I feel trapped and have very few options

AngelPie78

msallen wrote: »

You say you worked in recruitment for ten years - can't you go back to doing that?

I worked in the recruitment department in the NHS so not really in the recruitment industry. I'm also a trained make-up artist, nail technician and nursery nurse! I have LOADS of skills and qualifications - but none of it can get me out of my current predicament. They also would require further training/updated qualifications AND are either unsociable hours and/or not enough money which is why I didn't stay in those industries in the first place!

spadoosh

I work in the care sector.

Its a minimume wage industry and normally zero hour contracts. It might take some time to build up your trustworthyness witha new employer but once you do hours can be quite lucrative.

Im adding in the £70 pw HB because im dont know when the cut offs for things like that are in terms of how much you can earn etc. So assuming that needs to be made up aswell.

That leaves £14482 income to achieve.

Thats more or less a full time min wage job. Depending on the flexibility etc you could earn that in 3 days (13 hour shifts). As mentioned that jobs whilst having certain times that ar emore busy allows for a degree of flexibility. Hours are anything between 6am and 11pm usually.

We employ a 60+ year old carer who takes home more than £1800 every 4 weeks. Ok she puts in the hours (around 60 iirc) but shes also spent a long time building up a rapport with her usual clients to the extent that i hardly get the impression she thinks shes actually working.

I think the big issue here is how many hours are you available/willing to work? If its a few hours a week youre probaly not going to find a job that pays well enough, if you can put 39 in, you should fairly easily be better off.

bugslet

Random thoughts as they appear.

I don't know how old your eldest is, but I walked around 3 miles to school from the age of 11 every day and that included the very busy A6 through Stockport.

As regards competition - well I'm in haulage, so trust me, competition is something I know all about. You have to just get out there and make it work. I should be getting a lot more than I do as pence per mile, but it doesn't work that way. It's back to dealing with things the way they are, not the way you wish they were.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a job for one or two of those days that your ex has them - shops,. waitressing, is there no data inputing you could do from home?

Mow peoples lawns, make hanging baskets in early summer, learn to crochet and set up an etsy store, those are things you can do at home. Can you do deliveries with your car for a few days of the week. You don't have to do just one job, there are things out there that you can do to fit your hours, it's just a case of finding them. Go and work in a factory, not a terrific exciting job, but they exist. You say you are in a city, that gives you so much more scope than people who live in rural locations.

fiisch

It's been said, but I think you're being your own worst enemy and putting barriers up to why job X is unsuitable.


You mentioned 10 years in recruitment - there's your answer.


Issues with childcare? Ask family/friends to help. Pay the childcare costs.


I've been in similar circumstances (not with children, but struggling to find work and seeing the bills mount up), and you have to apply for what's out there. Yes, it might not be your dream career, yes, it might be a logistical nightmare getting Child 1 from Point A to Point B, but if you're serious about making a change, I'd suggest trying to be as flexible and open-minded as possible, get the CVs out to roles where you have useful experience (recruitment!) and when you get to final stages, starting planning how you're going to make the job fit around your life, not the reasons why not.


It's not meant as a criticism - merely as an observation. Easy for me to say, but there is a definite mindset shift when you are out of work, and it is easy to lose enthusiasm and see every little detail as a barrier to entry.


Have a day - polish your CV, get on the phone to recruiters, create a profile on LinkedIn, scour the recruitment websites. Do a full-time day - not the most exciting day - but you'll feel 100x better by the end that you're doing something to change your circumstances.


P.S.: you mentioned child benefit is not means tested in your post - it is. Not sure if this affects situation with your husband, but worth noting if this helps at all (earners >£60,000 not entitled, £50-60k sliding scale).

AngelPie78

spadoosh wrote: »

I work in the care sector.

Its a minimume wage industry and normally zero hour contracts. It might take some time to build up your trustworthyness witha new employer but once you do hours can be quite lucrative.

Im adding in the £70 pw HB because im dont know when the cut offs for things like that are in terms of how much you can earn etc. So assuming that needs to be made up aswell.

That leaves £14482 income to achieve.

Thats more or less a full time min wage job. Depending on the flexibility etc you could earn that in 3 days (13 hour shifts). As mentioned that jobs whilst having certain times that ar emore busy allows for a degree of flexibility. Hours are anything between 6am and 11pm usually.

We employ a 60+ year old carer who takes home more than £1800 every 4 weeks. Ok she puts in the hours (around 60 iirc) but shes also spent a long time building up a rapport with her usual clients to the extent that i hardly get the impression she thinks shes actually working.

I think the big issue here is how many hours are you available/willing to work? If its a few hours a week youre probaly not going to find a job that pays well enough, if you can put 39 in, you should fairly easily be better off.

Yep that's £14482 AFTER tax so around £18k which is where I got the £18k from

Well, I looked into the care sector and spoke to a few agencies as my friend said that this would be a possible option. However, I have a bad back and a very dodgy ankle and was told that this wasn't the position for me as I could cause myself more damage and I might not be up to the physical aspects of the job! I thought it was going into people's houses and keeping them company etc but apparently it can involve lifting and moving older people around which I can't do. We have a care home at the end of the road and I went to the open day. They said the same thing about the lifting etc.

I'd heard the same things about the hours etc and thought it would suit. Someone did say that you also have to drive a lot and that this isn't included in your pay and you don't get an allowance for the car?

I can look at it again and would love your input on my concerns?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

I really would like to know how you are working 40+ hours a week at your business, charging £20 an hour and not making a profit. That's an income of £800. Costs in a business like this should be restricted to costs of travel etc, occasional visits to clients and should all be chargeable, and should only increase as you get more work. Other costs (phone/electricity etc) should be negligible. What is eating up the income from the business? Are you not charging for the work appropriately or is there some significant outgoing? Even if only half the hours you work are chargeable you should be making a profit. Is it advertising?

bugslet

AngelPie78 wrote: »

I worked in the recruitment department in the NHS so not really in the recruitment industry. I'm also a trained make-up artist, nail technician and nursery nurse! I have LOADS of skills and qualifications - but none of it can get me out of my current predicament. They also would require further training/updated qualifications AND are either unsociable hours and/or not enough money which is why I didn't stay in those industries in the first place!

The nights/days your OH has the kids, could you do mobile nail stuff at peoples' houses? How about setting up a little website and hosting make up parties, where you, a trained make up artist show people tricks of the trade. There isn't much catching up to do there - you have the foundation (sorry!) of knowledge, just watching some up to date youtube videos of what is currently in fashion should help. My friends very on trend 19 eyars old daughter loves the the videos of the drag queens,s tudy them - do a theme night.

You have a lot of qualifications, I think you need to think out of the box a bit more. I have an expired forklift drivers license, that's the sum total of my qualifications:o

AngelPie78

bugslet wrote: »

Random thoughts as they appear.

I don't know how old your eldest is, but I walked around 3 miles to school from the age of 11 every day and that included the very busy A6 through Stockport.

As regards competition - well I'm in haulage, so trust me, competition is something I know all about. You have to just get out there and make it work. I should be getting a lot more than I do as pence per mile, but it doesn't work that way. It's back to dealing with things the way they are, not the way you wish they were.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a job for one or two of those days that your ex has them - shops,. waitressing, is there no data inputing you could do from home?

Mow peoples lawns, make hanging baskets in early summer, learn to crochet and set up an etsy store, those are things you can do at home. Can you do deliveries with your car for a few days of the week. You don't have to do just one job, there are things out there that you can do to fit your hours, it's just a case of finding them. Go and work in a factory, not a terrific exciting job, but they exist. You say you are in a city, that gives you so much more scope than people who live in rural locations.

Hi, not sure if you read the other posts, but I have had part time jobs but have been signed off both times from them. I do crochet and one of my jobs was delivering pizzas. I work over 40+ a week in my business - networking, marketing, promoting, building websites, meeting clients and everything else. I work REALLY hard on my business and I absolutely know it will work - but that doesn't help in the current position I'm in. I have to make sure that a part time job would be worth my time - if I'm no better off than I am now, then what's the point of missing out the few hours I get with my kids for no more money or a better life?

That's absolutely fine re: my son walking three miles but I wouldn't be very comfortable with it and it still leaves finding (and paying for) childcare for the little one.

heartbreak_star

If you enjoy the makeup, doing something like House of Colour might work too?

HBS x

AngelPie78

fiisch wrote: »

It's been said, but I think you're being your own worst enemy and putting barriers up to why job X is unsuitable.


You mentioned 10 years in recruitment - there's your answer.


Issues with childcare? Ask family/friends to help. Pay the childcare costs.


I've been in similar circumstances (not with children, but struggling to find work and seeing the bills mount up), and you have to apply for what's out there. Yes, it might not be your dream career, yes, it might be a logistical nightmare getting Child 1 from Point A to Point B, but if you're serious about making a change, I'd suggest trying to be as flexible and open-minded as possible, get the CVs out to roles where you have useful experience (recruitment!) and when you get to final stages, starting planning how you're going to make the job fit around your life, not the reasons why not.


It's not meant as a criticism - merely as an observation. Easy for me to say, but there is a definite mindset shift when you are out of work, and it is easy to lose enthusiasm and see every little detail as a barrier to entry.


Have a day - polish your CV, get on the phone to recruiters, create a profile on LinkedIn, scour the recruitment websites. Do a full-time day - not the most exciting day - but you'll feel 100x better by the end that you're doing something to change your circumstances.


P.S.: you mentioned child benefit is not means tested in your post - it is. Not sure if this affects situation with your husband, but worth noting if this helps at all (earners >£60,000 not entitled, £50-60k sliding scale).

Hi thanks for your post. My ex is under the threshold (should have mentioned that) which is why my appeals have been refused.

My ten years in recruitment is on my CV, as is my nursery nurse experience and everything else I've done and I have been applying for a LOT of jobs. With ten years in an office, a degree, experience as a team leader etc etc you think I'd find a job easily, right??

So then this is the other issue I have - do I spend a day away from my business and apply for jobs? Then I delay getting paid by the clients I have by one day per week. Is that a good use of my time? Again, not being flippant - this is a genuine question and something I struggle with deciding most days!

I have my own website for my CV (obviously ) and am on LinkedIn, in touch with agencies ten times a day (again something which is the norm for my industry)

I know what you're saying about the barriers and logistics but it is JUST me. I have no family and friends who can help. I HAVE to consider these options because traffic is a nightmare in my area (one road in and one road out of a new build development) and childcare is expensive and not guaranteed. Having said that, I've applied for jobs up to 40 miles away in the last year! I don't think I'm putting barriers up - I think I'm just being realistic.

I wanted to come on here to see if there's anything I've missed when considering my options.

So far, everyone is saying get a part time job (mental health issues, not enough money, have to work around the kids) or get a full time job in anything (when to look for a job vs working for a client and getting paid, childcare, transport, money has to make it worth while).

I applied for a full time office administrator post about 5 miles away for £16k. It would have left me worse off and I would be in negative money after tax, NI, childcare and transport costs, as well as missing out on my kids and I didn't get it because I was OVER QUALIFIED?! ARGH! You couldn't make it up.

Again, more than happy to consider anything but I can't see a viable option.