What can he actually do?

illegalmidget

hi guys,

i wonder if any one can help with this one?
im sure alot of people are in the same boat but my boyfriend lost his job last year he was in construction and in his last year if apprentice plastering.
obviously there is no work in the building game these days, but he left school after the junior cert, and has no proper qualifications, he barley knows how to work a computer, and is really getting down in himself he hates not working and is currently on the dole.
is there any job out there that he can do? he looked at fas courses etc but none of them really seem suitable? i tried suggesting FETAC courses but then he cant claim the dole and will have no money.
he has applied for loads of recruitment agencies but they never even bother getting back to him?
To be honest its really bothering me. as he has gotten so lazy and i feel like i should pay for most things as i am in full time employment and earn a decent salary.
so does any one have any suggestions for him?
Thanks

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Is self-employment an option? There are schemes whereby you can start your own business and still claim the dole.

Beyond that, the answer really IS retraining. What does he want to do?

LegacyUser

This is something thats going to become very common.

Alot of the time I think people spend way to long "searching for the wrong job".

By that I mean that people would prefer do nothing than work in McDonalds, Tesco, KFC etc.

Has he tried any of the above or similar?

Another alternative is retraining.

Beacuse he has no Leaving Cert I suppose college is out for now.

FAS run some great courses that can put him on a stepping stone to a career but he must find something that interests him.

Another alternative would be to offer his services voluntarily or do charity work.

It would mean no pay but it would look great on a CV.

Times are getting tough.

I feel sorry for both of you. Its a hard call.

CeilingCat

He can get back to education allowance (same amount as the dole) on a FETAC course, and depending on his circumstances, he might be eligible for the maintenance grant as well. There are some fantastic FETAC courses on offer, I'd defo recommend them. Mature students don't require the Leaving Cert for FETAC courses.

If he was interested, Bord Failte (formerly CERT) run courses where he would receive a training allowance (again, I think it's about the same as the dole).

Full time FAS courses also provide a training allowance (I know you mentioned FAS already but they do have some good courses).

If he were to get a job somewhere, there's back to work allowance too, which allows you to keep 75% of the dole and your secondary benefits, provided you're working a certain number of hours per week (about 20 hrs per week I think...)

illegalmidget

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Is self-employment an option? There are schemes whereby you can start your own business and still claim the dole.

Beyond that, the answer really IS retraining. What does he want to do?

he isnt finshed his apprenticship so i dont think self employment would be an option?
he said he will bascially take any thing!
he cant even work in a shop coz he has no previous experience working in one! They all want peopl with experiencee!

CeilingCat

There are also part time job placements run by FAS called Community Employment Schemes - if he went to his local FAS office they'd be able to give him some info, they're usually advertised on the FAS website in the Jobseekers section. As far as I know, someone on a scheme can also work in another part time job.

LegacyUser

Figure out what he'd like to do and offer his services for free for 2 weeks to get experience on the job - see if he likes it. It's better than sitting on the couch watching Jeremy Kyle, plus it's more likely to get him a job even if only part-time at first. If nothing else he could use it as another reference. He'll still be getting the dole anyway.

woop

ehm try taxi, delivering pizzas, courier, butcher just to get him by even if its just to give him something to do

hell have to move out of what he was doing though but perhaps something like above might keep him stable whilst deciding what to do

sitting on the couch will drive him mad but the jobs not going to find him

BanjoSpanner

Recently the number of redundancies close to home is alarming. No longer is it the case that some poeple down the country somewhere have lost their jobs due to relocation of a factory or something. It's far more real today because people I actually know are loosing their jobs. In the past few months 3 friends of mine lost their job - a banker, an architect and a chef. It's the first time in memory where I've been worried about my own job. I've no immediate reason to believe it's in danger, however neither did those three friends.

Anyway, in times such as what we've got right now I would always strongly favour upskilling, retraining, enhancement of ones skill base and value added potential. I believe that the future for the Irish economy is not like it's past. I believe it will become even more of a knowledge based economy, where activities such as R&D will be more a part of Ireland.

One occasion has come to mind where my brother-in-law was made redundant from his job some years ago. It took him 18 months to find another, and in hindsight he has always said that if he had known it was going to take that long to find another job, he would have gone full time back into education of some kind. He feels he wasted an 18 month opportunity to better himself, then again at the time he said he also had no idea it was going to take that long.

Nevertheless, if one can financially afford it I think an opportunity for further education is priceless now in the long run of Ireland's future. Perhaps your BF can complete the leaving cert ? He would probably have it done in a year. By the time he's done with that the scenario out there in the jobs market may have changed.

I realise my comments may seem a little removed from reality. However I am also well aware of how demoralising, depressing and seemingly futile it is to sit and wait for that opportunity to come along. And then there's the compounding effect when perhaps it doesn't. There's an argument for avoiding that by taking yourself out of the dead jobs market and doing something else to occupy your time, and it will pay dividends in the end.

estar

he should spend the time now investing in himself - he should start by seeking to skill up, and realistically as trades are out of the question at the moment, due to the over supply in trades of all kinds, and even in retail, that means going back to school.

he might not like to hear that, but often experience of education as a mature adult is very different to the ones we had growing up.

ask him to seriously consider the leaving, and then moving onto a college course if even at certificate level.

that way when an upturn comes, which it will, he will be in a great position to take advantage of that.

Wagon

illegalmidget wrote: »

he cant even work in a shop coz he has no previous experience working in one! They all want peopl with experiencee!

So lie then. Say he worked in a shop before. He might know someone who owns one and can at least give him a reference that he worked in it before. When starting out again looking for work, this is the only way really. I did it myself.

If not, he can get himself trained on a computer. It'll give him more oppurtunities for work. And it'll at least help him to keep occupied during the day.

professorpete

+1 to the above re computer skills, he can do a FAS course or ECDl (basic computer training) through FAS - even if it helps him to write his CV on his own; or find a path to something he didn't even know he was interested in.. people who don't have much computer skills in this day and age aren't going to be much use to anybody IMO.

He needs some sort of qualification and that'd be a good start i reckon.

JonnyC

illegalmidget wrote: »

hi guys,

i wonder if any one can help with this one?
im sure alot of people are in the same boat but my boyfriend lost his job last year he was in construction and in his last year if apprentice plastering.
obviously there is no work in the building game these days, but he left school after the junior cert, and has no proper qualifications, he barley knows how to work a computer, and is really getting down in himself he hates not working and is currently on the dole.
is there any job out there that he can do? he looked at fas courses etc but none of them really seem suitable? i tried suggesting FETAC courses but then he cant claim the dole and will have no money.
he has applied for loads of recruitment agencies but they never even bother getting back to him?
To be honest its really bothering me. as he has gotten so lazy and i feel like i should pay for most things as i am in full time employment and earn a decent salary.
so does any one have any suggestions for him?
Thanks

How many of the following places has he tried?

1) McDonalds
2) Burger King
3) Four star pizza
4) Local Pubs
5) City Pubs/Clubs
6) Dunnes Stores / Other retail outlets
7) Petrol stations
8) Xtra vision
9) Any sports shop
10) Resturants

If none of the above work take him down to the local secondary school and enrole him for 4th year starting this September. I know it will be a dent to the pride. Look up Darren Sutherland story for some inspiration...