I need a job. Any job. Pronto. As long as it’s legal.

[MrsPear]

How? Where to look? I’ve been unemployed for nearly 11 years.
No one wants to know so far. So i think it’s time to accept that I can’t have a career, I can’t go back to what I was and the ship has sailed. Retail is now a dead duck. So what can I do?! Oh and I still have a school run to do ... Please ideas or better still a job

Like I said I’m seen as difficult by many employers and I recognise that / the retail / hospitality industry want flexible people who can work any hours the boss chooses with no notice. I can’t do that. The leaflet distribution industry expects pay in return for pay.

Btw do you think I should remove my education from my cv?

@Morfin

Health Secretary?

@Morfin........

Health Secretary?...........LOVE IT!!! 😂😂😂

School lunch assistant?

Warehouse work? Particularly the big parcel companies or food warehouses for the major supermarkets.

@Slub

It’s not that hard to get into the civil service if you’re going for AO grades- and it’ll still be better paid than care and more flexible.

If you think you’d be good at telephony customer service, admin etc then you’d be fine.

I work in the Civil Service and know loads of people who got in with limited recent experience.

NHS always need people.

You will probably have to accept that you have to share school run with your partner/someone else or use after school clubs.

Care is quick to get into whilst you apply for kick-start roles or apprenticeships? People automatically think they're for young people but they're not.

Hospitality - lots of pubs, coffee shop and garden centres/farm shops are advertising at the moment. Are you on local facebook groups and Indeed?

Why would you remove your education? Even if it was some time ago, it would demonstrate some level of literacy and numeracy. I would say it’s even more important if you haven’t had paid work for the last decade.

What about mystery shopping?

Try local school kitchen work or care home kitchen work they normally have one chef and other people to help and can be good hours

I would not entirely remove education but no dates.
Ie. X no. Gcse grade c and above including English and Maths etc

Covid vaccination steward? They’re hiring constantly, just ask to speak to the site manager.

Why can you just pay for childcare before or after school club?

Sorry to hijack op but am in similar position. @WineAcademy can I ask how you started your freelance proofreading? This is something I'm interested in.

Catering / hospitality?
I'm south east and seems like loads of jobs and no one to fill them also may work in with your school run

School jobs? We really struggle for school cleaners, caretakers and kitchen staff. With some initiative we also struggle for the area managers of these staff. Starting in school could lead long term to development to LA roles once your children are older.

At the minute we are also struggling for teaching assistants and school admin too. Not something that ever happened in the past. TA jobs - the last recruitment I was involved in - only 4 applicants, 2 dropped out after shortlisting and before interview. Two interviewed.

Does care work not need training first? I'm not in the UK but where I am its a fulltime year long course to qualify for employment

I took a career break from the NHS 10 years ago. (Young children, Dad with dementia). Got a part time bar job after 18 months, just for my own money and sanity.
I’m now a manager there.
As has been said, hospitality is crying out for staff. You may well be able to get school time hours for lunch shifts.
Are you a single parent? That would obviously rule out evening shifts if you have no extra support. Most pubs / restaurants can be flexible for the right person. Smaller chains or independents might be more flexible.
Good luck with whatever you find.

I have an LL.B and found I didn't get any interviews for care work. So if you go down that route I'd remove your education. I got a job as a toilet attendant with an agency that's the incumbent labour provider with the local council. I've also started a finance course with a view to a more office based role possibly with the same agency. Fingers crossed.

There will be care work in Kent, I promise you. Dozens of ads pop up for me at £12 ph. You might get £10ph to start with but as soon as you have experience, switch agencies to get the hours and rates you want.

You could keep different copies of CVs for different roles. Some with education some without etc.

OP if there’s any way you could fit in a volunteer role it might be good - try looking at charities especially disability related as there may be home opportunities now. I have just become a mentor for a local SN charity where I chat to parents with newly diagnosed children, as I’ve been through it myself - from what you said about your child this might be something you would be great at! And the charity is keen to employ volunteers in paid roles when they come up.

I’m interested in the proofreading too, I’ve done typing and editing for a friend of my mum’s but would love to do that properly.

Also interested in how to get into transcribing @Bovrilly if you have any tips please 💐

What about credit control? DH has been hiring since November as it is so busy they need more and more staff. I'm sure other businesses must be the same.

Apply for care work.

Another vote for the NHS.

I started working as an administrator for the temporary staff bank for my local NHS Trust, and from there successfully applied for a permanent role. The Trust I work for has rolling recruitment for the temporary staff bank - they are always looking for staff to join the bank, and are flexible re hours you are available to work (you don’t have to be available from 9-5)

Pros for me are flexibility (I work around school runs), fair & equitable employer & working with a big variety of generally pleasant & interesting people.

Cons - money is poor (fraction of what I used to earn as a PA in the city, but much better paid than care work)

If you have admin skills/experience it may be worth a try.