oh, and if you play an instrument, now is a great time to learn some new songs. Your neighbours will be out, so you can turn it up to 11 😀

@ Lunge – my email address is in my profile. I don’t think there’s a private message function on STW so can’t contact you directly.

Are you on Linked In? A good Linked In profile can attract recruitment agencies.

Yup, started using Linkedin last November. Its good because you can actually see when recruiters / HR people have looked at your CV.

I used to run errands for the neighbours, friends just to fill the day. Collecting a large amount of veg/eggs from the local farms with a trailer used to keep the demons at bay. Job search 3 days a week and 2 days for errands and fitness.

if you can cope with working in Bolton email the Maxgear/ Velochampion people. I know they are recruiting. One role more finance (AAT level) the other sales/ marketing.

It’s a very good time for a speculative CV to them

I’ve now been out of work for nearly 8 months to the day now and the depression has started to set in.

Not sure if anyone else has said this (I’ve not read every response) but if you are concerned that you’re properly depressed then go and see your GP / doctor about it. If someone on this forum said that they were getting chest pains when they were out riding, or had found a funny lump somewhere on their body, I’d imagine most people would advise the same thing, but for some reason people feel like mental health issues are different. You might not feel like it’ll do any good, but if nothing else then at least it’s someone to keep an eye on your mood, to stick up for you, and just to provide a sympathetic ear to a fellow human who sounds like they’re struggling.

Also, I’d second what everyone said about getting out and doing regular exercise – running is pretty cheap, certainly cheaper than mountain biking – and trying to have some sort of regular social life. Other than that, good luck.

devash,

my sympathies, my next door neighbour a sashing guy similar age to me & a wel qualified accountant was made redundantm took some time out riding plenty but went into teaching assistant position & seems to like it but as many others have said structure & keep positive.

My wife is well into her first year doing a conversion degree in Law & loving it, more for the personal challenge rather than monetary gain.
She was thinking Oh I’ll be too old but she’s regularly being told she has life skills & transferrable skills from her other degree by some of the law firms, also doing lots of voluntary work within her course subject.

Me… finishing my last rotation 5 weeks offshore Oil & gas South America & I genuinely can’t wait to pack it in & call it a day & build my new bike.

I’m in a similar situation OP.

I’ve been out of work since Sep last year having lost my job in the Oil and Gas Industry in Aberdeen (along with thousands of others). I was made redundant from the Army in 2013 (after almost 16 years) and at the time a move to O and G in Aberdeen looked like a good move and a place to put down routes after 10 years of married life during which we moved every 2 years on postings.

Fast forward three years and with a plummeting oil price most / all companies are trying to cut costs and are slashing their workforces, so I’m out on my a**e again

We’ve just put our house on the market in order to try and move out of the area, possibly South to Dundee as thats where the inlaws are so we can benefit from family support as we have 2 kids (7 and 4) to think about too. Mrs B is looking to go back to primary teaching after a break of 8 years or so to raise our kids.

I have no idea what I want to do though, absolutely none whatsoever.

I know that working in the O and G industry was not my cup of tea. It took me to a very bad place mentally and towards the end of that chapter I was getting pretty bad chest pains. Got checked out at the doctor (as a result of a thread on here some time ago from someone who had a lucky escape when they too went to the docs as they didn’t feel quite right) but everything checked out OK.

As others have said routine is the key. I’ve been doing the weekly shop and taking the kids to their swimming lessons on a Monday and getting up early most mornings to trawl the job websites for jobs which might appeal. I’ve had one interview so far. I’ve also been doing a fair bit of running and also riding with a local group although both have taken a back seat while we have been working to get the house ready for sale.

On the plus side of spent a lot of quality time with Mrs B and the kids over the past 6 months and shared experiences which I would have missed completely were I still en route to an early grave working in Aberdeen.

Some great advice on this thread though – I’m going to look at my job search strategy and see what I can do differently.

beamers,

Good call getting out of Aberdeen I hated the place & the image it portrayed of money money flash cars and people with over inflated ego’s driven by high day rates, the oil companies push you wanting longer hours & it’s dog eat dog, th house prices drop all the young flash types cry wolf, I really hope you find something more to your liking & Mrs B gets into a new job too.

3 more weeks & I’m out of it, no more flying to the other side of the world, being away from family, missing out on important things that really matter, not forgetting dry dusty trails !!

An Oil & Gas veteran here too. The good thing is that after ten years it’s nice to be out of it. The down side is that I have no idea what to do now.

Beamers, i live in Dundee. Some pretty good riding around here. Drop me a line if you want a ride.

@yorkycsl – Thankfully we don’t live in Aberdeen, we are out in the sticks beyond Inverurie (just outside of Insch if you know it). Hopefully our house will appeal to someone who is wanting to move to the country rather than being close to Aberdeen. We have quite a bit of land with the house, certainly enough for someone who is looking for a place for horses, or even a bit of low level farming, so fingers crossed we might be able to sell. There certainly anywhere like our place on the market at the moment.

We went into Aberdeen for the Christmas market event and the atmosphere made my skin crawl.

@ BruceWee – what was your background in O and G? Mine was Training and Competence and I guess the common thread running through my Army career was also training. I don’t have any associated quals so I am stumped as to what to do next.

@ mactheknife – I’ll drop you a line to pick your brains about Dundee (riding / jobs / areas to live in and avoid) if thats OK?

Chin up.

To the OP, does your local uni have a temp agency, the only reason I ask is that ours does and it keeps my wife busy for decent periods at a time with work. It may also be a good way into a new job/department.

Alternatively, please re-train as a software tester, there is a massive shortage of good people.

Alternatively, please re-train as a software tester, there is a massive shortage of good people.

I didn’t even know that was a real thing, what kind of salary can it attract? I did used to beta test audio software but for my friends company so not ‘formal’, but I guess I know what the programmer needs to know from the testers

@ BruceWee – what was your background in O and G? Mine was Training and Competence and I guess the common thread running through my Army career was also training. I don’t have any associated quals so I am stumped as to what to do next.

I was on the drilling side of things doing MWD mostly although I worked for a couple of start up companies developing new technologies as well.

I’m actually in not bad shape financially because I assumed from the start there was going to be a big downturn and planned my lifestyle accordingly. That’s why I’m thinking about trying to get a job in a bike shop while I’m waiting for inspiration to strike.

if you want some advise from a professional

I’d suggest taking CV advice from a professional who can spell. (-:

To the OP, does your local uni have a temp agency, the only reason I ask is that ours does and it keeps my wife busy for decent periods at a time with work. It may also be a good way into a new job/department.

Alternatively, please re-train as a software tester, there is a massive shortage of good people.

I think it has but the jobs it gets tend to be seasonal work for students, not staff. I’m 33 this year so probably a bit old for what they offer.

the Bolton job opportunities are still out there for anyone interested

any construction supervisors fancy a job near Inverness for a month or two need to register with Rullion ASAP as a job is going there for a few weeks with potential to move to another job in East Lothian, Blue Chip company

no I’m not on commission, yes there are real jobs

Does anyone have any advice for creating a CV to move from quite a narrow field to a more general approach.

Have tailored experience to be applicable to other fields and removed any jargon but it does seem to be a bit lacking in bite.

Hobster – you need to focus on skills. look through your cv and past jobs and think about personal skills, eg organised, good with people, motivated, creative, self starter, numerate, sales ? etc

Many thanks.

Think I’m on the right lines but sometimes additional perspective helps.

Hobster – it’s referred to as a “functional CV”. You should be able to find something by searching that phrase.
I’m supposed to be writing one now. Which is why I’m on STW. 😥

I helped a completely unqualified mate rewrite his CV based on the skills he’d picked up over 15 years without having a job for more than 3 years. (Not cos there was anything wrong with him, he just moved around lots). He got desperate after 2+ years unemployed. Leaving school at 16 isn’t the best of starts.

Amazing what skills you actually pick up just doing stuff.

He got a job assembling prototype/development multi axis industrial handling robots.

That was 2 years ago.

He’s now moved through the assembling bit to develop, test, calibrate and teach. And got promoted to workshop lead technician just after Christmas.

Still got no paper qualifications for the job he’s doing.

Thanks Dez. Thats a great help.

I’ve attended various workshops and presentations on job hunting, CVs etc recently, as redundancy is looming. The advice I’ve been given is to tailor your CV to each job you apply for. If you make your CV or LinkedIn profile too general, potential recruiters or employers may not be clear on what you’re looking for. Obviously, promote your transferable skills and back them up with evidence but still tweak your CV for each job you apply for.

Are you on Linked In? A good Linked In profile can attract recruitment agencies.

You’re not kidding, I’m getting spammed to death by the shitehawks.

That and people wanting to sell me things. Had one the other day who persistently sent me “we’re a cloud provider” emails. I eventually replied saying “so are we, would you like me to hook you up with Sales?” and haven’t heard from him since.