Hi the job market is really quiet at the moment due to the holiday season and have had not much luck so I gotta sit tight now and wait until the end of december. We had a film crew from london over here for a Japanese documentary on the credit crunch which was quite fun but it brings thoughts back of the problems I face in the next few weeks.

My focus is on enjoying christmas with my family so Merry Christmas to you all.

Just uploaded my CV

The formatting isn't brilliant I could not upload a PDF with google's Blogger so it has to be like this for now. Thanks

No luck yet...

Well another day and I have applied for 2 new jobs which takes the total to 19, but still no luck yet the last two agency's told me they have been saturated with applicants and it must be a great time to be an employment agency.

I seem to be having more interest with media company's which is keeping me busy it's a shame they don't pay me! I just had an email from a Japanese production company doing a story on the credit crunch which should be fun!

I'm thinking of posting an edited version of my CV on this site i might sort it out tonight but I need to remove all the personal information. My BBC radio broadcast goes on air tomorrow morning so I hope for more readers tomorrow.

Hi the beginning of the week again and I have applied for 2 jobs today but hope to get some more progress tomorrow as I need to go down and sign on. Lewis has been quite ill over the weekend and I have been trying to nurse him back to health while my wife has been busy working.

A BBC radio wales reporter spent the day with us recording a story which will go out on Wednesday morning highlighting our predicament. Thanks again Kayley for your visit.

I also had a phone call from the BBC News team and he has some nice proposals and if I am still out of work by the end of January (Hope not!) I would be very interested in his ideas.

I will post a new entry when I get home from the Job Centre tomorrow morning as it is my 1st sign on day.

Thanks for reading...

The JobCentre

Well I have just had the lowdown off the Job Centre. They will give me £60 per week and will help me on my mortgage in 36 weeks! I somehow don't think I will have a house in 36 weeks and i think that rule is very convenient to make sure no payment help is provided to anyone without payment protection.

Never mind it's what I expected them to say. The gov have no real interest in helping people who have always paid their taxes and never broke the law.

Hopefully adecco will phone in the morning with a new interview for me and I can make some progress.

Well had my interview and was unsuccessful, which is a bit of a letdown but I have got another soon from adecco they will contact me about it tomorrow. So to cheer me up I went on the JC website and found another 3 vacancy's to apply for. That takes the total up to 17 applications, with 2 interviews gained.

You can see that realistically if you want a job you need to apply for between 8 and 10 to get 1 interview.

Never mind just keep going I'll have a few cans tonite and chill out a bit

Bye

I had a comment from someone on my previous entry to put my CV on my blog. This can be done as long as you remove certain elements from the CV such as personal details or address etc. There is a danger of someone using the information to build up a list which they could use to clone your identity. I strongly advise also never to put your National Insurance number on any CV. You may find yourself sending out 20 or 30 CV's and you really don't know who will be reading them.

If anyone wants to email me they can at geraint.r.williams@googlemail.com

Thanks

Well tomorrow I got my first interview which is great and I feel so much better as I am now making some sort of progress. The major problem I found so far with being out of work is the slow process of waiting. Sure I always can find things to do to pass the time but I'm used to having a fixed routine.

Tomorrow I will do my research on the interview but wish me luck please!

I must thank the BBC they love phoning me it's great to be on the Wales news site!

I enjoyed my chat with BBC Radio Wales this morning if a bit nerve racking! It also was good for me as I feel more focused when I have to get up early in the morning (I'm not a morning person). My interview is available on BBC Iplayer and was broadcast live at 8.50. The producers and Bethan were very welcoming.

Hi I had some good news today, I have an interview with a firm in Port Talbot so at least one of my applications has come back positive, and the agency has told me that they need someone soon. Fingers crossed!

I'm waiting to be rescheduled with the J Centre so maybe tomorrow I will see them, hopefully I will not need to claim much now but I don't want to get too exited.

Thanks for reading!

The day before...

Hi just got to the end of a long day, Lewis is chillin' out on the sofa and I just decided to have a little write on my blog.

Tomorrow I will be off early to Swansea for an interview with BBC Radio Wales to chat about my predicament. I hope to give listeners an insight into how my personal experiences have been during the last few days, but hope they will take an interest in my quest however it turns out good or bad.

I hope for my sake and my family's that I will soon find a job and all will be well in the Williams house. However I cannot escape the thought that I will not find work and I will struggle.

Gordon Brown won't have to worry about his mortgage payments, or even the food on his table.

Well it's the end of the week and I only managed 2 more applications today and have probably exhausted all the vacancy's which match my skills. I need to think of applying for more basic jobs next week after my visit to the job centre on Monday.

It will be interesting to see what help if any they will offer me as I have a mortgage. I am no way near an expert on the benefits system so I look forward to see the results of the interview.

I have until the 9th December to find new employment otherwise I will be officially unemployed as my notice period runs out.

Ok i'm off to give my son a bath bye

Well what a day i have had so far. I have applied for 5 jobs today which gives me a total of ten to date from crunch day.

I contacted my mortgage company and they have told me that there is no help for me and I must make the next payment or i will fall into arrears. Just what I expected to hear.

Gordon Brown may have his fancy speeches but the actual reality of the matter takes time and I have low expectations on if his latest move will help.

Even the 2% interest rate that was announced today will take forever to get to the customers of the ivory tower banks, who have dropped my mortgage payment by £28, hardly a big impact!

I have to look at the facts:

I have a mortgage, a 3yr old son, 2 cats and 2 goldfish.

Oh i nearly forgot about the wife(only joking) she earns our food, fuel, council tax and disposable money working part time in a restaurant. I feel for her more than me as she has been now pushed forward as the sole breadwinner of the household.

The gov has detailed plans to help people like me but I hope it is not all words and there is substance to their offers.

Never mind let's not get too down I have applied for 6 jobs today and have 2 more so for for thursday. My sis has edited my CV and that sould help so I will keep u posted every day.

My mission - to get a job as quickly as possible

The Beginning of the Crunch...

As I am writing this entry which is my first, my son of 3 years is sitting opposite me eating toast and watching his fave film Monsters Inc on a portable DVD player. The crunch however is not from the late snack that he has requested but from the inevitable crunch which has ended my employment.

Maybe we should start at the beginning.

I have been in work for about 16 years now without much interruption, apart from 3 years ago when I was made redundant from a Sony job. I decided to take 6 months off working to help my wife bring my son into the world which was an amazing time, but I eventually had to return to some employment as money was running out...

So I got a job with Bosch making alternators which was a average job but the money was good so I thought things were looking up.

As the global markets started to slow down, borrowing ended and the economy slumped I started to think of the future as Bosch looked shaky - so i found another job with a company called pure wafer...

The day I resigned from Bosch they announced a major downturn in production and I felt that I had made the right decision and moved on.

After a couple of months of my new job things looked worrying but I pressed on applying for a Team leader job as confidence grew with my new employer and things looked rosy

Yesterday they decided to remove all probation permanent employees (including me) from their factory.