Best/simplest job for 60+ woman to earn around £200 a week?

[RogueFemale]

I have a 60+ friend who is very well qualified but being pushed out of her usual work. It used to be a full-time office job, then they made her self-employed, and now they're taking the piss asking her to do stuff for set rates equivalent to less than the minimum wage. She's tried to find alternative work in this field, but has found she is considered too old, and now thinking, well, better to work at a supermarket checkout or whatever, as at least it's reliable etc.

Any suggestions?

@SabreIsMyFave ”The chance of a 63 y.o. getting a job is rather small.”
My dh is mid sixties and has changed jobs several times since he was 60.

She tried an M&S application online today. It was compulsory to put DOB.

You realise that TAs have qualifications and have undergone training, right?

You need to undergo training

I can't imagine any company taking on a 63 y.o. as a carer.

Why not? Our local hospital took on a 63 year old as a healthcare assistant, no previous history in that type of role.

I'm past state pension age and still work in NHS hospital in a physical role, there are HCAs older than me! I think older people enjoy being looked after by someone more mature and I'm sure care work would suit. A lot of the carers going into people's homes are just prompting medications and doing some meals it's not always heavy personal care.

I'd get that checked, M&S are breaching equality legislation by forcing people to include DOB before they've even got through the interview process. I would definitely leave it blank.

here is what the government has to say about discrimination in the recruitment process -

https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment#:~:text=Asking%20for%20a%20date%20of,a%20separate%20equality%20monitoring%20form.

Lots of good ideas here and I am a bit at the suggestion here that 63 is too old to get work if she is fit and obviously well qualified in her current job. Given she has experience of looking after older people I would think the care sector would be a good fit. M and S and B and Q actively employ older workers and I think Waitrose have a good record of taking on older workers.

My Mum is 70 in August and still works 45 hours a week as a full time carer in a residential home for people with learning disabilities. She could absolutely find a job in care. I work as a Nurse and go into loads of care homes with a much older work force, doesn't matter her age as long as she can do the job.

how absolutely dreadful that people with a long employment history feel they have to hide it because of some ghastly discriminating so-and-so in HR!

The average CV gets about 30 seconds worth of attention. It has to be short and grab the attention because no-one is going to wade through pages and pages to see if this person fits the bill. Two pages at most. Mine's a page and half and I've worked for 45 years.

And what I was doing 25 years ago is unrelated to what I've been doing for the last 15 years, so irrelevant to any jobs I'd be applying for now.

Can I ask where you would start with this? It seems so confusing to work out an entry point?

Library associate! I love library work, and it’s not age discriminatory.

As she lives in a HA property, has she checked if they have an employment support offering, as many do and this will be free. I work for a HA and my role is to support our residents when they are looking for work, training.... As a sector, housing associations are more successful than most government funded programmes in helping people into work (and good work that is!). I have just found a role, for someone aged 61, limited qualifications but excellent experience, in a hospital reception role. A good review of her CV, presenting options for roles she has never considered and how to highlight her transferable skills would help. Worth her making a phone call to the HA.

Forgot to add, I am 62, a FT employee, been in this sector for a very long time, so know the tricks of the trade and it is not just about 'de-ageing' your employment history, but never being afraid to highlight your worth to an employer, which is something many fail to do.

Does she drive? Our after school nanny is 10 years older. She does school / activities run and dinner / laundry for teenagers. £18/hr. People for jobs like that are gold dust.

Have you tried the Civil Service jobs website?
It was a bit clunky last time I looked and you have to play around with the location/try different search terms but there are regularly all sorts of jobs listed, including part time. If she lives in central London there could be quite a choice, worth keeping an eye out.
If she has specialist research skills she might find these could be transferable to a number of roles. If she searches with “research” as a keyword she could see what types of job descriptions come up, and if any of these suit.

Training is minimal for exam invigilators. We struggle to find people willing to do the sporadic and ad hoc hours the job requires so would welcome suitable applicants with open arms and fast-track their training. The majority of our invigilators are retired.

Civil service!!!!

Bank Admin work for the NHS

Matron at a boarding school- these are often available as part time day shifts now. I know someone in similar situation who does Fridays and Saturdays from 7:30-6pm so a fair few hours but only 2 days per week so still lots of flexibility.

I haven’t give my dob on a cv or elsewhere for years and only list relevant work since graduation (mature student). There will be employers who flout the legislation but it’s against equality law to be ageist in recruitment unless ‘objectively justified and proportionate’.
I hope she finds something that she enjoys!