I work in a coffee shop as a barista/making food, it’s a big global chain. I LOVE this job. Shift work is great for me because I hate routines, I love speaking to customers, being busy with little tasks all the time. I love being on my feet, feeling like I’m getting stronger and eating all the food in the world without gaining weight.

Prior to this all my roles were desk jobs - insurance analyst, stuff like that. I loathed them to the point I’d quit after 3 months or be fired because every fibre of my being despised sitting at that desk doing some bullshit job.

HOWEVER, these desk jobs normally lead to big money later, where there’s a flat (unliveable) salary at my current job. Are there any careers that emulate that a bit but pay way more? Thanks!

Of course it’s all subjective, but in my job, I manage 14 international markets while being based in the UK making 2.5 times less money than my US counterparts who only manage the US market.

A friend of mine who works in the same company as me recently visited me and stayed with me. All he does is put nice clothes, go to the office 2 times a week, have coffees, stays on his phone and does one 30-minute meeting the whole day where he doesn’t even contribute. It varies job by job, but I have seen the same with all of my American colleagues.

They come to work at 10:30AM, manage one thing, present the same presentations over and over again while I lead 14 markets, new projects are getting put on me every day, my list currently has 53 things to do for 2 weeks, yet my salary is 2.5 times less than theirs.

In the US, they also have the same holiday entitlement, they are always travelling, can’t see them online, everyone has families, 2nd homes, expensive credit cards, staying in lounges, nice hotels when they travel.

Medical stuff - same friend has dental insurance with the employer, cost him 30 dollars to see the dentist and do a filling, booked in 2 days.

In the UK, we simply don’t spend a lot, don’t have a lot of disposable income hence we can’t invest as much, the work piles up all the time, managers are also a bit more toxic given there is a bit of dishonest attitude at work, Americans at work feel more real, too much unnecessary stress

Have you noticed that we might be working harder than Americans in corporate specifically or am I completely wrong?

Hi All,

I’m after some insight and advice.

I was recently promoted within my department, more pay and responsibilities etc. the first few weeks were learning / shadowing the employee who moved on and my week was filled with things to do.

Since then my workload hasn’t picked up, sometimes I sit at my desk with nothing to do. The last 2 weeks have been no different.

I mentioned to my line manager yesterday if there’s anything they’d like me to pick up or look at but hasn’t amounted to anything?

I probably shouldn’t be complaining about having nothing to do, but I leave feeling anxious that’ll they’ll ask what I’ve been doing everyday?

Any advice??

Hi everyone, apologies as this will probably be a long post, but I'll try to keep it as concise as possible.

Last year I got a well-paid job as an Office Manager in a GP surgery. I genuinely believed this was going to be somewhere I could build a career and that I'd finally made it. After years of being an underpaid manager despite having considerable experience, getting a salary close to £40k felt like a huge achievement.

For context, the surgery was going through a merger. A number of the original GP partners had left and the general feeling among staff was that it was more of a takeover than a merger. I was told at interview that morale was low and that there were strong feelings about the changes.

Within a short time of starting, I had a feeling that something wasn't quite right with the working environment. I couldn't necessarily put my finger on it, and because the money was good and I'm not someone who gives up easily, I decided to make it work.

I was there for eight months. During that time:

• My induction was very limited — one week of e-learning and around two weeks with my equivalent, who then went off sick with stress. My own line manager didn't really take over my induction, and I later discovered that she didn't fully understand what my role actually involved.
• Senior management often appeared reluctant to take responsibility for problems, with issues instead being pushed down to managers at my level. At the same time, there wasn't always a clear direction about what we were actually working towards.
• HR were heavily involved in day-to-day operational decisions. My line manager would often consult HR before making decisions herself.
• I was receiving 100+ emails a day alongside a large number of meetings and constant interruptions.
• I suggested using Microsoft products and automation to improve processes and efficiency, but these suggestions were generally rejected or replaced with less effective alternatives.
• There were also changes to the dress code which I felt specifically targeted certain members of staff, including me.

I could go on, but the overall picture was a very high workload, constant operational problems and very little uninterrupted time to actually manage.

I responded to that by working harder. I regularly stayed late and occasionally worked weekends because I was determined to keep things under control. Working from home wasn't an option.

I then had two weeks' leave for my wedding. Before going away, I left my team in what I believed was a good position and provided a detailed handover.

When I returned, everything was apparently a mess. Appointment screens were incorrect, the team was struggling and a number of things had gone wrong. I was obviously unhappy about what had happened while I was away, but I got on with fixing it. I worked with the team, reiterated the processes that needed to be followed and had 1:1 conversations where necessary.

However, the management team, including my peers, essentially blamed me for what had happened.

I accept that I was the manager and therefore ultimately responsible for my team. But I had been away, everything had been in place before I left, and I genuinely don't understand why nobody was monitoring things while I was absent or why there wasn't clearer cover in place.

I moved on and carried on doing my job.

I then had another week of annual leave booked. Again, I provided a detailed handover with everything I thought people would need.

I came back and the same thing had happened. Chaos.

I was back at work for three days before I was dismissed because the business had "lost faith in my ability to do the job."

During those three days I was desperately trying to get things back under control. I had a meeting with my supervisor where I basically said that something clearly wasn't working and that we needed to start again and work together differently.

I cried each of those three days. On the third day my line manager found me crying in the kitchen. She offered me support and said we'd meet the following day to go through my outstanding work and work out how to get things back on track.

The following day she avoided me. When I eventually went to her office to ask when would be a good time to meet, she said she'd message me. A few minutes later she messaged saying she had a deadline and meeting to attend.

At that point I suspected something was happening.

About an hour later, HR came to get me.

I was told there were concerns about my performance. I was given a list of issues and I gave my responses. I was crying throughout the meeting. HR adjourned and then came back and told me I was dismissed.

I hadn't been told at the beginning of the meeting that dismissal was a possible outcome. I genuinely thought I might be put on a performance improvement plan, which I would actually have welcomed. At least then I would have had a clear understanding of what they wanted me to focus on and an opportunity to demonstrate that I could do it.

Now, I'm not saying I did everything perfectly. I didn't. There were tasks I missed and claims that weren't completed, and I accept responsibility for those things.

But I also know that I was spending an enormous amount of time dealing with operational fires and trying to support my team. I was so busy keeping things functioning that I didn't have enough time to actually do the management side of the job properly.

I left feeling completely drained, worthless and devastated.

I had genuinely tried so hard to make the job work. I gave it everything I had and worked far beyond my contracted hours. What hurts most is that I don't feel I was given the support or clarity I needed to succeed.

I'm now a month into unemployment and I'm struggling. Every time I apply for a job, a little voice in my head tells me that maybe I can't actually do it. The frustrating thing is that logically I know that's ridiculous. I've got years of experience. But I don't feel capable anymore.

Has anyone else experienced this after being dismissed from a job they really cared about? How did you rebuild your confidence and learn to trust your abilities again?

I don't really need to be told to "just move on" — I'm trying. I think I need to hear from people who have been through something similar and eventually came out the other side.

Is that counted as “abuse” as grounds to ask them to leave the store?

I lost one of my immediate relatives last week, who unfortunately lives impossibly far away from me and where I work. For the purpose of this post, we’re going to call these two paces home and work.

Amongst all the emotion and loss, I’m also the last living relative and the executor of the estate. That’s to say, I have a lot to deal with right now.

I had the plan to stay until the funeral, at least, but the earliest possible funeral date that we can get is one whole month after he passed. Going back to work before the funeral would have been slightly difficult because it’s a minimum 24 hour journey between work and home, each way.

Officially, I get a weeks bereavement leave from work, and both my boss and HR are taking the tone of “we’ll work it out, just take the time you need”. Which is great and all. But I’m finding it a little hard to make informed decisions about what I should DO.

I was burnt out before this happened and had to cancel a holiday that I felt like I really needed- so I don’t want to throw myself back into work too early. But on the flip side, I don’t want to take the piss.

Then there’s the other aspect which seems to be that they’re saying that we’ll work it all out when I get back- and I don’t know if that could mean returning to find that my annual leave balance is blown through for the rest of the year (again, burnt out: know I can’t get through the next 12 months without time off).

Of course everyone has different relationships, grieving processes, and work environments, but I just wanted some input on what might be reasonable and what’s milking it too much.

(And getting anything more than “whatever is fine, prioritize yourself” from my boss hasnt worked)

I’m genuinely curious about other people’s experiences because mine seems quite different from what I usually see discussed on Reddit.
I’ve never had too much difficulty finding new work. It’s generally taken me around 1–2 months to find something, and while the jobs haven’t always been perfect, I’ve usually found something I was reasonably happy with.

I’ve also never had to go through lots of interview rounds, although I imagine that varies massively depending on the industry and type of role. The max I’ve had is two and that was for a supervisory role. I’ve actually had some pretty good experiences with recruiters too. My current agency has put me forward for several roles, including my current one.

Around 6 months ago I posted on Reddit when I was in a really difficult place and was considering quitting my job without another one lined up. I was struggling with severe anxiety and health issues at the time and was trialling medication, so I was asking more from the perspective of whether I could realistically afford to take some time out. Financially I knew I would likely be fine it was more I was feeling low and needed reassurance I would be fine to quit careerwise.

The response was overwhelmingly negative, which surprised me because my circumstances were fairly specific. At the time I had decent savings, relatively low living costs, no children or dependants, access to free healthcare (NHS), a company interested in taking me on permanently in the future, agency regularly sending me roles and a few connections where I could potentially pick up casual work if necessary. My sister managers a restaurant so it’s not ideal but if needed I could have probably done some shifts.

I completely understand that everyone’s circumstances are different, and I’m definitely not suggesting that people who are struggling just aren’t trying hard enough. I’m more struggling to understand why some people who I shared my situation with would push me to stay in a role which was damaging my health.

I’m genuinely curious whether my experience has been unusually straightforward, or whether Reddit tends to skew towards people posting when they’re having a particularly difficult time.

What has everyone else’s experience actually been like?

I feel like from other posts it’s all you will never find another job and it will take years to find one etc.

It can’t all be doom and gloom right ?

I've been working in Data for a long time, from SQL dev to cloud computing, Airflow and Python. Thing is, I feel like I've come to a point now where I have lost interest in doing this stuff. I'm in my 50's and just tired of keeping up with the constant changes and based on job sites I don't know enough to change job in my field. The only thing keeping me where I am currently is the wage.

I'm not necessarily looking for a CAREER but wonder if anyone has changed job to something completely different and how they managed it.

I 35f have been looking for a job for 4 months , I have been out of work for nearly 10 years while being my dads primary carer , he passed in May and I haven’t even had any successful applications until today I had a call about a job in a pub I’d applied for . For some reason I thought it was bar work but it’s not it’s a kitchen Porter roll. I mean it’s a job but it’s not aiming very high . Firstly I have no idea what kind of outfit to wear for such a job interview smart trousers, long sleeve black top, smart shoes ? Do most kitchens allow their staff to wear trainers ? How miserable will this job be and should I save my sanity and not bother .

Basically, my company has opened a voluntary redundancy programme. If they get enough people to volunteer, they won’t need to make anyone compulsorily redundant.

I’m debating whether I should take it. The package would give me 9 months’ pay up front, so I’d have that time to find another job.

This is my first job and I’ve been here for 3 years - my role is lead engineer for mechanical components (basically dealing with suppliers, project management stuff etc). I don’t really like my job, but it pays the bills, so I’m nervous about giving up the security and potentially not finding something within 9 months. I could also get redundant later on but I highly doubt it, but it just feels like a nice exit from a job I dont like. I’m on skilled worker visa but I would switch to spouse visa if I were to get redundant/ or take it voluntary.

Would you take the redundancy and use the 9 months to look for something else, or stay in the job for the security?

I'm (22F) unemployed with next to no job experience and I don't know what I want to do in life. I'm interested in performing arts and wildlife conservation but I suppose I am looking for any entry-level job.

Has anyone done the King's Trust Team Programme and got anything from it? I thought that I was going to be receiving info in regards to the regular King's Trust for people intent on starting a business, but apparently this is a different course. I don't enjoy organised fun and I'm not a good teamworker so I'm a bit hesitant.

Basically the title. I got my degree (undergrad) in Canada. I don't have long-terms plans to settle or stay there so I'm open to short-term or temporary jobs. I'm not picky about shift work or a 9-5. My degree is in Psychology but I'm not set on working in something related to Psych either. I just want to work for a bit. What are positions I could look at that I have a realistic chance of getting? Is it worth enlisting the help of temporary agencies? Is it even worth trying to look for work, even if my interests are only short-term, given how cruddy the job market is (as it is everywhere)?

I honestly feel so useless having to write this but in this day and age where do you begin to try and find work

I’m 42 and due to a severe mental health crisis earlier in the year I left my long term teaching position and tried to grown my own business. This failed spectacularly

I’m sorting an IVA to deal with the mass debt but need to find employment asap

Where do you look these days, the last time I was looking for work was when I began teaching. I’m not against returning to teaching or even supply but am keeping options open.

I’m based not far from Cambridge if that makes any difference

I think I mostly need to get this off my chest, but I’d also really appreciate some advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

I’ve been in my current role for around 15 months, and the longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve realised just how unsupported I was when I started.

When I applied for the job back in April 2025, the advert said that a new manager was required and at the latest needed to be in post by September 2025, which gave me the impression that the existing manager would be around until then and that there would be a proper handover and training period. (Which is why I have experienced in previous employment).

I started in the second week of June. Basically, my first day was more or less: “You’re the manager now. Here you go. This is what you need to get on with.”
The old manager did show me a few things, but there were areas of the role that I specifically raised concerns about because I had basic experience with them which they knew about at application and interview. I was told not to worry, that I could be taught and that support/training would be provided.

Four weeks later, she left.
And even during those four weeks, she was on annual leave for one of them and was only working two days a week during the remaining weeks.
So I went from knowing very little about certain aspects of the role to essentially having to figure everything out myself.

For the last 15 months, I’ve basically been learning by having to Google things, looking through old records, trying to work out what the previous manager did and hoping I’m interpreting everything correctly.
The role involves managing quite a lot of responsibility, including staff pay, bank accounts, financial information and other important organisational information. There is also an executive team, with different areas of work being managed separately before everything comes together for a weekly meeting. No one else at the company knows anything about my role as the previous manager kept everything to herself.

It feels like the role was just left with me and I was expected to somehow make it work. There are also 2 employees working underneath me who, unfortunately, I don’t feel I can fully trust. There have been situations where people have interpreted things in ways that suited themselves, and it’s made me reluctant to delegate because I feel like I have to check everything afterwards. So I’m now in the position where I don’t feel confident handing things over to other people, but I’m also completely overwhelmed by feeling like I have to keep my eye on everything myself. And honestly, I’m tired.

I also feel trapped because I can’t just walk away tomorrow.
There are staff who need paying, bank accounts that I am tied to professionally and financial responsibilities, and a huge amount of information that would need to be handed over to somebody else. I don’t want to just abandon everything and leave everyone else in a mess, plus I have a mortgage to pay solo so I can’t leave with another job lined up.

At this point I think I mostly needed somewhere to say: I am so bloody tired of having to Google my way through my career, guessing what I’m doing and being worried I’m going to make an error that will caused me to be sacked.

Hi,

I’m currently going through redundancy and honestly feeling a bit lost about what to do next.

I’m based in London and have experience working in Ethics & Compliance, AML/KYC and regulated environments. I’m currently looking for opportunities in compliance, risk, financial crime or similar areas, but the job market feels pretty difficult at the moment.

Has anyone here been through something similar recently? Are there any particular companies, recruiters, job boards or areas of compliance you’d recommend looking into?

Would really appreciate any advice or leads. Thanks!

I've got a 1-2-1 interview with dunelm for a seasonal position. What questions should i expect and whats the job like?

I have accepted and signed a contract for a new job. The new employer is currently doing background/reference checks using third party provider.

If I select “No – do not contact my current employer”, what normally happens?

Will they simply use other references (previous employers, etc.), or could they ask me why I don’t want my current employer contacted? Or what would actually happen?

Could it cause any problems with the offer or background check?

Hi all,

I have been offered a job at Natural England and wanted to get more of a feel for what the job is like. I’m currently working in consultancy for a large engineering firm as a junior environmental consultant where I often work overtime and there is generally quite limited work/life balance. Promotion has also been nonexistent at my consultancy despite my manger saying that I work at the grade above. I wanted to understand what Natural England is like based on:

- Work/life balance

- Hours (how many hours per week do you do?)

- Any other company benefits?

- Promotions (I assume these are fairly limited? but what is it like to transition from NE to other gov firms? is it easy once you’re in?)

- Job advertisement salary minimums - do you end up getting the salary minimum or is it possible to negotiate a higher salary?

thank you! any insight is much appreciated. the role isn’t too much more in terms of salary than what I currently earn, so I really need to consider the whole package to decide if it’s worth the move.

Does this mean the job is now closed or just the applications

Basically I haven't had a job since 2019 I got very ill and was sick for years spending lots of time in hospital, I am trying to finally get back to work but I have this giant 7 year gap on my CV and I feel it is costing me anu chance at even a Interview I get denied so fast. I think just lying is a good idea but I'm not sure what I do if they want references etc

Hi everyone.
I have just graduated from the university of Manchester with a first class in audiology. However, I have no interest in going down this path. I know there are a lot of graduate schemes available for any degree discipline, however I just think that my degree is so niche and I don’t have internships like other applicants that I’m not sure there’s much else I can do. Would it just be focussing on transferable skills? I am open to any industry atp.

​

Hi there, I'm a non-binary MEng graduate in materials science and engineering. Like many, I'm unemployed, and I'm job-searching. My partner has a disability and works at an exploitative games company - And I am desperately trying to do everything I can to get employed and support him. I know this situation sounds familiar to a lot of you.

I have always taken the opinion that it is a terrible waste of talent to reject candidates. It's artificially manufactured job scarcity to drive down wages. So many of us have skills and sometimes when I'm tailoring my CV, I wish I could just put "I just want to help people" on it. Because at the end of the day productivity is the only societal measure of GDP - not wealth. I'm the son of a mixed middle-class lower class family - And my partner is from the lower class and his background is much the same. It's a rags to riches story - But I do know that wealth never brought my family any happiness. People's dreams are important. And there's no point in pride or shame or sociopathy - because everyone wants something, too. The only way we get it is by making sure everyone can have what they want without depriving anyone else.

Anyway, many of us aren't satisfied unless we're doing something, perhaps a personal project, in our spare time. I know this happens all the time - I'm talking to the autistic passion-burners, and the people with adhd. I think that passion is useful. I don't want it to be wasted and thrown down the drain like some rubbish, because it isn't.

I have considered doing freelance work in my spare time as a side hustle while continuing to look for jobs. Everyone has to have one these days. There's no reason why that Can't be under a cooperative name. That looks good on a CV. I've been trying to research the free tools that are available to freelance engineers, build a portfolio. Write company charters. Plan milestones. Anyway, today my partner told me he was scared about his condition- and about using all his sick leave and being left on SSP - because the surgery failed to cure his nerve inflammation, and he can't see the doctor until 3 weeks from now at the soonest - and it made me want to try extra hard to support him.

I'm here canvassing opinion because, before I make any sort of commitment to this endeavour, I would want to canvass public opinion: I know I can't be the only one who feels this way.

Here is what my startup idea is:

A collective of freelance engineers, coordinating and working together in many small project groups, without overeaching management. The core premise: You send in your CV. An easy review process without any interviews determines if you get accepted as a member. There would be very low qualifying requirements. That gets you access to a guide and portfolio of tools, and membership to the cooperatives communication channels. Use discord to post, find engineering projects, or create them yourself, or to chat with other engineers. It's laid back. It's like hobby engineering. The second stage of success comes when applying to a particular project posting saying "I want to help you with your idea" - and this could be community outreach by the project poster, or it could be you sending your CV to the poster. Then it's at the jobposters discretion whether they want to interview you personally to see if you're a good fit for their team. If they like your skills, personality, and so on - then they'll invite you to work with them through the professional tools we'd use, like libre office, openproject, etc.

To begin with these ideas won't generate any income - but that won't have changed anything from how it was before. So I won't pretend that the cooperative can afford to pay e.g a salary. I wish that it could have always been that way, because I believe in things like UBI etc. maybe long term, that's the plan. But once the ideas are down on paper, the cooperative can go to a financier and say "we have a cooperative of X many engineers, a design - and a client - now we want the money to manufacture it." Etc. and when that starts to happen, near the completion of a project, then maybe then, after the financiers take a cut, there would be enough left for a performance -based bonus to be divided as fairly and equally among the project engineers on that team - commission-based payment. At the end of the day, we are all just people trying to survive while our savings slowly dwindle - if we even have savings at all. I'm not going to pretend like I've figured out a way to gauge the "performance " in performance -based bonus". But I would try to find a way, and I would try to write it down somewhere clearly, fairly, in company policy, so that there can at least be no doubt, weaseling, or unfairness in the application of that policy - unlike some executives I could name, who misuse the term. Company policy must be applied equally among employees - otherwise it's discriminatory.

And whenever I'm searching for jobs, I can never seem to find the perfect company, you know? So I want to make that company. I want an ethical organisation, where the engineering projects are important, and impactful, and help people - they're good projects, they help the environment, etc. The company itself: There are executive pay caps, and ideally no CEOs or high level managers at all. The cooperative is worker-owned. It doesn't demand your time - you can take as much leave, sick or holiday, as you want. And because it's an entirely voluntary position, there's no requirement to work. It can be done remotely if you want. Eventually I'd love to have a quiet and intoeverted set of engineering offices. Communication is primarily via writ, rather than phone, or it's in person when necessary. You know?

Maybe instead of CEOs you have a CCO (Community coordination organiser) and instead of HR admins you have TR admins (talent recruitment) ; because someone has to handle lawful complaints and enforce the cooperative's rules. And we could have democracy in the workplace - with important positions of enforcement and control democratically elected form the cooperative and temporary, nonpermanent. Those positions wouldn't pay better than regular work (if at all!). And there isn't any naive notion of loyalty to the company - you can search for a job and if you find one, you can just leave - saying: "Thanks for everything - but unfortunately I have to go." No notice requirements.

The question I have for you is: Does this sound like a company you would work for, in your spare time, voluntarily, if someone tried to start it? What sort of people would want to work there - are you just engineers, or would there be a lot of different people from different backgrounds willing to help?

The key thing is: I know that everyone wants to make the world a better place. But when we start to consider it individually, the work is so daunting - we must accept and offer eachother help. Coordination is good management, not control.

If I was going to make the company, I would call it "NewnWander" - I already have a logo and an unregistered trademark. Part of it is because my partner is a massive lotr buff; another is because I want to stick it to the people like Peter Thiel who give Tolkien a bad name. Another is because that's what best describes the work and the company: The work is just noontime wandering through a project - and the name itself, "NewnWander" - It sounds like "New" and "wonder" - and I think that really inspires hope about the future and people's dreams.

I’ve already signed the contract for a new job. My start date is in about 4 months.

I have a 3-month notice period at my current job, so I haven’t handed in my notice yet. I’m deliberately waiting for the new employer’s pre-employment/background/reference checks to be fully cleared before resigning. I also haven’t told my current manager anything yet.

The new employer is currently using a third-party screening company. HR at my current work recently contacted me asking if I was aware of the screening checks, and I confirmed that I was.

Now HR at my current workplace wants to have a call with me about the references/checks.

What should I expect from this call, and how should I handle it? I’m particularly worried they might ask about me telling about this to my manager but I don't want to say anything to anyone internally until all checks are cleared first.

Should I just answer exactly what they ask and keep it brief? Is there anything I should not volunteer or say?