been forced to look for voluntary work

[Madamfluff]

just got back from joke center.where i was told to start looking for charity work ,i did the mandatory 4 weeks work trial a few month back now she says i need more recent experience on my cv . even though i have a 35 year reocord of working. im nearly 60. i told her i think its my age why im getting no interviews ,she said its nothing to do with my age being nearly 60. what will happen if i dont get a voluntary job ,why should i be forced in to it at my age.

 

 

I am the same age as you (60 next week) and I have worked for 44 years

 

 

The JC advice to cull a few years from your cv is actually a sound one, in 2000 my Husband then aged 51 was made redundant and as part of his package his employer sent him to a company that specialised in helping older people find work, as well as changing the layout of his cv one of the first things they advised him to do was to remove some of his earlier work record, and it worked he got a job within a couple of months. I myself have done the same and have never had any comeback from an employer

 

 

You seem to think that just because you have worked for 35 years you should be given special treatment ( the old I have paid in and am entitled nonsense?) and that's an attitude I don't really understand after all I have worked far more years than you and should feel 'entitled' myself.

 

 

As for being angry that you are being 'forced' to volunteer at age early 60 again that's an attitude I don't understand, I had to take a year out mid 2013/2014 due to various reasons, during that time I volunteered in a Charity shop, last June when I was able to apply for jobs again, I applied for a full time paid Charity Shop Managers job, and got it based on the voluntary work I was doing, not bad going getting the first job I applied for at age 59 in an unemployment black spot.

 

 

If you at the age of nearly 60 applied for a volunteer role in my shop you would in fact be my YOUNGEST volunteer, even my 66 year old Husband who himself worked for 45 years does 3 days, the rest are 65 plus my oldest volunteer is 84.

 

 

You really are going to have to do something soon as you will still have 6/7 years before you get your pension

[Madamfluff]

I think it is the being forced rather than the actual volunteering that is the real issue. Being required to take up an unpaid role under the threat of sanction is not volunteering ! If it displaces a paid worker in the process, then there is something fundamentally wrong in the role, the business providing the "opportunity", and the outfit arranging the provision.

 

I've done voluntary stuff, things that held an interest and provided a challenge, but there was no "requirement" nor threat of sanction.

 

 

I suppose its my attitude but I really cant see why people like the OP who obviously needs more recent experience is not prepared to do anything about it until they are 'forced to'.

 

 

I don't agree with CWP in charity shops and my charity does not use them, however I would do my best to help any volunteer of working age to get a job, including providing references or a set of interview clothes completely free from my shop.