In my personal view we live in a country that has little or no regard for experience without the appropriate academic qualifications attached so when U see similar job adverts please think of this point before applying as the 'old school' manager; HR person has gone [this is the same old school types that won a war for us!] replaced by in most cases academics U must sell yourself in your CV as much as possible and think of what an employer wants so gear it that way - U may even have to bespoke your CV to each application In my experience, which includes >40 years at work inclusive of running a large international recruitment agency, being a HR manager etc, *what you do at week ends and pass times is irrelevant as employers do not care they only want U for what U do/can do for them at work *Having said what I have said at that point research job adverts/companies in depth and if the HR etc manager is a football fan make yourself a football fan and so on - I know a HR manager who has a down on a particular area and will sort CV's [I have caught her doing it] to keep out certain hobby types! Take on unpaid work to up your experience where U can and prepair yourself for the long haul This is a stupid point but I must add it - see if there any grants out there for more H&S qualifications? Best of luck

On this occasion I do agree with Bob and it is essential that the CV is accurate, sells you correctly and well. At the moment we get lots of speculative CVs and we frequently are asked for feedback. The most notable observation is that we frequently have is that CVs convey that the candidate would work well in a supervisory role however they do not have the necessary management skills, experience or qualities to work in a lightly supervised manner on the major types of projects that we run. A CV is also the first indication of the candidates report writing skills! The frustrating thing from our point of view is how reluctant candidates are to reinvent themselves and to develop the necessary transferable skills which our own customers expect from us. One of the major hurdles we find is that potential candidates will often seek out the information that they want to hear rather than the resources that they actually need in order to be competitive. An example is that whilst I work for a Footsie 250 organisation, we have not had one approach in the last eighteen months from anyone seeking any work experience in order to try and bridge this gap.

James, In line with my employers equality policy they have no age limit and I work within construction. Can I ask if have you developed a written strategic plan for getting back into the workplace as this was something that I prepared two years ago when I was made redundant?