To ask how you get a bloody job 😐

Try prison/ probation work. They will pay for all your qualifications. Secure job , there will always be criminals!

You could also look at apprenticeships on the govuk site if you have minimal qualifications and are looking for a career.
If you don’t have maths and English you could look at doing maths and English functional skills.
Civil Service website - they look at values and behaviours rather than experience and qualifications.

Oh and use the STAR method for jobs applications that ask you direct questions - situation, task, action, result. I.E - have you had to work to deadlines in previous roles?

Ok im not saying im an expert but this is what works for me, i at least get an interview…

from the job advert, if theres a name of someone to chat about the job with, call them and have a general chat. That gets your name out there.

for applying, obviously update your cv relevant to the job.

covering letter, i cut and paste their person spec/what they are looking for into here. Answer each point with your experience. Use their words to form your paragraph.

if you feel like any training updates would be useful to upskill, invest in yourself. Watch youtubes and sign up for any free training you find. Never stop learning

Hi,
work coach here - some perhaps obvious tips here: use a cover letter, tailor your CV to job description and person specification. Look up transferable skills and integrate yours into your CV. Get someone to look over your CV. Search for and apply for jobs directly through employers websites rather than indeed. Look up courses that may help you upskill - Alison courses have lots. Apply as soon as you see a job (but make sure it’s a quality application) - lots of jobs advertised stop looking at applications as soon as they reach a certain number and stop looking at those applications when they have enough people to interview.

Start your own business xx

I didn’t say that most jobs are never advertised. I said jobs are not always advertised
My own sister got a well paid job through this method. It is always worth a try.

Go direct through company websites so if you see the job on indeed, look at the company careers website and apply through that. Some of the application processes take forever and along come tests to do that you need to pass before an actual human actually looks at your application. Try and be as detailed as you can on applications especially when they ask about how you handled an situation and how you can bring that experience to a current role (it's absolutely demoralising when you spend hours on it and get a rejection but you have to be persistent) or have some go to answers in a word document you can copy and paste and edit it for the job role.

If you feel you may need some retraining or go into a different role this may be worth taking a look at the national careers gov page.

All the best as it really isn't easy out there!

The supermarkets always seem to be recruiting but it can be physically tiring. It could be a good opportunity to work your way up.

Exactly what Agapornis says - cat sitters are so valued, especially with the summer holidays approaching. Learn how to inject diabetic cats, offer to send video clips of the cats frolicking in the garden, just sit and play with them a while. Absolutely the best option while you work out what else to do. Definitely go for it - sign up and quickly!!

This really only works for specific skilled roles that are relatively scarce. For unskilled roles a company will just go to market and screen from there; this approach is a waste of time unless you have a very specific pitch and a rare skills cluster. It's a myth that "most jobs are never advertised".

Does your professional CV actually sound like you and does it match the jobs you are applying for?

We see I lot of 'i have managed x' but they are applying for the most junior position and it doesn't fit what we have actually asked for.

I'd take what you have and break it down into a few areas e.g retail, hospitality, care and pick which bits of your experience are most relevant to each and which skills transfer easily. Reading loads of things about flights if what you want to see is 'can use a till and knows how to cash up' is pointless unless framing general background.

I'd also break it down between entry level and supervisor level.

There's a point where almost playing down is sensible, otherwise your application screams 'this is a stop gap and I'll be off in months'.

But you have past experience so use it where appropriate to the job and don't be afraid to look upwards if you have management experience.

Shoving the same CV in for everything is rarely a successful approach and an afternoon preparing appropriate variations will be time better spent than applying at random for loads of things.

I'm a catsitter. Have a look on Cat In A Flat and sign yourself up. Read 5 star rated catsitters' profiles and learn what they write on their profile. (Don't actually copy their profile...)

I'm good at what I do so earn about £300-500 a month now I've been doing it for several years and have lots of regular customers. It's not a fulltime job, but it will help build cat experience. Volunteer at a cat shelter, or contact local catteries to ask if they're looking for staff/volunteers.

As I said above, check what your local authority offers in adult education. Mine does NVQ L1 animal care.

Op if you start small maybe mind a neighbours pet then that gives you a reference. Or a course maybe just basic computers. I started temping it got me into jobs. Its hard starting out

Op, why don’t you advertise on the local paper/ facebook ? Offer your service as a cat sitter/ cat groomer.
From there you could achieve your dream.

Ignore the Debbie Downers

Have a look at jobs on your council website. Some volunteer experience might help but if your prepared to work shifts etc then you might be ok without. If you need some volunteer work have a look at homestart and see if that might work.

I would try to lose some weight. I know I am being very blunt saying that, but honestly I lost weight when I was in my late 40s, also went to the gym to really tone up. It gave me better posture and took years off me. I was treated so differently by people too. I went from a size 16 to a 10.

Send an email with a covering letter and CV to Hr department of companies that you are interested in.
Sometimes companies don’t advertise jobs.
Many of the jobs on Indeed don’t exist or if they do it is unlikely that your application will even be considered because of the volume of applications

Ah, so are you the only earner in the household? If so that increases the pressure a bit more.

Have you thought of care work? Generally the industry benefits from more mature care and support workers who have some life experience. Could be children's social care, older people, mental health housing, refuges or hostels etc Often opportunities to learn and develop

Also - I worked but still managed to bring my children up and see their firsts- presumably so did your partner?

I work, I’m bringing our two up with their Papa who works, we’ve seen all the firsts they’ve so far had, we also both have good and secure careers.

Cabin crew, so very patient, good customer service skills etc.

What do you enjoy?
What do you hate?
What would you say are your main strengths?
What would you say are your main weaknesses?
Do you drive?
Are there things you feel you wouldn’t be able to do, such as personal care etc?
Can you afford to retrain, be that low wages for a while, or training costs.

Sadly, it’s the gap. I’m in my late 50s, and fat, and have no issues getting jobs. Coukd you board cats when people are on holiday, and in the meantime do some volunteering to upskill? I know you said you hated the admin role you had, but basic Word and Excel are a must for most roles these days.