WHAT ARE BARRIERS?

When we have had a hard knock in life, it can take our confidence away. Being told we are no longer required for work can arouse unwelcome feelings and thoughts. We can often slip into a victim role where we believe that our misfortunes are due to the Government, God, the local council, our age or health or anything else. The barriers we perceive may be very real or we may have a subconscious need to make a barrier real in order to compensate for a lack of self-esteem. It can sometimes be easier to blame a barrier than to take responsibility for ourselves. There is no doubt that genuine difficulties do sometimes exist when trying to get back to work. But with some positive thought, a common sense approach and perseverance, we can overcome most of the constraints.

Sexism

Sex discrimination

The Equal Opportunities Commission will assist if you need help or advice on sexual harassment, sex discrimination or equal pay. Contact: 0845 601 5901.

Gays and lesbians

If you are experiencing work problems related to your sexuality, Lesbian and Gay Employment Rights can give advice, support and information. Contact: Lesbians (020) 7704 8066. Gay Men (020) 7704 6066.

Ageism

When we look for new employment, we may find that we are either too young or too old for a job. Sometimes it may seem as if there is no employment for our particular age group. Some jobs require youth, others require employees at a peak of around 35 and then there is the widening market for the more mature person.

Some of the benefits of maturity include:

• commitment
• life experience
• increased confidence
• proven skills
• fewer family distractions
• company loyalty
• reliability
• stability
• tolerance.

Salaried work

Areas such as management, court work, housekeeping, retail, financial services, tutoring and counselling all benefit from maturity. Jobs such as being a driving instructor, or a careers adviser also appeal to people of a more mature age.

Hints for the mature person’s CV

• concentrate on your relevant strengths of character
• emphasise your skills and experience
• omit dates on your educational/qualification information
• put a personal profile after your name on the CV
• put your most relevant/recent work experience after your name on the CV
• place personal details without a date of birth at the end (unless asked for)
• mention additional information such as special skills, languages, current courses, computer literacy
• indicate physical and mental fitness and agility
• indicate an up-to-date and motivated attitude.

Self employment

Working for yourself later in life has its advantages. It can be the chance to try a different career which unlocks your hidden talents. You could use your experience to set up as a consultant, buy into an existing business or franchise or start making money from a hobby.

Overcoming literacy/numeracy problems

Literacy and numeracy problems can have a variety of sources: a scattered early education, language difficulties, family problems in childhood or dyslexia. When there are difficulties with reading, writing or maths, this can undermine confidence and raise feelings of frustration, shame and anger. Those who are in this position may feel stupid when in fact this is not the case. Dyslexia especially can give rise to misplaced labels of not being intelligent. Help is available to anyone, individually and in small groups. There are free classes in every town to cater for those with literacy and numeracy problems. There is specific help for those suffering from dyslexia. Your local CAB (Citizens’ Advice Bureau) reference library or job centre can provide you with further help.

Dependants

It may be that your role as parent or carer is holding you back from re-training or applying for jobs. Flexible jobsearch solutions may include:

• self employment
• tele-working from home
• job-sharing
• term-time working.

Possible study/retraining solutions could include:

• open learning (you attending learning at times to suit)
• distance learning (you learn at home)

Location and travel

Relocation

Relocation may be offered as an alternative to redundancy or it may offer the opportunity for a new job in a better employment area. Companies’ information may include: financial and housing matters, schooling information and spouse employment assistance.

Transport

It may be that there are plenty of jobs within your specification but outside your area and you don’t have your own transport or you don’t drive. The possible options here could be to:

• take out a loan for transport
• learn to drive
• take public transport
• find someone who works near you or with you and share the petrol costs.

Overcoming a criminal record

If you are an ex-prisoner, it might serve you better at this stage to get into education or training. NACRO may be able to help. Contact: (020) 7582 6500.

Overcoming lack of experience or skills

Adult education

Your local adult education college could provide a way to brush up on old (or new) skills.

Further education

The local colleges offer qualification courses to both young and mature students. You could study part-time without affecting benefits or you could become a full-time student with a grant.

Jobskills

There are various government schemes (which you can find out about at your local Jobcentre) which offer skills training with and without qualifications. You are also supported in your jobsearch while learning and you can still claim benefits.

Voluntary work

Visiting your local volunteer bureau could increase your feelings of usefulness plus provide excellent material for your CV. It will also provide references, increase your skills base, expose you to different working environments, increase your confidence and provide networking opportunities.

The benefit loop

Sometimes employment doesn’t offer much more financial reward than if you stayed on benefits. Family Credit is one option which could increase your salary.

The economic climate

Financial wizards and politicians are always telling us we’re on our way into or out of a recession. Someone once told me ‘this too will pass’. At that time I was down, so these words of wisdom cheered me up. However, when I was happy and I remembered her words — I didn’t feel so good. At the end of the day, we are each in charge of our own destiny. Of course we can be affected by outside circumstances, but we can either go up or down with them or we can make our own luck. Don’t be seduced by the media telling you that there is no money out there — no jobs — and all is doom and gloom. Don’t fall into self-fulfilling prophecies. Understand that all you need is one job or one offer of work and that there will always be room for you as a conscientious employed person. Don’t let other people’s negativity empty your hopes.

Health

There is a Disability Employment Advisor (DEA) at your local job centre who works with people with disabilities who are seeking a job. The DEA is one of a specialist team called the Placement Assessment Counselling Team (PACT) that may make an assessment about the type of work you can do. The DEA runs the Disabled Persons Register, which is a voluntary register of disabled people wanting to work. The DEA can help you get a job under the Access to Work Scheme or the Job Introduction Scheme.

Ethnic origin

The Commission for Racial Equality may be able to assist you if you are being harassed.

Overcoming job competition

Selling yourself

You are your own sales representative and your marketing tools should include:

• lateral thinking and problem solving skills
• the CV
• skill in completing application forms
• letter writing skills (for covering and spec letters)
• finding the market need
• surviving selection tests
• handling interviews (and interviewers)
• networking
• telephone techniques.

Creating a need

Find the need in the market and you could be in with a chance. If you don’t immediately see the job of your life being offered in the local paper, approach companies on spec and sell yourself. If you sell yourself well enough, you may make a prospective employer want to see you even if there apparently isn’t a job there. If you really are good enough, they will employ you because your main sales pitch is aimed at creating a need in them for your skills and experience (even though they didn’t realise they needed them in the first place).

Making your own job

If the ideal job isn’t there, if you can’t create a need in a prospective employer, then create a niche in the market completely for yourself and become self employed.

Need for a high income

When jobs were plentiful and money flowed, many people built up a lifestyle to go with it all. With the job market fluctuation, money now comes in dribs and drabs — but the lifestyle has been committed to. Re-organising your lifestyle and financial structure is really the only way of dealing with this problem. There is also an abundance of lower paid jobs which doesn’t help to solve the problem. Family Credit may help to raise a low salary but not necessarily the lifestyle.

’No one replies to my CV/application’

When you apply for a job, you may be one of 20 or 30 applicants. When you are rejected, it is your skills and experience that aren’t suitable — not you personally. Try again and again and again. As long as you have CVs and application forms out in circulation, there is hope.

Been out of work too long

Your CV

When you write your CV, make sure that you can write truthfully ‘unemployed but doing voluntary work’ or ‘unemployed but attending a word processing course’. Show that you have been filling in your time productively.

Voluntary work

Doing voluntary work could serve several purposes:

• something constructive to put on your CV
• taking your mind off your own problems
• the opportunity to try different environments
• developing new skills
• networking opportunities.

BUILDING UP SHATTERED CONFIDENCE

What is confidence?

• taking pride in who we are and what we do while allowing others that same privilege for themselves
• the knowledge that whatever we think and feel has validity
• respecting our right for self expression while respecting the rights of others
• celebrating our sense of personal power
• developing power and control over ourselves and communicating this in an assertive manner while respecting the rights of others to do the same
• believing in who we are and not allowing others to define us to suit their needs.

What helps us to become confident?

Trusting others

Safe people listen and hear you. They make eye contact and accept the real you. They are non-judgemental, direct, supportive and loyal. At our deepest levels, we know what is best and right for us. Ultimately, we need to trust ourselves. Others can advise us, but only we can have the final responsibility.

Positive interaction

We need to learn good communication skills in order to relate fully and openly with others. When we can learn to disclose appropriately and are able to listen to the disclosures of others, we can share, support and be supported.

Listening to others as they feed back their observations of our behaviour is a vital tool to self discovery. We can share our thoughts and feelings without giving away our personal power and we can also learn from others.

Most of us find criticism from others hard to take. We don’t like to think we are not perfect. Ironically, we know we are not perfect: we worry over not being right, but at the same time we fear being criticised. We interpret criticism as an attack on our very personal self. In truth, constructive criticism is an observation on our behaviour — not our entire way of being. The observation may be accurate or it may not be.

When giving criticism, we need to be sure of being objective and rational. When receiving criticism, we can choose to accept or reject the criticism. We need to learn to lovingly criticise ourselves, to give constructive criticism to others, to reject inappropriate criticism and take constructive criticism from others.

Appropriate action and positive life experiences

As our confidence grows and we learn to trust our own judgement more, we are able to take decisive action. It may not always be the right action, but we feel confident enough to be able to take further action to handle mistakes.

Being confident doesn’t mean we no longer experience negative emotions. The difference with increased self esteem is that we have the awareness to recognise how we feel and we have developed the skills to deal with them appropriately. Self expression means balancing the polarities of negative and positive. We cannot have one without the other. The more we numb the negative, the more we numb the positive. However, with increased confidence, we are able to feel through the entire spectrum, thereby making us a whole person.

When we are open, receptive and in control, we can fulfil our hopes and dreams. Life isn’t limited and boring. It becomes unlimited and exciting, bound only by our imagination.

BREAKING DOWN EXPECTATIONS

Of others

We should work in order to satisfy ourselves, but often we work to satisfy the needs and expectations of others. Our mother might have always wanted us to be a nurse, a spouse might enjoy having a high-flying partner, our father might want us to follow in the family business. If we have tended to go into jobs to satisfy others, we may subconsciously sabotage our work situation through blaming others or resentment. Consequently, if we find ourselves out of work, we may not be very motivated to find new employment.

Of ourselves

We may have expectations of ourselves. Maybe we were told how brilliant we were when younger, when actually we weren’t. Maybe we were told how stupid we were, when actually we weren’t. We may believe that we couldn’t learn or achieve anything when actually we can.

LOOKING AT OUR VALUES

It is possible that our value system gets in the way of us getting satisfactory employment. We may have political beliefs which could cause resentment about the haves and have-nots. We may feel guilty about earning money which causes conflict. We may hate authority which causes problems working for others. We may want to do work which benefits the community but doesn’t pay enough for the mortgage.

Overcoming constraints forces us to examine our thoughts and beliefs. It is only natural when we come to employment hurdles to hesitate, but in the long run we can do no good by allowing constraints to overcome us. We must find ways of overcoming them. Sometimes we may have to accept that we cannot overcome them at this precise moment. Maybe we will have to compromise. But armed with knowledge, foresight and determination, we can find a way through to a new way of working.