AIBU I’ve made myself unemployable?

[Jobdramallama]

Hi all, I’m posting here for traffic and looking for some insight.

I’m currently unemployed and applying for everything and anything. Retail, office, whatever. But absolutely no one is even replying let alone actually turning me down. My employment history is sketchy. I trained to a level 2 working in education and EY but most jobs require level 3 which id need a job to be able to train for. So those jobs don’t want me.
Anything else can see I’ve worked in education so I think turn me down on the basis of it being so different to office/retail/hospitality.
My brief hospitality experience is currently pointless.
I have huge gaps in my history for bouts of MH issues where I just fucked about because I couldn’t get my head together.
I’m in my mid 20s.

I’m so poor, DP is putting (understandably) big pressure on me to get something soon as he’s currently furloughed and his safety net of savings is getting low supporting both of us and multiple pets. I’m so desperate yet no one will take me on.

I’m in the bottom 1%, this is almost a year of unemployment now (since lockdown 1.0). UC are saying if I don’t get something soon they’ll make me work voluntary hours (30 a week, for 290 a month). I feel so worthless and desperate and I don’t know what to do.

@EspressoExpresso

Why shouldn't you be doing voluntary work? It shows commitment, reliability, can provide an up to date reference and lead to training opportunities and potentially even job opportunities.

Every single person currently employed in the company I work for started as a volunteer.

This. Why aren't you working voluntary hours already, frankly? You're still young, you have the chance to turn it around, but especially with CV gaps you need to show you have a work ethic. I suspect that the 'experience' line might be not quite correct, it's the most common excuse you can use when you're turning down a candidate who isn't quite right.

It is a crap time to be unemployed, but you still have a huge avenue you haven't explored with voluntary work, hopefully with this and your age you can make something work.

As someone who volunteers (in regular times when we're actually allowed to leave the house) I wouldn't be comfortable volunteering alongside the OP with her attitude.

She's had plenty of time and opportunity to volunteer in the past and hasn't - she's not interested. The whole point of a volunteer is that they want to be there, to help the charity. The last thing we want is someone imposed on us, who doesn't want to be there, who resents the situation, who "knows their worth" and doesn't contribute. Utter waste of time.

I don't have any strong feelings about people on benefits volunteering in return for their money or not, but the key is that they have to want to do it. See it as an opportunity to build skills, meet new people, learn new things.

Every single person currently employed in the company I work for started as a volunteer

That says a lot about the company you work for. Forced volunteering is slave labour. If you train for a role you should get paid a training wage. It is absolutely disgusting that these big companies take on endless volunteers, it just shows how greedy they are. It’s a huge scam to benefit private companies.

Do you drive? A couple of people I know do Uber/Deliveroo and the like and make OK money from it. Aldi now have a contract with them in certain areas; staff pick the order and you just collect and deliver.

Do voluntary work for now - if it's education that interests you, speak to a nursery and offer to do 15 hours a week or whatever for free, the chance of a job currently is slim due to the pandemic but many are short staffed due to illness. What have you got to loose? Job centre can help with setting it up

Ps the first thing I did after becoming unemployed last autumn (after registering for benefits) was volunteering at the local hospice, they asked me to work in the shops, but had other roles. Nobody's worth is above volunteering! I did 12 hours a week (3x pm). With the attitude of thinking you are worth x you will struggle.

I don't know where you are but we have masses of school jobs where staff are leaving. I've not seen so many. School cooks, midday supervisors, cleaners and caretakers we always struggle to find but at the minute teaching assistant jobs in abundance. Last interviews I was involved in, only 5 applicants for a TA job, 3 dropped out before interview. Unheard of.

School admin, lots of job availability here too, though that role is much more specialised than people imagine.

@MummytoCSJH

Big companies often take on their work experience placements, my local Asda certainly took on 3 to my personal knowledge. Its not volunteering it's a placement where you have failed to get a job.

Whilst unemployed & applying for jobs;

You could volunteer

You could raise money or collect items for a charity

You could complete some courses

These give you extra things to put on your CV & perhaps provide a more recent contact to provide you with a reference

It is difficult during this Covid time, but there must be some opportunities out there for you

There's already quite a lot of good advice on here.
I would:

• check my application highlights my skills (it's a good idea to get someone else to look over your application)
• explain all absences, it raises red flags to ignore these. You can say you were unwell but resolved now and are fit for work.
• apply for more training
• some voluntary work would be a good idea. It fills the gaps and shows you have a good attitude to work. 30 hours seems ridiculous with job seeking on top but if you take the lead and start volunteering now then you won't need to do as much. You may be able to find something more home based for a charity, e.g. phone calls for elderly people.
• care homes and cleaners are always in demand

Hope the search goes well.

@Penistoe volunteering is forced labour?! These volunteers won't do particularly skilled work, it's like glorified work experience at school. And the business has costs involved too, due to the level of supervision the volunteers require.

OP can either get a payment and sit around the house unemployed or get a payment and be building a work ethic and experience in an area of work. No brained really. If she doesn't want to do the volunteering her advisor will organise, she can always arrange her own volunteering opportunity is something she see is appropriate to her "worth"

I am going to add

Over the years, I've worked FT
Plus
Volunteered
Raised money & items for charity
Completed courses

Ive met lots of interesting people & learnt new things. You never know what volunteering could lead to !

Have you tried supermarket online shopping roles? Online deliveries have created lots of new jobs. Some people only tend to do them whilst looking for another job as the hours can be unsociable but the pay is reasonable.

Try an apprenticeship? The pays crap, but better than nothing and it means you're in good stead for entering the field.

If you need income now, stop applying for jobs and register with as many temp agencies as you can. Office Angels, Reed etc

Someone said that the main nhs agency (NHS professionals) is desperate for temps for reception or admin and other stuff.

Agency will help you build your confidence slowly, help you see what it's like to work in different environments, get your foot in the door at places you wouldn't get a look in, good excuse to leave something if it's not working out and gives you fresh references.

You are not unemployable.

But, if you're using the standard Job Centre recommended approach to looking and applying for jobs you almost certainly won't get one. See the Worst CV thread for opinions on the Job Centre and the approach they push you down.

Voluntary work is not a bad thing for improving your chances, but it's better if it's something you've genuinely volunteered for rather than something forced on you. With most charities furloughed I doubt the Job Centre could find you a voluntary post themselves, so that 'threat' is mostly hollow.

In your mid-20s there hasn't been time for huge gaps in your CV. Don't worry about those periods, a CV should be tailored to emphasize your strengths and then no one will pay attention to gaps.

Treat finding work as a job. That means giving yourself fixed hours when you're looking and applying. Give yourself reasonable goals, for example finding one vacancy in the morning and writing the application in the afternoon. It will take at least a couple of hours to write a proper application. Every application is different and your CV will need a tweak for every job.

What have you done during covid? If you are sat at home, are you doing any online training - loads out there for free... futurelearn etc... volunteering as a covid friend - keeping in touch with lonely folks on the phone, picking up prescriptions or shopping for those shielding etc. What can you write on a CV to show you did something?

Does everybody you know, know that you want a job?

spread about amongst your mates, neighbours, local shops etc that you are looking for work. It is often not what you know, but who you know - I got my job in a pharmacy after 5 years out as a stay home mum because the mum of one of my daughter's friends worked there and put my name forward when I said I was looking for work.

DD18 took an A level exam in October as the mark given by teachers was not what she felt she deserved. She spoke to the invigilator whilst there - chatting about plans for the future - said she was looking for work whilst in a gap year and covid. Was offered a job the next day by the exams officer. (senior schools are desperate for invigilators - robust proof of kids grades requires someone watching them take even mock exams)

DD19 at uni wanted some part time work to get some money and the opportunity to get out and be with people. She is in a university city and call centres recruit mates of mates ALL the time as they have a high staff turnover. It is a stop-gap and she earns a decent wage (more than me!) - as she says - whilst sitting on her bum, chatting on the phone.

There are jobs out there, none of us in our family got ours by typing on a website - we went out and put ourselves around. Maybe look at some different tactics if the ones you are using are getting you nowhere.

The government are making level 3 courses free to adults with no L3 training soon. Vision2Learn also do free L2 courses.

I agree with doing the voluntary work. It's not a punishment, it's to give you expeirence that can help you get into employment.

@Penistoe

Every single person currently employed in the company I work for started as a volunteer

That says a lot about the company you work for. Forced volunteering is slave labour. If you train for a role you should get paid a training wage. It is absolutely disgusting that these big companies take on endless volunteers, it just shows how greedy they are. It’s a huge scam to benefit private companies.

I work for a charity that provides fantastic training and support to it's volunteers. As the charity has grown, more and more paid roles have opened up and volunteers have applied these roles. Our volunteers come to us, well, voluntarily. Not off the back of government schemes.

I really don’t want to do voluntary work as I know my worth and refuse to work for 2.40 an hour through UC

I think this may be part of the problem...

Try a local private care agency. There are opportunity's to study througu them and a lot you get to pick your own hours that you work. I used to do school hours and every second weekend.

I don't blame you not wanting to work for £2.40 an hour. I think that's slave labour.

Have a look at the CV thread on here and use the tips to tweak yours.

Quick jobs, little experience would be warehouse type work via an agency.
Care work is also an option but will need a DBS and this can take a number of weeks.

It's hard changing careers, I went from working in mental health and vulnerable families to admin, it was hard but I just tried to sell my skills on my CV and sold them harder at interview.

If you are interested in childcare I believe you can be an apprentice at a school nursery, or apply to be a TA.

School jobs unless a teacher do not pay a lot though as it's pro rata for the 39 weeks you do work.

I don't think your unemployable, my brother has been in and out of work for years and agencies have always taken him. No glamorous work but some pay really well.

You just have to be realistic about options open to you

Has someone had a look over your CV and applications? I know how hard it is but it's not just for you, you're nowhere near unemployable, these are just extremely difficult times. You need to spin your experience to make you a good fit.

Not to discourage you but if you don't have substantial admin experience, it might be a better use of time and energy focussing on care, retail, delivery, childcare etc than office work. For care, have you tried speaking to an agency rather than applying directly?

Don't underestimate the value of voluntary work. If nothing else it will give you something current to talk about in interviews and on applications. I've found myself giving competency answers from my voluntary work when applying and the fact that you are proactive and community minded really gives a good impression not to mention picking up skills, referees and contacts.

Also, factory and warehouse work can pay decently and you wouldn't have to wait as long for clearances as for care work.