u/Smooth-Bowler-9216

A recruiter has approached me about a job with a 1 hour commute (one way) 3x per week, and site visits (to different parts of the country - Portsmouth, Manchester, Dublin, Leicester) every 2 weeks.

There is also a quarterly visit to every site once per quarter, so a 5 stop tour.

Is it too much? I'm mindful that I'm currently in the office 3x a week, but with no further travel, and the commute is a manageable 40 mins to 1 hour. I'm also in multiple other interview processes, none with a worse travel arrangement.

I have a 2.5 year old daughter in nursery and we share pick-up and drop-off. My wife's company are flexible, but I feel like I would be missing out on a lot of parent time.

Edit: thanks for your opinion, the majority are thinking the same as me that the travelling isn’t worth it.

The total comp uplift would be about 12.5% (£19k) so nothing spectacular. I did query if there was scope to move on that and was told that it’s a no-go from the outset.

I've had mixed feedback, including from LLMs, around whether I qualify for the next tranche of childcare funding (30 hours).

Context: Child is 2. I am currently employed but I am being made redundant on July 5th. I will receive my redundancy payout in the July payroll run circa end of July.

My reconfirmation window is open and closes July 15th. Do I say yes or no to ongoing funding?

I have heard 2 arguments:

Yes argument:- I am currently employed, I will receive my June payslip ~25th and then my July redundancy payout ~July 25th. Therefore I meet the criteria of at least £2,644 for the upcoming 3 months. By reconfirming before July 5th, I am completing the reconfirmation under employment.

No argument:- The reconfirmation is based on forward looking employment i.e. being employed for the 3 months following reconfirmation. I would not meet that criteria as I am unemployed.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and can shed some light on this?

As per title

I have had at least 7 messages for recruiters in the past month, asking about my interest in a position they are recruiting for.

I give them my availability* for a call….and then they never respond. Why?

I try to be as flexible as possible so I give them a big tranche of time eg 9-12pm, free for a call Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Note - I respond to these messages within 24 hours, sometimes even within the hour.

Currently have a Lenovo Thinkpad from work which I'll return when I leave. Need a personal laptop but unsure what to get.

The two I saw were ASUS Zenbook 14 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, but I hear both suffer from screen glare badly.

• UK
• Up to £800 / USD $1,100
• New
• 14" is fine, so is 15"
• Err on the side of portability but I don't need it to be as light as paper
• Basic use (spreadsheets, admin, Youtube, virtual meetings, occasional movie)
• 'Standard' laptop, it doesn't need to flip or be touchscreen
• Mainly for home admin, browsing
• Over 3 hours battery life
• Priority Order: Size, Performance, Weight, Battery
• Anything else (below)

- Not Mac as I just can't work with their functionality.

- A good touchpad, nothing more infuriating than a bad one.

- Camera quality is important as I'll need it for calls.

- I want to avoid the OLED glare.

For dads….

I used to be quite a big gamer pre-kids. It was my wind down, relaxing activity playing RPG/Strategy/Sports games

I still yearn for some video game time but with a kid and a busy job, it just never happens. Once a month if I’m lucky. It is what it is.

However, I powered up the PS5 today and was really excited to play…then kind of sat there like “meh, this should be fun and it’s alright but I also feel like I’m wasting free time”.

Does anyone else feel like that with hobbies after kids?

Daughter is 23 months old. She has been sleep trained since 8 months and was really really good at it from 16 months onwards (maximum 1 'intervention' per week).

Recently, she is waking up several times a night and crying. Some (Rare) nights, we will go into her room, give her a pat and she'll fall asleep instantly.

Most nights, she will just lie there crying and groaning. When we go in, she will fidget about and not sleep. It's only after we put her in our bed + 30 mins later that she'll fall asleep.

She is very very verbal, does not appear to be teething and has nearly all her teeth minus 4, is not sick, walking since 9 months, potty trained since Feb. There is nothing 'new', apart from how she is picking up bigger words and complete sentences at a rapid pace.

When we ask her, she does not need the bathroom, or water, or teething pains, isn't cold. We're at a loss as to what's caused the sudden regression.

Her schedule is wake 6.15am. 1 hour nap 12.30-1.30pm. Bedtime ~8.30pm. It's been like this since she was about 13 months.