Blog: So, what do you do for a living?

Hello Shropshire, my name is Henry Mackley, and I'm unemployed.

There, I've said it. It's out in the open. I've confessed. There should be Unemployeds Anonymous for people like me. This is the second time in twelve months that I have been jobless and I'm starting to worry that I've got a habit.

Over the coming weeks I shall be sharing my experiences with readers of shropshirestar.com delivering blow-by-blow accounts of soul-destroying trips to the Job Centre; the drudgery of writing covering letters and the shame that comes in social situations when answering the question: "so, what do you do for a living?".

I will also be giving you my top picks of daytime TV, exclusive advice on how to get maximum distance from your giro cheque down the bookies', and other invaluable titbits for the discerning jobseekers of Shropshire.

My career history is as chequered as it gets. In 2002, after gaining a degree in English Literature from one of the University of London's less salubrious colleges, I wafted around the Capital for a while working as a chef, then sold (or rather didn't sell) advertising space before – rather bizarrely – falling into a job in marketing for a global property consultants in Mayfair.

I quickly discovered that I enjoyed the rather glamorous world of marketing and I felt secure working for a large firm. However, after four years, and having been freshly dumped by my girlfriend I realised that this wasn't me. The money was nice, the secretary was pretty, the lunches were long, but essentially I was unfulfilled.

Within a matter of weeks I had left my job and moved out of my flat. I bade London a jaunty farewell, put a knapsack on my back and headed home to Ludlow.

Now, Ludlow is a pretty place, and the air is fresh and sweet, but the streets are most certainly not paved with gold. Not if you want to forge a career in marketing at any rate.

After a little more wafting around procrastinating, and a short-lived stab at running my own business I got a job working for an organic dairy in Herefordshire. Then the recession arrived, and six months later I had been made redundant.

Five months of unemployment ensued, before finally landing a food-marketing post for a soon-to-be-doomed-by-Cameron-anyway (I should imagine) quango. After seven months, it became apparent that things weren't working out. I was given an ultimatum, and I had to resign.

So here I am again, jobless. Oh, and we have a baby due in October. No pressure then…

• Henry blogs at This could be Ludlow or anywhere