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I have been out of work for 6 months and had been living on some of my savings and my wife's family helping us, I took some 40 interviews with tech test but failed, 41st I got the job. I had been losing jobs, again and again, nothing lasting more than a few months to 1.5 years. It has been due to the fact I was not working on in-demand tech and was left behind but I had been trying to get up to speed with new tech and falling behind due to family issues and me looking after our kids day in and day out.

One week ago I got an offer for a job which I accepted and start next week, also at the same time I got a decision about the scholarship I was told of not being offered a scholarship but today I received news that I am being offered a scholarship.

Now I want the job but I want to do the 3 months course as well being offered on scholarship.

How can I convince/tell my employer (professionally) that I have been offered a scholarship which will greatly benefit my future as well as keep the job, and how can we make it work?

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    What is it you want to happen? What's a "3 month course," is it like 9-5 full time or in the evenings or a couple hours a week in work hours? How would you make it work?
    – mxyzplk
    Apr 23, 2021 at 18:09
  • "I want to do this course while saving my job" Why do you think that you would lose your job due to this course?
    – sf02
    Apr 23, 2021 at 18:16
  • how will this scholarship greatly benefit your future?
    – Kilisi ♦
    Apr 23, 2021 at 18:21
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    I'm going to say that none of us can answer that question for you. It's between you and your wife. I, personally, would shelve the course and accept the job. But that's between you and your wife. None of the rest of us have any skin in the game.
    – Wesley Long
    Apr 23, 2021 at 19:24
  • @mxyzplk yes it is 9-5 and 5 days of the week. I want to keep job but do scholarship
    – localhost
    Apr 23, 2021 at 20:02

4 Answers 4

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You are currently in a very weak position: spotty work history, a 6 month unemployment stretch and 40 failed interviews. Your priority at this point should be to strengthen your resume. The best you can do is to take the job and make sure you perform well and keep it steady.

It's ok to do learning on the side (with or without a scholarship) but ONLY if it doesn't negatively affect TODAY's performance. Typically I'm all about learning and position yourself well for the future, but in your case the "here and now" takes precedence until you have a stable platform that you can grow from.

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    +A million. Take the job. If you can't study part time, you can study later. In six (after probation) months, you might gently suggest to your employer that you'd like to be more useful (with a scholarship). The scholarship people will wait if you tell them you have to take a job for 6 months to clear debts/bills. Even if you don't take it up then, the experience you gain on CV will be more than worth it. If you really, absolutely want to study, you'll make it happen. On a personal note - I wish you every success, whatever you choose.
    – Justin
    Apr 23, 2021 at 20:14
  • + A million. And another million.
    – Fattie
    Apr 23, 2021 at 22:56
  • @Justin thanks. the problem here more enforced by my spouse. as I kept losing my job, from 2 weeks to few months. I just had 2 jobs in a 6 years. I tried to move up the ladder to be more successful, landing a role was easy but I couldn't stay past probation for few months.. The way I see it is that I will have "missing part" that make me so disppsble that company just let me go (the 2 companies I worked n left didn't wanted me to leave, i left coz of bad management and no career advancement). I had no job ofr 8 months when I didn't had kids, now with 2 kids expense r high and stability is must
    – localhost
    Apr 24, 2021 at 5:04
  • @Justin the idea is that I might loose this job too but free scholarship will be gone too so I will be looping over finding work, loosing job and repeat whilst my finances are spiraling out of control and family growing up. I know there isn't much job secruity as my wife thinks n she see people around her being at same office for 5-30 yrs and blame my gaps for loosing jobs whereas TBH I spend too much time on jobs that just paid by bill n never pushed or encourged me to learn and same with my family, finding finance for next 3 months is another big issue right now n so is loosing job after 1 m
    – localhost
    Apr 24, 2021 at 5:11
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    @localhost: I'm afraid you are still missing the point here: You are at risk of becoming unemployable. I strongly recommend you take the job and do whatever it takes to keep it regardless of bad management, career, etc. Once you have a stable job for 2-3 years, you can certainly look at the next step, but unless you succeed in taking step 1, the other stuff will never materialize. You were out of work for 6 month and even with kids that should have given you plenty of time to learn and update your skills. If that didn't work, the scholarship may not help either.
    – Hilmar
    Apr 24, 2021 at 15:12
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I had been losing jobs, again and again, nothing lasting more than a few months to 1.5 years. It has been due to the fact I was not working on in-demand tech and was left behind but I had been trying to get up to speed with new tech and falling behind

So it sounds like this isn't the first time you've faced this dilemma.

Not working on in-demand tech might make it harder for you to find a new job, but it won't cause you to lose a job you already have. People lose jobs either through redundancy, which is mostly down to strategic decisions outside of their control, or because they are not performing to a satisfactory level.

There are 24 hours in a day. Your employer expects your full attention for ~7.5 of them. Your family need their share of your time, and you need time for sleeping etc. If after those demands are met you have some time left over and you want to spend that on developing your technical skills then great.

If you don't have that spare time available, then these are your options:

  1. Sacrifice some of your family time. Your question implies this is not an option.
  2. Sacrifice some of your rest time. This is a false option - if you don't allow yourself to properly rest than you won't perform well at other times and will eventually burn out.
  3. Sacrifice some of your employer's time. As you've found, this ends up with you losing jobs.
  4. Delay the developing these technical skills until you can find the time.

Those are the only options if these are technical skills that you want to develop for your own purposes.

However, your employer has a vested interest in you performing well in your job. If there are particular skills that you need to improve to do well in your current job, then speak to your employer about what training they can offer to help you build those skills. That might take the form of mentoring from a more experienced colleague, or it could be training courses (not 3 months full time though - more likely a day or week at a time). The subject will be chosen for your employer's benefit, but you'll do them in work time.

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Unless this 3 month course is specifically relevant to your new job, it won't help you. It will be a distraction from your new job.

Stop trying to keep up with "in-demand" technology, and learn what you need for the new job you have. Anything else is a distraction. The only technology that matters here is what your new employer is doing now.

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  • I never ran for in-demand tech. I had been working with old tech which needs something like JS to be employable hence I keep loosing job again and again so given this course is full hands-on JS will greatly benefit me.
    – localhost
    Apr 27, 2021 at 11:09
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Put the scholarship idea in the dustbin

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  1. You will learn infinitely more at the job

  2. The job will increase your chances at future jobs, infinitely more than the scholarship

  3. The job will advance your academic prospects far more than the scholarship

  4. You will make spectacularly more money doing the job

  5. The scholarship will cost you a fortune, the job will make you money

  6. You will have more fun doing the job

  7. Jobs are 9.00 to 17.00, scholarship crap is 24/7

  8. Scholarships are a dime a dozen. You will be offered one a couple times a year forever. It's of no consequence. Jobs are rare and precious

  9. Jobs fit beautifully with having a life, having a spouse, having children. Scholarships are a crap combination with life, spouse, children.

  10. A job results in perfect mental poise. Every day at 17.00 you'll feel strong, satisfied and correct, and will go home and have a great day. Scholarships are a malaise of vague indecision 24/7.

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