Those who feel they are also virtually unemployable

[Whatwouldscullydo]

What did you do.

I'm so done with my job. Retail/customer service based.

On the service it looks like I have it good. I do 16 hours a week. Its relatively easy to alter a day/shift if I need to. And it's a large company that's probably not going anywhere any time soon.

Except I'm bored. Out of my fucking mind. I know work isn't supoosed to be fun/interesting all the time. But I've given almost 2 decades of my life to this place. And with my school run responsibilities coming to an end this year I can hopefully finally change . I cant do this full time. I have nothing left to give it. All the reasons I stayed are rapidly becoming null and void.

I stayed because I need a job obviously and it fitted around the kids and I was able to do school runs and fit it around my exs job. It got me out the house and contact with people.

Except now I'm.single. cone September the youngest moves up to secondary school and can.walk.

We all.spend hours on our own so I no longer get much contact with other adults besides the same.limited number of customers who will engage with a conversation. The kids are In bed when I ge back. The only way to not spend every evening out the house working is to work all day Sunday. Which means we hardly ever get to do much unless it's half term or something and we can go during the week .

Its not always easy to arrange anything becuase my shifts can swap around at short notice and besides Sundays the days vary most weeks so signing up for stuff isn't really possible as I cant garunree I'd be able to go.

I realise I sound like a moany cow who should be grateful I have a job . But I don't want to die alone with nothing to show for it and nothing to do when I'm.home.alome all day ,.besides washing, housework and living my.life through fictional TV characters .

I.am.of course wary of ending up in another job I hate working erratic shifts and all weekend as I have little in the way of employable skills. I haven't used a computer that's not a till system fir anything besides online shopping since the late 90s (unless helping with homework counts ) my job skills basically consist of being able to take any abuse customers throw at me and being so sad and pathetic and lonely I'm.almost always available at short notice to cover a shift

Id like to change all that and have a bit more stability and I dunno have the freedom to hop on a train on a Sunday and go somewhere.

I.guess I'm.asking what jobs does everyone do that allows for that. I'm.expecting to be told I'm.delusional.amd ungrateful. But 18 years is a long time I.do feel.ive given.it a good go

You need to start with your IT skills. You can do that from home for free. Word, excel, Outlook and Teams. The teenagers should be able to show you.

No good asking my kids for help on this they aren't much better that I am .

But I'm sure there will be free online resources which I shall search for. I did wonder if perhaps trying to access a college course for IT skills would be worthwhile ? I receive benefit top ups so of they still fund education it could work?

You could do a college course absolutely.

I do office work so I work regular 9-5, have a lunchbreak, never work on weekends.
However, beware that it can also be very boring. You might be jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.

I did temp in am office on a couple.of occasions and yes I was bored beyond belief. But I had literally the lowest level.job and on one placement I didn't have to do much beyond stapling pieces of paper together. They were all really weird too. Didn't like me having company /help so moved everyone who was hired to assist me in my never ending job somewhere else. Whilst also refusing to show me any of the data input side of the job so I could help there.

I.was hoping if I had better IT skills I might have a higher level job which might be a bit more interesting ?

I do worry retail amd pu .work.has basically ruined me for life tbh

Pub work

I have to also confess to really poor experiences with job agencies. Such as jobs that never existed and never calling me back etc

Go to uni and do a podiatry degree. Its 9-5 weekends off, progression up the bands is much faster than nursing and you get weekends and bank holidays off. You can be on 40k within 5 years or go private and make a lot of money.

National trust or English heritage type retail work is different.
Does your local adult education run it courses for free as many do?
You could try pub work before giving up your current job.

What GCSE's have you got? 5 including maths and english?
Yes to looking at a college course for IT skills.
How much do you need to earn?

It's not glamorous, but I work for a care agency. Might not be your thing but I absolutely love it. We tell them our regular availability (does have to include alternate weekends) and the coordinator fills it with calls. Some clients just need companionship, and the other end of the scale is 2 carer work doing personal care for people who are bedbound or require hoisting. And everything in between.
There is always someone to talk to. Staff range from 18 - 60+.
It's a good, private agency, which means conditions are better than some. There's always overtime available but you don't have to take it. My availability covers approx 25 hours a week, and I generally get 20 paid hours during that time, and I usually do about 6 hours pw covering calls as extra.
There's an opportunity to progress at my agency, into management, or some use it as a stepping stone into other health care roles.

Good luck. I found retail soul destroying and I can't sit still long enough to work in an office.

I have 9 gases including maths and English yes. I.dont have any a levels though.

Will definitely have to explore the adult education facilities locally. We do.have a college but no idea if they run adult courses.

Sounds like I.might have to do an.IT course and something else to actually gain qualifications into doing something

Can you really set your own hours in Care work?

@Whatwouldscullydo

Can you really set your own hours in Care work?

Yes, if you're clear at the start. Probably works best if you're only part time, and available hours need to be consistent. Your available hours might not be filled immediately. I think it took about 3 weeks for me. Also look for a company that pays you to do the training. I do a steady 4 mornings a week, and pick up extra if calls need covering. You do have to be confident enough to turn down work if they ask you (I'm sure you're aware that staffing is always an issue in social care) I guard my free weekends fiercely but I'm usually happy to pick up an extra evening here and there during the week.

Something like that would be ideal. I dont want to do weekends any more and I do need to work on being assertive enough ti say no. Probably easier to do tyt starting from.scratch than to implement amongst a current job with people you have good relationships with

I agree!

Firstly, I'd recommend doing a free adult IT course online

Secondly, I'd suggest looking at the Civil Service and perhaps a job in Probation as a Probation Service Officer.

You could do part or full time, no weekends or evenings and your customer service skills and resilience would be excellent grounding. If interested message me as I'm a probation officer

I went from retail into customer-based civil service. Flexitime hours Mon-Fri, guaranteed every weekend and bank holiday off, lots of room for progression if you like.
I literally had no other skills, I left school at 16 with a handful of GCSEs, but said at interview "I like meeting people and helping people ".
The application and interview was very much competency based. So asking for concrete examples of when I'd worked through a problem, or had to use my own initiative etc.

If you’d be open to care work there’s also heath care assistant work in the NHS. Variety of wards / outpatient areas you could work. If you’re clear with hours you can work it can be flexible - I know a lot of HCAs I know prefer nights and weekends as pay is better - day shifts are less popular. After doing it for a bit you could even join as bank where you pick what shifts you work each week.

work what does being a probation officer involve?

I did think about becoming a prison officer at one point but the training wouldn't have fitted around the kids at that moment in time. But once my school runs are over once and fir all it could potentially be a possibility.

I will respond later when my shift finishes tonight my lunch break is almost up

@Whatwouldscullydo there are detailed job descriptions online however some of the would put you off as they sound daunting to many, but it's really not - it's very doable

There are probation officers (POs) who hold a specific criminal justice qualification and training. They manage medium, high and very high risk offenders in prison and the community.

Then there are probation service officers (PSOs) who complete a somewhat similar job though with less responsibility and for lower risk offenders (low to medium), but still very varied and interesting work

Your week would be a mix of office appointments for those in the community, referrals, other agency liaison and meetings and court or prison reports. Also typing up case notes and undertaking in depth assessments. You would undertake rehabilitative work with people or just monitoring or enforcement (for instance writing a court report because they are not complying with their court order)

You would have training and support and a great team around you

Workloads are currently very high in probation however they are aware and taking steps to address this. You wouldn't receive cases until you'd had sufficient training and you wouldn't go from no cases to lots instantly.

There is in house progression for people wanting to progress from PSO to PO (internal applications for training programme of just under 2 years or thereabouts)

That all sounds pretty doable work

Thank you!

Its good to hear there is good training and a good team too! I may have been out the game a.while but I do feel that if someone is prepared to take a chance and train.me it's something I could do.

"I realise I sound like a moany cow who should be grateful I have a job."

Get rid of that mentality. Grateful for a job? You're offering value, and your employer is making on you. That's how it works.

Value yourself, and apply for jobs that you want. You'll get no response/rejected alot, but keep going and you'll get there.