rivits:
Oh well there is the answer , being 47 I am obviously too auld & decrepit to employ given I’m bound to be off sick constantly from now to I retire. I should think myself lucky I currently have a job that sees me working flat trailers & covers in all weather but as antiquated and pathetic as I am a simple phone call telling me one way or the other would not have hurt
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Worry not Rivits , I started with a new employer at 50 ,( as a driver ) worked full time until I was 67 , and still return if and when I`am needed at 72 .
My father just gave his HGV up there at 77 mate ( and hasbeen a grumpy auld swine ever since )
Definitely a GOOD driver shortage where I live (Essex)…I quit full time European driving last Friday and got temp to permanent work from the agency on Sat morning and have been offered 5 more full time postions since then …I have to agree about the age thing though…once I disclosed that I’m 30 with 7 years driving experience UK and Europe they all definitely seemed keener
You have said it yourself 180 mile round trip,maybe the successful candidate lived a lot closer to hand
That does not excuse not writing to or phoning you out of courtesy
I also get mad when they don’t call back, as they promised to do, its very annoying.
Everything else is 50/50, you might think you are the best for the position and that very well might be true, but in the same time if younger driver with no family or mortgage has applied or ex military they might have chosen him/her instead of you, you can guess why. At the end of the day it their company, their choice.
I felt the same way several months ago applying for job here in Bulgaria, passed 1 interview, test assessment, passed interview over the phone with the British manager and was sacked after interview with HR dept here…never got the call, just an standardized email, even though they said they gonna call since I was their main candidate/choice.
lolipop:
You have said it yourself 180 mile round trip,maybe the successful candidate lived a lot closer to hand
That does not excuse not writing to or phoning you out of courtesy
I also said had I got the job I would have been based 8 miles from my home. The point I was making was not me not getting the job but the lack of courtesy and decorum shown to applicants. They advertised for 2 full time drivers, but when I chased them up they had changed it to one driver and I was apparently 2nd choice!!! What followed was a load of patronising rubbish about if it was up to me I would have employed you, you were the best & most enthusiastic candidate etc etc, whats the betting out of the six or so applicants there was another 4 second choice drivers when they looked for feedback.
Oh as it has been suggested it must have been a great job does £9.50 ph and £10.86 o/t sound great to you guys for ADR Tanker work?? As I said I was looking for more time at home and a break frae flat trailers
rivits:
Have any of you guys out there had the same experiences I have had of late trying to change job in these days of reported driver shortages?
In the last week I had to travel a 180 mile round trip for a driving assessment and interview with a well known tanker fleet. Driving assessment went well as did the interview and I left with a promise off you will hear from me 3 ways, either yes/no or we will call on you again.
No word for 4 days so I chase up their recruitment firm to be told ‘oh err sorry I can confirm to you that you that you have been unsuccessful. You were the second placed candidate but the two advertised vacancies was reduced to one’ which then I got a speal about how in his opinion I was the best candidate etc etc etc. Oh I forgot to mention my current employer refused point blank to give me the day off even though I have holiday entitlement and forced me to work a weeks nightshift. Such treatment of drivers makes it extremely hard to believe there is a shortage of drivers.
Likewise I was part of 10 interviewees who attended a block interview at a well known discount retailers RDC a few months ago. 10 candidates for 5 jobs. I went in with 30 years experience and the last 15 yrs in steady employment with the same firm meant nothing when I was the wrong gender and not an ex forces with no haulage experience ( I am it has to be said all for ex servicemen who fought for their country to be given jobs ). At the one to one interview the guy concentrated on my long service with my current employer as if it was a fault asking me if I was ‘sure I was doing the right thing’ which made me think I was merely there to make up the numbers.
Never even had a courtesy phone call from them to say I was not required.
Fair to say I am well pee’d off today
Driver Shortage■■? I don’t see one
no doubt your a white,hetrosexual uk male .well experienced and competent,whereas these mobs look at you and think…he prob knows more than the entire traffic office put together,set in his ways,sooooo lets get some reverse racism,reverse sexism discrimination into gear and start some wifey or cannon fodder that wont know any better once we induct them into cabbage procedure operations.
positive discrimination has been around for years with the whole ‘we actively encourage’ all this ever said to me was as a white male of a set age I had no chance of getting the job if someone met the underrepresented category.
it normally get promoted as racism, yes the old days of you get a job because your dad worked here were just as wrong but why cant the bloody do gooders just let employers pick the best person they interview. not look at hitting a percentage of 1 legged lesbian (place any colour or creed in here), as we are currently over stocked with 1 armed Christians.
war1974:
it normally get promoted as racism, yes the old days of you get a job because your dad worked here were just as wrong but why cant the bloody do gooders just let employers pick the best person they interview. not look at hitting a percentage of 1 legged lesbian (place any colour or creed in here), as we are currently over stocked with 1 armed Christians.
It’s been going on years…
The IT industry for 20+ years, has been picking lower qualified female over males, just to improve their statistic to the do gooders…
I think someone has been confusing Walsall with Warsaw here.
4000 Euros per month is pretty damned good actually… It’s £700pw - the top end. It kinda dents the argument that the average immigrant is coming over here to slave away for minimum wages doesn’t it?
I quit my job and walked straight into another. Only did 3 weeks and didn’t like it. I had an assessment with a well known freezer retailer and started there 3 weeks ago.
I do think it sometimes boils down to location. Loads of companies near me
Batmann:
Cheapest man always wins… capitalism at it’s finest.
What happens if the company has a fixed pay scale, where the new recruit doesn’t have to “Negotiate their salary” on arrival or before even being offered the job?
Surely that old crap is for Contractors/Self-employed and one-man-band Ltd Companies.?
I’m still on agency, and have been for the past near five years now.
How long do you think it would take me to get a job paying either £14ph plus or over £30k - should I decide that I want one of those?
not with out level D and what not around heathrow.
Currently commuting to Southampton where im on the containers, firm used to be in greenford newbury, but changed location. took 3 hours last friday to get home!!
rivits:
Have any of you guys out there had the same experiences I have had of late trying to change job in these days of reported driver shortages?
In the last week I had to travel a 180 mile round trip for a driving assessment and interview with a well known tanker fleet. Driving assessment went well as did the interview and I left with a promise off you will hear from me 3 ways, either yes/no or we will call on you again.
No word for 4 days so I chase up their recruitment firm to be told ‘oh err sorry I can confirm to you that you that you have been unsuccessful. You were the second placed candidate but the two advertised vacancies was reduced to one’ which then I got a speal about how in his opinion I was the best candidate etc etc etc. Oh I forgot to mention my current employer refused point blank to give me the day off even though I have holiday entitlement and forced me to work a weeks nightshift. Such treatment of drivers makes it extremely hard to believe there is a shortage of drivers.
Likewise I was part of 10 interviewees who attended a block interview at a well known discount retailers RDC a few months ago. 10 candidates for 5 jobs. I went in with 30 years experience and the last 15 yrs in steady employment with the same firm meant nothing when I was the wrong gender and not an ex forces with no haulage experience ( I am it has to be said all for ex servicemen who fought for their country to be given jobs ). At the one to one interview the guy concentrated on my long service with my current employer as if it was a fault asking me if I was ‘sure I was doing the right thing’ which made me think I was merely there to make up the numbers.
Never even had a courtesy phone call from them to say I was not required.
Fair to say I am well pee’d off today
Driver Shortage■■? I don’t see one
Had that with sainsbury in feltham few Years back.
Vacancy on Friday 16.00 at job Centre plus,and off on Monday 09.00
I applyed on Friday 16.30 and got said on Monday Noon there is no vacancy,why i contacted Wincanton Head Office.
There were a Vacancy but no one applyed so it went to a Agency.
I went to Agency,to find a Friend there,and they got the Job as they paid a high Bonus to the Agency-Recruitment Manager
rivits:
Oh well there is the answer , being 47 I am obviously too auld & decrepit to employ given I’m bound to be off sick constantly from now to I retire.
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[
]The problem with being at one place for 15 years is your experience isn’t that broad and its usually quite hard to teach someone who has been working at one spot for so long how to do things at a new employer.- >
I really have got to laugh at this comment, I have been in the employment of Scotland’s second biggest haulier and biggest actual general haulier for 15 years. The variety of work is so vast every week something new occurs , multi skilled isn’t the word for it given the wide variation of vehicles, trailers and loads so really I and the majority of my co-workers could fit in anywhere.
The distance traveled for the interview was not because it was a great job, I would have if I had been successful been based at a sub depot about 8 miles from my house. The basic pay was marginally higher than where I am but the overtime was less, in fact for hazardous tanker work the pay was very poor but I was looking for less time sleeping in a cab and spend a bit more time with my wife & family.
The original point I was making was not someone else getting the job but the fact of how after jumping thru hoops to attend the interview etc a courtesy phone call was too much bother for them and after I chased it up I got a load of patronising [zb] and the bemusement that a good and steady employment record dating back 15yrs seems to get looked on with disdain, perhaps they would prefer the maximum of 3 months in a job type of cowboy!!
At the end of the day I daresay I am still in a job so my mortgage is safe but really no wonder fresh blood aint coming into the job and veterans are leaving in their droves
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Oi!
I resemble that remark. But I’m no cowboy. Got a bad attitude, yep. Won’t take any ■■■■, yep. Won’t get walked all over, yep. But no cowboy.
I’ve excellent experience in most disciplines in this game, drove most types of truck, trailer, gearbox etc.
Actually take my time to actually LEARN the rules - unlike a HELL of a lot of drivers - and know them, so don’t suffer shed loads of infringements due to being an ignorant sod.
My accident record is excellent - I’ve hit about 90% of my targets
I stay legal, I turn up when I say I will and at the time I say I will unless I have a damned good excuse.
So, I’ve had a shed load of jobs, that makes me a cowboy?
