Proof-reading? Do people pay for that?

[janewilliams20]

I've just had my 13-week interview at the job centre - the one where they say "right, you're had 13 weeks to find the perfect job, you've failed, now broaden the target". Fortunately this isn't an insistence that I have to start offering fries with that, just that instead of looking only at jobs that I've got the experience and qualifications for, I have to look at others as well.

OK, cynicism mode OFF: looking at other things I can do that might at least pay better than job-seekers allowance. One idea was that if I'm doing proof-reading for friends, how about getting formal qualifications in it, and getting paid for it? Part-time, self-employed, perhaps? I know I have at least one person on my FL who does this, there may be more, given the number of hidden talents you all have: anyone want to advise? At the very least, when employers are looking for "excellent communication skills" (and they all are), a qualification in proof-reading should imply a basic ability to use correct English.

The other thing I'm looking into is a "PTLLS" qualification: teaching adults. Again, even if this doesn't turn into a part-time job, it's a good one to put on the CV for my more regular sort of job. Do you have any experience in training users, or mentoring juniors? Yes, I have a formal qualification in it - got to help.

Comments

[aunty_marion]

You may be thinking of me ... I've got the qualifications all right (two courses, one basic and one advanced, marks of 92% and 91% respectively, at the London School of Publishing), but it seems to be a Catch-22 situation. Can't get a job without the experience, can't get the experience without ... yep. I'm still trying to get half a toenail in the door! Also, unfortunately, a lot of 'proofreading' jobs want you to be a fully-qualified up-front people-facing editor managerial type. Which I'm emphatically not. (I'm a back-room beaver.)

Also, be advised that the JobCentre (at least, my local one) doesn't seem to know what proofreading is. They certainly don't have a matching box to tick for it on their system - closest is 'secretarial' or 'office admin'. Er, no.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I was indeed thinking of you, and your highly paid 70-hour-week lifestyle :) You're confirming my suspicions. I can get myself unpaid work, which might or might not count as experience, but I'm not a managerial type either, by choice.
And no, my job-centre probably uses the same computer system as yours. No box. I wonder if they'd hire someone to redesign it for them?
So if I want qualifications, that's where to look, is it? Any guesses how much money, and how much time, I'd have to invest in this probably-worthless bit of paper?

[aunty_marion]

The Basic Course is currently £480 for 10 weeks (I think when I did it, it was only 6 weeks), and the Advanced one is £460. (Both plus VAT.) I had the first one half-paid for by work, even though I was due to be leaving shortly afterwards, which was nice of them; I forked out for the Advanced one myself. There are plenty of other places around - Chapterhouse is one company that advertises in the Grauniad, for instance - but ex-boss Suky found that one for me and it was conveniently in Notting Hill Gate.

I've done several jobs for one of my ex-bosses (she left before I did, moved to another local authority first and then 'retired', but she's still running Adult Education inspections!) - mostly reformatting and proofing stuff for inspections. I did one of those a few weeks ago, which netted me £80.

And copperbadge ran a 'Sam's Cafe Employment Agency' post last year - he has 2,500 readers or thereabouts, of whom quite a few are looking for work, so he proposed that we use that post to try and match people looking with jobs available; thanks to that, and debitha, I've also just done several days (just under 8 hours, in all...) of proofing/editing/formatting, and there may be more of that to come. It might just be worth your while to scan that entry and the comments - there might be something there that's useful. (I'm about half-way down the first page!)