The Squeeze

Suzanne Brereton commuted to London's financial district for 17 years where she was a PA to the Senior Executive Vice-President of the Bank of New York, earning about £55,000 a year, with share options, private medical insurance and other perks.

A single parent of two children now in their teens, she bought a three-bedroom semi-detached house in a quiet street near Sevenoaks train station and was able to re-mortgage several times for extra spending money.

In November 2007, Suzanne was made redundant when her boss was recalled to New York. Despite applying to countless jobs and signing up to half a dozen recruitment agencies, Suzanne has been unable to find another job. She says " It's proving very difficult. I apply on average to ten jobs a week online".

With very little money coming in Suzanne has struggled to keep up with monthly repayments. After being unable to pay her mortgage for a couple of months she received a court summons. Suzanne decided to represent herself and sought the advice of the Citizens Advice Bureau representative based at the court. She said " I couldn't have done it with out the CAB, their representative really knew his stuff and was really helpful".

BBC Radio Kent put Suzanne in touch with a careers advisor, Lucy Jordan from Next Step. Lucy said "People are literally going to skim read your CV, what they're going to be looking for are those particular skills or duties identified in the job advert, so the quicker you can do that it certainly improves your chances".