to not want to work for the minimum wage?

[DiamondDoris]

Job hunting - okay, only want to work part time, quite prepared to do anything, but everything round here seems to be between £5.93 and £6 ph. I'm 45, (degree etc plus work experience in many fields). I don't won't to devalue myself and think this would be a major step backwards. I just don't think I could get myself motivated for that small amount of money.

What do you think? AIBU? Oh, and I'd need to earn enough for a small mortgage and provide for 2 kids

I work for 6 pound an hour and at least I know I earn my money. I dont feel like I am above it or I am 'devaluing' myself. I just would rather do that than claim benefits as I have self respect. I have a degree and lots of experience in 2 different fields.

I'm job hunting too and its a little soul destroying. But there's not many folks out there who get paid their worth.

My job search is two fold: Get any job, to show willing and continue looking.

I've been a SAHM for 7 years so I need to show employers that I'm up to speed, I KNOW I am but can't prove it. So I'm taking a CIPD evening course and applying for everything that's out there, with a view to negotiating any offer as mumblechum suggests.

I was ever so slightly offended at getting turned down from McDonalds though, but my jobsearch is a long term project and if that means that I work for peanuts for a while, just to show on my CV that I'm serious, so be it. (I wouldn't CHOOSE to work at McDonalds)

Do you have anything you could offer in today's job market? You don't say what kind of work you've been involved with. Could you consult or teach at further education level?

I was in a similar position to you a few years ago. I found a reasonably well paid part-time job in NHS administration - but I got it on the basis I had worked as a care assistant in a hospital (at slightly more than minimum wage) for a while and had nhs experience. Universities sometimes have reasonably paid part time admin jobs.

I too am a graduate with many years work experience. I chose to work in care when my dd was a baby, so that I could spend as much time as possible with her. It's not so much the money I found devaluing, it was the treatment from management - being told off for having any initiative. I found I had to bite my tongue a lot to survive.

I can understand how you feel. It is not a living wage. But taking a job may lead to something better. Good luck

If you want decent pay work full time, even if it is just temporary, then switch to p/t.