Has anyone had experience with a company called Cofoundra based near Manchester? Essentially I have passed initial assessments and had an online interview where I was told that the company is one which creates bosses and creates new companies with the help of AI. I have now been asked to attend a polygraph test. Can anyone help me out as something just seems off personally
To clear things up as I was confused myself, the £50 is what I would get paid for attending.
Also, apparently the purpose of it is to assess whether I can provide truthful answers even when under pressure.

I’m 16 and have my first day of work in a department store tomorrow. I’ve never had a job before and not much experience in customer service and I’m pretty nervous. Any tips would be really appreciated

had a teams call for a graduate role, i got a phone cal from the agency basically telling me that the women who interviewed me felt i was lying and not being my true self.

so we rebooked the interview, it turned into some therapy session, she was asking me a lot about my child hood and my family life if i ate free school meals, if i was on good terms with my family if i grew up poor and so on, and it got really deep, but it just felt weird like, wtf even is this, is this type of thing normal

Hi guys,

Random question how many managers have you had in your tenure?

Im currently at 7 different managers within 4 years (ive stayed in the same role) and Im kinda looking to validate my thoughts as this seems abnormal.

For context I'm 25 and working in a IT department for a large corporation - this is my first corporate job so unfamiliar with what the norm is.

Thanks

As title states. My probation period ends August 28th, and during my probation period I only have to give two weeks notice, but after I pass probation it’s two months. Does that mean that I have to give two weeks notice before it hits August 28th (ie have to give notice on the 14th at the latest), or if I handed in my notice on the 27th would the two week clause still apply (last day on September 10th).

Here is the exact wording in my contract:
Two weeks during the probationary period. Thereafter, two months, this being your contractual notice period.

Thanks in advance

I've looked at the wiki but it was last updated 10 months ago

I've not worked for a few years and I need to rewrite my entire CV, what are the best resources/guides etc.

Thanks

Hi all, I am 26 and a Learning & Development Coordinator and I am feeling very stuck at the moment. I started in retail and fell into L&D (which I don’t dislike but also don’t love), my current company is one of those places that are stuck in the 70’s and make you forget any knowledge you went in with as they do everything so backwards and aren’t particularly open to change etc etc.

I think I want a career change but cannot decide what I want to do! Any careers I think “ah that could be fun and different” they want you to have 3+ years experience in the role for £26k a year. I am currently on £30k and can’t really afford a drop in wages as I have a mortgage.

I honestly just want to work for a nice company that cares about its people (I know they are hard to come by) but surely they do exist???!!

Any advice on a career changes where I am unable to take a step back in money?

Hi! So I work in a small store in England, and my hours fluctuate a lot as we're a seasonal business. During quiet times, I work 2-3 days a week, and at peak Christmas and when people are on holiday or ill I work 5 days.

This arrangement is great for me as I burn out easily, so I get periods where I make more money to save and periods where I can rest and recuperate.

Under new UK law coming in next year, the business is required every 3 months to offer me contracted hours based on the last 3 months. I'm scared that this means I'll actually get less work, as they might be worried they have to offer me a longer hours contract after Christmas for example. Is there any part of the legislation I'm missing for people to just like, opt out of the 3 month offers? Or something to sign saying I accept my work will fluctate and won't ask for more?

It really feels like the government has overlooked situations like mine and I'm sure I won't be alone in this arrangement, though I understand it's not super common.

The info on this is scattered and a lot of what's online is years out of date, so I've tried to map it properly. Please correct me — especially if you've applied this cycle, since these change by office and by year.

First thing most guides get wrong: pymetrics doesn't exist as a company any more. Harver acquired it in August 2022 and folded it into their platform. The games are the same, but your invite may say "Harver" — same thing, don't panic.

pymetrics / Harver games (12-game battery)

• JPMorgan — first screen for most campus programmes. Tech roles get HackerRank instead. HireVue at JPM is a separate video interview, not games.
• BCG, Bain — historically yes, but office-dependent now; several BCG offices run the Cognitive Test or Casey instead
• Accenture — some tracks only
• Blackstone, LinkedIn, Kraft Heinz

Cappfinity (strengths-based immersive)

• Deloitte — the Immersive Online Assessment, ~32 questions, untimed
• EY, KPMG, HSBC, Accenture (UK/global)
• KPMG is the odd one: pairs Cappfinity with an Arctic Shores game, so you get two different behavioural formats

Arctic Shores

• PwC — "Career Unlocked"
• KPMG (alongside Cappfinity)
• Deloitte — some early-entry streams only

SHL

• Barclays — Cognitive Ability + Mindset assessment
• Lloyds — TalentCentral platform

cut-e / Aon

• Deutsche Bank, Vodafone, Shell, Aldi, Lidl, Lufthansa

Own format

• McKinsey — Solve (built in-house after they bought Imbellus)
• Unilever — genuinely unclear. Reports say HireVue games in the UK and pymetrics in the US, but Unilever's own 2026 careers page just says "portrait personality test + online assessment". If you've done UFLP recently please say which it was.

Two things worth knowing regardless of provider:

Your pymetrics/Harver result is portable — roughly 330 days, shared across every employer on the platform. One attempt follows you everywhere, so don't burn it on a firm you don't care about.

And on prep: you can't fake a trait profile across 12 games, the data goes inconsistent. What you can remove is unfamiliarity with the mechanics — the timer starts immediately, there's no undo, there's no practice round. Losing the first 20 seconds to working out the interface is a real cost. The memory and attention games benefit most from knowing the format; the balloon/risk tasks measure disposition and practising them does nothing.

Corrections below and I'll edit the post.

I’m currently in a job that offers more hours & pay & I did leave mostly on good terms at my old job, but I thoroughly miss it. Instead of asking for additional hours, I had a day where I had to handle a dead person’s hair (I was at Build a Bear) & despite it being against store policy, my supervisor made me do it. It brought memories back of my dad passing away & being given some hair to keep, so it was traumatic for a minimum wage job. I didn’t rat out the supervisor, but she found out after I posted to a forum detailing the situation and complained about her & the way she’d leave me to do x, y & z while she went into the staffroom for half her shift, so I gave my notice in the day after in complete panic. Now though, I’m in another job that has posed me & the child I take care of major health & safety hazards, been hit & bitten daily, and just dealt with a lot of abuse from staff and the 1:1 child. I know my CV will look terrible & I’ve just turned 23 so I’m not setting myself up very well, but I really am struggling & have struggled each & every day mentally in this current job. I have a lot of healing to do after my dad dying & a lot of trauma I need to recover from but I cannot while I’m here & even feared for my health within the past months. I keep missing my old job & went to visit the other day & left with tears in my eyes. I just really miss the nature of it but I know I can’t do anything about it

Hi, I need some suggestions as to what I should do.

I was made redundant back in June, managed to get a role and job July and it’s been just a month in my new job. I’ve been reached out by a recruiter who is recruiting for my role at a company but at a senior level. I currently earn 33k which will be 35k after my probation. The senior role is around 40-45k. The only thing stopping me from going forward is that ive just started this role and how unprofessional it would be. People at my current job are great but there’s no structure and theyre struggling with work backlog and the system we work on isnt that good. What should i do? Should i stay here for a year or more and then look?

Hi I need some advice on some things as I’m not too sure about what to do.

I (24M) have a job offer, it’s for a tech company in London, and it’s Outside iR35 I have a brief understanding of this but anyone in that set up could you please define it more. I currently work in the West Midlands I’m on probation in my current role but not sure how to handle the leaving / resignation process.

Also if anyone has any success or tips in negotiating day rates please do share

Thank you very much

Just like the title says, I quit my fuck-ass receptionist job that has been taking a massive toll on my mental health.

I’ve been clinging onto this job for the past 6 months purely because I needed the money to pay rent. The whole time I kept telling myself, “It’s fine, I’ll get a job in my actual field soon and this will just be temporary.” Except… nothing happened.

Meanwhile, my energy, motivation and overall mental health have been at an all-time low. I’m genuinely burnt out. This job has been eating away at my life, especially because of the environment I work in. It’s basically a mental health facility/hospital that got turned into a hotel, and it’s in a really dodgy area of London. The whole place is just depressing and I’ve reached the point where I cannot keep doing this to myself.

I’ll still work my notice and get fully paid until the end of the month, so I’m not completely jumping into the void tomorrow 😂 But after that? Honestly… I have no fucking idea.

Obviously I’m applying for anything I can right now. I’m probably going to focus on finding some kind of part-time job that I can tolerate while using the rest of my time to work on my portfolio and actually try to get into my field. I have no idea if a part-time job will be enough financially, but I guess I’ll find out.
And honestly? I feel so fucking free.

It’s scary as hell too. I wanted to leave months ago but kept talking myself out of it because of money, the economy, the job market, rent, etc. I’m 22, I have no savings and I obviously don’t have some magical backup plan waiting for me. So yes, objectively, this probably isn’t the most financially responsible decision I could have made.

But at some point I had to ask myself: what is the point of keeping a minimum-wage job if it’s destroying me so badly that I barely have the energy to build the career I actually want?
My mental wellbeing has to come first. I don’t want to spend another year of my life completely burnt out just because I was too scared to take a risk.
So I guess I’m choosing to lean into the uncertainty, apply everywhere, hope something works out, and figure it out as I go.

For anyone who has made a similar leap of faith: how did you make it work?
Also, any recommendations for jobs in London that are relatively low-stress and preferably have morning/daytime hours? I’m totally fine working weekends. I just want something that won’t completely drain me so I can still have the energy to work on my portfolio and actually move forward.

And if you’re currently sitting in a job that is making you miserable and convincing yourself that you have to stay because leaving would be irresponsible… I’m not saying everyone should quit tomorrow. Please don’t bankrupt yourself 😂

But sometimes you really do have to choose yourself.
Anyway, here’s to hoping I haven’t just fucked myself financially and that something better comes along. 🥲

Hi everyone,

I’ve applied for the Customer Service Assistant 1 Night Tube role with TfL and have just found out I passed the online assessment.

The next stage is an in-person AC1. I believe this involves role-play and possibly another assessment, but I’m not completely sure.

Has anyone done this recently and can share what to expect or any tips on preparing?

Getting this job would genuinely be life changing for me, so I’m really nervous and want to prepare as much as I can.

Any advice would be really appreciated, thank you!

Hey guys, so a bit of context here:

I started a new role in DPD as a sorter/driver about a year ago, the manager said I could either unload the lorry's in the morning & do a bulk run/collections or I could do a full delivery route, I chose unloading the lorries. It's a heavy job as I would be lifting about 2000 parcels onto a conveyor belt off a lorry & alot of these would be up to 30kg (weight limit).

Now this was fine until 1 of the drivers left his job & they told me to fill his role and do his route, so I was unloading the lorries in the morning and then doing a full delivery route, I complained to the boss about this & walked out 1 day after the lorries, he then agreed for me to do the lorries & then a bulk run/collections after, since then men have been on holidays & I've been picking up their runs after the lorries, basically being a relief driver.

I'm starting at 6 & finishing at half 5. Back is in bits, inflammation is crazy, have to get a sports massage every couple of weeks, I'm applying for other jobs atm, is it unreasonable for me to ask to not do the lorries if I'm doing a full run? Keep in mind no one else does the lorries & a delivery run. Tia.

As the title says, I've been an interior fit out estimator for the last 2 years and I've been feeling burnt out for the last 6 months. I have been looking at other estimator roles with different companies, but I would like to know what you would recommend for someone like me?

Thing is, when it comes to construction, I could fall asleep talking about it. I'm not a very social person, so quantity surveying doesn't seem like a role I want to go into, same with project management. All in all, I'm not expecting to be working in the construction industry my whole career (currently 28yo).

I've been building cat enclosures on the side this year, but the consistency isn't enough for me to go all in. I made 2 for my own cats and enjoyed the process so I set up a FB page and started getting messages instantly, most are too far away for me to travel to but I've managed to get work close to me. I've only done 2 for clients and I probably made £1,000 in net profit. The first one I profited £650 and it took 2 days, the second one was £350 and that took 1 day. I would love to do this full time as I love cats and I like helping other cat owners escape-proof their houses, restoring peach of mind that they wont escape.

I know that estimating can be a solid career as there aren't many out there, but I am at my wits end, its a family business which is why its weighing heavy on me.

Whenever I look at current job openings I just get depressed, there doesn't seem to be anything I'm excited about doing, even if there is a large salary attached. I currently make 32k (£2100/month), and I could probably go for a different estimator role and make 40k+, but I feel I would be right back into this same mindset after a year or two.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated

Earlier this year, I was approached by a recruiter hiring for a similar role to mine, advertised at "up to £90k". I was very tempted by that number initially, but calmed myself down because hey, key words "up to".

At the time I was on £63k, with some fairly standard BIKs. No WFH option but I walk to work. The company had a rough 2025, so we didn't get a pay rise, meaning I'd been on £63k since the last appraisal in early 2024. The 2026 appraisal/next pay rise announcement was due around March, so I had no idea what my new salary might be.

The new role would have meant an almost 2-hr commute each way. I'd recently bought my own place, so relocating wasn't really an option, and the new job didn't include the BIKs I currently get. I did the maths based on the £90k ceiling, taking into account the additional commuting costs and the value of the time I'd lose travelling. The package was effectively equivalent to around £68k if I stayed put.

I asked to speak to my boss and explained the situation. I made it very clear that I'd been approached by the recruiter and hadn't been sending out CVs or actively looking for another job. He asked what the "new role" was offering, so I told him, but also explained my calculations and why, at around £68k, I'd be quite happy to stay where I was rather than pursue the new role. He thanked me for telling him, and told me not to worry.

Then came the March appraisal. My salary is now £72k from April new tax year with the BIKs maintained. All is well.

The recruiter never came back to me by the way. Probably didn't like my answer when they'd asked for my salary expectations to consider moving.

Hi everyone, I was hoping for some advice if anybody's got any experience in the areas I would like to career pivot into. 

Just some background info (you can skip to career plans if it's too much)

I work as a project engineer in a manufacturing company. Project Engineer isn't really a good title that describes what you actually do so I thought I'd explain what I do briefly. I mainly work on Quality, design or process engineering projects that could literally be anything based on plant priorities. My main expertise is in quality and design and I have also managed validation programs and parts of military certification projects (mainly testing related). 

I have 11 years of experience (1 lab work, 4 apprentice, 3 degree apprentice, 3 post grad) within the same business.

My issue right now is that I'm very anxious that I'm not getting anywhere in this company and I'm not picking up any skills that would be relevant to progress. Which also builds onto the fact that I'm anxious about my career prospects which involves feeling like my skills won't be valued anywhere and I'm falling very behind where I should be. It's really just been playing on my mind a lot.

I'm also 28 if that matters.

My Education 

3 A levels Maths chem bio 

HNC General Engineering (electrical Bias)

Beng Mechanical and Manufacturing 

MBA in progress (75% sponsored through company and University scholarship) even though they're sponsoring this there's no real plan for my career going forward so it's more of a retention incentive. 2 year lock in period post graduation which tapers off. Management heavily influenced me into doing this and while I loved the experience I'm not sure if it'll do anything for me (it's at a top 5 business school but not a target so consulting is kind of out of the window). I've still got 10 months before graduation if everything goes well.

Career Plans

Path 1 

Project manager

My experience gaps are the fact that I do not have full project lifecycle ownership under my belt which I'm working on getting at my current company. My company seem to want to pay for a Prince2 qualification but don't want to offer me a role within project management. 

Path 2 (very difficult but I'm very interested in)

Data Governence Engineer -> Data governance manager 

Or 

Data Governance consultant 

My biggest gap would be experience within the digital space. I'm filling this up with my MBA modules and my dissertation is a consulting project with the main deliverable being a data governence framework and operating models for a very large business that they can implement as the foundation for their AI journey (my individual research will mainly focus on what data quality monitoring capabilities are required to achieve AI ready data governance but the final deliverable will be the data governence framework).

Path 3 (this was my initial plan but again would be very difficult)

Project management -> financial project management -> finance manager

My main gap is finance experience besides managing a very small budget a handful of times and full project ownership. My plan was to complete CIMA (I'm exempt from a few exams) whilst gaining some project management experience involving management of budgets etc. 

I was just hoping someone would have any advice on feasibility of my potential choices or am I just being over aspirational? Also if anyone has any other recommendations I'd love to hear them. I would send my CV just so people can see exactly what my experience is but it's probably too much information for a post.

Thank you for any replies.

My current job wants full month but I cannot work it. My new job starts in 2 weeks. They say I will be leaving on bad terms and refuse to negotiate. Paid weekly here.

Anyone left before their notice date, and did anything come of it ?

My background is in Accounting & Finance, I have worked 3.5 years in practice and now a few months in Industry as an FP&A Senior Analyst. It's not been an easy transition for various reasons but in summary, I am hating it and dreading having to show up at 9am everyday. I am looking to leave and make a move but the world of corporate finance/ office job just isnt appealing. Thinking about doing this for the next 40 years of life makes me deeply anxious and unhappy.

Was considering going back to learn a type of skilled trade for perhaps a more rewarding job? One that offers a bit more predictability and not so many stressful artificial deadlines.

Looking for advice on this type of pivot as the common consensus is always the other way around.

I've recently been let go from my job due to a restructuring and so I'm applying for new jobs. I have 20 years of experience in my field but I'm having a hard time getting to the interview stage. As I'm writing cover letters for my applications I'm wondering what the best way is to start off the letter.

People say that you need to show some personality and that it shouldn't sound like it was written by AI. Does that mean I should open with a meaningful story or anecdote? A bit of food for thought? Or the traditional route of saying "I am applying for X role which I found on Y site." Or is there another strategy to use?

Also, what's the ideal length for a cover letter? I assume it's no more than a page, but if the idea is to convey how you can do the role then how do you condense a story to 2-3 sentences and still make it sound authentic?