New job, new beginnings.

patman99

Major update.
As of 16.02 on Thursday 7th October, I rejoined the ranks of the unemployed as my temp tole was terminated. I have a feeling that this might have been down to raising a formal grievance against a (now former) colleague.

So far have discovered that it takes just as long to apply online for JSA as it does to do it on the phone. So no time gained there. Have got my initial interview at the JC early Tuesday morning.

Positive things -

Have dropped-off a cv at a company I had read had relocated to a larger premises (was going to do this anyway)
Applied online for a job as a trainee bus driver
Will be using a contact to get a potential foot in the door at a very well paid machine operators job (much higher pay than I got in my last role)

Negative things -

Will not have enough money to service debts as I can't claim off my PPI due the job being temporary.

Jobs to do for the week -

Arrange collection of old car for scrap
Pay car Tax on current car
Attend JobCentre for initial JSA interview. Must remember to enquire about schemes aimed at helping the unemployed go into self-employment (just in case).
Contact all my creditors (except for mortgage) to inform them of my unemployment & offer to pay them £1 per month until I am back in work.

Moral/weight wise, I need to maintain a proper balanced diet & introduce more exercise as sitting on a PC jobhunting does nothing to the figure.

patman99

Update.

Since my last posting, i have been in contact with Stepchange and put a TPP in motion.
Have signed on the dole, then across to ESA.
Phoned my PPI providers to inform them of my unemployment for their records & discovered that as my Agency assignment was for more than 2 years at the same place without a break, they will treat it as a permanent job. Result.

Had to re-apply for JSA to comply with PPI payout rules, so 2 weeks without a job & no benefits received as yet.

Have 2 interviews lined-up. Looking good for both. If I get offered both jobs, then I already know which one I will be going for as one is £11.77 p/hr (+ shift allowance), whilst the other is only £8 p/hr with no s/a.

Just had a thought. If I get offered both jobs & the higher-paid one is a new year start & the lower-paid one is immediate start, would it be ethical to take the lower-paid job for a month then quit and take up the higher-paid role ?.

The big bonus with the higher-paid job is that it is a 2 - 10 shift, so freeing-up my mornings to do some odd-jobbing and carboot selling. Thus increasing my earning potential massively.

patman99

Since the last update, I have had yet another interview with a Colchester-based company. Made it through to 2nd interview stage but didn't get the job.

Am now considering the route of self-employment having found info on the 'New Enterprise Allowance'. Will speak to my advisor about this next time I sign on.

Have managed to survive up to this point thanks to the 'Essential Living Fund' & 1 trip to the local food bank whilst my benefits all got sorted out.

All my creditors have accepted my TPP with StepChange (which is a relief) so I am less stressed about bills.
Having moved my main Bank to another provider (leaving all my DDs coming out of my old Bank), I am now in a position to control my finances rather than my finances controlling me.

Weight loss is going well thanks to the Shape-Up program and I have gone from 99.7Kg to 95.6Kg in the 8 weeks the course ran for. I can still pop in for a weigh-in on a Saturday morning if I want to.

Today was an expensive day as I had to buy a new toilet seat & a pair of hair trimmers. Both were £9.99 each. I did look at repairing the toilet seat as you can buy new hinges and 'stops', but it was way cheaper to just buy a new one. No wonder we live in a throw-away society.
As for the hair trimmers, have you been to the barbers for a trim lately?. £6 for a trim. These will soon pay for themselves.

patman99

Finally, I have actually managed to bag a freebie off of Freegle. It was only an old swivel office chair, but it was in better nick than mine. I have repurposed my old chair to my son as he wanted one.

patman99

Amazing isn't it?. There have been more vacancies lodged on UJM in the last 7 days than in the previous month.

Anyway, Happy New Year to one and all.

patman99

Bonus. Through TopCashBack, I have booked a free eye test & will get £4.20 back. Not bad as I am entitled to free eye tests anyway (but they don't know that).

Skint_but_Optimistic

Money in is money the right way. Sounds like its all going ok for you. Ive never managed to get owt for nowt|!

patman99

Thanks SBO, all I need now is some luck on the jobs front. At least I will have my CSCS card (via JC+) next week. So if needs be I can go back on the building.

One good thing. I was having issues with my PPI provider and it was all down to my Agency controller refusing to correctly fill-in a form the insurers needed. My response was to give the insurers the email address of the Agency's Operations Manager.

The end result was that within 10 minutes of the insurers emailing the O/M, ny controller had sent a correctly filled-in form to them. There really is nothing like a virtual ar5e-kicking to get things moving.

patman99

Had a phonecall from my Agency this morning. Seams even though my placement finished in November, I am still going to get a bonus from the firm I was employed at due to the fact that I had completed a full year (I had left 5 weeks into the next financial year). Will come in handy as my car is coming-up for it's 12 month service.

Skint_but_Optimistic

Thats a bit good news, shame you have it spent already but this is the way of the cash strapped isnt it?