about this 'just get a job' malarkey

[boschy]

I am musing aloud here. I have been looking for a part-time job for a couple of months now to supplement my freelance income. I don't want a full-time job, I've already got a freelance role. But I would like a 'proper' job for various reasons - more money, more social interaction, more structure, less precarious than freelance etc. We currently receive no benefits (apart from CB) although if I can't increase my income we might be able to claim WTC. I would prefer a job.

However, all the jobs in my area are things like care assistant/catering/HGV or forklift driver. I totally respect the people who do these jobs and I very much doubt I have the ability to do any of them (lack of empathy and dodgy back/no culinary skills/no spatial awareness respectively.)

Moving out of the area in order to find a job is not practical (DD1 in Y10 hence GCSEs; costs and time involved in house sale; DH's business is based near here).

So, when people say "there are jobs" or "any job is better than no job" do they really mean that? Should you take a job you will probably be rubbish at, or should you let someone else have that job?

I was getting slightly annoyed at my friend recently who was made redundant then didnt even start looking for a job for 9months. shes 33 lives with parents.

And then was moaning that she couldnt find anything, the pub just up the road from her offered her, her old job back that she had when she was about 20 and she turned it down and instead then blew all her redundancy money on drink.

She has a 6month contract now, but was not even trying to get temping work or anything.

I am lucky that i have worked on and off for about 10 years in an industry where, its a who you know or are known by industry, so can pretty much walk into a job, (that i wouldnt really want to do, but would take it)

Yes care homes are desperate around here.

All the local papers are full of vacancies for Carers, Telesales and Kleeneze distributors.

However no-one should ever take a job as a Carer if they genuinely don't care.

Not everyone is cut out to do that sort of job, so it pisses me off when Jobcentres keep trying to persuade people to do it.

it's not right though is it? yes we do need the money but I would be a crap carer. I also think it is unlikely anyone would want me as a carer, I think they would recognise that I wouldnt be any good at it, and they'd probably think I was over-qualifed anyway.

I'd rather do telesales or shelf stacking - none of those on offer either!

I NEED a job, made redundant in December, and was then on a benefit, and that has been stopped as I didn't have enough points at the medical. The only jobs going round here is forklift driving, or driving job, and as I cant drive none are suitable for me, even the care jobs need own transport.

YANBU. My DH lost his job 4 years ago. He's either massively overqualified, or they look at the time he's had out of work and dismiss him. He's got MS, so a physical role isn't appropriate.

My Dad's friend (79yrs old) needed a carer after suffering a couple of strokes and most of the ones the agency sent were bloody awful.

Some were lazy, some could hardly speak a word of English and he thinks one of them stole money from him, but he couldn't prove it.

Anyway, the last one took the piss to a new level.

My Dad couldn't get in touch with him one day and after a few hours, he called the Police because he was so worried.

When the Police got there, they found his friend unconscious in the chair....he'd been there since early evening the day before.

The Ambulance Crew hit the roof when they looked in the Carer's record book and she'd written, "Arrived at 6pm to give Mr X his dinner but he was asleep in the chair and I couldn't rouse him. Washed dishes and left at 6.20pm"

Stupid fucking bitch. Thankfully the Ambulance Crew made sure she was sacked!

I worked since leaving college and worked my way up to a fairly decent well paid job but it was a bit specialised, made redundant last Oct and applied for several jobs from civil service, employment advisors, refuge, working with young people and had heard nothing from all but one which was a polite no thanks. I was extremely lucky in that a very rare post came up in Public health which I have just been offered at a similar salary to the one I was on, on the same day ASDA e-mailed to say thanks but no thanks for a part time minimum wage job there really is no rhyme or reason to any of this job hunting lark just don't expect that even a 'stop gap' job will want you, and I do not know the reasons, maybe 'overqualified' is off putting.

oh and just a reminder to anyone being made redundant, even if you have redundancy money and a working partner you are entitled to JSA for 6 months because you worked and contributions were paid. lots of people assume that they can't claim cos they have redundancy but contribution based JSA does not look at income, only that you actually contributed whilst working. It changes after 6 months and if you have a working partner you won't get anything else.

"... I have been told that I am overqualified for absolutely everything ...^

Not even remotely posible.

Worra that is appalling.Poor bloke. The trouble with caring is that it is not valued by society whether it is paid work or whether you are claiming Carers Allowance for caring for a family member. You are paid a low wage for the former and the lowest benefit for the latter as well as being viewed as a benefit scrounger. Just to clarify though it is NOT an excuse for abuse or negligance.

Yeah it was awful

I forgot to mention that he was unconscious because he'd slipped into a diabetic coma and she knew he had diabetes

But it ended really well because when word got about, a lady living in his street (ex Nurse) offered to care for him and according to my Dad, she's truly fantastic.

She even drops him at the British Legion on a Saturday evening so he can have a few drinks....and then picks him up at 11.30pm and drives him home

The problem with "just get a job" is that invariably there aren't very many available and those who have advertised them are usually doing so because no one in their right minds wants a job paying "5p an hour + OTE of £500,000"

Unfortunately us workers have somewhat shot ourselves in the foot here... Basically the reason no employer wants to create jobs is that the red tape they have to wade through is ridiculous. Stuff like maternity leave and protecting people who don't do their jobs properly from being fired.

If the government let people be hired on a freelance basis - hire and fire at will with each person negotiating their own terms - it would boom the jobs market and the economy. It would take the risk of hiring out of the equation for employers. And it would create much needed jobs for people who want them, whilst weeding out the people who don't want to work quickly.

Pendeen, was that mine?
I know it's not possible. But it doesn't stop employers refusing me on those grounds, hence why I've been advised to strip my cv. Given that the last two jobs I've held have been entry level positions on minimum pay, I would have thought I'd have convinced someone I didn't care what I did, as long they paid me... But apparently not.

So i have to remove my education and senior management bollocks, just leave the two school leaver jobs, and claim amnesia when they ask why I'm 41 and what I've been doing for the last twenty odd years.

Genuinely not a boast post. Just the feedback I've had over the last year. The area is swamped with seasonal workers, and a lot of the positions are specifically funded as student opportunities.

No one wants a middle aged woman with kids (particularly where one of them has a disability) They want cheap seasonal staff that will leave at the end of the season when the next batch come in. That way they don't have to pay wage increases, and they can get rid of staff easily. I'm not even getting interviews, the area is swamped with temporary workers.

Anyway, good luck, Boschy.

My current contract is up, and I am out there again..eek!

My advice (as someone who gets jobs often)is:

Be ruthless in the editing of your CV. Tailor it to exactly what the employer wants. Remove anything that is totally irrelevant.

Often, the higher up you aim, the better you do.
I got nowhere applying to supermarkets. They are not stupid-they know I won't be staying long-the minute I get more work in my field I'm off.

I had 3 interviews for jobs I knew I could do, but thought i was punching above my weight. They didn't.
Try and think like a man. Men will apply for a job they feel 60 % confident they can do, whereas a woman will feel she has to be 100%.

See it thru the eyes of the employer, every time you apply for a job.
Basically what they want is someone who will do the job adequately, not bring in personal problems, get along with everyone else (e.g fit in) and stay as long as they are needed.
Thats it.
They just want no hassle and reliability, no matter what the job.

I am wishing you luck OP-wish me luck too!

yes, I need to do some work on my CV I think. its ideal for my field, but not much good when I'm applying outside of it.

good luck to all of us - there must be jobs we wonderful women can do!!

I am unemployed and it seems unemployable. We were out of the UK for 11 years and my nursing registration ran out - couldn't do the study days.
Since we were away for so long, I am not eligible for any benefit not even family allowance since DH gets 40 euros a month for our DD.
I applied for a job in a pub that's being built. 1500 applications were given out for 80 jobs. I applied for a job as a driver for a chemist 100 A/Fs.
I can't work in a factory, I don't have the relevant experience. It's all a big fat bag of shit really.

I would retrain as something - if a) I could think of something to retrain as, b) someone would pay me soemthing while I did it, and c) 51 is not considered too old to do it.

Its weird, the most amount of time I took out of work for having babies was 10 months (during which we moved house as well and I went freelance). Yet I do feel as if I am on the scrapheap now - I could understand if I had not worked for a number of years that I might have confidence issues, or have to be creative with the CV or whatever, but I have hardly ever NOT worked and still I'm struggling.

And the amount of qualifications/certificates you need know to do an entry level job is bizarre... no one seems to value experience any more. obv I am an old gimmer.

I'm an old gimmer, too. Like you, OP, I work freelance, but would like some addional part-time work.

I've applied for loads of (low-level) jobs, but not got an interview. However, for the last couple, I've pruned an A-Level, taken off post-graduate qualifications, toned down my achievements, etc etc, and I've had a couple of interviews. And last week, I got the part-time job, despite the interviewer going on about how overqualified I was. This, however, was for a job that wasn't widely advertised, so there wasn't much competition.

But the pay is only £7.50 an hour (about £14k FTE) - above minimum wage, but in London pretty poor. Cleaners round here are paid £12 an hour. The last time I received pay that low was in 1990! But at least it's a job, and may lead on to something... or not. The ironic thing is, I reckon for a similar full-time job, the company would be offering at least £18k, and probably more. But people are desparate for part-time jobs.

NowThenWreck Wish I'd seen your post before I accepted this job

I agree, I didn't realise how hard it was until recently when my friend who has recently become a single mother tried to get work. She eventually managed to get one but it is only for only for 2 days a week so then had to look around trying to find a few extra hours in another job which she has now done, so she is now doing 2 jobs one of which is miles away from her home she is really struggling and housing benefit have stopped her money so she can't pay the rent next week as doesn't get her first pay check until next month. I don't know what she would do if she had to pay for childcare well she wouldn't have been able to work I guess, i'm having her child at the moment, in the morning and after school until she can get herself sorted, even so I think she may have to quit and look for something else it really isn't practical and because her benefit moneys been stopped she can barely afford the petrol to get there :(

mrs scoob Has your friend taken advice as she may still get housing benefit depending on her wage, and why have they stopped the hb before she gets paid? They used to let benefits follow on until you get paid wages, then recalculate, but perhaps that has changed now? Is it to do with providing payslips?

Also has your friend looked into tax credits, as if she is doing 16 hours she can get working tax credit and help towards
childcare. (and housing benefit take account of childcare as well.) Sorry if you have both thought of that already/problem is with delays in the system.

OP there seem to be some jobs, but so many, although part time, state you have to be available at all times (including care assistant jobs).

I have a job, but no set hours, so need something else as well.

As others have said, there are so many applicants for each job. So even if I spend hours tailoring c.v. or filling in the form, hear nothing back usually. The interviews are more difficult than they used to be as well. It's hard to know what they are wanting you to say to persuade them to give you the job.

Gone are the days when I could just go knocking on doors and asking around and walk into a job.

Turning to the job section in the local paper, usually it's Anne Summers party planner, kleeneze, and things like escorts, lady mud wrestler type jobs.

OP, I think you might need to be more ruthless about your teenagers. They CAN cope without you at their ages, even if they get a bit bored.

Anyway, by the time they get up over the holidays, you'll have done half a day's work; and you could always take a Wednesday, say, out of holiday allowance.

Not that I can speak -- I've been freelance for donkey's years and have never made mine do a full week in the house over the summer either.

I'm in a similar boat, getting some freelance income but not an impressive amount, and really missing the social side of work more as the kids get older and school doesn't involve parents in the same way.