Help to find job

[MightyGoldBear]

I really need to be financially independent from my husband.

I have a ba hons degree in illustration and for the last 9 years have been running a business (etsy shop) around being the primary care giver to our three children. Youngest 1 (cant afford nursery) middle had asd so school is difficult no wraparound childcare either so I definitely need to remain flexible.
I make below minimum in my business now with the living cost crisis people just aren't buying art prints/wall stickers.

I enjoy running a business but it isn't reliable for income. In the 11 years I've facilitated my husbands career so he has a much higher earning potential whilst I'm stuck at minimum wage with all the childcare responsibilities/barriers. He has over the years worked rolling shifts/on call so its been very difficult to even see how I could work unless it's wfh and flexible. Typically I know most people work full time and transition into wfh roles/flexible roles once they have proven themselves. My husbands current job sometimes want him to be on call/work weekends/go back of an evening.

I can't drive no money to learn. Without a job obviously I can't save.

I am currently doing a free counselling course which is very interesting but I couldn't afford the fees to train and learn to be a counsellor(flexible job wfh) I don't qualify for any funding either.

If I was to pursue a career in illustration/graphic design I would have to potentially volunteer first or do another course as my degree is no doubt outdated by now. I still have the same issues of no money for this or childcare. It won't be until September my youngest hopefully will get some funded nursery.

I have applied for local minimum wage jobs just to see if I would get anything but my c.v is very empty looking so I can't even get interviews for part time or weekend work. Starring a career feels very difficult.

I just want to be on a path working towards something so If my marriage does end I can feed and house my children. I don't want to be stuck in minimum wage forever I have always wanted a career. When I met my dh we agreed he would be the sahd and I would work full time. As I got pregnant on the pill during the last year of university as he was already working and earning but couldn't afford nursery it made sense to start my own business. He always promised we would swap and he would support my career and earning potential. But 11 years later I can clearly see I can't rely on his support in this way.

Do I just get any job and save up?if so what kind of jobs are do able in my situation.

I feel incredibly foolish,vulnerable and I have no confidence. I am finding the constant job hunting and rejection very hard going. Everywhere wants minimum 2 years experience.

Please help.

If you're not getting interviews, I would do 2 things:

Have your CV checked over
Concentrate on relevant applications

You not only have a degree, you also have experience! You have business, management, and customer service skills. I suspect you might be selling yourself short.

The company I work for have a design team, so I expect a lot of other companies might too - would such a job be an option?

Can your husband pay the nursery fees?

For the cv, I’d really big up your Etsy store work as pp said you will have a lot of transferable skills from running your own business also make sure your LinkedIn is also up to date and with the looking for work tag.

For your illustrator work, I’m not an illustrator but in a similar creative field, have you got a separate online portfolio rather than just the Etsy store? I’d start working on that if not and try to pick up some commercial work (things like fivver and upwork can be absolute rubbish pay wise, but they’re great when starting to pad a portfolio with look at this commercial work I’ve done)

@returnfromthestars

No he can't pay for nursery either. It's too expensive untill my youngest gets some funded hours.

Everywhere wants minimum 2 years experience.

Which jobs are you looking at that have this requirement? Do you mean fully remote jobs?

There aren't many fully remote jobs anymore and those that exist are generally for people with experience and in demand skillsets. The only possible exception that springs to mind is customer service call handling.

You can't drive but are there employers within travelling distance for you (whether bus or on foot)? Have you looked directly on their websites to see what they're recruiting for and whether anything might be a fit for you?

It's clichéd but it is usually easier to find work when you're in work. If you can get your foot in the door doing something somewhere, you can use that as a stepping stone to gradually move into roles that bring you closer to what you want to be doing/earning.

Also, don't forget things like tax free childcare to help with costs:

https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

I've hired a fair few graphic designers, and I'm just here to second the suggestion for a good portfolio review. You really need a well-designed, thoughtful, and up to date digital portfolio on your own branded website - no Etsy or Squarespace or Wix in the domain.

This is something most graduates have right out of school and if you don't have it, you won't get a look in. For graphic design positions, you'd also want to include the business objective and the results your work helped generate.

The date on your degree matters far less than these, plus your actual artistic ability.

You have 2 years experience and you have run a business.

Lbd has good advice for your creative field. Your need for flexibility because of your dcs and relative difficulty in getting to a place of work means you would probably have to continue to pick up freelance work that you can do from home. Use that to build up a war chest to allow you to retrain in a different field when your dcs are older and in less need of childcare.

The good news is that you are married to your husband so that if that relationship breaks down, he has legal obligations under divorce law to pay maintenance and child support out of the years you have supported his career.