Finding work at 41

[pokemeinthemorning]

Hi all,

I'm just feeling pretty down and depressed at the moment. I'll give a brief background for context.

Graduated in 2004 (RS degree)
Moved to South korea to work for 3-4 years teaching English
Did quite a few short term contracts in various countries teaching English and got my TEFL cert.
Got married in 2009 and had first child
Did a few placements in TEFL in between
Had second child in 2011
Had third child in 2013
Didn't work much at all whilst bringing them up as husband was on a decent salary and we managed ok. I would have liked to but he was not keen on the idea (he was fairly controlling and wanted me at home).
Separated and moved away from H in 2015 and got work as a TA in school for a year.
Did my STLS (T. A qual L3) and worked for 3 years in a special school.
Moved to South Wales in 2019 and managed to get my own place with the kids.
Did online TEFL for a couple of years and have been back working as a TA for about 6 months with an agency.

Since my last job came to an end (New chinese regulations for foreign teachers), I have been sending application after application with no reply.
I've been sending them for TA posts , lots of other positions and am just getting nowhere. I have applied to many retail positions on min wage but never hear back.
Most of the jobs I've applied to are min wage or just above because I can't find anything that I have any experience in or that I'm qualified for.

In the past, I've had replies and plenty of interviews (even if I was not selected) but here I hear absolutely nothing and tbh I just feel worthless and stupid right now.
The agency work is ok but there is no security in it. Not getting paid for holidays/INSET days etc is a worry. I know we can't live like this forever. My other problem is that I've not been able to find childcare here at all (for 3 years I've tried!) and so I'm a bit restricted with school times and the week is already stressful as I do two drop offs at different schools and pickups before and after work. I had a really good childminder where we lived previously.

I feel like a failure to my kids and always stress the importance of school and doing their best in order to get a good job later in life. Thankfully, they are all doing very well but I worry my anxiety about getting work brushes off a bit.

I wish I could start again and get onto a proper career path but just feel I'm too old now and without childcare, I have no idea how I'd manage that.

I keep going over my CV to see if there is a problem there, wondering if it's my age or even if it's my name. I am also wondering if it's because I don't speak Welsh.

I think the most upsetting thing is that I keep reading and hearing how unemployment is at an all time low, there are plenty of jobs and people can easily find a job if they look. Even my mum is of this opinion and it's really not helping!

You have loads of transferable skills, are you selling yourself short in terms of the jobs you are applying for and your CV/applications?

You have 25 years + of working life ahead of you. That is plenty of time to re-train and build a career. Take time to evaluate your skills and knowledge then consider what careers are open to you. The National Careers service website nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ has tools to help you do this.

Gin, I am not overly confident tbh and I always go for jobs that I know I could do with relative ease rather than push myself. I think this process has dented it even further.
I'll have a look at the careers website. It would be nice if I could speak to someone I guess and see what else I could do.

I have kids the same age as you and found my job in a shop by walking in with a cv and basically being in the right place at the right time. Everyone I know now who has a retail job did it that way. Sorry I'm no help but best of luck op

Hi

I agree with Gin Palace!
Research what interests you- what excites you?
Is it TEFL, being a TA, or teacher/ or any other career?
Maybe take a look at www.16personalities.com and take their free psychometric evaluation to see which types of work could potentially bring you more contentment - and then see which of these (if you like them) could also increase your salary and progression opportunities.

You are a strong woman- 3 kids and on your own? This shows just how very capable you are as a person. x

Just a few questions:
Where are you looking for jobs? (Don't just rely on Indeed)
What would you like to be doing?
Have you had your CV checked? (NCS will do this)
How long have you been unemployed?

I agree with the previous PP about selling yourself short...you are definitely not too old for a career change, lots of people do this in their 40s or 50s and you're clearly intelligent and have plenty of transferable skills.

careerswales.gov.wales/

Speak to a careers advisor, there's a couple of schemes that can help fund training if needed. They can also signpost towards childcare schemes. Have you spoken to your local family information service to find childcare providers?

Why don't you learn Welsh to level 2? That should be easy with your skills and would take about 9 months.

learnwelsh.cymru/

The courses are cheap and there is financial support available if needed.

I think the most likely thing is that you don't speak Welsh.
Have you tried learning? I'm learning Welsh with DuoLingo and am quite enjoying it.

Thank you Cat, what lovely words. It isn't easy but as they are now well into school (eldest has just started secondary), I feel I should be getting on top of it.
I like writing, reading and have written songs and poetry in the past and enjoy learning about language acquisition. I had thought about speech and language therapy but it's quite a long course and I don't know how I'd fund it.
I've loved my TEFL experiences. Meeting people from all the the world has been fascinating but the industry is in trouble at the moment as the Chinese market (the biggest by far) has been hit with new legislation by the government (no foreign teachers allowed to teach Chinese children outside of China). This is how my last job came to an end.

It is also not very well paid in many instances and the decently paid ones are mostly in London,Manchester or abroad.
TAing has been ok but it's only just above minimum wage and few jobs are long term now (mostly agency contracts). I do find it a bit boring at times as agency workers don't really have the same responsibilities as permanent staff. I wouldn't particularly like to go into teaching. The main reason I went into this was because of the hours.

Pegasus, I am employed F/T by the agency and I've been with them for about 6 months but constantly worrying about the holidays (unpaid) and if/when they might not need me.
I've been sending applications probably for about a year on and off as I knew my last job was going to end. I've ramped it up in the past 6 months.
I do tend to rely on Indeed but have also applied on the council website for positions (mostly TA/Education). I have the L3 TA certificate and have applied for L1, L2 & L3 with no luck since I've been in Wales.
I've also done courses and training with SEN and PMLD and studied a BSL course at home.
I can't really find much where my degree would be useful.
I will definitely look at NCS and ask them to check it for me. I have used LiveCareer to help put it together but not had anyone to really look over it.

Justkeeppedaling I am learning a little bit through school and try and say the basics but I've not properly started studying it. I sit through Welsh lessons at school and try and join in. It's not easy but I guess it's worth a shot taking a proper class. There is a huge emphasis in schools now on learning Welsh (mandatory at GCSE) so it could well be that.

Are you applying for everything that you could do or are you targeting specific jobs? Do you tailor your CV for each job or use the same one each time?
Have you asked for feedback to find out why you are not getting interviews/jobs?

A more targeted approach may yield better results.

careerswales.gov.wales/job-information/speech-and-language-therapist/how-to-become

if you’re interested in speech and language therapy training fully funded in Wales as long as you commit to working in Wales post qualification.

Wow, that's interesting Trebormints. I wonder though if they'd fund it if I've already got a BA ? I'll have a look.