Another Quarter of Unemployment
It’s only mid September but I can tell already that I won’t have a job by the end of September. Most recruitment processes take at least 2 weeks so even if I get an interview for one of the jobs that I applied for a month ago (government) it doesn’t look like I’ll be starting a job any time soon.
So what does this mean? This means that it’s 2 years since I have had a job from an employer. It’s actually more but I don’t count the 2 years after I left my job to care for my sick daughter, because I was receiving the Carer’s allowance and she was, believe me, my full time job. So I count only the time from when she was well which is 2016 to now, September 2018.
That’s two years without a job.
Two years of applying for nearly 3 or 4 jobs a week.
Two years of rejections.
Two years of applying for jobs that I’m qualified and experienced to perform, jobs that I am way over-qualified for, tweaking my resume and cover letters each 3 months to see if that makes a difference, leaving my qualifications off, putting my qualifications on, leaving off experience, adding it on.
I don’t know how they know, or whether it is even a factor, but over 50’s employment is, I would have to say at this two year period, virtually impossible to secure.
So I could eat and hopefully find a job eventually, I began a double degree in Law and Criminology, which were my original undergraduate studies when I left school. It was always my ambition to be a magistrate, but at the time the road for women meant that I would not be able to have a family and succeed in that career, and I wanted the option to have a family. Twenty years later, I probably could have balanced both, but at the time it was not encouraged or supported. Studying means I’m eligible for Austudy which is my only income at this point. So I’m living on $278.50 a week and selling stuff when I can to cover the rent. I am still seeking some part time or full time work so that I can at least cover the rent. I can feed myself and pay my bills with the $278.50 a week, barely, but I can manage it.
At this stage I think it might be possible. The retirement age was going to be changed to 70 but has been revised back to 67. That means I have 14 – 17 years to devote to a career, at least, and that is only if a choose to retire at the recommended age. At this point, I acknowledge that I won’t have nearly enough to retire on by then, so it looks like this possum needs to find something that she can do right up until the death bed – and that is probably going to be research – for me anyway.
I don’t think it’s a figment of our over 50’s imagination that employment is tough. There are special programs now with the government employment agencies, yet these don’t seem to be finding much success.
Writing and researching appear to be my only options moving forward and to that end, I will continue my blog(s) and hopefully earn a little money from them while also studying and writing my books. Even if I make just $10,000 from book sales over a year, that’s nearly my rent money – so it’s within reach if I write multiple books and have a few channels for income.
My sewing avenue may also save me a little but that is still to be tested and the results will of course be published here.
Aside from that ebay still shits me and is difficult to break into and I would dearly love poshmark to be available in Australia but as yet these avenues for selling clothes elude me completely, and it’s a sad but true fact that I don’t have much taste in this area – well taste that transposes to sales.
Hopefully the next quarter will find me with some employment or revenue, but at this point, it’s looking pretty dire.
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