Would you commute 4 hours for 2 Half Days work paying £16 per hour or stay on Benefits?

[ChesterDraws17]

I'm finding it hard to get another job. this current one is six or eight hours a week. The work is admin. I'd be better off on benefits though? I get pip for my disabilities which means if I signed on to job seekers, I would get more than I earn. The travel leaves me exhausted and makes my pain worse. I hate hate hate the idea of going near a job centre though.

How can that be right? I'm really frustrated and miserable. Wish I didn't exist. All I do is panic because I'm here using up resources, needing food and a place to live and so much medical attention, and can't seem to pay my own way.

8000 applicants for 1 post?!! God that's horrendous.

I think you should keep working - £16 per hour is a great salary, and the job could lead to one with longer hours. You don't like the commute, but if you're not working, then would you really be doing anything worthwhile with that time anyway? I have a long commute too, and would never consider packing in my job. I think we all have an obligation to society to work if we can.

It is! And they ended up interviewing 40, they couldn't cut it down any further. I originally thought I hadn't got an interview, but the sifting through that many applications delayed the interviews by over a month.

I'm sure they won't be amused when I (hopefully) hand my notice in soon.

Like the OP though, I'm near a major city. Which it's near impossible to get work in. Completely so if you need part time work, as it's packed with students who also need part time work. Its crazy how competitive it is out there. Though I wouldn't be shocked if me and the OP live in the same area!

OP, I know this is slightly unrelated, but have you thought about trying to retrain in something you may be able to do from home?

Part of my job was agreed I could do from home but then boss changed mind. It is a job that in a lot of places should be fine to do from home.

I have no spare money to contemplate retraining.

You don't always need money to retrain! I was talking to someone else on here the other day about volunteering to gain experience and retrain in another field. Most places reimburse your travel expenses, plus lunch, so you wouldn't be out of pocket and you'd hopefully get a bit of a kickstart into something else.

This one is a pretty good example;

www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=f28a71518df54f42&from=serp&prevUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indeed.co.uk%2Fm%2Fjobs%3Fq%3Doxfam%2Bonline%26l%3D%26from%3Dhome%252Cwhatautoaltered

You'd get some really good experience in online marketing, photography and managing an online store. With experience it's entirely possible to set up doing this sort of thing independently for a local business, either in store or from home!

A few volunteer roles will still support you and fund training and qualifications. So it's worth a look. I know that's a totally random location and random role but I'm sure there'd be something local to you, and hopefully something you'd like to do.

Please don't think I'm telling you what to do! I'm just trying to think of anything that could potentially mean you don't need to commute that far.

Did they give you a reason as to why they changed their mind about you working from home?