As my caring commitments are now over, I find myself in the “interesting” position of being 54 years old and potentially returning to the job market. I use the phrase “potentially” because I am fortunate enough to have a financial safety net in place, so it is not as if I have to find gainful employment immediately. So there is no pressing requirement for me to claim Universal Credit and find work via the UK social security system, which is most fortunate. The DWP has a policy of actively pressuring benefit claimants into accepting any kind of work, irrespective of skills, after a few weeks as part of a policy of trying to keep the employment number low. I have no intention of going down that route and so will look for work in my own way and on my own terms.

Over the years, my attitude towards the entire concept of work has evolved. At my age I am certainly not concerned about a career, nor am I especially concerned about how others perceive my relationship with work. Work is a quid pro quo although lots of employers seem to have forgotten this. I provide skills to undertake a pre-agreed set of tasks and get financial remuneration in return. Anything outside of that is bullshit. Simply put, I am not defined by work or anything like that. It is a means to an end. Nor do I find myself at a loose end without it. I can happily fill my days with activities and occupy myself. However, I cannot officially retire just yet for financial reasons. Hence I need a source of revenue. But it doesn’t need to be a fortune and therefore there are a lot more options available as to how I can earn it.

Spookily enough they had no vacancies for “head of secret police” or “ninjas”

So with all that in mind, I’ve created three new CVs (curriculum vitae/résumé). One with respect to my IT project experience, tailored to contract work. Another has been weighted towards general administrative experience (my time as a civil servant) and the last focuses upon my writing and podcast skills. I have registered with several job websites and have already started looking at what is out there. This has been most illuminating but not necessarily in a good way. I noticed that some job vacancies do not give any information about the salary. Apparently this is common practice in the US and some European countries. Needless to say I will have no truck with it. I am not going to apply for a position, attend an interview and invest valuable time and effort, only to find out that the pay is inadequate. The tail does not wag the dog.

At present I have a three tier plan with regard to employment. Plan A is focused around writing and podcasting. Can I monetise Contains Moderate Peril or can I write for someone else and get paid for it? Possibly. I’m also thinking about some new writing projects and websites that may lend themselves more to monetisation. I may also try to return to technical writing as I did this back in 2015. Plan B is a return to IT contracting. Oddly enough I received a phone call from a recruitment executive recently who still had my details. They reckoned I still had the necessary skills needed to find work, despite being out of the “game” for 6 years. And if the shit hits the fan, then there’s Plan C. This is the last resort where I take any job that covers my expenses. It is not a prospect I relish, working minimum wage for some 27 year old sociopath.

I appreciate that my perspective on employment is not something that everyone has the luxury of sharing. Many people do not have savings to give them a degree of independence while they look for work. Your skills and abilities also determine how much say you have in looking for work as well as the kind of work you undertake. Certain jobs simply do not get the respect and recognition they deserve. We briefly paid lip service to this during the pandemic but it soon evaporated once the status quo resumed. At present the job market is weighted in favour of the employer rather than the employee and this does not make for good pay or terms and conditions. The increasing cost of living also means that many jobs no longer provide the financial security that they once may have done. Overall, it’s not the best time to be looking for work. However, regardless of the results, I’m sure the search itself will make a good blog post.

Thoughts on Work Part 3