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Jobs for single mums with no experience: Ask the expert
I am a young and single mum in private housing. My child has started nursery on a half day basis, Monday to Friday – I’m unable to get childcare any other time. I really want to get back into work, with a steady and reliable income. I have no work experience.
So you need a part-time job that fits in with your childcare arrangements. Realistically, you’ve got three options:
- find a job you can do from home (wouldn’t recommend this route as you’d probably feel rather isolated right now and need a bit of adult company)
- find a part-time job with the right hours that’s located near enough to the nursery for you to be able to easily manage dropping off / picking up times
- find yourself a job-share partner and go hunting as a twosome for a full-time job that you can split to suit yourselves.
If you’ve never worked before and your child has only just started nursery, I think you’d best try for something fairly undemanding at this stage (eg shop work, clerical work in an office, call centre work, etc). Start looking around for local employers who can offer such work. Ask your friends, family and other contacts (eg the nursery staff?) to look out for vacancies for you.
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Your plan might be to do the undemanding job for at least six months, earn yourself good references and then try for something more senior (preferably in the same organisation) when you’re ready to do so.
In your shoes, I’d be contacting JobCentrePlus, explaining you want a personal advisor to help your job search. Your personal advisor should help you get the free training / support you need to plan your job search, prepare a CV and get training in interview techniques, IT skills etc.
Good luck!
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Comments [15]
Andreea says:
Genius idea. Why haven’t I think about it? As a single mum I’m telling this basic ideas you put in this article we already thought of them. The problem is what to do next, or beside this? “Looking for a part-time job next to nursery/school” I’ve been to every local thing, shops, hospital etc. They all show me the door when I’m telling them I can only work during the school ours as I’m a single mum. Nobody wants to hire if you can’t be at work 24/7 and die there. I’ve been to hundreds of interviews in the last couple of months. They just again show me the door when I’m telling them I can only work during the school ours. Single mums are treated like they have plague when they go to interviews. It’s really difficult to do something.
Tajinder Cheema says:
Hi I’m a sewing machines I had done sewing now Im looking for a job somethin I can do at home or parttime out I dont have other experiences I’m a career too I look after my mum so full time work is bit hard for me that’s why I’m look to doing some at home plz let me know …Thanx
Mandy Garner says:
Hi, The best thing is to sign up to our jobs bulletin – it’s free. Then you will be emailed all our jobs regularly. You can click the part-time and work from home options so you only get those jobs. https://www.workingmums.co.uk/jobs/newalert/
Rita says:
Good morning, I am single mum of 2 year old. She just started nursery on 15 hours a week (Monday to Friday) 3 hours per day. I am having difficulty in childcare and also finding work that would suit the hours around my 2 year old. Previously I worked as Finance Officer and went on Maternity leave back in 2018. The company I was working with before maternity wanted to terminate my contract before the time I was about to resume work back in January 2019 but I decided to go through Acas conciliation process and they were able to pay up what was owed to me and because of trust issues , we decided mutually to terminate my contract . Since then I have been having difficulty in finding work and I couldn’t get someone to look after my daughter when I was called for interviews. I need some advice on how to move forward?
mal pieczonka says:
Hello
I am a single mum, my daughter is 4.
I am looking for a steady hours.
I volunteered for educational charity and also for Playbus, supervising safe play for children 0-5
I also have over 7 years of experience in office administration and Invoicing.
I am ready to start ASAP but I find very difficult to find a job.
Mandy Garner says:
Hi,
Are you looking for advice from our careers adviser or putting your cv forward? If the former, are you clear on what type of job you want eg education/childcare? Do you want part-time or full-time hours?
Asikiya smith says:
I’m a single mum of 6. I’m a level 2 teaching assinstant looking for work in the north west area.
Mandy Garner says:
Hi,
Do you need careers advice from our experts and if so, what kind of advice are you looking for? We post flexible jobs and you can sign up to get our regular jobs updates, by region and hours you want to work, but we are not a recruitment agency.
Sneh says:
I m single mom looking for school hours job.I have no skills apart from cashier the shop.
Ines says:
Hello good morning,
I am a single mother also a student in level 3 beauty therapy but i have level 1 and 2 beauty therapy.
I need to find a job but can not find none to fit in hours my child is at school or even weekends.
Can you give me some help where can find a job fiting my child school hours or weekends or even at home?!
Thank you
Mandy Garner says:
Hi Ines,
Please send more details of your qualifications, work experience, what you want to do, etc, to [email protected] and I can put you in touch with our careers adviser who can give some suggestions.
Anonymous says:
It is all very well saying that are many forms of childcare but what about older children?? Holiday and after school clubs only take children up to the age of 11 !!! At least in this area they do. Children age 11 -15 ish still need some supervision especially whole days in the holidays!!!! Yes some children are more confident than others but they are not all confident enough at age 11 to look after themselves . When I was working last school holiday ( my son age 13) was sensible enough to look after himself and I used to phone regularly to make sure he was ok. But he would spend hours sat there in front of the Xbox, and being in a house all day on your own is not good for emotional well being. This is outrageous, we HAVE to stop ignoring the needs of older children and childcare for older children needs to be available.
Anonymous says:
Just came across this website and i was in the same situation my partner had broke his back and i have 3 children in school and have to juggle between them all so had to give up work. Until i came across kleeneze you work from home at any time you want and i take the children to deliver and collect the catalogues and they love it. If you would like more information email me at [email protected]
Anonymous says:
I have children at school I need a job but when holidays such as summer holidays I'm unsure how I will keep a job with no one else to look after my children.
Editor: There are many forms of help for holiday childcare, including tax credits, vouchers and subsidised holiday schemes which you could investigate via http://www.daycaretrust.org.uk.
Anonymous says:
I’ve been in this situation and did volunteering for a while to gain experience and confidence. The jobs are just a couple of hours a week or more if you want, VERY flexible and local work. It’s the best way to get back into work and can often lead to paid work after a while. I went to a web site called ‘Do It’ and found loads on there or go onto your local council website for volunteers. There’s so much choice of the type of work you can do, I had a hard time choosing between them all. Good luck.