How can he find a job that isn't rubbish?

[JamBagel]

I'm posting here about my partner's job situation as it's really starting to get me down and affect me. He has been stuck in dead-end minimum wage admin jobs for years, not given promotions, and he wants to find something with prospects. This has driven him to attempt suicide recently. Please note that I don't care if he is successful - I just want him to be happy, and he's not.

I feel sick at the thought of it happening again and I know the only way out is for him to find a job that isn't rubbish - but how? Everything needs experience or qualifications. Even admin jobs in other sectors want you to have experience doing admin in that specific sector.

What professions are in demand? What can he train it? What sector/employer has a reputation for promoting from within? How did you get out of a dead end job? Any advice I can get I would be very thankful for because living like this forever, wondering when it will get too much for him, is heartbreaking and I feel unwell every day.

This is turning into a bit of rant - apologies - but it is devastating to see someone like him who can speak 3 languages and write code in even more turned down for even the most basic jobs as he has no experience. Please give me some hope as I am finding it all very hard to deal with.

[quote JamBagel]@C152 He is supposed to be having CBT at some point, but I don't know if he actually thinks he's depressed - I think he thinks his actions were a rational response to a situation that (to him) has no way out. I guess that could be depression talking.

We have hardly any contacts between us but the recruitment agency thing is a good idea, as is the networking. Thanks for your advice and kind words x

@EspressoExpresso Interesting. Do you mind if I ask what sort of volunteering it was? Whenever I see volunteering positions advertised it tends to just be shop work which I thought would be helpful for getting retail work but not much else![/quote]
Mental health charity support work volunteer.

Could he join the Police ? The Met are particularly keen for people who speak foreign languages.
Or could he join another public service?

I know her is self taught in coding, but can I suggest he completes all the free relevant, short-course modules on Open University, because he can download the certificate or badge when complete. There are ones for CSS, HTML, digital marketing and lots of others. Probably some for coding languages, but I didn't notice those. He could also do the ones for general business administration and managing teams/mentoring etc.
He can request connections on LinkedIn from anyone he thinks might be useful to his career. If he starts with recruitment agency professionals, that will widen the circle he is 'allowed' to message.
Tell him not to take it personally if people don't accept the request. Like FB, some keep their contacts small, others accept almost everyone. Tell him to study the job titles of other people with coding skills and click 'open to opportunities'. He can also join People per Hour as a freelancer to build up his client network and do a bit of work on the side.

Can he not do a part time degree via open university in software development or computer science? That way it will open the door for them to be able to become a software developer.

Has he looked at degree apprenticeships specifically? They often have salaries of £17/18,000 starting and you come out with a fully funded degree at the end. They were introduced whilst I was at uni (studying Rural Surveying - incidentally the course had a 98.9% employment rate as firms are desperate for surveyors!) and I wished they had been available when I’d started!

Is there anything he would actually like to do? Coding sounds great but will he

I have friends who have retrained and gone into some,thing vastly different to their original career but most importantly they were keen to study. Several have gone into teaching which in current circumstances seems like a bad idea but one became an electrician and absolutely loves it. He earns good money and although I guess there are no prospects as such he is always in demand and is on his way to creating a business of his own which gives him the autonomy he never would have had from his previous desk job.

I’ve also seen the police advertising for people to go straight in at detective level earning I think £30k. Has he considered the civil service? Endlessly recruiting for all sorts of roles, with good benefits and some prospects. HR and headhunting seem to be popular career changes too. A previous poster mentioned Train Driver or tube driver depending where you are. Project a Management?

Maybe he would also benefit from some interview training?

He should seek help with his depression but he should also look into as many different options as possible and see if anything sparks his interest. A lot of this sounds like a loss of confidence.

with his experience and knowledge base he would be good in a placement , entry level role or apprenticeship in project managment, data sciences, cyber security of similar, he should shop around online. Civil service is sometimes good, siemens, nhs, atkins etc

www.sis.gov.uk/language-specialist.html

recruitmentservices.applicationtrack.com/vx/lang-en-GB/mobile-0/appcentre-a18/candidate/jobboard/vacancy/1

www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

May be of interest:

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=cGFnZWNsYXNzPUpvYnMmb3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9MTE3MzM1NjYyJmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTcwMDcyMCZjc291cmNlPWNzcXNlYXJjaCZwYWdlYWN0aW9uPXZpZXd2YWNieWpvYmxpc3Qmb3duZXI9NTA3MDAwMCZzZWFyY2hfc2xpY2VfY3VycmVudD0xJnJlcXNpZz0xNjA5OTc5MTk2LWEyZTRkY2FhODlmMjk1ZjhhNzc3ZGRjMjdmYWZjZWEwOThiMDY5OTM=

If he likes coding and wants to work in that area, he should do a short course on Snomed CT. The NHS are crying out for snomed ct coders, no degree necessary.

@JamBagel are there any pharmaceutical companies near you? They usually have good employment rates and he could move up quick enough if he's a good worker. Most pay you to do courses too. I'm doing a paid apprenticeship with one and they are paying me the equivalent of 22k for 3 days work and paying for my degree too (2 days at university)!! There might be something similar out there in the U.K. ??

I had this same issue just over a year ago. I was in a clinical environment for years but went back to admin and the prospects are terrible. I hated my admin job so I started looking at other admin roles in different sectors after a couple of years. I noticed a sector with a lot of excessive well paid jobs(logistics for me, he may see something else where you live). They all wanted 2 years experience so I formulated a three year plan. I applied for the most basic logistics admin jobs I could find(actually took a small paycut but it’ll be worth it long term). I have been there a year now. I’m starting to ask to learn things from different managers now so that when it’s time to make the jump I can put all these tasks on my cv. I keep checking back to the better paid job adverts to see what experience they are actually asking for and I will spend the year asking to learn it. I’m determined to double my wage next year. The jobs are out there.

I career switched into IT at 33, but DH is in the industry and I did hobby coding for a few years. If you keep looking on jobs websites, sometimes you see those rare ones which specify they do not need software degree (I came across my job by chance independent of dh). Some of it is manual testing, others is a junior role. Maybe do some edX or BCS courses to have something on the CV? I did a software testing certificate bcs/ISTQB - which mainly gave me more confidence. It was self study (carefully read course book and do practise q’s) and multiple choice but cost about £200.

I also recommend that he books a call with the National Careers Guidance service. I found it useful to get a 2nd opinion on my CV and advice about matching my cover letter to the skills required. It's free.

There’s an organisation called career shifters he could look at. Coding and 3 languages are some amazing skills, so it feels like he has real confidence issues - I’d suggest he sees the GP and gets hold of some CBT also.

@EspressoExpresso

I got out of my minimum wage job(s) through volunteering, I am now employed by the charity. Happened by chance admittedly but I now earn a reasonable salary (£25k) in a field where it's hard to get in without some sort of degree or similar. I've had a ganders around Indeed and the like and when my contract ends, theres £30-£35k roles that I now (having done further training within my role, experience etc.) tick all the boxes for in terms of application requirements

Well done 💐

It’s nice to hear some success stories

Why was he told he didn’t get the role op? Generally that’s something to do with ability, temperament, fit, performance. So something is amiss.

Hopefully he’s not reading this, but how does he come across? How does he present himself? What’s his attitude like? How many roles has he had since leaving school and why does he move to the next one, if it’s similar to the last one?

OP- How much does he ideally want to earn?

Are you in a part of the country that has plenty of jobs?

@WitchesGlove thank you. I was promoted the day after I posted that too!

[quote EspressoExpresso]@WitchesGlove thank you. I was promoted the day after I posted that too![/quote]
I also love your username!