to ask for help in finding a job?

[KellyTheElephant]

I've just been listening to PM on R4, all about how hard it is to find staff for care homes and similar-level jobs. I've been finding it hard to hear because I have spent the past twelve months applying for numerous jobs and receiving rejection after rejection after rejection. Is there anyone out there who might be struggling to recruit who might be interested in me?

The job needs to be part-time and WFH/hybrid due to disability - beyond that, though, I would do virtually anything which pays minimum wage or above. However I have 20+ years of experience of various forms of remote working, and a range of academic qualifications including a PhD.

Can anyone help?

Finance with "part time work"? Good luck.

Truth is employers are not going to interview anyone who admits they have autism up-front. They're not as warm and loving as they pretend to be in the adverts.

You don't really 'get into it', do you, you just declare you're a personal tutor of some description and hope clients will come to you. Obviously they're more likely to do this the more qualifications and experience you have in your chosen subject matter and probably a teaching qualification and experience as well. If you don't have those things I don't think you can suddenly just start doing it. Besides, if you dislike/are bad at interviews, would personal tutoring really be suitable?

I’ve no idea I'm afraid, it just seemed like it ticked some of your boxes of part time, WFH and you have an academic background!
what’s your subject background?

Similar to other suggestions I'd concentrate on one thing and, in your position, I'd make it payroll.

If you have PhD have you thought of doing proofreading work for international students submitting dissertations in English in your field of expertise? It's just checking grammar and sense etc. I did it for a year or so to make cash on the side and that type of work can pay really well (£100 - £150 per undergrad dissertation when I did it) although it's a bit unpredictable.

@Lunalae Truth is employers are not going to interview anyone who admits they have autism up-front. They're not as warm and loving as they pretend to be in the adverts.

Yep. 10, 000 times over this. Never disclose.

Are you on LinkedIn? employment agencies look there for suitable candidates for jobs.

@litlealligator "If you have PhD have you thought of doing proofreading work for international students submitting dissertations in English in your field of expertise? It's just checking grammar and sense etc. I did it for a year or so to make cash on the side and that type of work can pay really well (£100 - £150 per undergrad dissertation when I did it) although it's a bit unpredictable."

I did that loads as a student - but never got any money for it, just helped out. How would I get students to pay me?

What’s care work got to do with it when you’re h able to do care work? I don’t get the relevance.

What’s your PhD in OP? Are you interested in a career in Tech?

A few thoughts:

• don't mention your PHD as unfortunately employers will think you are over-qualified
• have you thought of working for a charity? many actively look for people with ''lived experience'' of specific health conditions/disabilities and will be used to having a very diverse workshops. The charity jobs website or the Guardian job site are a good places to start
• you might want to show someone your CV for some feedback. Again there are projects where you can get that done for free. I have run various employment project for people with complex needs and we provided CV clinics and advice on how to perform well at interviews. It might be that your CV/supporting statement are a bit too generic rather than tailored to the post you are applying to and people are not quite sure why you are applying for that role.

I must say when I hear employers complaining about lack of staff in various industries I often think that so many of them are just looking for a perfect match for their vacancy and can't be bothered to think outside the box a little bit or to spend a bit of time training someone to fulfil that role.

Have you got any old work colleagues, friends or relatives who can "refer you as a friend" to their employer ? Some companies that I have worked for have offered this, it saves paying agency fees & lengthy recruitment processes

Secondly, are you on LinkedIn?
Focus on the things that you can do

www.gov.uk/find-a-job

Some great advice on here, thank you.

I hear a lot of people telling me to remove my PhD from my CV. Yes, can do. However, many of the jobs I have done since the PhD are jobs that only someone with a PhD can do. Do I take them off too? Or leave them in the hope that the person reading my CV won't know that?

The environment agency has had lots of jobs looking for admin / research / data skills take a look at them. Most are hybrid working and disability friendly.

Try local council (I'm sure you have). Ours is disability friendly. There are lots people employed recently that have disabilities.

Of course for the ones where PHD is needed you keep Phd on.

You just create more versions of your cvs more tailored to different jobs. I had like 4

Phd jobs on. Missed the "jobs". You don't just leave breaks in.

Just tailor the bits. Repsonsibilities, maybe job title if it mentions the phd

Universities have loads of admin roles and since the pandemic most staff have been allowed flexible working (half at home for example). Pay varies 22k admin up to 50k for PAs. Your academic background would go in your favour.

But if you declare your disability (autism) decent employers would interview under the disability interview guaranteed scheme.

I've applied for two jobs with 'guaranteed interview schemes' and not even had a reply. Those are the two where I thought I would get an interview.

@sashh you still have to meet the "essential" requirements. You could contact them and ask what you didn't evidence in your application in order to get an interview.

For those jobs where you have to demonstrate you meet the criteria there is such a skill in completing them. They are a bloody work of blood, sweat and tears!

Sounds like you're not selling yourself well enough. I got jobs for an ex convict who couldn't spell his own name, multiple jobs in fact. I've got jobs I couldn't even do before. I have a skill of selling skills but no desire to work. I need to get into recruitment consultancy.

One of them I did.

It was to train as a teacher of the deaf.

Essential criteria included a willingness to learn BSL.
Have a teaching qualification.
A couple of others.

My degree is Deaf Studies with Computing
I'm fluent in BSL
I'm an experienced teacher with a teaching qualification.

It was a job with the council so I asked my councilor to look in to it.

They claimed that they didn't contact me because I had no experience of leading training on inset days - this was a 'desirable' criteria.

I'm not in the habit of applying for jobs I do not have the qualifications for.

The "essential" criteria aren't about qualifications alone are they though?

If you demonstrated you met all the criteria in your application and they didn't offer you an interview then challenge it with their HR as discrimination. I can't remember if you need to demonstrate both essential and desirable criteria to qualify for interview if they came on justified it on one lusted as desirable then perhaps it's both?

@RandomMess My experience with "guaranteed interview schemes" is sadly the same as @sashh in that some employers will go to extraordinary lengths to find a loophole through which not to offer you an interview. I remember the one where the person spec asked for "3yrs+" experience and I was excluded at the shortlisting stage because I had 10 years experience. I remember another where the person spec asked for experience supervising masters students and I was excluded because I said I had experience of "students from undergraduate to PhD level", ie not specifying the exact word.

That said, I am not really a fan of such schemes anyway. I've been to interviews where it has been obvious that they were only interviewing me because they "had" to. It was a waste of everyone's time and only sapped my confidence yet further.

I work for the council wfh and am autistic. It was a guaranteed interview and I thought I’d made a total hash of it - they on the other hand couldn’t believe their luck when I rolled up for a “basic” job - although I suspect my line manager is on the spectrum too so we rub along just fine.