walsworth
Journeyman
How do I get a job working on one of these commissions that spend six months to come to this conclusion? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11067028
Sticks and Stones
- Thread starter walsworth
- Start date
Incredible, isn't it?
I used to work with a lovely but dippy girl who had recently graduated with a degree in Sociology. She applied to work in Social Services and left us to manage a department there on a salary that would be worth about £28/30k now.
We were all flabbergasted at this rapid promotion as she was the joke (affectionately) of our department because she couldn't write a letter to save her life and was totally unable to drive herself home in the dark after an evening out.
When she left, we bought her an A-Z of Cheltenham and Gloucester.
She was a very clever and sweet person, but totally devoid of common sense. Her excuse for not being able to get herself home at night was that the roads all looked different in the dark.
I used to work with a lovely but dippy girl who had recently graduated with a degree in Sociology. She applied to work in Social Services and left us to manage a department there on a salary that would be worth about £28/30k now.
We were all flabbergasted at this rapid promotion as she was the joke (affectionately) of our department because she couldn't write a letter to save her life and was totally unable to drive herself home in the dark after an evening out.
When she left, we bought her an A-Z of Cheltenham and Gloucester.
She was a very clever and sweet person, but totally devoid of common sense. Her excuse for not being able to get herself home at night was that the roads all looked different in the dark.
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http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...emns-ken-aide-in-city-hall-funding-scandal.do
This is what they do....Hamm
One good thing about the cutbacks is that we will see the curtailing of these public sector non-jobs that grew disasterously under labour.
This is what they do....Hamm
One good thing about the cutbacks is that we will see the curtailing of these public sector non-jobs that grew disasterously under labour.
The NHS non-jobs lot have entrenched themselves firmly by creating a barrage of mandatory courses that we all have to attend. My boss is due for his MT in September and said that he would walk out and tell them to Foff if they tried to teach him how to wash his hands (he's a surgeon).
The problem is that the original 2 non-job people in the training sector have now mushroomed to 6, so they are all digging in. When a colleague and I pointed out that we have been very successfully handling people from all walks of life, in person and over the telephone, for the last ahem years without any training whatsoever, we were told that "you live and learn". To which we laughingly replied that as we were twice her age she had a bit of catching up to do. Didn't go down too well.
The problem is that the original 2 non-job people in the training sector have now mushroomed to 6, so they are all digging in. When a colleague and I pointed out that we have been very successfully handling people from all walks of life, in person and over the telephone, for the last ahem years without any training whatsoever, we were told that "you live and learn". To which we laughingly replied that as we were twice her age she had a bit of catching up to do. Didn't go down too well.
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Isinglass
At the Start
Lol! Doesn't it drive you mad? I kind of miss all this nonsense since giving up my corporate job. I worked at same firm for 22 years, whcih is quite long enough to drive anyone nuts. Every few years they would shell out some massive sum for advisors to come in and study us (like bugs in a jar) and made comments as to how to inmprove things. It would always be exactly what we had been mentioning to the boss for years .... but we never got paid to say those things!
Just before I left we got a new Human Resources Department who decreed that everyone must attend at least one course a year. There were no courses for me, they were all technical and I was a legal secretary/accounts officer/executive PA. I'd done this job for various people for so many years I could do it asleep. I was bored to bits. I really wanted to do something else, and fancied at least learning 'about' one of the roles my colleagues performed so i could know more about what the company did. No way - had to attend the same course year after year. Arghhhhhhh!
I did not work for a public sector, but it was quite close. It was a company which had originally been owned by the airlines, to provide telecomms network to themselves. It went public in 2000, but the same old methods remained. Very like a government position. In the end it worked for me though because after about 15 years of knocking myself out trying to effect change I realised all I realy needed to do was turn up and coast and I'd still get paid! And I got a decent redundancy when I left.
Just before I left we got a new Human Resources Department who decreed that everyone must attend at least one course a year. There were no courses for me, they were all technical and I was a legal secretary/accounts officer/executive PA. I'd done this job for various people for so many years I could do it asleep. I was bored to bits. I really wanted to do something else, and fancied at least learning 'about' one of the roles my colleagues performed so i could know more about what the company did. No way - had to attend the same course year after year. Arghhhhhhh!
I did not work for a public sector, but it was quite close. It was a company which had originally been owned by the airlines, to provide telecomms network to themselves. It went public in 2000, but the same old methods remained. Very like a government position. In the end it worked for me though because after about 15 years of knocking myself out trying to effect change I realised all I realy needed to do was turn up and coast and I'd still get paid! And I got a decent redundancy when I left.
My pal and I go along to our mandatory training session every year. We sit in the back row, eat biscuits and try not to heckle too much.
We are very good at inventing awkward questions because we know our jobs, departments and rest of hospital so well that we are able to run rings around some of the trainers. We are both highly experienced medical secretaries with years of experience outside the hospital environment as well, she in the private sector and myself in GP practices. They don't stand a chance!
We are very good at inventing awkward questions because we know our jobs, departments and rest of hospital so well that we are able to run rings around some of the trainers. We are both highly experienced medical secretaries with years of experience outside the hospital environment as well, she in the private sector and myself in GP practices. They don't stand a chance!
But I thought the first jobs to be curtailed by the new government are those of the auditors whose report you refer to?
davidjohnson
At the Start
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2007
- Messages
- 3,434
Isn't it one of the folks that the BHA need on Bank Holidays to prevent clashes. I'd do it for 60k.
Isinglass
At the Start
I'd do it for a lot less than that! 
Well, Eric Pickles recently announced the abolition of the Audit Commission, which has responsibility for the audit of local government
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-as-audit-commission-is-scrapped-2052310.html
One of the people in favour of this decision, interestingly enough, is none other than the above-mentioned Mr Livingstone.
http://www.politicshome.com/uk/arti...e_endorses_abolition_of_audit_commission.html
I think i recall that story now, but surely tehre has to be some accountability and surely allegatons of fraud (a/a Jasper and the missing £3.5 m) have to looked into?
Given that kens response to the questions about the lack of any details reagrding millions given to jasper's cronies was to scream RACIST, i think external audit may just be required
Nice work Grey. No wonder hes opposed
Given that kens response to the questions about the lack of any details reagrding millions given to jasper's cronies was to scream RACIST, i think external audit may just be required
Nice work Grey. No wonder hes opposed
When doing their job properly auditors can indeed get up all sorts of noses, whether of the Pickles or the Livingstone varieties, which is why I think they should not be left depending on their clients to commission and pay them.
It sounds like the Audit Commission was getting indisciplined about its own expenses, and if that is true then it needed to be tackled, but I don't think that abolishing it and farming the work out to private sector auditors is the right way to go. Commercial audit firms won't provide the same robust approach to audit of public expenditure that you get from the NAO and other public sector audit bodies.
It sounds like the Audit Commission was getting indisciplined about its own expenses, and if that is true then it needed to be tackled, but I don't think that abolishing it and farming the work out to private sector auditors is the right way to go. Commercial audit firms won't provide the same robust approach to audit of public expenditure that you get from the NAO and other public sector audit bodies.
it wasnt their role to question the sector as a whole. I am far from being a defender of auditors (my work precludes that for sure) and their relationships with clients, but the real issue was with the incompetent ratings agencies
And going through the town hall books (Jasper/livingstones stuff was so basic...) is a world away from assesing CDS's etc. It would be easy work for most commercial firms.
And going through the town hall books (Jasper/livingstones stuff was so basic...) is a world away from assesing CDS's etc. It would be easy work for most commercial firms.