Sorry to say it, but these ARE unprecedented times

Well, I have nothing to lose by indulging in networking, although I have no idea how to really do it, particularly at a time when face-to-face job fairs and meetings with recruiters are out of the question for the foreseeable future. But it’s one of those things I’ll never get good at unless I begin somewhere. So here goes.

I’d like to be back in work sooner rather than later – the mental/psychological impact is just as bad as the financial hit, frankly, so it is of concern to read about people who have been out of work for as long as eight months and counting. Then there’s an army of self-employed people, some of whom haven’t had a penny (not being eligible for any Government support whatsoever) in income since The Great Lockdown. In that regard, I should count my blessings, having been back in work recently, albeit just for a fortnight’s holiday cover to keep a construction site going.

And the phone has, occasionally, been ringing. Not nearly as much, of course, as it did the last time I was out of work for anything longer than a month. I was even cold-called a couple of times last week by recruitment consultants (funny how that happens when one is actually working – nobody’s ringing now that I’m sat at home again). I’ve perused the job boards so much I’ve practically run out of jobs to apply for. A pity I don’t drive and have zero motivation to learn to do so – on the day I got my redundancy notice in the summer, the two major companies with vacancies were Amazon and Ocado.

I have signed up to something I never thought I would: care in the community. Not having had much experience (meaning, none) in that field, it’s been an interesting ride so far, with an initial glut of training and some excellent support from a couple of ‘fieldcare supervisors’. But even that’s come to a stop for the time being. So now what? I’m going to pop out in a bit to the barbers. I passed by there on Saturday but there’s some sort of discount if I go during the week. And I need to pop into Tesco because, well, it’s cheaper than Sainsbury’s. Gotta look after the pennies when on Universal Credit.

Oh, and if there are any suitable job vacancies going, please let me know.

#JobSearch #JobHunt #Job #Jobs #Careers #Employment #Work