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Job search desperation

A Fin24 user has sent in the following letter in response to the article Job search a struggle for unemployed:

Morning

I refer to your article which I read on News24 today.

My husband is a 56-year-old white male who was retrenched in November 2011 after 36 years' employment, firstly with Telkom and then a bank whose IT/telephony side of the business was outsourced.

He has tertiary qualifications as well as years of experience.

He has tried to find employment through various methods:

• Scouring the internet and submitting CVs – in 95% of cases, the people on the receiving end don’t even have the courtesy of acknowledging they have received the CV.
• Through the social network LinkedIn – he managed to get a job but the company was sold in three months, and the new owners thought he wouldn’t be happy reporting to a 30-year-old.
• Setting up appointments with various personnel agents and registering with them – not one has come back with any interviews after the initial visit; in fact, they show a complete lack of interest.
• Sending a copy of his CV to friends and family with no luck.
• Sending copies directly to companies which have vacancies – they either don’t get back to you or tell you that you’re over-qualified.
• Registering with companies like Telkom which have vacancies – they don’t get back to you.

Within our small circle of friends we have eight friends, both male and female, between 35 and 56 years of age and all are having difficulty finding employment – they have all had similar experiences with looking for work using the methods I have mentioned above, and all are white.

We are loath to start something up on our own as we don’t want to risk losing all our retirement savings at this late stage in our lives.

As a final resort he is going to work for an estate agent (without receiving an income), write the required exams and hope that he can make some sales in order to get commission. Until then, all his work-related expenses are for our account.

This has been an eye-opener for both of us. Fortunately although retired, I am still gainfully employed and able to keep the home fires burning.

Kind regards

 -Fin24

*Have you been struggling to find work? Tell us your story and get published.
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