Bottletop

They might be, but then if it's taking weeks they should contact the 2nd in line and let them know that is the situation out of courtesy... Prime example: I had an interview 2 weeks ago with a national telecommunications company, still haven't heard anything about if I've been successful or not. I've chased it up with the recruitment department and STILL haven't had a response. Obviously I'm pretty sure I haven't got it and have since moved on. But I took time out for that interview, spent a long time reviewing the company, making notes and preparing for the interview - the very least they could have done is contact me after a week and let me know I wasn't successful, or if it's still being decided.

I've always found my bill tends to follow my energy usage, I pay by DD and it's never been hugely over or under - just regularly gets adjusted. We do tend to have an overpayment towards the end of Summer, then a small underpayment towards Spring. But I'm happy about that as it means our monthly payment amounts are roughly the same and easy to manage. If it ever got to the amount you are now owed, I'd be shaking a stick at them and asking how on earth did it get to that much?

After recently being in the market for a job and knowing that recruitment agencies rarely get back to you if your CV doesn't interest them, you'd think it might be a bit more likely to hear back after having face to face interviews. I'd had a few instances of having face to face interviews and being told I'd find out 2 days or so afterwards, to then hear nothing for a week or more. I think it's downright rude and disrespectful to not let applicants know, whether they are successful or not! And it's not just agencies, this has happened with company recruitment departments too. So how far would you go to get an answer - even if after a week it's probably unlikely you've got the job? I've repeatedly requested a result/feedback, and on occasion even contacted the interviewer direct though I know this is frowned upon but it at least gets me the answer so I can move on...

It's called the 'Sun'. I'm surprised you need to ask, I know it's been a little while since summer and it tended to stay in the sky longer then than these coming Winter months - You must have a very short memory though.

I was in Sheffield just recently visiting a business near the train station and noticed several cars nearby all had big yellow stickers on their windscreens and were clamped. On closer inspection this was because they weren't taxed, interestingly they were all expensive Audi's and BMW's - I did wonder if they were all owned by the same person/business... Also strangely enough, I bought my car mid-November last year and assumed the tax would be due soon and I'd get a reminder letter. I also thought the MOT would need redoing. To confirm the expiry dates I checked online last week and found out I'd forgotten the car had been MOT'd last April so that wasn't urgent at all. But also the tax had run out at the beginning of the month! I quickly paid it online (which was backdated) and set up future automated payments so it wouldn't run out again - just so glad I checked when I did! At least with the old style discs it was a lot easier to keep an eye on when it ran out.

That's interesting, I've already had interviews at BT but not quite made the grade as I've been applying for things that I can do but just don't have a lot of background in. I like the thought of working for BT too... So, are you saying jobs are advertised on the internal recruiting system before being advertised externally? - and therefore I'll have more chance of getting them?

I'll take a look at the Cisco route, so long as the training/qualifying isn't too expensive I don't mind months of training. In IT I'm talking more software than hardware, I've dabbled with SQL and VB but nothing specific in programming. I gather developers get a pretty reasonable salary, though the ones I've known have mostly been contractors on short term contracts.

Some really interesting and useful replies here. I did go down the route many years ago of working for a very well known international tech company, I was there for 10 years and in that time got promoted 4 times and had high hopes for prolonged career progression. Unfortunately we then got bought out and the office closed and moved, it was too far to commute and I didn't want to relocate. Apprenticeships are out of the question really, for my age they are few and far between - besides, I have a family and I need a higher income than that would allow to continue living where we are. At the moment, I plan to get another similar job and get some stability back into our lives. Then do an evening course in something that will help advance me - something I should have been doing over the last few years but somehow never got around to it... as you do!

I think there may be quite a few of us around croat77!! muddycoffee, my question was more along the lines of which may be the best line of training to go down to ultimately improve my income? I'm hoping there may be some people on here with the experience and past to possibly answer that one, or at least give their thoughts and impressions.

I'm a 40-something guy and spent most of my working life in IT support in one form or another. I've got a whole load of experience and knowledge in a lot of different areas but never branched out into anything specific. Since the companies I've worked for have never given any official training, I've never gained actual IT qualifications. I did do a degree module a few years ago, but nothing since. Life takes over and on it goes... I'm now being made redundant and whilst there are opportunities out there, (I'm getting interviews etc at the same level) - I'm struggling to see how I can turn myself into a higher earner (from £20kish to +£30k). Employers seem to want someone who already knows how to do a job, rather than employ someone who has a good past record and let them grow into a higher role. I feel my options are to work the same kind of job for another year and this time do some out of office hours specialist course/training, which will hopefully lead to this. But in what? I've though of getting into web design, developing, ITIL training, finance accounting etc - I'm pretty sure I can turn my hand to one of these, and since I don't have a real preference to one over any other I'm basing it more on which direction will bring more money in at the end of the day. I'd also consider starting up my own business, providing 1-on-1 computer help/support, web design or even open a cafe further down the line. However I know there are more risks going this way. I also don't have much cash to splash out, and my payout is likely to only be pretty small - so that's not going to help much! Anyone been in a similar situation? Got any advice on how to decide on my next step?

I've had Prime for nearly a year now and it's been great watching shows like Top Gear, Preacher, Startup etc. There's also a limited selection of good films. Problem is, once you've seen the available films and 1st seasons of shows then you kind of run out of things worth watching and I'm most likely not to carry on paying for another year.

When booking a holiday, buying something, going somewhere to eat, watching a film - most of us will at sometime look up reviews online and use these to decide whether it will be any good or not. In the same way cars should come with inbuilt infra red guns and receivers, which can also be fitted to older cars - meaning we can judge each others driving and the worst culprits taken off the road and retested or banned. The guns should come with 2 triggers a trigger, and a trigger. The results are fed back to a main police controlled unit, that way if a driver suddenly decides to cut everyone up, they'll receive a whole load of shots from the other drivers, the police will be automatically informed and the idiot very quickly detained. This would work the other way too, if a driver is extra polite and courteous and receives lots of shots, they get a bonus - like a years free tax on their car or something. Very soon, we can all be self policing, saving money and improving our road manners. Let alone how much better it would feel shooting stupid drivers without actually doing any physical harm.

And it's that kind of mindset that will mean this world will continue to have such huge problems in years to come, for our kids and their kids and so on. If the first question asked is "How much will this cost?" then our thinking needs to change before anything more serious can happen. It's alright hiding behind a keyboard with a decent internet connection in a warm house, with running water, clean usable toilets and most likely a car outside to take you down the shops at a moments notice for just about anything you can buy for tea. Do you not think for the sake of humanity we could have worse services, miss some of those luxuries and afford to make tens of thousands of people have a roof over their heads and feel safe for once in their lives... Never mind what happened with Iraq etc. What I mean is something much bigger and longer term. Quick fixes have been tried, negotiating has been tried, throwing money at the problem has been tried. But as far as I'm aware no country has gone all in to take over a country and help them save themselves. - Not without some sort of discrimination anyway.

The only way to properly sort the mess out is to go all in with an army and properly take over the country, declare martial law, remove any government and run it ourselves. Make it worthwhile for the people to live there by paying them to gradually rebuild their countries, cleaning the cities up and making them safer - but whilst also policing it all. Bring up a new generation teaching them how to live peacefully and run a democracy based on the peoples needs and wants, then over the course of a 100+ years or so gradually give the country back in a better state. Of course this will never happen as it puts 'us' in more danger, our country (government) will lose money out of it and even when places such as Syria are in such dire situations, they still wouldn't want a foreign country being in charge even though they would benefit.

Ah, didn't realise this. But then I haven't had cause to park by the roadside, always passing through or stopping at the caravan club site.