After six months of searching, seemingly unending applications and several interviews, I’ve finally got a job, and I started last week.

It was disheartening, my failure to find a job as the months went by. Both my girls got interviews for every job they applied for, and job offers for all of them. They both found work immediately. Why couldn’t prospective employers see what an asset I would be? My CV is impressive; my skills are wide-ranging. Why didn’t I at least get interviews for jobs I thought I’d be perfect for? The interviews I did get were for jobs I didn’t really want, or jobs I felt incredibly overqualified for. Yes, it got depressing.

It's always tempting to ask “Why?” Why don’t they want me? What did I get wrong in my application?” Am I too old? Am I over-qualified? Do they think that, after twenty years of self-employment, I wouldn’t be able to take directions from a manager?

It was hard to dismiss these questions with the answer that you just can’t know. None of the jobs had any recourse to feedback either – they all had notifications in the “Thanks but no thanks” emails that individual feedback could not be given.

The job I have is a supermarket job – not the first I applied for. Every supermarket has its own recruiting process – all very thorough in their own individual ways. When you see some people who are employed in supermarkets however, you do wonder.

I work four evenings a week in the “long-life chilled” section. I look after bacon, yogurts, cheese, cooked meats and so on. I feel that my job is important because I go through all the products checking that each item is in date and removing any that cannot be sold as they are out of date. Any short-dated items need a yellow “Reduced” sticker on them.

I take pride in the work. It’s hard work too, taking a lot of concentration. Nothing can be sold that is out of date, yet we want as few disposals as possible.

The irony is that I wanted a job where I could just turn up, do the work, go home and forget about it. I’ve found that impossible with this job. Last night, I couldn’t finish the yogurt aisle in the time available. I’ve asked if I can go in early today and finish it off. I keep thinking there are out of date items in the yoghurts, and that it is all my fault!

Yes, I’m taking pride in my work. I’m happy to have found employment and my family are very proud of me. I’m proud of me too. It’s good to be able to mark that Pride card in the test with a “Quite a bit” score.

Mary

A Moodscope member