Looooooooooong gap in employment... advice wanted

christopherrobin_2

bitsandpieces wrote: »

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.

I guess my main concern would be saying that I was 'working as a freelance writer' would just be exaggerating my situation significantly - not sure a few articles over the course of this long gap plus a website that made a bit of money would really count. Perhaps a confidence issue again, never been great in interviews as it is, without having to try and explain this sufficiently.

Thanks for the JSA advice, will take that onboard.

bitsandpieces

You ran a website, got some articles published and (I assume) wrote other stuff that no-one would pay for. Assuming you were working on this fulltime(ish) then I don't know that there's anything wrong with putting this down as a job. A lot of the skills you've demonstrated here - online work, writing well, etc. - could be of real interest to employers.

A fairly high proportion of start-up businesses fail - or at least don't make enough to pay the rent. It's nothing to be ashamed about - from the sound of it, your attempt to make it as a writer fared better than most! If you worked on this business during the 'gap', I don't see putting it down on your CV as a bad thing.

christopherrobin_2

I have to be honest, it certainly wasn't a full-time thing - not for the full duration of the 'gap' anyway. Looking back now it was a pretty poor attempt at pursuing a bit of a pipe-dream, hence my reluctance to include it. I made very little money from it, we're talking hundreds.

Slinky

Instead of trying to find a job working for somebody else, have you thought about setting up your own business? Do you have a car? Could you do something like window cleaning? I'm not being funny here, I run a couple of small local magazines, one of my advertisers is a window cleaner. He turns up to pay me in a BMW............ obviously didn't get to that overnight, but he works very hard, has some other lads working for him, has been advertising in the right places and done very well.

There's more than one way out of your situation, and it doesn't take a huge outlay to start some small businesses. None of your customers is going to care what you have been doing for the past 4 years.

christopherrobin_2

I can't drive unfortunately, which limits options there. Would struggle to find the outlay anyway, even if it wouldn't need to be too huge. Thanks though.

patman99

OP, you mentioned in your opening post that you made a bit of money both through matched betting and as an eBay trader.
On your cv, these would cover
Online sales
Goods distribution
Financial management

and if you bought stuff to sell-on, then also goods purchasing (or precurement if so wish).

Good luck with the job hunting,

Savvy_Sue

I think you're making too many excuses now. that gap doesn't have to have been filled full-time. Nor do you need to keep saying how little work you did in it.

Get A Grip. Sell Yourself. We've given various tips, but we can't do it for you ...

Bettie

I had a 17 year gap to fill when I applied online for a well known bookie and I told them I had been a housewife. ( Could you have been a househusband?) Had an interview and got taken on straight away. references were never checked - I gave a personal one. I told them I had done a bit of cash in hand waitressing which was true but I couldn't have proved it.
As you have done a bit of match betting you may like that type of thing and it's a bit better than a shop till job IMO however it's low pay and unsocial hours BUT within a few months you can be managing a shop and then at least have a reference for the next job. I've worked with many university guys that have used the job as a stepping stone and several that have stayed on despite their qualifications.

christopherrobin_2

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I think you're making too many excuses now. that gap doesn't have to have been filled full-time. Nor do you need to keep saying how little work you did in it.

Get A Grip. Sell Yourself. We've given various tips, but we can't do it for you ...

Fair cop, can't argue with that. It's not my intention to make excuses, I guess I'm just looking at the negatives and how a prospective employer might/would view them. I'd have probably been better off in the OP being more honest with myself about the gap.

Trying to look on the bright side - I've got several years of customer service behind me, a decent education, I'd like to think I've had a wake-up call and would be able to sell my willingness to get stuck in and prove myself at an interview, so hopefully someone will at least give me one (an interview that is).

christopherrobin_2

Bettie wrote: »

I had a 17 year gap to fill when I applied online for a well known bookie and I told them I had been a housewife. ( Could you have been a househusband?) Had an interview and got taken on straight away. references were never checked - I gave a personal one. I told them I had done a bit of cash in hand waitressing which was true but I couldn't have proved it.
As you have done a bit of match betting you may like that type of thing and it's a bit better than a shop till job IMO however it's low pay and unsocial hours BUT within a few months you can be managing a shop and then at least have a reference for the next job. I've worked with many university guys that have used the job as a stepping stone and several that have stayed on despite their qualifications.

Not sure on the househusband thing really - not married for starters! I do do the housework but we've no children or anything and I'm in my 20s.

Would quite like to work for a bookies, it's always interested me slightly. Have looked online at the various bookies though as well as checking the stores in town and there doesn't seem to be anything going at the moment. Do you mind if I ask when you got your job with one?