Intentionally unemployed

zicidib

I've decided to become intentionally unemployed to get out of dead end jobs and would like to know if others have experienced this or decided to do this themselves.

I have been unable to secure anything except entry level work which never seems to offer progression or development. I've followed the advice everyone gives, studied, worked hard and kept out of trouble and it hasn't worked. The last straw was losing a really good opportunity because they needed an immediate start but I already had a job. It was the most amazing kick in the teeth because I had already explained my existing obligations to them and had to reach the interview on very short notice but got turned down because I had a job, and this wasn't the first time it happened.

So my current company has begged me to stay and even offered to re-employ me for another entry level position. But I'm nearly 40 now and have had enough. I don't care what I do, I just don't want to work entry level jobs anymore. I have savings to support me for years, no debt or dependents, so I'm really free to pursue this. What do you think? Smart? Crazy? Immature? I appreciate there's a stigma to being unemployed, but what are the real options if I ever want to improve this situation?

Brynsam

zicidib wrote: »

So my current company has begged me to stay and even offered to re-employ me for another entry level position. But I'm nearly 40 now and have had enough.

Tells its own story, doesn't it? The employer knows what you are capable of, has 'begged' you to stay and is so impressed by you that it will offer you....an entry level position.

Take a long hard look at your qualifications and experience, and then decide if it is going to improve your job prospects if, instead of drifting around being unemployed, you could use the time to really enhance your prospects. How you do that depends on your goals and abilities: a year abroad as a mature au pair? voluntary service of some sort? further study?

If you need to move to another part of the country, would you do so? If so, how would you go about it? If having a job is stopping you getting a better one, get a temporary job which requires no more than a day's (or a week's) notice.

Being unemployed gets you out of dead end jobs, but also gets you out of good ones.

Good luck!

lincroft1710

If you are only being offered entry level jobs, this suggests

1. Your experience in a particular field is limited, or

2. You do not sell yourself well enough at interview, or

3. You lack dynamism in the workplace, or

4. Your performance in the workplace is mediocre/adequate, or

5. Your CV combined with age indicates you have reached your level of competence.

It is usually easier to be offered a job when in work rather than not in work.

Why didn't you push your current employer for a higher grade position if they wanted you to stay?

Neil_Jones

zicidib wrote: »

So my current company has begged me to stay and even offered to re-employ me for another entry level position. But I'm nearly 40 now and have had enough. I don't care what I do, I just don't want to work entry level jobs anymore. I have savings to support me for years, no debt or dependents, so I'm really free to pursue this. What do you think? Smart? Crazy? Immature? I appreciate there's a stigma to being unemployed, but what are the real options if I ever want to improve this situation?

I would argue that its probably better to be in work albeit in an entry level position than it would be to be "deliberately unemployed". What are you going to do when those savings run out? How long is "years" savings wise?

Much like people who win the lottery and decide to retire, they end up being bored to tears after about 18 months and there are copious stories of lottery winners who go back to work just to have something to do...

zicidib

Brynsam wrote: »

Tells its own story, doesn't it? The employer knows what you are capable of, has 'begged' you to stay and is so impressed by you that it will offer you....an entry level position.

Well, I don't think it really "tells its own story" at all, sorry. The reality is they've been getting a sweet deal and wanted to keep it that way. This is the nature of business - getting more for less. If you could get someone and pay them the same as someone with half the experience, why wouldn't you? And if my performance was in question why do they keep asking me to stay. Odd that, isn't it?

As for the next several weeks, I plan to spend it researching, job hunting, exercising and traveling. I have no intention of hanging around being bored. Potentially I could work part time but that would defeat the point of this.

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If you are only being offered entry level jobs, this suggests

Thanks for your list - I note it bombards me with messages that I'm not good enough. Are you able to expand your criticism to include scenarios in which I might be and yet the problem remains?

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Why didn't you push your current employer for a higher grade position if they wanted you to stay?

Good question. I think after seeing those positions being universally handed out to their personal friends, relatives, or people least likely to rock the boat, my intuition told me that any stipulation for advancement wouldn't end well. If they thought so highly of me, they could either offer me a real opportunity up front or they can see me leave. Also I know they don't have much to offer compared to competitors.

MovingForwards

I quit a high pressure / stressful job, paying over £28k + benefits early in the year. It was the final nail in my former career coffin.

I've been temping ever since, earning less than half my former wages, working part-time and am about to embark on an OU degree for me; my first ever degree as I did vocational training as an adult to get into my former career.

Oh, I'm chasing admin jobs now and I'm in my early 40's and had enough savings to get me through a year of unemployment.

The grass isn't always greener and unless you know what you want to do, how can you make the appropriate changes?

TELLIT01

You have the finance to support yourself, so you need to decide what type of work you would really like to do. You then have to accept that in order to get into your chosen field you will, yes you've guessed it, start at the bottom i.e. entry level. There is no way of avoiding that unless you have gained relevant experience in one of your other jobs.

Duckyduck

The tone of the your response reeks of a bad attitude, I suspect that’s your barrier holding you back rather than the fact you’ve got a job.

You say you’ve studied and worked hard. It’s demoralising when your efforts aren’t being recognised, but everyone applying for the roles you’ve gone for probably also work hard and have studied. Are your qualifications relevant to the roles you would like? What have you achieved recently? Where have you added value to your current organisation? Why do you want the jobs you’ve applied for (ie what pulls you to that specific job, running away from your current one isn’t a positive reason)

Dox

zicidib wrote: »

Well, I don't think it really "tells its own story" at all, sorry. The reality is they've been getting a sweet deal and wanted to keep it that way. This is the nature of business - getting more for less. If you could get someone and pay them the same as someone with half the experience, why wouldn't you? And if my performance was in question why do they keep asking me to stay. Odd that, isn't it?

If they are so keen to keep you, why do you appear to have zero negotiating power to get a better deal? You're either not that good at what you do, or not that good at negotiating. If you allow yourself to be a doormat, then don't be surprised when people walk all over you.

The more worrying thing is that one hint of criticism and you're sniping back instead of taking it on board and seeing whether it might help. You asked for 'the real options', but as soon as anything constructive is offered, you throw your toys out of the pram. If it's not to your taste you don't want to know. No surprise you aren't getting anywhere in your career. Until you change your attitude nothing else is going to improve.

Kentish_Dave

This has got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read on here, which is really saying something.

There’s one of two things going wrong here, you have the CV of someone only capable of minimum wage jobs and / or you interview like someone only capable of minimum wage jobs.

Both can be improved, but your plan would anchor your CV to that kind of employment for a good long while.

Employers who pay more than minimum wage tend to prefer employed employees. They know that someone in work passes the first hurdle, that of being capable of getting up, getting dressed, getting to work and doing what is asked of them.

Someone out of work can’t show that.

Keep working, do not complain about management, see what you can do every day to do the job better, and while doing this ask for some help here and elsewhere to find out where you are going wrong.

Good luck, but please, drop the aggression and bad attitude, it’s toxic to ever improving your lot.

ThemeOne

OP, people don't know you, so the responses are inevitably generalisations and may not all apply in your case. But I think you should accept that some of them might apply.

It's also fair to say that some people on MSE Forums are quick to judge and tend to infer too much from what is written. No-one here is a professional or paid advisor.

Realistically there must be a problem somewhere if, at 40, you're still in a job you could have got at 20, which is what you're saying, if I've understood correctly.

I would add the following to lincroft1710's list of possible issues:

* Your employers think you're happy and are not interested in advancement
* Your managers and/or colleagues have not liked you

I made myself intentionally unemployed quite a few times in order to change jobs, and it never backfired for me. I found, as you have, it enabled me to take advantage of vacancies where an immediate start was needed.

Whether the same strategy would work for you, who can say, but at least you have only yourself to support if it doesn't work out.

Something that hasn't been mentioned is personal contacts. These can be so important and useful in finding work. People like dealing with people they know, or someone referred by someone they know.