It took 20 years but I did it!!

HappyMJ

20 years ago I would have been about 18. In those 20 years I have had about 100 different jobs doing a huge variety of different things. I don't even know the exact number of contracts I've had as I've had to cull a lot of them off my CV. There was a recession is the early 90's so I went on to do further education and by the time the course finished we were just coming out of recession so it was much easier getting a job. I've worked in a chocolate factory making chocolate, a modem manufacturing plant, a school, an office, worked on a dairy farm looking after cows and several other places.

gingerdad

dave4545454 wrote: »

What is wrong with a cleaning job? Ok I have a first class honours degree in manufacturing engineering but the manufacturing industry in this country died years ago.

the manufacturing industry died years ago? what planet are you on. lots of high tech niche industry as well as others still going strong.

i'm guessing i'm the same age as you, though didn't go to uni, lived in the east midlands but i've had 6 weeks unemployment in 20 years.... so i don't get it? now there is a ressisson but not for the whole of the last 20 years. one of my first jobs in the early 90s was working in the west midlands and a very busy building site for a small local company investing in the area (Conaco?)

Hmm71

Congrats on the job OP but 20 years to get a job? How does that work? I don't have a degree and I'm terrible at interviews but I've managed to be in full time employment for the past twelve years.

scooby088

Plus OP if you live in the west midlands and look at the local news programme, engineering companies are crying out for new people as engineers are getting older and retiring.

paddyrg

Well done! It is easier to find more work from a position of being in work, so let it be a platform to build on if you choose! Very pleased for you, and I do not underestimate what a big deal it is to get that first paid job !

Welshwoofs

dave4545454 wrote: »

Not heard of the recession then? There's 8 million working age adults unemployed and only half a million vacancies so I think I've done very well to get a paid job.

The recession hasn't been going on for 20 years. During a 20 year period we've had years of boom.

Sorry, but I honestly can't get my head round how anyone who is able bodied (presumably you're able boded?) could possibly be unable to find work for 20 years.

Come clean - this is a wind-up isn't it?

Acc72

dave4545454 wrote: »

What is wrong with a cleaning job? What job do you do or let me guess...nothing because with your stinky attitude you're unemployable.

Nobody has said that there is anything wrong with a cleaning job.

The reactions are based on the fact that I am confident that I could find a minimum wage job pretty quickly - certainly quicker than 20 years !

When I initially read your post I thought that you had not had paid work for 20 years due to a combination of factors such as illness, family issues etc. plus looking for an extremely niche role in an extremely narrow filed.

You have not mentioned any other factors - are you really trying to say that you have been unable to find any job in the last 20 years as that sounds unlikely.

As somebody else has said, this must be a wind up.

debrag

dave4545454 wrote: »

Thanks. It's a part time cleaning job, 5 hours a week at min wage.

OK not what I was expecting to do after going to uni but I beat the other 200 odd people who applied for the job including some experienced cleaners.

why has it taken 20 years to get a cleaning job?

Congrats by the way.

I read the OP at first as if he had been working and had only now gotten something in the field he went to uni for. Why after 20 years have you decided to take up this job? Clearly you aren't picky.

pawsies

I too do not understand how this works out but regardless the op is happy to have this job so lets be happy for him?

Person_one

Hmm71 wrote: »

Congrats on the job OP but 20 years to get a job? How does that work? I don't have a degree and I'm terrible at interviews but I've managed to be in full time employment for the past twelve years.

I can actually sort of see how it could happen.

The longer you're unemployed, the more unemployable you are. So if the OP was a bit rubbish at interviews when he was first out of uni and didn't get anything for a couple of years, suddenly the most important thing on his CV becomes the gap and its a vicious circle.

Would you hire an adult over about 21 who'd never had a job? Never mind in their thirties or even forties.