Hi,
this is following on from a post I wrote previously about finding it hard to get an interview at 53 (thanks for all your support and suggestions!)
My question is this - how on earth do I get back on track?
Let me elaborate:
I became a lone parent when my DD was 13 months old.
Once she started primary, I set myself up as a freelance PA but found it difficult to get clients, so when we moved to a new town (she was now 5) I decided to look for work in admin (before she was born I'd been an Office Manager in London).
However, I found it impossible to find anything (maybe because of a lack of recent experience in an office?) so with the Job Centre breathing very heavily down my neck, I was offered a job in garden maintenance and grabbed it - It paid well and I could fit it perfectly around school hours - I actually really enjoyed this.
But 3 years later, I began to suffer with backpain (gardening's quite physical) and decided to retrain in an industry which I was told was undersubscribed.
It is, and I found a job straight away, but it soon became clear that it wasn't the right choice for me, and having just been made 'redundant' before Christmas I'm now looking at 4 wasted years pursuing a wrong path with a now even wider gulf in my relevant employment history with regards to admin/secretarial work - Stay at home mum(3 years); Freelance PA (2 years); Gardener Maintenance (3 years); The other job that simply wasn't suitable (4 years).
I'm aware that it's not advisable to include Employment History that goes back years, so in my case what do I do? 2010 was the last time I was in an office.
I'm also aware that now having a Masters, I'm overqualified for most of the jobs I'm applying for - do I not mention this? I've deleted my Linkedin account which mentions this, but it's still online.
It's all such a mess.
I could lie, but I'm an honest person and this really doesn't sit well with me.
I could temp, but I've been told that there's no guarantee of regular work and as a lone parent with a mortgage - this is a worry.
There are so many jobs I see advertised that I could do standing on my head, but I can see why my CV doesn't portray me as someone who's followed a steady career and as well as my age, isn't getting that foot in the door.
I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts.
Thanks.