Two jobs, one huge dilemma.

[Carnatic]

I haven't had any luck on the job-front for over a year, and then two jobs come along at once and create a massive dilemma. I think I know what I should do but still...

 

Job A is at a call centre. It's minimum wage, part-time and temporary. I went to the interview but was told I'd been unsuccessful, until this morning when I got a call saying someone had dropped out and could I start this afternoon.

 

Job B is at a nuclear power station, there are a lot of jobs going (80 I think) and while they aren't exactly great jobs, just low-level grunt positions, they are 'proper' jobs, i.e. mostly full-time, above minimum wage, permanent. Having passed an initial screening test I've been told I will be invited to an aptitude test, but don't know when yet.

 

The problem is, the first three weeks of the call centre job are training, Monday to Friday, you have to attend all sessions as there are no opportunities to catch up on training you have missed. If you miss one, even through sickness then you are out of the job. I don't know when the aptitude test at the power station is, but it will most likely clash with the call centre training. Like the call-centre there is only one chance at it, due to the number of people they have to test they can't rearrange, you either make it at the time you're given or you're out of the running.

 

So there you have it. I accepted the job at the call centre and I'm due there in a few hours' time, but when I get given a time and date for my aptitude test I'll have a choice between having a shot at a 'proper' job or having a guaranteed minimum-wage part-time temporary job. I know it makes sense to take the risk and go for the proper job, the call centre job isn't really worth losing that chance over; but still, I know there is a good chance I'll be sitting here in two weeks' time, having quit the call centre and then getting a rejection letter from the power station.

 

And there is another factor too. I currently claim jobseeker's allowance (JSA, or unemployment welfare if you're in America). Since I'll be starting at the call centre, I have to stop claiming that (I could always not tell them, but then I risk being found guilty of benefit fraud and a possible prison sentence), but if it all goes wrong and I quit the call centre job but don't get the power station job, then I'll be wanting to claim JSA again, except I won't be eligible as I quit my last job willingly. My best bet if I want to quit the call centre within my training period is probably to feign sickness and then be released, that way I'll hopefully become eligible for JSA again. But still, there is that risk that in two weeks' time, not only will I have no job, but I'll be ineligible for JSA too.

 

And then there's my photography business. I've been working my ass off over the last few months setting that up, and for most of that time it was my only realistic way of earning money. Now I have these jobs, but it's still my only realistic opportunity of ever having a job I love, a career and prospects outside being a grunt for the rest of my working life. But I have applied for a £500 grant to help me start up, and I need that grant. It is dependent on me running my business full-time, and while the call-centre job will still leave me plenty of time to work on my business, and is only temporary, so I'll be unemployed again within 12 months, it will probably make me ineligible for the grant, and if I don't get the grant because of this, and then also don't get the power station job that I quit the call centre for then there's a chance that in two weeks' time I'll have no job, no JSA and my business dream left in tatters.

 

I was considering turning the call centre job down because of all of this (and not disclosing that to the job centre), they rang me this morning to say that they might be offering me a job. But they rang back to offer me it half an hour later, before I'd been able to fully think it through, and I accepted. Now I'm wondering if accepting it was a good idea.

[sadchick83]

Hold out for the nuclear power plant job and keep you photography business on the back burner. I have seen the income levels of people who work at power plants and they make A LOT of money. They are also very honest about paying over-time, and are very successful--selling power is a good position to be in these days. You have to take this job!!!

[Carnatic]

that's true, this one does pay well... I guess I wanted to know if anyone else agreed, or if someone was going to pop up and say 'no you have to put the job you already have guaranteed first'.

 

I've just read something about the power station, in the local newspaper. Apparently for 80 jobs they had 6,600 applicants. It didn't say how many had made it through to the aptitude testing stage though.

[lana111]

power plant, hands down, as long as you are pretty sure you can pass the test.

[Carnatic]

thanks, the only other thing making me uncertain is my photography business. I've spent a lot of time this year, as part of a business start-up course I've been on, getting it all set up and ready to begin trading. But as a commercial photographer, most (if not all) of my work is likely to be required during office hours. Working full-time will put an end to this (and the power plant employs so many people it has it's own rather bad rush hour) so you can add two hours of commuting to each working day). Because of the number and time of the hours worked at the call-centre, I could still work on my business while also working there.

 

And you're right... I have to be certain I can pass the test, and also that among the 6000 or however many have made it this far, I can be in the top 80. I don't know what the jobs are, just that they are on the 'process' side of the plant as opposed to the office side. I've never worked outside an office before (except for a short work-trial at a garden centre), so I can't be too certain that my office-based experience will give me a good chance of getting a job. And I won't know until I've got it whether it will be full-time at the power plant, it might still be part-time.

 

The plant may pay much better than the call centre, but neither of these jobs are my future, and there is a chance that despite the higher pay, the power plant still won't pay enough to make me financially independent, so I should look at things beyond pay too, and decide whether the power plant job will be good enough in comparison to the call centre job to sacrifice my longer term prospects for. Hopefully I'll get lucky and the aptitude test won't clash with the call-centre. That'll enable me to wait till I know exactly what job (if any) I'm being offered I hope. Then it might be an easy decision.

 

It doesn't help that I live with my parents and my mum is totally opposed to the idea of me being self-employed, she's nothing but negative about it, she doesn't really like the idea that I don't see my future as being earning as much as I can and getting married with children in a nice little suburban semi. I try and phase out what she is saying, but being told over and over how I won't succeed and any decisions I make in life where I take my business into account are wrong, it doesn't really help with my own confidence.

[abitbroken]

What about starting the phone job and then when the aptitude test comes up, take it. You never know, they might not call you for the test for 3-6 weeks. By that time, you could be making some money. If the job is temp, people leave all the time for better and brighter. I even did something like that for awhile until my ship came in. BTW, how far are you along as a commercial photographer? Have you done a job or two to warrant you the motivation to think your business is really getting underway?

[Carnatic]

Well I am starting the call centre job, I started yesterday. The thing is that during my first 5 weeks there, I'm in training, and if I miss any of this (even through sickness) then I will be let go, so if the aptitude test clashes with that then I will have to give up the call centre job, just to attend the aptitude test and be in with a shot of the power plant job.

 

And I think I may have given the impression that all I have to do is pass the test and the power plant job is mine. This isn't the case, all I had to do to get to the aptitude testing stage was answer a few simple questions on-line about my working practices (you know the sort, something unexpected comes up, do you panic, ignore it, or seek help) and tell them generally what fields I've worked in. They haven't met me or even seen my CV yet, so there are still plenty of hurdles for me to get over before being offered a job. I'm sure there will be an interview stage at least, and there must still be thousands of people in the running for the jobs. I don't know what my chances of being successful are, but I wouldn't think they were over 50%, I'm not very employable and there are lots of awkward things in my job history that they haven't found out about yet; so the possibility of leaving the call centre to have a shot at the power plant but then not getting the power plant is still very real. And I've been unemployed for the last 18 months, there are just no jobs around here, so it really is a dilemma deciding whether it is worth abandoning a guaranteed job (albeit part time and minimum wage) for a less than 50:50 shot at a better job.

 

Best case scenario is that the aptitude test, and any subsequent interviews don't clash with my call-centre training, so I'm able to get to the stage where I'm actually offered a job at the power plant, that way I know I'm leaving the call-centre for a guaranteed job, not just a shot at one.

 

The photography business is just another thing to make me feel better about keeping the call centre job, to remind me that is isn't all bad. I have done commercial commissions in the past, but not since moving back to my hometown and setting up my business again. But I'm taking it far more seriously than ever before, treating it as a full-time job over the past few months, saving what little money I have towards it, and getting involved with local trading networks, ultimately doing a course. I have met with business advisors who think I have a good business premise, done detailed market research, designed a website, flyers etc. and written an in-depth business plan. I can't start trading yet though, as one of the stipulations of getting the grant is that you haven't yet started trading... also the grant is essential for the purchase of equipment which will enable me to offer serious professional services as opposed to those of someone who just moonlights as a photographer.

[Carnatic]

Thanks everyone who offered advice. I thought it best to update people on how things went.

 

Fortunately the aptitude test was in the morning so I was able to go to it without missing any call-centre training. It's a good thing it was too because I didn't do well enough on the test to make it to the next stage. Even if I had made it, the next day the power station cancelled the recruitment process as instead of hiring 80 people they had decided to make 800 people redundant. That would have been a disaster, if I'd quit my call centre job for that!

[chitown9]

Thanks everyone who offered advice. I thought it best to update people on how things went.

 

Fortunately the aptitude test was in the morning so I was able to go to it without missing any call-centre training. It's a good thing it was too because I didn't do well enough on the test to make it to the next stage. Even if I had made it, the next day the power station cancelled the recruitment process as instead of hiring 80 people they had decided to make 800 people redundant. That would have been a disaster, if I'd quit my call centre job for that!

 

Wow! I'm glad that it worked worked out for the best. Thank you for the update.....