Working with people you know

[JessW]

Gee, I quite agree, but in those situations they both worked well and did not affect outsiders. Th confectioners in question employed thousands of people from good local families who were guaranteed not just jobs but a career and safe environment for them to raise their families.  Good for the workers and good for community cohesion.

My issue is where I have been deliberately overlooked in favour of lesser relatives (and it is not just me as both my brothers have had the same thing!) and later I have heard that they wished I or someone else had been offered the job!

[gee4]

I know.  I was referring to situations where jobs are not advertised and others don't have the chance to apply.

I wonder how the hiring process is proven to the fair employment agency?

[JessW]

Ah, there is the crunch.  If virtually an entire neighbourhood was entitled to work there, then they could safely advertise.  

However, this is a moot point now, as the company is swiss owned plus the scenario happened before all the broo-ha about fairness of employment advertising became such an issue.  It was definitely a case of local jobs for local people.

[bristolmary]

learned that construction was not the place for him (I wanted him to see what he had to look forward to if he didn't get an education and the lesson was learned).

I find that comment very rude. My father has been in construction for years. He also has been to college and university. He left school with 12 olevels, and 2 a levels. He has completed 3 open university degree courses with his lowest grade being a 2:1.

So the construction trade isn't just for 'thickos' as you seem to think it should be.

People on here moan about PAs/Secretaries being stereotyped yet we do it ourselves on other careers.  

[Jackie G]

I had to re-read this entire forum to find out what comment you referred to, Bristolmary.

In re-reading Michelle's posting, I took it that her son was looking for a summer holiday job (prior to going off and completing his education).  This would mean that, as an unskilled worker with no qualifications, he would have presumably been limited to just labouring-type jobs and in that context, her comment about seeing what was ahead of him if he DIDN'T get an education is ok and not rude at all.

I also didn't take from her posting at all that she felt the construction trade was just for 'thickos' - perhaps you misunderstood it?

Jackie, Peer Moderator

[mlm668]

bristolmary - I didn't mean to offend.  To be honest, I myself prefer to work in the construction industry and know first hand that those that choose it as a career are not a bunch of thickos.  If anything, I enjoy working with them a whole lot more than my current environment.  I have more in common with many of them (lifestyle, interests, etc.) than I do my current co-workers. Unfortunately, admin jobs in that field are lower paying than I can afford at the moment and few and far between.

HOWEVER - like admin work, it is not something that just anyone can do.  It is very hard work and the skill and knowledge to progress is virtually unknown to those outside of it.  BUT they are skills and knowledge best learned on the job and after years and years of hard manual labor.  And it can take years and years of hard work before you can make a good living at it.  My boyfriend had to give up working as a concrete dry finisher around the age of 30 (after 10-12 years of it) because of the toll it had taken on him physically.  He lost income because he had to start from the beginning to become a truck driver and at his last job was just beginning to make what he had been when he switched careers.  On the other side, his cousin was a very successful mechanic making very good money but chose to give that up to start his own construction business because that is what he really enjoys and wants to spend his time doing.  

The point I wanted to make to my son was that if he didn't want to be limited in his options (waiter, construction worker, unskilled labor) he needed to stick with obtaining an education and learning skills that could be used across many fields so he would have more options.  

Michelle