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Blog: We lone parents are desperate for a job
Wednesday 21st July 2010, 10:30AM BST.
"How relevant is selling a holiday to working in a phone shop?" asks Dawn Pearce.
I’ve spent some of my week trying to work out how many other people find themselves in my position, writes Dawn Pearce.
According to statistics, when I started claiming job-seekers allowance (JSA) in November 2009, there were 180 female claimants between the ages of 25-34 in the unitary authority of Shropshire.
In the country, there are 64,760 JSA Lone Parent claimants at May 2010, an increase of 33,930 from this time last year, a third of which have one child.
Unfortunately, I can’t narrow the figures down to exactly how many lone parents my age in Shropshire with one child, are claiming JSA, but I’d be really interested to find out.
What I have discovered is that there are another 179 women in my age group still claiming and no doubt making desperate job applications like me.
I’ll do almost anything to get a job right now!
I wonder if prospective employers can sense this desperate tone in a CV or application? I think they can, especially when you have a gap of twelve months on your CV.
The last job I applied for was 3 weeks ago. What, I hear you scream – 3 weeks since you last applied for a job?
Indeed it is – I applied for a part-time vacancy in a phone shop, something that I know I’m capable of.
I’m technologically minded, tend to keep up-to-date with my phone packages, always make sure I’m getting the best deal and was willing to pass on my experiences to the customers.
Yet for the interview, I was emailed a piece of role play to sell a holiday. Sell a holiday?
How relevant is trying selling a holiday to working in a phone shop? Zero, zilch, absolutely irrelevant.
What hope does that give me, when in the job interviews I do get, I’m asked to do something which seems completely irrelevant to the job I’ve applied for?
It doesn’t exactly give me the confidence to sell myself for the job in question.
I’ve often wondered how people seem to stroll from one job to the next, with seemingly no problems.
Perhaps it’s all about that confidence and the way you sell yourself, but I’ve done all that.
I dress up for interviews, put on my best shirt, give them a glimpse of my entire personality and am always courteous and polite.
So what’s the problem? I thought there would be thousands of employers crying out for my various skills.
I’m not after a rare job that only comes up once in a blue moon; I’m applying for part-time retail jobs – they spring up every week!
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It’s not irrelevant though. You’re applying for a sales job and they want to see you sell. If you can sell phones you can sell holidays or anything else come to that. That’s just how sales people are. Most employers aren’t interviewing for the good of their health, they want someone who can actually do the job. If you can’t see the relevance of their role play then you’re probably not going to catch on to their working methods. They don’t want you to point out the best deals they want you to sell the biggest package you can. Please don’t take offence, just have a think about what I’m saying and see if it’s true.
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May I suggest you try for a retail job where you do not have to sell ie diy store/super market etc . Are you confident when they ask have you got child care arrangements etc are you flexible with regards hours . I admit many employers in retail now are starting to ask the earth for a pretty poor wage so do noth bother with those get down to the supermarkets .
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I have spent the past 7 years being involved with the training of civil servants in Job Centre Plus offices, as well as giving unemployed people skills to get themselves back into work.
Quite frankly, I would swop some of the unemployed and put them to work in the Job Centre. Here is an example: A manager in the Job Centre who spent most of the time I saw her, on the internet booking trips to London and Westend shows. She showed no remorse when I stood over her; she had no idea who I was and completely ignored me.
A so called JCP trainer, who was too busy to sit in on an important training programme because he had another job on the side which interfered with his full time job in the Job Centre.
Staff who have absolutely no people skills whatsoever, trying to help those with more skills, a better education and a far better background as far as their employment history is concerned. Staff who are paid by the government whether they do a good job or not.
Privatise the whole outfit and get people in who can actually make a difference; help with good quality CV’s; advise on the type of jobs people should be looking for. More important, get some backbone!! I had someone who had managed to buck the system for 27 years; never had a job and never wanted one.
No wonder GB is the laughing stock of Europe and no wonder we are flat broke. Won’t somebody do something instead of sitting on their hands and pretending we don’t have a problem!!
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“phone shops” are some of the most massively successful businesses to have arisen in this country in the last 20 years. It is arrogantly presumptious of an unemployed 25 – 34 year old (lone parent or not) to assume that she knows better than the employer what the employer ought to be looking for.
Anyone with even limited experience in sales would have several pretty good ideas why role playing in an unrelated area of sales might be a useful test for would-be employees. Perhaps this lady’s inability to understand that explains why she didn’t get the job.
The succesful applicant was certainly not so sneeringly dismissive of the process.
Once this blogette starts to think about what employers want and not how terribly the world is treating her, she will find she quickly gets a job. She certainly writes well enough to indicate that abilities are there but the attitude stinks.
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Have you actually read back what you’ve written and had a good think about it? If not, I heartily recommend it. The world does not owe you a favour, sweetheart. You actually have to remove that chip from your shoulder, get off your behind and do something to get a job.
For a start, you say you’ve only been unemployed since last November – that’s no time at all, and definitely not time enough to be only applying for jobs every 3 weeks.
I was unemployed for over 18 months in the early 90′s when there were far more of us competing for far fewer opportunities.
Every Thursday, I’d buy the Shropshire Star at lunch and go to the library and apply for anything and everything I thought I could do. You yourself say that part-time retail jobs spring up every week – why aren’t you applying for them then?
Sometimes I would apply for jobs that were slightly out of my league just in the hope that I might get some interview experience or at the least I could show the staff at the Job Centre the effort I was putting in.
A job isn’t just going to appear on your doorstep whilst you sit back and cry about how hard done by you are being a poor lone parent. There are lots of us in this world but not all of us bang on about it all the time to get the world’s sympathy.
I heartily agree with the people commenting above me, who are you to know that the role play wasn’t relevant – the job was a sales job, they wanted to hear if you could speak coherently, had a pleasant manner, could take in information given and impart that to others – it all seems perfectly relevant to me.
I suggest you dust yourself down, lose the attitude and actually start working to get yourself out of this spot just as many others do everyday. The best of luck!
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Question: what has being a single parent got to do with any of the above?
I was expecting to read that you weren’t applying for jobs because you couldn’t find child care, which would be quite understandible in Shropshire, but you brought it up with seeming no relevance to why you aren’t applying for jobs.
How does “I’ll do almost anything to get a job right now” stand up against “I haven’t applied for a job for 3 weeks”?
Doing almost anything to get a job means getting yourself to the Job Centre seeing what’s on their books, buying papers with job adverts in them and applying for some, writing speculative letters to employers with your cv.
It doesn’t mean thinking you are the world’s expert in interviewing tecniques and giving up applying for retail positions in case they ask you something you don’t think relevant.
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I agree with many of the above comments. The sales industry is very competitive and you must be able to show that you can sell to the highest ability. Selling holidays may not seem relevant but like mobile phones the travel industry is extremely saturated and therefore a hard product to sell. Customers are always looking for the best deal, and therefore as a sales person you would need to be able to approach the sale in a positive manner with all the information.
You were basically being asked to sell yourself via the role play. The retail industry is having such a hard time, there are jobs available, but you must be positive and fight for the job opportunities.
People need to remember that any job is a good job when you’re unemployed, so that means scouring the newspapers and online career sites and applying for literally everything. You will learn so much about yourself and your abilities by applying for jobs and going to interviews. You can never have enough interview experience as I truly believe you will learn something about yourself after every interview.
Lastly I would say that in the current economic climate if you really want a job you must start to behave in a more positive and professional manner. If you want to get a job don’t slag every job interview off and don’t be so negative on twitter. Be positive take things on the chin, learn from mistakes and go forward. Many companies take the time to check peoples online “profiles” out, a simple search would unearth some quite negative attributes, and would not stand in your favour. You’re a bright lady who deserves to do well, but you won’t if you carry on walking under a grey cloud
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“How relevant is selling a holiday to working in a phone shop?” asks Dawn Pearce.
I shall tell you Dawn, VERY! They are interviewing you for a sales role. That means they need to know you can sell literally anything.
It is sad that you are having no luck in finding a job, but maybe you should research the positions more and learn about sales inside out if you are applying for sales jobs.
There’s no point in just moaning.
Keep on trying and the best of luck, I’m sure you will get there in the end.
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Well i have equally bad exposure to job centre, I have city and Guilds in wood machining, internationaly recognised diploma’s in various types of massage, 5 years voluntary experience in business management and charity work and when I went to ask for a job or vacancies they offered me a part time job in fast food outlet, and when i raised about my qualifications I was told they were irrelevant……… so kids dont bother with education as according to Job centre advisors they are irrelevant, Dawn keep your standards high and your expectations because the perfect job will become available to you
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Sorry there is an error in this, I just noticed. It says the last job I applied for was 3 weeks ago, that should read interviewed for. I apply for jobs several times a week. Many of them retail.
Also I’m not condoning my own words, but I have reached the point of giving up, this world of unemployment is a grey dismal one, and at times the light at the end of the tunnel is very dull. Consistently being let down and knocked by prospective employers does not help.
Kelly, I shall use twitter as I wish, it is my outlet for letting off steam, for talking to friends, publicising my writing and all sorts of other creativity. And I shall continue to do.
I do not consider myself hard done by i often rant like this then forget about it.
“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” Oscar Wilde
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well done
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I think Dawn is right in saying what she has, we all have our own opinions on different matters and Dawn’s happens to be on the lack of jobs going. I was lucky getting my 20hour a week Reception job- just unfortunate now that I’m not so keen on it and as we can’t expect money for nothing and when you have children to raise ANY job will do.
Also some companies do discriminate against single parents or mothers in general as they can only usually do school hours (9.30-2.30) monday to friday and school holidays are the worst time as who is going to look after your child when you’re at work? The cost of the out of school clubs and childminders are alot and single parents who have housing, bills, travel and food to pay for struggle to pay for these as well as adding over £100 per week for childcare.
People who are well off don’t see the struggle that people like Dawn have, they think that people who claim benefits are scroungers and don’t want a job- yet if you actually went to the jobcentre and had a look who was there then you would see reality- it’s not just young parents it’s a mixture of normal people who have bills to pay and mouths to feed who may have lost their job in the recession or are going back into work after having children.
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I think you need to widen your horizons. If you will not consider elderly care then you are cutting out a huge portion of the present and future employment opportunities available.
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Previous correspondents give good advice. As an employer I always use everything at my disposal to check out job candidates before interview, including social networking sites like facebook and twitter.
It didn’t take too long to find your twitter account and just a quick scan through it finds plenty that would put a potential employer off you in favour of other candidates – frequent coarse language, frequent rants as you put it against injustices you think you are suffering and most alarming, tweets such as “I also couldn’t care less if you were a prospective employer. As pointed out on the (expletive deleted) up that was a the @ShropStar careers blog” and “alright you miserable (expletive deleted) who arent thinking im making an effort to find a job, ive just applied for 2, So NER”. Hardly professional behaviour looked for by employers.
Your facebook account was not much more difficult to find, though you have been more sensible with this keeping it private from the world to read.
Having read your blog which you link to widely, do you really think it’s wise to have something like this as high profile as it is if you are truly desperate for work? You may well have changed or matured since the days you are writing about, but there is no indication of this from the blog or from your twitter account.
Times are hard at the moment, lots of people are applying for limited work and I suggest that most employers do search the internet for information like this to check if you would be a welcome addition to their businesses or a mouthy liability who would upset other members of staff. You say “I dress up for interviews, put on my best shirt, give them a glimpse of my entire personality” but if your twitter, facebook and blogs show that this gleaming, polite exterior is just smoke and mirrors, then perhaps it’s time to clean up your act or at least hide considerable chunks of it from public view.
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