Looooooooooong gap in employment... advice wanted

christopherrobin_2

Should clarify on the references part - we're talking someone willing to say 'yes he worked for me between x and y', not a character reference (which would be fairly useless in my situation I think). Obviously it's very dodgy ground ethically, and even though part of me is so downhearted at my prospects of even getting an interview with that four year gap on the CV that I'd consider it, I can't help thinking that I'd potentially get them into trouble - I'd have no P45/P60/wage slips for example, if they contacted the companies HR dept they'd have no record of course and so on.

I shouldn't even be considering it obviously, but things look so bleak otherwise - I can't realistically say I was working freelance or self-employed in that time, I just don't have the body of work to show them should they enquire further (as they surely would). Staggering that it's only really just dawning on me what a mess I've made.

snoop2008

Christoherrobin, I can certainly tell you being out of work for a long time like you said can make you lose your confidence. It's sounds as if you have some great skills and volunteering can certainly be a slow climb up the ladder to using some of your skills and gaining work experience again. I was so afraid to lose my skills and confidence due to my disability but I found a wonderful volunteering position to use the skills I have. There are many volunteering positions and some involve freelance work, writing , TV etc.... have a look here, you never know what you may find.

http://www.do-it.org/

Good luck!!

christopherrobin_2

Thanks. It's definitely something I need to look into, I just fear that even with some volunteering work starting even vaguely soon, there's still going to be that long gap when I come to go for paid work (although obviously better to have something than an even longer gap), and additionally it'll make things a struggle financially for me as circumstances have changed somewhat - hence looking at quick-fix, dubious options I guess.

Thanks though, it's something to look into certainly.

snoop2008

christopherrobin wrote: »

Hi. Bit of a long-winded post with probably obvious responses, but, well...

I left university in the summer of 2006 - without graduating - and left my part-time job with the student union at the same time. It was a pretty low time and I was suffering with glandular fever to make things worse. Got over that and spent a few months travelling before knuckling down to look for a job early in 2007.

A few rejections/shaky interviews and then getting - and quickly leaving - a job which turned out to be nothing like it was 'sold' to me as by the recruitment agency (significantly different role, significantly lower pay, totally different hours) knocked my confidence and I guess I ended up stuck in something of a rut. Long story short - I'm still without a job three years on (nearly four years on from my last role).

I'm lucky enough to have had a supportive partner and family, and via a combination of having a decent amount of money saved and earning bits and pieces through things like matched betting and ebay trading, I've not suffered financially and haven't had to sign on at any point. Much of the time I've spent pursuing a 'dream' of writing for a living, and have been paid for various bits of freelance work.

Anyway, despite encouraging signs recently, things have reached a point where I need to be earning and can't wait around much longer in the hope said encouraging signs come to fruition, but obviously I've made a pretty hefty mess of things and left myself with a mountain to climb.

I've had a decent education (13 GCSEs, 3 A-Levels, all decent grades) up until university, where I really just picked the wrong course and stubbornly refused to admit that to myself until I'd wasted too much time on it. I've got a fair bit of pre/during-university experience in a customer service role (three years full-time) as well as a couple of years part-time bar work. I'd like to think I'm relatively intelligent and presentable and would have very good references from those previous employers.

Guess (apart from just wanting to get all that written down) I'm just looking for any advice on getting back into things (and have no qualms with being told just how much of a plum i've been at various points). I don't really want to sign on (and I doubt I'd be eligible for anything anyway?) but is getting in touch with jobcentreplus and explaining my circumstances the best bet? Any advice on dealing with the thorny subject of that long gap? I've had a couple of friends in managerial roles offer to provide references for that time but don't really want to go down that route, can't see it working out well. Any vaguely similar experiences (might be a forlorn hope)?

Cheers.

If you did decide to volunteer for a while, you would be building up your work experience and get a reference!! Volunteering is very flexible and you have the choice of hours work with some organisations whilst looking into areas of work. I can honestly say, employers would rather see someone volunteering as those experiences means your working but without pay!!

christopherrobin_2

If I keep drawing a blank with applications I'll certainly have to look at volunteering. I'd just rather avoid it as it'd cause quite a strain financially.

christopherrobin_2

Sorry to up this - just wondering, would people still recommend getting in touch with the job centre? Sounds like a daft question (I need a job, they're the job centre...) but I obviously wouldn't be claiming any JSA and I just wondered if they'd be focusing all their efforts on getting those who claim it off it.

elsien

Have you had tried the careers advice service? I have no idea if they are any use or not, but they have a freephone number to speak to an advisor, so that might be a useful starting point.
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/
What are you good at, and what do you like doing in a job? On the basis that even if you'll take any job going at the moment, you need to be able to enjoy it enough to stick at it, or you'll be back at square one again. Office based, working with people, call centre, active, desk-based?
The gap might not be as much of an issue as you think, depending on what you want to do. I signed on for a couple of years after my degree and didn't really get questioned much at interview - waffled on about voluntary work etc. If you're going after a job that needs lots of dynamism and self-motivation they might be concerned, but otherwise if you can show you've done something constructive with the time ( and you have been doing things, so use that to show some of your skills) it may not be so difficult to get round.

Savvy_Sue

christopherrobin wrote: »

I can't realistically say I was working freelance or self-employed in that time, I just don't have the body of work to show them should they enquire further (as they surely would).

Just as life's too short to stuff a mushroom, so for most employers life's too short to ask to see the 'body of work' which you feel would account for your 'freelance' period.

Seriously, unless you are planning on applying to MI5 or similar, no-one is going to check up that much. Don't be tempted to make it up, don't use fake references, but don't lose sleep over saying you've been doing some freelance work. Employers will understand that whatever you've been doing is no longer sufficiently lucrative.

As Gingerbiscuit says, an employer needs to see something in the gap, otherwise we may draw our own, erroneous conclusions. But the main reason for not lying or making it up is NOT because most employers will check, but because most employees will eventually let something slip which gives the game away!

Whereas all you will have to 'give away' is that your freelance period was an utter disaster, and you've drifted for longer than you intended. If by then you've proved yourself by doing a good job, no harm is done ...

bitsandpieces

christopherrobin wrote: »

I obviously wouldn't be claiming any JSA

Why not? Even if you don't qualify for any means tested payment, at least you'll get your national insurance stamp paid. You won't be the first person who has tried self-employed work and not made enough to live on - I don't see why you wouldn't be able to sign onto JSA. If you're struggling to motivate yourself, they may give you a helpful push (even dealing with the jobcentre can be such a PITA that it's good motivation to find something!)

Depending on how much freelance work you did, you could be quite justified saying you worked as a freelance writer for a certain period. You could be completely up-front: 'I worked as a freelance writer, had publications in (wherever), achieved such and such, but wasn't making as much as I hoped - so I'm looking to use my skills in other areas'. If you'd ran a business into the ground, had angry creditors creditors chasing you, had been doing something illegal/unethical etc. then that might be a problem for prospective employers. I imagine that many will be fine with 'I tried to write for a living, had some success, but didn't make enough money', though.

monsta2005

christopherrobin wrote: »

Hi. Bit of a long-winded post with probably obvious responses, but, well...

I left university in the summer of 2006 - without graduating - and left my part-time job with the student union at the same time. It was a pretty low time and I was suffering with glandular fever to make things worse. Got over that and spent a few months travelling before knuckling down to look for a job early in 2007.

A few rejections/shaky interviews and then getting - and quickly leaving - a job which turned out to be nothing like it was 'sold' to me as by the recruitment agency (significantly different role, significantly lower pay, totally different hours) knocked my confidence and I guess I ended up stuck in something of a rut. Long story short - I'm still without a job three years on (nearly four years on from my last role).

I'm lucky enough to have had a supportive partner and family, and via a combination of having a decent amount of money saved and earning bits and pieces through things like matched betting and ebay trading, I've not suffered financially and haven't had to sign on at any point. Much of the time I've spent pursuing a 'dream' of writing for a living, and have been paid for various bits of freelance work.

Anyway, despite encouraging signs recently, things have reached a point where I need to be earning and can't wait around much longer in the hope said encouraging signs come to fruition, but obviously I've made a pretty hefty mess of things and left myself with a mountain to climb.

I've had a decent education (13 GCSEs, 3 A-Levels, all decent grades) up until university, where I really just picked the wrong course and stubbornly refused to admit that to myself until I'd wasted too much time on it. I've got a fair bit of pre/during-university experience in a customer service role (three years full-time) as well as a couple of years part-time bar work. I'd like to think I'm relatively intelligent and presentable and would have very good references from those previous employers.

Guess (apart from just wanting to get all that written down) I'm just looking for any advice on getting back into things (and have no qualms with being told just how much of a plum i've been at various points). I don't really want to sign on (and I doubt I'd be eligible for anything anyway?) but is getting in touch with jobcentreplus and explaining my circumstances the best bet? Any advice on dealing with the thorny subject of that long gap? I've had a couple of friends in managerial roles offer to provide references for that time but don't really want to go down that route, can't see it working out well. Any vaguely similar experiences (might be a forlorn hope)?

Cheers.

This is so similiar to me its untrue!!!! Apart from not finishing Uni, which I did and then took a gap year, and subsequently did a MBA (which was completed almost two years ago and I got a Distinction on :T ). I have supporting parents, luckily enough and have got by on bits and pieces, such as freelance work also-for pretty much all my adult life (and student loans ofcourse). But even they are finally frustrated that with an education, I am still doing this type of work-instead of earning £50k a year. I will also take on the same advice given here I guess I have suffered from depression in the past year though and sort of still do so now irregularly, but even before didnt really lack the motivation to get a proper job and still struggle to foster the motivation.
The main barrier I face when I do apply, is the lack of work experience (huge lack of it). But also the huge gap in my work history since the completion of my MBA has been cited as a reason.


Anyway your certainly not alone!!! ;-)