Job Centre

Another 2 weeks gone . Tomorrow is job centre signing on day..I am gonna have to give them evidence of my recent attempts of searching for a job ...Its been bad this time ...I have only found 7 jobs to suit ...and 3 of those where the same job advertised by different agencies ...and to date i have only had a automated reply to say they received my application...The Job a driver ...they want someone with experience and a clean driving licence ....Yes thats me ....40 years driving experience and a clean licence so passed all the criteria...so why haven't i been given the job I ticked the boxes I have never had a serious accident the answer.....To Old and over experienced ???..and the main question hanging over me "why does he want a job earning half as much as he used to get" ?????
Anyone got any answers .....cos I aint

Re: Job Centre

My son closed his business a fortnight ago, had 4 interviews with different firms, shortlisted twice, and tomorrow he has a 50-50 chance of a job, when he goes into his third interview with one company.
Fingers crossed he gets it, he really is trying hard, one he had to travel 120 miles twice, and then was told he would have been chosen but they thought he might start up his own business again.
I can assure them that is far from his mind, but they just don't believe him.

Re: Job Centre

Totally agree with you on the Job Centre post, the hole thing stinks. I have health issues but would be able to do a job of some sorts. No employer will ever hire me, i am 55 with health problems. The thought of never being employed is something i have had to come to terms with.
I am going to be taking an IT course to improve my computer skills so that i may be able to start something of my own up. Perhaps nothing will come of it but at least i'll have given it ago and i need to learn new stuff anyway, save me employing someone to come and fix my laptop when needed. Ah Ah.

Hold on in there,
Pepper.x

Re: Job Centre

I went on a I.T course last year ...to be honest i gave up in the end ...I got through the Microsoft word section ok then i really got bogged down on excel, I just could not grasp the formulas etc...so that was deferred ..i then moved on to power-point presentations etc ...the problem was i am the sort of person who has to be shown how to do something and have it explained ...the course was a on screen with a childish representation of a tutor .." well done you have just drawn a circle, now enter the number 6 in it"..it got boring and monotonous, and after 3 months of trying and struggling to understand the questions they set i walked away from it ...I just couldn't work learning like that besides what i learnt one week i had forgot by the next....besides when my benefits got stopped they had no hold over me, as the course was part of my JSA agreement ....

Re: Job Centre

Judith the best advice ever given to me was, is do what you know best or the next best thing you know.
Now let me explain, going back some years I was working in a Midlands city and doing quite nice and steady, when the company director called me in and told me he was moving North, and he would like me to go with him, so I up sticks and move to West Yorks, they paid my expenses and rent for a year so we could get back on my feet.
All went swimmingly well when suddenly 2 years later he sold up, and the new owners took the business back to the Midlands, having many health issues I too thought I was unemployable.
After a lot thinking and talking and coming up with the decision that if no one would employ me, I would have to work for myself and decided I would open a shop, selling what the wife asked I hadn't a clue really, then her indoors said why don't you do what you know best, which was what I was doing for my old company.
So I did I bought a concrete big garage enough to hold two cars, had a wooden floor put in and fully insulated and lined the build to make it cosy, went out and bought the office equipment, and the rest was history.
Within a year I was turning over half a million a year working from home, very nice thank you, my business flourished and outgrew where we was after 3 years but we struggled on, with the home full of stock etc. etc, you can imagine what it was like.
I didn't intend to get that big but had to go with the flow, took on my wife which was just right her company was cutting back, so she walked away with a lump sum and a good pension, then we had to bring two more in our son and daughter, sadly my health got the better of me and I had to retire but was still on hand to help out when needed, especially if anybody else was sick.
Wife retired 15 years ago, but still did standing in rolls like running to the bank etc, I did nothing then but only answered questions when asked, as the industrial climate took hold it became obvious that my daughter had to move on, and when she got herself a magnificent bluechip job she left leaving my son solely at the helm, he did very nicely till this government came along, people stopped spending and it was agreed after a family conference that it was no good pouring good money after bad he closed it down, and he now has joined the queue among the unemployed, but he is working darned hard at finding a post, and hopefully today I hope to get that phone call, otherwise it is back to search the agencies and job centres.
So don't give up, do what you know best, if you can't do that do the next best thing.
Good luck to anybody who is searching for work, especially the sick.

Re: Job Centre

Update my son telephoned to say he had landed the job, a brand new job, no one to follow and a nice new office completely furnished to what he wants.
It is like Christmas in this family.

Re: Job Centre

Great news! Well done to your son.

Re: Job Centre

An update from me as well ...sent my CV of today with a letter to a job vacancy ....had a phone call this afternoon asking me to go and see them Monday morning for a 3 hr work assessment .....fingers crossed again ....

Re: Job Centre

Sincerely hope it works out for you this time Steve ....
Be positive .....

Re: Job Centre

I am always positive ...until i get a rejection letter ...i already had 1 this week ....this job is OK by the description ... but its almost 50% less than i earned before I got made redundant and nearly a 20ml drive every day so i will have to rely on my car ....but beggars cant be choosers at least it will be money in .....