Poor work history/mental health - what should I do?

BigAunty

The OP is right that many National Minimum Wage and entry level jobs can have limited scope for payrises and promotions. I despise the way that the National Minimum Wage has morphed into the National Maximum Wage.

However, working in a role like that has the possibility to be the springboard into better things as the OP can demonstrate to the next employer that they have reliable attendance and timekeeping, they can provide a positive employee reference and the candidate gets to build up a stock of examples to demonstrate competencies, skills and knowledge to impress the next company.

I have known a few occasions when someone has taken a rather low paid and seemingly low prospect job but that it catapulted them into a much better role.

For example, one friend of mine with a background in warehouse work, then worked for the next company in a storeman/janitor capacity for an engineering company. They wanted someone to give the office manager a hand with planning the maintenance work so he morphed into admin activities. He then paid for an expensive course in a well known planning tool and then bagged roles in engineering planning, when a few years ago, he was cleaning the loos.

In another example, my friend was an administrator in an IT company and they were short staffed and she showed promised. She was then trained in testing their products which then led to a career in software testing (earning £300 a day when they used to earn half of that sum in a week). Again, they spent their own money on computing courses and professional accreditations to bolster their CV.

However, I expect these types of career launches from humbler roles are fairly rare and the usual route is to impress a current employer by exceeding their expectations and getting a payrise or promotion, or impress the next with the skills/experience gained on the previous job.

Candyapple

Read the past threads of this OP:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5367016

And these are the other 2 threads I can think of that are relevant to your situation:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5387919

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5384393

FlyingBuyingTrying

I'm a long term lurker who joined just to reply to this thread.

I left school at 16 with the highest GCSE grade of a D. In with bad crowd and all that. Anyway, at 24 years old I managed to get into local college for web development course and then joined the military. Expected the military to be a career but was medically discharged for serious spinal injuries. Back to square one with next to no education or hope. At 30 I managed to get into University after access course. Currently in 3rd year of a 4 year degree in computer science at 33 years old. Since then have gained CISCO/other certifications and built a portfolio. I am struggling to get entry level IT jobs but that is simply due to a fierce competition. University has changed my life. So much so that my Wife has even started a degree.
I mention all this because we can change our lives. We can work towards our goals, even in early 30's. My Mother for example was left as a single parent with zero education, worked damn hard to get through years of university, graduated at 37 and is now very successful in her mid 50's. She was my inspiration.
I understand the mental health aspect. I was diagnosed several years ago with Bipolar. I have some great days and some very bad days.

I do hope you find your path in life but there is nothing that is easy or free that is worth having.

missbiggles1

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

Police? Fire service?

Sounds like you'd benefit from something with an organized structure.

With a very chequered medical hisory, I doubt that either of those would be viable options.

BigAunty

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

Sounds like you'd benefit from something with an organized structure.

Funnily enough, the OP didn't really outline the type of culture or structure he favours in his employment and we had difficulty matching jobs that met his requirements to his strengths and interests, training preferences.

But that's an interesting thought.

FlyingBuyingTrying

Tougher to join the police than the Army and the police still require high fitness levels and if you're ruled out from the military for medical, then it will most likely be same result with the police.
I doubt with his attitude that the police would be a suitable match. If you had that attitude in the Army, well, life would be made miserable. Suck it up and drive on mentality.
Reading through all this, I believe this must be a troll thread or something.

TBagpuss

I just logged in having thought to wonder whether police or army might still be options - OP, have you considered either? The police don't have a set upper age limit for joining, army the limit seems to be 32 & 11 months so could still be an option for you, if you don't have long term health issues from your injuries as a teenager.

Maybe you could look into joining the reserves or joining the police as a PCSO

FlyingBuyingTrying

You can't join the military with a mental illness. I seen plenty discharged for lying about the likes of depression etc who fell apart during basic training. I spent many long nights watching recruits on suicide watch. Depending on his MH, there can be waivers for mild depression etc that has been in the past.

Sncjw

SomeRandomGuy wrote: »

Hi, it is nice to read a positive story for once!

The vision 2 learn thing looks kind of interesting, is there a catch as it sounds a bit too good to be true? - I've just had a look and while the qualifications are only level 2 if one were to take business administration and say IT skills it would be something to offer an employer. The courses appear to be free and only 14 weeks long as well - perhaps a way for OP to dip a toe in the water and see how enjoyable studying is.

No catch. I've done a couple now and you can do them a lot quicker than 14 weeks it does take time to enroll but once your enrolled you can start.

If you don't complete course your liability to a charge. Also it's all done on word and and online so op and can use the library and self email it every time to make sure it's saved I did that .

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Jesus Christ people. It's pointless suggesting things he might like - he's virtually unemployable as it stands. He has to take any job he can get. There will be very few that will take him, and they will be rubbish. If he is lucky enough to get a badly paid, rubbish job and does it for a while, he might be able to get a better one.

Have you people genuinely got no idea how hard it is to get into the police or the fire service?

The only useful advice for this guy is wake up to reality and take any job that someone will give you.