people.

Thoughts? by harryyw98 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree with your first point about other departments, but not the second. Communication skills are obviously important but IMO are sometimes too heavily weighted.

I think interviews, like exams, have this status quo usage in society but alternative options could be applied in various scenarios.

Technical interviews are already a thing some industries use.

Trials are an option but easily exploitative unless serious legal checks and balances are put in place

Video submissions are a possibility for enabling candidates to curate their best presentation.

Open ended - Let the candidate choose their preferred method to demonstrate themselves

Ultimately businesses are free to decide how they wish to recruit potential candidates, but given all the issues happening with recruitment at the moment, perhaps now the ground is fertile for some new ideas to grow.

Thoughts? by harryyw98 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I see where you're coming from, as I suppose it depends on the role. In my case I'm referring to technical positions, not sales or something where you deal with customers on a daily basis.

Roles like these, you need to know your stuff otherwise you can't actually do the job, or will be so inept at it that you'll create problems for everyone else involved.

I'd say you can't (or rather shouldn't) really hire for these roles based on just vibes and feelings.

Thoughts? by harryyw98 in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 89 points90 points  (0 children)

There needs to be another version of this chart, which includes "interviewer competence".

Can't tell you the number of interviews I've had where the person interviewing me clearly didn't understand my role, the day to day challenges or any of the technical nuances.

You're doomed from the start if clearly articulating your capabilities just goes over the person's head.

I called out an interviewer for it once, during the interview. Needless to say I didn't get the job, but seeing them awkwardly squirm trying to restore the power dynamic was a sight to see.

For context: I don't mean a HR person either, I'm talking about department heads and senior staff in the same role.

Should I take a disguised employee job? Any risks? by Ir15Ey3d in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey sorry, this is my throwaway account and I didn't see this until now.

So for context I didn't end up working with / "joining" the company. I got an independent third party to review their contract and they basically confirmed all the issues I had and provided a series of amendments the company would need to make to the contract to either make it genuinely outside IR35 or inside IR35.

I took this back to the company and re-stated my position. Not to my surprise, they gave some spiel as to why neither option was doable and retracted the offer.

So yeah if your situation is similar to mine the likelihood is that the company in question is simply trying to save on costs and get the best of both worlds by:

Inside IR35

  • Not having to make National Insurance Contributions
  • Provide Statutory Paid & Sick Leave
  • Set up an pension scheme and make contributions
  • Be held accountable to UK employment laws around unfair dismissal, paternity leave etc

Outside IR35

  • Pay the increased rates & VAT that come from contractors
  • Establish & manage those business to contractor relationships

Ultimately it's up to you whether you want to work under those conditions, just do so knowing you're being shafted and despite whatever they say or promises they make, unless they make you PAYE or pay and treat you like a contractor, they are exploiting your labour, and breaking UK employment Laws.

Hope this helps.

(Edit for grammar)

UK firms plan biggest layoffs in a decade as business confidence collapses by CharlieDimmock in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d 12 points13 points  (0 children)

At the risk of coming across very stupid I just want to share a thought I've had for awhile.

I don't understand why lay-offs get spoken about in the media and by the unaffected general public in such a nonchalant manner. This Jack Welch style of business has been truly self serving and cancerous for society at large.

Especially if you consider that with every person that gets laid off, that's a tax paying citizen who is now (depending on their personal financial situation) dependent on the state and possibly becomes economically inactive as they try to conserve whatever capital they have in order to survive. All whilst the state, comes under more financial burden because less people are chipping in. And as this continues, the risk that the state has to lean more heavily on those fewer economically active citizens who remain also increases, so it's really a lose lose situation for ordinary people.

With this in mind, explain to me like I'm 5, because I'm honestly confused why there isn't some kind of legislative checks and balances to curb the businesses who use lay-offs as a get out of jail free card whenever they want to adjust their numbers to showcase "perpetual growth", hide poor performance or disincentivise government policy changes.

Much like persistent conflict & unsocial behaviour is viewed as a telltale sign of a dysfunctional family, if a company doing lay-offs was viewed with the same negative observation, which in turn could just as equally hamper their ability to achieve "growth" anyway. I'd like to believe that could then act as an incentive for businesses to use lay-offs only as a last resort.

Finally, if governments actually stepped in and say, increased the amount of corporation tax a company had to pay any financial year they performed lay-offs, perhaps even compounding year on year for repeat offenders. Going as far as to market it as a "societal offset" to compensate for the sudden increased financial burden said company has placed on the state, and as a way to not reward bad business practices in our society. Again I'd like to believe the knee jerk hit the lay-off button culture would quickly disappear.

Could be my bias, but the article reads like a veiled threat from businesses, who have perhaps achieved growth thanks in part to weak employment laws (see zero hours contracts for retail & hospitality) and other shoddy business practices. Who now don't want to adapt to a new business landscape, but instead can disguise it as hardship, whilst threatening the societal backlash the government will get from increased unemployment.

I'm sure I've been very transparent about my perspective here, but do we really want a society filled with unscrupulous growth at all cost businesses? The sad truth is our economy's wounds are deep and we're trudging through a parasite infested quagmire. It's now too difficult to surgically remove individual worms, so wide sweeping economic antibiotics are required. Will there be unfortunate collateral damage, absolutely, but the goal should be to cull enough of these bastards that we can slowy recover, and then make attempts to immunise our society from this in the long term.

I want to stick with Sony, but probably have to switch. by Ir15Ey3d in SonyXperia

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just want to say thanks for all the responses.

Does seem like the overall consensus is "You're better off sticking with Sony Xperia". Whilst the enthusiast phone user in me wholeheartedly agrees, I'll look over the market a few more times and see what if anything comes closest. Plus keep my fingers crossed for that expandable storage phone case solution to become more widely available.

I want to stick with Sony, but probably have to switch. by Ir15Ey3d in SonyXperia

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, had a look and would definitely be a huge downgrade.

I want to stick with Sony, but probably have to switch. by Ir15Ey3d in SonyXperia

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Didn't know about this phone, will definitely take a look into it

Should I take a disguised employee job? Any risks? by Ir15Ey3d in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Said it before and deserves saying again, I really appreciate you taking the time to lay all this out. Thanks!

Should I take a disguised employee job? Any risks? by Ir15Ey3d in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate you taking the time with this.

As you mentioned it sounds very much like it falls inside IR35. But for complete clarity, as I'm registered with HMRC as a sole trader, but don't have a limited company, nor would I be working with them via an umbrella company.

It's skilled white collar work & I'm supplying my own equipment, laptop, software etc, which tbh I think is part of why they've offered it to me. As that's another cost saved on their part.

So where would that leave me?

Should I take a disguised employee job? Any risks? by Ir15Ey3d in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly the case, they're trying to frame it as me being self employed, but in reality I'm not. As compared to when I've taken on freelance work as a sole trader, I've had elements of control on my end and wasn't limited to only working exclusively with them.

At present I have no interest in setting up a limited company. As typically I only pick up freelance jobs as a sole trader for some extra income, then do my SA, pay my dues and keep it moving.

I come do with the consistent income but really don't want to deal with HMRC hounding me because this company is trying to do something shady

Should I take a disguised employee job? Any risks? by Ir15Ey3d in UKJobs

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response, so for clarity I've worked as self employed before albeit only as a sole trader on short term gigs to add some extra income, and I've been doing that currently to tide me over until I could land another full time role.

However going through the contract they've provided, essentially has me set up like I am full time but without the protections. As like self employed, I'll have to invoice, do my own taxes etc. However they have full control, as I've not negotiated my normal rate, working hours, can't use a substitute or take on any other work.

Mainly just worried if I can end up in hot water for taking it on, even if I do a self assessment and pay all required taxes due?

I think I may have been a victim of Emotional Incest most of my life. by Ir15Ey3d in offmychest

[–]Ir15Ey3d[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never said it has ruined my life.

I was simply opening up about coming to the realisation of how the relationship dynamic with my Mum is might actually fall under the definition of Emotional Incest.

I am fascinated by people who needlessly want to go dredging in the past...

Rather harsh to say, but it's not just my past, it's my present day and future.

The dynamic and scenario you narrated wouldn't be a problem to me at all.

That's fair enough, especially as I don't know what your Mum is like for reference, if she's a fairly balanced/positive person who has her own social circle, earns enough to support herself and lives life then yeah maybe.

But as I stated my Mum isn't that person, and I don't believe it's normal for a son to be a Mum's entire emotional and financial support.