looking for work

At present I don't know whether my biggest problem when looking for a job is my age or my history of depression. It doesn't really make any difference to my belief that I probably am being discriminated against, but it would be nice to know on which criterion. I've just been rejected for a job that at interview they told me that they were interviewing up to the first week in October, so I probably wouldn't hear until the middle of October. So it took me by surprise when my rejection letter arrived on 1st October. I have recently been working in the mental health field and have always been very positive about people returning to work. In fact I still believe it is the best option, but if you were to ask me now whether I would encourage mental health service users to look for work I would definitely say no! Having worked on the strategic aspects of helping people back to work I can honestly say I'm not impressed with the services I have come across. Job Centreplus have their hearts in the right place but unless you have a particular skill (or preferably job title) and experience then they are useless. If you can say you are looking for work as a plumber or shop assistant, that's fine. But if you don't have that sort of history, or if you are looking to change your career, well forget it! Oh but I have been told that if I haven't found a job after 13 weeks they could offer me more support. There are two problems with that. First is that by that time I am likely to be quite depressed which could make things a bit difficult. Second is that I fear that they will quite likely want to refer me to a "specialist" organisation. And the problem with that is that it may well be an organisation that I have applied to for a job, and obviously failed to get, and how do they think that will make me feel about that organisation? Mmmm, could it be that I might not have much confidence in that organisation?

One idea that has been going through my head is a vision of me being on tv talking about how I can't get a job, and I imagine some viewer shouting at the screen to stop being so lazy and that there are plenty of jobs out there. Then the next day I turn up at their place of employment for a job interview, and the same person tells me I can't have the job. Trouble is I think that is probably the true attitude of most employers. "Get a job! But we don't want you!"

And you know there really are people out there who will tell you that you aren't being discriminated against, because there's a law aginst that. Wow, I must mention that to any victims of crime that I meet, they must be so deluded.