How do you get an electronics job when you're "not popular"?

[Faringdon]

Hi,
I recently finished an SMPS design and build project,  so when   that finished I put my CV on the web……the market seemed very very buoyant.
Loads of  companies with SMPS projects and  various Electronics projects were contacting me for interview availability. Then I interviewed at a place who said they wanted multiple SMPS’s designed.
It seemed great, and £55k salary.
At the interview, the boss told me (with a steely grin)…”if you take the job, then you should never leave”.

Anyway, they gave me the job and I started. For the first two days  they had me sat in the office, and told me just to read my company employment manual. Then after two days, they gave me a computer, which had limited access to their projects. (I found some “test” schems, but no specs, and no BOMs, and the “test” schems had no component values or part numbers with them).
Anyway, there was still no talk of work that they needed me to do…just vague murmurings of vague jobs which might need doing at some point. I tried to get the spec off them for a current source which they had which needed production pot tweaking, but they woudln’t give me the spec for it. I also  asked for a schem of an SMPS which they were currently doing EMC testing on, but the manager , grinning, shook his head, and said “you don’t want to see a schem”.

Anyway, after 7 working days of being sat in that office, and not being tasked with any work, I decided, that this was a job that involved just sitting around “just-in-case” any work might turn up. It seemed odd that they had said I should “never leave”, since would they want to pay me forever to do nothing?
Anyway….even though I started mid October, they had actually said they woudlnt pay me till end of November, but would backdate the pay to mid-october. I strongly doubted that they would pay me at all..specially since I wasn’t doing anything.

So after work on the 7th  (non) working day, in the evening, I wrote them an email saying I woudlnt be coming back in, and asked them not to bother paying me, and apologised for any inconvenience.
I decided instead to put my CV back on the web, and see if I could get into one of the great many opportunites that  had been  around before I took the “do-nothing” job.
Anyway, this was a few days ago…and not only have all the opportunites that were previously around dryed up, but even worse, is that the “do-nothing” company are still trying to recruit for their role, and are telling employment agencies not to send my CV, since I “ just  cleared off”.
This is meaning that these employment agencies are not keen to consider my CV for other electronics jobs…also, when I go for a job, they find out, and tell the employer not to employ me because I “just cleared off”, from the previous place.

Also, to make things worse, my previous job was at a start-up, and I wasn’t payed, so was out of the tax system for 6 months…and companies seem to find out about this , and it really puts them off me.

How do you get round this?

[MK14]

Is this as a permanent employee/job, or as a temporary or long term contractor?

[Faringdon]

It was a perm job  on a "should never leave" basis.

[Fraser]

Post removed by author as it will not help the OP

[MK14]

It was a perm job  on a "should never leave" basis.

Firstly, you should always (with extremely few exceptions), stay in the original permanent job, until you have sorted out a definite job offer, in writing, with a new company.  With rare exceptions, such as when you are retiring, etc.

Secondly, leaving a permanent job, after a couple of weeks (approximately, from what you seem to have stated), is VERY bad form.  You should almost NEVER do that!

If you absolutely can't stand it, and can't face it.  This should be discussed with your immediate manager, or similar.  Then something can be sorted out.

[Fraser]

Post removed by author as it will not help the OP

[Bud]

Does not seem to be anything conspiratory the from the employer's side, let alone them "testing" the OP. The company was a startup and It is understandable that startups may be in a state of chaos and disarray for some time.

[Bud]

You may have to volunteer to work a period for nothing to show commitment to the new company ...

Maybe this is a thing in the UK but sorry it sounds silly for an adult engineer to do so.

[Fraser]

Bud,

It was his previous job that was a startup and not the one he quit with no notice.

[Bud]

Right, I misread that one !

[Fraser]

Post removed as it will not help the OP

[AndyC_772]

Something doesn't add up here (though quitting without a new job already lined up was a mistake and turning down payment for the time you were there was another).

Every time I've been hired for a new full-time job, there was a reason the company needed another engineer, namely a long list of projects they needed doing. I still recall the 'day one' meeting with one particular new manager... after rattling off a list of about 10 tasks, I asked which he wanted doing first, to which he replied 'all of them'. He wasn't kidding.

It just doesn't make sense to be going through the process of hiring - a process which is costly, frustrating and time consuming - if they don't have a genuine business need for that new engineer.

You probably have dodged a bullet by getting out asap, as there's clearly something more going on. I don't believe people get hired without work already queued up for them to do - at least, not at a level of seniority above a student doing work experience.

[pcprogrammer]

He basically quit because they did not listen to his advice on ESD https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/carry-pcb-across-carpet/msg4489225/#msg4489225

Or is all just another waste of our time

[armandine2]

I haven't followed the replies closely, so far , but in my experience an employee's reputation with their recruitment agency is often shaky and ultimately runs out. Also, the early period in a job can be bewildering to what it is they actually do. And, a 55K salary is well over the mean and most of us who need to work to pay the bills would be reluctant to leave it for long term unemployment.

[MK14]

Post removed by author as it will not help the OP

Please don't take this the wrong way, and I don't know (for sure), why you removed the original post.

I liked the original post, but you are perfectly welcome to amend or remove it.

I'd just like to say, I happily, left my advice.  Because even if this turns out to be another one of the OPs stories, and gets posted on other forums (that is, with identical or somewhat identical, opening stories.  Typically with different forum names).  The advice given, can still be used, by other engineers and so forth, who happen to be in similar circumstances.
So, it should still be useful, one way or the other.

Also, I was planning to get to the bottom of the situation, and hence establish the reliability of the OPs story.

The thing is.  Even if the OP was relatively truthful in their opening post.  We would only be hearing one side of the story.  The employers, might paint a completely different story, especially as they have actually met the OP (assuming they actually exist).

[Fraser]

I realised that my comments were not really helpful to the OP and as I do not know them, or their circumstances, I would not want to post critical comments that could lead to mental harm. Having looked into the OP’s posting history, I decided to remove the posts contents. Better to be safe than sorry. The OP has “messed up” and your post was kinder than mine.

Fraser

[MK14]

I realised that my comments were not really helpful to the OP and as I do not know them, or their circumstances, I would not want to post critical comments that could lead to mental harm. Having looked into the OP’s posting history, I decided to remove the posts contents. Better to be safe than sorry. The OP has “messed up” and your post was kinder than mine.

Fraser

That makes sense.   

It can be quite tricky, responding to forum threads, for exactly those reasons.

As regards the OP, despite seeing/reading, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of their posts.  I'm still not really clear, exactly what is going on.  Things kind of, never really seem to properly add up.

E.g. With this threads OP.  How come they are not worried, that the affected employer, fellow workers, employment agencies.  Might happen to come across this thread.  Given the sensitive nature of the details.
Also, I'd perhaps ask the OP, what fellow workers, said about that companies situation (if the story is true).

If the story is true.  The OP seems to have been doing this sort of thing (leaving, somewhat shortly after starting a new job), rather too often.  And should try and NOT do that.  I'm not really sure exactly what the problems/issues surrounding/causing it, to offer better advice.

If I have to guess.  The story seems to have too many elements of previous threads (such as secretive/hidden schematics), to be readily taken as 100% truthful, at this stage.

[pcprogrammer]

If I have to guess.  The story seems to have too many elements of previous threads (such as secretive/hidden schematics), to be readily taken as 100% truthful, at this stage.

At any stage I would say. The list of threads started by Faringdon is quite long and most of them are weird to say the least, and also a bit contradictory to my opinion. Left a job here, talking about leaving a job there, starting up a company, not starting up a company, and so on. Just take a look at the gas valve using tokens story. It is for kids, oh no it is for Ukrainians. To me utter bullshit.

I'm curious about what is behind this all though.

[AndyBeez]

You may have to volunteer to work a period for nothing to show commitment to the new company ...

Maybe this is a thing in the UK but sorry it sounds silly for an adult engineer to do so.

Yes, we call it an "unpaid internship" or "skills try-out" in trendier speak. You work for them for free and in return, you get f****** over. You bring your own computer, tools, software, desk, chair, car and anything else the business refuses to provide. At least you can put their name on your CV. Internships are not just for daddy's daughter in the summer, but for anyone who wants to try their hand at being an EE, a network engineer, a web programmer, or even an airline pilot. Just be sure you are 100% qualified and certified for the role before you apply. The UK has a "skills shortage". No s***.

[coppercone2]

some bosses just see human personnel not different then buying a esoteric piece of equipment that is used once in a while. Someone was certain that there will be a problem eventually related to your field.

It might have been like buying a flee market spectrum analyzer while working on a broken power supply, you know that it won't be used for a while. He probobly suspected that there would be gouging by a consultant in the future, and overall it would be cheaper to have you around.

I suggest getting an unlimited data plan if you are in this situation. And nothing is preventing you from drawing up some future plans, or vaugely related projects/equipment that might be useful for what you think the job entails. I.e. research switchmode circuit aspects while you wait, in a academic way that is related to corporate. Maybe not research pure transfer functions, but learn about manufacturers, trends, component vendors, styles, nuances, etc.

[Faringdon]

And, a 55K salary is well over the mean and most of us who need to work to pay the bills would be reluctant to leave it for long term unemployment.

Thanks, i am pretty sure it would have gotten reduced down from £55k...since it seemed to be a "do-nothing", dead-engineer job.....like a spare engineer.....
The company was very very rich, with a solid product range which has been perfected over the years.
Main tasks just seemed to be supporting production....not that they seemed to have many problems since all the production "bugs" had been mostly ironed out over the years.......from a business point of view....they had little reason to re-design the power supplys in their products....i guess they would think...if it aint broke, dont fix it.

The company also have a Chinese Engineering design and manufacture department, in China, and they design and build  all of the highest power products....so i guess the company, if it really wanted new power supplies.....would just get them to do it, as it would likely be cheapest.

Not that it bothered me much, but in the employment contract , (the one they had me reading for 2 days)  it stated that  i could be layed off at any time, for any amount of time, and that i would not be payed for this time.
Also, the employment contract said that the company could , at any time, instead of laying me off, simply offer me a different job in the organisation, if they so chose to do so.

I still recall the 'day one' meeting with one particular new manager... after rattling off a list of about 10 tasks, I asked which he wanted doing first, to which he replied 'all of them'. He wasn't kidding.

Thanks, thats pretty well my ideal job....i am sure you kind of like it too....at least you're going to be doing something meaningful.

[MK14]

And, a 55K salary is well over the mean and most of us who need to work to pay the bills would be reluctant to leave it for long term unemployment.

Thanks, i am pretty sure it would have gotten reduced...since it seemed to be a "do-nothing", dead-engineer job.....like a spare engineer.....
The company was very very rich, with a solid product range which has been perfected over the years.
Main tasks just seemed to be supporting production....not that they seemed to have many problems since all the production "bugs" had been mostly ironed out over the years.......from a business point of view....they had little reason to re-design the power supplys in their products....i guess they would think...if it aint broke, dont fix it.

The company also have a Chinese Engineering design and manufacture department, in China, and they design and build  all of the highest power products....so i guess the company, if it really wanted new power supplies.....would just get them to do it, as it would likely be cheapest.

Not that it bothered me much, but in the employment contract , (the one they had me reading for 2 days)  it stated that  i could be layed off at any time, for any amount of time, and that i would not be payed for this time.
Also, the employment contract said that the company could , at any time, instead of laying me off, simply offer me a different job in the organisation, if they so chose to do so.

Your story, doesn't quite feel correct and right, to me.  It seems to have too many elements, of your previous stories/threads/posts.  You have now introduced, one of your apparently desirable talking points. China, into the equation, again.

But to avoid offending you, maybe it is 100% true and correct, since I don't know you.

It seems to have too much similarity, to your other stories, for me to accept it, as being 100% real.

[SiliconWizard]

Uh. The "should never leave" doesn't make any sense. There is no work contract in the world with a "should never leave" mention in it. 
Mentioning that as an employer doesn't make any sense, it's stupid, rude and shows both disrespect to the employee and to the law. If that was really what they said.

Now having it easier to find a job if you already have one (as opposed to being in between things) is a given. That's always been the case. That's social proof. Probably in times of crisis does it become a bit more obvious.

What you could have asked is just "why did you hire me if there was no actual need?", instead of just leaving. Sure we don't know the whole context, and there may very well be stuff you are not exposing here. But as it is, leaving a job after a short while isn't going to help you find a new one, it's just going to make things worse. People talk.

[MK14]

Also I have a vague recollection.  That if you leave a permanent job (which was placed and sorted out, via an agency).  If you leave too soon (is it 3 months or 12 months, or something different?), the agency either don't get paid, or gets paid significantly less.

Therefore, it would be no surprise, that the agency(s), wouldn't touch you with a barge pole.

Also, I can't quite understand, how you can suddenly get another job, or something different to your business adventures.  Without having to move to another part of the country, with all the hassle, that involves.

Isn't this a similar story, to one you told on here (under a different user ID, I suspect), a while ago?
(with some changes, of the details and stuff).

Also, if this story is true.  Why would you be intentionally declining/refusing all payments?
That doesn't really sound right (already mentioned before, in this thread, I think).

[thm_w]

You probably have dodged a bullet by getting out asap, as there's clearly something more going on. I don't believe people get hired without work already queued up for them to do - at least, not at a level of seniority above a student doing work experience.

How the hell is that dodging a bullet by leaving a paying job without an alternative? lol
Its a terrible decision, if it even is real.

Also I have a vague recollection.  That if you leave a permanent job (which was placed and sorted out, via an agency).  If you leave too soon (is it 3 months or 12 months, or something different?), the agency either don't get paid, or gets paid significantly less.

Therefore, it would be no surprise, that the agency(s), wouldn't touch you with a barge pole.

Also, I can't quite understand, how you can suddenly get another job, or something different to your business adventures.  Without having to move to another part of the country, with all the hassle, that involves.

Isn't this a similar story, to one you told on here (under a different user ID, I suspect), a while ago?
(with some changes, of the details and stuff).

Also, if this story is true.  Why would you be intentionally declining/refusing all payments?
That doesn't really sound right (already mentioned before, in this thread, I think).

It stinks of BS. A so called "large company" would not hold your payments back. As you said, all the story elements have been posted here before.
You could ask Treez for proof, but, conveniently there is none, as there was no paycheck.

And even if its true, yeah, you don't bail on your agency, they'll look like fools for recommending you. And they won't get as much commission, yes, depending on the place. Many here skim directly off the paycheck so its better if you are actively working.