is there any hope at all for unqualified persons, such as myself?

chubsta

i don't think a lack of qualifications necessarily means you won't find a job you like - eldest son was, to put it mildly, less than enthusiastic at school, and left with no qualifications. Somehow he managed to get an apprenticeship with a landscape gardening company which he managed to mess up by not bothering with the college stuff and became unemployed.

We basically forced him to do some small jobs with people we knew and before you know it he was working for a tree surgeon, 18 months later he has got his licences sorted and absolutely loves his job. He wants to study and get as many tree surgeon style qualifications as he can, works every day until really late, and when the company has no work he goes and works for other people.

I am really surprised how it has worked out and all credit to him, he will be a success and hopefully run his own business one day.

I am not trying to crow about how well he has done though, just point out that there are opportunities out there and it is a question of finding something you really want to do - enthusiasm is very attractive to employers and if you enjoy work you will tend to do it better. In a world where every man and their dog has got a degree sometimes it is a personality trait and willingness to to work that can make you stand out, god knows i personally work with graduates who are lazy and with a sense of self-entitlement that would make the royal family blush - give me a kid who has worked at McDonalds and knows what work is any day!

Good luck, and don't give up, the right job is out there for you, you might have to do some crappy ones first but one day the right one might just appear...

bugslet

pinpin wrote: »

I've never got to experience what it's like to have 'fun' at work. I can't even relate to what my friends call 'work', really. Whilst i'm loading lorries in the freezing cold, they seem to be in 'meetings' with nice food and drink, or on 'team building' days at the race courses!!


I think such jobs are reserved for high flyers who went to university, but people seem to dismiss the fact that we're no all very clever!

pinpin, there are many times I look back at my forkie days and realise they were a darn sight more fun than being chained to a desk doing terminally dull paperwork. Yes the money was rubbish, yes the hours could be shocking and I'd barely thaw out between November and February, but on a sunny day with a good team of people, there were some happy times.

I'm not moaning about work now, every job has its good and bad.

Hedelogos, no degree at all. Never regretted it either. Sometimes I think it would be nice, but it wouldn't ahve changed where I am now.

suki1964

You say you have an interest in cooking, so why not start there?

Topaztiger, a poster here, was also long time unemployed and took a zero hour contract at KFC earlier this year and is now flying and loving his job

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5041175


You don't need formal qualifications to work in a kitchen, you can start at the bottom and work up. Most of the cooks where I work started off on the dishes,then came and helped out with the more menial tasks, learning as they went till they became more confident and took to taking on some of the cooking. We only have one chef, the rest of us learned as we went along. I started just battering and frying, I now cook for up to 60 a night on my own - cooking everything from steaks to duck, fish to vegetable curries and everything else inbetween . All fresh cooked to order including sauces

Cooking is hard work, hours are long and unsociable.but it's very rewarding

It's a shame you are 27. Jamie Oliver's 15 programme would have been ideal for you Perhaps you can research other apprenticeships?

Slinky

Hedylogos wrote: »

Is it possible to get a job ASAP? I really want a job and my own money, and everyday life is boring without a job to do.

Are you actually applying for anything? You won't anything unless you start applying.

Hedylogos

suki1964 wrote: »

You say you have an interest in cooking, so why not start there?

Topaztiger, a poster here, was also long time unemployed and took a zero hour contract at KFC earlier this year and is now flying and loving his job

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5041175


You don't need formal qualifications to work in a kitchen, you can start at the bottom and work up. Most of the cooks where I work started off on the dishes,then came and helped out with the more menial tasks, learning as they went till they became more confident and took to taking on some of the cooking. We only have one chef, the rest of us learned as we went along. I started just battering and frying, I now cook for up to 60 a night on my own - cooking everything from steaks to duck, fish to vegetable curries and everything else inbetween . All fresh cooked to order including sauces

Cooking is hard work, hours are long and unsociable.but it's very rewarding

It's a shame you are 27. Jamie Oliver's 15 programme would have been ideal for you Perhaps you can research other apprenticeships?

Yeah i noticed the 15 programme that Jamie Oliver runs and it's impressive. I am subscribed to his Youtube channel and it's really interesting and i'm a big fan of his.

I will look into it, but i hear the money can be poor for even newly qualified chefs? How long would it take to get to a good level? Due to my age i kind of want to push ahead and get somewhere as quick as i can.

Hedylogos

Slinky wrote: »

Are you actually applying for anything? You won't anything unless you start applying.

I will be honest, i wasn't applying for much just out of embarrassment and insecurity due to the gap of unemployment on my c.v. I care too much about what others think of me in these situations. I have applied for a good number of jobs over my length of unemployment all to no avail apart from a small handful of interviews that were unsuccessful. I am usually very nervous going to interviews and maybe it shows, and i can't think clearly. I will go on to reed and indeed sites to start looking and applying to see what happens. Hopefully i hear something fingers crossed.

suki1964

Hedylogos wrote: »

Yeah i noticed the 15 programme that Jamie Oliver runs and it's impressive. I am subscribed to his Youtube channel and it's really interesting and i'm a big fan of his.

I will look into it, but i hear the money can be poor for even newly qualified chefs? How long would it take to get to a good level? Due to my age i kind of want to push ahead and get somewhere as quick as i can.

Money is poor at entry level. It's up to you how far you want to go. If you are ambitious, dedicated and hardworking you can progress pretty quickly- look at Jamie

Cooking for a living is hard work as I said. It's something you need to be pretty passionate about. I love it. I love working where I work and get great satisfaction from seeing a full resturaunt and empty plates coming back and hearing that the customer enjoyed their meal. I certainly don't do it for the money lol. But it's important to enjoy your work and I am much happier cooking then I was being an office worker,even with the higher wages, pension, decent work hours blah blah blah

LE3

Assuming that you really do want to work & make something of your life, you need to answer one simple question:

What sort of work do you think you CAN do?
Not what you WANT to do but what you CAN do?

Could you work on the tills in Tesco? Could you answer the phones in an office? Could you work on a phone line? Could you make sandwiches?

All of these might start as low paid jobs but I know plenty of people who are now retail managers, "executives", customer service managers, head chefs etc from starting at the bottom - if you are a hard worker & good at what you do, then you will make it!

You have told us that you "haven't got the stomach" for health care work, that you "feel like a degree would be beneficial" but yet your "head is hurting from all the writing"

A good job wont drop into your lap, you need to go out & find it - and be prepared to do a few things you don't like or that are boring/cold/low paid/whatever on the way

Hedylogos

suki1964 wrote: »

Money is poor at entry level. It's up to you how far you want to go. If you are ambitious, dedicated and hardworking you can progress pretty quickly- look at Jamie

Cooking for a living is hard work as I said. It's something you need to be pretty passionate about. I love it. I love working where I work and get great satisfaction from seeing a full resturaunt and empty plates coming back and hearing that the customer enjoyed their meal. I certainly don't do it for the money lol. But it's important to enjoy your work and I am much happier cooking then I was being an office worker,even with the higher wages, pension, decent work hours blah blah blah

I think i am in the same boat in terms of office working. It has crossed my mind a few times and i've wondered about working in an office, but i am not sure i would get the same satisfaction and motivation as i would from something i had even a amount of interest in. I am someone who gets bored easily and i need to be doing something that keeps my mind lively, otherwise my brain goes to sleep and i am not as motivated/fulfilled/satisfied - don't blame me, blame my chemical or genetic make up

cooking interests me for sure, because it's ever changing and you could always jazz up dishes and create new recipes that keeps things interesting. I am just someone who looks at the money first though, and i would like to be earning a worthwhile salary too. I am a bit muddled up at the moment, i am thinking about one thing, then another, then something else, maybe this other thing, or that etc, i'm very indecisive

bugslet

Hedylogos wrote: »

I am someone who gets bored easily and i need to be doing something that keeps my mind lively, otherwise my brain goes to sleep and i am not as motivated/fulfilled/satisfied - don't blame me, blame my chemical or genetic make up

. I am a bit muddled up at the moment, i am thinking about one thing, then another, then something else, maybe this other thing, or that etc, i'm very indecisive

And do you imagine that people doing those jobs don't also get fed up and bored? I do with mine some weeks and then something interesting happens. Motivation and self-discipline are things you have to learn for yourself. I remember reading an interview with a lady CEO who had risen from being a temp to running the company. She had had a period of bad luck with work and taken on work at an agency, she needed the job and the phrase that stuck with me was, 'I photocopied as if my life depended on it'.

At the moment it just comes across that you are making excuses so that you can reject a whole swathe of work opportunities.

Just make your mind up, stop wavering between several options and then get on with it - there are no short cuts.

I hope I haven't come across as rude, but the only way forward for you is to get your act together and do something and keep doing it.