Stressed and don't know what to do.

[muchtooshy]

In a bit of a panic as have found out that my job is ending at the end of July. I can't afford not to work!

I just don't know what sort of job to look for. I mean really I need to do anything but do ideally want a job that I like.

School admin would be good but I don't know when those jobs tend to be advertised. So I am looking at admin in general but they all seem to want immediate starts which I can't really do. If I go for something like working in a shop or cleaning is it unfair to still be looking for a different job?

I just don't know what I am good at. After almost a year in my current job I feel utterly rubbish at everything, like a failure, and like I am not good enough for anything.

I loved admin (school hours would be amazing) but I don't know how competitive these are. Plus I am not sure if I could sell myself in an interview after having my confidence knocked by my current role ...... big case of face not fitting there.

Even if administration jobs you like say immediate start, apply anyway. If they really like you they will hold the job for you

Capability is not your biggest hurdle and probably isn't a a hinderance at all but your severe lack of confidence, definitely is.

Convincing an employer to believe in you, when you clearly don't, is going to be difficult. Job centres sometimes offer workshops to help in the identification and selling of your skills but you may want to address your lack of confidence separately.

Why do you think so little of yourself?

Don't limit yourself to school admin jobs if you don't absolutely have to. They can be thin on the ground.

What sort of work did you do for your previous employer? Might they consider re-employing you if you asked?

I know what you mean about the language used on job adverts sounding intimidating and unrealistic. I have never met these super-enthusiastic, highly driven totally dedicated team players who are utterly focussed to the exclusion of all else. Very off-putting, but you aren't alone in feeling that way. Some of them are ridiculously bigged up. Try to look past the bullshit and apply anyway if the job is suitable.

Isetan, constant belittling or whispered conversations behind your back in a workplace where your face doesn't fit will cause the crisis of confidence. It grinds you down and you lose the ability to believe in yourself at all. Somewhat like an abusive relationship I suppose.

It happened to me in one place I worked. I was lucky. A contact I had in another firm in the same field offered me a job just in the nick of time, so I was able to tell my horrible employer to shove it and move to the better one.

You could also try eteach for school support vacancies. I do the recruitment at my school and we always advertise on eteach, county council website and our own school website. I wouldn't worry too much about internal candidates, when I was interviewed for my current role (office manager), there were 3 internal and 2 external candidates. I was external. You sound like you have alot to offer a school, just make sure when you apply you focus your application on the requirements of the person specification. Good luck.

Ask local schools directly. Be very careful when submitting application forms - any with spelling or grammatical errors go straight in the bin, as do illegible hand written ones. Experience and qualifications are looked at next.
I filter the applications for DHs school for him. People who say they "pay attention to detail" then don't complete the form properly drive me nuts, as do those who profess "excellent typing skills" and clearly can't even use spell checker.
Could you even volunteer to do school newsletters or similar just to get your foot in the door?

I am sorry things didnt work out in your current job. I would imagine its more to do with money / cutbacks than anything personal. Lots of good advice on here about temping and signing on with local agencies is a good idea too. Good luck, i hope something turns up for you soon.

School admin in the schools ive worked in are office hours 28 days holiday a year, or some are office hours term time plus two weeks.

If you are in london, pm me about a vacancy I know of which might suit- has not been advertised as yet, am going to try and put it on mumsnet jobs soon anyway! Is admin based but not school. Part time/term time working would suit.

They might be ending your job in july, if you find something before it ends, give notice and leave!

You've had a shit time and have no confidence right now, but think of the relief of never having to see those people again. It wasn't the right place for you, jobs are like relationships and sometimes they just don't fit either party despite the general things in common.

Apply for admin jobs- there are very experienced cleaners and retail workers going for retail jobs because that's their area of experience- employers won't want someone "settling" for any job who will probably leave to do what they really want to do, so you're limiting yourself by applying for these.

Consider a bit of temping- yes money will be an issue as there is less security, but it might let you build confidence and get experience of different employers. I've had a few temps like yourself on short contracts who were clearly a bit "broken" when they started after a bad experience, even though we couldn't keep them on, after a few weeks their confidence was back. They've gone on to longer contracts/perm work and they were ready to face it knowing they were not useless or rubbish, just survivors of one bad experience and getting themselves back on track.

Also check out universities close to you - they're often fairly well paid jobs for admin and are only advertised on the university websites. xx

Try your local college/uni . You may find they need extra staff for enrolments from late August which could lead to something more permanent.

you will not get a bad reference. You might get a neutral one, but people are very weary of writing anything bad in a reference unless there has been a proper disciplinary. If you need the money, I would try anything. I interview a lot for roles that are quite admin based. It is fully understandable that people some times cannot wait for the perfect role, and do other things in between. You just have to explain that if they question it

I left my last job confident that I could do a good job and that I knew what I was doing. Not being big headed but I worked hard and met my targets and did my work well. Now .... I feel like nothing I do is good enough - always being compared to colleagues, picked up and tripped up and left out of so many conversations.

I think I need to draw a line under this job and focus on finding something new but the idea of going in every day for the next 6 weeks .......... I feel sick.

that's understandable, but it will go quicker if you just focus on being busy all the time. Have you got any holiday left to take?

If you are in the right area then check out the job Tired is talking about. You need just a little bit of luck right now, and I hope you get it.

Lets hope you even get something that could start before the end of July and then you can just walk out on these bitches. They deserve each other.

Just focus on the light at the end of the tunnel now. The end of July isn't so far away, but still just enough time to suss out the job scene. You do have one big advantage now in that you can surely just go to job interviews and be open about it without having to make up excuses. They surely can't tell you that your job is ending in a few weeks and expect you to do nothing about it. Surely they can also expect that if you find anything in that time then you might just go as you are clearly very unhappy there and your mental health counts for something.

Could you go and visit you ex employer for a chat and confidence boost ? Stick a smile on and go for it tomorrow to you.

when I was made redundant a few years ago from a management role, the corporation I was working for provided us all with 10 hours of one to one coaching with an employment consultant. This was to help us prepare for new interviews, build up confidence, etc. The best advice I got from the consultant was "never play the victim in a job interview". If they ask you why you are leaving your current role, just be factual. " there was a restructure and my role was impacted " or "my contract came to an end and the position was no longer needed". Remember it is the role that is not needed NOT you.

Sorry they have been unkind and knocked your confidence in current place. Try to remember the bigger picture, of all your additional experience to just this last year and your qualifications.

They won't give you a bad reference, threat of litigation is too great for that, so don't worry.

Try to stay positive. It sounds like a good thing that your contract ends in July really, if you stayed longer your confidence would only be ground down further.