Why are there so many job vacancies??

[Manyanaish]

Where we live businesses are sending fb messages to say that they are having to reduce opening hours due to lack of staff .. they are paying well above minimum wage ( £ 16 ph) , and are doing this to protect staff they have as they are pushed all the time.
the businesses that are sating this locally to us did not rely on pre brexit conditions . So .. what is going on ?

I wish I believed you! There's been no indication of the pressure easing off anytime soon.

In fact I do need to know the implications of taking a term time only job but I'm too scared to ask them. I still might take it if I'm not offered either of the other two jobs but I have no idea how I'd make the childcare work but I'm reluctant to take any old term time job just because it fits in with the kids if it's deeply unfullfilling.

Interestingly I do happen to know why all 3 posts are currently vacant and its quite fitting with everything else that's being said here.

The catering assistant role is vacant because they have a lot of staff on long term sick who they've been unable to replace. This is a concern to me.

The marketing executive role is vacant because the person who did the role before never went to the office and felt isolated from the rest of the team. It involves a commute to our nearest city it would be an hour for her but I'm one stop closer so I thought I'd easily do it a few times a week. Until I realised its £16 return and takes 45 minutes for a 12 mile journey. So I don't blame people for taking public transport costs into consideration.

The local authority help desk role is because the team is growing due to increasing workload.

Some of my friends are on term time only contracts and work 16 hours. None of them have had any hassle to work more but have become worried recently because they've seen what I'm going through.

@mrsnec go to your next appointment dressed smartly, hold your held up and act confidently - not rude but assertive and do the broken record Technique with them, in a neutral tone tell them what you have done, don't worry about the term time only stuff - decide what's right for you and tell them what you have decided to do.

Take a breath before you speak - an old technique for this is take a water bottle with you and take a drink of water before you speak, gives you a moment to think. Do not get drawn into discussions.
State what you have done, what you have decided.
You are being picked on because they think they can with you and it sounds like you are getting all the frustrations of the day taken out on you, I promise they wouldn't fcuking dare speak to me like that.

I have seen them in action, my friend had worked every day since 16, had to sign on at 43 and went dressed in a suit, was respectful but firm, never had a peep of bother from them. Other friend single mum, dressed in sweatpants, legs, banana in her hair, spoken to like shit on their shoe.

it doesnt contribute directly to GDP but it allows other people to earn money because someone is doing work for free, eg 1 person in a relationship does the domestic work meaning the other is free to do a paid job- that kind of thing.

I'm not disagreeing with you, just making the point that just because you're not a tax payer doesnt mean you're not contributing to society, inevitably money is often seen as the measure of all things and that means that the contributions of many people are dismissed & overlooked

Money is the only measure that economists think about, and the only measure of success in society at present is how much money you have.

Its very sad.

Nursery nurses are expected to do 7.30AM-6-6.30PM shifts 4 days a week. Often doing more as short staffed. All alongside paperwork, dealing with SEN kids and are paid peanuts for a physically demanding and emotionally exhausting job. People often ask why I don't work full time in a nursery and I feel like laughing at them. I get paid more as supply, can generally be flexible around my hours and can take on adhoc nanny jobs too. I can't think of anything worse than full time nursery work. Some jobs just have very little benefit and so it's no wonder the posts can't be filled.

'I would say that 'traditionally' the method of getting people to do demanding & not very pleasant work for low pay had to do with a large reserve of unemployed people in need of work which made those in work feel grateful for having any job at all.
Now that's all turned on it's head, we have a large amount of unfilled vacancies, plus those who kept the wheels turning during the pandemic had to be incentivized somehow, hence 'clap for carers' ...ie gvt acknowledgment that the lower paying jobs are actually the (in some respects)most important ones, well that genie wont go back in the bottle!

I do exactly this and the conversation goes like this

Me: I've got an offer and two interviews next week.
Them: how many hours
Me: 20
Them it's not enough how are you going to make up the other 5
Me: I've got 2 other interviews for better higher paid jobs
Them: But BT are recruiting in their call centre will you come in and talk to them.
Me: I'm preparing for 2 interviews next week. I have several forms to fill in and I need to familiarise myself with my potential client list.
Them: Shall we book you into our jobs fair next week
Me: I've got two interviews and another re-start appointment and I'm waiting on a start date from the job I've just accepted...
Them: so we've booked you into the jobs fair, and you can have a chat with BT and you can keep applying for everything else in the meantime.
Me: OK then (turns on heels and mutters get fu*ed the lot of you under breath)

It goes on and during that time I've been text and emailed by re-start asking why I've not logged on to the portal! Which once I've negotiated the webinars on the power of positive thinking is just full of jobs I've already applied for and been rejected from.

I'm suited and booted. No banana in hair or any other fruit for that matter and I'm equipped with said water and massive bag o' paperwork. Looking dead professional and stuff.

Anyway it is having an effect on my mental health and others in a more fragile state than me I can imagine it sending them over the edge.

After my last re-start appointment I needed to call my mum and spend a few hours lying down in a darkened room because the questions were so intrusive and nobody explained who these people were and why I'd been referred to them but I was grilled about sleep patterns, diet and exercise, drug and alcohol dependency, my finances do I have healthy relationships..I felt traumatised and very nearly went to my GP to try and get signed off from it all. If I hadn't got the offer and the interviews I probably would have done I think it's the system that's damaging mental health in many cases. Mine included.

@mrsnec I'm all for helping finding people suitable work but that is humoungously intrusive questioning and to be frank I don't think it's any of their business.

I was scared of getting sanctioned if I didn't answer. With any luck I won't have to go through it again but the point is there are a lot of people who have no idea how tough it is out there.

I feel like I earn every single penny of the benefits I receive and I'd be happy with less if I didn't have the hassle.

sleep patterns, diet and exercise, drug and alcohol dependency, my finances do I have healthy relationships.

You do not need to answer those questions and please do complain in writing that they were asked.

From what you've typed you are oversharing and giving them too much ammunition to critise.

Me: I've got an offer and two interviews next week.
Them: how many hours
Me: 20 - with a possibility of over time.
Them it's not enough how are you going to make up the other 5
Me: OK
Them: But BT are recruiting in their call centre will you come in and talk to them.
Me: OK
Them: Shall we book you into our jobs fair next week
Me: Thanks
Them: so we've booked you into the jobs fair, and you can have a chat with BT and you can keep applying for everything else in the meantime.
Me: OK then

Them sounds like a twat, don't engage they'll get bored.

This is awful and not surprising at all.

it’s also the kind of crap that folks who’ve not had to sign on don’t understand. They don’t want to understand it either.

the only time I ever signed on, the moment they started with personal questions I just started to give super intimate answers to the point where they actually didn’t know where to look.

I’m in a weird position where I work despite being classed as unfit to work, so they really really don’t like that. Their only role is to hound you until you take one of the multitude of exploitative min wage jobs, as the country would be stuffed if everyone improved themselves and moved on, and at least if they brow beat you enough you fill a bum on seat for a while and they just hope you’re too exhausted at the end of it to look for anything better.

I know I sound like a very angry nutcase, but honestly it really winds me up.

I didn't know whether to post or not... I rarely do on Mumsnet but I feel almost obligated to regarding not the op post exactly but job vacancies generally.. I work in care and have done for almost 10 years. This industry is crying out for workers and for years I've been saying that can we please change the way this industry is viewed???
Can we please, somehow, make this a place where it is a profession and not just something people fall into. Can we have proper training and prospects and a living wage? Can we make it so people don't have to work 60/70 hour weeks to make ends meet, or cover shortages, to keep the homes ticking over.?
Can we please make these homes places where the vulnerable adults that we care for have staff that are happy and valued and well paid ? Then staff will stay and our residents will have more consistency and feel safer.
Staff doing this difficult job will not have to rely on benefits to top up what should be a full time living wage. Maybe recruiting would get easier.
I'm just saying. Much love to all

but but but....they cant pay proper wages, how will the owners and shareholders afford their 2nd & 3rd homes, expensive cars & holidays etc!
(I assume that's the reason?)

I guess that's the reason! That's why things need to change 😊

you'll have to wrestle the cars, houses, money etc out of their cold dead hands, they wont give it up willingly
wealthy people use their wealth and power to protect and hide their wealth, that (amoung other things) is why money goes to money

I think we need to make a move towards non profit then... I've always thought this anyway. 💜

Sorry to hear about that. It's beyond awful and I don't have the words.

However it makes me feel like I'm not alone and that there are some people who understand what it's like.

Sometimes I don't know how I've managed to hold it together and on one occasion I didn't

And when it's all over and I'm in a better place I might put something in writing. Right now I don't have the time or energy and I know it won't change anything.

Incedently when I asked why all the questions I was told its because they need to make sure they have 'the right resources in place ' to 'support ' me

When I turned up at the re-start office for the first time the first thing they did was ask me if I could manage the stairs. It was really bizarre everything they say and do is OTT and I eventually googled the scheme to find out what it's all about and I'm shocked and disgusted the government has thrown so much money at these schemes.

The actual success rate is dire.

This is so true. If things don't change for us if I were to lose my job (charity, so funding cuts are always a possibility), we'd be screwed.

We can manage at the moment because I've been in my job a long time, and proved my commitment to the job long before the shit hit the fan with DS, my job is very flexible and my manager is understanding, and DH basically makes some money from what was his hobby, but not enough.

DH can't just get a job because then I can't work and he's unlikely to get a job paying enough to cover the loss of my wages, plus I don't drive, can't afford to learn/couldn't afford another car anyway so wouldn't be able to get DS to school on the rare occasions he'll go in for an hour.

If benefits are so generous and people only act in their own (only financial, presumably) self interest, why do any of us bother to work? Why hasn't society completely collapsed?

It's not far off in my opinion.

@EilonwyWithRedGoldHair lots of reasons for this- those with mortgages can't get an allowance towards it for a very very long time , those with no children or over 18s actually get very little

@EilonwyWithRedGoldHair there are still plenty with aspirations beyond just getting by.

Fair enough, but I don't think it's because people can't be bothered to work.

I know. And I agree wholeheartedly. I wish I knew the answer but I don't.

I don't think society has collapsed entirely but there are so many people, both rich and poor, who have completely forgotten that money is what you get when you work, and if you're getting money that you haven't worked for, someone else has worked for it on your behalf. So many people see money as being an abstract concept that magically appears in their bank every month so they can spend it.