Life Spugs because...

[Richmond Clements]

After ten years I think I really have had enough of my job. Can't think what else I can train to do at the age of damn near forty though. Bollocks.

Kerrin- I'm forty-one, and I'm just starting to get where I want to be. Still plenty of time, man.

[Kerrin]

Yeah, cheers fellas. I've got no intention of jacking it in before I sort something else out. I'm just bored shitless with what I'm doing and fucked off with carrying lazy arseholes who think they're owed a living. It's been one of those days that confirms I should be reconnoitering pastures new.

[Roger Godpleton]

I just fired my PA for gross insubordination...

[House of Usher]

After ten years I think I really have had enough of my job. Can't think what else I can train to do at the age of damn near forty though. Bollocks.

If you come up with anything, post it up so I can copy you.

It is NEVER too late to chase your dreams.

I'm sort of approaching this from the opposite direction, having delayed entry to regular and permanent employment in order to go after the qualifications I needed for the career I wanted to pursue. Having got the qualifications, I'm now doing the kind of jobs people get qualifications in order not to have to do for the rest of their lives. I've never had the same job for longer than 3 years, but I have been in several jobs long enough to get fed up with them. My dream job, alas, lives down an alternate branching timeline from a crossroads I can never get back to, so I have to pursue a smaller dream that may satisfy my ego with a bit of luck, but won't deliver riches, a regular monthly income or a retirement pension like my original dream was supposed to.

Retraining is a tricky bastard. All the best qualifications for work are the sort you can only do if you're in a job already and your employer is paying for it, not to mention making you do it. If you're changing direction without a definite promise of employment, not only do the costs of retraining rest with you but the risk does as well - you could be paying to retrain to work in an industry that's either shrinking now or will suddenly contract the minute you qualify (as has happened with every job role I've qualified for to date).

At the moment the cheapest qualification I could acquire that would help me change direction is the CELTA certificate for teaching English as a second language, costing £1,200. I haven't got £1,200 and I don't know how big a gamble it would be - the recession could see a sudden drop in demand for English tuition among non-natives, and there may be a surfeit of trained ESOL teachers out there already. I could end up £1,200 down just to get another qualification to keep me company while I'm stacking shelves at Asda.

So, I'm putting the retraining on hold for now while I concentrate on getting some regular paid employment, probably in a supermarket, to cover the mortgage payments while I pursue my current *actual* dream on my days off. There will doubtless be plenty of those because, let's face it, nobody's hiring full-time staff these days.

[chilipenguin]

I have today received what must be my 150th rejection since April. Four years of university well spent then.

Unfortunately I am in the position where I am overqualified for the jobs I don't want (but am forced to apply for as a result of being on jobseekers), and underqualified for the jobs I do want, as a result of the glut of professionals who have recently been made redundant.

Sigh.

[House of Usher]

Unfortunately I am in the position where I am overqualified for the jobs I don't want (but am forced to apply for as a result of being on jobseekers)

Don't worry, you'll get one of them eventually.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Sorry to hear all the sad job stuff folks.
All I can say is keep hanging on in there, as you never know what will happen next. I know it's a cliche and words are easy to say but it's bloody well true!

[Proudhuff]

Bad news guys,sorry to hear it. I think we'll only hear more of this in the coming months, double dip and all that, I too have done the follow the dream/quailification route after a couple of decades doing day jobs, unfortunately the catch 22 is you need quailifications and experience to get anything reasonabily well paid and you can only get experience by volunteering in the field I wanted, which doesn't pay (dah) not an option with two teenagers and a mortgage to feed.

[Dandontdare]

I've even started doing the lottery (which I always previously dismissed as a "gullibility tax"). How's that for career planning?

[Noisybast]

I still don't know if I'm staring another temporary contract on Thursday.
What is known is that Starting tomorrow morning, I'm going to be unemployed for at least 24 hours. It's just the timescale that needs fixing now. I might find out this afternoon, apparently...

[House of Usher]

I've even started doing the lottery (which I always previously dismissed as a "gullibility tax"). How's that for career planning?

I know what you mean. When my first stepfather started doing the lottery I thought it meant he'd written off his chances of ever getting back on his feet again.

[exilewood]

One of my drokking teeth just fell out.

[Richmond Clements]

One of my drokking teeth just fell out.

Stick it below your pillow and that's a juicy 50p in the morning!

[uncle fester]

Hey Kerrin keep your chin up. As others have said it's never too late. You're only here once (ok, once minimum, for those religious types), so why do something you don't enjoy?

[Noisybast]

Nope. Going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out how long I'll be unemployed for. I can't even plan anything for my day of joblessness because I don't know if I can afford to do anything! Gah!