Trapped in a hopeless situation

LegacyUser

Hi,
Looking for advice I suppose, although this will come off as a rant maybe. I have been unemployed for over a year and not for the want of trying. Every recruitment agency I have been to tells me I have a great cv and yet I never hear from them again. I send multiple cvs off every week to jobs I should be qualified for and yet if I do even manage to get an interview Im always turned down for someone who "had more experience", and we`re not even talking wonderfully paid jobs either.
I`m at my wits end. I can`t try any harder but Im getting nowhere. To make matters worse, the job that I had the most relevant experience in was my last one (I was made redundant) and my boss is now refusing to give me a ref, which lost me a potential job last week. So even if I do manage to get an interview and ace it, my chances are ruined by the old boss. I was badly bullied at my old office and when I told him he turned against me (it was a small office and he sided with the others who had been there years), therefor we parted on bad terms and he`s now getting his digs in.
I feel so hopeless and trapped. I live in a tiny bedsit which is falling apart but Im stuck in it because of my rent allowance agreement and because I cant offord anywhere else on the dole. I have a dental problem with my front teeth that needs urgent care but I cant afford it as I have no money and you cant get ANY dental care at all on the medical card now. Ive looked after my teeth all my life and this probelm is due to the way they sit togther, but the way things are, I have to put up with the constant pain of watching them grow loser every day and eventually fall out. Im in college in the evenings and have been working my ass off. I need to pay college fees for my final year (not this year but next year) but if I cant save money this year, I won`t be able to finish my degree. At the moment the stress of that, and of living in this hellhole I`m trapped in, and of being forced to allow my front teeth to fall out because I cant afford the dental care to save them..... it`s all getting too much for me.
There is absolutly nothing more I can do to find a job. I cannot try harder than Ive been trying but the situation is hopeless. I am at the end of my rope and have been having thoughts of ending my life.
I want to get out of this country but am trapped here, living in poverty, in a run down shoebox with no access to even basic dental care. I cant ask anyone for loans either. Its unreal to think this is Ireland in 2010.
I really don`t know what to do anymore. Open to suggestions, but I suppose Im clutching at straws here.

Starflakes

tenchi-fan

You paint a pretty bleak picture. It must be disheartening to be on the dole so long. I think you need to be willing to work in anything at all.. supermarkets, shops, cleaning, etc.. when you're in work you're more likely to find a better job and you will be able to build a reputation by getting a good reference.

However, you are getting rent allowance on top of the dole and although the dole doesn't give you a great lifestyle it doesn't leave people hungry or anywhere close. For example, you said you live in a bedsit.. do you mean a self contained apartment with its own separate esb meter, or is it literally a room in someone else's house? If the former, it is usually a lot cheaper to share a house with others. If you run a car - sell it. You should go to mabs for free advice on budgeting.

As for your teeth, emergency dental treatment is covered on the medical card. Colleges often have hardship funds and social welfare recipients (as far as I know) don't pay fees. If it's a private evening course you are doing you are wasting your money seeing as Fas provide daytime courses to unemployed people that you actually get paid to do, and they get you paid work experience after it (which once again would build your reputation with employers)

Ickle Magoo

Go speak to a counsellor at your college or the adult guidance service or your welfare officer and find out exactly what you are entitled to and what your options are.

Why is your boss refusing to give you a reference? Can you call them and ask them why or ask them to send you a written reference and then you can just forward a copy of that on to prospective employers...?

LegacyUser

Starflakes, that is an awful situation to be in and the unfortunate truth is that there are many more out there in the same boat.

Can you consider looking for another flat or bedsit - rental prices have dropped dramatically and you may find more for your monney elsewhere. Rent Allowance can be transferred to another property in another area and a sympatetic Welfare Officer will be able to help you.

Have you contacted your local Health Centre re your dental repairs, as in certain circumstances they do offer free dental care... it may be a long process but once the ball is rolling - its a start.

Your previous employer is obliged to give you some sort of refeerence

from irishjobs.ie

The law as regards the duty of an employer to an employee has undergone a significant change:

•An employer may be now obliged to give a reference. This duty may not only apply to an employee or ex-employee. It may apply to a contractor engaged under a contract for services.

•A reference will have to be true, accurate and fair. It must not give an unfair or misleading impression overall.

•A refusal to give a reference may result in a claim for discrimination under the Employment Equality Act 1998.

•An employer who gives an agreed reference, on termination, will be bound by it.

If your employer is still refusing a reference, speak with your local Citizens Information who will provide you with the legal advice you require.

Finding a job is very difficult in this current climate but have you thought of volunteer work. I appreciate that it will not come with any financial reward but it covers gaps on cvs and is a great advantage to have on your cv -showing potential employers that you are dedicated to working. References from volunteering are invaluable as itshaows a potential employer that you have more to offer than just the want for financial reward. Plus it also gives you a huge sense of self worth and can be a great confidence boost. Who knows you may decide to volunteer in a fild that you have never worked in and could learn skills in that area that you never knew you possessed.

I know that none of these tips are very comforting to you and its easy for others who dont know you to give you advice but things will get better starflakes.

LegacyUser

Im always turned down for someone who "had more experience", and we`re not even talking wonderfully paid jobs either.

I really feel for you OP i'm in the same situation myself unfortunately in a lot of industries when the recession hit, senior and junior people were let go, so now when you apply for jobs, you're constantly up against people who normally would have too much experience to consider going for "lower" positions, but thats just the way it is i'm afraid - would/could you consider doing a fas work placement program maybe? you'd get some experience, and it'd get you out of the bedsit for a while, it can get very depressing if you have nothing to get up for everyday. I'm sure it would look good for prospective employers too that you really want to work.

As for the bedsit situation..OP i'm sure theres house shares out there which accept rent allowance, personally theres no way i could sit in a bedsit alone all day staring at the walls, it'd drive anyone insane, you need to keep socialising, i'd definately consider moving to a house share situation, where you can mix/ meet new people, and not sit alone in a room all day, that situation will eat away at your self esteem/self worth if you let it..

I have a dental problem with my front teeth that needs urgent care but I cant afford it as I have no money and you cant get ANY dental care at all on the medical card now.

are you sure about this? I know i went for a checkup 6 months ago, got my teeth cleaned and it was covered, i actually asked the receptionist out of curiousity what the medical card covered (i'd never had one before) and she said basically everything, so if they covered a clean, i'd imagine they cover urgent dental care (maybe this has changed in the last 6 months but definitely go to your dentist and ask)

LegacyUser

tenchi-fan wrote: »

However, you are getting rent allowance on top of the dole and although the dole doesn't give you a great lifestyle it doesn't leave people hungry or anywhere close. For example, you said you live in a bedsit.. do you mean a self contained apartment with its own separate esb meter, or is it literally a room in someone else's house? If the former, it is usually a lot cheaper to share a house with others. If you run a car - sell it. You should go to mabs for free advice on budgeting.

My bedsit costs 80 per week and I get 56 euro in rent allowance. The CWO may be accommadating in transfering that 56 euro to another place of the same value but they won`t be giving me more than that, so this is all I can afford for 80 cuid a week. Its a little bigger than a box room, with a hob/cooker and sink. The place is a dive. I won`t go into details but am in the process of asking the CWO to help me transfer my rent allowance to somewhere else.
As for budgeting, I am well able to budget my money, for what there is of it. I have enough to buy food and pay my rent but that is all. If something breaks I cannot replace it. Just food and rent and paying off an overdue ESB bill in parts, and an other old debts bit by bit. There is very little left over after that.

tenchi-fan wrote: »

As for your teeth, emergency dental treatment is covered on the medical card. Colleges often have hardship funds and social welfare recipients (as far as I know) don't pay fees. If it's a private evening course you are doing you are wasting your money seeing as Fas provide daytime courses to unemployed people that you actually get paid to do, and they get you paid work experience after it (which once again would build your reputation with employers)

As for my teeth--this is not classed as emergency dental treatment as it would need to be done by an orthodontist. My teeth sit togther in such a way that I need to have my jaw repositioned in order to prevent them loosening each other. The medical card does not cover this, and in fact as of the last month or so, Mary Hearney has now removed ALL dental care from the medical card. Not cleans, not check-ups, nothing at all.
Now as far as telling me I am wasting my time with my degree. I am half way through it all ready and it is in an area I want to work in. I have worked my ass off this far to get the grades I needed and I am not about to throw it all away to do a fas course. Fas do good course but there are long long waiting lists to get onto them --they do not end in degrees and not in the area I have been working in. So I am not about to look into giving up my degree to get a FAS diploma instead in an area that I have no interest in working in.*

LegacyUser

[QUOTE=chinup1234;66847608As for the bedsit situation..OP i'm sure theres house shares out there which accept rent allowance, personally theres no way i could sit in a bedsit alone all day staring at the walls, it'd drive anyone insane, you need to keep socialising, i'd definately consider moving to a house share situation, where you can mix/ meet new people, and not sit alone in a room all day, that situation will eat away at your self esteem/self worth if you let it..
[/QUOTE]

I have been considering the house share option actually. I did share with people before but it didn`t end well due to personality clashes etc and I swore I`d never share again. I`m a really private sort of person and don`t like the idea of sharing a house with complete strangers. I`d be afraid if it went pear shaped the CWO might be unwilling to transfer my rent allowance to yet another place. Its an option though and I haven`t ruled it out.

dellas1979

Do you have family and friends around you?

Ok - jobs and college aside (you are trying for jobs and going to college - good for you-thats all you can do for now with regards these), the teeth are the biggest problem.

Have you gone to any ortho for them to have a look/quote? If you go for ortho treatment, you can pay it off every few months - e200 every few months for example.

And lastly, dont give up - have a look in the jobs forum to give you a bit of inspiration-one guy there the other day finally got a job after 2 years!!!

On a side note, are you applying for anything or just jobs in your field? Because if its only your field, then you are playing a dangerous game.