Applying for the all important job

On 14th May 2019 By laurenharding4926Leave a comment

From the beginning of January I was applying for jobs here, there and everywhere. I was getting considerably worried as I was running out of time to make the £17,000 I required to pay off the car.

Searching for jobs is easy, applying for jobs required a few alterations and hearing back from perspective employers is just painful.

I don’t even know how many job applications I sent in the end, but it must have been somewhere from 35 upwards. Some jobs I thought would be perfect and that I’d have a really good chance at getting. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear back from any of those.

Photo by Christa Dodoo on Unsplash

I was definitely getting worried as it got into March and I still hadn’t got a job. I started to feel quite down as I was watching my trip slide into the abyss… along with my CVs.

A higher paid and/or second job is crucial to the cause for getting to travel when I plan. Leaving in May is ideal, so I can spend Christmas at home in my middle six months where I’ll be back. Normally, Christmas is just myself and my mum, so arriving back in or before December is pretty important for Mum to not spend Christmas on her own. Plus, it’s nice to spend Christmas, of all times, with family when you’re lucky enough to have that option isn’t it. Ideally, I need at least a whole year to save and to make money.

Additionally, I’m getting older now, so I don’t want to delay the trip. My mind is set to going May 2020 (I’ll be 30 then) and that’s really my perfect time. I can truly start my thirties in a special way.

Requirements

New and higher paid full-time job	A new job where the pay is high or there is the possibility to earn a lot.
Second full-time job	A second job that isn’t too manual so I can save energy. This is tricky with most night jobs being warehouse or carer based. I’m not afraid of hard work, but as I’ll be getting less sleep, I’d like to conserve energy. Receptionist or administration type roles would be ideal.
Part-time job	Part-time roles are easy enough to find, but they’ll barely put a dent into the funds required for paying off the car and getting to travel.

The Search

Searching for jobs was easy. I used Indeed.co.uk as my primary search site. The search terms I was entering were either ‘Sales’ or ‘Night shift’.

If I were to find a sales role, I would need both good commission based earning potential and a good base salary to make sure I know what is coming home at the end of each month at the very least. I’m looking for £20,000 a month minimum, I’m currently on £22,000 and I know on £20,000 I can keep to the monthly payments on the car and some savings. I have confidence in my selling ability, but I like to have that safety net.

The most realistic option is to get a second full-time job. Yes, this would be tough physically and mentally, but knowing this won’t be forever and with the goal in mind, I believe I can conquer this challenge.

For part-time roles (evenings and weekends), a pub or nightclub would suit. Ideally a pub, so I know closing times won’t be too late.

Applications

The application process has been long. I have generic versions of my CV, but for certain roles I have had to significantly alter it. In most cases I specifically target my CV to that company/role. This means that in some cases I have removed my degree and have just added my GCSE grades. Other times I will only include my A-levels. I also apply directly onto the company’s website where possible, rather than using Indeed’s submission feature as I feel my CVs don’t always make it through.

So far I have applied for one Sales job where I never heard back, I applied for a full-time night shift job that I thought would be perfect, but unfortunately they didn’t, I didn’t even get an interview, I applied for and was offered a Sales job with horrendous basic and the chance that commission wasn’t always paid and have applied for multiple call centre/administration roles without hearing anything back.

A second full-time job is what I really am after, but there’s not a lot. A second full-time job would be a source of secure money and that’s all I need to pay for the car and to make savings for travel. Ideally, a shift role where the pattern is 4 on 4 off would suit so that I could still sometimes have weekends free to see friends and/or catch-up on things.

My job search has been so large that it has been a struggle to focus on one area. I’m looking for ‘Night Shift’, ‘Sales’ and everywhere wants experience.

My plan now is to just apply, apply, apply. I wasn’t doing this previously because I wanted to track my applications without getting lost, but I’m just not hearing back from anywhere. So it is time for mass application. It is incredibly disheartening to not hear back from people, it would be good to know why I am not suitable for roles as I feel I am very well qualified for a lot of what I have applied such as the call centres.

Additionally, I have been submitting my CVs in Word format rather than PDF, which since using this format, I have found to be providing me with responses.

Interviews

At the beginning of February I went for an interview for a car sales position. The interview went well and I could have easily done the job, but commission isn’t made through the sale of the car, it’s through the sale of extended warranty, paint/upholstery protection, but worst of all, finance. I didn’t feel right about having to push people into financing a vehicle. They liked the fact I hadn’t worked in a sales role before and could mould me into the sales person for which they’re looking.

And I’ve had one more and this is the reason it has taken so long for me to publish a post again. I have been successful in getting my second job! I have being working this since the 11^thMarch. However, there have been hardships with this role and I am trying to find another second job. But I will save that for a later post.

The Plan: Funding the trip

On 1st Feb 201925th Feb 2019 By laurenharding4926Leave a comment

Welcome back!

So, here it is, my planning stage: Money!

I’ve had so many thoughts flying around my head about what I can do and I have read so many suggestions online.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have to pay for the car. I pay £270 a month and I have 17 more payments to make, after that I have a final amount of £11,000 to pay. My intention when first getting the car was to take a loan out for the final sum. However, I don’t know for how long I could be gone and additionally, upon my return I don’t know if I will get a job that pays well enough to secure a loan. Ideally, I’ll try to pay-off the car, so I need about £17,000… easy right.

Identifying the problem

Money is my big issue.

I seem to struggle with saving
I just need more of it

I am now going to keep an eye on my spending and set myself limits.

I will still enjoy life, but I need to get passed my FOMO (fear of missing out) and say ‘no’ to going out when I’ve hit a set spend limit.

I have set-up a spreadsheet with all of my spending. Mandatory payments, such as the car loan, phone plan, rent, car tax/insurance, fuel and contact lens plan, have been highlighted. I now literally input EVERYTHING!

Spending problem	Spending solution
I go to the supermarket each Monday on my lunch break I spend more than I need, plus I have food waste at the end of the week.	Buy the bread and filling in the home food shop, pre-make the sandwiches and freeze them… Nothing going to waste.
I can see that I spend a lot on eating out. I find that I’ll often treat friends to drinks/food, but don’t get it in return, so I end up spending a lot.	As much as I like to treat other people, all of my friends earn more than me, so I don’t need to do it. I need to think before I offer.
Buying clothes. My ex used to say my clothes were frumpy a lot and that has stuck with me, so I try to keep to the latest trend.	Only buy clothes when I get vouchers or buy one piece of clothing a month at most.
Spending too much money on fun/entertainment.	Setting a £50 spend limit p/m (e.g. cinema, nights out, dinner etc.).

Post tax, NI, and student loan, I’m paid £1,400 a month (net). So my plan is to cut a lot and if I can, try to only spend £500-£600 a month.

Improving my income.

Job wise, I’ve put in some serious thought.

Sales job:

Getting a sales job and working hard to make commission could heavily support the saving for the trip. Sales is not my thing and I know I would hate it, but it’s something I can so. As I like and have knowledge about cars, this would be the sales job where I think I would have the most success. I’m looking for a role where I could earn at least £30-£35K a year.

Second full-time job:

This would be a crazy one, but would give me a high secure earning potential. It wouldn’t be permanent and at most a year to a year and a half. The second job alone would help me to pay off the car, with some money for savings left over. That would then free-up money from my other full-time job to save, save, save! This would be gruelling and I might not be able to sustain it for as long as I hope.

Part-time job:

The part-time job would boost the savings, not as much as another full-time job, but that might not be something I can handle. A part-time job would have to happen for whatever outcome if I don’t have the two full-time jobs.

Saving

A suggestion for saving I read on a Facebook travel group was to do the ‘1, 2, 3…’. This is where each week of the year money is saved.

Week 1 = £1

Week 2 = £2

Week 3 = £3

…And so on…

Week 52 = £52

This should give me a saving of £1,378 without really trying.

Another suggestion I read online is to transfer my monthly pay out of my account and only leave what I want to spend for the month. I’m thinking of spending £500-£600 a month (including mandatory payments), so I’m going to transfer £900 out and hope it can last.

I am also going to trawl through the house to find anything that I can sell. Unfortunately, my dad passed away in 2015, but my mum has been kind enough to give me his old motorcycle clothing to sell towards funding the trip.

I’m somewhat a hoarder and always keep things in case they are useful in the future, these are things I can sell.

I am an open book, so if there’s any information that I haven’t included and you would like to know, please contact me and I will update the post. Additionally, if you have any advice or suggestions then they are also very welcome.

It’s hard to find posts where you can gather information to compare. Lots of posts give you advice about how they saved for travelling, which is great, but it’s hard to apply it personally when you don’t have much other information from behind the scenes. While I am here to tell my story, if I can help anyone else in the same position throughout this process then that is a bonus.

The Journey Begins

On 4th Jan 201921st Jan 2019 By laurenharding4926Leave a comment

Thanks for joining me!

So here’s the background story as to how I got here:

Hi! I’m Lauren, I’m 29 and I am making it my mission to go travelling for 6 months to a year. I’ve always loved holidays and travel, but these have mostly been family holidays. After university I really wanted to go travelling and explore our world, but unfortunately none of my friends had caught the travel bug and at the time I wasn’t confident to go on my own… neither did I have the funds. I decided to just get a job in marketing, which I am still in and a few years later my dream car was released and I had to have it. For those that know cars, this was the mk3 Ford Focus RS. So, I was happy, I had my dream car, I was making loads of new friends through it and life was good. Six months later I met the love of my life, who had the same car as me! We had the most amazing connection and… he wanted to travel! And so my love for travel ignited again. We got planning what was going to be our first, but epic trip, which was to be an American road trip. We were bursting with excitement, but knew this would be expensive. At the same time we were discussing future travel plans for after we completed the road trip. We were going to go to Vietnam next and the big one would be to save enough to quit our jobs and go travelling. As you can probably guess from the past tense… we didn’t work out. The pressures of saving for the road trip got too much because we sacrificed too much as a couple. Anyway, I got dumped. I decided to work on me and during that time I decided that I would go to Bali through Gap 360 and do their 12 day intro tour (end of May 2019 I’ll be going). When my ex and I met up for one final time we discussed our future plans, I felt good that I had Bali to say about. Well, my ex well and truly trumped me when he said that in February 2020 he is going to be quitting his job and is going to go travelling with his friend. This killed me, he’s going to be living the dream we had, while I’m still stuck working the 9-5. This triggered something in me. I decided this is it, I’m going to make it my aim to go, get out and live the dream that I have spent years procrastinating about. Time to take action! I don’t want to get years down the line wishing I had gone travelling… The age old saying ‘regret the things you do, not the things you don’t do’.

I have a few of challenges in my way and are the major parts of my plan to achieve my travels:

One – I have to pay for the car. Now, potentially selling the car is an option, but it really is the last option for me as I will come back from travelling and I really want to come back to that car I love so much. For those that don’t understand the not wanting to sell the car, it’s my hobby and how I’ve made so many lovely friends. It’s the majority of my social life and something I had wanted for a very, very long time.
Two – That I’m just not paid enough. That’s not enough to cover the car, rent, food, still being able to slightly live life and to save money.
Three – I have rheumatoid arthritis, which means I am on medication. I have an injection once a week that has to remain refrigerated and I have blood tests every three months.

I will go into my figures in the next post as I think it is helpful to anyone thinking of doing the same thing and you can see where my plan is coming from.

But for now, this is my condensed story as to how I am in this position. I hope you enjoy reading My Road To Travel and I hope you eventually get to read about my travels.