Looking for work

W

West

Guest
Hello all
Id like to give you some brief history of my background. born in Dublin I left school at 16 (1996) due to the lure of money and a good social life (which I had) I had several dead end jobs over the years, ranging from retail sales, car maintence advisor, merchandiser, warehouse operative, and van courier, which was my last job almost two years ago now, yes I am unemployed 2 years lol
I moved from Dublin to Donegal (cheaper houses, better life) after my last job and have settled in well but jobs and opportunities are few and far between up here and I have been unable to secure full time employment, I have contemplated going to college and even considered doing an apprenticeship, but I am 28 years old and feel I am too old, not only that I don’t know what course to do as I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. People all around me have great qualifications and earn great salaries and seem very happy in life (except me).
Im really at a crossroads now and im starting to get depressed and my confidence is dropping, im just wondering if anyone was ever in the same boat as me or had any advice on what I should do, im an honest hardworking guy but my cv doesn’t reflect this at the moment.
I want to learn a skill or a trade that I can take with me for the rest of my working life, whatever the course will be it will take probably 4 years to achieve, and i dont want to commite to this if its not going suite my needs.
I appreciate any replies and anything you can share with me.
regards
 
Re: Looking For Work!!!

Do you have any financial commitments (mortgage etc) or family to support? These could affect what you could do - and would be useful to know before making any suggestions. Are you tied to Donegal or can you move?
I can't understand how anyone can be unemployed for 2 years when we have thousands of people coming here for work. Have you applied for any jobs? If you did apply why did you not get them?
 
Re: Looking For Work!!!

A very honest appraisel of your life so far. Well done. Your main disadvantage lies in your lack of formal qualifications. On the plus side you have a wide variety of life experience. So what to do? You're correct that any trade/apprenticeship/college will take 3/4 years so you really want to be sure that what you embark on is right for you. As regards an apprenticeship you're certainly not too old. You could work for a few different trades and see if any suit you.

I'd take professional advice... talk to a career guidance teacher. They can offer you career interest tests, personality tests etc and show you a load of options. You'll find them in the Golden Pages. Plus, you're a mature student so you might well qualify for grants etc and colleges are very open minded about taking mature students.

Hope this helps.
 
Re: Looking For Work!!!

28 is certainly not too old to go to college - I recently started college (part time evenings) aged 32 and had the same fears..I soon discovered I was far from being the oldest in the class (which ranges from ages 19 - 65).

I put it off for years as I thought 4 years study was too much to commit to. Then I recieved a great piece of advice.."Those 4 years will pass by wether I do the course or not". If I had made that decision at age 28 I would be qualified now...

My brother in law had a similar experience - he started an apprenticeship as an electrician aged 30 and is 2 years into it. He loves it and its a whole new life for him even though the wages are difficult initially.

Another upside to going back to college is while you will have college fees and expenses you have less time to spend money on other stuff so your expenditure will most likely be less.

Do you have any interests that could help you chooses a course? - If so make a decision to start a course in something related even if its not exactly what you want you could transfer to another similar course in later years if its not where you want to be.

The main thing is to draw a line under the past and make some decisions - the rest will follow.

Best of luck..
 
Re: Looking For Work!!!

You are not too old to go to college or be an apprentice. I know a guy who about ten years ago was your age and in a dead end job. He went and became an apprentice to a plumber. Sure he had it hard for a few years while his mates were on better money than him but he works for himself now, has plenty of money and most of his mates are still in the same dead end job - which is where he would be if he hadn't taken the plunge.

You can apply that to any career.

You aren't too old!
 
28 is still young! You have loads of options.

For jobs start with [broken link removed]

What would you actually like to do?

Office job?
Work with your hands?
Technical job?

Certainly don't get depressed that it's too late or anything like that. Most people spend their life doing jobs they hate, so at least you're "starting from scratch" so you have an opportunity to set up a nice future for yourself.
 
Certainly not too young to become an apprentice ........... only thing to bear is mind is that a lot of tradesmen I know and have spoken to are finding it increasingly difficult to get work, particulary on the construction / deveopment side. If housing / construction etc was to slow down more you could find it hard to get work.
 
reading between the lines, you really don't want to take another "dead end" job but, at the same time, you are afraid to commit to a long term training programme. Dont' be! A couple of options to get you motivated adn help you make hard decisions...

1. Go to FAS website and see what courses are on offer, etc.

2. Consider Adult Education courses.

3. Unemployed two years, and presumably getting JA/JB, you should qualify for the Back To Education Initiative (unfortunately, too late to apply for college this year, but next year?). You get to keep your dole for the college year, and you can top it up by working part-time at night.

4. Make an appointment to talk to the Jobs Facilitator in the local office. They can point you in the right direction and show you options you possibly didn't think about yet!
 
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