Longest duration you've been unemployed and how'd you get back in employment

If you were unemployed for long, what steps did you take to get back into employment and what kind of jobs did you have?

Volunteering and Temporary agency work.

what kind of volunteering and temp agency work did you do?

6 months and it was awful. I was suicidal at times. I would spend all day looking for jobs and would apply for time that I wasn't suitable for.

My advice is just to keep busy and do something to get you out of the house.

I worked a couple of days a weeks at a fintech business which was really useful and helped to avoid having a gaping hole on my CV.

Never been unemployed per se, but looking for relevant work in a graduate role often feels like an uphill battle that feels like unemployment.

What has become increasingly frustrating is the shortage of 'proper' substantial voluntary opportunities, which aren't ultra competitive internships.

For me, in the creative industry there are very few trainee roles, or even solid opportunities given voluntary outside of actual employment (which I struggle to get anyways).