New Job

[waue1978]

2015 is a real year of change for me now. Not only are we moving into our new part-buy house next month, but on 3rd August I'll be starting a new job.

I've been at my current workplace for 14 years come July, but the last 3 years as a manager have been an "experience" & I've been looking for a change in role for the past 6 months. Sadly there was no chance of that happening at my current workplace so I started looking elsewhere & to my delight I've found that my varied skill-set has given me a few outside options to choose from.

Anybody that knows Andover will know that there's a pretty large Co-op distribution centre on the edge of town & they've been advertising for drivers a lot recently. Had my interview & assessment earlier this month & despite my lack of artic experience I've been offered a full time job as an LGV C+E driver on their PM shift with a basic wage of £31200 a year (£4k more a year than I currently get as a manager where I am now) with the potential for overtime earnings on top of that (something else I don't get in my current job).

I know it seems risky to leave somewhere that I have 14 years experience with, but the simple fact is that I was never going to get a £4k a year pay rise & with the extra cost of the new house, the money has become more of a factor in the past few months.

So, anybody that lives in the South of England (Weymouth to Brighton) may be seeing me sometime soon at a Co-op near you - probably causing a massive traffic jam while I make a hash of reversing an artic around parked cars off of a busy main road!

[GingerMagic]

Good news Stu..

2015 has been a year of change for you, new house, new job with more money etc. Best of luck. You will have to put a name tag in the windscreen so I can wave.

I have been driving lorries for 11 years now, and a van for 7 years before that - there is no way you could get me to work in a factory/shop/office now that I am used to freedom ( cue Braveheart.. )

Artics are easy, at least they bend in the middle.

[highlander]

Good luck in your new job!

I will myself be starting a new job on Monday - at the end of May, I was transferred to a new employer under TUPE law, and then made redundant during the first week of June, so I've been unemployed through pretty much all this month (sucks). New job on Monday - same position, but better pay and with a different company. Looking forward to it immensely.

[waue1978]

Good news Stu..

2015 has been a year of change for you, new house, new job with more money etc. Best of luck. You will have to put a name tag in the windscreen so I can wave.

I'm told that nobody has the same truck, so I can't really do any "decorating", but with my bald head I'm fairly easy to spot.

I have been driving lorries for 11 years now, and a van for 7 years before that - there is no way you could get me to work in a factory/shop/office now that I am used to freedom ( cue Braveheart.. )

Artics are easy, at least they bend in the middle.

They may bend, but there's a massive blind spot when they do & the bloody trailer never goes where I want it to. Should come with practise though. Had the license for 6 years now & never really done much with it. Got a Chinese sat nav that's been serving me ok for Waitrose deliveries at weekends (Lenham Storage), but thinking of investing in a Garmin Dezl truck sat nav before I start as I don't think I'll be able to scope out my drops on Google the night before like I do now with my weekend work.

Good luck in your new job!

I will myself be starting a new job on Monday - at the end of May, I was transferred to a new employer under TUPE law, and then made redundant during the first week of June, so I've been unemployed through pretty much all this month (sucks). New job on Monday - same position, but better pay and with a different company. Looking forward to it immensely.

Funnily enough my current employer has just been bought out & everybody has been so confident of themselves staying as they are under this TUPE law, but it came out last week that as the company is being bought as a limited company, the new owner can make changes with 90 days notice in the same way that the current owners could.

Suddenly there are a few people on higher wages than similarly positioned colleagues who aren't as confident of themselves any more...

[Doggy]

Well done Stu & Graeme - hope both your new jobs work out well.

Artics are easy, at least they bend in the middle.

It's getting it to bend the right way that seemed a tad tricky when I tried it. (now have respect for good* truck drivers).

I'm sure you'll get the hang of it Stu.

[Captain Jack]

Big changes for me too. Got married in April, just bought a new house, which will hopefully complete at the end of July/start August and got a payrise at my current job. It's very stressful though, so will be on the lookout for a new one, once things settle!

Good luck!

[Doggy]

Congratulations Alex.

[GingerMagic]

Big changes for me too. Got married in April, It's very stressful though, so will be on the lookout for a new one, once things settle!

Congratulations Alex, hope it all works out.

See you at Pugfest anyhow, you can tell us about it.

[rwb]

Congratulations all round

[DaiRees]

Congratulations Stu and everyone else who's celebrating change

I've been thinking about moving on too, been here 8 years and just recently I'm really struggling, stressed and a bit burned out I reckon! I've seen a few jobs recently with less stress and/or more money, better benefits, pension etc. But the real problem is that the whole industry is a bureaucratic nightmare and as private training companies go, we're about the best to work for!! So I'm also considering a total change of direction... One of these days eh?

[Welly]

Well done to the brave!

My job is becoming an utter pain recently, I work as a Construction Industry Professional* and the emphasis is "build it quicker" and "f*ck your well-being" everyone is feeling under pressure and there's no thanks for anything.

There's a part of my job that I'm very good at and can be sold to other companies as a specialist freelancer, I've often thought about getting a simple* low-skilled job (with NORMAL f*cking hours) for the Bread & Butter wage and then doing freelance stuff in my own time and from which I can pick and choose.

Big step though as it's all too comfortable to see that regular wage dribbling in each month.

I'm 44 this year and have pretty much resided to the fact I'm in the wrong career (Duh), something which I'm trying to warn Welly_Junior of. I think we must do something which we are naturally good at and enjoy, I believe everyone has a job which they should be doing. Mrs_Welly has recently started a second job in helping adults with learning difficulties and she f*cking loves it, the transformation in her has been staggering. She tells me she's been to work but doesn't feel like she's been to work.

[Captain Jack]

+1 to Welly's comments. I like what I do but the hours and corporate politics drive me mad. No thanks for anything whatsoever, working overtime every day and getting yelled at at every opportunity.

[Welly]

Yeah, see, I won't go to work to get shouted at.....I can stay at home for that

[annie]

my hubby walked away from a 200k a year city job a few years ago and he looks 10 years younger and fitter. hes way happier on less money and freelance from home

[Welly]

Blimey, good for him

In a slightly* different career, I was talking to 'my' Mobile Tyre fitter recently who was complaining about his overloaded work days and the Office treating them all like performing Monkeys; one of them 'escaped' to pastures new and they happened to meet up a few months later, he said he couldn't believe how well the guy looked now that all the stress was gone.

I'm sure my job shows in my face, I spend most of the day frowning at the Computer. People say on Holiday after a few days I look better and released from the strain. Shitting work, pisses me off the more I think about it.

Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts.........