How do you get an office job without a degree?

[BertieBotts]

I need to find a job ASAP. I'm pregnant and I need some kind of income in order to get maternity benefits as well as just feeling frustrated that I am not able to work at the moment.

I lost my previous job (EFL teacher) due to lack of business from the corona pandemic. I then stupidly decided to use this as an opportunity to try and switch lanes as what I really want to do is work with children's products (car seats, pushchairs, that kind of thing) and was thinking of aiming for customer service/product demos/sales but because I don't have experience in this area or a relevant qualification, I thought I'd start in a children's products shop, as I have retail experience.

That was going well, and then I got pregnant, and I didn't realise that due to the corona risk it's not advised (in the country I live) for me currently to work directly with the public, so I've been signed off, but unfortunately I didn't yet have a permanent contract because I was waiting until my youngest was settled properly at nursery, this was very disrupted due to changes going on in the nursery, again due to corona.

Anyway. I can't work with the public, I can't work doing anything overly physical like factory work or farm work. I'm applying for office jobs, mainly sales/customer service, but I keep getting rejected. I feel like it's my lack of qualifications which is the issue. Do you think it's likely to be that? I could just be being oversensitive about it. Or do you have any ideas about other things I could look at? I feel like admin is an entry level office job but I don't really understand what it is so I feel I shouldn't apply. I should add that although I'm reasonably fluent in the language of the country I live in, I'm not word perfect. I'm getting around this by doing most applications directly to English-speaking companies (this is common in tech, but also international companies) and just doing my application in English, but possibly my lack of a technical background is letting me down here. I have also done some applications in the local language, but I don't have the option to have every single application proof read by a native speaker - I save these for the companies that I think ooh, I'd really like to work there.

Where do you live?

I would imagine it's your lack of experience rather than qualifications.

In a European country with similar culture to the UK.

Yes it probably is lack of experience as well. To be honest I feel very self conscious about both things. I don't know what to do about it! I can't go back in time and make different decisions.

I think if you are English and living in a country where the native language is different then you need to post which country you are in.

Most Mumsnetters are in the UK, so I can't honestly offer you suggestions as to why you aren't getting work in Italy, for example.

If you post the country you are in someone may be able to offer help.

No I know, but I am looking for general advice about recruitment and I don't particularly want people to be put off thinking that they can't respond because it's another country - I just felt like I needed to include the language point, because for example call centre work would be very challenging for me, it's much easier for me to communicate face to face or over email.

(And also clarify why I've been signed off from shop work because as far as I'm aware this isn't happening in the UK!)

I'm in Germany, but I don't need responses just about German companies, even if it's only a response from how this kind of thing would be seen in the UK, it's still feedback/helpful.

Could you start looking for roles that are administrative in an office setting and work your way up?

Do they know you're pregnant? Legal or not they're likely to be dodging having to foot the bill for you having time off for midwife appointments, then maternity leave etc when you've only been employed for 5 minutes and could well throw in the towel when the baby arrives.

If you need work, call centre work.

Under huge pressure at the moment to service call volume in my sector (utilities), entry is low skilled but attitude counts most during assessment. But it is high pressure home working, with lots of time on calls at a desk. There tends to be a fair level of turnover (though much lower than usual) so the training packages are designed to bring you up to speed quickly.

I think it’s probably lack of experience.

All admin type jobs are different but are likely to include managing email (potentially for another person or team), drafting letters or other documents, so you’ll need to have at least basic computer skills. Hopefully language won’t be a barrier in this regard.

Can you look at temping if that is even a thing at the moment? I know we have taken on admin temps completely remotely.

How pregnant are you? Often you have to be with a company for a certain amount of time before benefits kick in. Not sure how it works in Germany.

What about some sort of government or council job?

Honestly, I think we are all just guessing here. I've no idea why you can't get a job in Germany.

My initial thoughts are foreign, pregnant, child in nursery, not a graduate, no qualifications or experience in this type of work. It doesn't sound an appealing candidate to many firms. If you are not getting as far as interview (and they are not aware of your circumstances) I'm not convinced that you would do much better at interview. I don't know what kind of jobs you are applying for or what the job market is like over there.

But I imagine that, like here, lots of people are looking for work and that jobs - particularly ones where people think oh - I could do that - are getting huge numbers of applicants.

I'm sorry to sound negative. Is there a way to move back to the UK for you? How pregnant are you? If you cannot get a job and qualify for benefits how will things work out now post Brexit? Are you on your own or is your partner German? Will you have some income coming in if you can't find a job?

I'm not mentioning the pregnancy in the application and I haven't had any interviews. I had a few last year but I wasn't pregnant then and the only one that was successful was the retail job.

DH is working, and we are doing fine but I haven't been working now for almost 3 years and I'm really desperate to get back into something! Pregnancy timing isn't ideal really, but we have had fertility issues so didn't have a great deal of choice in the planning of it. It would also be nice to have some more household income. Currently we are just about managing but it's true getting rid of the nursery costs would help with that.

DH reckons cancel nursery and just leave it because I'll be stopping work from July anyway (you're supposed to stop 6 weeks before the birth here) so reckons nobody will hire me, but I am so fed up of not earning anything, not achieving anything, feeling like a big waste of space basically.

Maybe I will look into temping. I did that when I was made redundant while pregnant with DC1 many years ago and at least it was something.

If you are going to be at home for the foreseeable, Microsoft have a whole suite of programmes you can do for free online (excel, word etc) as well as more programming stuff - you can get stuck into those.

Then volunteer? Taking minutes for parish meetings, writing a blog on any subject you like, learn how to build and edit a Web page?

Time is a huge asset for you.