My Community
General => The REST Room => Topic started by: harv on September 24, 2013, 06:19:15 PM
-
Can any of you do it..?
Was planning on teaching myself after years of using two or three fingers on each hand to improve my chances of getting a job when I'm well enough to get back to things but am seriously pissed off - my Dupuytren's Disease has fucked up two of my fingers on my right hand so I can't use them. They won't physically go where they're supposed to. >:(
Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens after I have them operated on when they get bad enough to warrant the op during the next few years. Was going great with the alphabet keys, got up to an average of 16 words per minute with 99% accuracy but if I have to type a , . ? Shift or any of the shifted symbols on those keys I'm fucking screwed >:( :'(
So can you touch type, if so how fast are you with 100% accuracy..?
-
how's the job hunting going? Sounds like you could be a right good secretary
-
At 16 wpm.. I don't think he will be getting many job offers.. that's considered very slow ;D
I actually have a GCSE in Keyboarding believe it or not (which was a glorified secretary course). To be honest, I only took it because it was easy, I got to work with computers and there were a few hot lasses taking it too. Turns out I was a natural.. got the highest mark in the school and finished the exam 25 minutes before anyone else!
Haven't done a typing test for a few years now.. but just used this site - http://www.typingtest.com/index1.html doing Aesop Fables for 1 minute and my score came out at 88wpm with 100% accuracy on the first go... which is actually slow for me.. I've hit over 100wpm before.. the problem with that test is that they only use 1 space after a full-stop and using 2 counts as an error.
-
Have never had lessons (in typing or in anything computer related), but gradually started using more fingers as I typed on forums etc. over the years - now use all fingers, and in the correct resting position. Surprised myself when, about 2 years ago, I carried on typing when a workmate came into my room and I was looking at him. Fuck me, I can touch type - when did that happen?!
I'm definitely not the fastest, though!
Have just done the test Kieron posted, and I got 50wpm with 2 errors (96% accurate) so adjusted to 48wpm.
-
Well considering that's the first time I've done it I don't reckon that's too bad. Had problems with the c, v, b, n and m keys though lol. ;D
Such a fucking pain that I can't continue though, if my right hand wasn't fucked it wouldn't take me long to get that speed respectable. :'(
-
I don't think he will be getting many job offers.. that's considered very slow ;D
doubt it's the first time he's lost out on a job for being considered "very slow"
-
Actually with my experience and qualifications I don't have much of a problem getting interviews and getting jobs from interviews. ;)
-
Well, considering I've never had a typing lesson and pretty much only use 2 fingers on each hand, I was reasonably happy with my result of 42 words per minute (adjusted because of 3 errors).
Not sure you'd consider it touch typing because of the two fingers on each hand (pkus thumb for the space bar) and the fact I get slowed down by taking a fair few looks at the keyboard (mostly for things like finding punctuation marks ).
Having a preference for the ergonomic keyboards helps as I now use two fingers on each hand as opposed to one finger on each hand lol.
-
good post drags but deduction made for spelling "plus" wrongly.
Delighted to hear you get plenty of job interviews harvey, you'll need them once the new work shy rules come in ;)
Can't wait for all you tax dodgers to start making a contribution to society instead of sitting with your hand out and complaining about the amount you get.
The new rules haven't gone far enough if you ask me. I would withdraw any monetary contributions at all and issue food, electric and gas vouchers. I'd also house everyone in a commune, shared bathrooms and one bedroom only. It'd be a bit like a shitty hotel. Once people are motivated to improve their lot it's amazing what they are capable of. The majority of Jeremy Kyle show types are earning so much from the govt that it doesn't make sense for them to go out and put in an 8 hour shift.
-
Yup, like I've said before on here I welcome the changes made with regards to benefits, particularly ESA. Since they started to tighten things up with regards to ESA I've seen less Eastern Europeans walking around with crutches they plainly don't need.
My mate that was working for Sony was made redundant and is now working for Microsoft so when I'm able to get back to things again I'll be working there. I'm also considering working for a developer rather than a publisher because it will be easier for me to branch into games design from QA. Once you're working for a publisher in QA you're pretty much stuck with two career paths - QA management or production.
I find it very annoying that these days you need a design degree to get into games design, years ago you could get by with good ideas/imagination and experience playing games so that you know what works and what doesn't in terms of gameplay...and the final product has got worse as a result imo.
-
how long you been claiming benefits? Must be close to ten years now
-
Nowhere near. 5 years unfortunately. :(
-
Your Draconian measures could never be implemented these days Stylesy; the world's human rights mad now!
Just tried Jman's link. Got 72 WPM with 100% accuracy. Pretty average, I guess.
-
good post drags but deduction made for spelling "plus" wrongly.
:P
Just tried Jman's link. Got 72 WPM with 100% accuracy. Pretty average, I guess.
You're really a girl aren't you! Does your boss get you to sit on his knee.
On the subject of benefits. While I'm very much right wing on some things, such as punishing criminals (though I don't think many of the right wing would go as far as me), I'm fairly liberal on some things.
The benefits issue is a strange one. There are those who deserve and need help, the trouble is, the system by and large punishes those and castigates them, while the real shirkers keep knocking out kids and claiming oodles in benefits.
It's also the case that the Government are very quick to criticise the British claimants, many of whom for no fault of their own are out of work (and in many cases the fault is down to the government itself), they never criticise the amount of bogus asylum seekers/economic migrants, who because of EU laws and the human rights act, take the piss out of this country having never contributed.
I'm not against the idea of getting people to work for benefits either, but not a 30 or 35 hour week just for their jobseekers allowance. If you're doing a weeks work, you should be paid the national minimum wage at least and the employers should be contributing.
Absolutely no way should the tax payer be paying for people to work for private companies, such as those being forced to stack shelves in supermarkets, helping those private companies increase their profits and see rich shareholders get richer. They aren't going to create real jobs all the while they have a steady stream of free labour.
I'm also against using them as cheap labour to replace people who have been laid off of local government jobs. It's just wrong and is not helping the unemployment issue.
THe first thing they need to sort out is the job centre system itself. No government mentions it, none of them reform it, but it is the first thing they should be doing in trying to get people back to work. At present the system actually works against those seeking work and the job centre staff target those who do want jobs with threats and forcing them to apply for completely inappropriate jobs. They have no HR experience and, as a consequence very few employers have any faith in job centres. It's why there are very few quality jobs listed on their system.
Half the problem of the "easier to find a job if you're in work" attitude is because employers see unemployed sent to them by the job centre as being there because they have to be. It's absolutely pointless sending someone to apply for a job they have no experience of, especially where they don;t have the essential criteria asked for in a vancancy notice, but the job centre do so constantly. They'd be better running like an employment agency and targeting people to suitable jobs.
That way they'd gain more faith with employers, attract more jobs (and better quality ones) to be advertised on their system and be better able to weed out the real shirkers.
-
Yup, well said drags. I haven't been in a Job Center for a good few years but whenever I've been unemployed they've NEVER been instrumental in my finding a job. I always go through agencies and get plenty of interviews and opportunities that way. And I was almost always the only white English person in there, including the staff. I've also found that being a white Englishman has gotten me more than my fair share of grief from black Africans working there for some reason. But of course black people can't be racist... :(
Unfortunately people that are working for their local councils that do a decent job aren't there for long, every now and then you getpsomeone that's willing to bend over backwards to help you out but then I guess they get better offers from elsewhere and then are inevitably replaced by someone who goes out of their way to make things difficult for you. >:(
-
You're really a girl aren't you! Does your boss get you to sit on his knee.
I'd sit on your knee anytime. <3
-
:o
Erm, well, ah, no you're all right. Wouldn't want to deprive you boss now would I.
Besides which, you might rethink that if you saw me lol.
;D
-
Well I reckon that you're all making up these results or typing with two or three fingers and cheating lol ;D
Am seeing my doctor tomorrow so will get her to have a look at my Dupuytren's, don't think I'm too far away from having surgery as an option. Don't want to leave it too late like my Dad did because the only surgery that he got offered wasn't correctional - they basically said they wanted to amputate 6 of his fingers :o
He can only use his thumb and pointy finger on each hand and the other three are curled up into his palms and are VERY painful. :(
-
Whoops! Turns out my appointment wasn't today it's tomorrow :-[ :-[ :-[
That's one of the side effects of my depression, I tend to get my dates mixed up :-[
-
Don't get your dates mixed up, they get very upset when you call them by the wrong name.
-
Whoops! I tend to get my dates mixed up :-[
So, that's why I received my Christmas Card, on March 25th... :) ;)
-
Lol ;D ;D ;D
Here's a bit of trivia. If you leave predictive text on by mistake and try and type the first L in Lol it says 'Kill' :o
-
Yup, well said drags. I haven't been in a Job Center for a good few years but whenever I've been unemployed they've NEVER been instrumental in my finding a job. I always go through agencies and get plenty of interviews and opportunities that way. And I was almost always the only white English person in there, including the staff. I've also found that being a white Englishman has gotten me more than my fair share of grief from black Africans working there for some reason. But of course black people can't be racist... :(
Unfortunately people that are working for their local councils that do a decent job aren't there for long, every now and then you getpsomeone that's willing to bend over backwards to help you out but then I guess they get better offers from elsewhere and then are inevitably replaced by someone who goes out of their way to make things difficult for you. >:(
I got a job through a job centre once.. it was a shit manual labour job, but it was a job I snapped up, because being unemployed for 13 weeks was more than enough for me.. If your going to a job centre and are going to be picky about the job you choose, then they wont be instrumental in finding you a job.. if there is any fault to be blamed there, it isn't with the job centre I'm afraid.
You always said you could easily stroll into a job with Sony with help from your mate... the fact he got made redundant makes me think he has absolutely zero power in getting anyone a job, he couldn't even save his own one lol.
-
I got a job through a job centre once.. it was a shit manual labour job, but it was a job I snapped up, because being unemployed for 13 weeks was more than enough for me.. If your going to a job centre and are going to be picky about the job you choose, then they wont be instrumental in finding you a job.. if there is any fault to be blamed there, it isn't with the job centre I'm afraid.
That's not what I'm talking about JMAN. Their staff tell you to apply for jobs that you won't get. Such as when they say "here apply for this job" and I say "I don't have the essential criteria/experience for that job". They say "apply for it anyway". I say "the application will be sifted out straight away". This is a real example. Speak to many HR departments who are inundated with applications. They have a hard enough time weeding out those who are bullshitting on their apps, so any who clearly don't have the essential criteria will be chucked out in the first tranche.
Many employers get fed up with the job centre getting candidates to apply for jobs who are clearly not right for the post. That is a fact. I have spoken to a fair few employers about it. Many departments where I work now don't like having anything to do with the job centre because of it. On numerous occasions they have taken people on who are a waste of space and clearly only there to enable them to continue the farce of pretending to be looking for a job and being willing to work. It is why very few employers advertise quality jobs with the job centre, despite the fact it would be cheaper than using an agency or advertising elsewhere. They get enough applications to sift through without the job centre wasting their time.
The system makes it worse for people who are unemployed because a fair few employers think that if people are sent by the job centre they are applying because they have to, not because they want to.
That is not what employers want. They know full well that someone overqualified is likely to be looking to move on to a better/better paid job as soon as they can.
The job centre/Department of Works and Pensions are the same and total hypocrites about it. I got a job I found at the job centre as I was willing to take any job while I was looking for something better. It was with the Department of Works and Pensions (if they hadn't given it to me, next time they started moaning I'd have said "well if you didn't want to employ me, why should anyone else"). It was shit money. Less than national minimum wage for my age as it turned out when, after I'd left, they sent me a grovelling letter of apology (marvellous the DWP breaking the law like that eh!). Not surprisingly it wasn't my intention to stay there (apart from the fact it was a shit job and totally soul destroying).
So I was already applying for other jobs. Second day there I got offered an interview for a job which paid three times as much for 4 days a week. Asked for time off for an interview and the manager said "if you're going to look for other jobs, you can either leave or we'll sack you". I basically told her she could poke her job then and proceded to tell her what a complete and utter bunch of hypocritical morons they are. If she'd been a bloke I'd have probably punched her. Did she really think that, with 2 degrees and a load of other qualifications I was really going to stay there on less than minimum wage for any period of time just because I fed them the bullshit they wanted to hear at an interview. That is what most other employers don't want to happen.
They are happy to foist people onto other employers, just to improve their stats. Don't like it when it happens to them. The system iteself is poor. It doesn't help the unemployed who genuinely want to work and is actuallly counter-productive for many.
While I was unemployed, I was doing voluntary work. They threatened to stop jobseekers allowance because of it (probably because the Government weren't getting kick backs from Supermarket bosses for free shelf stackers). Yet the reference I got from that voluntary work got me a job because it was relevant to what I wanted to do.
The system is failing and clearly needs a major review and revamp.
They'd be better off getting properly trainined staff, with an understanding of HR, and an understanding and empathy with what employers are looking for. If they did that, they'd get better quality jobs advertised with them, gain faith from more employers, be better at matching people with jobs and, very importantly, it would make it easier to weed out and deal with those who really don't want to work.
-
Job centres are a waste of space, the motivation of your average attendee to get up every friday morning is to collect their dole money and sod off with it.
I totally appreciate there are plenty of people out there who genuinely want to work, yet can't get employment for one reason or another, but I also believe that people are way too picky, and use the cushion of jobseekers as a convenience to holding back and waiting for something better to pop up.
I also believe Job centres encourage laziness, and take away the willpower from people to find work...You need to make people more pro-active and independant, in order to make them realise that they can't have others throwing CV's around for them for the rest of their life...Have sessions where people learn about the fundamentals of CV writing and interview technique...The approach of throwing it at a wall and seeing what sticks stinks of desperation and lacks direction.
When I came out of University, I barely had people even respond to my CV, let alone offer me an interview, despite the fact I have done numerous placements at Uni and varying degrees of voluntary work. Employers want solid working experience and a track record of good results...I spent about 5/6 months chucking my CV around and getting nothing in return, but I eventually decided to just go for anything...It didn't matter what is was, but I eventually got a bite, and even though it was a pretty basic admin job with a slight element of sales/customer meeting and greeting, it was experience I felt I needed, and when I decided to move on, I applied to jobs that I then felt matched my new found experience and skill set, and got a job with 3 weeks, along with 5 interviews during that same time period...I even had the luxury of being able to make a choice and turn down an offer.
The point is, I did it all for the sake of experience, and when I stopped being picky I found results...It wasn't ideal and it was quite a boring job with shite pay (Minimum wage at the time of about £6.30 and no bonuses), but it made me realise you have to take a step back before you take one forward sometimes, and now I'm doing something I enjoy which pays well (£7.50 an hour and average commission of around £350-500 per month), allows me to work with a great team and looks good on a CV, and all I really had to mine name originally wasn't too much more than most unemployed people who are still on the market.
Oppurtunities are what you make of them...They don't just fall of your doorstep...Get out the job centre and grasp the initiative...When I wasn't working I would literally wake up, get on the computer, apply for jobs and read articles on how to improve your CV and brush up on interview techniques, go to bed, and then start again the next day...There's no drive with job centres, because people are reliant on others to do things for them and just fob off the jobs that don't suit them.
It's not about lack of opportunities at all...A good mate of mine, his first ever job straight out of school was door to door selling...Really tough job, would come home from 10 hour days making next to fuck all on some occassions, but he had the will to work and drive to better himself, and he's now an assistant manager at a 3 store in Birmingham earning almost 2k after tax, because he worked his bollocks off doing shit jobs instead of deciding he couldn't be arsed and ending up back in the job centre next monday.
-
Back on the subject of typing.. I made the most expensive typo last night... booked a few flights for next year.. but on one of the flights (I was doing it in a hurry I must add) I spelt my girlfriends last name incorrectly... cost me £25 to fucking change... >:(
-
Bit late with the advice Jman but a similar error happened with me when i made an error booking a flight. Because I phoned them straight away they could see it was a genuine mistake and changed it for free.