New Job

[WhiteBloodAda]

Start with the good news. A position came up at work for a section coordinator on Foods ( I work at M&S), and despite insisting I'm leaving (been saying that the entire 10 years I've been there) I decided to go for the position and in short I was successful. Start on Monday.

On the negative side it is still too short (£16,555) a year, but it does now make it easier to find a second job to go with this to finally make up the £18,600 needed. 6.5 hours on minimum wage a week to be exact, down from 16 on my old wage.

Long way to go yet but it's finally a start, plus it will go down well on my CV to help for the millions of applications I send!

[Dedworth]

Well done - you can celebrate with some of their pop using your staff discount

[Michael Parnham]

I'm sure you'll find a way to find the extra, good luck and congrats on the new position

[joebloggs]

cant you do a bit of o/t ?

the Romanian woman selling the big issue, who took her local council to court to claim benefits saying she was self employed and won, i think she said she got £100 a wk from selling it

i wonder what she paid for them and what she sold them for .. £100wk - £5k a yr sure would help some people out to met the £18k6 minimum income for say a Saturday/Sunday job

i wonder if some people could use this to their advantage if they had savings but not the £18k6 minimum income

[WhiteBloodAda]

o/t isn't guaranteed, nor is it often given out. I've got my hours set out that I have every Tuesday off and that I work full days so I have 3 days off a week to find an 8 hour shift elsewhere on one of my days off a week to take me to the total.

@dedworth, I wouldn't touch the stuff. 90% of the stuff we sell tastes worse than tesco value

[andy222]

Congratulations you will have to find a extra job though. I cant believe how low your wages are.

[stevewool]

well done, it all helps

[Ako Si Jamie]

I heard today that Marks & Spencers was a good place to convert currency. That came from the girl in Lloyds.

Good luck with the new role.

[imagine]

congrats and good luck finding the extra part time

[stevie c]

May I wish you the best of luck hoping it all comes together for you

[Michael Parnham]

Wow Andy, do you really think that's a low wage?

[stevewool]

its a good wage if there was another wage coming into the house hold, any wage is good, its what you are able to do with it that counts

[Nick30]

Congratulations on the new job mate.

What jobs can earn £18,600 a year without experience and qualifications?

[Arthur Little]

Congratulations and best of luck in your new job with Marks & *Xpensive, Adrian ... but you'd have thought that, given the responsibility of the role - and the *prices this firm charge for its merchandise - your wage would've been higher.

[Arthur Little]

What jobs can earn £18,600 a year without experience and qualifications?

... precious few, I should imagine!

[bigmarco]

Congratulations on your promotion.
My daughter works at M&S on the food and like you is constantly saying she wants to move on to something else. I must say I'll miss my discount card if she does as I do like their food.
Hope you manage to pick up a bit of P/T soon to make up the difference.

[Arthur Little]

Wow Andy, do you really think that's a low wage?

... never ever earned that much!

[Michael Parnham]

I did earn a little more than £16500 the last 5 years of my working life, but bear in mind I was responsable for the logistics of a couple of hundred trucks 24 hours per day.

[Arthur Little]

I was responsible for the logistics of a couple of hundred trucks 24 hours per day.

Ah ... ... I was just a glorified penpusher ... latterly responsible for allocating and co-ordinating the daily workload of teams of volunteer drivers - specifically recruited by Social Services to carry out tasks involving the transportation of people with varying degrees of disability - following a departmental transfer.

[Arthur Little]

Ah ... ... I was just a glorified penpusher ... latterly responsible for allocating and co-ordinating the daily workload of teams of volunteer drivers - specifically recruited by Social Services to carry out tasks involving the transportation of people with varying degrees of disability - following a departmental transfer.

Oh ... don't get me wrong ... the job itself was fine and - *being a sociable type of bloke ( even though I say so myself) - I enjoyed my dealings with the volunteers personally.

... but *therein lay the problem because: I'd a great rapport with these unpaid, kind hearted, elderly souls and would share a or two with them on occasion ... much to the annoyance of my immediate boss - a most unfriendly, "jumped-up" wee - who took me to task for "fraternising" with the volunteers as he implied. (I'd long-suspected this attitude amounted to sheer bloody-minded jealousy on his part, since he was clearly incapable of any civility!) Patently lacking in "the milk of human kindness", in other words.

Anyway at the time, I was still grieving inwardly, following the deaths of both my father and my first wife within a relatively short period of each other. Plus, I also felt resentful over a "sideways move" from my previous inter-departmental job as Records Officer for Penal Services ... a role that ideally suited me and can truthfully be said I'd fulfilled well for more than 14 years.

Therefore ... the upshot was, I decided to apply for - and was eventually granted - early retiral, as neither that bumptuous little upstart of a boss of mine, nor myself (both middle-aged geezers at that time) were likely to be going any further in terms of career advancement.

Yes ... a BIG decision - but one taken, I can honestly say, without the slightest regret!

[WhiteBloodAda]

Congratulations you will have to find a extra job though. I cant believe how low your wages are.

Welcome to the real world. I consider what I've just been raised to a heck of a lot! so £18,600 is a scary number!

[WhiteBloodAda]

Congratulations and best of luck in your new job with Marks & *Xpensive, Adrian ... but you'd have thought that, given the responsibility of the role - and the *prices this firm charge for its merchandise - your wage would've been higher.

If only! There isn't really many if any extra benefits to working there than lets say Lidl's. Typical greedy business just has to keep shareholders happy, so they think the staff

[WhiteBloodAda]

Congratulations on your promotion.
My daughter works at M&S on the food and like you is constantly saying she wants to move on to something else. I must say I'll miss my discount card if she does as I do like their food.
Hope you manage to pick up a bit of P/T soon to make up the difference.

What store is your daughter at? We can all hope for bigger and better things, but I was just grateful for a secure full time job at a time when all my friends were losing theirs

[Michael Parnham]

Yes I agree M&S is a good secure job and I also would have been more than gratful if I worked for such a long established and reputable company. Stick with it!

[andy222]

Wow Andy, do you really think that's a low wage?

Well being as the average wage is £26000 per year so they say it seems like a low wage.

[stevie c]

Wish I could earn £18600 pa a little way of it at the mo....but I suppose we have to be grateful to be employed these days as I'm sure there's thousands that would gratefully step in to our jobs

[WhiteBloodAda]

Well being as the average wage is £26000 per year so they say it seems like a low wage.

Thats because you have some people earning millions a year knocking it up! I know very few people that actually earn that! Infact i know very few people who even earn £18,600

[stevewool]

there are not many jobs out there that pay more then the minimum wage or just a few pence above it, all you can do is save hard cut corners and do what ever you think is best for your needs, there is only you can sort your future out, good luck

[Terpe]

Thats because you have some people earning millions a year knocking it up! I know very few people that actually earn that! Infact i know very few people who even earn £18,600

From Malta to Moscow, Tenerife to Tallinn, you can count on Marks & Spencer being there. Outside of the UK we have nearly 250 European stores – and that number’s growing fast.

In 2011/12 we made great strides in central and eastern Europe, opening more than 25 stores across Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. And we’re always looking for ways to take the unique Marks & Spencer brand to even more people across the continent.

What’s the secret? Well, there isn’t one. It’s simply offering cutting-edge fashion that makes our customers look great – and industry-leading service that makes them feel great. And if you’ve got all the skills and all the enthusiasm to play your part, there’s never been a better time to join us.

Keep checking back for up-to-date opportunities. For now, we’re recruiting for the following stores:

France

Source:-
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com...e_roles/europe

A little bit tongue in cheek, I know. But have you considered whether M&S might be able to help with your future lifeplan strategy?
The EEA route for settlement looks to be a highly attractive option worth consideration, especially if M&S may be open to help.

Food for thought anyway

[Slip]

Like yourself I have been leaving my job for the past 8 years I have been there! In fact I did secure another job 6 years ago and literally was due to start it on the Monday when on the Friday my boss called me into the office and informed me a few colleagues had told him he would be a fool to let me go. So with that he made me an offer to stay and I'm still there!

Only problem with my job is although I am on 23,000+ a year, about 5,000 of that is made up by things like shift pay, non sickness bonus etc etc........ Although it all goes on to my earnings a year and last year I earnt just a few pound short of £25000. Not great but for someone who left school at 15 and has no qualifications it's about all I can earn with my skills.