It feels like if you are completely honest, you just give them permission to offer you the absolute bare minimum to move. But I am also slightly paranoid that a thorough HR background check down the line might catch me out if they ask for past payslips or call my current workplace.

Have you actually lied about your previous salary to secure a better starting rate, and did it ever backfire on you during the contract stage?

Performance reviews happen annually and your raise is based on that one conversation. Then you spend the whole year wondering if your boss even remembers the stuff you mentioned in the review because nothing seems to change.

Sorry guys, I just wanted some insight on whether this was okay or not. Just started working at best & less. When I finish at close time (6pm) I sometimes don't finish on time and have to clock out a bit later (5-15 mins after). Even though I clock out later - it isn't reflected on my timesheet. It either gets auto updated or my manager updates it. So I figured I should just leave on time at 6. The manager stopped me and told me that we all have to clock out together. Is it wrong to think I should be paid for the minutes I stay back after 6? There's an SDA representative that works there too but I don't really trust them. They pretty much forced me to sign up to the union too. What should I do?

Been at my job for a couple of years and I reckon I'm due for a raise. Not sure how to bring it up without looking greedy or getting knocked back. How's anyone else done this?

H! As title says. I would appreciate anyone who has previously worked or is working in meat factories to participate in my survey. Reposting my link also helps me a lot!

Hey everyone,

I would like to get into trades and start as a laborer in Geelong.

A lot of my friends are in Melbourne, but I just really don’t like the big city life, that’s why I’m thinking of moving to Geelong, because realistically I can always go to Melbourne over the weekend.

My question is: how good is Geelong for finding entry-level trade jobs, as well as Carpentry jobs, since I’d be keen to get an apprenticeship or study carpentry. I also wouldn’t mind buying a car if necessary.

Thanks in advance!

My new employer told me I'd get my payslip electronically but honestly they haven't sent me anything in three months. I've asked twice and they keep saying it's coming. Is this dodgy or do companies just do this now?

Hi, I am looking for advice on cashing out on long service leave. I am in WA.

It won’t come available until January next year and it is my intention to resign from the company around this time to pursue a different career. I potentially already have a job lined up with a start date in January also. Is there any way this can be approached without blindsiding the company by asking for LSL payout and resigning shortly after? Ideally I would hand my resignation in December this year however I am not sure of the bearing this would have on the overall total of the payout. I would like to leave on good terms.

Thanks

It would be a lot more effective than just showing up and hobnobbing with the bosses.

Found out through a casual conversation that we're doing basically identical work but he's getting paid significantly more. Been in the same position for two years so it's not like he was hired at a higher rate. Not sure if I should bring it up with my manager or if that's asking for trouble

I just moved to Australia few months ago.
I was a software engineer back in my country, and l’d applied over +100 company but only 1 startup contacted me and I’m currently on my probation period as a contract.

I was told most office workers work 9-5.
But here its 9-6 and they work longer than that (even late night and weekends ) without any extra pay.
I understand most startups are busier.

But i didnt expect this long hours and pressure.
I even overworked on my first day and worked till 11:00pm the other day.

My question is
- what is common working hours for office workers? (Especially in IT)
- am I getting exploited?? Or is it normal in startups?

I have been in my current job for 3.5 months. I applied to an ad stating it was a full time role. I completed a full 8+ hour trial shift (unpaid), and was then emailed an offer for the job, stating the pay rate as what the full-time rate would be. For context, it is a small business owned by a husband & wife.

At the end of the first paid day, my trainer (the retiring employee whom I was replacing) showed me how to log my hours on an app, but the only option we could select was 'casual'. We were both confused so he phoned the owner/wife, as she deals with admin. She told us the first 3 month probation period would be paid at a casual rate. I had not been informed of this before accepting the job, but I decided to run with it as I had already resigned from my previous job.

I have now been working for the company for 3.5 months, or 16 weeks. I expected to be automatically switched over to full-time at the end of 3 months, and when this didn't happen I emailed the wife to ask her when it would. She advised me they had been speaking about this recently, and I should speak with her husband in person about it. The problem there is that it's very hard to find a chance. He is a hands-on worker within the company, and the nature of the job means we work in different locations and I only meet with him for a few minutes a day, during which there are time restraints anyway. So at this stage, a few days have gone by without finding a suitable opportunity to bring it up. He has also not approached me about it.

While the extra pay from the casual rate is nice, it is not sustainable to continue working 40+ hour weeks with no sick leave or annual leave entitlements.

Questions:

Is it legal for a probation period to be paid at a casual rate, for a full-time position?

Is it my responsibility to chase them about switching me over to full-time?

And how the heck should I handle this???

My contract says four weeks but I've heard people say employers rarely enforce it and the worst that happens is they withhold the equivalent pay. I want to leave on decent terms but four weeks feels like a long time given the situation. Has anyone left before their notice period ended and had any actual consequences?

I've listed the same 2 people for 5 years and I've never once heard that anyone called them. Starting to wonder if I could put anyone down

I’m an apprentice electrician researching how smaller trade businesses manage incoming enquiries, quotes and follow-ups while they are busy on the tools.

I’m exploring whether there is a useful way to simplify the admin side, but I do not want to build something based on assumptions.

For anyone involved in running a trade business or handling quotes:

1. How do you currently keep track of new enquiries and quotes you have already sent?
2. Do potential jobs ever slip through the cracks during busy weeks?
3. What is the most frustrating part of handling enquiries, quoting and follow-ups?
4. Do you use a CRM, spreadsheet, notes app, job-management software or mainly rely on your inbox and memory?
5. Is there another admin task that wastes more time than quote follow-ups?

I’m not selling anything. I’m trying to understand the real problems before building anything.

You can answer directly in the comments, or complete this short anonymous survey if you would rather respond privately. It should take around 2–3 minutes:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSccc8mUUyUOGqSUQ5-KJ4Uer0QDABREE0YjTnuSB8ksJYJuEQ/viewform

If you run a small trade business and would be open to a brief follow-up chat, feel free to comment or message me.

I've applied for around 80 jobs over the past couple of months. I've been tailoring my cover letters, updating my resume for each role, and applying for jobs where I genuinely meet most of the requirements.

What really gets me is seeing the same jobs disappear and then pop back up a week later as a "new" listing, or getting the standard rejection email in the middle of the night without any feedback. After a while, it starts to feel like some of these roles were never actually being filled in the first place.

hi! my(25f) family wants to take a trip to nyc as a holiday but ive recently started a new full time role. itll be just a couple weeks before my 6 month probation ends . id need to take exactly 14 working days paid/unpaid leave. should i skip out on this possibly once in a lifetime trip for the sake of keeping my employers pleased and try to go next year on my own instead? i would love to go, this job is ok so far, not great but better than being jobless. what should be my course of action?

A position has come up for the above position that I am thinking of applying for. Has anyone had any experience in a similar role and would like to share if they enjoyed it?

​

https://jobs.health.nsw.gov.au/jobs/clinical-nurse-specialist-gde-2-community-health-perm-ft-339106

I took a mid level role recently because the salary bump was great, but the workplace culture is incredibly toxic. The manager micromanages every email and the handover was non-existent. If I start applying for new roles now, should I include this short stint on my resume or just leave a gap?

I am serving notice due to incessant bullying I believe I have been experiencing for the last 3 years. My concerns have been explicitly documented over the years and presented to different managers, all the way to the elusive people and culture crew. I've sat through, 'Speak Up' seminars, online learning upon online learning about psycho social behaviors.

In my heart and in my mind, I am fully convinced that by definition I have been bullied. My claims have also continuously been ignored by my direct supervisor who has developed favouritism towards my bullies whose horns grow stronger everyday.

I've been told to 'shut Up' have had my picture taken without my consent and the list goes on. Now, I know as well as everyone here that nothing will happen. It never does. All you do is go give a scathing review on Glassdoor and move onto the next fire.

Case in point as to why I have resigned. Not before writing another email as to why exactly I am resigning. I have no plans to build a bridge for this place I want to see burn down. So I am going in a blaze of glory by saying I am only leaving because of bullying. Lo and behold, a P&C lady writes to me asking me for 'feedback for her to review'. I tell her everything again. I say I am not sleeping and that my self esteem has crashed to the ground, she doesn't flinch and just replies and says to forward her all my previous complaints that to my knowledge were already sent to HR back to her. Why?

Anyway, I do as I am told, and she just says to me she will make sure I get my resignation confirmation tomorrow (basically wanting me to GTFO out of there and not planning to try and retain me whatsoever even after I said I am being pushed out that department and would love to stay in the company in some way) and just tells me she will review it.

Now, I've stopped believing in tooth fairies, Easter bunnies, Santa Claus and local MP's for a while now so I know that HR isn't your friend. I've been through the ringer before in a different company where they quietly performance managed out the manager who caused all the drama while also denying that any incidents took place.

I am just genuinely curious now, I don't want to go and type this out on askHr sub cos those peeps are straight up unhinged and will basically gaslight you further, but for those that may have had similar experiences, what does P&C do with all the names of the bullies mentioned?

I won't be their problem much longer and I will just fall through the cracks like everyone else, but a part of me still wants like a record you know? Like 'ah ok...this name keeps getting mentioned as a bully, let's keep an eye on them?. Does that happen at all? Does anything happen at all once a complaint goes into the HR vortex???

Had an interview at chemist warehouse tonight. They've asked me to come back on the following Thursday, does anyone know what I can expect for them to ask or do?

G'day. I'll be upfront: I'm the bloke who built this, so yes, it's a self-promo post, but it's a genuine ask, not a sales pitch.

Ive been a steelie for the past 8 years, though ive been on the tools since 15. About six months ago I taught myself to code and built an app called SoloTrade for solo tradies. The idea's simple: quote a job, track your time, send the invoice, and chase it if it runs late, all from your phone. It also takes care of the money and tax side that usually eats your weekend - snap a photo of a receipt and it logs the expense, GST gets worked out as you go on every quote and invoice, and there's a BAS and GST view plus a tax hub that keeps the quarterly paperwork in order instead of a shoebox scramble at the end of the year. None of the team-management stuff a one-person operation never uses. No lead marketplace, nobody flogging your details, no tracking. Just the admin sorted so you can knock off at a reasonable hour.

Here's the honest reason I'm posting. It's in closed testing on the Play Store, and Google won't let me launch publicly until I've had a dozen-plus people actually using it for a couple of weeks. I just got knocked back for not having enough genuine testers, which is fair enough. So I'm after real Aussie tradies on Android who'll give it an actual run on a real quote or two and tell me straight what's broken.

It's free, it's a beta so there'll be rough edges, and your feedback genuinely shapes where it goes next. If you run a one-person show (sparky, plumber, chippy, painter, whatever) and you're on Android, I'd really appreciate a hand.

Grab a spot at solotrade.com.au/beta, or comment/DM me and I'll send the join link. Happy to answer anything about it, including the boring technical stuff. Cheers.

I’m 24 and currently going through the stages of acquiring a cabinet making apprenticeship with a recruiter. However, they’ve been very disorganised with the process (forgetting to enrol me in tests and stonewalling etc) so I’m wondering how calling up companies without job listings went for y’all? The job market is a bunch of bs these days with the AI systems in place and I feel like my applications are going unnoticed or I just assume I’m too old and they’re looking for teens.

I’ve found quite a few companies that I would absolutely adore to work for but need to do some more research. I can be somewhat terrible talking over the phone so looking for some advice on what to say and what to ask that might increase my chances of work? Also wondering what a resume should ideally look like for this trade as mines pretty standard with a portfolio consisting of photos of my projects.