against the nearest wall!!!!!  I have been applying for work for over 6 weeks now and still haven't had one single positive reply, never mind an interview.  My bank balance shows a £830 overdraft, I have a 2.5k bank loan, I have sod all money to play with, my bikes are in a container, can't afford to get any of them out to ride, the container needs its rent paid.  I know its not much by most peoples standard of debt but to me its a curse.  I've never been in so much financial trouble before.  Life don't talk to me about life 

Sorry rant over, I know loads of people are in a much worse situation, but sorry they aren't me, I can only worry about myself at the moment.

Wheres the whiskey bottle? 
                                                                                                                                                                             

Keep trying DG ,i had that 12mths ago ,av you tryed agencys, moneys crap,but can lead to something positive and pays bills ,and kept me out of debt till i got something better.                                                                                                                                                                             

Nope haven't tried agencies yet, I guess thats next on my list, I was trying to avoid them but it looks like thats the way to go, I just need some wonga.  I can't believe the palava you have to go through just to get even a crappy job nowadays.  Psychometric tests to be a shop assistant?????  The worlds gone mad I tell you                                                                                                                                                                               

DG i know it sounds daft and a wee bit weird but i have this strange outlook on life ............. if i wake up in the morning and i am breathing and can get out of bed its a frickin excellent day, anything else is a bonus :0

Finding a job is 1 of the most stressful things you will ever do in life, but have faith it will get better xxxxxxxxxxx

Since I had my heart attack, every day is a bonus :)  But getting some paid work would be nice too lolol :D

Ok back to the grind, thanks for your comments guys :)
                                                                                                                                                                             

I've been out of work since october DG. If there's two groups of people who'll be on my list come the revolution it'll be job Agencies and Human f#c*in resources. I'm sure there'll be 1 or 2 creepin about on here that'll tell you that they get so many applications that they can't reply. How hard is sending out e-mails. not like they've got to write letters. There's gonna be some changes when i'm in charge believe me.   I know it's hard. I never felt so lonely sometimes even when you have a lot of well thinking freinds. All you can do is carry on as there is no option.   Best of luck.                                                                                                                                                                              

Looks like you will have to go down the 'rip off' agency route.   The days are long gone where there was any worker protection (thanks to ALL our previous governments over the last 25 years!)   Work through the agencies and firms can hire and fire workers to their hearts content, without having to take on permanent staff paying holiday and sick pay etc.   But Life has improved overall (Sic!)                                                                                                                                                                              

Cheers mate, I know exactly what you mean about not replying, you are so right, how hard is it to reply to a mail.  Crikey theres a job opportunity for someone in that company straight away, if they haven't the time to reply, get someone in to do that!!!!!  Its so frustrating, plus I think this is a new thing, it wasn't that long ago when every mail I sent off I got an answer too, even if I hadn't got the job.  Common courtesy seems to be lacking in all waya and walks of life.  Time for good old fashioned politeness to rear its head again methinks.  After all its my human rights being infringed 

Best of luck to you too feller
                                                                                                                                                                             

Its looking that way Rattay, I suppose I'll do the town on Friday and get around as many as I can.  Joy oh joy                                                                                                                                                                               

Soz to hear that DG, but you're welcome to get it off your chest on here - what are friends for   Hope you find something soon x                                                                                                                                                                             

Thanks SL, just got to keep the momentum up, thats the hard bit, enthusiasm is waning just a bit.                                                                                                                                                                              

DG i've taken on two permanent site workers in the past month and i've taken them on because they've walked in off the street with a good CV in hand and it's obvious they are really making a genuine effort by pounding the streets. I did the same last year and thy're still with us doing a great job.

The endless list of job apps arriving on my desk everyday head straight for the file marked 'bin'. I don't have time to be courteous by sending out replies otherwise I'll have to take someone else on to do my job while I play secretary.

People who stand in the streets with sandwich boards asking for work always find a job, people who sit at home and wait for employers to contact them are best investing in a new easy chair as they're going to be there for a very long time in these hard times!

I used to be a recruitment consultant and found it much easier to 'sell' candidates who put in the extra mile to get a job.

Just bear in mind that in these hard times employers have even less time to sift through the crap so anything you do to 'stand out' will greatly increase your chances of finding a job 

                                                                                                                                                                             

hi I don't know if this will help at all but have u registered on total jobs.com and monster. com and also check out the job center plus web site.  i am in the same bout as some of peeps but i have had a few interviews.  hope it goes well for u if i think of anything else will let you know. and good luck x                                                                                                                                                                               

A couple of usefull tips....hope they help.   Re- debts Without delay, contact the C.A.B. and dependant upon the amount of debt, they are able to speak to creditors and negociate for a hold to be put on payments.   Re- CV on jobs sites If you do have your CV on a job site, ensure that your CV contains relevant job related words as it is my understanding that CV are scanned for them.  Also, it is a good idea to perhaps once a week, make a slight change to your CV, again it is my understanding that recruitors scan for the latest CV's and if you make a slight amendment to yours, then it goes back up to the top of the pile.                                                                                                                                                                             

DG, one bit of advice I'd give you is not to simply email people.

I've had so many emails asking for a job that doesn't exist that I don't even read half of them anymore.

I'm with Terry on this one, those people that show more drive are the ones who are going to succeed during these times.

So anyone looking for a job, I'd suggest that instead of simply firing off emails with CVs attached, follow them up with a phone call and talk people into an interview.  Most people are quieter than they were a couple of years ago and as such often welcome spending half an hour for a quick chat.

Also in interviews, turning things on the interviewers always looks good.  Those that ask me about my company are always more interesting to those that simply sit there and answer questions.  In fact with the latter I am normally drafting their "Sorry but" letter about five minutes after they've left.

So ring people up.  Speak to them politely and respectfully, but casually as well and suggest you bob into their office for a brief chat.  Granted, it may not get you a job, because frankly there aren't that many out there, but it will get you remembered and that could be very important once a vacancy comes up.

But don't bother ringing me up as there's no jobs here lol!  Unless of course you happen to be a highly experienced traffic or highway engineer with a huge list of clients that I can use!!!                                                                                                                                                                              

If you can find out who the job is actually for geoff that's fine but most jobs are advertised through agencies so the only way to find out is to phone them and they don't like telling you or they're not interested. You also find that searches just keep bringing up the same few jobs with different agencies. It's better to keep browsing as many company sites in your skill sector as possible rather than agencies. You also get to study the company before an interview. companies are usually impressed that you know something of their background and the sector they do business in.                                                                                                                                                                             

Thanks guys, all relevant and great tips for me and any others who are out there looking for work.

My major problem is that unfortunately I have done an awful lot of jobs over my 35 years of employment, I don't have a checkable work history as I have worked for myself, worked for companies that have disappeared without trace, been self employed and last but not least I have a terrible memory for dates.  I have managed to sort out the history for the last ten years but again 3 years of my own business, 2 more with a company that has gone to the wall. Nearly 18 months without working, a year at college and 6 months off, some recuperation time from my heart attack, and time spent on the rock and roll.

I'm pretty good at talking to people, but since I lost some of my front teeth in a wheelchair rugby incident I've lost confidence in face to face conversations.  That might be sorted this week but it has stopped me just barreling in from the street, which is how I have always found work.

Also I can't do a lot of the things I used to be able to do since my heart attack, no lifting heavy weights any more, I can't walk as well as I used to.  I have some relevant industry IT certificates but no experience to back them up.  I've been trying to find work in that field but that seems to be a no go situation. 

I have put everyones ideas in one place for myself and I thankyou all for your time and trouble in replying to my thread.

Cheers guys
                                                                                                                                                                             

Know what you mean about firms going to the wall.   I've worked in engineering all my life and most of the companies have sinced seized trading as it was easier for multinational companies to pull out of the UK because our government would not sign up to EC workers protection laws. They did this for short term profit reasons. It meant companies would come to the UK to start engineering companies up, knowing when the sh*t hit the fan they could leave, paying much less redundancy payments than for instance if they opened factories in Germany, France or Ireland. I worked for 12 years for an American company in the UK and when they decided to downsize, it cost them £5000000 to close our factory in redundancy payments, using our lax laws for their benefit . Our Irish sister firm that had signed up to full EC Employment protection law would have cost the US company £13000000 redundancy pay to close them.   At the time our site was in profit and the Irish site was in loss. Guess which site they closed and transferred the work to? I was a 3rd generation family member at the factory that had been trading for 70 years.                                                                                                                                                                             

stay posative DG keep proative  one will come soon enough ! wot about doing some volantry ( cant spell that one ) work gets you out keeps you motivated and learn new skills plus its a good thing to have on cv      what ever you do mate good luck with it  im self employed and it real slow every job is like an interview at moment so feel for you  !                                                                                                                                                                              

Thanks guys, Wheely my CV is busy enough lol.  Luckily I have only been out of college for 7 weeks so it doesn't look too bad at the moment.  But voluntary work is an option, I really need some cash though.

Rattay, I know where your coming from, I have been a welder/fabricator for a lot of my working life.  Lots of the companies I have worked for no longer exist.  They were small firms that went to the wall quite quickly.  I have no paper work for my welding but can mig, tig, gas etc.  But most companies nowadays, if you can find one hiring want paperwork.  Plus I'm not supposed to go back to that sort of work, heavy lifting is out of the equation.

Don't worry guys I only had a slight wobble this morning, I guess I was just so fed up with nothing happening and my problems mounting up.  On my second wind now