Post #111 - The Times They Are A Changin' ...

Sang Robert Zimmerman back in the 1960s. My time is changing too and finally I'm finding my feet. I have made the decision to let my main Facebook account go dormant and use my other one instead because it only contains two people who currently work in the civil service on my list of friends. Why? Well, simply because my life is moving on.

*Update*

On New Year's Eve 2018 I started the deletion process for my main Facebook account (after transferring all of the pictures across to my laptop first!)  It wasn't an easy decision to make, but hey - I'm no longer a civil servant and really want to make the break from former colleagues. 

Post #75: Resources Plus Covering Letter

This is a redacted version of the covering letter I sent to my contact in Resources Plus (a council-funded scheme to get people off of the unemployment statistics/find new jobs etc ...)

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Hi [Name]

It was great to meet you last Tuesday and thank you for providing an overview of the work of Resources Plus.  As requested, I attach a copy of my CV, which, quite frankly is geared towards my previous career as a civil servant.  I'll flesh out the details a little more on xxxx, but basically, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome last year following years of issues at work and in my personal life.  The knowledge that I do have the condition and how it limits everything has made it almost impossible for me to seek a suitable role.  I took voluntary redundancy in April after twenty-one years of working in the public sector - the highest grade I achieved was Higher/Senior Executive Officer.

I have attempted to obtain public service Agency Work, via Brook Street back in August and more recently, Adecco.  Brook Street put an awful lot of pressure on me to accept a totally unsuitable role, which included working in awful conditions with xxxxxxxxxxx.  I quit after seven days.  I'd ideally like to work part-time and flexibly, but no employer seems to be able to facilitate that.  Although I registered with Adecco back in September, I never heard back from them, despite their hollow promise that 'I had been fast tracked to the top of their temp list ...'

With all of this behind me, it's clear to me why I'm so disillusioned.  Also, any paid employment I obtain could affect the level of Disability Living Allowance I obtain on behalf of my son, who has Autism and ADHD.  In addition, my husband is a secondary carer for his Mother, who has dementia and lives in a residential home, and his Brother, who has profound learning difficulties, who resides in a different one.  This is the main reason why we both left successful careers in the Civil Service.  

All the best

Faspie

Post #50 - Future Plans and Creative Writing

In regard to future plans, well, I logged onto an employment agency's website and saw that there were quite a few Civil Service posts available.  Great, that gives me quite a lot of hope of a return as a temporary worker in the autumn.  I don't think that being out of work really suits me, after all, I had been in paid employment since I was nineteen.

Yesterday I attended an 'Autobiography Into Fiction' course at the City Lit, which is an arts college located in Covent Garden, central London.  It was quite a long day - 10:30 through to 17:30 to be exact, but it was packed full of interesting material.  The tutor's chosen written style and oeuvre wasn't to my particular taste, but you could tell that he clearly has talent.  I find it a really strange juxtaposition because the suburb I live in doesn't really have much of an intellectual population, but if I get on the train they'll be a room full of well-read people talking about Proust and Edward Hopper.  Even I'm not that cultured!