Went for a job and got offered a cleaner job instead I feel miserable.

[Aw4foxsake]

I applied for a job working checkouts and everything went well they asked me if I would be interested in a cleaning job and that I could sort of have a dual role where I could clean and do the tills but the starting pay would be less but it would allow me to have extra hours when I'm free.

Went to the contract signing and it's just the cleaning job that has zero chance of extra hours and I will not be put on checkouts.

I have to take this job as my hours have been radically cut from my previous job so I'm left with no choice right now.

I feel like this is a step backwards as for the last 2 years I've been working tills. Which was a step backwards from my previous job as a graphic designer.

To make it worse I feel like I'm being discriminated against because I have a child since they said " we feel like this job would provide better flexibility with your commitments"

My availability is during school 9-3pm and 5-10pm and weekends are fine. I also share custody with my son's father who works 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off so I have him when he is away working and he has him when he is home. So I can work any hours when my son is away. I can't find a job that is willing to work with my availability which I think is pretty reasonable.

I've been trying all of the shops but no one is willing to hire me. All of the office jobs in my area start at 8am and finish 5/6pm but I would have to pay for a childcare space that would go unused 1/2 the time.

I'm miserable and I will have a really really low income with no opportunity to even make more.

Am I just overreacting I've been crying ever since I signed the contract. I wanted to learn how to drive I will not make enough money to even learn it will cover the cost of our food without much left over. I feel like once people see I've been cleaning on my CV they will not hire me for anything more.

What do you think ?

Are you asking me the point of my post ?

@Thosepeskyseagulls

Your use of capitalisation for emphasis is aggressive, unnecessary and annoying.

Am I meant to care?

Of course I’m not going to “EVEN TRY” and pretend that women aren’t generally the primary caregivers with more cognitive load and more caring responsibilities in the UK.

Good girl.

But the employers have no right to make this assumption and no right to ask probing questions about it. And I certainly won’t be volunteering it in a job interview.

As an employer, I would be very suspicious and wary of anyone who withheld such a salient and vital piece of information as the fact that they have CHILDREN! It's not like with-holding the fact you have a DOG. They are your CHILDREN FGS.

They are (or should be!) a massively important and integral part of your life. How incredibly odd to not mention you have them at a job interview. If they ask if you have them, would you lie/do you lie?????

If you with-held the fact you have children, I would not give you the job. If you had already started the job, you would not be kept on. (6 month probationary period at my place, and for sure we would find out before then that you have children!)

Lol I wouldn’t work for you in a million years 😂

If they ask if you have them, would you lie/do you lie?????

If they ask if you have them, they are probably breaking the law.

HTH.

If you had already started the job, you would not be kept on. (6 month probationary period at my place, and for sure we would find out before then that you have children!)

If you sack someone for having children, you are almost certainly breaking the law.

You're not an employer, are you.

Freelancing would be great for you as you can pack in the work while DS is at his dads and then have a lighter load when he’s at home. But if hours are unpredictable, then I think working full time is worth looking at financially. After school club costs us just over £15 a day, so if you think about the difference in wage between a cleaner and a graphic designer, you’d still earn more as the latter.

Absolutely, @ScreamingBeans Being a parent may not be a protected characteristic, but an employer would be ill-advised to take this line. It smacks of discrimination.

I'm surprised about this as most supermarkets contract out for cleaners and don't employ their own as such. Regardless, I wouldn't personally do the cleaning job as I hate cleaning - I would make myself available for work earlier or later and go back to the graphic design or an office job and look into child care options.

Don't crying OP, If you don't happy being a cleaner just don't take the job,
They can't forcing you to do that. But if you take it, you have to do your best to earn money and support your family.
I'm a cleaner myself for over 13 year I found it not too bad, I bought a house (mortgage but small as I repayment)
I bought a car outright,travelling around the world and big saving account money, I am now live comfortably no need to worry about financial that is because my cleaning job.

Firstly, very sorry to hear all that. However, what I’d say is take it for the time being. Then continue to look. If you can, type out some flyers - cut a piece of A4 paper into four pieces- and drop into shops/businesses where you would like to work.
I did that 2020 when lost my job middle of lockdown, and it worked for me. Try?
sending lots of good wishes
kk

to the pp who is suspicious of candidates not sharing personal info. Wow! Are you criminally insane? If anyone asked me if I had children at the job interview I would walk out at once. It is illegal to ask anyone at the interview if they are pregnant, married, gay, whatever. Anyone who is suspicious of potential employees not revealing personal info is just massively ignorant in more way than one. Please let me know where you work so I never waste time applying there. And yes, they are my children, and they mean everything to me. For this reason, I will not jeopardise their living conditions, and my career, by working with idiots who expect me to share personal stuff so that it can be used against me. Thanks God, I’m in the position when I can do it. It’s just a matter of time before you end up in a tribunal.
Yuck.

‘Only a cleaner, only a plumber’
I hear this so often yet they are such vital jobs. Cleaning is a skill I do not have but you obviously do so I’d go for it.

OMG it is so NOT!!! There is equality legislation. You are not allowed to ask a potential employee is they have children ffs!

Would a man be asked???

@Aw4foxsake if I were you I would be contacting the Equality Commission for advice. They clearly offered you what may be perceived as a lesser position BECAUSE you have a child! That's illegal!

Well I don't know what kind of hellholes you have applied to but people do NOT get asked at interviews whether they have children!

If anyone asked me they would find their arse handed to them in a tribunal for discrimination.

I don't believe you anyway. This wasn't even a question I was asked ever and that includes in the last century.

You are completely out of touch with reality.

PS - you outlined in your own post the exact reason why this is discriminatory - " if a WOMAN has kids, especially school age/small kids, because she is far more likely to be the main caregiver to the kids, and is more likely to be called home by the teacher/childminder/grandparents etc."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haven’t rtft but I used to work in a big Tesco. There was one cleaner on shift at a time - there’s no way they’re going to let a cleaner work on the tills. It also looked like a really lonely job

@PurpleButterflyWings

do you ask men if they have children?

in 30 years in the public sector I have never once been asked if I have children at interview or have I ever asked a candidate I was interviewing.
It is not ‘withholding’ information, its not relelvant.
If I knew someone who was sacked for this I would advice them to take legal advice.

I would however be interested if you could specify precisely on what grounds you would fail someone at probation if you discovered that they had children and whether you would apply that equally to male and female staff

I really feel for you and every other parent out there trying to earn money, childcare is too expensive (although at the same time I wouldn’t want DC in rubbish childcare where they’re not cared for properly). I also had to leave my well paid job (not well paid enough for all the childcare), I’m now p/t and doing a lower role (I love it though, although miss the fancy clothes and better salary).

however playing devils advocate, when a company hires someone they need to have a clear pattern in place for cover, if yours is every 3 weeks change they have to find cover for those three weeks every 3 weeks. I do feel if there were some sort of zero hours contract style parents could log on having to complete a certain amount of hours per month minimum it would help.
Or as in a few years ago let teenagers work more after school easier, so the parents leave and go home (and have school holidays off), and the teenagers earn some money. That would really free up so many wanting working parents and have parents at home after school.

don’t feel down, you sound like you’re doing your best in difficult circumstances.

https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-credits

I really feel for you and totally get where you are coming from. Pre children I once had a successful career in graphic design working for a world renowned advertising agency. I returned to work part time after my first child, but after the second the childcare costs just weren’t worth it, I would have been paying more to go to work. I was lucky to be able to take a career break for a couple of years, but in that time volunteered my marketing and graphic design skills by helping out at my children’s pre schools / toddler groups. That in turn led me to getting a job in a school office once my children were at school themselves. Over time I managed to get more involved with the marketing, social media and website, and I volunteer for a local animal rescue helping with their marketing. The money I earn isn’t great, and is far less than what I’d get working full time for an advertising agency, but it currently works around my children.

It sounds like you are in a bit of a tough situation, but I would keep the cleaning job for now, look for something else, and in the meantime if you have even a couple of hours a week you could volunteer / refresh your skills. The industry changes so rapidly, the software is constantly evolving, so what you once learnt / did might not be relevant now. I myself have lost confidence over the years but it comes back. In terms of your cv, you can write temporary jobs while raising children, I have gaps but have written that i was volunteering during that period whilst raising children.

As a woman, it is totally frustrating, and while flexible working is definitely improving, we are still a long way off yet, so many women giving up their careers as childcare just isn’t affordable.

On a flip side, I don’t actually think graphic design / social media pays all that well these days, so many people do it / want to do it, and you can earn good money as a self employed cleaner. Obviously learning to drive will give you more opportunities.

These years are tough but don’t last forever!

Of course it is. Being on a checkout is a customer facing role.

Where do you live that pays a cleaver £30+ an hour? I live in affluent Surrey and it's nearer £15-18phr

Unless you’re applying for something that requires disclosure of your entire working and non-working history (eg. police, anything working with kids) then there is no rule that says you have to put all the jobs you’ve ever worked on your cv. So don’t worry about putting this on your cv if it’s just a second job you’re taking to pay the bills right now. You can just leave it off.

"I'm being discriminated against because I have a child"

err - no, the store wants people that are available when it is busy.
Where I am, stores are crazy busy until about 9.15, busy slot between 12-1.30, then quiet again until around 4pm, which lasts until 7pm or 7.30.

Seeing cleaner in a CV wouldn’t put me off anyone if anything it would do the opposite

I’ve worked with enough people with degrees (not relevant degree to the job they were in ) picking and choosing what they would do because it was beneath them because they had a degree

see if you could negotiate with them business love flexible people

any job can be a stepping stone to another once your gun the company