Long term unemployed looking for suggestions on jobs (WFH/Remote?)

PeteSouthgate72

MovingForwards said:

I wasn't necessarily saying go for a public sector, you'd probably struggle with how they do things but not the actual work, just use the job specs as a way of creating your CV, same with supermarkets, general retail, hospitality etc.

You can post up your CV, however just a few examples from it would be enough for us to see what style you've opted for and the type of wording.

https://docdro.id/4Ttd5fW

The link above is my CV. Is there anything I could add or amend to make myself more appealing to potential employers?

I'm VERY keen on a WFH position so was trying to highlight my experience of working online remotely from the poker/group administration.

PeteSouthgate72

DoublePolaroid said:

A very capable memory; a strong feel for probabilities, statistics and maths in general; intuition; the ability to read people; experience of thinking clearly under pressure. I’d probably find some way of signposting on your CV in a concise fashion how these qualities developed as a result of your previous occupation. Having sifted through many hundreds of CV’s in my time, I’d probably grant a poker player (whose CV was otherwise well written and concise) an interview, if for no other reason than for the prospect the interview might be slightly less dull than the average ones tend to be. 

I've posted my CV in the thread now. I haven't had any help with it so imagine there's quite a lot of improvements I could make - hopefully some hiring managers may feel the same and grant me an interview then.

PeteSouthgate72

Jillanddy said:

PeteSouthgate72 said:

MovingForwards said:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6283962/long-term-unemployed-looking-for-suggestions-on-jobs-wfh-remote#latest

It's all about how you word your CV as to whether you'll get a look in. How have you done yours? Have you listed the skills you've picked up from poker eg organised, thinking on feet, adapts to change etc? 

Look up government / public sector admin jobs and read the job spec, that's the kind of wording you need to meet for any office role. See how you can relate the spec to your background and tweak your CV.

There's OU short courses which are worth a look at and the right agency would see the potential due to your background.

I know you specifically want homeworking, but you need something, anything on your CV to show you can work in a non-poker environment.

There's a lot of us without degrees who have managed to build a good career / second career with a couple of GCSEs and progress due to experience, others do a job as it pays the bills.

This seems really good advice thanks, was under the impression public sector admin roles are hard to get without a degree but I guess I won't know without applying. 

In my experience, public sector admin roles are hard to get, full stop. Even before Covid, many public sector organisations were (a) cutting back on admin roles and transferring admin workloads to other staff, and (b) making what admin roles remained into either graduate entry schemes of apprenticeships. With working from home ongoing for two years, they have now learned they can shift virtually all admin work to others. Where I work (large public sector organisation), with these exceptions, the authority is steadily making every single other admin role redundant. The entire admin workforce for social care was made redundant last summer! No reason not to try - but these jobs are no longer easy to come by.

Noted and appreciate your insight into the public sector roles.

Savvy_Sue said:

One thing which occurs to me is that if you can manage a little longer without additional income, then voluntary work for a charity could give you the experience you need, plus a potential source of future jobs. Google volunteer plus your local area to find opportunities. 

FWIW I used to work at a large charity with a semi-professional poker player. May have mentioned this on your previous thread. Their theory was that if they NEEDED to win, they'd lose, and they couldn't afford to live like that. This is before you could do this online. Sometimes they'd roll in after an all night session, but their work remained up to standard: accuracy and consistency were essential!

I'll do some Googling on local charities and try contact them asking if they can provide me any sort of experience. I was hoping to do some volunteering when I was abroad last year but unfortunately Covid prevented that from happening.

getmore4less said:

What about hospitality to get back into the  work on the CV, PAYE, and some regular work.

I think if nothing else develops on the other roles then getting into a role in hospitality shouldn't be as difficult...

MovingForwards said:

I wasn't necessarily saying go for a public sector, you'd probably struggle with how they do things but not the actual work, just use the job specs as a way of creating your CV, same with supermarkets, general retail, hospitality etc.

You can post up your CV, however just a few examples from it would be enough for us to see what style you've opted for and the type of wording.

https://docdro.id/4Ttd5fW

The link above is my CV. Is there anything I could add or amend to make myself more appealing to potential employers?

I'm VERY keen on a WFH position so was trying to highlight my experience of working online remotely from the poker/group administration.

gwynlas said:

Whilst you could describe your poker playing as working from home I would think the mindset of engaging in something that you enjoy would be different to actual entry level work.. Is there anythng else that you  are good at or have an interest in that might lead to paid work? The other option is taking on employment at minimum wage purely for the social interaction or buildin up your CV.

I understand your point but without having the experience of doing entry level work from home I can't really have a clear comparison on how enjoyable it may be.

I've posted my resume in the above post which may display some of the qualities I possess. From a soft skill set I'd say I'm extremely organised, analytically minded, possess problem-solving skills and have experienced working under pressure. I wouldn't say I'm particularly 'good' at any one skill.

I'm hoping the Government Bootcamp on Cyber Security I've signed up too may help in getting an entry-level IT role. If that isn't the case then imagine I'm going to have to start elsewhere on minimum age and go from there.

MovingForwards

Meetup group

You need to slip in about this is now being run from the UK due to returning home.

The rest, poker / retail, you've totally undersold yourself on. 

This is just the first shop I thought of 
https://www.tesco-careers.com/jobdetails/696765/
If you were applying for a role with them, you'd need to meet the skillset and have keywords in your CV to do that.

Same with a council admin role

https://www.publicsectorjobseast.co.uk/Licensing Administrator-East Northamptonshire House?jobId=25507&JobIndex=17&categoryList=&minsal=0&maxsal=200000&workingpattern=&keywords=&employee=30&postcode=&Distance=20&AdvertiseOn=2

Skills I wouldn't list as a separate heading, they would be incorporated into all the roles.

You've clearly got a good brain, can think on your feet and adapt to changing situations. Able to work on your own and make decisions, with previous experience of working within a team. 

Start creating another CV and go back to basics, an employer needs to know what you can do by reading it and not trying to work it out, spell it out to them.

I think you've got great potential in the right role and I don't think a basic admin role would cut the mustard for you. I feel an employer would not be comfortable with you WFH at this stage, as the niggling doubt would be you'd be playing poker at the same time as working.

getmore4less

If you want to leverage the Social/web/marketing/organizing aspects I think I would look for  organizations that ned that sort of work doing but ones that pay.

https://jobsinfootball.com/job/25277/communication-manager/

that came up maybe too full time and above where you want to be now but something to aspire to maybe.

powerspowers

I’d sign up with an employment agency and take anything offered for the next six months- even if it is mundane entry level admin. As a recruiter a lack of work history would put me off but if I could see you were giving things a go, would possibly give you a chance. I’d also prioritise getting enough experience that you have a strong reference from a previous employer. 

Not sure how I’d feel about professional poker player on a cv, I think there’s an initial bias to overcome - so you either need to apply to a lot of places or downplay it. I suppose another option would be online gambling companies? I expect there are wfh tech and support jobs? Even 6 months to get a reference and a work history and then start approaching employers saying you want a career change. 

Dakta

Reading your opening post, what do you actually want from work given you are in a position where you don't need to?

For fun last year I wrote some software for analysing stocks, it doesn't do anything you can't do with a calculator but it does it fast and at one button - everyonethought I was a bit of a gambler (and I was) but using it to assist me I went from naive hobbyist investor losing a lot on on pretty much everything despite ones best efforts to gaining a little on almost everythng. we're still workin on it, but with this in mind have you not thought of putting some of those skills into use in that sort of area?

you mention you have built through investments a succesful passive income, could you not make your work building on that? You mention you don't need to work but it could be part of work if you know what i mean.

obviously depends on risk appetite and what your motivations are - if you *want* to work from an experience, point of view or something to do even for the social interaction then that won't help. 

If someone really wants to join IT (especially security) there's loads of courses out there, whilst it's foundational I find the comptia offerings quite well respected for their difficulty (the ones I've taken were not rocket science, net+ was the hardest) but most of all the exams do not cost the earth and books'/online resources are cheap so extremely accessible. Whilst it doesn't replace experience i found it helped a lot 

On a more generic side you've got an unusual but undeniable set of skills so it'l come down to framing it in a way thats suitable to whatever you apply for - arguably a skill in itself

PeteSouthgate72

MovingForwards said:

Meetup group

You need to slip in about this is now being run from the UK due to returning home.

The rest, poker / retail, you've totally undersold yourself on. 

This is just the first shop I thought of 
https://www.tesco-careers.com/jobdetails/696765/
If you were applying for a role with them, you'd need to meet the skillset and have keywords in your CV to do that.

Same with a council admin role

https://www.publicsectorjobseast.co.uk/Licensing Administrator-East Northamptonshire House?jobId=25507&JobIndex=17&categoryList=&minsal=0&maxsal=200000&workingpattern=&keywords=&employee=30&postcode=&Distance=20&AdvertiseOn=2

Skills I wouldn't list as a separate heading, they would be incorporated into all the roles.

You've clearly got a good brain, can think on your feet and adapt to changing situations. Able to work on your own and make decisions, with previous experience of working within a team. 

Start creating another CV and go back to basics, an employer needs to know what you can do by reading it and not trying to work it out, spell it out to them.

I think you've got great potential in the right role and I don't think a basic admin role would cut the mustard for you. I feel an employer would not be comfortable with you WFH at this stage, as the niggling doubt would be you'd be playing poker at the same time as working.

Really appreciate the advice you've been giving in the thread so far. I've been in touch with Careers Advice this morning and am hoping to try get some assistance in drafting up my CV from scratch. 

I understand it's likely I'll have to start in the office or some sort of hybrid setup, but my preference really is to WFH for a few different reasons but one of them isn't playing poker!

getmore4less said:

If you want to leverage the Social/web/marketing/organizing aspects I think I would look for  organizations that ned that sort of work doing but ones that pay.

https://jobsinfootball.com/job/25277/communication-manager/

that came up maybe too full time and above where you want to be now but something to aspire to maybe.

Interesting site, thanks for sharing.

powerspowers said:

I’d sign up with an employment agency and take anything offered for the next six months- even if it is mundane entry level admin. As a recruiter a lack of work history would put me off but if I could see you were giving things a go, would possibly give you a chance. I’d also prioritise getting enough experience that you have a strong reference from a previous employer. 

Not sure how I’d feel about professional poker player on a cv, I think there’s an initial bias to overcome - so you either need to apply to a lot of places or downplay it. I suppose another option would be online gambling companies? I expect there are wfh tech and support jobs? Even 6 months to get a reference and a work history and then start approaching employers saying you want a career change. 

I've handed the CV to a couple of recruitment agencies and had them give me a call this morning asking what types of jobs I was looking for. Wouldn't going into work for a short time frame of just 6 months and then looking to move not be a bit of a red flag for a future employer? Everything's new to me in the 'real' world but I guess if more employers don't see that as a red flag it seems like a solid plan.

I'm going to have a look at those positions in the gambling companies as maybe hopefully there wouldn't be as much bias to overcome.

Dakta said:

Reading your opening post, what do you actually want from work given you are in a position where you don't need to?

For fun last year I wrote some software for analysing stocks, it doesn't do anything you can't do with a calculator but it does it fast and at one button - everyonethought I was a bit of a gambler (and I was) but using it to assist me I went from naive hobbyist investor losing a lot on on pretty much everything despite ones best efforts to gaining a little on almost everythng. we're still workin on it, but with this in mind have you not thought of putting some of those skills into use in that sort of area?

you mention you have built through investments a succesful passive income, could you not make your work building on that? You mention you don't need to work but it could be part of work if you know what i mean.

obviously depends on risk appetite and what your motivations are - if you *want* to work from an experience, point of view or something to do even for the social interaction then that won't help. 

If someone really wants to join IT (especially security) there's loads of courses out there, whilst it's foundational I find the comptia offerings quite well respected for their difficulty (the ones I've taken were not rocket science, net+ was the hardest) but most of all the exams do not cost the earth and books'/online resources are cheap so extremely accessible. Whilst it doesn't replace experience i found it helped a lot 

On a more generic side you've got an unusual but undeniable set of skills so it'l come down to framing it in a way thats suitable to whatever you apply for - arguably a skill in itself

I'm up for the challenge of just giving something a go to see what develops. Playing poker for a profession doesn't give a guarantee I'll end the day with money in my pocket for my hours spent playing - which as I've gotten older has made the profession more mentally draining. Some career/jobs that would most suit my skill set would get my attention as I feel that would make the transition into employment a lot easier for me. I've just been really fortunate that the riskier option of not following through with University and travelling/living abroad has worked out for me.

I've done some trading in my spare time the last few years as well so being able to program could be of use if I wanted to pursue building on those investments. 

Cheers for the heads up on the IT courses (currently working my way through a couple!).

Sandtree

Robert Hiscox, of Hiscox Insurance fame, used to recount the story that he was at a charity gala one year and a young female reporter came over to him and started chatting a bit and asked him what he did and he said he was the chairman of an insurance company and her eyes just glazed over and she wandered off.

The following year he was at the event again and the same reporter was there... he mentioned he recognised her but he clearly hadnt made an impression on her as she came over and started talking again and again she asked him what he did... this time he said he was into high stakes gambling and she suddenly got really interested and asked about loads of questions about what his biggest loss was (about $45m in one hand - Hurricane Katrina) etc... managed to keep her going for almost half an hour until he finally reminded her that they'd spoken last year and she just hadnt appreciated that insurance is gambling then.

Business is always a gamble, no one knows if customers will buy the new product or not and so someone that can take calculated risks shouldnt be looked down on... unfortunately online gambling has a bit of a reputation but there is a marked difference between someone living a student lifestyle on Tesco Value Beans in a bedsit and someone making monies to support a normal adult lifestyle/family etc. 

I don't know about the OP's setup but certainly the one semi-pro online poker player I knew there was a fair amount of dealing with sponsorship, deals with people/organisations paying buy-ins to the more expensive tournaments in exchange for a cut of winnings etc.

It will be a fairly hard sell but someone in the digital space should be interested... havent kept up with my associate but he was went to work for one of the big betting firms when he'd decided he'd had enough of the tables. 

concerneduk2020

Have you considered temp agency roles? As a lot of offices are covered by the wfh order you may be able to find something remote. We’ve found it really hard to get temps in place because they prefer full time roles, employment history might be less of a problem, and with the right company it could be a good foot in the door for something more permanent. When we get a good temp we’re always trying to find a way to make them permanent because it saves us having to train someone from scratch.