I’m commenting [on the letters about older people battling to find jobs] because I know exactly how the other people feel, and it’s very disappointing. My husband was forced to resign five years ago due to a back operation he underwent. After the operation, he could no longer sit for long periods of time.
As we all know, if you resign you can’t claim unemployment fund benefits. So for five years I have supported my family and I can see how it affects my husband. He is depressed and wishes he could work. He applied for several positions but the employers want either BCom qualifications or a wealth clients book etc. He went for two interviews and was told he’s over-experienced. Although this gave him some hope, he’s still unemployed. He even applied overseas in his field, as the job scope was exactly what he’d done before he resigned, but was turned down due to over-qualification.
Struggling in South Africa is for real. We have kids in school and today living and renting a place is expensive. I pray for my hubby to find employment just to restore his dignity as a human and also to help support our household.
I think employers see you as unable to work anymore of you are over 50, but what do you do if you need to support your family and still have small children in school? It’s not nice and makes one depressed. We can’t apply for a government grant through Sassa because my salary puts us in a bracket that doesn’t qualify.
Where do you get some financial support in South Africa? We’ve been to the unemployment fund’s offices repeatedly, and explained that my husband’s resignation was for medical reasons, yet we get told they can’t assist us. I’m really hoping that somewhere out there are some people who will hear our cry and assist us with advice. We really need financial help and support just to pay for our basic needs.
I pray for the fellow over-50s who are also unemployed. I hear and know exactly how you feel. I really hope and pray that the people out there can see that we’re all struggling, and that we need to help each other and create jobs.
Hear our cry and help us, please – experience is sometimes better than the actual paper qualifications.
God bless.
