Unemployment

[Lilly]

No wonder there are so many people unemployed in Caithness (personally Wick)

My friend, due to getting paid off at the end of January has had to "Sign on" Since then she has handed in numerous application forms and also handed in her CV to places. She has only ever received one reply from a company comfirming they received her application. Others jobs which she applied for didnt even have the decency to tell her the jobs had been filled and 1 local who said they would arrange an interview for her the following week never got back to her!

They wonder why there is so many un-employed, I no I would get fed up applying for numerous jobs and they cant even be bothered to let you know your application has been received! No wonder her self-esteem has hit rock bottom!!

I no there aren't enough jobs going for everyone but a little acknowledgement wouldn't go a miss.. She has been to college/uni and got qualifications she can't get a job for which she is trained so is therefore willing to accept anything meantime. But even anything seems impossible at the moment.

Is it now a case of who you know in this community and not what you know?

[chaz]

No wonder there are so many people unemployed in Caithness (personally Wick)

My friend, due to getting paid off at the end of January has had to "Sign on" Since then she has handed in numerous application forms and also handed in her CV to places. She has only ever received one reply from a company comfirming they received her application. Others jobs which she applied for didnt even have the decency to tell her the jobs had been filled and 1 local who said they would arrange an interview for her the following week never got back to her!

They wonder why there is so many un-employed, I no I would get fed up applying for numerous jobs and they cant even be bothered to let you know your application has been received! No wonder her self-esteem has hit rock bottom!!

I no there aren't enough jobs going for everyone but a little acknowledgement wouldn't go a miss.. She has been to college/uni and got qualifications she can't get a job for which she is trained so is therefore willing to accept anything meantime. But even anything seems impossible at the moment.

Is it now a case of who you know in this community and not what you know?

My son is having the same problem, and yes i think it is who you know

[Lilly]

Not everyone enjoys doing nothing through the week, she is nearly ripping her hair out!! she did enjoy being a lady of leisure for the 1st week but it does become a bore.

[Kevin Milkins]

It is disheartning when you go to the trouble of applying for a job and you get no reply at all.It takes no time at all to email phone or write a short letter to thank you for expressing an interest in a position. It is nothing short of rude .

[CurlyTop]

It is disheartning when you go to the trouble of applying for a job and you get no reply at all.It takes no time at all to email phone or write a short letter to thank you for expressing an interest in a position. It is nothing short of rude .

I spent 6 months looking for a job up here before I moved up full time (whilst I was in Edinburgh) and came up for several interviews. Having applied for over 60 jobs I hardly got any responses from anyone, got messed about by a lot of company's. Have not been to Uni but have worked ever since I left college had a wealth of experience to bring to any firm but got no-where. I quickly learned that it is very much who you know up here even was told that by the local job agency's. Having been up here nearly 3 years you are still an outsider till you have several generations here! I eventually managed to secure a job at Tesco's, not my ideal role but nothing else going.

[northener]

I spent 6 months looking for a job up here before I moved up full time (whilst I was in Edinburgh) and came up for several interviews. Having applied for over 60 jobs I hardly got any responses from anyone, got messed about by a lot of company's. Have not been to Uni but have worked ever since I left college had a wealth of experience to bring to any firm but got no-where. I quickly learned that it is very much who you know up here even was told that by the local job agency's. Having been up here nearly 3 years you are still an outsider till you have several generations here! I eventually managed to secure a job at Tesco's, not my ideal role but nothing else going.

I've got to ask....

You wanted to move to an area with some of the highest rates of unemployment in Scotland and then you wonder why you find it difficult to get a job? Competition can be bloody fierce up here for any job that's half-decent.
If you've got skills that can't be met locally - you'll get the job. If you haven't got skills that are in demand - you won't get it. Same as anywhere else.
I admire your enthusiasm, CurlyTop, but I think maybe you were being a bit over optimistic.

Regarding getting jobs by knowing the right people. Well, you're absolutely right. But what's wrong with that?

If someone knows someone locally who has the right skillset and comes with recommendations from people in the local community, then surely this would make sense.
Up until relatively recently, there were no hot-shot Agencies. Most jobs were filled by the method you're commenting on. Not just in Caithness but across Britain.

.

[KCI]

In the past, when I have been looking for a job, I have found the same problem here - it is who you know, not what you know.

It can be very difficult to find a job here, and I sympathise with anyone in this situation.

At one point, I was unemployed for a few months, and it was hell!

[Lilly]

There just doesnt seem to be enough interest in helping people get back to work up here.. I just think as soon as you are "Signing on" your are shuvved into a category and become nothing more than a statistic

[Whitewater]

Lilly, your friend will have to keep trying. It is very disappointing and disheartning when you apply for work and get no response, every prospective employer should at least acknowledge your application.

Has your friend tried the employment section on the forum?

[theone]

No wonder there are so many people unemployed in Caithness (personally Wick)

She has been to college/uni and got qualifications she can't get a job for which she is trained so is therefore willing to accept anything meantime. But even anything seems impossible at the moment.

Maybe a bit off topic but what did she study at uni?

5 people in my year at Thurso went to Napier to study "Marketing". 5 People in one year from a town the size of Thurso!

I was belittled at the time for getting an apprenticeship and learning a trade.
Amazingly the biggest feeling of rejection at the time was from my guidance teacher who thought by not going to uni I was "wasted".

There is a BIG problem in british society where trades and apprenticeships are seen as jobs for the ignorant, poor or unachievers. Those who go to uni are seen as successful regardless of their ability, achievements or real skills.

I really do sympathise with anyone who is unemployed, but university credentials mean nothing if there isn't a market for them.

[sweetpea]

Maybe a bit off topic but what did she study at uni?

5 people in my year at Thurso went to Napier to study "Marketing". 5 People in one year from a town the size of Thurso!

I was belittled at the time for getting an apprenticeship and learning a trade.
Amazingly the biggest feeling of rejection at the time was from my guidance teacher who thought by not going to uni I was "wasted".

There is a BIG problem in british society where trades and apprenticeships are seen as jobs for the ignorant, poor or unachievers. Those who go to uni are seen as successful regardless of their ability, achievements or real skills.

I really do sympathise with anyone who is unemployed, but university credentials mean nothing if there isn't a market for them.

Totally agree. I know a few young people who have been out of Uni for a couple of years and nowhere near on the career path they want and are now in jobs having to do vocational qualifications with the employer and their friends who did apprenticeships are earning far more than them. So you have a head start. I also think there is far too much emphasis on degree's and too many people studying things like Media, Marketing and Psychology because they don't really know what they want to do. Employers want people trained to do the job the way they want it done. I think you made a good choice.

[A_Usher]

Interesting, as an employer we have had the opposite in the past, in that we have had very few applicants for positions.

In fact we now have a part time opening, so please feel free to apply, we are are looking for flexible people interested in learning, and will provide opertunities where we can.

Andrew

[northener]

Maybe a bit off topic but what did she study at uni?

5 people in my year at Thurso went to Napier to study "Marketing". 5 People in one year from a town the size of Thurso!

I was belittled at the time for getting an apprenticeship and learning a trade.
Amazingly the biggest feeling of rejection at the time was from my guidance teacher who thought by not going to uni I was "wasted".

There is a BIG problem in british society where trades and apprenticeships are seen as jobs for the ignorant, poor or unachievers. Those who go to uni are seen as successful regardless of their ability, achievements or real skills.

I really do sympathise with anyone who is unemployed, but university credentials mean nothing if there isn't a market for them.

Hit the nail on the head.

There's too much emphasis placed on soft-option courses at 'Uni' as opposed to skills that are really required in the workplace up here.

There is definitely a culture of arrogance and disdain regarding perception of the traditional 'trades'. Teachers and the education system (most of whom had never had any experience outside the world of Academia) were encouraging all and sundry to go to 'Uni' and throw off the workers shackles....ha!

In Caithness, who are the ones with the useful life skills now? The ones who took the more taxing and relevant routes for our area.

Three years of pretending to be a tree or 'Media Studies'/Art/Klingon language will only help you in an area dominated by media industry.

Well, apart from Klingon, you would be understood in Camp's bar after a few drams.....

Rant over.
.

[newpark]

I have had the opposite I have been unemployed sice beginning of March and have applied for every job in the paper and have so far had 2 interviews and am awaiting word on my 3rd application. Ok I havent got a job yet had to turn one down as the hours were no good for me and the other one I didnt get but I am just applying for every job I could do and hoping for the best.

[RicardoR]

Try Ackergill Tower... I went there and asked, filled out a form and was phoned up about an interview about 4 days after .. Try there, they are looking for office or dining assistant staff.

[golach]

I was belittled at the time for getting an apprenticeship and learning a trade.
Amazingly the biggest feeling of rejection at the time was from my guidance teacher who thought by not going to uni I was "wasted".

There is a BIG problem in british society where trades and apprenticeships are seen as jobs for the ignorant, poor or unachievers. Those who go to uni are seen as successful regardless of their ability, achievements or real skills.

I really do sympathise with anyone who is unemployed, but university credentials mean nothing if there isn't a market for them.

Many firms are now crying out for youngsters to take up "Trades" but still Schools Career Advisers are puting a stigma on any thoughts of pupils wanting to go down this road, I have a 16 year old grandaughter who has enough qualifications to go to Uni, but she does not want to do anymore studying, she just wants to get a job!! I hope she succeeds and things are looking good at the moment.
But just to put a point I have come across in the past when I was a CPO in the RNR and was New Entry Trainer, I had to train Officer Candidates as well as the normal ratings, now many of the OC's had all been at or were in Uni, and many I found were smart and as we used to say in the Navy, "They can work out the cubic capacity of a jar of pickled onions, but ask them how to open the same jar"....well!!

[anneoctober]

I heartily agree with the poster who said it's rude not to reply to an application for a position within a company. We get lads phoning, turning up at the garage ( this is how we got our present "prent") or sending in a CV. Written applications/enquiries are always answered. We can only employ one lad at a time, and we are IN FAVOUR of apprenticeships!! OR " getting their hands dirty!" Hands in the pockets are a NO NO!

[percy toboggan]

Northener and 'the one' are absolutely right of course.

When times are dire you have to be pro-active and go knocking on knockers. Do not wait for newspaper or job-centre ads. If, after months of searching in vain then single folk have to move to an area where there IS work unless they want to languish on the dole. A year or two on benefit is unacceptable in an island which houses a million Eastern Europeans who are grafting.

I didn't like Norman Tebbit but he was right...and today bikes are fashionably green too.

Even in a relatively small community like Wick , and given it's isolation..there is surely never going to be enough work to go around....but then again many people are too fussy. If I'd been unemployed for months on end I'd consider anything at all.

[TBH]

Northener and 'the one' are absolutely right of course.

When times are dire you have to be pro-active and go knocking on knockers. Do not wait for newspaper or job-centre ads. If, after months of searching in vain then single folk have to move to an area where there IS work unless they want to languish on the dole. A year or two on benefit is unacceptable in an island which houses a million Eastern Europeans who are grafting.

I didn't like Norman Tebbit but he was right...and today bikes are fashionably green too.

Even in a relatively small community like Wick , and given it's isolation..there is surely never going to be enough work to go around....but then again many people are too fussy. If I'd been unemployed for months on end I'd consider anything at all.

As you can see there are many people looking for work and it is not as easy for them to gain employment as it is for an eastern European. The stock phrase, "they are doing the work the British won't do", is fast becoming a stick with which to beat our own unemployed. Many of these so-called hard to fill jobs are actually jobs that there has been no problem filling in the past. These eastern Europeans are being exploited to the hilt and never really cared at first because the money they were on was vastly more than they could hope to get in their own countries. Now they know better and are fighting for their rights, well done to them.

[floyed]

I totally agree with you, i was looking for a job last year. Over Christmas i applyed for 4 jobs in Wick, and not one of them got back to me to let me know that they had received the application or to tell me i was'nt successful. I eventually got a job through someone i knew.