To ask for ideas on what job I can do?

[JustBeingJobless]

I know this isn’t really an AIBU but it seems to be the busiest page and the one I read the most.

Bit of background - I had a brain haemorrhage 10 years ago, have degenerative disc disease, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. I’m falling to bloody pieces and very bitter about it!

I haven’t worked for a while as, after my brain injury, I just kept losing jobs due to my inability to manage them. I interview very well (not so much since I started using a walking stick as that tends to make interviewers eyes glaze over!), but, in reality, I struggle to train for anything new and tire extremely easily.

I struggle with short term memory, neuro fatigue (I can be full of energy one day, then crash completely for a week), can’t sit upright for too long due to my back, ditto standing, struggle to learn new systems (I do eventually, but it takes me a lot longer than most people), can’t always drive as my left side fails when I’m over tired, and I know I wouldn’t be a reliable employee in the slightest! Just being honest!

I am, however, eloquent, intelligent and desperately want to work. I need more money coming in. DS is starting university in September (will still be living at home though), so child benefit, tax credits etc will stop. I receive PIP, plus rent from my dad’s house which I have tenants in, so don’t qualify for any means tested benefits and I’m going to struggle come September, so I need to either evict my tenants and sell the house - which will keep the wolves from the door whilst I live off the proceeds - or find a job.

My employment background is mainly sales, retail and banking. Couldn’t cope with a full time job in any of those fields nowadays, much as I hate to admit it. I need part time, flexible, WFH preferably and an understanding employer, or I need to set up on my own doing something that will earn me a bit.

I don’t need to earn a lot. I have no mortgage and we live fairly modestly. I do need to run my car though, as it’s my lifeline with not being able to walk far. Would prefer to set up on my own doing something due to my self confessed unreliability!

I've applied for hundreds of jobs over the last couple of years and haven’t even got to interview stage. Not sure if that’s because I’ve been out of work a while, or because I’m ticking the box to say I have a disability.

Please throw any ideas at me! Thanks in advance!

Any employment needs reliability but some employees are likely to be more accommodating than others. Could you look at volunteering for somewhere like citizens advice. Their training is very good and if home working on an advice line or similar you could probably do it from home and take breaks. I got an advice ( benefits) job at CAB with no prior experience of that type of work, as long as you have transferable skills then they tend to train you. From experience they are very accommodating of people with disabilities, as are many charities.

Is there still a thread on here to earn ten pounds a day or something and it had lots of ideas?

Stuff like signing up to market research. They send you questions and you can answer and get paid £1 to £5 per time whenever you feel ok.

I’m registered with a few of the survey/market research sites, but not found any paying that much, so would be interested to find out. £10 a day would cover our food bill!

It sounds like a lot your issues flare when you overextend then crash. So what can you do reliably and realistically? Hopefully getting that starting point can help narrow down what the possibilities are.

Examples… I can sit/stand for 4 hours a day without walking without taxing myself or I already know x so no learning curve.

I can stand for an hour maximum, but wouldn’t be able to do this for 2 consecutive days. I can use Microsoft office packages easily, am very good at chatting to people and vary good at organising.

”Very” not vary, obviously! Will blame autocorrect for that one 🤣

Would you think about signing up for research focus group surveys ( online) they pay or give vouchers. Maybe worth a try

Yeah I’m signed up to several of those and not really getting a lot from them due to not qualifying for a lot of the surveys. I spent a solid 7 hours doing surveys on Qmee and made about £2.70! Any other recommendations would be welcomed though.

Maybe do a search ( if you haven’t already ) for research participants needed .. that will be for PhD studies, university lead or government studies … hope you find a good few to get you started

I could imagine a "PA from home" kind of role - businessperson needs organised person to speak to clients, do marketing, plan travel and do admin for 15 hrs a week, but not to a pressured timescale.

Yeah that would be perfect. No real experience in that kind of thing though so not really sure where to start. I’d be a good PA I think.

One of my friends did market research from home.

Could you get in touch with temping agencies and see if they have any PA roles available?

Any idea which company that was through? The ones I’ve come across pay very, very little.

I’m registered with a couple but nothing so far.

Does your DS have a part time job? Will he be working during his time at uni?

I live in hope! He’s on the autistic spectrum and really not a people person! Very willing to work but struggling to find something he could realistically do at the minute.

Ok so you don’t appear to be looking at making millions… and if you can find the right hustle I could see you being effective.

Try temp agencies, You may need to look around but you might find one that needs people who can show up (again under the right circumstances) for short term projects.

I work with one who is a local agency (not a big chain) that if you were in my area I’d have you call them. They’ve found us people for very short term ‘oh god I just need someone who can follow directions for a thankless yet critical task!’ work that we’ve needed done. My current project that falls under this category is someone to match a label to a number on a device and stick it on. Can be done standing or sitting, at a decent and steady pace. We’ve actually outsourced similar work to a charity that provides jobs to people with various levels of physical and neuro issues. They get a paycheck and can work supervised with their challenges accommodated for, I got the work done at a slower pace but for less cost.

Outside of a temp agency….How about marketing yourself locally for odd side jobs. You pick and choose what you can reliably get done and set the timeframe…
Do you know any tradesmen? You could do odd bits of paperwork organizing… think less than bookkeeping but more around taking their shoe box of receipts and past due customer invoices to organize into a system for them

Same with small businesses (one man shows) that need occasional help like call you when they decide to clean out their file cabinets or sort through paperwork

Busy mums! Sadly Grandma died and someone needs to look through these boxes of old paperwork to sort the newspaper weather report from 40 years ago and the life insurance paperwork. Or any of a number of jobs that have to get done but can be done at a negotiated pace.

For regular employment…

I’d try to find some good old fashioned data entry. Although I think that’s one of those jobs that are really being phased out by technology. Maybe a non-profit/charity that may pay less but will be more accommodating?

Thanks, that’s all really helpful and stuff I hadnythought about. I’m in the East Midlands, so if you’re anywhere local, I would really appreciate a heads up on somewhere I could contact.

A friend had a stroke, recovered well but still struggled with mobility and mental fatigue.

He had two jobs post recovery.

One was with patient services helpline with a charity for people & their families at the early stages of their recovery.

Second one was customer feedback calls for an insurance company. He had X number of calls to make but they didn't care when he made them so he dud them on days, he was less tired.

Thanks, that’s something I will look into.

Look at Ipsos Mori and Kantur for market research jobs. I know Ipsos are always looking for phone researchers. The pay really is dependent on your success rate, but its a job you can do lying down in bed with a lap top

It heard of Kantur so I’ll look them up. I’m sure my cousin worked for Ipsos Mori many moons ago, but I’d forgotten about them so will Google. Thanks

I should have said I’m in the US so I was pretty sure I wasn’t local. But I’m there are similar places near to you… honestly a lot of this is going to be word of mouth. Use your contacts!

ETFix… 🤣US! Not IS… I’m not a terrorist nor do I suggest you work for one

Kantur I found was better then Ipso's but then I worked for them in different parts of the country so mileage will vary

Both companies take you on as a worker, which means NMW etc means diddly squat, You are offered a job and a time scale, if you can get the full quota in the time scale - good money, otherwise - dont be relying on it to pay bills