Pete. you have a lot of pics of items you have made over the years. Have you thought of putting them on a webpage and advertising your skills. Taking commissions may be more beneficial at this stage of your working life than chasing endless jobs where 500 people are applying, irrespective of their ability, the employer being swamped with paperwork and delegating to a junior to pick the "likely candidates" - often directed by "qualifications". Also ready prepared product can easily be advertised and Quality always sells. What would you lose by giving it a go. I'm speaking from the position of accepting voluntary redundancy 13 years ago and been self employed since. The actual work undertaken has been diverse but I've never been out of work for long. Nothing I have done for those 13 years has been remotely relevant to the 35 years of my original career.
The Jobcentre sent me to see some bloke at a training centre in order to get my CV sorted out. First thing was horror, masses of people all sitting at computer screens with head phones on, I hate offices, always feel out of place, they are scary. Eventually someone showed me to a waiting room and after a while this bloke appeared and took me back to a corner of the office. Apparently his laptop was not working with the printer, so he spent most of the time running up and down 2 flights of stairs in order to get stuff printed, 3 times he did this. He was a bag of nerves, kept twitching and sniffing all the time, and he typed slower than me even. Anyway he put me onto a site, the government one, to write a CV and then print it. Just gone through the whole process, pushed save CV and all I got was a blank screen and an error message. Thanks mate, bearing in mind petrol and parking, you just cost me a tenner.
Pete , If my English would have been better i would have done for you. but look . this is a classic CV there are lots of free template on internet , what I would suggest is to insert few pictures and when you done make a copy in PDF to send around. http://www.cvtemplate.co.uk/
We have a friend who is 55 and was made redundant when her company relocated. In the last 2 years she has applied for hundreds of jobs, been sent on courses for:- CV generation Skills improvement New Skills Computer skills Additional qualification courses She attends the job centre every 2 weeks, visits the library several times a week searching the net for jobs, is required to apply for a specified minimum number of posts to qualify for her benefits and stamp etc. Basically she has naff all chance of finding a job through the job centre but is made to jump through all the hoops they dangle. She has 30 years of Office skills based around Architecture companies but is too old and not so aesthetic around the office as the competition in interview. She does not have the bottle to go self employed and is basically stagnating. The moral of the story is:- YOU CAN'T RELY ON THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES TO GET YOU A JOB. The one thing the current Job Centre staff (apologies to Jack McH if it offends) have their eye on is their own job. It's a numbers game - in and out. I may, of course, have a skewed view based on the apathy displayed when I briefly linked into their system. I filled in all the forms, took them to the office, was told I had to submit the forms and phone for an appointment the following week. The phone call consisted of a 30 minute discussion when a young girl led me through all the details of the forms and, confirming all the details we accurate and covered all required points arranged an appointment for a personal consultation the following week. At that appointment the first statement made was that as I had 35 years of stamps and a company pension I did not qualify for any benefits and was not eligible for stamp credits as the max has been lowered to 30 years. The next statement was that I wasn't required to seek work, however I was free to check the screens whenever I liked and could apply for any suitable job! I've not asked for any more help!
"The moral of the story is:- YOU CAN'T RELY ON THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES TO GET YOU A JOB. The one thing the current Job Centre staff (apologies to Jack McH if it offends) have their eye on is their own job. It's a numbers game - in and out." No offence as you are correct Though I was on the dishing out Tax Credits side of Civil Serpent Hands are tied I was an ADVISOR but I was not allowed to advise more than me jobsworth No really you do not know WHO you are dealing with I knew for sure some of my customers were illiterate They had to put their earnings for the year on to the form Now I am a helper not a hinderer, so I guided them through it OK Now how much do you get paid each week err £80 IS that before or after take offs Don't know Do you have a payslip Err yes here Right what does it say Gross pay Err £87 AND do you get that EVERY WEEK Yes Well put down in the box 4524 OK (I was not allowed to say this) Eventually it came to pass that one actually got £20k when it came to court he said buy your guy TOLD ME TO PUT THAT IN THE BOX The recordings of the conversation were put on a CD an played to the court YES I DID TELL HIM TO PUT 4524 IN THE BOX Case dismissed fraudster paid compensation and I disiplined ie wages and seniority etc Personally, although I knew it was wrong I just could not help myself helping others not fraudulently but current status of people under 35 Some can not even write let alone work out an income so I helped them knowing if I was caught helping I was in the deep doo's I got done again and the next call was out the door So I had no option other than to be a barsteward How much did you earn err I dont know Well you will have to find out and state it in the box, If it is incorrect then you may be taken to court and possibly jailed I was still foolish enough to try my best to help What did you earn and then take them through a basic arithmetic lesson several times until we came to the right figure Then I said you work it out and put what figure you get in the box WHAT 4524 Well what figure did you work out xx x 52 to be put that figure in the box IE:- I did not tell them WHAT figure to put in the box It is the same with Job Seekers Allowance To get the money they have to commit to certain elements, so many letters to employers, so many interviews The staff can not afford to turn a blind eye or they will be the ones at the other side of the desk the following week In my previous management job, I had them week in week out No intention of finding a job Come in MR X take a seat, filthy, picking nose , feet up on MY desk and explain that they could never get up in the morning, Lost the last job three years ago for poor attendance (Well you are not going to work for £16k when you can get £35k sitting watching all the SKY channels at home are you) For every genuine unemployed LOOKING for work there are ten trying to play the system and have never worked Basically IF you have never worked along with your parents, OR can survive two years without work THEN you have hit the jackpot £35k tax free a year take home pay (bidie in and two children under 16) My only hope is the new UNIVERSAL CREDIT that is to replace TAX CREDITS, DLA,HB etc does sort it all out so no one gets more for not working than working Oh another rant over Jack McH
Pete - if it helps, you can email me your CV and I would be happy to print a load of copies off on the colour laser printer and post them back to you?
But...are 50+ written off in the Job market? Employers are not allowed to be age selective. You can't state "mature individual" in the ad. or anything similar. You also can't state male / female only may apply, except in exceptional circumstances. We had a clause in the vehicle insurance that we had to use drivers over 25, but when advertising for a driver was not allowed to stipulate a minimum age (jobsworth rules). My experiences as a manager suggested that the more mature employee was happy to be working and would be a long term asset. Young employees were on the lookout for the next job that would pay more (and with less work involved if poss.)
In Italy we value old people a lot, but when it comes to employment it is cheaper to employ young people under a certain age, so many employer pay attention to that fact. I do not think it is a particularly clever idea to employ withouth consideration for the age, or to have to employ a 20 years old because it is cheaper, because there are advantages and disadvantages in younger and older workers. What I think is that the job should meet at the best the capabilities and needs of each individual, because that individual will be happy and provide a good service, and the customer will be happy in return.
One of the big sheds boasts they employ older and retired people Well yes they do, but only for exploitation You have to be a fully qualified/time served/full aprentiship and at the top of your trade tree, when they will accept you You then have to answer all customers queries regarding that trade ie You are an electrician You have to explain in full to the customer, how to wire up, what is the correct cable to use and switches needed for a dual circuit lamp system ie to switch the landing light on from upstairs or downstairs Your pay = minimum wage They want all the experience but not willing to pay for it, and older people are willing to take the poor wage as it is better than nothing In my experience older people are more work commited, No Duvet days (cor even the Government have accepted and implemented these, Basically you can not be bothered to work that day USUALLY Mondays, so you just do not come in) There is no 50+ rule Just the mis fortune of going to a company whose managers are fast track graduates aged 28 and not managers who have worked their way their on merit, younger managers tend to write off older staff before they even get through the door, Older managers are wise to the experience offered, and full attendance Sadly these managers are few and far between now I feel sorry for the young people who do wish employment, as there is very little employment available, though they should realise it is not a god given right to move out of the home into a fully furnishe flat and get rent paid by the GOV When they become 16 Jack McH
Very nice offer FC, thanks for that. But I think I've got it sussed at last, and only really need a few copies.
Hi Pete get the Job Centre to ACTUALLY do something for you. Take the document on a stick, or a single copy and get them to produce a few dozen for you - after all, they are there to help you find a job.
