Dear Jeremy: offer your advice

Every Monday we publish the problems that will feature in this Saturday's Dear Jeremy advice column in the Guardian Work supplement, so readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We will then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy's own insights at the weekend.

Here are this week's dilemmas – what are your thoughts?

Problem one – I'm an agency worker and I feel like an easy target for cuts

I am a registered hospital operating department practitioner working through an agency for a London foundation trust. In becoming a foundation trust some years ago, the hospital I work for downgraded their permanent staff, no doubt with the intention of getting rid of what was considered to be surplus personnel without having to make redundancy payments. This caused a massive exodus that is continuing today, and which has left the hospital massively short of front line personnel, especially in the operating theatres. As a consequence, the hospital is now heavily dependent on agency personnel such as me.

My fear is that, in order to protect their posts, managers – who have been giving us bad press for years – will be again blaming us for the high cost of running services. The general public now ignores the fact that if you want a job done you have to pay someone to do it, whether it is a temp or permanent worker.

An agency worker has to work flexible hours and is only requested to come to work when there is work to be done. We don't get paid when off sick, on holiday, etc. The hospital is not our employer and is therefore not directly required to train us, support us, keep our immunisations up to date, insure us, etc. And if they don't want us any more they are not even required to give us notice.

I know the NHS is supposed to be ringfenced but a lot of us – and there are a lot of us – are now feeling insecure.

Problem two – I feel I'm losing the skills I gained at university

I graduated from university three years ago with a degree in environmental science. Since then I have failed to get any related employment. I am currently working as an administrator. I would love to be able to do research in wildlife conservation, but at the moment there are no jobs available. I am worried about losing my knowledge and skills, I can't afford to do any further studies but have applied to do conservation volunteering. I hate having to work in an office, which is one of the many reasons I studied what I did. I know I am very lucky to have a job at the moment, but I really dislike it and feel as though my life is slipping away while I stay here. Do you have any advice on how to break into this industry?

What are your thoughts?

• For Jeremy's advice on a work issue, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@guardian.co.uk. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or reply personally