To ask how you get a bloody job 😐

[LaLaPoo]

I have been doing temporary work for the past 3yrs after having many years off being a SAHM, yes I was fortunate to be able to be at home!

Now I find myself in my mid 40s and unable to find a permanent job. I apply for so many, rarely get interviews and when I do, I hear nothing back. It’s really starting to get me down. My current job is only seasonal so come the winter I’ll be worrying about how I’m going to pay my bills etc again. I find the pay divide is making such a difference (why employ someone on a higher MW when you can take on a 16yr old and pay them a much lower rate!) seems employers are not bothered about experience anymore? I also wonder if my size puts potential employers off as I’m a size 20 🤷🏻‍♀️

Any advice on what to do would be a great help.

Your job centre could be a good place to start - even though you’re not out of work yet. Lots of employers offer guaranteed interviews and work placements to job centre customers and the work coaches can be well placed to support with accessing training etc too.

Go into a pub and ask if they have any bar jobs. That's what I did - they offered me a trial shift, and I'm still here haha!

What kind of jobs are you applying for? Are you just sticking to hospitality. I would literally apply for everything I could to at least get something permanent rather than season. Once you have that you can continue to look but you will be more attractive to employers and will have more transferable skills.

What’s your dream job?
What are you interested in?

I'd advise retraining in some that is in demand such as social work then you'll never be out of a job and it's half-decent money:

Honestly, my absolute dream job is to have my own Catterie but I know that will never happen unless I win on the lottery 🤣 so my next dream is to be a cat groomer but not sure if there much demand for that. Yep completely different to what I’m doing 😁

Not helpful for you but in case anyone else a bit younger is reading - you get jobs by not giving up employment in the first place. Huge gaps in your cv, lost and out of date skills and an ever changing market are not good news.

In your case OP it will be a case of being patient and accepting what you can get.

Cheers 🙄

With respect, OP, this is why being a SAHP isn’t ‘fortunate’ but a poor decision with longterm consequences for many, particularly those whose skills have gone out of date. @HcbSS is right.

Best wishes with the job hunt.

Well at least I got to bring my children up and saw their first everything so yes it was ‘fortunate’ for me that I had that time with them.

Sadly, it’s the gap. I’m in my late 50s, and fat, and have no issues getting jobs. Coukd you board cats when people are on holiday, and in the meantime do some volunteering to upskill? I know you said you hated the admin role you had, but basic Word and Excel are a must for most roles these days.

I work, I’m bringing our two up with their Papa who works, we’ve seen all the firsts they’ve so far had, we also both have good and secure careers.

Cabin crew, so very patient, good customer service skills etc.

What do you enjoy?
What do you hate?
What would you say are your main strengths?
What would you say are your main weaknesses?
Do you drive?
Are there things you feel you wouldn’t be able to do, such as personal care etc?
Can you afford to retrain, be that low wages for a while, or training costs.

Have you thought of care work? Generally the industry benefits from more mature care and support workers who have some life experience. Could be children's social care, older people, mental health housing, refuges or hostels etc Often opportunities to learn and develop

Also - I worked but still managed to bring my children up and see their firsts- presumably so did your partner?

Being a SAHM was a decision we both made and was the right one at the time and was still the right decision as unfortunately trying to get childcare to cover both me and ex husbands flying schedules was extremely expensive. I asked for advice, not criticism for staying at home with my DC.

Ah, so are you the only earner in the household? If so that increases the pressure a bit more.

@Simonjt No my DH works full time.

@smilingeleanor how do you get into children’s social care?

Send an email with a covering letter and CV to Hr department of companies that you are interested in.
Sometimes companies don’t advertise jobs.
Many of the jobs on Indeed don’t exist or if they do it is unlikely that your application will even be considered because of the volume of applications

I would try to lose some weight. I know I am being very blunt saying that, but honestly I lost weight when I was in my late 40s, also went to the gym to really tone up. It gave me better posture and took years off me. I was treated so differently by people too. I went from a size 16 to a 10.

Have a look at jobs on your council website. Some volunteer experience might help but if your prepared to work shifts etc then you might be ok without. If you need some volunteer work have a look at homestart and see if that might work.

Op, why don’t you advertise on the local paper/ facebook ? Offer your service as a cat sitter/ cat groomer.
From there you could achieve your dream.

Ignore the Debbie Downers

Op if you start small maybe mind a neighbours pet then that gives you a reference. Or a course maybe just basic computers. I started temping it got me into jobs. Its hard starting out

I'm a catsitter. Have a look on Cat In A Flat and sign yourself up. Read 5 star rated catsitters' profiles and learn what they write on their profile. (Don't actually copy their profile...)

I'm good at what I do so earn about £300-500 a month now I've been doing it for several years and have lots of regular customers. It's not a fulltime job, but it will help build cat experience. Volunteer at a cat shelter, or contact local catteries to ask if they're looking for staff/volunteers.

As I said above, check what your local authority offers in adult education. Mine does NVQ L1 animal care.

Does your professional CV actually sound like you and does it match the jobs you are applying for?

We see I lot of 'i have managed x' but they are applying for the most junior position and it doesn't fit what we have actually asked for.

I'd take what you have and break it down into a few areas e.g retail, hospitality, care and pick which bits of your experience are most relevant to each and which skills transfer easily. Reading loads of things about flights if what you want to see is 'can use a till and knows how to cash up' is pointless unless framing general background.

I'd also break it down between entry level and supervisor level.

There's a point where almost playing down is sensible, otherwise your application screams 'this is a stop gap and I'll be off in months'.

But you have past experience so use it where appropriate to the job and don't be afraid to look upwards if you have management experience.

Shoving the same CV in for everything is rarely a successful approach and an afternoon preparing appropriate variations will be time better spent than applying at random for loads of things.

This really only works for specific skilled roles that are relatively scarce. For unskilled roles a company will just go to market and screen from there; this approach is a waste of time unless you have a very specific pitch and a rare skills cluster. It's a myth that "most jobs are never advertised".

Exactly what Agapornis says - cat sitters are so valued, especially with the summer holidays approaching. Learn how to inject diabetic cats, offer to send video clips of the cats frolicking in the garden, just sit and play with them a while. Absolutely the best option while you work out what else to do. Definitely go for it - sign up and quickly!!