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

Can I join in too. Spent the morning job hunting again and am feeling pretty useless and down.😳

Welcome. clean Sorry you feel so down. Its so disheartening isn't it. I sometimes look through Jobs I think sound good for me only to discover they require a skill I just don't have.

What kinda thing do you think you'd like to do?

Ive always taken a Job.. any job. Be usefull and employed and all that. Then you wake up one day and realise you don't know who you are any more or what you'd like to do or what you are even capable of in a job where no one wouod even notice you'd gone.

Liking the sound of the whole probation officer thing though.

Local day nursery is looking for people who enjoy working with children...would that sort of thing suit you? Might be more fun than retail.

Or just look online on the Indeed website see if anything catches your eye that you might enjoy. They need people 1:1 to help disabled people for example

Can I join the job-misery train too please? I just can’t seem to find anything that catches my attention that I’d actually enjoy. Lots of good ideas here though!

👋👋

What about civil service? There’s an advert out today for 700 AO apprentice’s (any age, not just for youngsters. Just means you spend 20% of your week on a professional qualification and the rest in the team. I sift for them and we take people from all walks of life, you just need the examples for the success profiles style of recruitment (that’s all online plus they are running a few online sessions on how to structure a personal statement and how the success profiles ‘behaviours’ work. So that’s something like ‘tell me a time when you met a deadline’ - so don’t be daunted by the recruitment language they use.

That’s for anyone who is interested on here too of course. I know we didn’t get enough applicants last time once interviews taken place. It can be quite a long process, think 6 months as security clearance can take 3-4 months. But something to work towards. Good pension and good opportunities to develop up the grades onto better salaries. Advert below. Happy to answer any questions re the recruitment process

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=dXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9MTUxNzE3MTg4JnBhZ2VhY3Rpb249dmlld3ZhY2J5am9ibGlzdCZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJmNzb3VyY2U9Y3Nxc2VhcmNoJmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTc3OTQ4MSZzZWFyY2hfc2xpY2VfY3VycmVudD0xJnBhZ2VjbGFzcz1Kb2JzJm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJnJlcXNpZz0xNjQ4MjM1MzU3LTZkNjQ4NTVkYTQ3YmVmNTVmNDVhNTY3Zjg0NzZmNWRjZmIwOTllZTQ=

Excuse my grammar! Lack of closed brackets there! Using a smaller phone and my eye sight isn’t great!

Our library offers free courses on different IT/office skills, beginners and intermediate, though you do need to commit to about 6-10 weeks (1 session pw).

Ask your local library if they do anything similar.

Good luck - I know exactly how you feel, and though I’m some years off being free from school runs I can see myself in the same situation x

Thank you for the welcome! I agree, every job seems to want something you don’t have.
I have just found a job that’s 2 hours a day and Is massively below my skill set. I’m not sure I can tell Dp, he’ll be fed up with me, as I do need a proper full time job, and he’ll be cross because this won’t lead anywhere.
It’s quarter of an hour drive away. And 10 an hour. Would you take it?

www.reed.co.uk/courses/free/it-training do free IT training courses which would be worth looking at.

I bet you have more transferable skills than you think though OP from your time in retail. I actually really like working a 9-5 after working shifts for a few years. Every weekend off, switch off at the end of the day, once you have experience in a job and build your skills up in the area plenty of opportunities to work elsewhere. I know you mentioned them, but I'd consider agency work just to get a foot in the door and have experience to pop on your CV. Can you use Microsoft Office packages such as word and outlook?

iam thank you so much for that linn I have book marked it. That could be exactly what I need. It skills seem to be required fir everything so that's definitely the first step.

pap I honestly have not used any of those programms in 20 years since I left college. I've even had bosses refuse to shoe me how to do things as they said I was too stupid to other members of staff.

Also seemed to be a thing where everyone knew a manager wanted me to take the assistant managers role at a pub except me.if course..no one actually told me that that was a potential plan

clean tbh I'd probably not take it as depending on when those 2 hours are it will suck up alot of your day for no reason really. Unless it's early morning and you'd have the day free after ?

Amd is it really 15 mins. I mean 15 mins can be 30/40 mins in heavy traffic you can spend just as much Time in traffic as u can working.

Of there's no chance if over time or any progression I'd say no but that does depend on any benefit situation? You may have no choice but to take it.

I'm.waiting on a response to my journal.as to what options are re job training/education. See of there's anyone available to help put together a decent cv etc

Many jobs just require a very basic level of IT in reality, if you're happy posting on mumsnet you'll be fine! Your bosses sound awful, you don't sound stupid at all, they are probably lazy and couldn't be arsed. There are some free courses it might be worth doing though:

skillsforlife.campaign.gov.uk/?utm_source=Google-t&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=AdultSkills21a_20220124_S4L

I just use my phone for every thing I very very rarely use a lap top or PC. Closest I get is a till system..

As far as bosses went I guess they weren't so bad. A long time ago fortunately. U should have seen the guy he was happy to.leave in charge at times though more fool him.

My manager now is fab. Couldn't ask.for a better one.

My work place skills will definitely require work though. I cannot transfer the same behaviours/conversations to anywhere else. it's gonna.be a.learning curve for sure.

Lots of transferable skills from retail:

Prioritising workload- ie a delivery crate needs to be put away but someone comes and asks a question and a queue is building on the tills, examples of what you would do.

Proven to be responsible and have a high level of accuracy- using the till and handling cash

Dispute resolution- I'm sure some customers have been rude at some point, it's a good set of skills to know how to deal with it and de-esculate

And many more! When thinking about how your experience relates to a job advert, it's not just what you've actually done but what skills and what experience it has given you.

What about receptionist? I work in a leisure centre and we are constantly looking for all kinds of staff. Once you are in, you can easily refrain for another job. Swimming instructor (decent pay), personal trainer, manager etc etc etc.
The atmosphere is very friendly and relaxed. We have all age groups and people with various learning difficulties or needs. Pay is not great though.

Can I say huge good luck but ALSO the best recommendation for a future employer is the fact that you have been steadily employed. It shows you are reliable, hard working, good with people - all things that are hugely vital. Don’t describe yourself as unemployable! You sound great and ready for a career change at this exciting time of your life.

I’m slightly disappointed that none of the previous 43 posters has directed you to the Mature Study and Retraining board! It’s here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mature_students

It’s essentially your thread, expanded to 1000 times its size.

Wow brilliant I didn't even realise we had that.. thank u...

I think a short Uni course would boost your confidence. A certificate for eg. You can then use this to leverage into a higher level course, if you wish. Do something you enjoy, as you will be more engaged and therefore score higher in results. Best of luck!

Hi OP, if the care work appeals look into the role of Personal Assistant (PA) where you can assist/aid/enable someone to do something like go to college/a club or day centre/their job. Lots of variety and different environments. Can be part time, sometimes good rates of pay. Life experience and common sense will be more important than formal qualifications. You could do it part time if you do decide to study. Best of luck and embrace the chance.

It’s a pleasure!

If you browse through the ‘I don’t know what to do’ or ‘Am I too old?’ types of thread you’ll find links to the National Careers Service - which has quizzes to help you narrow down your preferences, and lots of information on everything.

Countless people taking Access courses to smooth the path to university.

Links to Coursera, and FutureLearn - free online courses.

Loads of discussion on the OU.

Lots of mentions of apprenticeships - now available at pretty much any age.

Thanks whatwouldscullydo that ve ry supportive of you when you have your own problems!
I hadn’t thought about the either end drive, getting ready etc. it is a big chunk of the day to sit in someone’s house and do the bits of their business they don’t want to do.

I’m now thinking I’d be better off with some of the courses papayamya has posted, thanks for that. Also Google digital garage is free and apparently very good. I think there is quite a lot of free courses at the moment. Also I believe Microsoft etc all run training for their products.

I would recommend trying for jobs somewhere such as Citizens advice. you may need to start doing some voluntary hours but the training is good and you can quickly move into a paid advisor role which come up frequently. I started a paid advisor role with no previous advice experience. Their computer system/ database is really easy to pick up. I am rubbish on the computer but was able to pick things up easily.