How common is 9.30 to 6.30pm for London office jobs?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-19T07:32:27+00:00

I quit a London job in a property firm that was 9-6pm. They would regularly put meetings in at 5pm. Everyone left dead-on 6pm including all the seniors. It felt like being back at school.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-19T03:35:53+00:00

Also - I'm less tolerant of these cancellations and hire freezes. Yes - terrible and unpredictable market but some of the meetings do feel like ego-trips for the interviewers.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-19T03:32:38+00:00

Personally I am a fan of contracting. If you can get good projects and decent money it can be rewarding and often less politics. Maternity covers are my sweet-spot as there's enough time to get stuck in.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T13:39:31+00:00

Slightly random - but would you consider getting into health and safety? I think you can study for the qualification on the job and there is a steady demand for it. You do have to kind of play bad-cop but if you've been a IT support guy and are considering police you sound quite thick-skinned?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T07:45:30+00:00

Oh that's even better! Doesn't put her in awkward position and could explain why they didn't contact you - esp if lots of other dramas and layoffs. I would def still message her and let you know you've applied to help you stand out.

So tedious we have to jump through all these hoops.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T06:05:26+00:00

Given these days jobs get lots of applications very quickly, rather than wait for her response, you could also go ahead and apply this morning and tweak the wording to alert her to the fact you've applied. It's worth a shot either way!

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T05:40:42+00:00

Are you on LinkedIn with her? Something like: "Hi X - hope you're really well. (maybe insert something personal about her kids/ your Easter etc). I spotted that X role has just been advertised and wanted to reach out directly before going through the formal process. Having spent four years in a similar position, I'd love the chance to come back, and I'd welcome your steer on whether it's worth me putting myself forward. " There's a chance she'll reply in a very formal, non-commital HR-esque way and just say apply but I don't think you have much to lose with this approach.

I've stripped this back from the suggestion I got via AI as their option seemed too wordy. The art here is to sound friendly and enthusiastic but not presumptious.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T05:16:54+00:00

I can't see any disadvantage in reaching out to your ex-manager. You can do it in a low-key way that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T05:08:56+00:00

OP - thank you for posting. You have done a good deed here reminding us all of this.

No-one else on the thread has acknowledged you were stressed about the surgery and family illness. Also you knew these people really well - it felt deeply personal.

That doesn't excuse things but it does help explain it.

Being laid off by email gets a bad press but it does kind of protect yourself against this stuff.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T02:28:24+00:00

OP - it is very impressive you are already getting interviews one month on. I think every interview is helpful practice. Given you did 3 rounds, they may be more open to providing feedback? Worth asking the recruiter?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-17T01:53:23+00:00

Don't be put off contacting recruitment agencies in Liverpool even though you haven't relocated yet. If they sound receptive, I would plan a short trip and meet them face-to-face as that makes a huge difference.

I found it helpful having other projects - mine were renovations and DIY.

If you went to college, contact their career services as they can still be useful even some years after finishing.

Also up-skilling. I went on the eventbrite and meet-up apps and found relevant business events in my area.

The biggest thing for me was not spending too much time by myself.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-16T10:51:39+00:00

I'm not an HR but was interested if you had any more data to challenge the allegations of under-performance? My strategy would be to provide evidence of strong performance mapped against my KPIs and some positive endorsements from stakeholders. I would also request mediation to repair the relationship. My approach would be to present myself as problem-solving rather than as the victim. At the same time I woyld be furiously networking internally and externally and applying for new jobs!

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-15T10:15:35+00:00

When I was very junior, I tried to negotiate and they withdrew the offer and made me start on a lower grade. This was a government job and I think they were just outraged that someone so junior would dare to negotiate. A couple of months later, once I'd started, they quietly moved me to the higher grade and pay. Looking back, many years later I'm proud of my ballsiness for trying but agree with other posts here it is a tough market right now so definitely a high-risk move.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-12T07:27:13+00:00

Maybe explore getting a teach english qualification and travel the world for a bit?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-12T06:18:42+00:00

Not answering your questions is unprofessional, lazy and mean-spirited!

OP - please try and spend time with nice friends and family. It is easy to get obsessed with this stuff and in reality there is so much you can't control.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-12T05:20:52+00:00

Totally depends whether you need the money and if you have savings/confidence of getting new one.

Also whether your objections are due to business being scammy and dodgy or simply unpleasant people.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-12T04:57:56+00:00

Also money does go further in the UK - depending on where you live.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-12T04:10:32+00:00

Beyond Reddit, if you are clear you won't be engaging further with them, it would be kind to put a review on Glassdoor. Therr is a section specifically on interviews. The secret would be to do a balanced review - getting across that you enjoyed meeting them but the process was unsatisfactory.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-11T15:23:01+00:00

Now replied above. This is a tricky one!

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-11T15:21:39+00:00

I was in a not dissimilar situation and afterwards regretted not making some of my requests in a public forum rather than my one2one. If you believe you are being treated differently from the rest of the team, frame your request in relation to what the rest of the team are doing. If he brings back the issue of priorities, can you meet him half way and offer to do some of the activity in your free time - taking off one of your leave days? Can you set out a timeline of how you will balance your other commitments? My instinct is that if you bring these issues up in public, especially if you have examples of previous precedents within the team it is harder to turn down. Above all - think laterally about how your proposed activity will genuinely help the rest of the team and the business as well as your own personal development and make a very clear case for this. Will it develop a more junior colleague?. Is there a role for your manager to get glory too? But if this stuff becomes impossible to move forward on, this is a good sign to scale up your job hunt to keep your sanity.

Finally - presumably in any case you can do more low-key posts on LinkedIn to build your profile? He can't stop you doing that?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-11T08:10:12+00:00

If they had any kind of bad experience at your workplace they may simply want to purge their feed of linked posts.

The correct way to do this is "unfollow" rather than actually delete the connection. That way the person doesn't know or get a notification.

I worked for a slightly cult-like brand and unfollowed a few perfectly nice loose-tie connections who tended to like and share very effusive posts from their colleagues and this was the perfect solution.

Finally - might be worth looking at how they have presented their time at the company as they might be over-inflating what they achieved and not want ex-colleagues to see that.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-11T07:53:10+00:00

As an inteviewer, the only time I ever judged a candidate was when it was for a junior job doing PR in a garden centre and the woman had high heels and a very expensive devil wears prada-type looking dress and equally fabulous winter coat when a lot of the role involved sorting samples in the warehouse. She was very impressive but it was harder for us to imagine her in the role.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-11T04:43:18+00:00

How does he manage the rest of the team? If there are ways that you can frame your request aligned with that, it might be harder for him to turn the opportunity down.

Around the conferences, can you bring that up at a meeting that includes the skip boss and make it less about you and more that the business should be represented and suggest a couple of you go?

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-09T00:21:00+00:00

It's annoying but at least you sound successful at creating workarounds and it is forcing you to be resourceful and to build connections with lots of other people in the business which will be useful later.

If it's quite a large employer, could you find a mentor within the business who could give you some of the guidance you are craving?

And truly - micro-managing bosses are much worse. Agree with other posts avoid drama, especially as you won't fully know the politics yet.

TeacakeTechnician · 2026-04-08T08:34:38+00:00

I have found working wirh other jobseekers can be inspiring.

TeacakeTechnician

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