Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
Three and a half years ago I was abruptly fired from a job I had worked in for just short of a year. It was demanding and high-pressured, and I was proud of the work I had accomplished, but I accept that under my watch a deadline was missed.
The firing process was humiliating, leading me to avoid applying for jobs. After about six months I did get a job (the only one I got an interview for), which was lower in pay, skill level and away from the fashion industry I had previously spent seven years in. But it allowed me to remain financially independent.
I worked there for two years, choosing to leave in the hope of going back to the industry I loved.
Although my confidence has slowly increased, it continually takes a knock. Having spent more than three years out of the fashion industry, my skills and experience have been rendered irrelevant by recruiters. I have no problem with taking on lower-level roles and working my way back up, but it seems to receive responses such as “weird” and “why?” considering my previous managerial position.
I am too old for graduate schemes and cannot apply for internships for the same reason. I have also sought help from a career adviser, and my CV was reorganised to no increased success.
I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I may no longer have a career in the industry after exhausting contacts, but I don’t know what roles to apply for to be taken as a serious candidate. I don’t know where I can go from this.
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
