Help with girlfriend's plight!

Soldeed

Hi all, wondered if any of you had any suggestions about the predicament my girlfriend is in. She ran a small shop until May last year, then closed it and started selling on ebay instead. However, since Christmas it's been all but dead and she's not turning over much money per week. She tried to go and register with temping agencies, but they wouldn't even put her on their books as she's never worked in an office before (even though she's in her 30s and, having run a shop, is clearly competent at basic admin). She's also quite dyslexic, so the other usual jobs, like callcentres, are probably out the question as she wouldn't be able to accurately type into a computer.

To compound matters she went to the job centre who then refused her benefits - 'normal' jobseekers on the grounds that she lived with me and my income (normally about £12k/year) should support us both; and contributions based because she didn't pay enough NI in whichever year is appropriate. So the job agencies won't register her because of lack of 'experience' (even when she said she'd stuff envelopes...) and the job centre don't officially class her as unemployed, so she's presumably not eligible for any training, etc., that unemployed people get.

Neither of us have any credit cards or loans, although she has a fairly small mortgage on her house. We've also been pretty good at all the usual stuff recommended on this site, and have negotiated down mobile phone bills, internet, etc. to much better deals. So we've got the expenditure down as much as we can.

Which begs the question - does anyone know how she can make some money in the short term until a suitable job comes up in the paper? I'm a freelance scriptwriter and earn just about enough money from that to support myself, but not a second person. And since it seems she can't get help from the job centre (she told the job advisor there that one thing she could do is be an art technician in a school, and was told "that job doesn't exist". After some haggling they looked on their computer and suggested she could get a job as a graphic designer!), and temp agencies won't take her on - where do you go to make some cash NOW to pay the mortgage? Thanks!

Bogof_Babe

Are you both living in her house? If so, you should make the mortgage and council tax your first priorities out of your own income.

She might have to lower her expectations for a while, and see if there is shop work going in your area. You can't live on fresh air, but presumably they consider she is capable of bringing money in to support herself (not including you, as you are not married).

I would think Ebay as a career choice is risky even if you know what you are doing, but she could continue to do this as a side-line if she gets work at Asda or McD's etc.

joolee_2

has she looked at the gambling loophole stuff? its ok if you no what you are doing and hve the time and patience to work out the whys and wherefores!. this time of yr is horrid anyway. what does she sell on ebay...maybe she should change her stock?

Soldeed

Thanks. She sells jewellery mainly, and obviously lots of people do. She's got some good unusual stock coming in soon, but not for another month or so, so there's no real supply at the moment.

Gambling loophole is an interesting idea though - is that something to do with playing free bets off against each other, or something else?

Prudent

What about trying some craft fairs and car boots sales to help her tick over? It sounds possibly that working in a shop may be a viable short term option, while perhaps training at college for something she would enjoy more.

She might also want to look at the competitions board if she has free time to enter. although this will not help immediately as prizes can come months after the closing date.

Mistyang

Have you looked into all the benefits, ie working tax credit which you maybe could claim if there is only you working. Of course it depends on your income too but I think the threshhold is about £15000. Be worth looking on the Dept for Works & Pensions website.

How about a part time cleaning job just to supplement her income. You have to take a rigorous computer test to be a typist for an agency with word, excel, database and spreadsheet.

Best of luck

joolee_2

Soldeed wrote:

Thanks. She sells jewellery mainly, and obviously lots of people do. She's got some good unusual stock coming in soon, but not for another month or so, so there's no real supply at the moment.

Gambling loophole is an interesting idea though - is that something to do with playing free bets off against each other, or something else?

yes im still a novice but moade 700 in 6 weeks. have a ft job and 3 kids so if i had time could have done so much more... just a thought for you guys. my mate sells new stff on ebay baby stuff and perfume goes best for her

Soldeed

I've been scouring the matched betting forums, so thanks for putting me onto those. Neither of us are the sort of people who'd normally consider 'gambling' (we'd be the worst Deal or No Deal contestants ever, probably settling on the first offer), but it seems a great relatively risk-free system. Am now going to try and get my head around it so I don't mess it up...

Savvy_Sue

Be worth looking at different kinds of agencies, IMO. If the ones supplying office staff don't want to place her, then try the ones doing other kinds of work: cleaning, caring, restaurant etc.

Also, if she's willing to do shop work, could be worth contacting local shopping centres. I know it's probably a bit dead at the moment, post-Christmas, BUT I'm sure that at least one of the biggish centres round our way has a 'central' recruiting pot, or at least one contact point will give you details of all the shops with vacancies.

And I know this may sound harsh, but when I used to use an agency for office staff, I'd have been pretty unimpressed if they'd sent me someone with no experience and dyslexia ... There are very few envelope stuffing jobs these days: for the mega runs you use machines, not people.

Soldeed

I guess it all depends what sort of temping job it is. I can touch type, use computers well, etc., but have been frequently sent for temp jobs where I've done things like taking bits of paper out of one file and putting them in another. Clearly this isn't going to be a massive stretch for someone without 'experience' of doing this. But I take your point and I've been trying to tell her to be honest with what she says to the agencies - there's no point pretending she can do things she can't, as in the end it'll be a nightmare for everyone.

That said, she has real, credible retail experience, but the problem is not that many agencies have retail work on their books, and often it's sales-assistant stuff they're not likely to give to someone in their thirties with management experience - one agency told her that most shops have so many 16 year olds after experience that they don't really need to advertise for people. The job centre did give her a list of local agencies, with about 40 entries, which included one one that specialised in retail. But after checking out the websites of all the other I found another five that do retail jobs. Hell, maybe I should get a job working for the job centre, telling them what the people they recommend do...