Still unemployed

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Im now 53 and my youngest is now 16. And I'm still out of work. I find that every single application I make never gets a reply let alone never an interview. I was a full time teacher for fifteen years but Mr Blairs government started training loads of NQTs which means as Agencies now control the job markets then they only want to register teachers on the bottom of pay scale, straight from college. Then they can make more money from the schools. I cannot be blamed for my experience surely. Nore can this be blamed on the recent resession as I have been trying for well over ten years to get a job. Women who stay at home to be full time mums are TOTALLY ignored by this country. Do not do it unless you are married to a millionaire or a man that can get you a job later on. And if you get on a works program then they will just ignore you because you will have no job seekers entitlements. G4s only get paid to help claimers and not for women that can only claim a pension credit until they are 66. So they ignore you and just cancel your appointment. Being at home means you never see people or network jobs. It's dire. Woman signing on is desperate now. Do not have kids and give up your job or you will remain stuck and forgotten by your country INDEFINATELY. If you have had a similar experience and Are still in this position as me then please get in touch. Bev

Agree you do sound depressed.
Blame is one of the most fundamental of defence mechanisms.
Your beliefs seem so strong and polarised there seems little point offering advice re job hunting etc. at the moment. It seems like Emotional support might be better. so hugs even if they are thrown back at me

I'm afraid you do spun incredibly negative. The reason you are not being employed is neither your age or gender. It is the fact that you have not got any recent experience nor are your qualifications up to date.

If you were a little more positive I would suggest applying as a TA and then wowing them, getting great references and possibly the opportunity of an internal promotion or at least training. Sadly, I think your negativity will put them off.

at the age of 55 i have recently returned to the job market after 8 years as a carer, my career before this was in catering ok not high flying teaching but still a skilled job,

during this 8 years i have done volunteering at a charity shop, still volunteer at a cat rescue center, have cooked breakfasts as a volunteer at a drop in center for alchoholics and drug addicts, been to college to do a btec diploma in animal care with a view to looking at working with animals

recently tgi fridays have been advertising as they are opening a new branch in my town, i got an interview was totally positive at the interview did research on the company and the result is they have offered me a full time position starting in august and if when i start they offer me washing up all day i will do even that because its work

tutoring? Lots of rich families in altrincham. Knutsford, chester, wilmslow etc etc that would pay for 121 tutoring with such an experienced teacher?

This reminds me of a long thread a little while ago saying dont be a SAHM if you want a career

OP sorry you are so down with everything.

I am 46 and apart from a 3 year spell working I was a SAHM for 15 years. A couple of years ago my DH left and I had to do a major rethink , at first I was very positive and certain I could start again

Now I see its going to be an uphill journey but I accept that as a payback for my past choices

I did an IT course to expand my CV and after a while looking around have been working PT in a supermarket and PT in a coffee shop. Not great but ok for now although I can see "now" might be longer than I would have thought.

Can I ask have you applied for those kind of jobs ? I am not sure I agree with your view that middle aged women are suffering more in this market but havent looked into it

Many thanks all. Just shown your comments to my daughter who is revising for her final exam on Friday so she has kindly added her opinion. She thinks many of these suggestions are very good. And that I cannot expect any miracle answers. That these are constructive answers. In most cases. However mum, they do not seem to be totally aware that employers even when you volunteer are no longer taking people that have been SAHM. I've even offered to work with abused children or at my local prison for young offenders. It must be that life has moved on and 4 million of us have been left behind. It isn't going to be easy either to stay the course even if miracles be i ever got offered a job. I guess as I must now appear to many as a stay at home lay about. Or a useless antiquated old woman. But I haven't yet let myself go or become over weight...though I did recently do an MA part time to keep the grey sells going. Not got any more money left to part with now though. And I cannot even contribute to a pension anymore even if I wanted too I guess. LOL. But thanks all who are kind to consider my circumstances. If only to relieve me of a burden. But I also feel that it's the Nothwest that has lost its work mostly and can only offer boarded up shops or call centres for careers. It's not simple reinventing for any age. And many my age are struggling to even be noticed.

OP I understand why you're so frustrated but also wonder about this, what I call "scattergun" approach to applying for jobs. I understand why people are saying use what skills you have and think outside the box, and I think that applies for starting your own business, but I think that is less effective in applying for jobs. For example I have spent 3 months looking for work after having 12 months off to have a baby (redundancy whilst pregnant). I start a temp job next week at 25% less than my previous salary and it will only cover childcare and train ticket but in this market I consider it a success (and it is london!).

I turned a corner when I stopped with the scattergun approach and put effort only into the roles that were really suited to my experience, and put major time into those applications (very personalised cover letters, carefully edited CVs to match the job ad, following up with phone calls and emails to the recruiters). IME, the interviews/jobs I went for that I was perfectly capable of doing but outside of my industry did not come to anything, - as some said, they have plenty of applications from people from their industry so why would they take a chance on me? so I could have continued to apply for many and be saying I applied for hundreds of jobs, but really, what does that prove?

I wish you luck, ems

OK, I'm sorry - Glad your daughter agrees that there are some constructive comments. Women who have been at home CAN and DO get work after their children leave home. They cannot though expect to waltz straight back in a the level they were, or indeed the level they would be had they not taken the time to raise a family.
Sometimes you might have to go back in at a lower level and prove yourself, or you look for any kind of work - pub, shop, whatever. Get yourself back in teh market. Actually many employers do look for returners to work - I know in my previous job when we were recruiting senior admin staff we would take a more 'senior' applicant over a younger one any day - the younger one would want promotion and move on in under a year - older ones more steady, more wisdom etc etc - in general, before anyone slates me!
You also haven't responded to all the suggestions about how you might look at your CV and your method of application?

Re your northwest comments. Sigh... really, we aren't some kind of backwater. I challenge you to go to any town centre in any part of the country and not find boarded up shops and signs of, ooh, now, what's it called, oh yes a recession.

Your barrier isn't your age or your history - I would suggest your barriers are 1. we are in a recession - 10x as many people applying for ANY job so your chances are massively smaller 2. Your skills aren't up to date? 3. your cV and covering letter aren't offering a standout reason why people should see you for interview 4. your chip on shoulder attitude that all is lost

Sorry - I did have some sympathy (and I still have a little, looking for work is horrible) but all this doom and gloom is bound to have an effect on your success.

Try being a self employed tutor?

I agree with Ems. Don't email lots, search and search for the roles that you can target with relevant skills and experience. One well-tailored and researched job application is worth a hundred generic CV applications. Also make use of websites like www.monster.co.uk or LinkedIn, or Google for CV tips and templates relevant to your profession.

I'm returning to work in a few days after a four year career break, in an extremely male dominated industry (computer programming). For each role I applied for, I wrote an individual CV and cover letter which I adapted to highlight experience that I thought to be relevant to the role they were recruiting for.

Good luck.

Good luck to all on mums net. I guess I shall have to start registering on the unemployed forums from now on. Cannot keep calling my self a mum anymore I guess a regular unemployed woman sounds much more accurate.
Thanks

Why? Have your children disowned you?

Do you teach Performing Arts by any chance? You're very melodramatic.

dramatic much?!

oh, and what did you do with your children?

OP you can't carry on with this anger or you'll have a heart attack. Your projection is so strong I am sitting hundreds of miles away from you inexplicably countertransferentially stressed out.
Get support, face your issues and take responsibility. The first part of this is the most important.

This will sound daft, but are you applying direct to schools, and have you.tried eg cover supervisor jobs? We use very few agency staff at all so I think that's a hiding to nothing.

this sounds like a reverse post written by a WOHM who wants to prove what happens if you stay at home with the kids. We're all doomed I tell you!

OP, there have been some good ideas here - retraining, refocusing your search (and CV), trying to identify your transferable skills.

Like others here, I can feel your frustration and despondency - I suggest you get some help for the emotional side of things?

OP, I work in a university, where we do routinely, when we're allowed to recruit, employ women over 50. Please don't play this as "this is the situation for all older women who stayed at home to raise families". It happens that your lack of recent, current, experience is hampering your attempts to get jobs in the one field you will consider.

Start by contacting the people who wrote to you today, and turned you down. rather than assuming why you weren't interviewed, phone them up and ask them for feedback regarding your application so you have something useful for future applications. It may be that younger candidates were appointed but in recruitment terms, they have completed applications which better meet the essential and desirable criteria for the post, so have been shortlisted. You need to find out what you can add / stress / write differently to get your application into the pool of interview candidates. This may be training / volunteering / looking at posts outside of teaching.

Please don't give your daughters the misguided impression that their experience will be like yours. Universities now are making a big thing of employability and ensuring that students have work experience built into their courses along with CV creation etc. If they go on to university, they should be asking about these aspects of any course they're interested in as it will help them in the jobs market. Also there are far fewer SAHMs than there were when your girls were small, so they're more likely to have at least some level of ongoing work experience.

The economic conditions make it v difficult to find work, the North West has been quite badly hit by this recession, so I do sympathise with the OP. But what I don't understand is whether the OP is willing to do any work, or less skilled/paid work than teaching, or only teaching.

Your negativity will be hindering your jobsearch as much as your lack of recent classroom experience. Remove the chip from your shoulder and widen your net. You know you aren't going to meet the requirements for employment as a teacher so why flog a dead horse and apply? Thst's like me saying I want to be the Queen - ain't happening as much as I may want it to!!

On the Warrington council site there are 7 school jobs advertised, eg TA's and midday supervisory assistants - apply for those if you want to work. However I suspect you don't really want to work........

One thing I would be very careful about if applying for teaching jobs, or jobs demanding similar levels of qualification, would be to proof-read my applications very carefully. Your posts do contain quite a few spelling mistakes/mis-placed apostrophes/cases of unclear sentence construction: remember that in your case the written application is where you show-case the very skills you are trying to sell. Sloppy writing is the kind of thing that might get you weeded out at the first stage, so be very careful about that.

Then think about what mrseffington said:

"some time needs to be taken at looking at your CV - does it read well, does it pull out points that will appeal to an employer rather than just a list of what you've done and what you're qualified in."

"How are your covering letters - are they vibrant, interesting, enthusiastic and MEMORABLE? What are you saying in that first few lines that makes your application in the 'read with more detail later' rather than in the bin?"

The employers who reject your application are not on some kind of mission to discriminate against you for the sake of it: they just happen to find somebody else's application more interesting. So what have you got that could make you more interesting. Play to your strengths.

A friend of mine did a "return to teaching course" signed on with agencies and now has a full time job in one of the schools she worked in for the agencies.

I live in Warrington and I can see how work-wise it's difficult, as there are so many universities (Manchester, Manchester Met, Salford, Liverpool, LJM,Liverpool Hope, Chester, Edge Hill) training teachers.

That said, it's completely inaccurate (just wrong!) to say agencies only employ NQTs. There isn't a lot of supply work right now due to schools using cover supervisors but there is some. TA work is also available - as are cover supervisor posts.

I am sympathetic though. Job hunting is horrible. It could be worse though - you could be a single mum who has to work! :( I hate the fact I'll have to go back full time but no other option - it's crap.

So sorry for your situation. I'm in the north west and my mum was forced out of her teaching job, as were most of the other experienced teachers. We're at stalemate here with regards to employment as for every person who gets a job, another will lose one.

I don't really have any advice other than keep checking LG Jobs (jobs go public) etc but I hope things get better for you.