Is the Recession Exaggerated
Posted by: Mick P on 31 July 2009
Chaps
I sometimes think that people like whinging for the sake of it and this so called recession has had people moaning in droves.
Some people must be a lot better off because inflation is peanuts and interest rates are low and housing is becoming cheaper to afford in real terms.
Then everyone bleats about the unemployed.
I have freelanced since 2004 as a Procurement Consultant and did pretty good out of it because times were good. My last contract expired in November last year and as I was just one month away from my sixtieth birthday, I decided to retire. My wife was going to retire in March this year. She has been constantly postponing her retirement and has now agreed to carry on working for another 12 months.
I therefore decided to re enter the job market. I am an old man of sixty so you would think I had no chance.
I put myself on the books of 3 agencies on the 30th June and had two interviews last week. I had two job offers as a result this week and am earning precisely the same as this time last year.
In other words it has taken exactly one month to land a choice of two jobs at last years rates and this confirms my belief that this country still has a load of opportunities and that getting on your bike is still valid.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Exiled Highlander
Mick
You have (probably somewhat inadvertently but maybe not) opened up a real Pandora's box here.
You are clearly well placed in the job market given your expertise and your good fortune is others misfortune of course.
I am lucky enough to have a good job with a global, European owned, organisation but at times I am so pissed off with it that I consider just handing in my notice and going out to get some manual job that doesn't see me travelling away from home for 4+ days a week or sometimes for weeks on end for something that is comparatively stress free....
But when I read posts like Steve's I feel I suddenly feel both lucky and incredibly selfish for having such thoughts. There but for the Grace of God....
Good luck Steve.
Regards
Jim
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Exiled Highlander
Stephen
quote:
Banks are not lending because most jobs are at risk.
They aren't lending as they are trying (and they need to) build up their balance sheets.
It's Catch 22 of course as they need to lend to start the economy.
Cheers
Jim
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by garyi
We have a window cleaner comes round here nice guy. 15 quid to do the house though. Ouch.
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Stephen Tate
A vision engineer?
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Absolute
quote:
Originally posted by garyi:
We have a window cleaner comes round here nice guy. 15 quid to do the house though. Ouch.
Really?! The same bloke has been coming to our house for 12 years or something. Still under £10, and he's good.
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Sister E.
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
If you haven't done well then frankly you shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets.
Regards
Mick
Extraordinary -you make Norman Tebbit sound compassionate.
Sister x
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by northpole
So folks, what can we learn from a complete and utter tw*t who manages to obtain two job offers? (Assuming they weren't issued in jest/ incredulity).
Clearly Mr Mittal should be banned from the streets having overseen a fall in his steel products in the first quarter of 2009 to $11 billion from $24 billion in the same period last year. What a loser, eh?
Perhaps Mr. F*ckwit could contact Mr Mittal and tell him a thing or two about how to sort himself out.
Peter
PS Sorry guys, looks like the Troll foul hooked me.
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
I wish I'd been an unscrupulous merchant banker made a few million, retire at 40 and laugh at everyone else who couldn't screw someone over to make a fortune ..
No you don't - you're better than that.
These are not good times and I really hope everyone who hasn't got a job at the moment does find one. The recession is not exaggerated and many of the shops in the local village are sadly no more.
I agree with Jim's post in every respect - I feel the same way and realise I'm lucky I still have a job at the moment - who knows what next week may bring.
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Kevin-W
It most certainly isn't. A failure/lack of imagination on Mick's part does not make it so.
Compounding the misery of the downturn are the long-term structural problems facing a number of industries, notably motor manufacturing, advertising, media (the BBC excepted), the music biz, steel, mining, mid-market and generalist retailing (grocery excepted) and many others. To put it bluntly, they're all fcuked.
It will be well into the next decade (2015 to 2017) before the UK economy gets back to 2007 levels. We won't even start coming out of this recession until the tail end of last year...
If you don't believe me, just wait and see...
I work for a large ad agency, which is in the throes of yet another round of layoffs. I feel blessed - I am the only person there who can do my job, so, as my chairman said to me today, I'm safe. Until of course, someone decides that my job is no longer worth doing...
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Jet Johnson
....So I guess those poor souls who "don't have a brain" should forget any notion of gainful employment? too busy playing bingo, smoking fags, and lounging around the pub probably...
....I'm sorry but such a patronising and ill thought argument adds nothing to a debate about the recession which (apparently) doesn't really exist..
..Yeah right .......
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Blueknowz
The recession has not bitten our window cleaner
since putting on an extension our's is up to £40!!,I think I must be paying Window Tax!
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by Stephen Tate
If vision engineers use those huge extension poles with the brush on the end, the solution they use is pure water if they do their job properly. Hence the expense probably if charging, how much? rates...
Posted on: 31 July 2009 by TomK
Here's Mick getting ready to go to Spain.
Sorry Mick, I'm really glad to see you back, but you're so far out of touch it's untrue. I've redrafted this reply at least a dozen times but the conclusion was always the same: you're just an ignorant arrogant twat. No offence meant.
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by Jonathan Gorse
I am pretty sure the recession is slightly exagerrated by the media, but there's no doubt that finding a job at the moment would be tricky unless you're prepared to retrain and probably accept diminished terms and conditions.
For what it's worth my wife recently took voluntary redundancy and is embarking upon retraining (PGCE) as a secondary school science teacher. It seems at present there is a shortage of those and while the salary isn't as good as her previous role as a web editor/project manager she will get 14 weeks a year holiday rather than the previous 5 which is a huge bonus. When we looked at the reduced commuting costs and the reduced childcare costs plus the anticipated increased job satisfaction it seemed a good decision and financially not too far wide of the mark.
In my view the corporate world has become more efficient no question but there are few corporates where you can actually enjoy your work anymore, it's all cuts cuts cuts, more pressure and pay freezes or even as in our industry air travel work free for a month etc.
Perhaps the state is the last bastion of enjoyable employment aside from good niche companies like Naim.
Jonathan
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by 555
Why does Mick keep mentioning leather trousers?
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by Howlinhounddog
Mick, as an old lecturer of mine beat into us
Always base an argument on the evidence rather than personal experience.
However, that said, congratulations on winning this years vote for the person most likely to galvanise opinion completely opposed to their own! Second year running too.
Good luck to all those affected by corporate greed and the recession that HAS followed.
quote:
However if you are in your 40s, 50s or 60s, you have had 16 years of economic growth and we have had it dead easy compared to previous generations and the ones coming up behind us.
As has been stated earlier, much of this economic growth is based on unsustainable debt (mainly why we are in recession now)
Over this period Mick many people have been paying a large proportion of their income to maintain this debt (as has our own government). This is why many are in dire straights now.
Oh and Mick, Thatcher is the cow who started it all, following Freidman, Reagan and Greenspan in deregulating markets and financial institutions.
Now, twenty odd years later the economic pendulum has swung back (as it was always going to do) but this time with a blade at the end of it!
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by Derek Wright
Jonathon
Error error - teachers may have 14 weeks of non contact time with the kids, but that is not holiday - it is time to prepare classes, and not the least time to recover from the contact time.
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by 555
Posted on: 01 August 2009 by Onthlam
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Avole
Companies have always been stripping costs out of their systems, that is why things get progressively cheaper in real terms. Today we call it cost reduction, in the sixties it was called work methodology, it boils down to the same thing, getting leaner and more competitive.
Secondly, how come I have not seen a window cleaner in years, you would have thought some bugger would come around knocking on doors.
Regards
Mick
Had one knock at the door the other day.
Wanted $500 bucks to clean the windows! Go pound!!
I'll do them myself..
M
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by Mick P
Chaps
I went out to dinner with some friends last night in a fairly expensive restaurant.
Every table was taken and the wine flowed profusely so to speak, so whilst some people may be suffering with the recession, others are doing ok.
It is all down to how you position yourself.
If I was say ten years younger, I might be looking at buying into property again, it is a sure way to make some dosh over the long term.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by northpole
On one part of one point I agree with you Mick - positioning is everything. Very few manage it and those who think they have it sussed are sometimes in for a very rude shock - as I'm sure the first class dinners on board SS Titanic would verify, were they able.
Peter
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by Mick P
Peter
I have a friend who is a Titanic fanatic.
He assures me that most of the First Class passengers ended up in the life boats.
Positioning is everything.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by Mick P
avole
Try knocking on a few doors and start cleaning a few windows instead of making sarky comments.
Either you get off your ass and do something or you go hungry, your choice.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by Malky
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps
I went out to dinner with some friends last night in a fairly expensive restaurant.
Every table was taken and the wine flowed profusely so to speak, so whilst some people may be suffering with the recession, others are doing ok.
That's very comforting to know, Mick.
Posted on: 02 August 2009 by fatcat
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Positioning is everything.
Mick didn’t get where he is today without assuming the correct position.
