SAHM wants to go to work but am i unemployable?!

dobs

thanks guys, yes your'e right ferien, one of my biggest problems is confidence! I would happily shelf stack at night, but hubby works round the clock, tonight he left at 530pm and will be back after 13 hrs (job is not in our town) tomorrow hes off and the rest of the week is all different, ranging from 11am to 10pm and 1pm to 1am! Its a big pain in the bum but he likes his job which is great. Zero hours contracts sounds just what i am looking for and the xmas thing sounds great, i did think of doing that last yr but thought they'd go for young uns or again more retail experience. We have got a dunelm opening up here soon i love that shop so maybe i need to try and get enough confidence to try and see what they say. Cheers everyone.x

dobs

just seen your post sazzie sue thanks, yes our school wanted a cleaner for quite a while but it was two hours after school every day and i couldn't drag a 4 yr old 6 yr old and 18mth old round work every day. Otherwise it would have been ideal for me. Will hsve to look into the local nurseries round here and see what they say.

Louise22

you should be confident that you have managed to bring up children! thats a massive thing in itself - you should stop being so hard on yourself

sazzie_sue

yeah deffo do, its a great thing to do and very rewarding, also try some agencys in child care to do supply work, there are plenty out there you can be flexible with your hours and will help you gain experiance, most arn't fussed about experiance as long as you can pass a crb check.
And also for any other type of work your intrested in looking into sometimes agencys can be a big help

xx

Lollypop75

There is one other thing that hasn't been mentioned. I don't know what your financial situation is, but since you want to start work, are available for work, etc. you may be eligible to sign on. However as you are married they will take your husband's salary into account, so you may not get anything. But even then, if you continue signing on you might be able to get access to some of the things the job centre provides (they do have access to some training things and such like). It might be worth you phoning to apply for JSA just to see what happens. Also take a look at http://www.entitledto.co.uk.

If you are working you will be eligible for some form of childcare vouchers, I think, too? (Someone here is bound to have a better idea about this than me.) That might help you with flexibility, which will make it a lot easier to find work.

Just to reassure you, also, everybody starts somewhere. You're not unemployable at all. It can be difficult to find work without experience, but it's by no means impossible. I understand your concern about retail, however it's possible that the local charity shop you enquired into doesn't have the resources to train volunteers, whereas a chain store definitely will. If you're looking for other ideas, you might want to take a look at http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/helpwithyourcareer/skills/. It's an online assessment that asks about your skills and interests and might come up with something interesting (although it may not).

I hope you find something you love!!

Debt_Free_Chick

I have no experience with this but isn't New Deal supposed to help those in exactly your situation?

paulwf

I second the comment on here about Christmas temp jobs. A lot of high street retailers will be looking soon so keep checking their recruitment websites (daily - these jobs come and go within 24 hours) and asking in their shops.

These jobs will be on a temp contract, so if you then find you hate it you only have to work to the end of it, or worst case is lots of people leave after their first week, they won't mind that much.

Most tills of high st stores are touch screen computer systems that tell you exactly what to do at each stage, very simple to use. There's also a steep learning curve regardless of how much or how little experience you've had before...learning to use a new till is easy, the hard bit is keeping cool under pressure, which having children you will be good at

Round my way charity shops are always asking for any sort of volunteers, if you want to go down that route try some others.

red_devil

I do think that people who have been out of the loop for a long time because they had caring responsibilities are at a disadvantage.

Employers seem to like people who have experience and people who have kept working. With so many people out of work they can be choosy.

Good luck though.

lauhen

I to have been out of the loop for some time, I did do phoenix trading for a year but not a proper going out to work job, about 9 years ago I was a care assistant for about a year before marriage, moving and kids came along, but now needs must and I need to work. So I applied for a job as a bank healthcare assistant, I told them in my interview that I could only work weekends, I couldn't do nights, but I would be willing to as my son got older, I got the job and should start soon. You get given an availability form and you feel out when you can work, either early, late or nights. Have you thought about this, some who they employed have never done caring before, you could use your role as a mum as a base for caring, I did.

mrcow

dobs wrote: »

Thanks, i wouldn't mind training at all, though i can't afford to pay for it myself and still have an 18 month old. I have thought about working with kiddies but at 37 worry that i am too old?All the ladies at the nurseries i've seen are all so young!

As a 36 year old Mum I have to say that this made me smile!

What kind of employee do you think a nursery worth it's salt would want?
What kind of nursery assistant do you think that a parent would prefer to see when they drop their child to a day care facility?

Someone fresh out of college with a childcare diploma.
Or someone who's had 7 years hands on experience of raising and dealing with children directly in the firing line?

Obviously childcare is just one option that you've mentioned, but I would say from your previous experience you are more than qualified to look at going down this route. To register as a child minder for example is a fairly straighforward process.

If you are worried about someone employing you and the fact that you need to flex your hours, then the obvious solution is to work for yourself. That way you can pick and chose your hours and can be as flexible as you like (and you'll never fall out with your boss lol).

Just because you've been a Mum, it doesn't mean that you have to automatically go for cleaning/shop work etc. And you certain;y don't have to settle for a menial wage either!