6th March 2005, 01:42 PM
I wouldn't wish to put anyone down, even non-specific engineers! (Sorry).
I haven't personally been in exactly the same position but a former colleague was. She was an architect and was made redundant, and went along to jump through all the required hoops. She had to go to a group like Alocoholics Anonymous, and stand up and say "Hi I'm E*****, I am an architect" and all the rest of the demeaning charade. An earnest 20 something interviewed her weekly, asking what she had done about seeking work. She )the interviewer) couldn't understand that architects don't seek work in the same manner as(say) fork truck drivers. This was in the early 90's when there were no jobs for architects about.
On the other foot, so to speak, when our firm (architects) wanted work from certain local authorities, we had to compete endless politically correct forms to explain and justift who we employed and how we employed them. At first we could not get on one council's list because we could not demonstrate that the first place we looked for staff was the Job Centre.
The problem is our still class ridden society where the system is set up for the unemployed "working class".
I haven't personally been in exactly the same position but a former colleague was. She was an architect and was made redundant, and went along to jump through all the required hoops. She had to go to a group like Alocoholics Anonymous, and stand up and say "Hi I'm E*****, I am an architect" and all the rest of the demeaning charade. An earnest 20 something interviewed her weekly, asking what she had done about seeking work. She )the interviewer) couldn't understand that architects don't seek work in the same manner as(say) fork truck drivers. This was in the early 90's when there were no jobs for architects about.
On the other foot, so to speak, when our firm (architects) wanted work from certain local authorities, we had to compete endless politically correct forms to explain and justift who we employed and how we employed them. At first we could not get on one council's list because we could not demonstrate that the first place we looked for staff was the Job Centre.
The problem is our still class ridden society where the system is set up for the unemployed "working class".