Husband struggling to get job

[GreenMarigold]

My husband is 46 and hasn’t had a ‘proper’ job for many years. This is because of poor mental health and then physical health (cancer).

He’s had some casual jobs from time to time but my income is enough to sustain us so we could afford for him to do childcare and mostly not work. However he’s decided he’d like to contribute more and would really like to work for the NHS as it saved his life.

He’s got decent GCSEs but no other qualifications other than that. He has applied for quite a few admin/trainee jobs in the NHS in the last year and gets interviews for about half of them but still hasn’t been offered a job.

He is really starting to lose heart with failure after failure after the interview stage. He can’t really do any heavy lifting/manual type jobs because of a back injury.

Does anyone have any tips that could help - the type of jobs that he could apply for within the NHS or easily skill up for? Or what more he could do at interview stage?

He always attends the interviews well turned out and researches the job thoroughly.

Employers always like someone with a track record - could he sign up to an agency for admin work, volunteer at a charity shop - the shops near me are always on the look out for volunteers?

Best of luck to him

Can he do some voluntary work as an admin assistant for a charity? This would give him recent and relevant experience and a reference for paid work

Could he do some free on line courses to increase / update skills? Ms office etc.
volunteer doing admin for a charity- try do it .org.
does your local authority offer job clubs etc?

Thank you, volunteering is a really good idea.

He did help with the Covid vaccine clinics this winter so I thought that that recent experience might help.

I just wish someone would give him a chance!

Or volunteer at a hospital?

I’ll suggest this to him, thank you

This would be great. We’ll have a look into that. Thank you.

My mym is currently having chemo and there is a lady volunteer that goes round making tea and dishing out biscuits for all the patients. My mum said she is wonderful - maybe your dh could get his face known doing something like that. Or volunteer at park run - anywhere that gives him a bit of confidence and someone who can write him a reference.

I think volunteering within a hospital is a great idea. It will give your husband some experience in the setting he is hoping to work and give his confidence a boost. I say that after just spending a good 10 mins chatting to a lovely chap at our local hospital when I picked up my son today. Wishing your husband luck 🍀

If he is applying for admin jobs, he needs to make sure his MS Office skills are up to date. He needs to be at a high level on Word & Outlook, obviously, and Excel will also be an important string to his bow.

I'd suggest he voluteers for a bit to get something on his CV. Not necessarily for a long time, but to show he is actively doing something.

The NHS often have volunteering opportunities.