My hubbys been self employed for the last 13 years/ house husband. Hes supported me through the last four years through uni and landing my dream job!! Now hes desperate to find a full time job but doesnt even get offered an interview. The electronics factorys he used to work in have all closed down so its impossible to get a reference. I'm so desperate to help him. He'd love to work for a car dealership but how???Hes bought and sold the odd cas and is fantastic at selling them (cos hes honest with people)........ surely mid forties isn't too old. Any tips or advice would be fab.
It's hard to get jobs when you're out of work. Whenever I've been in work I've found it pretty easy to get other job offers, but after I was made redundant at 50 no-one seemed interested. In the end I joined an agency and took whatever they offered, and then after a while the people I was working for (via the agency) wanted to employ me directly.
So my advice is that it can be worth taking anything, just to get into the workplace environment again, then look around.
In the meantime why not continue with his buying and selling? His reputation seems to have already served him well, so continuing to deal via Ebay (or whatever) might continue to put cash in the bank. If he has skills in electronics them maybe a general 'fix-it' service might work as well. Doing these kind of things can seem a trickle at first but it might prove a surprising success, at a time when you both need some cash and his self-esteem needs reaffirming.