to accept that I will be on benefits for the rest of my life?

[NothingLeftToGive]

First off, I would happily do just about any job. I'd clean the streets if they'd have me.

I'm in almost perfect health (bit of mild arthritis but it doesn't affect my life at all).

However, I have been told that I am over qualified for just about everything going. The things I am qualified for are not recruiting at the moment and will not be for the forseeable future by which time my skills will be massively out of date. I cannot afford to retrain.

I'm seriously considering just giving up and becoming a part of the welfare burden for the rest of my natural life.

Totally unreasonable or realistic acceptance of my situation?

That is a bit of a myth that everyone wants volunteers - I've recruited them myself in a previous life and they can actually create more work than they do, by requiring training/supervison etc.

Twice I have managed to weedle feedback out of potential employers. The answer was the same - overqualified.

You won't be on benefits for the rest of your life, but I know how demoralising it can be to go after job after job and not get one.

I suspect the people who have had a go at you and said you should just take any job probably haven't realised there aren't many jobs out there. The shop I used to work for advertised a position for 20 hours a week. They had 200 applicants that is how few jobs there are round here at the moment. People are willing to work even part time on minimum wage as it is better than nothing.

Also if you go for a job which you are over qualified for (e.g. shop work when you have a degree) you are less likely to get the job as the manager will think you are likely to be off as soon as you get a better offer (which is true you would be), so they don't want to waste time and money training people they don't think will be around for long.

NLTG I really feel for you. My DP got so depressed when he was looking for work. Luckily he retrained and now has a job he does enjoy, but I think he does occassionally pine for the career he originally wanted which he spent 4 years at uni training for.

Employers are legally obliged to give feedback so when you have your next interview I'd insist on it.

have to say I'm intrigued about you having been turned down for voluntary work though!

There are plenty of graduates working in very menial jobs at the moment, so to say your situation is solely down to being over qualified can't be totally true.

I don;t think people are being harsh on here, just honest actually. Yes, the country is in a dire situation economically, but that's the case for all of us! If you become too self pitying and downbeat about it, that may be coming across to potential employers, even if you aren't conscious of it.

I still think flexibility is the key. You won't walk into your chosen job into your ideal location - but so what? Plenty of people move, plenty of people re train, or go off in a new direction.

What about the idea of cleaning people's houses? I wouldn't give a stuff if my cleaner had a degree or not!

you should have seen the references and experience and everything the place I work at wanted (voluntary admin) I was but I agree someone not up to doing a voluntary job can create more work and problems than not having them there at all!

YABVU. Go stack shelves at Tesco while you wait for something in your field to come up.

In my current job, you only need a biology A level to work at my grade. But all of us have at least a Masters, one has a PhD. We took what we could get, it's a foot in the door and experience on our CVs.

I know it's frustrating to not be working in the field you trained in. I'm a microbiologist who spent 10 years working as a secretary.

You need to get creative, think up tangents to what you trained in, find any work you can get to pay for re-training.

If you can't find the job you really want, the options are sitting at home contributing nothing, or going out and finding other work and contributing something worthwhile to society, and possibly also earning money to pay for retraining.

voluntary work still has to be applied for properly,with interviews.

our local hospice shop takes volunteers for the duke of edinburgh scheme.....dd is doing it....and have said that they prefer volunteers who are 'working towards' something

I'd love to stack shelves at Tesco. Not going to happen though.

Maybe you need to tailor your cv more to what you're applying for. For example, we turned highly qualified girl down for my maternity cover because although she had loads of qualifications, she had no admin experience.

Even if you've never done that type of job, you need to show that you can do it.

The cleaning sounds good - possibly you could look to set up your own cleaning business long-term? Is a nightmare trying to get a good, reliable cleaner.

Those of you who keep saying NLTG should just get shop work do you know how many applicants are going after any job atm! It is not easy nowadays to even get shop work. There are so many applicants going for each job. Even the very large Tesco Mega store that I live nearby has no vacancies atm.

NLTG has applied for over 250 jobs. I sure most of those had nothing to with her degree.

Those are you who are being harsh how confidence do you think you'd be feeling if you had been rejected by 250 jobs. Most of which probably didn't even write to say why. My DP used to apply for jobs and never even get an aknowledgment of his application let alone an interview.

Sadly you just have to keep trying and hope you eventually get a break which is soul destroying when you have worked hard for a degree thinking it will give you a good life, only to find out that you might as well not of bothered.

NLTG, you havent answered the questions put to you. what field are you qualified in? why dont you set up as a cleaner. i have just set up a home ironing business whilst i am waiting to do my pre reg course for childminding. i will still do the ironing from home in the evenings.

have you any talents, skills? are you arty, sporty? could you run a kids art class or sports club? i'm sure this is something you can do that you could set up a business with.

i can totally understand that OP might be feeling defeated by this and cant see an end to it but really, resigning yourself to be on benefits for the rest of your life is just not on. tbh people with that sort of attitude need a kick up the bum and a bit of harsh talking. that attitude wont get this country out of debt.

NLTG, I had the same experience. I applied for over 300 jobs, of which 50 were in the industry where I have good experience. I was rejected for those as "too experienced" and "not a good fit with the team" - which both meant too old. The other 250 were an extremely diverse range of positions. The two who bothered to reply said I was overqualified.

I have been on all the jobcentre courses.

I'm self-employed now, but the experiences above contributed to a severe, long-term depression - due to circumstances arising from that, it's difficult to find and fulfil new contracts. It looks as though I'll need benefits for some considerable time. It's frustrating and miserable, I agree!

If you're open to advice, mine is:
1] Ignore all the "just get a job" merchants. They really don't know what it's like out there.
2] Pick up all the 'back to work' leaflets from the jobcentre, and go for all the courses. At least they put you in touch with other people and in a (somewhat) focussed environment.
3] Get a sideline. Whether it's eBaying old stuff, making baby clothes or cakes, writing online reviews for peanuts (have done all myself!) ... if it keeps you busy, makes a little money and gets you feedback, you'll retain a vestige of confidence and may even rediscover some enthusiasm.

Oh, and use your extra time on the garden and/or getting a tan. It is a question of completely changing your attitudes & expectations - I've found this part very tough indeed. So my answer (not the only one, obviously) is: yes, resign yourself. Then start working with what you've got.

Good luck

acept you ar enot going to be able to do what you want to do (you probably alredy have!) - and then find something else you can do.

Dh is now on month 18 of unemployment - it is looking like we are going to have to do something completely different (we are thinking long-term business wise, though it'll take a few years to get going). It took me a full year to get a job back in 2005 (same reason: overqualified for the jobs, under-experienced in what i was applying for) and things weren't that tough back then...

Bloody hell! So many replies!

booyhoo you have actually made me laugh by implying that I should personally give a rats arse about the incompentancies of the bankers and maddness that was the American sub-prime mortage market. They can top slice their testicles for all I care dear

Thank you tutu, isgraceavailable and others. Not sure it's changed my mind though, I wish it could, I really do.

I work as a cleaner too, although I have 2 degrees plus 2o years' management experience. Have you thought about doing some voluntary work or some business start-up qualifications meanwhile? At least it will help you get some experience and help you focus on what you want to do.I did an NVQ 3 in Setting up a Business, sponsored by the Government.

Try and stay positive - times are hard for everyone.

you can get funding for an ou undergraduate degree even if you are a graduate

so what 'voluntary work' is everyone thinking of???

Lol, TBB! I registered with do-it.org and have applied for six voluntary posts so far. No response. A local co-funded project did contact me, however, requesting a free website ... which I'm doing for them, since I haven't enough paid work to do.

I'd hoped to gain some diversity, etc, from volunteering - not to sit at home doing my usual work for nothing!

I think people have to assume you could "always stack shelves" or "always volunteer" because they can't bear to look at just how bad things are

Actually, I can see exactly what you mean.

I really wanted to work in child care after having dds.

It took me ages to find anyone ot take me on as my degree is worthless as a qualifictaion.

I ende dup going as a volunteer (again, took a while ot find somewhere) and managedot get some funding for NVQ. Then I had to do a level 2 as I was "just" a volunteer.
I was fortunate enough to get a paid job with the preschool after 6 months (and had finished the level 2) so could then look at a level 3.
But because of my degree, it was really hard to get any funding fo rit.

Finally did though and really love my job.

(Excuse typing, am cookign too)

Any chance of doing a PGCE nltg?You can be trained 'on the job' and paid while training.

Hiya NothingLeftToGive,

I work in a large corperation as a career coach and know what you mean about coming across as over qualified as I have interviewed people that have made that come up as a problem where others it doesnt seam so.

I agree you should be pushing for specific feedback and I cant see why anyone would have a problem in giving you that.

If you want to PM me or something if I could help I would be happy to as I dont like people unhappy in there career or lack of it (thats why I do what I do!)

I've found the local (off line) volunteer centre is much more update and has more than the do-it website, although most people I know who volunteer in various places got there by going direct to the charities/schools/whereever they volunteer and asking.

Actually there is only discretionary funding available for the OU if you already have a degree

"Having a first degree or any equivalent or higher education qualification precludes you from receiving a fee or course grant for further study. However, some discretionary funding is available for students who have a household income of less than £16,510 (plus allowances) and meet one of the following criteria:

are studying towards a named foundation degree
are topping up a foundation degree or a non-honours degree to honours level (and don?t already have an honours degree)
are in receipt of a Disabled Students? Allowance
have previously been awarded funding by The Open University towards a second degree-level qualification and are continuing to work towards the same qualification (having successfully completed courses they have previously received support towards)."

NLTG, you are quite naive if you think it was only the banks that got this country into the state it is in, although clearly you cant see how your attitude contributes to the problem. yes, the banking industry has caused massive amounts of debt but the benefit culture in the UK was doing it's fair share way before the recession was even an issue.

I'm glad you can laugh about your sense of denial though. It will make it so much easier when i am paying for your defeatist attitude, knowing that you, at least, are happy.