So bored

Life isn't very fun at the moment. Tom has his operation at the end of the month and will need about 1 month of recovery time. He's also leaving his job next week as his company were cutting staff but to buy himself more time he handed in his notice so he could an additional 6 weeks (instead of leaving at the end of Sept when his contract ended). So currently he has no new job to go to, despite looking hard and going to interviews.

I know it's a familiar story among many people our age out there but trying to get a (better) job is a nightmare these days. I can moan that there are no jobs, but that's not strictly true; people just offer jobs to apparently very experienced individuals. The rest of us don't get a look in. The remaining jobs offer insultingly low pay from companies you know can afford to pay better. I've seen positions advertised for a high street clothes shop paying less than £6/ hour, which I think is disgusting. Also, another company had adverts for retail associates and managers. The manager's salary was about £20k. The associate's was "minimum wage". How awful is that?

Tom went for an interview with a job agency after applying for a position which was a little ambitious, and paid a lot more than either of us have earned. But you may as well take a shot at these things. When he returned from the agency he was annoyed because they had told him the job in question was out of his reach and they wouldn't be bothering to put forward his application. I figured that the agency's role is to get the companies people for their jobs, so in turn they are not going to be willing to put forward a high risk candidate with little experience.

So how the hell do you get experience in fields if nobody gives you a job in them? We can't volunteer our time, simply because we need full-time jobs to get by. Also, you can only go for jobs in your area. If all that's around you is the same field of work (the one you have no experience or interest in) then what? You can't move without somewhere to live and until you have a job secured, as well as a large amount of money for moving and deposits etc. then you can't do it.

Also education doesn't seem to have much of a bearing on things. Unless you're a qualified nuclear physicist (you get the idea) then no-one is interested in the average bum with a few GCSEs/ A Levels/ degree tucked away in the box somewhere. Why were you getting an education when you could have been getting experience in the work field, hey?

It'll all work out, I suppose. Times like these you need to have faith, even if a small scrap is all you feel is left.