To not know how to get a job?

[BertieBotts]

I feel so rubbish at this because I don't know WTF I am doing.

I feel like most people have either qualifications or experience and I have neither. And I'm not a school leaver so this isn't really acceptable any more.

I've done part time work in shops. I just went in and asked.

Then a year in a Graphic Design studio which I wasn't really qualified for, just phoned around all the companies until one said yes. Loved that but no real hope of continuing that path (was almost 10y ago). Was made redundant from there. Then had DS.

More part time shop work. Was planning to do a degree but didn't finish it. Again, I just walked down the high street handing out CVs, and basically got this one by recommendation from a friend.

Last 3 years I've been teaching English abroad. Still live abroad, but the teaching is drying up and I really need something different. I just feel so overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

I look at job websites and even when I manage to screen out all of the things I'm impossibly unqualified for, they all ask for a covering letter and CV and I just don't even know what I'm supposed to put on there.

I would ask for advice/recommendations from local friends but I just feel so embarrassed because people expect you to have a general area, and I don't, I'm 30 next year and I don't have any direction and I only make about €150 a month. I don't really mind what they want me to do, as long as it doesn't involve grease or bodily fluids or spending long periods outside. But I don't have the money to invest in training (even language training) and I wouldn't even know what direction to aim in anyway. There must be basic jobs around, but I don't know where to look, or how to start.

If I think about how hopeful and excited about working I was when I was 16 it just makes me want to cry TBH :(

One good way of getting yourself into the working world is to volunteer for a charity. All the better if it can be a field that suits what you want to do. Teaching usually develops people skills, so you already have something to offer.

You can also go to the job centre or an agency like reply. Their job is to get you in employment. Good luck. You will get there.

I don't really mind what they want me to do
I think this could potentially put prospective employers off. By your 30s you are kind of expected to know what you want to be when you grow up.

Really Iona? Thats me fucked!

Ive worked since I was 15, and at 31 am still not sure "what I want to be" or why I have to "be" something.

I do a job I feel suits my skills, and which I know I contribute more than what my wage is for. I am happy and settled and if progression opens up I may or may not take it. But it isnt "what I am".

Maybe only 50% of myfriendss who are working are doing that whole "what i want to be" stuff. The rest of us are just doing what we know we do well, or doing what we need to pay the bills.

Have a look at what colour is your parachute book and website. Will give dome ideas and how to job search. Also gave a look at the icould website quiz which might give some clues.

Where do you live?

A friend of mine who teaches English in another country, now exclusively teaches adults to improve their 'business English'. With your teaching experience - could you look into doing something like this?

They have no qualifications either - but their mother tongue being English is exactly what is needed!

Go to a recruitment agency, a fairly generalised one, they'll help you draw up a decent CV, interview you and find you something.

OP I hope you don't mind if I hang out here to get some ideas.
I have a job but I'm ready to move on and get a grown up job, I'm older than you and still don't know what I want to 'be when I grow up'
But I want to know now and get a job that's not just a way to get a bit of money. I want to use my brain

You probably want to write your CV in a way that focusses on your transferable skills eg. Non linear careers are increasingly the norm so it's not a problem to have done a lot of different things, you just need to see everything you've done as what you're offering an employer, not bits of it.

Are you still teaching English? Why do you only make 150 euros a month? That doesn't seem like a living wage. If you are good at it and enjoy it, why not look for more work in that field? You could always sign on for a qualification in TEFL at the same time to boost your qualifications.

By your 30s you are kind of expected to know what you want to be when you grow up.

Well, yep, exactly, that's sort of the problem.

God I would LOVE to have a "grown up" job but honestly, I'd settle for something which pays at the moment. I don't even know if I could manage a "grown up job", if I'm totally 100% honest with myself, which is gutting. No, I want to aim for full time work first, that's all, just little steps. I am totally sick and tired of feeling like I am worth so little. Do you know I have never even had one payslip at full time minimum wage?

I'm in Germany, user. Freelance teaching is definitely an option but I don't know where to start. It's mostly evenings which is difficult for DH. Plus I've been doing morning/evening split for three years and it's wrecking my health because you can never relax. I like teaching, but I don't really want the hassle of being freelance. I would rather just turn up to a place, do what is asked of me and go home. I don't mind taking work home. I just want someone else to figure out the payments and the contracts and all the legal stuff and to know that I'll have a steady income and not be lurching from feast to famine all the time.

Recruitment agency may be worth a go. I used to do temp work through a couple and they were helpful. I think I will look for one, thanks.

I make 150 after paying for transport and childcare. I used to get more in overtime but I barely have any classes at the moment. I do pay higher taxes than DH because it works out better for us as a couple so a huge chunk of my wage is on health insurance and tax. I was supposed to be learning to drive so that I could get more classes, but it turns out I'm shit at driving so I haven't got very far with that. I am looking into changing instructors, but I can't really afford the new lessons.

Surely transport and childcare is a shared cost though? So you shouldnt only have 150 in your hand at the end of the month if the rest of it has gone on the whole of the childcare bill.

I've got a CELTA, not that they've really looked at it ever! I do enjoy English teaching I'm just coming up to a block when I think about freelancing. I just need to enquire at some other schools, probably. Not knowing what's allowed in terms of freelancing while working on a contract doesn't help but this is a block really rather than a barricade.

Yes, people always say this on mumsnet, but in reality, if I wasn't working, we wouldn't need childcare. Whereas if DH wasn't working, we wouldn't have a house. I increased the childcare to enable me to work more hours. So it comes out of my wage. The transport costs is literally just my tram ticket which covers my working area. If I wasn't working I wouldn't buy it and wouldn't take the tram very often at all. The childcare is only €40 a month anyway.

I have minus numbers at the end of the month in my hand currently, because DH does not make enough to cover all of the bills to sustain all of us, so I cover food and clothing. This worked when my transport costs were lower and when I didn't pay childcare. But I decided it would be nice to earn a bit more so I approached them about the driving, and we worked out a plan which would involve me learning to drive. As part of this, I took on further away classes, increasing my transport bill, and different hours, which meant I needed childcare. That was doable, because I was getting loads of overtime.

Now, I'm fucked, because the overtime has gone and I'm just on my core salaried hours. The original classes I had have ended or changed, almost all of my hours now require childcare or further travel, and if I refuse to do the further-away classes, or the ones which clash with DS's childcare time, then I basically don't have a job.

Really Iona?
Really, NapQueen. I knew when I was about 8-9 years old that I wanted to be a teacher; I became a teacher and worked as one for nearly 20 years in 2 countries. Most of my peers had at least an idea by the time we were 14. Obviously, it changed for some of us, but at least the question was in the foreground and you thought about it.

Freelance teaching is definitely an option but I don't know where to start
OP, there must be tons of info on German Government websites about this.

By 14 I was totally on track to work in graphic design, but I didn't get into university on my first try, and then I had a baby. I never got the qualification so I can't do that now. I did change my mind and go back to university to study something else but I ran out of money and the English teaching seemed like something interesting and potentially useful to do. I do envy people who've always had a strong idea of what they want, and/or know how to work out a path to get there because it's not my strong point at all.

I can find info about laws relating to freelancing, though there isn't anything as consistent or easy to understand as the gov.uk website, but not much on the pertinent questions such as where do I find students, where do I hold the classes, how much to charge, etc.

Anyway I've done some calculations today and I was missing something out, so I don't feel as panicky, but I am definitely looking into options all the same.

Your covering letter should refer to the job description

I have the qualifications as requested
I am organised and hard working
I have the computer skills required

CV should also be skills based

I worked in X shop where I gained invaluable customer service skills
In X job I learnt spread sheets and stock ordering
Whilst working at Y school I was flexible around exam times and offered additional tutoring outside my contracted hours showing I understood the demands expected of me
I have used research skills for Z project

Just follow what they are looking for and tie it together

IonaNE Sun 26-Mar-17 21:26:04

"Most of my peers had at least an idea by the time we were 14. Obviously, it changed for some of us, but at least the question was in the foreground and you thought about it."

So did most of my peers. And I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the ones who are still in the profession they had planned out at the age of 14. I am one of a very few.

Semaphorically is spot on: think in terms of transferable skills and phrase it that way on your CV.