Husbands lack of employment

[BigCheese24]

Bit of background:

My husband graduated uni and got a graduate job immediately, before he even graduated. He LOVED this job. It was initially office based then during covid became full time WFH and remained so. He was made redundant in July of this year. He was devastated.

I work full time Mon-fri 9-5 office based. Because my husband worked from home, he was also responsible for taking DC to school and collecting from school. This situation worked perfect for us - 2 full time salaries, no extra childcare costs and no dependency on other family / friends.

Now, it's November. He's been unemployed for just over 3 months. The savings have all but disappeared. He's entitled to JSA but we're not entitled to anything else due to my wage. At first, he was determined to find a similar job/role. But now I fear we are becoming too financially unstable that he may have to take whatever job he can.

But I'm worried. Not only has he struggled to find a similar job/related to his degree, he is still grieving the job he loved. And he is so sad/depressed being in the house 24/7 whilst I'm at work & the DC are at school. We do need the money, but I worry taking any old job just to fill the gap may depress him more! I suggested there was lots of Xmas temps jobs at the moment and he seemed so gutted at my suggestion.

Should he stick to looking for something more career related? Or just take anything? Even if he takes any old job he won't even make half of what he made in his last job - but it would be more than JSA. But I don't want to pull him down anymore.

Not sure any more how to support him during this ordeal.

Plenty of entry level roles in IT. Maybe not specifically coding but lots of other where those skills will be useful and can then move sideways

I'm a bit confused about the timeline. He must have at least 4 years experience after starting as an entry level junior.

Best to get out the house and take any old
iob until he get what he wants. I’m seeing lay offs at my company left right and centre- it’s the way of things right
now. The contact with people will help and will show newbie employers he got out and took positive action to find a job. He may even find a change in direction of his job he might want to pursue if he tries something new.

Sorry to derail this topic, but you said you got back to a previous job you left. Were you unhappy there? Did it turn out to be better when you came back? Do you think you'll stay? I'm also considering returning to a previous job in order to avoid being unemployed.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was unhappy, but it just felt a bit dead-end. It’s line-managing in public libraries. I don’t intend to stay forever, as I do want to somehow use my new degree in the future, which is in web design/coding.

I don’t particularly want to work for shiny companies as a hot shot web developer, but I’d like to be able to work with tech in some capacity in the future. I’d say this time I’m more open to different possibilities - for example the CS recently advertised for a Systems Librarian role that required code knowledge. Before I did the degree, I wouldn’t have entertained that idea.

I think that this time will be different for a few reasons - I have the degree now, whereas the first time around I felt the job was keeping me from doing courses in things I’m interested in. Also, having had a few months of frantically looking for work with no money coming in, I never want to feel like that again. This time there’s peace of mind while I search for things that interest me because I have a steady pay check that enables me to enjoy life.

Ultimately being out of work was extremely humbling, and it made me appreciate what I had in the libraries - a kind, supportive team that wanted me back, a solid group of friends at work, and an organisation with good values. I’ve interviewed for some shocking places during my tech job hunt. It doesn’t have to be forever. I’ll definitely keep looking, but it’s nice to feel wanted!

I’m not clear on what kind of jobs he is looking for now? You said that his role was entry level IT but he had been working at his previous company at least since pre-Covid so has he not had any promotion or development in that time? I know he loved the company, but what were his appraisals like and how do you think the company viewed him? What age is your husband?