Anyone else worried about jobs

[Lacey2019]

Hello everyone,

Is anyone else worried about jobs? I have such anxiety for my friends and family who have lost jobs. Some have lost very high paid jobs in the city, which was something no one ever expected to happen. Big houses, mortgages, cars on finance. I want to help, but I don’t feel I can. I am lucky to be a teacher, but I need to also ensure I’m okay.

I have looked at moving to Dubai with a friend, as he’s always wanted to and we thought he’d get a job. He has no degree, but lots of great experience in retail fit outs in the UK. He can’t live with me I believe, but I’m also not sure he’d get work.

How is everyone else coping/getting on?. I do worry and think of everyone on here too. I’ve done some free open university course which I recommend for anyone.

Yes, my work is in collective consultation. My role is one of the ones at risk. It fucking sucks.
I’ve just had enough of this year.

My dd is working there at the moment and lots of expats are coming home due to job loses. Your friend would have to go through a requirement agency to get a job before she went.

yes,
i have applied for weekend work and only heard back from 2,
out of 10

i guess going through the agency might have been risky.

@Alltneteabagshavegone

My dd is working there at the moment and lots of expats are coming home due to job loses. Your friend would have to go through a requirement agency to get a job before she went.

@Alltneteabagshavegone thank you :). I think sadly moving abroad even for work is not a simple or easy option anymore still. She felt it would be easy but maybe not! X

My husband is in retail development here in Dubai. The emirate has handled covid well but there are still far reaching economic challenges. Now would not be a good time to come here for a job, plus as other posters have said, most retail sector work is pretty low pay.

@TheAirbender

My husband is in retail development here in Dubai. The emirate has handled covid well but there are still far reaching economic challenges. Now would not be a good time to come here for a job, plus as other posters have said, most retail sector work is pretty low pay.

Thank you @TheAirbender that’s so helpful to know. My friend is in retail too in terms of finding shops, designing and building them. She had a big salary in London but obviously no one is building shops etc! So she’s always wanted to move there x but with no degree we aren’t sure

@GreyGardens88

Well I was made redundant beginning of July and was offered a new job a few days ago. I think you just need to apply yourself a bit.

Congratulations.

I was made redundant at the start of July too. I'm having no luck so far though and feeling increasingly disillusioned and despondent. I have my fingers crossed, but so far I have been given no reason to be hopeful.

I've put in a number of applications, and I add another each time I see something in any way suitable. So far I usually get no response at all or rejections. It is soul destroying. I'm almost thinking of giving up, though I can't really afford to just yet. I will plod on for a while, but the length of time I am willing to subject myself to the cruel, ageist (I am in my mid fifties) and disillusioning place that is the job market is not open ended.

My mental health is in tatters as it is for many reasons.

@Topseyt I’m so sorry. I am happy to always read over anything. I think it’s common courtesy to reply to application, however, I am guessing places are inundated :(. X

[quote Lacey2019]@Topseyt I’m so sorry. I am happy to always read over anything. I think it’s common courtesy to reply to application, however, I am guessing places are inundated :(. X[/quote]
Thanks. It is just so hard at the moment. All I am getting at the moment is generic and automated email responses.

Some days I am not too bad, others I am despondent. Today is a despondent day. In my mid fifties and during a pandemic that has trashed e economy is a bit of a perfect storm really.

Oddly enough, my redundancy wasn't 100% Covid related. The owner of the small business I have been working for became terminally ill with a different disease and had to sell the business to a bigger organisation. The plan had been that I could probably be employed by them. They however, have closed their local offices due to Covid and are currently hiring no further staff. So, despite the best efforts of the friends I have worked for over the last six years (and they are still friends) they were forced to make me redundant. We are all very sad about it.

To cap that, on the same day I was being told about the redundancy my 85 year old mother became seriously ill with pneumonia (not Covid related, fortunately) and we weren't sure she would survive. She did, thankfully, and I finally got to see my parents last weekend.

It has all felt like blow after blow at times, and has been hard to fully engage in anything.

My plan (or is hope a better word) is to spend a couple of hours every couple of days combing the local job market. That is all that I think I can cope with mentally at the moment, while trying not to get too panicky.

There are some sectors crying out for workers though, care roles being one of them. Sometimes it is a case of do anything to get some money coming into the house rather than wait out for your perfect job.

I stepped out of a decade long hospitality job at the end of last year to persue my longer career goals, getting my career back on track after dc, at christmas last year. Then i got furloughed. Saw the coming crisis in jobs so jumped ship into another job in online deliveries that will weather the storm in terms covid as in the case if a second wave will will be even more in demand. Atm people are still reluctant to go out so orders are.growing and I expect this to be the case for some time.
Ok it is not a glamorous career, but it is money and secure. I consider myself incredibly lucky that i got in before all the redundancies hit. It also works around DH job and we will no longer need childcare, plus if school remains closed we will be able to have one of us home at all times.to support the dc.
It is not something in saw myself doing, but as I said above, it is an income vs nothing and actually I am loving it!

Sorry to all those affected as well. I didn't mean to come across as bragging and apologise if it seemed that way. I was more.trrying to offer hope.of.persuing a different path and it.working out ok.

I think you just need to apply yourself a bit.

I don't think that it's fair to insinuate that those who havent been successful yet are not applying themselves. In this climate especially it depends so much on the area, the number of fellow job seekers amongst other things. Of course it's important to apply yourself, but it sounds like PPs are.

I also don't agree that care work is always an option, it needs to be something that you are actually suited to and want to do at least to a degree, otherwise it isn't fair on the people you care for, it definitely takes a certain set of skills and some people just aren't suited.

@Topseyt the sad fact is that you are correct, it can be harder when you are in your 50s, although does your CV indicate your age? Usually the past 5 years of employment history and qualifications without the years attached are sufficient; although it's sad that it helps to try and conceal it. Not recieving even a reply sucks, it is disheartening

@PackagingDisaster

There are some sectors crying out for workers though, care roles being one of them. Sometimes it is a case of do anything to get some money coming into the house rather than wait out for your perfect job.

I stepped out of a decade long hospitality job at the end of last year to persue my longer career goals, getting my career back on track after dc, at christmas last year. Then i got furloughed. Saw the coming crisis in jobs so jumped ship into another job in online deliveries that will weather the storm in terms covid as in the case if a second wave will will be even more in demand. Atm people are still reluctant to go out so orders are.growing and I expect this to be the case for some time.
Ok it is not a glamorous career, but it is money and secure. I consider myself incredibly lucky that i got in before all the redundancies hit. It also works around DH job and we will no longer need childcare, plus if school remains closed we will be able to have one of us home at all times.to support the dc.
It is not something in saw myself doing, but as I said above, it is an income vs nothing and actually I am loving it!

Whilst I do agree largely with what you are saying, not all of us are cut out for these jobs.

It is true that care work is much in demand, and I do greatly admire care workers. I know though, that I do not have what it would take to be a carer. I really wish I did, but I just don't have the patience and I certainly couldn't hack shift work, on nights etc. I am a bit of an insomniac, and on many occasions I still cannot doze off during the day even if I have had no sleep the night before.

Driving jobs are not for me. I do drive, but I am an anxious driver if forced to go off my patch or onto routes I do not know. Increasingly, I am just plain anxious anyway. So I am reluctant to go for driving jobs.

I have been canvassing the local shops in case any hours are needed in there. I have also made some direct approaches to companies in a similar line of work to what I have been doing. I did get a couple of zoom meetings out of that but they are not hiring at the moment and need to see the way forward as the economy opens up (always assuming that it doesn't just keep closing back down again!!).

I have job searches set up with online agencies and I do comb their websites several days a week. I have fired off a few applications, but so far only generic responses or rejections from that line. I check our local newspapers for job adverts too, but for weeks now there has been absolutely nothing at all in any of them.

It is like groundhog day, with dwindling finances.

@Topseyt the sad fact is that you are correct, it can be harder when you are in your 50s, although does your CV indicate your age? Usually the past 5 years of employment history and qualifications without the years attached are sufficient; although it's sad that it helps to try and conceal it. Not recieving even a reply sucks, it is disheartening sad

@Staplemaple Thanks for your reply. Following some other threads on here, and advice from other sources too, I have removed my date of birth from my CV. So hopefully my age is not as obvious, although I cannot disguise the fact that I spent some years bringing up three children.

I have to agree too with your comments about care work. As I said, I very much admire care workers. I have met some of the ones who are providing the twice daily care packages to my parents and they are fantastic. We really couldn't manage without them now. It isn't for me though, and no point in even trying it. I just don't have the right personality or the patience to do it day after day and it would be fair to nobody, least of all to the people I would be meant to be caring for.

You do sometimes hear horror stories of carers who are awful to their patients. Not common, fortunately, but it does happen and awful things can result. I have sometimes wondered whether these incidents come about because of people trying to slot themselves into the wrong jobs just to get some money coming in, then finding that they can't hack it and getting pushed over the edge. That is not an excuse for appalling behaviour as there is no excuse, but it could be part of the cause and effect.

So no, I will not be going for unsuitable jobs just in the name of applying myself a bit, as a previous poster said (I know it wasn't you).

Thanks for your reply. Following some other threads on here, and advice from other sources too, I have removed my date of birth from my CV. So hopefully my age is not as obvious, although I cannot disguise the fact that I spent some years bringing up three children.

Unless you did a job more than a decade ago that is really relevant to what you are applying for, just including work history for the past 10 years is more than enough for a CV. Most online applications only ask for 5 years, so you could even probably just include those. It's tricky nowadays as places all shortlist differently, I've done a lot of recruiting over the years, and some places even just scan CVs for keywords and the rest aren't even submitted for a human to review- so there is, unfortunately, a bit of 'playing the game' to getting sifted and into the interview process. It's savage at the moment, and with many redundancies some roles are likely earmarked for people and just go through the motions for legal reasons, frustratingly.

I work in corporate communications and I worry for a lot of friends in the events space and those in lobbying. Many short term contracts terminated and jobs lost.

On another post, some people think most jobs are going to be offshored. Or automated.

At the same time, my civil service department had 11 new posts in a department of 100 it wants to fill by external recruitment.

On another post, some people think most jobs are going to be offshored. Or automated.

I dont know about most but my previous and current employer have shut down the UK offices and moved the jobs overseas. Our government should put down some restriction on employers who do this so that our own people still able to find work and pay taxes into the system.

Just a little message to say I’m thinking of everyone 🥰

I got made redundant at the end of June. Company refused to furlough so I was straight out. I do have the 6-months worth of savings that everyone tells you to have, but I'm terrified that I'm not going to get a new job before I go bankrupt!

I'm a single parent in my 50s and am very concerned about the continual push from the government to get 'young people into work'.

IMHO this is just giving companies the green light to employ junior staff on lower salaries to do the jobs that more experienced staff would normally do.

I am not eligible for UC as I have too much savings - ironic that my savings are for the 6 months fall-back everyone advises me to have!

I have just had a letter to tell me I will receive JSA at just under £75 per week. I could cry. I have never claimed anything, pay all the tax I'm asked to pay and when my hour of need comes I'm offered very little.

I fully appreciate its not the time to be looking for my dream job, but I need a certain level of salary to afford my mortgage! Employers have got the pick of the crop and after dedicating hours to applying for 70+ jobs, I have had 1 interview (which I'm waiting to hear back from). A year ago, if you had 80% of the skills sets required for a job, you'd get an interview. Now unless you have 100%+ you've no chance.

Throw in the push to get jobs for the 'young people' into the mix and 50+ don't stand a chance. I notice there has been talk about putting the 50+ population into lockdown too. Call me cynical but it just smacks of the government wanting to get the economy up and running with the lowest salaries possible - easy to do if you can make put us 50+ employees in lockdown!

Whilst I don't like to see anyone in financial trouble due to COVID-19, I just can't get my head around the sad-face stories on the BBC website about 20-somethings having to give up their rented flat and move back home as they've be made redundant and can't afford it anymore.

With all due respect, that's not really hardship is it? Not ideal, no, but they aren't going to lose their home are they?

Then let's hope their parents not have to rely their own jobs to pay their unfinished mortgage!

@ittooshallpass nothing to say except read your post and wanted to wish you good luck.

DH lost his job in April and no sign of anything permanent yet. We also luckily had about 6 months of savings, slowly dwindling. Also had the same problem with savings and UC. Interesting how people often say “get a job driving for Amazon/at the local supermarket/in a care home” which probably wouldn’t be a very long term solution in respect of our mortgage, let alone the aspect of disregarding years of building a career. So you make a valid point there. And the “needing 100% skill set” thing... he applied for a job identical to what he had been doing in an identical industry and didn’t even get an interview. I threw my toys out the pram at that. BUT he is making some money doing some manual labour in a somewhat related field and it’s keeping him from job hunting all day every day. Luckily we have my salary to fall back on and I really feel for you that you don’t have a partner at this time. But hopefully your savings will see you through. Keep posting here if you need someone to talk to? I feel like everyone is in the shitter so no one cares about others problems right now and that’s awful. So please do shout if you need someone to talk to.

@Babs709 thank you for understanding. I got the thanks but no thanks feedback from the interview I had... the feedback was that they had loads of people to choose from and I wasn't chosen.

I'm gutted. But just have to keep going... keep trying... I struggle to sleep as I can't stop worrying. I don't think I did the best interview last week, but it's so hard to sell yourself when you're desperate.

I managed to get DD signed up for free school meals for September, so that's one less thing to worry about. It took a few backward and forward emails though!

No idea where my next interview will come from.., but have to keep on keeping on...