The Work Thread 2 - Get back to work!

[Winckle]

Sent my writing task responses off to that writer's job. I was pretty happy with it, which is a miracle considering yesterday I thought the whole thing was gooseberry fool.

We'll see [fingerscrossed.emoji]

Hey, just thought I'd PM you to say I'm glad our plan of closing the forum for a day to help you finish up your writing task was helpful. Good luck on the job.

PS. I don't think anybody figured out that it went down on purpose, GG has posted a cover story.

[Tafdolphin]

Sent my writing task responses off to that writer's job. I was pretty happy with it, which is a miracle considering yesterday I thought the whole thing was gooseberry fool.

We'll see [fingerscrossed.emoji]

Hey, just thought I'd PM you to say I'm glad our plan of closing the forum for a day to help you finish up your writing task was helpful. Good luck on the job.

PS. I don't think anybody figured out that it went down on purpose, GG has posted a cover story.

Haha! It genuinely helped.

[Green Gecko]

Sent my writing task responses off to that writer's job. I was pretty happy with it, which is a miracle considering yesterday I thought the whole thing was gooseberry fool.

We'll see [fingerscrossed.emoji]

Hey, just thought I'd PM you to say I'm glad our plan of closing the forum for a day to help you finish up your writing task was helpful. Good luck on the job.

PS. I don't think anybody figured out that it went down on purpose, GG has posted a cover story.

Stop mixing up our messaging winckle, it was to get people to try out discourse.

Please stay on message in the future.

Seriously though taf, if you didn't worry about it being gooseberry fool at some points you wouldn't have any standards and then it would actually be gooseberry fool. Good luck!

[Squinty]

Maybe we should shut GRcade down anytime someone needs to be productive. This might be something worth looking into.

[That's not a growth]

Didn't get the job. Requested feedback, will see what they say.

[Tafdolphin]

Didn't get the job. Requested feedback, will see what they say.

That's gooseberry fool, sorry mate. Hopefully the feedback'll be helpful though.

[Kezzer]

I am in the office today so I can charge my phone/laptop and use the free wifi.

[Tafdolphin]

So I didn't get the job. We're two for two up in here!

At this point I sort of figured but still. I'm disappointed but extremely proud I got down to the last 12 out of over 1200. I will say though, their rejection email had an...odd paragraph

Of course if you want feedback on the task, just let me know. However be warned that it's really the fine tuning, as your task was good. It's more about the effort or level that a few others achieved.

Like, I get that they're probably not trying to say this but it sort of looks like they're saying I didn't put enough effort in? I spent three strawberry floating days on this gooseberry fool, there were tables, pdfs, mock-ups of the website with my copy etc etc

I dunno. I'm going to ask for feedback and about this phrasing. Like, what the strawberry float did the other applicants do exactly?

EDIT: I mean, obvs they wrote better applications. But I'm just curious as to why it's phrased like that.

[Preezy]

Of course if you want feedback on the task, just let me know. However be warned that it's really the fine tuning, as your task was good. It's more about the effort or level that a few others achieved.

Like, I get that they're probably not trying to say this but it sort of looks like they're saying I didn't put enough effort in? I spent three strawberry floating days on this gooseberry fool, there were tables, pdfs, mock-ups of the website with my copy etc etc

Only three days? Why didn't you put more effort in?

[Jenuall]

Bitter much?




But seriously, sorry to hear that you didn't get it Taf - especially after getting so far and clearly putting in a lot of effort. It's always hard to receive a negative response to a job application, even when the feedback you get could be practically glowing there is just something about the head space that it puts you into where you feel bad about what they say.

No harm in getting more feedback from them and requesting a bit more of an explanation about that sentence.

[Tafdolphin]

Yeah, I just sent them a quick one asking what the extra effort and level of the successful applicants means in real terms (ie dressing "What did those other strawberry floaters actually do?" in business speak). For reference, I actually did more than the tasks demanded anyway, not only mocking up their website with my copy but editing more of the page than they asked.

[Jenuall]

One can only assume that the other applicants gave incredible blow jobs.

[Drumstick]

I would like some advice on an interview question.

I have an interview on Friday and the question of salary is likely to come up. As of about six months ago our company put a freeze on mid-year pay increases, so effectively, if you accept a new job, you are tied to that salary, permanently, aside from the annual 3% increase we receive.

There is a £10k band range, and I feel that asking for the middle of the range is fair considering the above. At the outset, I would probably be "overpaid" for my experience and knowledge, but over time my skills and ability will "catch up" and then eventually overtake my pay, leaving me effectively underpaid. Essentially, over time, the pay:skills ratio will level out.

Does this seem like a reasonable way to answer this (bullshit) question?

[Tomous]

I would like some advice on an interview question.

I have an interview on Friday and the question of salary is likely to come up. As of about six months ago our company put a freeze on mid-year pay increases, so effectively, if you accept a new job, you are tied to that salary, permanently, aside from the annual 3% increase we receive.

There is a £10k band range, and I feel that asking for the middle of the range is fair considering the above. At the outset, I would probably be "overpaid" for my experience and knowledge, but over time my skills and ability will "catch up" and then eventually overtake my pay, leaving me effectively underpaid. Essentially, over time, the pay:skills ratio will level out.

Does this seem like a reasonable way to answer this (bullshit) question?

I'm not sure how exactly you're planning on pitching this but i'd be careful here because if it was me I'd say well we'll pay you the level that reflects your current ability/skill and revisit in the future when your experience and knowledge improve and your salary requires an increase.

[Drumstick]

I'm not sure how exactly you're planning on pitching this but i'd be careful here because if it was me I'd say well we'll pay you the level that reflects your current ability/skill and revisit in the future when your experience and knowledge improve and your salary requires an increase.

There is no facility to do this as per the aforementioned policy change. You're stuck on whatever you initially accept.

[Tafdolphin]

tbh that's a strawberry floating disgusting policy. I know this is absolutely not helpful but...have you thought about looking elsewhere for work?

Honestly strawberry float that sort of gooseberry fool. Urgh.

[Tomous]

I'm not sure how exactly you're planning on pitching this but i'd be careful here because if it was me I'd say well we'll pay you the level that reflects your current ability/skill and revisit in the future when your experience and knowledge improve and your salary requires an increase.

There is no facility to do this as per the aforementioned policy change. You're stuck on whatever you initially accept.

Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you were interviewing elsewhere.


Do you know the people interviewing well? How receptive and understanding are they going to be to you negotiating around that policy?

[Drumstick]

tbh that's a strawberry floating disgusting policy. I know this is absolutely not helpful but...have you thought about looking elsewhere for work?

This place works for me and has decent perks. This particular policy is really the only negative.

Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you were interviewing elsewhere.

Do you know the people interviewing well? How receptive and understanding are they going to be to you negotiating around that policy?

I should have been clear that it's internal. I know one of them reasonable well, who the successful candidate will be reporting to. If this policy wasn't in place then I would tackle this question differently but because it is, you almost have to take a stance of protecting your future self from becoming reasonably underpaid.

[Jenuall]

A blanket freeze on individual pay increases sounds a bit draconian, but on the other hand an annual 3% increase isn't exactly the worst deal in the world

[Blue Eyes]

I wonder if you guys and girls could help me please. My company has recently sent all employees a survey with a view to change things for the better. One specific question asked is what things they could do to make the company a better place to work. I wanted to say something about giving us the opportunity to work from home but I just know that won't fly.

Anyway, to get to the point - what aspects of the company that you work for do you really appreciate? Are there any benefits that they give you that you think genuinely make you feel lucky to work there and contribute to the overall wellbeing of the company as a whole?

Thanks.