Can't get ANY job, please help me!

[Pleaseemployme876]

I've worked in customer service office roles for 12 years and prior to that 3 years retail working in a shop.
I'm looking for a new job, anything at all!! But not getting anywhere. I've applied for over 50 jobs. Tweaked my cv. Written cover letters. Contacted them directly. No luck.
All of these jobs are minimum wage and all seems to getting hundreds of applications. I've applied for a whole array of things, more customer service, nhs admin, receptionists, shop work, hospitality
I'm getting nothing back. I've had one interview .
I'm 40. Is that it for me now ? They want the younger ones that they can pay even less???

Don’t give up ! Keep going , each day at a time. The job market is tough. Are there any recruitment agencies you could approach? Is there any temp work available?

Don't be daft.... I changed career at 53

Left retail for good as I was so sick of the hen public!

It can be done

Very hard when you keep getting rejection emails
I feel like the new minimum wage increase is going against me .
I also feel like I'm going to have to accept whatever Job actually offers me something and it won't be truly what I want
Never experienced this before in all my years of working

Care work

Are you working at the moment?

Are you in work now? Any gaps in CV?

Would you/ can you do bar work, waitressing etc? Hospitality is crying out for lots of roles, especially kitchen work if you can do that!

Look at Civil Service Jobs website as well. Prisons, military bases etc all recruit constantly. Also police civilian roles.

I second prison roles!

If you are not working at the moment, try temping. It can get you a foot in the door.

What work are you willing to do? Basic admin roles are hard to get but healthcare work is usually much easier. I’ve recently used AI to help me apply for jobs and it worked.

Prison, care and hospitality have to be some of the lowest paid and most difficult jobs going. Definitely not suitable for every personality. Have you taken a career assessment to find out what you’d be good at?

@smooththecat prison admin, not necessarily OSG or officer!

But if OP is already looking at minimum wage jobs, then it might be time to widen scope. Hospitality isn't easy, no, but it's available.

I've never done care work and I'm absolutely not cut out for it!

As someone recruiting at the moment into NMW level jobs. There are a LOT of applicants and a good level of competition.

Out of 100 applications, I'd normally expect to reject 30-50% immediately for not completing the application form. There's still a fair few of those but I am getting a lot who already have experience in the sector and can talk about it in the application. So where the person spec makes it sound like an entry-level role suitable for someone with no experience in the sector, those aren't the people who are successful at interview.

It looks like you've applied for a wide range of sectors. Can you focus on those where you do have experience? Do you know about using STAR to explain your answers in the application (and later interview?).

I doubt it's age-related. Mine are anonymised so I can't see any personal details and, although I could probably hazard a guess from the dates of qualifications etc I don't have the time to do that!