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.

What area are you searching? Widen your search area to not just your town. Look up to an hour away from where you live? Look at the Indeed jobs website

Anyone suggesting volunteer work, I’ve been trying to find volunteer work in my area. No luck. They’re swamped with applications and others (like charity shops) aren’t taking people on due to Covid

I haven't read the full thread, but I have a job that most people are very impressed with. (Apologies - not trying to boast, they just are. To me it's just a job.)

I would not have this job were it not for the fact that 30 years ago I did unpaid work experience at a company which later decided to take me on permanently. There I had the good fortune to meet someone who became very successful and who is my boss today at a different company that is the biggest in our industry.

The point I'm trying to underline is that the OP is failing to see the enormous value and potential of volunteer work. It is a fabulous opportunity to make contacts - contacts that could lead to a salaried job and perhaps set someone on a long and productive career path. Who knows where those contacts might lead? Friends that I made in that first unpaid position I am still in touch with three decades later, and they would also be able to help me out with work, should I need it.

Almost everyone in my field started out by volunteering in some way at the beginning - because that is how you get your foot in the door and get your face known. I know of a volunteer in my industry who was eventually given a paid job because he wouldn't go away and just kept showing up. Dedication, enthusiasm, passion, doggedness are qualities that make people (bosses) sit up and take notice.

Another huge plus to volunteering is that it gives you the opportunity to try out something that you'd really like to do. You can focus on the industry you'd like to work in, and target specific companies.
You can learn new skills and gain valuable, relevant and recent experience that you can put on your CV.

If the OP is determined not to do unpaid work, so be it but I think they are sadly missing out on its amazing potential benefits. In which case the apprenticeship route is a good idea, as is retraining and/or studying for further qualifications.

A girl I work with started as a work experience with the job centre, long term unemployed, single mum to 6 kids. We took her on at the end of her placement, her confidence was so low to start with but we saw something in her, she is now the office manager.
Don’t dismiss the volunteering it can do you wonders and open doors. You just need the right attitude and passion to succeed, you can’t train that, you either have it or you don’t, even without confidence she had it in bucket loads, wanted to show her kids that if you work hard you can achieve and she has

FredaFox - exactly.

I would do a short burst of voluntary work to get some experience and show willing. Think about what you want to do eventually and try and get something in that field. E.g. If you want education, volunteer in a school as an unpaid TA. Do it while you find a job that you want.

@Chiccie

Anyone suggesting volunteer work, I’ve been trying to find volunteer work in my area. No luck. They’re swamped with applications and others (like charity shops) aren’t taking people on due to Covid

Have you looked at online-only work? It's not always glamorous, it might be sorting through old pictures to use on social media posts, but it can be a foot in the door. If you are at all good at social media, there are often gaps in that area too.

Can you get a contract working on the census? Or look at civil service jobs?

Some of the companies that I've worked for have a "refer a friend"system. Do you know anyone that can recommend you to work for their company ?

Secondly, I don't think that you are unemployable.

I second volunteering and I would question your view that unpaid work is devaluing you. Work is actually about much more than that (although the reality is we need to pay bills). Volunteering is saying that you do value yourself, you are not prepared to be invalidated in the your ability to carry out work and you do have a valuable contribution to be made. I would look into what UC can do for you now - it might help with rent, etc whilst you get the chance to explore a new field. It’s actually a great opportunity many in jobs would jump at but can’t.

Best of luck (but it is also worth recognising the responses on here and realising that next to a candidate who had volunteered, got on well with the company and turned up each day w/o complaint, how well you would fare.)

@Jobdramallama

I haven’t put anything for the gaps.

I have applied to care jobs, I even get notifications from indeed to say my application was viewed but I get no replies. I always try to add a cover letter.

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’m also bubble with a vulnerable adult so I don’t want to do voluntary work I’m not even being paid for to risk their health..

I'm afraid, that you have no right to that you deserve to sit at home all cosy and be paid for it!

You're saying you're unemployable, so actually voluntary work, earning your benefit, will benefit you with additional experience on your cv, that may help you actually get a job.

You're in no position to expect a free ride or to be so picky!

@Gwenhwyfar

"But unfortunately it's currently zero to the job market. Don't confuse personal worth to worth in relation to the job market."

I disagree with this. Everyone should have self-respect and not let themselves be exploited.

How about looking at it as a mutually beneficial arrangement?

Benefits for the business: 1. They get a worker for a period without the costs involved in recruitment. 2. If they are thinking of recruiting, they've got somebody there who is a known quantity - they already know they can do it.

Cons for the business: 1. They might get somebody who is crap or 2. doesn't want to be there. 3. If they get somebody good, they'll be looking to get a job and will leave.

Benefits for the worker:

1. A current employment history. 2. A reference. 3. Up to date/New skills. 4. Possibly a DBS, which means further jobs are open to them for application. 5. They look better on applications rather than somebody who has done nothing. 6. Potentially a job with the organisation. 7. Potential contacts for a linked position, or just somebody who knows of a job going somewhere else. 8. Increased activity levels, a routine, interaction with people, getting out of the house/fresh air/daylight, more regular sleeping and eating patterns. 9. Something useful to do with the day. 10. No sanctions from the JCP/UC. 11. The other person in the house who is currently doing the work to pay the bills won't feel that they are a passenger/taking advantage/lazy/unwilling to appreciate or help them/abusing them financially/is a cocklodger/doesn't want to do anything to help help themselves.

Cons for the worker: 1. They have to get up and go to work 2. They might not like the idea that they aren't being paid enough for it.

Nobody is too good for low paid work. If that's all that is available, you take it and use it for both current survival and because it's potentially going to help get you something better in the future.

I'm as anti-Tory as you can get, but when the alternative is knocking around on benefits until you end up sanctioned or the partner/spouse has enough of being taken for a ride and leaves (and you have to get a job or be made homeless anyhow), it doesn't matter how much I think that Tories are Scum, you do what you have to - which, in this case, means taking advantage of the ability the JCP have to get you onto an volunteer scheme in exchange for benefits and not having to leave Current Employment, Work History, skills, 'Give an example of a time when you...' or the name and contact details of a referee blank on an application.

"Nobody is too good for low paid work. "

Actually, everybody is too good to do work that is paid under minimum wage if they're forced into it. We have a minimum wage for a reason. Even low skilled work needs to be paid for.

I completely agree @Gwenhwyfar but here is the thing -OP is stuck and needs a way to move forward. Ideally, there would be a job for her she could do but she is n’t able to get it for whatever reason. So, in order to do the best thing for her to get her to where she needs to be, volunteering might well be the answer. It is as much about a state of mind as anything else now - and when educated graduates do it we call it an internship!

I too strongly feel work should be paid - it sets a dangerous precedent otherwise but in this situation, OP could do 3 mornings a week for a month (for example) and I bet it would result in an offer. It provides you with a current reference too.

@SweetLoveOfCod Thanks for the update. I remember thinking how unfair it was at the time. I think the trouble is sometimes that JC (or whatever they’re called these days) have no idea what to do with graduates. My DBs SIL got a degree in Chemistry and after uni, she didn’t instantly get a job and so signed on. The only job they found her was as a waitress. Nothing wrong with being a waitress but that wasn’t what she studied for three years for.

Do you have a local Facebook job site? Our local one is quite busy at the moment so it could be worth a look

"It is as much about a state of mind as anything else now - and when educated graduates do it we call it an internship!"

Yes, but internships these days are supposed to be paid. If they're not they favour the rich who can afford to work for free. Also, they're supposed to be educational, which a 'volunteer' job from the Job Centre might not be.