I've had too many jobs.....[sad]

[Gingernaut]

Just that really.

Some of you may know me from the thread where I was diagnosed with ADD and some may know me as the pink dress woman.

I've been looking for a permanent job after working as a zero hours contractor within the NHS.

I'm not a member of clinical staff, nor do I have to deal face to face with patients.

I've had a variety of roles within the NHS, from fixed term contracts, a permanent role which no longer exists and zero hours in a number of different places.

Before that, I've had roles in a variety of external employers, including laboratories. Many employers or their sites I used to work on no longer exist.

I'm fed up with the current situation of feast or famine hours and living at the beck and call of the holiday plans and potential sick leave of my 'colleagues'.

I say 'colleagues' instead of colleagues, as it is made clear to me by the line manager who gives me my shifts, that it's not her responsibility to give me an annual appraisal or arrange local fire training as a 'proper' manager would do.

The temporary staffing office have also absolved themselves of any responsibility and, as bank staff are at the bottom of their pay bands, 'it doesn't really matter'.

The position is a 24/7 role, so hours are unpredictable and all over the shop - mornings, evenings, days and nights, changeable from one day to the next, let alone from one week or one month to the next.

In days gone by, two, or even three part time jobs would have been possible as the hours would be fixed and I could travel between one job and the next with no trouble.

These days, almost every employer wants minimum hours with no guarantee as to when they are and to be fully flexible at all other times.

I have been applying for other roles, both within the NHS and beyond and I have been getting interviews.

My random job history has been noted at every interview.

I'm trying to present it as gaining experience within each job I've had which is relevant to each role I've applied for, but it's hard.

ADD inspired, impulsive decisions which turned into massive mistakes, dead certs which turned into redundancies and personality clashes which meant that my fixed term contract wasn't renewed have all helped to get me to the point where I've had 18 jobs in 26 years.

It's embarrassing and I have to explain and justify what happened every time.

How can I present this to any kind of advantage? WWYD?

I'm not qualified for anything higher, I can't afford to take time out to study, my dyslexia and ADD are major hindrances and I'm not looking for higher or management positions as I'm looking for a job I can 'leave at work', with nothing encroaching into my non-working time.

Fair enough, you have set your 'must have' criteria for the jobs, but you can't have it both ways.

Being candid here, if you aren't willing to explore any form of training / development to could take your existing skills in a different direction, then it puts you at a disadvantage against other candidates.

Also are you limiting yourself only to the NHS? Surely you can broaden your job search to other sectors, as based on your description of jobs you have done, you have bags of experience, and you're now looking for a role where the hours are more predictable.

Public sector offer guaranteed interviews if your dyslexia has been formally diagnosed as a disability.

Not sure of your age op and I'm assuming sex but if you're 18-30 then I really recommend life/career coaching from young women's trust. It's free and has really helped me.

I read a really good book on interview technique by John Lees called 'The interview expert'. In fact anything by him is great, he has a website so google him!

I'm not ruling out a trainee role.

Private sector jobs are also hard to come by.

I can't even get a job as a shop assistant.

FFS. What's wrong with me?

Just re-read and saw this.

Public sector offer guaranteed interviews if your dyslexia has been formally diagnosed as a disability.

Only if you fulfil the essential criteria.

I'm taking the weekend off from job hunting and having another go on Monday morning.

When I'm down, I only ever have bad ideas about what constitutes a half decent job.....

I have read How to get A Job you love and enjoyed John Lees style and focus. It seems relevant to your situation, helping with ideas on how to move forward if you're feeling stuck, want to move to a new career, facing job loss and unemployment, etc.

Have you tried the private healthcare sector? As you've worked in the NHS they'd be keen to have you.

Try the Www.carehome.co.uk website, all the jobs are listed on there. Many of the larger providers offer free training too.

Best of luck OP. I know it's really hard, but the fact you're getting interviews is a good sign.

@daistchain01, I've got it. What Colour is your Parachute?, something about great CVs - got them all.

I'm not clinical staff, have no clinical qualifications and have physical disabilities which make me unable to deal with patients and limits the jobs I can apply for.

So if this medical environment isn't a good fit for you, what's stopping you or holding you back from applying your skills to a different sector, and different role spec.

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got"

(that isn't a quote from any of the CV or career books but I guess it could have been!

Is it self-sabotage, do you think? Go on, be honest

How about "Feel the Fear, and do it Anyway"?

I am assuming you are merging all your bank roles into one of those 18? If not, I'd start with that.

There is stability in self-destruction, in prolonging sadness as a means of escaping abstractions like happiness

Rock bottom is a surprisingly comfortable place to lay your head. Looking up from the depths of another low often seems a lot safer than wondering when you'll fall again. Falling feels awful.

You need some adhd job coaching. There are people that do this, I've heard of it via the Access to Work scheme. There is also the disability student scheme, if you want to train more.

But I totally feel your pain, I've got 2 degrees but am basically unemployable now. I have sorted things so I don't need to go out to work but if I hadn't, I'd be looking at medication & coaching.

If you're near Liverpool, Ladders of Life do an extensive course for neurodivergent folk.

I'm looking.

NHS, Civil Service, private companies (tough as many are going out of business locally) and GP practices.

I have comprehensive knowledge of medical terms and anatomy which is really only useful in a medical setting.

RSI means being stuck at a computer all day is out of the question, so medical secretary isn't an option, foot and ankle problems mean I can't do something like portering, shelf stacking and cashier are limited to part time hours, burger flipping, ditto.

I have 3 interviews coming up.

The first is a day time version of a job I've already done with the same employer and the same boss.

Second is for same employer for a job I really want.

Third is for a different employer and sounds like a job I used to do somewhere else.

Second and third are for jobs I'd like to do, first interview is for a job I can do, but really don't want.

How do I sell myself to Job No. 2 without looking desperate?

Sorry, I haven't done Job No. 2 before.

What is job number two? Can you work your way down the person specification and think of examples of when you have carried out these tasks in other roles? Think about WHY you want that job, what makes you the person they should hire and not another candidate? You know the employer? That’s a start. Have plenty of questions ready, it’s a two way process. If it’s a job you really want, maybe try to arrange an informal chat with the company beforehand?

Best of luck OP 👍

I can.

The Supporting Information part of my application gives comprehensive examples of why I think I can do the job and I clearly fit the essential criteria, otherwise I wouldn't have got the interview.

I've applied for roles like this one before, but always been pipped at the post by people with experience in the role.

How do I sell myself to Job No. 2 without looking desperate?

Passion for a role is very powerful at interviews op. Why do you really want it? What about it strikes such a strong chord with you? Try and convey this when you answer their questions and if they do that typical thing of ‘is there anything you’d like to ask’ use that as an opportunity to tell them again why you feel you’d be such a good fit for it. And how great it is that you have x, y and z relevant experience.