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

LuckyPenny

I'm an HR Manager. Decent employers should not be discriminating against you because you have had mental health problems - this would be against the law. I earn the wage that you are aspiring to and I have 16 years experience and 2 degrees: one in business and one in HR.


I know that you don't want to go to university. But at some companies that may be willing to support your training qualifications on a day release basis or you could go to an evening class.


My colleague started as an HR Administrator, she is now studying 1 evening per week to get her Certificate in HR and then she will be an HR Advisor. An HR Advisor gets on average £25k. Then if she wants to be an HR Manager she will need to study again and get her full diploma but this is possible to do whilst she is working.


The other alternative, you say you are good with numbers. You could try a Finance Manager route. Most Finance Managers get £50k but you would have to go down a similar route as above. E.g. day release or evening classes to get your qualifications.


If you want to get into either of these careers you could may be just start off admin temping or get a fixed term contract to build up your experience. Employers are more willing to give someone a chance if its on a short contract. Once you have your foot in the door, they are legally obliged to let you know about vacancies. So long as you prove yourself to be reliable, quick to pick up things and get along with people, you are more likely to be offered a permanent job.


Happy to help you if you want any more info if you private message me. I'd give you a job if you lived in my area and we had an entry level role available.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

LuckyPenny wrote: »

I'm an HR Manager. Decent employers should not be discriminating against you because you have had mental health problems - this would be against the law.

Happy to help you if you want any more info if you private message me. I'd give you a job if you lived in my area and we had an entry level role available.

Seriously? You'd give him a job, just like that, without an interview, based on what he's said here?

Of course you wouldn't. If you would you'd be a terrible HR manager.

And what makes you claim anyone is discriminating against him? There's absolutely no reason to suppose anyone is.

tomtontom

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

Seriously? You'd give him a job, just like that, without an interview, based on what he's said here?

Of course you wouldn't. If you would you'd be a terrible HR manager.

And what makes you claim anyone is discriminating against him? There's absolutely no reason to suppose anyone is.

LuckyPenny's other posts suggest she is not in a position to offer anybody a job, and knows little about HR practice. Which makes her post here more than a little bizarre.

BigAunty

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

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.

Yes the OP (who i dont think we will hear from again) comes across as too fussy.

However, its far too harsh to write him off as unemployable. He is undertaking voluntary work rather than thumb-twiddle, shows ambition and motivation, is willing to train.

What i think he should do is get more relevant voluntary work. Be more open to self employment as he clearly has drive but has a background that many employers wont be impressed with.

Also, reconsider some of the jobs that he automatically has written off as they dont appeal to him but they are much more tolerant of his background which should be a massive 'pull' factor but which he has shrugged off.

Scorpio33

So the OP has had mental health issues, recovered got a job, but then fell back into mental health issues.


From what I can read, you are now ready to get a job again and I think you are asking the right questions: what job will get you what you want.


Clearly if you just went and got any job, you will be back to where you were before with the mental health issues, and just getting "any job" is not a long term solution.


You want a job that may lead to a long term career and probably feel trapped in accepting jobs that don't offer that. There are jobs out there OP that can give you what you want, despite what people will tell you. It will be extremely hard to get to what you want, but persevere and you will get there.


The key to it is understanding what YOU enjoy and what YOU want to do for a career.

Candyapple

BigAunty wrote: »

Yes the OP (who i dont think we will hear from again) comes across as too fussy.

However, its far too harsh to write him off as unemployable. He is undertaking voluntary work rather than thumb-twiddle, shows ambition and motivation, is willing to train.

What i think he should do is get more relevant voluntary work. Be more open to self employment as he clearly has drive but has a background that many employers wont be impressed with.

Also, reconsider some of the jobs that he automatically has written off as they dont appeal to him but they are much more tolerant of his background which should be a massive 'pull' factor but which he has shrugged off.

I'm not singling you out here BA because your advice is usually good, however why does self-employment get bandied about on threads such as this as a viable alternative to being long term unemployed?

Being self-employed is hard. A lot harder than going to work for an employer doing your bog standard 9-5. You have no security as in if you are sick you don’t get paid, go on holiday you don’t get holiday pay, your work input determines what you get out and you often work twice the hours that a ‘normal’ office worker will do per week for the first couple of years and even then will probably be running at a loss before year 3 when you may possibly breakeven, not to mention that 80% of new businesses fail within their first year etc.

In most of these similar threads, the OP(s) usually;

1. Have no idea what it is they want to do
2. Have no clue about running/starting business, let alone any funds to start it up!
3. Have (or had in the past) mental health issues and becoming self-employed and doing all the long hours and running yourself ragged is a mean feat for those who don’t suffer any MH issues at the best of times, how likely is it that the sheer scale of it would push them back into having MH issues again?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

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.

This is the single most valid post on this thread.

Harsh truth but unfortunately, this is what happens when you are in your 30s+ with little education / poor or no employment history for whatever reason.

BigAunty

Candyapple wrote: »

why does self-employment get bandied about on threads such as this as a viable alternative to being long term unemployed?

Because the vast majority of employers won't touch them with a bargepole. So even if the job seeker doesn't have a natural pull towards it, they have a push towards it because of lack of options.

Because continuing to be workless (the lack of structure, poverty level subsistence living on benefits, lack of social network) is ruinous for the jobseekers mental health, confidence and welfare.

Candyapple wrote: »

Being self-employed is hard. A lot harder than going to work for an employer doing your bog standard 9-5. You have no security as in if you are sick you don’t get paid, go on holiday you don’t get holiday pay, your work input determines what you get out and you often work twice the hours that a ‘normal’ office worker will do per week

Being self employed is definitely not for everyone. It is much riskier than some regular employment (though in the age of growing zero hour and temporary contracts) that gap is closing. It can have more rewards (including income and work-life balance) though.

But remember that the OP has rejected huge swathes of what you would describe as 'normal office work' as not interesting or well-rumerated enough. Civil Service, Retail, Warehouse, Health and Social Care sectors, plus anything that requires high numeracy are all out.

Candyapple wrote: »

In most of these similar threads, the OP(s) usually;

1. Have no idea what it is they want to do
2. Have no clue about running/starting business, let alone any funds to start it up!
3. Have (or had in the past) mental health issues and becoming self-employed and doing all the long hours and running yourself ragged is a mean feat for those who don’t suffer any MH issues at the best of times, how likely is it that the sheer scale of it would push them back into having MH issues again?

I'd say the OP checks all 3 boxes, other than they do want an executive or experience graduate level salary and is clueless (as are the majority of the posters) as to how this can be achieved. If he's willing to put pressure on himself to earn almost a third more than the average salary despite starting from zero, this has MH implications, too.

However, as per an earlier post, the OP has animal care experience from his voluntary work. I assume the OP is getting around £73 a week JSA.

Is it really beyond him to double or treble this income from starting up a dog-walking/pet-sitting business? Perhaps one that can expand into things like offering extra services to his regulars or others, such as dog grooming, waiting in for workmen and taking their pets to the vet while they are at work?checking on their properties when they go on holiday?

Is it really beyond him to get a free website up and running, ask the animal charity to provide a reference, pay £25 for a basic disclosure I (assuming he has no live criminal convictions), liability insurance, to show to prospective clients as proof of ID/integrity, put an advert on Gumtree and postcards up in Newsagents.

Can he not get half a dozen, to a dozen dogs to walk each day at at least £5 a pop within 6 months? That's £30-60 a day with hardly any outlay. That's £150 to £300 income a week (or 2-4 times more than JSA) for not much outlay and for half a days work (excluding admin/marketing).

It might be a bit more enjoyable (and yes, more stressful) than a shop job but then again, it might play on his strengths and be better than the experiences we regularly see here from the long-term unemployed with MH issues who submit hundreds of applications without a single interview.

I hope the OP has been inspired by the thread without having their hopes extinguished. Unfortunately, the responses aren't for the faint hearted or sensitive.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Why would anyone use the OP rather than their existing dog walker, or one of the more established dog walkers in the area? Speaking as someone who uses a dog walker, ours has a number of people working for him, so as to provide cover etc, plus has a couple of vans tot ake to dogs to decent places. And he doesn't charge much.

This isn't a rhetorical question. people do set up and establish businesses. In all cases it's because there is a good answer to that question.

I struggle to see what the good answer to that question would be in this case. You keep saying he has strengths. I fail to see them. He needs to be inspired only to get a job sweeping floors, IF he can, and then do his damnedest to turn up on time and keep it. He probably won't.

Trying to inspire him to "do a job he enjoys" is nonsensically counterproductive. That will only come if he proves he can get out of bed and hold down a job, which he hasn't managed to show int his entire life. I'd be surprised if his volunteering is anything other than a couple of days when he feels like it.

This might sound harsh but I really don't care. Anything other than just telling this guy to get off his !!!! and actually DO something rather than making grandiose plans and whinging about how iife conspires against him isn't going to help him. Stop planning, start doing. Something you can do NOW.

pioneer22

Would you consider nursing, physiotherapy, OT, Radiography or another AHP course?

You would need to do an access course or a-levels then a 3 year degree starting on 21/22k up to 30k after 5 years then 35-45k after 7 or 8 years after taking a promotion. All funded with a bursary and student loan.

Career for life, pension, job security etc

QuackQuackOops

A job that anyone can do from the bottom and work up real quick?

Hospitality.

Waiter in a restaurant or hotel. Be a kitchen hand, night porter, receptionist. Anything.
Work at Pizza Hut or Mc Donalds.

Once you have started, stick it out and knuckle down. Don't give up when you feel its not getting you anywhere because those who stick it out do very well.

If you have the right work ethic, you will move up to management in NO TIME!

I know someone who started at a fast food place in their 40's and was in management within 3 years.

I also know someone else at 38 who started a job as a part time night porter in a hotel and was the Group Operations Manager within 2 years.

Don't be afraid to start small, stick at it and don't complain. Its not about the job you do, its about your attitude.