First World job issues

[Gingernaut]

I left a zero hours bank role in one hospital for an entirely different hospital role in another hospital.

I went from a sedentary clerical to an active technical role.

It did not work out - short, fat, unfit and prone to injury, I have managed to spend six months signed off sick after a knee injury and a complicated recovery.

I scatter gunned my area looking for another hospital role. I have worked for the NHS for over 10 years and I need to think about my pension.

After many interviews, where I was 'just' pipped at the post, I've been offered a full time permanent job and I've accepted it.

Guess where?

The same place I left. Doing exactly the same thing as before I left, only this time as a permanent employee instead of as a bank worker.

I'm only on SSP and I'm skint. I need the job and I can and will do it, but

1. It feels like a comedown. I genuinely thought my current role would be my dream job and I was so excited to go. People were genuinely pleased I was getting out of there and moving on.

1. I am fatter than when I left. I had lost a considerable amount of weight before I left (Size 22 to a Size 16) and during Lockdowns and Covid, have put it all back on again - I am currently the same weight as when I first started to lose weight years ago. I eat when I'm miserable. It's going to be humiliating.

1. Even the commute is some nightmarish blast from the past. Yesterday, I had to visit the hospital to present my documents (interview was held on MS Teams) and a single bus journey took over 90 minutes, due to multiple roadworks - just as it did two years ago.

I mean, fuck me. How many times do the same stretches of road need to be dug up?

Water, Gas, Telecoms, road widening - it's all been done and it's being done all over again.

I felt sick as the bus waited for the STOP/GO boards to turn. AGAIN!!!

It honestly feels like nothing has changed there and that all the things that irritated me about the place the last time will have me chomping at the bit to leave all over again.

The 24/7/365 shift pattern will be irregular, so there's no ability to have a regular activity and I have to find a way to cope before I just melt down again.

@Gingernaut

ADHD, dyslexia and some elements of dyspraxia.

I'm done with PIP. I'm too intelligent, apparently.

I can fix myself a meal, walk, take care of my personal hygiene and hold down a job.

How many lessons/ tests did you have?

I've spent tens of thousands of pounds since I was a teen and always too incompetent for tests

I’m sorry to hear this.

Did you try to learn on an automatic?

Have you ever received any occupational therapy/ help for your dyspraxia?

Can you ride a bike?

Might be a way to help your fitness and get around.

No

No

Can't balance.

There is no formal diagnosis of dyspraxia - only 'elements of'

Update: Not good news

My spare time is spent looking for other jobs and I'm often in tears after not being able to find anything suitable to apply for

Things are worse than ever, with people leaving, managers missing in action and tech failures leaving us unable to do our jobs properly

I had two weeks off and was crying the night before

I hate this place, the management and a large portion of my co-workers.

I need to get out of here.

Sorry to hear things are no better for you a year on.

Have you considered looking into home working for a company that provides customer service staff to other companies? My husband has been doing this type of role from home for more than 2 1/2 years firstly working for NHS Test & Trace and now for a company who provide customer service staff to a variety of organisations such as Vodaphone, Bupa and the AA.

There are minimum requirements for computer equipment and home working environment such as private working space with suitable desk/computer chair/screens, adequate internet connection and privacy from other household members while working to maintain customer privacy but he enjoys the work as it’s all inbound call handling and no sales or pushy tactics. Wages could be better but he has no commuting costs, eats 3 meals a day at home with me and the children and is ‘home from work’ within minutes of the end of his shift for the day.

He found the roles through LinkedIn, and Indeed.com and, depending on the parent company you work for, training opportunities are available regularly.

I don't meet the minimum standards for IT, although I could upgrade

I hate customer service and to receive abuse down the phone in my own home would be the last straw

Someone else has called in sick, so I'm working 11.5 hours not 7.5 hours

I'm sick of this

My husband is working for Bupa now and it’s not traditional CS - he’s going to be taking calls from patients booking referrals to consultants; before this it was AA European breakdown cover. It’s not complaints and the number of calls involving abuse is incredibly low.

Thanks. I'll look into it, but CS is soul destroying

I've spent nearly 20 years in laboratories and I can feel my brains shrinking with every call.

I need to wear a lab coat again, but I haven't seen the inside of a lab for years and I'm minimally qualified for lab work now

So if lab work is your passion, lets focus on that. Whilst NHS labs are a large employer, there are also lots of other labs - water companies, food hygiene, factories, dairies, dental labs, private IVF and fertility clinics, private hospitals.... Have you contacted your NHS labs to chat to the manager there? Get to know people in that team, see if you can find out what's available - knowing people is always useful.

By way of example - 19 jobs come up in Plymouth when I type in laboratory. Granted, not all of them will be relevant or suitable for you, but maybe some food for thought on lateral thinking?

Have you considered getting some support on CV writing and looking at transferable skills? It's really hard when you're stuck in a soul destroying and exhausting rut, and it's much more difficult to see what you can do or be at your best. It could be useful to get someone to support you with that kind of task.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this.

As ai said, I'm minimally qualified, in science subjects

I started life processing isotopes and thirty years later, my last job was as a lab attendant - cleaning, emptying bins and setting up for the following day

I blew my chance at studying for a relevant qualification, by studying for an HND in Journalism and now can't use student loans to study for any other higher qualification.

I am applying for jobs, but I can't get interviews, as I don't have A Levels or a relevant HND

My 24/7/365 job means I have 2 weekends, 1 Wednesday and 1 Tuesday off a month.

But you have lots of experience in the industry - that will count for lots! If you're not getting interviews, is the application / CV the issue? If you haven't got the absolutely required qualifications then, no, you won't get an interview but if the qualifications are "desirable" rather then "required", that suggests the issue is the detail of the application being submitted.

Are you also ticking the box for disability-friendly employers guaranteed interview schemes? From what you've described, I absolutely would. They don't ask for evidence of a diagnosis, just any reasonable adjustments you might have for interview.

As you're in the NHS, do you qualify for access to internal jobs? Network network network. Get chatting to people. Make small talk. Chat up people in interesting departments even if it's only in passing. Make your face known to them.

Ask for a career chat with your bosses. Ask about progression, training, opportunities for cross-department skilling, temporary promotion, team leader work - absolutely anything that adds to your CV and ability to escape.

If labs really aren't an option, what do you actually want to DO?

Yes, I tick the Disability boxes

There is no cross department training - there is one department and it's a dead end job, with no hope of promotion

Internal training is strictly limited to relevance to your current job.

We are isolated from the rest of the hospital and the staff, but if I'm off shift, I have shown up to meetings and training courses relevant to admin.

I want to work in a pharmacy, but the only open positions are for those with a Level 2 City & Guilds qualification

www.cityandguilds.com/qualifications-and-apprenticeships/health-and-social-care/pharmacy-services/5355-pharmacy-service-skills#tab=information

I can't afford to work as an apprentice at £4.81 an hour - even if it is 'just' a year.

I need to apply for a pharmacy assistant role that allows study with an external trainer and they're as rare as hens' teeth.

Most pharmacies do their own 'in house' training, with 'in house' validation that means nothing to other trusts - they hsve you trapped then.

Added bonus - the training program tells your supervisor when you enrol on a course and when you've passed it, meaning I'm subject to 20 questions as to why I've done that.

I've gone behind my supervisor's back and enrolled into the 'training community' for the software we use and downloaded manuals for the equipment we use.

Training here is minimal.

Apply for a science technician role in a secondary school. Interesting, predictable, 9am-3pm, never work a weekend or shift again and 12 weeks' holiday a year with 0 stress. This will buy you down time, time to rest, to heal, to get fit and to make plans. They are often advertised as maternity covers, too-so you wouldn't be locked in to it for ever. Good luck 🤗

Sorry, but I've been there. A secondary school. Fuck that. I'm never doing that again.

OK 🏃

If you have lab experience, then have you applied for lab assistant/technician/analyst roles? Many places only care if you can do the job, they’re not bothered about qualifications. A degree just gets you a first job - if you’ve already had that, then it’s not as important. Write your CV focussing on your skills - sectors/techniques/types of analyses etc. Maybe even look at allied roles within science-based manufacturing such as QA.

Yes. I apply for any role that does not consider a degree as essential

I was covering sick leave in a school and it was horrific

The lack of supplies and violence (male and female) was horrendous - especially when the lab prep room was the 'time out' spot.

School work is not 'low stress' by any stretch.

and tonight, I waited an hour and a half for a bus - on a service which is supposed to half hourly.

FFS.

Wish me luck

I have a job interview

The first in a couple of years

Same employer, different area, no shift pay

If I got it, it would be a massive drop in pay and a return to Groundhog Day 9 to 5 working, but I might gain some semblance of a work/life balance

Second interview, closer to home, different employer

Watch me blow them both 😢

OP, with respect, you need to work on being positive. You absolutely will come across as negative because everything anyone has suggested in this entire thread you have turned down. Start a gratitude journal, focus on the good things in your life, start speaking kindly to yourself. It will start to pay off.

Good luck with the interviews.