Home Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Job situation...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hello all, I have a current work issue and no idea what to do.
I'm currently employed in one of the 'big 4' supermarkets, will be on the managemanet scheme in March and signed off August'ish.
I have the opportunity to become a pcso in March which is a 1st step to something i have always wanted to do, Traffic Police.
The issue is this, as most of you are probably aware, police forces are currently going through funding issues, of which, pcso's are getting most of the brunt of this, I am not sure whether to leave my current job, which is secure, to do a job which I dont know will still be around in 2012.
I'm not after an answer, just some possible advice of what some of you may do in this situation.

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hmm well, if you go for the psco job and worst comes to worst, so you know how easy or likely it will be to go back to the supermarket job?

    Or better yet, is there anyway you can take the psco and still do the managment scheme til august? That way, you have that under your belt if you ever need it
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thats 1 of the other problems, I have already returned once so I dont think that would be a valid option, even if they did let me back it would be as a general assisstant on standard pay, so a significant pay cut.
    I think the only reason I would probably stay is so I can add it to my c.v and then if I ever needed to return to retail, management would be the minimum place I would start.
    It would be great if I could not start until August but the intake is end of March, although it might be worth me asking the on the off chance anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you wanna do it, go for it... Police get quite good salaries. You could save up and make a buffer for yourself, in case you do get laid off (worst case scenario, you're unemployed, but have money to retrain in say.... security or something).

    Maybe in 2012, there will redundancies... But there will be over several departments. Nobody's entirely safe as it is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hi lil ben :wave:

    That does sound like a really difficult decision that you have to make. Namaste and Lexi99 have both raised some good points and made it clear that whatever decision you take will involve some kind of risk. If you stay at the supermarket the risk that you miss the opportunity to do something you really want to, and if you go the risk of not having job security. Risks are big scary things that we often find can cloud our judgement, so hopefully we can help you get some clarity.

    The other thing about risks is that we can mitigate them, to make them as minimal as possible. Have you considered talking about the police force that's recruiting PCSOs to ask about how secure the job would be? Finding out how secure or not they can say the job is might make your decision easier by making it less of an unknown.

    The other thing you might want to think about is by when you would have to make a decision. I don't know if you're just applying to be a PCSO or if you've done that and been offered it, but you could think about how long the application process will take if you're yet to go through it, how much notice you'd have to give to the supermarket if you want to leave and when you'd have to decide whether or not to accept a PCSO decision. It's a small thing, but working out how much time you have to make a decision can make it less daunting. And if you may find that things just become clearer of their own accord over time.

    Hope that helps,
    Will.
Sign In or Register to comment.