Am I self-employed or unemployed?

gnuru · Post by **gnuru** » 29 Aug 2017, 18:40

Been reading these boards for months now, and have learnt an awful lot, so big thanks everyone for that!

Now looking to apply online for first time ever (for postman/driver), and nervous of making a mistake with the information I provide, specifically regarding whether I'm self-employed or unemployed.

Been self-employed for over 10 years with work that's always been sporadic - sometimes very busy and sometimes not. And by the latter I mean long periods between specific paid/invoiced jobs. The gaps are taken up with work-related research/admin/maintenance/networking etc, and of course I haven't signed-on as unemployed for over 10 years.

So for the purposes of the online application, where you're not allowed to leave any gaps, and considering my last paid job was over a year ago ... am I self-employed or unemployed?

Any pointers (or questions) would be greatly appreciated folks!

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 30 Aug 2017, 13:23

It's only an opinion but I would say you are self-employed for the recruitment process. Although not exactly fitting the description but as you didn't claim during non-working periods it will probably cause less confusion if you state "Self Employed".

gnuru · Post by **gnuru** » 30 Aug 2017, 18:36

Thanks TrueBlueTerrier for your reply

Got a bit more breathing space now though as the vacancy in question disappeared today. Maybe for the best as there's one or two SOs nearer to me .. I think I read somewhere about being able to practice the online test before applying properly, in particular the time-limited one involving numbers. If that's the case, do you know where?

salomon2 · Post by **salomon2** » 30 Aug 2017, 21:29

I had exactly the same issue as you and it took a bit for Royal Mail to get there head around it. I had to show what I was doing during all gaps and who I worked for when self employed as you have to give references and they do follow them up. Rm did ask me extra questions but eventually it was all sorted, this was all done after I had passed the interview stage.

gnuru · Post by **gnuru** » 31 Aug 2017, 19:36

Thanks salomon2 for filling me in. And good to hear a lot of it it happens after the interview. Feels like I've got a lot of hurdles before getting to that stage, if indeed I ever do LOL (as they say).