To think job market for those 55 and over is dire

It is underpaid in terms of the hourly rate, but can be a nice little earner. I tell people about it and they too are slightly incredulous. It does seem bizarre I get paid than qualified band 5 nurses (who don’t do overtime) but hey ho.

Everything I’ve found online in a quick google search seems to support what I’ve said in my previous post above.

https://www.qcaregroup.co.uk/latest-news/the-uk-private-care-industry-pay-crisis-enough-is-enough.

“In the UK, care workers are often paid just above minimum wage, despite carrying out some of the most essential roles in society. Meanwhile, in other countries such as Germany, the US, and Australia, care professionals receive significantly higher pay and better working conditions. This discrepancy raises an important question: why does the UK undervalue its care workforce?
The consequences of low wages in the sector are severe. High staff turnover, poor morale, and difficulties in attracting new talent have created a workforce crisis. Care workers often struggle to afford basic necessities, with many forced to leave the profession for better-paying, lower-stress jobs. If we want to fix the social care system, we must address its biggest flaw: pay.”

But that’s the point they’re making. They’re saying they’re not. The typical take home pay of someone working in care (apart from the owners) is not - at least according to pp- 3.2K a month.

I’m not familiar with this field but the salary my friends who are full time nurses make I’d be surprised if care workers are taking home 3.2K a month.

I usually hear it’s an underpaid job.

Sleep-ins at my company pay £80 each, this is on top of working there all day so that total shift would earn you £280.

£4k monthly gross is hardly in the millionaire realm.

I don't need to know anything from you since if I have ay queries I can go to my HR department, but if anyone reading and who wants to get work in this field and wants more information then please feel free to PM me.

Yes I would! I work in this field so know all about it. Sleep ins are less than £40 hardly going to make you a millionaire. O/time is paid at hourly rate where I work so again not gonna make you a millionaire and due to working time restrictions it's limited. I actually get paid to look at pay elements as part of my role, is there anything else you'd like to know?

I don't know about that. A monthly take-home pay of £3.2k is pretty good going for a job that you don't need any qualifications for.

The only people getting shed loads of money in care are some care home owners

So you would know about overtime and sleep-in shifts?

Edit your CV - do not put dates on education. Only put last 20 years on employment history (anything prior is irrelevant anyway).

They can work out roughly how old you are based on your timeline of education and employment etc, so leaving off you dob won't make a difference. It's always been best practice to omit your dob anyway.

Yes. I know. I said most jobs, and we already know from a pp telling us that teachers don't fit into the 'most' category and I imagine there are others. But, as I said, most jobs do not require this.

I got a new job last year at 51 after a long career break. I took all the dates off my CV, just listed the edited highlights of my job history and was very glad that CVs now are only a page long. I got DH to help me write a punchy personal statement, I didn't include any A levels or GCSEs, but ultimately I got a job because someone I know could put in a good word for me with 'the boss' who just happened to be hiring. Work your contacts, is my best advice to any middle-aged person looking for work.

Yes, and lots of online application forms REQUIRE dates to be entered for qualifications etc and won't let you press "next" unless you enter the dates.

The modern recruitment methods, especially for larger employers or via agencies, don't work on a typed CV and hand written covering letter anymore, they require applicants to type in data in boxes on the screen and each box is self-checking, thus not allowing applicants to progress through the system unless you comply with it's programmed requirements for each box.

For many jobs, particularly those with safeguarding implications, you're required to put your entire working history. My most recent application wouldn't go to completed/submit until I'd included everything.

The job market is dire for ALL age groups. Young person's unemployment in particular has increased massively recently. The economy is a mess and with the Iran situation the worst is yet to come.

No one wants to employ over 50s yet everyone on here wants the state pension scrapped or at least have the pension age raised to 70+. 🤣 If you tell people no one will employ them or that it will mean young people will be even less likely to get jobs they just reply that it’s tough luck and they’ll pretty much just starve to death then because it’ll be their own fault they didn’t save enough private pension.

Have you ever thought the rest of the team who have grown up children or no children get fed up of picking up the slack from those who do have young children who clock watch, take time off when children are ill, etc and basically want their cake and eat it.

He managed to get a position selling jet skis at a marina, think he might enjoy being outdoors playing with toys all summer 🤣

You are highly skilled woman the world is your oyster,.
I could go into a lot of detail,I was able to retire at a younger age but now your age and menopause i need that job satisfaction. I was watching a FB podcast with Trinny Woodhall and an Australian women who was highly skilled with AI. One of the examples of using AI,eg,Claudia or Gemini,was job hunting. Upload your CV,age etc skills and let AI rewrite your CV to make you look more attractive in the workplace in this current market,it will even search for jobs for you.However it will match your skills and may take you into a totally different market,or start your own company. Sorry if I'm teaching you to such eggs,but totally opened up new horizons for me. Good Luck.

The last job I applied for asked for a covering letter and a form you had to fill out - it asked for qualifications right back to secondary school, and the DATES of those qualifications. There was nowhere to hide - not that I should have had to.

didn't hear anything back.

A few years ago the company my DH works for were hiring at the same time as a near by company in the same industry had made an entire department redundant. So they got lots of applicants from people around 55 with years of experience. The boss dismissed them all due to their age and hired someone younger with no experience who required lots of training. The boss is older than 55.

I was made redundant at the age of 63 at the start of the COVID pandemic. At first there weren’t any jobs to apply for, but after about 3 months there were and I found an equivalent job quite quickly. I was definitely ruled out on age for one job but with hindsight I wasn’t a good fit for an organisation that a teenager started in his garage. After 3 years in role I was headhunted by the company I’m with now. I’m currently implementing a new system and I’m part of the AI early adopters group. It’s one of the two 30 year olds in my team who is the slowest on the uptake and least proactive, definitely not the 58 year old. I was hiring recently for a junior role and it was notable that many of these inexperienced applicants had completely unrealistic salary expectations as well, and we are not a low paid industry.

to the OP there are no qualifications below degree and professional qualifications on my CV and I only include the relevant part of my career history as I did something else completely different until my mid 40s.

Ageist nonsense. But your prejudice does demonstrate what older workers are up against.

@Letty186 do you mind me asking what line of work your hubby is doing a a summer job?

I’ve tried getting shop work and got nowhere.

I’m in same wait as your friend no one wants to know…😥

My husband (50) and I (54) both got made redundant at the end of March.

I took a ‘lesser’ role with a firm that couldn’t understand why I was there (I did de-age my cv a little to get to intwrview, but they only had to look at my LinkedIn pic to know I wasn’t as young) . I explained I was trying to find a role for the next 10 years in a forward thinking company where my experience could make a difference and I could share it with younger employees. I was lucky they understood that viewpoint and hired me. The money is less, but I love the work. Everyone in the team is 15-30 years younger I’m nearly old enough to be mum to all of them, but they’re lovely.

My husband has taken a 50% pay cut and a ‘summer job’ for now, that’s his for as long as he wants it with a months notice.

I received a fairly generous redundancy which whilst not enough to retire, makes up the difference for both of us for a year or so.

We’ll reassess after the summer and decide if we’re happy at a lower pace and what we would need to change to finance it or whether we’ll both try and step back up and how we do that.

A close friend (56) is also trying to find an employed position as a chartered surveyor and no-one wants to know.

its tough out there, I wish you lots of luck with it.