I need help - lost job from COVID and gambling issues

spoovy

Slightly off topic but regarding job hunting, don't make the mistake of letting pride ruin your CV.  I was in a similar situation to you during the last recession.  I had good qualifications and 10 years of pretty impressive professional experience in my field, and I put all that on my CV (and talked it up, the way you do).  The reality was though that jobs at that level just weren't there at the time in any sector (or at least no-one was hiring), and the lower-end jobs I was applying for were likely put off by my work history -- they presumably knew I wouldn't stick the job when things picked up again.  I was overqualified for 90% of the jobs I was applying for, and was showing off the fact on my CV!

Over the period I was unemployed I slowly removed things -- "dumbed down" my CV, bit by bit.  I understated what my responsibilities had been in various roles; I removed qualifications etc outright.  It wounded my pride at the time, but eventually I got a lower-end job which I know I wouldn't have otherwise, with a CV that nobody who knew me would recognise as being mine at all.   I stuck that job for <6 months, did the same thing again, slowly added things back, and within two years the CV was back to full strength and the whole thing was just a bad memory.

Maybe you're already doing this but I thought I'd share anyway as I know I personally could have cut months off my time out of work if I'd done this sooner.

Best of luck.  And download Gamban! 

lcc86

lixhul said:

TheAble said:

There should be a cooling off period on that loan agreement - I'd consider using it.

There is. I am considering cancelling the Rate Setter one, but I was charged £290.70 for it to be arranged. If I have to pay that, I may as well keep it, as the interest is only £190 over 2 years?

Thats not the way to look at it, if you cancel it yes you've lost £290 but you've avoided taking on more debt which long term is much better. I am concerned that you seem to be justifying taking on more debt and have applied for yet another credit card, which is only adding to your debt. As others have said, your mortgage and a few other things are the priority if things get really bad, don't take on more debt just to pay your debts, you're robbing Peter to pay Paul and you'll end up in a much worse financial situation. 

lixhul

I have cancelled the £5000 NatWest loan today. This restores me back to normal.

Smashingitnow

lixhul said:

I have cancelled the £5000 NatWest loan today. This restores me back to normal.

Thank God.

enthusiasticsaver

Just seen your thread and taking out further borrowing is the worst thing you can do so I am glad you have cancelled the NW loan.  As others have said pay the monthly priority bills first which are mortgage, council tax, utilities and food.  Unsecured loans and credit cards are limited in the action they can take if you are unable to pay due to unemployment so if you are short of income then you tell them you cannot pay and ask for breathing space until you find another job. I would pay off the interest charging debts you have taken out with the cash you have.  The golden rule is do not borrow more than you need and ideally you should be looking to cut back on expenses as far as possible first and take every opportunity to earn income or sell stuff. 

You definitely need to stop the gambling so get some help for that. 

enthusiasticsaver

Also  if you have more than £6k in savings which you have due to your recent borrowing does that not exclude you from benefits or affect the amount you get? 

lixhul

spoovy said:

Slightly off topic but regarding job hunting, don't make the mistake of letting pride ruin your CV.  I was in a similar situation to you during the last recession.  I had good qualifications and 10 years of pretty impressive professional experience in my field, and I put all that on my CV (and talked it up, the way you do).  The reality was though that jobs at that level just weren't there at the time in any sector (or at least no-one was hiring), and the lower-end jobs I was applying for were likely put off by my work history -- they presumably knew I wouldn't stick the job when things picked up again.  I was overqualified for 90% of the jobs I was applying for, and was showing off the fact on my CV!

Over the period I was unemployed I slowly removed things -- "dumbed down" my CV, bit by bit.  I understated what my responsibilities had been in various roles; I removed qualifications etc outright.  It wounded my pride at the time, but eventually I got a lower-end job which I know I wouldn't have otherwise, with a CV that nobody who knew me would recognise as being mine at all.   I stuck that job for <6 months, did the same thing again, slowly added things back, and within two years the CV was back to full strength and the whole thing was just a bad memory.

Maybe you're already doing this but I thought I'd share anyway as I know I personally could have cut months off my time out of work if I'd done this sooner.

Best of luck.  And download Gamban! 

Thanks for the CV advice.

If I received this covid prevention job, would I still include it on the CV after the contract is finished in spruced-up form? It's roughly a 6 month contract. I have management duties before all this and it would seem a step in wrong direction putting it on CV. I will make a downgraded version of the CV to hopefully get something because I need to, I am just concerned what that will do for the future.

Andyjflet

Hi Mate, try not to worry this can all be sorted. 
I would normally be suggesting that you take all but £1000 of your savings and throw at the loan and another debt, however without a job you need to be in storm mode. The great news is you have savings. Work out a budget for the next few months and if you need to use your savings then do this. Its called storm mode.
Meanwhile make sure you are applying for Universal Credit.
Use the days as a full time job, start at 9am and finish at 5pm, get out and drop CVs as well as being target focused on line applications. 

TheAble

lixhul said:

I have cancelled the £5000 NatWest loan today. This restores me back to normal.

Good work!

spoovy

lixhul said:

spoovy said:

Slightly off topic but regarding job hunting, don't make the mistake of letting pride ruin your CV.  I was in a similar situation to you during the last recession.  I had good qualifications and 10 years of pretty impressive professional experience in my field, and I put all that on my CV (and talked it up, the way you do).  The reality was though that jobs at that level just weren't there at the time in any sector (or at least no-one was hiring), and the lower-end jobs I was applying for were likely put off by my work history -- they presumably knew I wouldn't stick the job when things picked up again.  I was overqualified for 90% of the jobs I was applying for, and was showing off the fact on my CV!

Over the period I was unemployed I slowly removed things -- "dumbed down" my CV, bit by bit.  I understated what my responsibilities had been in various roles; I removed qualifications etc outright.  It wounded my pride at the time, but eventually I got a lower-end job which I know I wouldn't have otherwise, with a CV that nobody who knew me would recognise as being mine at all.   I stuck that job for <6 months, did the same thing again, slowly added things back, and within two years the CV was back to full strength and the whole thing was just a bad memory.

Maybe you're already doing this but I thought I'd share anyway as I know I personally could have cut months off my time out of work if I'd done this sooner.

Best of luck.  And download Gamban! 

Thanks for the CV advice.

If I received this covid prevention job, would I still include it on the CV after the contract is finished in spruced-up form? It's roughly a 6 month contract. I have management duties before all this and it would seem a step in wrong direction putting it on CV. I will make a downgraded version of the CV to hopefully get something because I need to, I am just concerned what that will do for the future.

Sometimes you do what you gotta do to keep the lights on, and everyone understands and respects that in my experience.  Personally if I was interviewing a software developer be they junior, senior whatever and they had a big anomaly on their CV where they worked at McDonalds for a year because a recession was on and no-one was hiring developers at the time, that would be a huge plus next to their name straight away.  Sometimes I might have a crappy/boring task that someone in the team has to do, and I want people who will roll their sleeves up and get on with it without complaining.