Whats the worst thing about being unemployed to you?

falko89

evilsquid1603 wrote: »

Thank you for starting this thread! I've been feeling like i was all alone. all my friends have jobs - I'm the only one in this situation now.

i'm another one that has slipped into depression because of unemployment. i also hate the fact every day is the same, you cant afford to go out so just stay in, i've put on 3 stone from a combination of comfort eating, only being able to afford cheap and highly processed food, nothing better to do than snack and not getting out anywhere because i cant afford to leave the house. i lived in manchester city centre and just going for a walk meant seeing people who had jobs and getting insanely jealous/angry or seeing all the things i wanted to buy or do and couldn't.

i have 2 degrees (a science and law, both 2:1) and have passed the legal practice course with distinction yet i appear to be unemployable. haven't found a job in the 6 months since i graduated and its not for lack of trying.

the one thing that's annoying me most is just not hearing back from people. if its a no, i want the no so i can move on and try something else but you just get a deafening silence where you don't know. i hate having my hopes dashed by realising its been weeks so it's probably a no now. also means i have no feedback as to why its a no so i have nothing to go on to improve for next time.

i also get "have you tried supermarkets, bars etc?" from the job centre and know that when i do they see the word "degree" and bin me straight away. i only apply to them now so i can write it down and say to my "advisor" i applied when they ask me, haven't head back from a single one I've tried yet!

i also hate being left to languish by the job centre. they know nothing about the graduate market and especially nothing about the Legal market. i spent the first 4 months of my claim explaining to every single person what qualifications i had and i still have to explain to them what a Training Contract is, why a Paralegal is different to "admin" and "receptionist" and why i can't be a Law Costs Draftsman.

i hate the feeling of having to justify myself to someone who knows nothing about me. to me, i feel like I'm begging for money and justifying why i should get it and I'm terrified that one week they will use their powers and just say "no money this week!" and i'll be left skint with no money for food and bills. the "advice" i get is also useless, just "admin", "bar work", "shop work" and their new thing of "why don't you start your own business?". i looked into it, they basically offer me jobseekers for 26 weeks (13 weeks at £60 and 13 weeks at £30 a week) and a £1,000 loan. how can you set up a business from scratch on that in 26 weeks? how deluded was the person who dreamt that one up?

I think looking after mental health is one of the most important things when unemployed as it is all to easy to slip into depression, I slipped into a spell of agoraphobia years ago after a period of unemployment when I left school due to not leaving the house, that was a nightmare but I got over it, so now I make a point of getting up between 6 & 7am 5 days a week and I go for a run, Its a hard thing to do and I have never found it getting easier or in the slightest bit enjoyable but I force myself to do it and it at leasts give life some sort of routine, keeps the weight down and is good for the spirit. As for eating processed crap I am in the same boat myself and can't really do a lot about that on £67 a week.

I suppose a £1000 loan all depends on what you want to start up really, something online yes it would probably get you up and running.

evilsquid1603

falko89 wrote: »

I think looking after mental health is one of the most important things when unemployed as it is all to easy to slip into depression, I slipped into a spell of agoraphobia years ago after a period of unemployment when I left school due to not leaving the house, that was a nightmare but I got over it, so now I make a point of getting up between 6 & 7am 5 days a week and I go for a run, Its a hard thing to do and I have never found it getting easier or in the slightest bit enjoyable but I force myself to do it and it at leasts give life some sort of routine, keeps the weight down and is good for the spirit. As for eating processed crap I am in the same boat myself and can't really do a lot about that on £67 a week.

I suppose a £1000 loan all depends on what you want to start up really, something online yes it would probably get you up and running.

at least you get £67, i get £53 a week because they think as I'm under 25 i don't have the same bills to pay and food to buy as someone over 25. madness! I've had to move back home with my parents as £105 a week between me and DH (in same boat as me) just wasn't enough to support us and a house and they wouldn't give us any other help.

with all the bills our budget gave us a choice of no money for any little treats or getting out of the house or £40 for food for two people for a month and £5 each as "spends". we ended up resenting our car as it became a money pit with the petrol, I've been attending interviews as far away as crewe and chester from manchester trying to find work. catch 22 really as with no car, it'd drastically reduce my chances of finding work and getting out of this mess but it would allow me to eat actual food!

I've started entering charity runs to give myself something to look forward to and motivation to get out and do something. I'm going to try an application for the Navy so i need to get my fitness up for that too.

Edinburgh65

I found the worst thing about being unemployed was that my whole life felt like it was on hold, because there was no way of knowing how long it was going to be before life would get back to normal, and I could start to make plans like "normal" people do. If you knew that you would be unemployed for a fixed period of time, it would be bearable. In the meantime, you just have to live in limbo.

I was unemployed for just over a year, and towards the end, I adopted a slightly different attitude in my applications. Instead of saying that I was unemployed in a meek and mild way (in the hope that it would pass unnoticed), I started to say, "Despite having been unemployed for X months...", and then voiced a belief that I was still a great asset. Might have just been a coincidence, as winning a job is really just a lottery at the end of the day, but I got a lot more interest after I started to word things differently, and had a choice of futures in the end.

My financial circumstances are not what they once were with regard to being able to afford luxuries, but if I had to go through it all again, I would not swap a shorter period of unemployment and a larger salary, for the lovely job that I have now. It has been well worth the wait, and I can look back on my period of unemployment as having been character building.

bluenoseam

Right about now i'm finding it pretty deal with the fact i have experience, am willing to work and can start straight away yet for some reason no one is even granting me an interview. Then there's the frustration i've just felt there after trying to apply to a job who because i've previously been dismissed (unfairly as i feel which i wasn't allowed to appeal) they won't allow me to apply!

Plus there's the fact i'm constantly finding that while i know i'm doing everything i can to find work there's a voice at the back of my head which niggles "we're sanctioning you". I'd dearly love to tell the Job Centre to shove it but i can't, but by the same measure i hate the fact they dont seem to listen to a damn word i tell them. I dont drive, so i'm limited to either my local area or areas with transport & that i know - yet they keep shoving me jobs way out of the road or in parts of towns which i just don't know!

There's the fact i see on a daily basis people saying "oh i've got a degree and i can't find a job" jeez way to make me look like a complete dosser, i don't have a degree, what the hell hope do i have? I just want to earn a living with a chance at being more than that guy who works for 30/40 years on minimum wage - is that too much to ask?

Finally there's the fact that even after what, 3 months now, i still beat myself up that i made a mistake and even then the strong evidence points to the fact it was actually a deliberate act. I have been informed to an extent what has happened & frankly it stinks, but the company refuses to give me any details - even so much as the notes to the disciplinary meeting to allow me to have paperwork showing that i made a simple mistake. That's really hit me hard as i've always been reliable now i have a dismissal on my record and i can't even prove that i was sacked for something pretty basic.

TrickyWicky

Interesting topic this!

The worst about being unemployed for me are:

• No income
• No direction in life
• Self doubt starts creeping in
• Confidence plummets
• Days merge into months
• No socialising / life
• Panicking about the next job - will it even pay enough for your petrol yet alone a part time college course?
• Paranoia about the next job being just as bad as the last - if not worse

Then we have the worst bits about being employed:

• Ungrateful and arrogant boss
• Being screwed over for money / shortchanged / low pay
• Unrealistic targets / pressure
• Workplace politics and **** stirrers
• Struggling to make the money stretch and then being told to smile and be grateful at work when you're trying not to crack under the pressure
• Being kept down by a boss who doesn't like you being smart / intelligent
• Not being allowed to put ideas forward (and when they do listen, not getting recognition when they work)
• Working your backside off, doing a thorough / good job for little appreciation while the lazy, work-shy colleagues get tons of appreciation and perks.

Which is the better of the two devils? I know all of that is a bit glass half empty but I've endured this in every job I've had. It's been really pants - most people have at least one job they like in their life, I've had nothing but real sh*tty ones - one after another.

TrickyWicky

Glitzer wrote: »

As for the question, the worst thing about being on JSA for me is being tarred with the same brush as long term claimants who aren't actively looking.

Excuse me? So the long term claimants are not actively looking eh? You hate being tarred with that brush yet you're quite happy to do the tarring - What a hipocrite.

I've been unemployed for 1.5 years, does that mean I am not looking for work? Oh, it must do surely? Afterall there are so many jobs out there that I'm ideal for and so few people applying for them I'm just living a life of leisure by ignoring them right?

You know what? I hope your firm folds and there are no other companies in your area offering your sort of work. Perhaps then you'll suffer the same hardship that some of us 'aren't actively looking' types suffer.

paddyrg

What I hated was the uncertainty and rollercoaster of hopes up then down. Every day I used to go to the cybercafe and apply for jobs within a 100 mile radius on public transport routes. It was the hope that hurt the most!

But they did have a doley offer at the gym for off-peak, after applying for the day's quotient of jobs, I would get buff as it makes the hugest difference to your self confidence and ruggedness to carry on. And that shows in the interviews you do get.

Now I am freelance in a very unsettled industry, busy end of last year, nothing ahead of me this year. Not signing on thank goodness, but the same thing of using your days to try to find work every day. Up and down days, but I LOVE being able to choose my own work pattern - mornings I spend with the Mrs until maybe 10am, then I go to work in my small rented office until maybe 7 or 8pm, and if I need to pop for a haircut/cappuccino/meeting during the afternoon I have the freedom to do so. That is the only upside about signing on - at least you don't have to go peak time shopping so can look for bargains!

falko89

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Interesting topic this!


Then we have the worst bits about being employed:

• Ungrateful and arrogant boss
• Being screwed over for money / shortchanged / low pay
• Unrealistic targets / pressure
• Workplace politics and **** stirrers
• Struggling to make the money stretch and then being told to smile and be grateful at work when you're trying not to crack under the pressure
• Being kept down by a boss who doesn't like you being smart / intelligent
• Not being allowed to put ideas forward (and when they do listen, not getting recognition when they work)
• Working your backside off, doing a thorough / good job for little appreciation while the lazy, work-shy colleagues get tons of appreciation and perks.

I can relate totally to this, Especially the one in bold, I never could figure this one out, its like you are constantly over looked, and then when its time for redundancies your out the door.

Saturnalia

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Excuse me? So the long term claimants are not actively looking eh? You hate being tarred with that brush yet you're quite happy to do the tarring - What a hipocrite.

I've been unemployed for 1.5 years, does that mean I am not looking for work? Oh, it must do surely? Afterall there are so many jobs out there that I'm ideal for and so few people applying for them I'm just living a life of leisure by ignoring them right?

You know what? I hope your firm folds and there are no other companies in your area offering your sort of work. Perhaps then you'll suffer the same hardship that some of us 'aren't actively looking' types suffer.

Sigh. Once more. No-one's said ALL long-term claimants aren't looking. There exists a small hard core of dole-artists who haven't done a day's graft since school (if then!) and have no intention of ever doing, but IME the vast majority of claimants are looking for jobs, and it is pretty easy to tell who is who isn't it?

bluenoseam

koothrappali wrote: »

You need to address your typing skills. If your CV/job applications/etc are similar to the above you have little chance of getting an interview.

Yes i'm going to put exactly the same amount of effort into a forum post at 1am that i'm going to put into an application...