Finding it impossible to get a better job

[Pickingmyselfup]

I've been working in hospitality for years as well as doing a 4 year degree in it. I've moved around a bit but my CV shows the last 3 jobs including my current one which is a big hotel chain and a big pub chain. The first job on my CV I was there for 5 years, left after I had my first child to work part time closer to home. Stayed there for another 5 years until my second child was ready to start school then moved to my current job because they offered me school hours which the previous job couldn't do.

I've been there 3 years and am very happy to stay for a few more years since it's flexible, I can work my standard hours plus more if I choose and it's literally round the corner from home so I don't need before or after school childcare even if I do 9-5 when my youngest is in year 6 because he can go to and from school with his older brother and they will only be at home alone for 2 hours max with me being a 5 minute walk away if they need me.

However, every now and again a job pops up in events planning which is something I'm keen to do so I apply in the hope the salary is enough so that we can suck up extra childcare costs for the next 3 years.

I don't seem to be successful because I have no experience in actually planning events or proper admin work. I know my way around a computer and I've worked several events over the years but because I don't have the actual title of "events" or "administrator" nobody will give me a chance.

I'm in no rush to find a job but I am a bit concerned that I'm 40 next year and if I spend another 3-4 years in a minimum wage job it will get harder to find a different job.

I have no idea what kind of job I'm even qualified to do that isn't hospitality either, it's all I've ever done! I'm no good at management so I don't want to pursue that avenue, really I just want a reasonable salary that's above minimum wage.

I have a friend who does events planning and loves it, I do know though she had to take a pay cut & be prepared to do the gritty work to build her name and profile in the industry. Spending hours & hours of her own time (and her own money) planning events for charities locally that she could then add to her portfolio and put her name to, built an online presence to show off her skills and experience, in her early years she really wasn’t coming out with much money at all due to working mainly for free or for very very cheap but it all helped to build her brand and she is now hugely in demand & is making a really good salary. She’s recently been flown to Spain by a client to put together an event all expenses paid plus her fee so it is possible, but it’s very much a long haul thing.

Yes it will be when you are trying to start your own event business which I don't want to do. I'm looking at hotels who already run events who need an event co-ordinator.

The thing is though if you don’t have the experience of doing that, you’re never going to beat a candidate who has done it before to get the job. You sort of need to take the hit financially/timewise to get some experience to then help you get the job you want.

True which is what is impossible. We can't afford for me to work minimum wage and pay for childcare, we would end up with less money than we would if I just stayed put in my job now which I'm happy to do until #2 no longer requires childcare.

I can see how people get trapped in low paying jobs because it's so hard to get out when you have kids.

Can you help plan and run PTA events at your child’s school or nursery?

Are you describing the experience you do have correctly though? So you maybe haven’t planned any events but have you ( for example) “ x years of experience in the successful delivery of events ranging from 50 to 1000 attendees “ etc etc?

What was your degree in?
Do they have roles such as 'assistant events manager'? You might need to start there and work your way up?
If you see a job advertised, could you ask for an informal visit beforehand? They would get a feel for you beforehand, but I don't know if that would only be applicable if you've actually got an interview.

It was in hospitality so we covered events and all kinds of stuff. I initially wanted to be a hotel manager but after being in a full time supervisor role for a couple of years I realised it wasn't for me and it's not something you can do without sacrificing a lot of family life. When I first started out I wasn't even sure I wanted kids so it wasn't something I considered after Uni when I started to pursue a career.

My CV could probably be better, I do tweak it for different jobs but right now the urgency isn't there, I'm still a bit unsure about committing to a job which won't be as flexible whilst I still have primary school. It's more of a concern for when I do want to get out there and start looking properly, what is it I can actually do and succeed in doing I guess. It doesn't have to be in events, I'm looking for something that pays above minimum wage, not teaching or shift work.

Not expecting to earn mega bucks either, anything between £26-30K is the kind of salary I would be looking for so really only just above minimum wage which is fine if we don't have the childcare on top.

• tweak your CV (much) further to align to the job you are applying for
• accentuate any relevant experience in your application
• identify any other transferable skills that are relevant
• get more experience through any means possible, offering to arrange things for your current employer, school, friends/family, local community events, anything

Basically if you really want it, go all out to show that!

Good luck

I'm a manager of a hotel sales team, we look after events within our team. Experience in an events role isn't a requirement for us when we are recruiting. I look more for someone who has a warm and friendly personality, high level of attention to detail and has experience of hospitality type roles.

You light want to look at applying for other roles within the same company to learn about the business and then you will have a foot in the door when an events role comes up.

I did actually try that, I hadn't been there long when a job came up in my workplace just a different section. I had already spoken to the manager previously about wanting to learn the events side before the job was advertised. When I saw it was I applied but they decided to go with someone who had more experience.

I already asked earlier about your degree etc. A friend did an unrelated degree, I think biology, and somehow ended up in events management. I'm unsure how or if she knew someone? She absolutely loved it- BUT, as soon as she had children things changed. She was a SAHM for a while and any roles in events she looked at were late nights, weekends etc which she didn't want. Or some where travelling and overnight because it was for a retail company- not within a hotel.

I've never worked in hospitality, but I'm sure you have multiple transferrable skills to other roles.

If you’re working for a big hotel chain that has events managers, can you express an interest in the role, perhaps ask if it would be possible to shadowing one of them? A lot of companies like to develop their staff and are willing to create opportunities to develop rather than lose good employees. If you have annual appraisals or similar you could raise it there but if not, raise it informally with your manager if they’re approachable.

I'm not now, it's a smaller company who do host events but it's in an entirely separate building. I have expressed my interest before but it's hard because they don't have an actual job for me and the kind of stuff I want to learn about is done during the day when I'm already at work or if I'm not it's usually because it's a day when the kids are off.

I haven't heard back from the job I applied for so I guess they have got a load of better applications which is fair enough. I'm happy to stay where I am until the kids are a bit older but I've no idea how I then branch out and look for something a bit better paid than minimum wage.

My husband wants to buy a bigger house which needs me to be better paid but it's a struggle. He would be better off getting himself a pay rise because he's already in a a decent paid job. Again I don't have an issue with staying in this house, we can extend our living space by borrowing less from the mortgage than what we would need to fund a bigger house and a move so it can be done with me working just a few extra hours a week in my current job.

Right now the main thing is I have a secure job which I enjoy and I can work extra ad-hoc if we find ourselves a bit short one week or I can do extra long term.

Event planning would involve weekends and evenings and would change your childcare anyway wouldn’t it?

What is your current job title? Can you not fit admin into it by helping with the bookings system and office tasks like cashing up, stock ordering etc?

I'm basically a waitress so my admin tasks just involve inputting bookings into the system. I've done reception work in my previous jobs but reception at this job isn't doable around the kids because of childcare.

Event planning that I'm looking at is Monday-Friday with some Saturdays thrown in so basically what I do now but I would need before and after school childcare so the wage needs to take that into account so that I would bring in no less than what I do now once that is paid for, fuel costs and also my student loan which I don't currently pay back.