Maatwork Week 2
Yesterday was my second meeting with Samantha, the lady from Maatwork who's helping me with this possible going back to work thing.
One of the problems I'd admitted to in the first meeting was that I had no idea how to write a good CV, since I came from the time of Records of Achievement which aren't used any more (and I don't think were ever used...). So she said she would write a CV for me, and when I turned up yesterday she had done just that.
I barely recognise the person on the CV. It's like that test I had to do for the Incap, where by the end of it I sounded like it would just be kinder to take me out back and shoot me. Except this time it's got things like "excellent interpersonal skills", "excellent customer service skills" and "works well on own initiative" (ok, that one sounds accurate).
We also went though some potential jobs that we'd picked out over the week that could be suitable for me. Right from the start it became clear that the "permitted work" hours just weren't going to happen; hardly any businesses want to employ someone who can only work a maximum of 15 hours a week, we had to face the prospect that I'm going to have to go into part-time work if I want to do this. Which might not be too bad, provided the hours aren't too long (20 hours per week seems to be about the norm so far).
I ended up applying for several jobs; a job working for customer enquiries for BT, a job working for customer enquiries for a "prestigious telecommunications company" (if it turns out to be NTHell I may have to have a moral debate with myself...) and a job as a charity worker of sorts, where my duties would be to ring up businesses and try to persuade them to support the charity with donations. (The charity is this one, if anyone is interested). This latter job ended up with me having something of an inpromptu telephone interview, getting asked what I knew of the charity, what I would like to get out of a job and, because I mentioned that I was trying to return to work after being on IB, what my disability was (which is a no-no, because you're not supposed to ask what a person's disability is because it can be seen as discrimination). That was mildly scary, but I bullshitted my way through it, and the guy said he'd send me an application form which I was to fill in and send back with my CV, and then we'd see how it went from there.
To be honest, I'm a bit worried about the apparent cold-calling aspect of this job, because I tend to get all sorts of tongue-tied on the phone sometimes (thank gods it didn't happen yesterday) which I'm pretty sure would get worse if I was cold-calling. At least the call centre jobs (yes, I know, shut up, we need the money) would have me receiving calls, which wouldn't be as bad.
But overall, my experiences with Maatwork are proving to be much better than I might have expected, and certainly more helpful and productive than the "Access to Employment" route I was trying which fell through. We'll see how things continue to go...
One of the problems I'd admitted to in the first meeting was that I had no idea how to write a good CV, since I came from the time of Records of Achievement which aren't used any more (and I don't think were ever used...). So she said she would write a CV for me, and when I turned up yesterday she had done just that.
I barely recognise the person on the CV. It's like that test I had to do for the Incap, where by the end of it I sounded like it would just be kinder to take me out back and shoot me. Except this time it's got things like "excellent interpersonal skills", "excellent customer service skills" and "works well on own initiative" (ok, that one sounds accurate).
We also went though some potential jobs that we'd picked out over the week that could be suitable for me. Right from the start it became clear that the "permitted work" hours just weren't going to happen; hardly any businesses want to employ someone who can only work a maximum of 15 hours a week, we had to face the prospect that I'm going to have to go into part-time work if I want to do this. Which might not be too bad, provided the hours aren't too long (20 hours per week seems to be about the norm so far).
I ended up applying for several jobs; a job working for customer enquiries for BT, a job working for customer enquiries for a "prestigious telecommunications company" (if it turns out to be NTHell I may have to have a moral debate with myself...) and a job as a charity worker of sorts, where my duties would be to ring up businesses and try to persuade them to support the charity with donations. (The charity is this one, if anyone is interested). This latter job ended up with me having something of an inpromptu telephone interview, getting asked what I knew of the charity, what I would like to get out of a job and, because I mentioned that I was trying to return to work after being on IB, what my disability was (which is a no-no, because you're not supposed to ask what a person's disability is because it can be seen as discrimination). That was mildly scary, but I bullshitted my way through it, and the guy said he'd send me an application form which I was to fill in and send back with my CV, and then we'd see how it went from there.
To be honest, I'm a bit worried about the apparent cold-calling aspect of this job, because I tend to get all sorts of tongue-tied on the phone sometimes (thank gods it didn't happen yesterday) which I'm pretty sure would get worse if I was cold-calling. At least the call centre jobs (yes, I know, shut up, we need the money) would have me receiving calls, which wouldn't be as bad.
But overall, my experiences with Maatwork are proving to be much better than I might have expected, and certainly more helpful and productive than the "Access to Employment" route I was trying which fell through. We'll see how things continue to go...