How competitive are you?
 

I was looking through the jobs section just now and I noticed Flashy had posted up a link for jobs at the new tesco even though she was applying for it herself, and someone else commented that she'd probably just decreased her own chances of getting the job by doing so.

So I wonder, how many people would do the same and how many of you would keep it to yourself?

I'm a law student as most of you know and it's probably one of the most competitive dog eat dog professions there are. I found a new opportunity for me to go for this morning instead of going to sleep like a normal human being, and I know that I won't be telling any of my law friends about it until after the deadline and until I know if I have got through or not to the next round. I'm not even going to tell you guys what it is!

But I've done a lot of competitive things since being a law student and I must admit that I have always told people about these things after or close to the deadlines, so that they aren't likely to strongly compete against me, and through doing this I have 8 weeks of my summer taken up with highly paid work that will look outstanding on my CV.

I don't feel bad about doing this, because I know that if it wasn't me doing it then it would just be someone else, and at the end of the day, if people want opportunities then they can do what I do and stay up looking for them.

I'll be interested to know what you think about this. I guess I'm showing my true ruthless colours when it comes to my future career, but I guess people would have probably expected that from me anyway!

Re: How competitive are you?
 

no, i'm not competitive

is there any reason why you made the poll private?

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Any particular reason for this?

Re: How competitive are you?
 

i reckon this should be called 'how selfish are you' not 'how competitive are you', just think about all you've wrote, i wasnt being competitive and i wasnt being selfish, i wasnt advertising the job as such either, i was merely asking about the tesco in Ossy and stating that they where advertising for jobs before it was built....yes i know your not having a go, but lets get the facts straight hey :)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

The fact is that someone else pointed out that you were practically advertising the job to other people. Which you pretty much were whether you intended to do that or not.

It takes a long time to find a job opportunity these days, is it really that 'selfish' to want to succeed?

I believe that competitiveness is indirectly taught at most schools through the setting systems they have in place, which are often even in place discreetly in primary schools, and certainly were in my primary school.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

The poll was made private because it is set to private by default and I saw no reason to change it. I'm more interested in the general numbers rather than names.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

they dont even have a lot of competitiveness in primary schools now, its 'not to be encouraged' thats what us governors where told when i was at Reece's school, they dont compete in sports day anymore, they dont have races against each other like they did when i was at school, maybe its another case of political correctness gone mad

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Yes but children are still given work at their level, and naturally most children want to be better than everyone else, at least amongst the brighter children. So the competition still exists.

I think the idea that depression is a new phenomenon amongst primary children is a joke as well, it has always existed.

Unfortunately you can't get anywhere in this country if you aren't competitive. It'd be nice not to have to be. I wasn't this competitive until I started uni, but then I didn't really appreciate the amount of talent that I'm up against, and you can't afford to be slow with these things.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Certainly not when it costs me so much money...

Re: How competitive are you?
 

competitive? me? :D


*Cough*
Absolutely!

but... I would say that I'm equally competative against myself. i.e. I set myself extremely challenging goals and normally achieve them. Its this that IMHO as got me teh job I do etc.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I don't blame you Blazey for not telling anyone else. By telling others you reduce your chance and like you said it is hard enough without reducing your chances by telling others.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

not really i reckon, never have been, when my kids started school i told them- don't care if ya come Top,Bottom, or Middle of the class, just do yer best n yer dads happy,don't seem to have done em any harm as both have done well in life.:) nowt against folk that are, people are just people.:)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I have always tried to do my best in everything I do, whether that's classed as being competitive or not I don't know, but any one who gives their best and are satisfied with their lot, is all that really matters.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I suppose I'm lucky in that I don't have to compete with other people they have to compete with me.:rolleyes:

Combine that with my shy and retiring nature and I'm on to a winner every time.:cool:

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Well you always have to compete with yourself no matter what you do, otherwise you might as well lay down and die if you ask me. If people aren't interested in bettering themselves then they are wasting opportunities.

The reason I asked is because the tutors at university are keen to nurture my attitude as it is lacking in a lot of the other law students at Lancaster and as you would expect, employability figures are also low, whilst there is a keen activeness within the Management School at Lancaster, which is one of the best ranked in the country, and they achieve much higher and get the better jobs. As I am heavily involved in the student run careers society at university as secretary and internal publicity officer, I'm meant to to be the one who encourages this behaviour and competitiveness to be the best, but I'm wondering how many people at home have it because amongst my friends from school, I am one of the very few to go to university, and most of my female friends now have children.

There just seems to be a give up and accept what you are offered type of attitude at home and I always sense it when I come home. Fortunately I don't have to spend all summer here otherwise I think I'd have gone mad. I will likely be working with some local children though and it is always interesting to see the differences between them and other children a bit further afield and what sorts of attitudes you get from students from different types of schools and different kinds of backgrounds. It's just even more interesting to see how the local adults feel about competing too!

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I agree,It used to take 8 mins. to get to the pub.
I can now do it in 5.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

It doesn't even take me 5 at uni, the bar is practically on my doorstep.

And there I go again!

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I think they call that getting on a bit Beni:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

i dont know ... depends on what it is ... if its playing cards with my sisters and their hubbys ... well the hubbys call it the coven .. one of the hubbys wont play cards with us anymore .. he says its going to be one of the coven that wins ... not me so i aint playing ... last time we played i won .. and he said see .. save your money next time ...:D:D:D

in fact i would probably do the same as flashy ... tell everyone about it ..

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I would be...if there was any competition.;)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I don't know of anything worth competing for.
I am quite content with what I have.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I agree,hard to be Humble.:D:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

no one struts teh catwalk like you do rindy

even if it is in a club and not a fashion show

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I am competitive but i'm also a magnanimous loser if people beat me.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Only at things I'm good at :D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Like Link The Song Title................?

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Sarcastic.....

PASS :D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Bet that don't happen to often Gayle, although Neil may have a different slant on that:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Victoria Wood was beaten by the Woman's Weekly.

































Over the hostess trolley.

Which must have been painful.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I've never been a sore loser and never really been a loud winner either. Except when I used to play scrabble against my friend's mum. That was fun. We'd sit and watch Countdown together too and I nearly always got the conundrum before her!

Re: How competitive are you?
 

LOL Garinda.....I love it! :D

'Not meekly, not bleakly, beat me on the bottom with the Woman's Weekly!

Let's do it! Let's do it tonight!' :D:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I'm competitive when it comes to games and quizzes but wouldn't say i am in other areas of life,personally don't see anything wrong with what flashy did its not like it was a big secret about tesco opening a new store anyway.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I am extremely competitive. Nobody expects more from me than myself. I am intelligent and if in 20 years time I am not capable of taking care of the people around me I will have failed.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

A really intelligent person wouldn't have said that.

They would have assumed others would arrive at that conclusion, judged by their actions.

;)

If in twenty years you had a terrible accident, say broke your back in a ski-ing accident, God forbid, I wouldn't label you a failure if you were unable to 'take care of the people around you'.

There's more to life than money.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

As we both know Rindi you can't legislate for things you have no control over, you can only achieve your own ambitions in life if you get a clear run without interference from outside things you have no control over

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I think that those people who equate succes with money are sorely misled......yes you do need to be able to make ands meet but success is finding something that you love doing and doing it well and getting someone to pay you to do it.......success is being with people you love, and who love you back....success is having time with family, and being healthy enough to enjoy what you are doing......success is like a butterfly...elusive while you are trying to catch it, but when you stop it alights on your finger.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I don't think I equated success with money, and I wouldn't because I didn't come to university knowing how much money lawyers earnt and I still don't understand how much money is a lot and how much is enough and so on.

I wouldn't share something with someone else which is likely to increase my chances of getting my dream job. I didn't with that law competition a few months back and I have no regrets for that. Everyone is able to seek opportunity if they are serious enough about wanting to do something. There are just a great amount of people in this country who think opportunities should be handed to them.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Although you may not have known exactly how much a lawyer earned, I am pretty sure that you knew that it was a decent amount, more than enough to make ends meet......not that I am saying that you chose Law as a profession because of the money.
Security is also an issue these days in a time of soaring unemployment....unless you choose a career wisely, one which will give you a decent amount of security(which I am pretty sure a career in Law will provide)....so I am also fairly sure you took that into consideration too......but sharing an opportunity to get a job is not a bad thing......it does not mean that the person who shares the information is not competitive, or that that person is lacking in ambition....especially as we are talking about a large company with more than one job being on offer.
In the job market, everyone needs a chance, a foot on the employment ladder......companies want people with experience, but how do you get that unless someone is prepared to give you a chance.........even though you have no experience??

I have been in the position of interviewing people for jobs within the caring profession....and sometimes I have given a chance to someone with no experience of caring (in the professional sense).......it has meant that someone who wants to care is given a chance. Not one of these people disappointed me.......they all rose to the challenge.

So while I don't think that opportunites should just be handed to people(and, by the way, what facts do you have to substantiate your claim that ' a great amount of people in this country think that opportunities should be handed to them'???) I do think that sometimes it pays to take a chance on someone with no proven ability, so that they can get experience of a work environment.
It is always easier to find a job when you are in a job.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

You have to be lucky as hell to get well paid job in law if you are working class. Solicitors and legal execs get paid the wages of an average professional in any field and the only way to become a barrister is knowing people in the field.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I am sure, that once you have a proven track record your salary must reflect this.......I haven't seen many Lawyers in the names of folk filing for bankruptcy.
It is definitely going to be more than that of a Tesco check out operator, and it is going to be far more secure.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

There is no method of checking what class background you come from on an application form to a law firm.

And it is not true that you only get these jobs by knowing the right people. I have friends graduating this year who are just as working class as anyone on this forum and have successfully got training contracts and pupillages. It is your sort of attitude to the profession that puts people off trying.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Don't be put off.

Look no further than Constance Briscoe to see that barristers and judges can rise to their posts from the most humble beginnings. :)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Absolute twaddle.

Becoming a bit of a habit.

I know many Judges and barristers who are from so called working class backgrounds.

It's nothing to do with class, and everything to do with talent.

A bright young thing from a red brick university, and humble origins, will find it much easier to find pupilage in any reputable Chambers, than a chinless wonder with the right accent.

Cherie Blair's doing alright in the money stakes too, for a working class Scouser.;)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Michelle Obama didn't do all that bad either;)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I'm not all that familiar with Greg Pope, but from what you guys have said and are saying about him, he seems like a regular guy and a good MP ... is it that the good ones are giving up on the whole deal? Why is it that the asshole politicians can handle the immense mounds of bs, while the good ones throw up their hands in disgust and get the hell outa there?

Re: How competitive are you?
 

When you compete with someone and win, you give them the feeling of being a loser.
Is that really a good thing to do?
Better that you both work together and both achieve success.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I voted yes - cos I am..simple really..
but I am competitive in lots of ways...some daft some I guess...I try to beat my time of cycling home each night from work..so that makes me competitive against me..
and there is nothing wrong at all in being competitive inregards to making a living..like already mentioned - its a dog eat dog world - if its not you then its someone else - and for that reason I would want it to be - everytime..if I dont succeed then at least I tried..
will that make my little best mate competitive as he gets older..it may do but then I guess he will have his mum telling him in his other ear to keep a level head about things..

Re: How competitive are you?
 

You can't always work with people though. And it does people some good to lose at times. It's the failure that makes people want to improve more often than the successes.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Blazey , a word of advice ......it will probably go over your head , but .....allways be nice to the water boy .......you never know when you will meet him again ....and he has only one way to go ....UP .....and you may meet him again when you are on YOUR way down ...;) ;)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I thought the idea was to be nice to your peers, the people who you interact with in real life. I doubt many members of this forum are actually going to be an active part of my life any time soon, never mind in the future.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

How long have you had that crystal Ball Blazey?

You really do not know who you will meet, or when, and in what circumstances.

It costs nothing at all to be polite and courteous, to have some empathy for others who might just be having a tough time........

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I have.

I see dark clouds, and her future looks bleak.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Nearly everyone is having a tough time, we're in the middle of an economic downturn. There isn't actually enough sympathy to go around this world and we cause most of the misery ourselves.

It costs TIME to be empathetic, and I don't think I said anything vile or bad mannered to people, very much unlike the sort of language I receive in anonymous karma.

I don't have these problems on other forums, so I put it down to the narrowmindedness of people from home.

Amy Macdonald has quite a charming song that fits what I think of the people of this forum very well. It's called Youth of Today.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Goodness gracious me, give it a rest. You know nowt about me. All you know is what I let you know.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Aaaah what a shame, poor you.
You do, though, have enough time to be bored and to come on here, and for want of a better word 'Troll' your way through a handful of threads.

You claim not to have any problems on other forums, well I would have to see evidence to sustantiate that before I would find it believable.

And because you believe us to be narrow minded, doesn't make it a fact.
If being broadminded is what you are, then by the evidence that I have seen in these threads.....I certainly do not wish to be like you.

Sorry I do not know Amy Macdonald, so I cannot comment on her song or its lyrics.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

The thing is you're no longer the youth of today.

There's already a new generation of bright young things, that have come along and supplanted you. I'm afraid that's the natural order of things.

Now hurry along and join the queue of youthful has beens.

;)

Re: How competitive are you?
 

and from what you have posted we have 'gathered' quite a lot.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Have you ever thought we are actually doing what you claim to do?

Aggravating, taking the rise out of, putting salt on a virtual slug, and amusing ourselves at your pitiful expense?

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Sadly tis true.

Right from the parental reunion via a trailor park, to what societies were joined at college.

Boring.

The silly twit(ter) generation, who believe the whole world is interested in their hum-drum existence.

She honestly once had the cheek to pm me what she ate for supper!

No one is interested!!!

(It was an apple by the way.)

:D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

I imagine there are one or two on here who are glad to hear you say that..
and to be honest you dont really know for certain if that is going to be true - you dont know which way your life is going to run - all good and well being at uni etc, and doing law - which to be fair is brain rattling, but - and its a big but - you might find in 10 years time that you want to open a shop and sell...wellies and brollys..as you have had enough of pressures of the legal world etc etc... you may have a bit of cash in the bank and think its time for a change..not saying it will happen but you just never know..and you could find that you buyer for your wellies is a member on here - obviously a wild example but I am sure you get the jist of what I am saying...
you dont know what I do for a living so again you cannot say that I wouldnt/couldnt have a part in you life in the future...I could be your bank manager in the future..I would certainley then have a part in you life..
now I may be wrong here but why do you appear to talk down accrington and its people...surely its unfair to prejudge someone just because of where they are from...

other than that this is an interesting thread..regardless of who says what..I dont know blazey so I cant judge her..I can only go off of what she has posted..

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Spot on GG.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Good thinking GG, I employ 3 people who were previously my employer, its a funny old world, and shows you never know where you will be in time to come.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

if you had said to me 10 years ago that I will get married, moved to england and accrington to be precise and have a little boy I would have laughed in your face and told you to get lost..me? leave the bright lights and late nights of glasgow and settle down..pah!
thats what makes life exciting to a certain extent - we dont know whats going to happen in the future - meeting future life partners, jobs and deaths to a certain extent all play a part in shaping your life..
for anyone to say that in 10 years time they will still be doing 'whatever' is brave as circumstances do change - and that folks is a fact.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Ill have to admitt to being competitive. But never at the expensive of others.

All i want to be is the best I can be and if iam happy with my performance then thats all i ask.

Law school is no more difficult that studing English, Maths, Physics etc. You need to be dedicated but not at the expense of others around you.

Smile on your way up and smile on your way down as we all have ups and we all have downs.

Average wage for a Lawyer around here would be £20000 - £25000 if you rise to a 'partner' then maybe £30000. I know a few old school lawyers who have there own firms and they earn around £50000 but the stories of lawyers earning £100000 + are far fetched and although a few do, its rare.

And its also true that certain law firms are heavly Masonic related etc.

Its a competitive world but to be kind and humble in success or failure marks you as exceptional i feel.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

If you look on thelawyer.com you can see the profiles of a large number of law firms and the tiers of income the solicitors earn in the firms. American law firms with offices in the country have the highest paid qualified solicitors. I met a Trainee from Weil, Gotshal & Manges last Summer and he was earning more than the figures you have quoted. I don't think you can say what the average income is for any lawyer because it depends on practice area, where they're based, the size of the firm and how much work it gets, amongst various other things.