where to go now?

carlab01

Could anyone share their experience if similar.
Both myself and husband have been made redundant. he owns half a house ( bought with mate in 2006) and they cant sell it. ( but the mate lives in it with his partner)
so we are renting, and using all our savings paying rent, as we can't get rent allowance, because of his house.

we are over 30 with no kids. It seems impossible to get a visa for Oz because of our age.

I want to do something productive with this time, until things pick up in Ireland.

Our little bit of savings is going down the drain on rent. I'd need that for flights and setting up abroad if we could find somewhere with job prospects ( and we could get a visa) ...

what did you do? I am becoming severely depressed to the point where I cannot see the point in anything anymore. Husband is so worried and stressed too that we cant talk about it, without arguing and gettign nowhere.

Sleepy

Are the mate and his partner paying your husband rent for his half of the house?

Might slow the frittering away of the savings a bit.

carlab01

no - they just pay the mortgage in full every month ( its about right for the average rent in the area).

cruizer101

I was thinking same as sleepy, surrely you are getting rent from friend or is he being allowed to live there for free. Are they both still paying mortgage on the house.

Might it be possible to move into the house I know two couples sharing a house isn't ideal but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Try and keep yourselves active anyway to help keep of the boredom. Volunteering could be good as keeps you busy, get to meet people and will look good on CV too.

Edit, ah i see now they are paying the mortgage

carlab01

yes volunteering would do no harm.
thanks

Sleepy

If they could buy your partner out of his share you'd qualify for the rent allowance?

What industries are ye in? There's work in the UK in the IT area (working here atm myself).

carlab01

we are both architects
we would love the partner to buy him out, but no chance as it is in negative equity. They are going to live there until they can build their own home.

3DataModem

The current situation where they split the mortgage but he lives there is very unfair to you.

Offer to let him buy you out for free. Just sign the house (and mortgage) over 100% to him.

You win: you wipe out your negative equity

He wins: he doesn't have to pay you rent

carlab01

We already offered them that, but they are set on moving on at some stage to a bigger better home.
at least it doesn't cost us anything while they are there. if interest rates go up, we could end up adding to the mortgage though, so hopefully that doesn't happend for another while.

Sleepy

I'm afraid I know very little about architecture but are there skills from the profession which could be turned towards something else with a bit of re-training?

A qualification in Project Management maybe?

carlab01

Thanks, yes you are correct, I have done a PM course and am now doing webdesign, hubby doing courses too.

Sleepy

There are quite a lot of PM type jobs on the job sites at the moment. Saw one on irishjobs.ie last week for a 'Project Support' position which, although certainly a much lower salary than you were getting in architecture would be a very good way to get experience within IT Project Management. Just searched the site for 'project support' and got a raft of positions so might be worth firing a few CV's at some of them?

EDIT: If you've already done a course in it, it might also be worth looking at getting a professional accredition in it? You could complete a PRINCE2 certification in a couple of weeks...

carlab01

thanks a mill, we are sending CV's off every hour, believe me I am trying!
Might look into the PRINCE 2, not sure if its a follow on.. i'll look into it!

thanks again

tricky D

Forget Oz, Canada would be better.

Relying on web design isn't a good option. That market is over saturated and it's still like a wild west scenario.

Sleepy's suggestion of adapting your current skillset to another industry area is excellent - especially when comparing IT PM (worse) to construction PM (better).

carlab01

True, Construction PM is my field. Applying for jobs in that too.
Canada requires a lot of money in bank account or a sponsor, so I am looking for a sponsor. It all seems hopeless - for now- but ill keep trying!

Sleepy

There's plenty of PM work in IT in Ireland. Unfortunately, although I've a cert in PRINCE2, I'm just not the right mindset to be a PM - not confrontational enough IRL and certainly not organised enough!

The standard of PM's I've come across is pretty woeful too so definitely worth looking into it.

_Kaiser_

Sleepy wrote: »

There's plenty of PM work in IT in Ireland. Unfortunately, although I've a cert in PRINCE2, I'm just not the right mindset to be a PM - not confrontational enough IRL and certainly not organised enough!

The standard of PM's I've come across is pretty woeful too so definitely worth looking into it.

Without trying to thread steal/derail, is there much work over there in the IT/Sys/Network Admin type role as all I'm seeing here is Software development or Unix/Linux admin type stuff (I've a Windows background myself)

Sleepy

I'm afraid I don't know Kaiser2000. I'm in a fairly niche area so I've not been looking outside of it in the UK. TBH, I didn't even look over here initially, a friend and former colleague introduced a recruitment consultant here who sepecialises in it via linkedin.

In case you're curious, I consult on Agresso, a Norwegian ERP system, and the market is thriving over here for anyone with experience in it (I've been offered three contracts in two months and just today was asked would I extend my current one or consider permanency). Unfortunately, despite quite a large number of Irish clients, the market's very, very quiet at home.

In general, though, things seem to be picking up quite well in the UK. I think the problem you're facing is that the skillset you have is so widespread (no disrespect, I wouldn't be qualified in anything network-related myself!) that anyone needing staff is inundated with CV's right now. Wouldn't be a bad move to get your CV in with some of the better agencies over here if you'd be prepared to move for the work. Working over here I'm seeing far more signs of recovery than at home.

_Kaiser_

Sleepy wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't know Kaiser2000. I'm in a fairly niche area so I've not been looking outside of it in the UK. TBH, I didn't even look over here initially, a friend and former colleague introduced a recruitment consultant here who sepecialises in it via linkedin.

In case you're curious, I consult on Agresso, a Norwegian ERP system, and the market is thriving over here for anyone with experience in it (I've been offered three contracts in two months and just today was asked would I extend my current one or consider permanency). Unfortunately, despite quite a large number of Irish clients, the market's very, very quiet at home.

In general, though, things seem to be picking up quite well in the UK. I think the problem you're facing is that the skillset you have is so widespread (no disrespect, I wouldn't be qualified in anything network-related myself!) that anyone needing staff is inundated with CV's right now. Wouldn't be a bad move to get your CV in with some of the better agencies over here if you'd be prepared to move for the work. Working over here I'm seeing far more signs of recovery than at home.

Cheers for the quick reply - more than I'm getting from most of the agencies here!

Any particular agencies you'd recommend there? Naturally I'd prefer not to have to move that far, but needs must so for the right position it could be worth it.

I know what you're saying too about a broad skillset. The irony is that despite working in the education sector previously, they didn't actually support my going on any courses to specialise despite working with some of the latest stuff (virtualisation, server 2008 etc) and what with the cost of doing them privately coupled with my section being overworked and understaffed (3 people to support a userbase of 5000 across multiple sites) so most of what I have is experience, which seems to be going against me a bit too.

jon1981

what about freelancing/nixers. Examples... recently my granny needed a car entrance into ther garden, she had to get an arch to do the drawings just to get the path infront of the house levelled.

extensions, planning applications. sorry if you have already explored these avenues. is there absolutely no work in the area at any level?

Sleepy

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Cheers for the quick reply - more than I'm getting from most of the agencies here!

Any particular agencies you'd recommend there? Naturally I'd prefer not to have to move that far, but needs must so for the right position it could be worth it.

I know what you're saying too about a broad skillset. The irony is that despite working in the education sector previously, they didn't actually support my going on any courses to specialise despite working with some of the latest stuff (virtualisation, server 2008 etc) and what with the cost of doing them privately coupled with my section being overworked and understaffed (3 people to support a userbase of 5000 across multiple sites) so most of what I have is experience, which seems to be going against me a bit too.

Sorry for dragging your thread O/T karlab01!

Kaiser2000, if you have the experience, why not get certified yourself?

It only costs about €80 to sit the exams for an MCP or an MCTS and the books are both available second hand or in PDF format You can download 90 day trial versions of Server 2008 etc. I was studying for an MCTS in SQL Server 2008 while I was out of work and whilst I got work before I sat the exam, I'm at least a bit more knowledgeable in that area than I was before.

I went through a company called Recruitment Zone but I'm not sure how good they are outside of ERP stuff. Why not try direct applications to some UK Universities / Colleges? I've worked in a few as a consultant and they generally seem okay places to work. Could definitely recommend Glasgow University as somewhere I wouldn't mind working.

unJustMary

Just a caution:

Be careful re selling the house, and its consequences. I've been told (though haven't researched to see if it's true), that if you've once owned a house, then you will not be eligible for council housing unless the bank has foreclosed on the mortgage. And to get rent allowance, you have to be on the council housing list.

And ... if you are depressed to the point you described, you need to be seeing your doctor for medical advice.

Don't spend all-day, every-day job hunting: it's soul destroying to have done nothing but fail all day. Do spend some time job-hunting, every day, but also keep yourself productive, doing just about anything else that you can put some structure around. For example, write a blog/website about ... just about anything that takes your fancy. Something that would be useful for your local community, perhaps. I read a comment 12 months ago about spending an hour or two each day "blog farming" (google it). I didn't understand then, and didn't think I had anything to say. But about 6 months ago, the penny dropped, and my personal to-do list now has lots of bright ideas on it.

Good luck.

carlab01

thanks for all replies, yes i do nixers if they come along ( 2 small ones in 7 months).

Notice i havent replied yesterday, i am taking time away from the PC too... every other day now....

thanks a mill!

Cheeble

Architect - Construction - PM.

Seems to me that they could use your skills in Haiti right now! Have you thought about doing something mad like that?

Cheeble-eers

jimoc

Cheebles suggestion is actually a good one for someone in your situation if you are of the proper mindset.
Perhaps get in touch with one of the voluntary organisations working over there and see if they need a PM to help in the rebuilding efforts.
Since you have nothing holding you to the country it might be a bit of fun for a while!!