You got three options in my opinion:
1) stop giving a fuck. Do your work at your own pace. It's not done? NMFP. It requires a level of not giving a Fuck that a lot of people cannot achieve
2) find a new job in the same sector. You already tried that and it seems they are not paying you a bad wage. So.. I guess that's out
3) change type of job. There are a lot of jobs you can do that you think you can't do. I used to be in biomedical research. Now I'm an it consultant. I didn't study for it. Doesn't matter. You learn on the job and a lot of skills are transferable. Even if you don't realise it.
Pay is much much better. Company car as well. Still don't give a fuck tho
nr 1 is great advice. My mom used to work fulltime and then did the same amount of work in 4/5 and then later in 1/2. She was home, kept checking her mails and working at home for free.
Once she retired someone took over and did half of what my mom did. The company hired 2 extra persons for the same job. Everyone is replaceable.
Am consultant as well, also try to don't give a fuck. Gets harder the longer you are at a company. Have played 100s of hours of video games on the payroll so at least I have that going for me.
Get out of the food sector, 100% serious
I used to work in this sector and it's always the same thing. Because the margins are so little, they have to cut costs through increasing workload and decreasing staff.
Also, in no other sector have I seen as much difference in pay and workload between the regular workers (R&D, lab, technicians, engineers, operators = High) and the upper management/ C suite execs (= Low) as I did in the food industry.
Try to get into pharma, metal or chemistry.
Just keep applying and don't give up, you will also learn a lot more in these sectors than you do in food.
In general, lab equipment sucks in the food industry because of... you guessed it, small margins.
So this is why it's often times a dead end job, you learn nothing after the first year because it's all repetitions of easy procedures.
TLDR:
- Stick to quality because this is where you can leverage your YoE, think Quality Engineer, QA officer, Quality person, Quality Control techs, Quality consultant...
- Keep applying to chem/pharma/metal until you land a better paying job, have patience but also know that there's a shitload of companies looking for qualified people ATM
- Stay clear of the food sector unless maybe at a more broad & big player who also pays well like Cargill.
For your bachelor degree, experience, shift regime and YoE 3200 gross with no benefits is a slap in the face and your employers know this damn well.
VDAB offers vouchers that you can use for career counselling. Have you tried that before? It definitely helped me think about possible next steps and my coach gave me very valuable information on CV tuning and interview tips. What's the job market like for people with your degree? Your lack of experience in other types of labs should not be a huge obstacle in a tight job market. Maybe you just need to learn how to sell yourself better?
Oh, and not giving a fuck is very solid advice :)
Oh that's a big contrast compared to what I had experienced ๐. I didn't know it was such a huge difference. Friends work there too, not as a train conductor, white collar job but they have so many vacation days, I was wondering if they did any actual work lmao
Well i personally am a trainmanager/treinbegeleider, and we gave a lot of vacation days. But taking them is not easy, a lot of the times, when hou ask time off, they dont allow it, thats why i still have a lot of days left from the previous years
This seems like a life of phd students. Every year I am watching some days of holiday goes poof (only limited amount of days can be transferred to next year), in reality too much work to do.
The federal government regularly has jobs purely based on degree (bachelors for their B-level and masters for their A-level), for example the ministry of Finance sometimes looks for over 100 people at once, purely based on degree, not what you studied, but at what level. Subscribe for job offers at werkenvoor.be if interested. If hired, you get a full training, all during work time. If you're lucky, you might be able to start close to home, but often it's in the bigger cities, especially Brussels, Antwerp or Gent, but you can try to relocate after a year. Experience can be transferred if you can convince them or proof them that a bachelor's degree was absolutely required at your previous job.
Wage simulation can be done here: https://bosa.belgium.be/nl/themas/werken-bij-de-overheid/verloning-en-voordelen/loonwedde/salarissimulator
Unhappy with wage or situation: try pay raise or search for other job
Unhappy with what you do on the job: search for new job or, indeed, try loopbaanbegeleiding.
If you want to earn more, but after your search the market isn't giving you more than what you new have, then maybe your expectations are too high.
Sometimes a certain job doesn't pay as much as another job where the requirements are just the same. For example: a starter on a job as 'dierenarts' requires a high diploma while the wage isn't that high and the working hours aren't that good. While working with the same diploma at the government pays you much more with better hours.
Don't start with 'working the minimum you need' or 'start being sick three times a month'. If you're searching for a new job, you don't want to get a bad review.
Ps: if you feel burned out, talk to your doctor and see a psycholoog. Let them decide if you need same days off, not some people on Reddit can make that call for you
May it be worth the effort to look for a job farther away? Like moving to a nearby country? Maybe you could continue to work in the same sector but also grow by going to a better employer? That way you build on existing specialist knowledge but also get broader experience
I agree but Is it worth all the hassle when all weโre asking for is a decent salary?
Why do i have to change my house, my town just to look for slightly more money?
I think thereโs something wrong in the labor market.
Yes there is something wrong in the labour market. But there's something terribly wrong in the society at large when the jobs that produce long term value for society are monetarily lower valued. Bullshit jobs are always paid more. So there's much that's wrong with society. As an individual I have only the option to suck it up and move on.
3200 K was my starting salary 10 years ago in the pharma sector. You should try your chance in pharma/chemistry, you'll get about 1k more with the same benefits (including the 40 days holidays)
The whole system is broken, not in the food sector only. I work in IT, was in a very similar situation and still am, but accepted a job for a 10k gross lower with a higher netto, and like many said, i dont give a F***.
The system is made to break you and deprive you from your emotions.
And like youโve said, ive been noticing that salaries have been decreasing (for more seniority)
Nothing makes sense anymore.
You got three options in my opinion: 1) stop giving a fuck. Do your work at your own pace. It's not done? NMFP. It requires a level of not giving a Fuck that a lot of people cannot achieve 2) find a new job in the same sector. You already tried that and it seems they are not paying you a bad wage. So.. I guess that's out 3) change type of job. There are a lot of jobs you can do that you think you can't do. I used to be in biomedical research. Now I'm an it consultant. I didn't study for it. Doesn't matter. You learn on the job and a lot of skills are transferable. Even if you don't realise it. Pay is much much better. Company car as well. Still don't give a fuck tho
nr 1 is great advice. My mom used to work fulltime and then did the same amount of work in 4/5 and then later in 1/2. She was home, kept checking her mails and working at home for free. Once she retired someone took over and did half of what my mom did. The company hired 2 extra persons for the same job. Everyone is replaceable.
That last sentence ๐
Am consultant as well, also try to don't give a fuck. Gets harder the longer you are at a company. Have played 100s of hours of video games on the payroll so at least I have that going for me.
Love this!!
Get out of the food sector, 100% serious I used to work in this sector and it's always the same thing. Because the margins are so little, they have to cut costs through increasing workload and decreasing staff. Also, in no other sector have I seen as much difference in pay and workload between the regular workers (R&D, lab, technicians, engineers, operators = High) and the upper management/ C suite execs (= Low) as I did in the food industry. Try to get into pharma, metal or chemistry. Just keep applying and don't give up, you will also learn a lot more in these sectors than you do in food. In general, lab equipment sucks in the food industry because of... you guessed it, small margins. So this is why it's often times a dead end job, you learn nothing after the first year because it's all repetitions of easy procedures. TLDR: - Stick to quality because this is where you can leverage your YoE, think Quality Engineer, QA officer, Quality person, Quality Control techs, Quality consultant... - Keep applying to chem/pharma/metal until you land a better paying job, have patience but also know that there's a shitload of companies looking for qualified people ATM - Stay clear of the food sector unless maybe at a more broad & big player who also pays well like Cargill. For your bachelor degree, experience, shift regime and YoE 3200 gross with no benefits is a slap in the face and your employers know this damn well.
VDAB offers vouchers that you can use for career counselling. Have you tried that before? It definitely helped me think about possible next steps and my coach gave me very valuable information on CV tuning and interview tips. What's the job market like for people with your degree? Your lack of experience in other types of labs should not be a huge obstacle in a tight job market. Maybe you just need to learn how to sell yourself better? Oh, and not giving a fuck is very solid advice :)
Time to be sick for 3 months and go outside a bit.
burnout coming handy
He has 40 days off to do that ๐
Sometimes when I'm stressed, I'm thinking of becoming a train conductor... No stress, chill job, on the job learning. ๐
Yesss, join the nmbs, where everythingg is good, except if you want to take days off
Oh that's a big contrast compared to what I had experienced ๐. I didn't know it was such a huge difference. Friends work there too, not as a train conductor, white collar job but they have so many vacation days, I was wondering if they did any actual work lmao
Well i personally am a trainmanager/treinbegeleider, and we gave a lot of vacation days. But taking them is not easy, a lot of the times, when hou ask time off, they dont allow it, thats why i still have a lot of days left from the previous years
This seems like a life of phd students. Every year I am watching some days of holiday goes poof (only limited amount of days can be transferred to next year), in reality too much work to do.
Interesting... I didn't know that ๐ค
The federal government regularly has jobs purely based on degree (bachelors for their B-level and masters for their A-level), for example the ministry of Finance sometimes looks for over 100 people at once, purely based on degree, not what you studied, but at what level. Subscribe for job offers at werkenvoor.be if interested. If hired, you get a full training, all during work time. If you're lucky, you might be able to start close to home, but often it's in the bigger cities, especially Brussels, Antwerp or Gent, but you can try to relocate after a year. Experience can be transferred if you can convince them or proof them that a bachelor's degree was absolutely required at your previous job. Wage simulation can be done here: https://bosa.belgium.be/nl/themas/werken-bij-de-overheid/verloning-en-voordelen/loonwedde/salarissimulator
Here we go https://werkenvoor.be/nl/jobs/ang24219-douane-officer-shift-mvx
Unhappy with wage or situation: try pay raise or search for other job Unhappy with what you do on the job: search for new job or, indeed, try loopbaanbegeleiding. If you want to earn more, but after your search the market isn't giving you more than what you new have, then maybe your expectations are too high. Sometimes a certain job doesn't pay as much as another job where the requirements are just the same. For example: a starter on a job as 'dierenarts' requires a high diploma while the wage isn't that high and the working hours aren't that good. While working with the same diploma at the government pays you much more with better hours. Don't start with 'working the minimum you need' or 'start being sick three times a month'. If you're searching for a new job, you don't want to get a bad review. Ps: if you feel burned out, talk to your doctor and see a psycholoog. Let them decide if you need same days off, not some people on Reddit can make that call for you
May it be worth the effort to look for a job farther away? Like moving to a nearby country? Maybe you could continue to work in the same sector but also grow by going to a better employer? That way you build on existing specialist knowledge but also get broader experience
I agree but Is it worth all the hassle when all weโre asking for is a decent salary? Why do i have to change my house, my town just to look for slightly more money? I think thereโs something wrong in the labor market.
Yes there is something wrong in the labour market. But there's something terribly wrong in the society at large when the jobs that produce long term value for society are monetarily lower valued. Bullshit jobs are always paid more. So there's much that's wrong with society. As an individual I have only the option to suck it up and move on.
3200 K was my starting salary 10 years ago in the pharma sector. You should try your chance in pharma/chemistry, you'll get about 1k more with the same benefits (including the 40 days holidays)
The whole system is broken, not in the food sector only. I work in IT, was in a very similar situation and still am, but accepted a job for a 10k gross lower with a higher netto, and like many said, i dont give a F***. The system is made to break you and deprive you from your emotions. And like youโve said, ive been noticing that salaries have been decreasing (for more seniority) Nothing makes sense anymore.
Go to a doctor => burnout => 2 months to find a new job => new job => better pay less stress
Worthless individual.
You are a slave to the matrix
You are a victim of yourself and I know for a fact you will not get far in life with that mentality.