To panic about not being able to get a job?

[acraftycorvid]

I'm in my mid thirties and have worked for the family business since I left school. This business is now closing as the person who founded it is retiring and it's not something I could do on my own so I need to find other work.

I don't have any skills or experience as I've always just done as I'm told and I never dealt with customers directly, so I don't have any references either. I don't have a lot of practice talking to other people, I have done some volunteer work but never got to know anyone well enough to be able to ask them for a reference and don't have any friends for character references. I've been to the Jobcentre but I don't qualify for Jobseekers/job clubs because I was self employed before. They helped me make a CV and told me to apply for any jobs available, but I've never been invited to an interview from doing this. I'm only looking for minimum wage work.

I'm worried I'll never be able to find anyone who would employ me, I wouldn't if I were them! I do have a small amount of money I could use for retraining but I don't know where to start, the job I have been doing is manual labour only. I did do a maths degree with the OU a couple of years ago, but this was probably a waste of time without any soft skills to go with it. Does anyone have any advice or ideas please? I'm completely out of my depth with it all. Thank you.

What work were you doing for the family business? You don’t say what it is. You must have been doing it for a very long time if that’s all you’ve done and you are mid 30s? Would you like to retrain in anything? Why settle for only “minimum wage work” as it’s hard to sustain on that?

What was your role? What were your daily tasks?

Writing a cv and and applying for jobs is all
about being positive about what you HAVE done not what you haven’t done.

If you have a maths degree could you build on that and do a bookkeeping course or similar? Numerate people are a scarce commodity in my industry!!

There are also lots of short data courses out there, if you enjoy numbers? Also very valuable skills.

Cant the person who is retiring give you a reference?

Good luck OP x

Have you thought about teaching? Maths teachers with maths degrees are in hot demand

List your skills.

What is your level of education and subjects?

What business is the family business and can you get work in a similar type of business?

What work did you do for the family business. You said manual labour only working under direction with no customer contact. Can you explain more?

Is there any reason why you have not been given more responsibilities in the family business?

You'd be snapped up as a teacher in training assuming you have communication skills too

I just do physical work, like stacking boxes/loading vans etc. I'm not looking for a good job, I'm very slow and not good at taking initiative and thinking for myself. I've applied for warehouse work but not been successful, it's very competitive around here for jobs and other people have more experience.

The business owner is a family member and most job applications say your references can't be related to you

Sounds like you've got the skills we'd look for in retail.

Also we never check references but we won't admit that in real life.

My experience is that supervisors of volunteer projects are happy to give references. You don’t need to know someone well to ask them for a reference. You need to have done something under their direction/supervision/oversight.

You sound isolated and to be honest kind of down on yourself. If you have a maths degree from the OU you are capable and smart and I agree with others not necessarily limited to minimum wage work, certainly not in the longer run. Did the family business treat you well? In parallel with looking for work can you look for other volunteering or some sort of hobby to get your confidence up?

It might be worth looking at agency work, that will help you use your skills and give you time to decide what you want to do. Warehouses are another option

I think that is the case for a personal reference - if you don’t have any employment history.

If you have worked for the family business for a long time and can prove employment (payslips) that should be fine for a work reference.

I have a first class maths degree, but only from the Open University. I did get good GCSEs (a long time ago!) I just deal with stock/load and unload vans/clean the premises etc. There's never been a need for me to deal with customers and the person running the business knows I would be no good at it so did it himself.

Can you drive? Postman?

This is what I mean about I think you have not been well treated in your employment.

You are in your mid thirties with a maths degree. You would likely have been capable of dealing with customers unless there is some particular reason why not, like don’t speak the language or similar. I get the sense the family business owner has not developed your career and has left you underestimating yourself.

I would challenge the assumption that you would be no good talking to customers. It's a skill that you could be good at, needs practicing. That first class maths degree is amazing, well done.

You said you are not good at customer contact, slow and not good at taking initiative and thinking for yourself.

Sorry to ask but could you be neurodiverse?

There are charities that can help you get work experience.

Is the family member a close family member (parent, sibling)?

Something feels wrong about how they have been treating you. Rather than building your confidence they have been doing the opposite.

How do other family members and friends feel about it?

I think you sound very capable and agree with the suggestion that you should volunteer to get more experience to boost your confidence and get other references.

If you have a first class maths degree then you are very clever.

Look at bookkeeping courses.

Any first class Maths degree is bloody brilliant! The Open University is just as good as any other university. Don’t listen to anyone telling you otherwise. Could you access career counselling through the Open University as one of their graduates?

You have a First in Maths, clearly you're above the average person in terms of intellectual ability.

I think you're underselling yourself.

You weren't "loading vans" you were "managing logistics" and "supervising deliveries".

You can make your old into job anything you want it to be. IYSWIM.

Any recruitment agencies near you?

I'm very bad with other people and you need good references to go into teacher training.

Agree with this!

OP you write very well and are obviously smart too.

Your lack of confidence is clear. You can build up your confidence and skills - you're still young!

I used to be incredibly shy and struggle speaking to people. I'm 100% better at this now