desperate - need some help please re work

Motivatedworkingmum

You will get a job at some point, keep perservering, you will get there, but please do be realistic. This could mean taking something that you have no long term interest in...but its work, and there are many skills that can be gained from this that will help you develop yourself in the workplace. We have a dire situation in the UK at the moment and even those with years of good quality experience are struggling trying to find work at the moment, let alone those that have very little. I graduated 12 years ago and some of my friends thought they were owed a job just because they were 'a graduate'. Of course you have worked hard to educate yourself and I wish you all the best in finding work. Network, maintain good quality contacts with good quality agencies, do volunteer work in the meantime, prove yourself. There are many 'jobs' that do not even appear in the papers, on the web or with agencies, but you just have to be in the right place at the right time...that means not at home! I wish you all the best.

courtney_jacks

thank u non believer its so easy to feel like its personal, i did the first dozen rejections, but a million rejections later im kinda hard skinned to it! i dont mind, and i totally understand the situation that the employers are in, and ive had so many people telling me that theyre looking for people without much education and so many people have said that i wont stay in the job, like an admin assistant coz its just a stop gap job but how do i say dont be stupid no i wont!?!?!?! so frustrating. but i know im in the same boat as so many people out there

GrammarGirl

My advice if you want to become a journalist is - work on your grammar and prose. Forums are brilliant for this, just try implement a professional writing style (capital letters, sentence structure, paragraphs etc) and you'll get used to writing this way all the time, making it easier.

Blogs are also great forms of writing practice. I'm guessing from your degree that you're well read - this helps too! It's all about taking skills you already have and building and adapting them to suit the career you want.

Your work experience is really good and should feature prominently on your CV. If I were you, I'd restructure your CV so work experience and skills come before education. Also, forget the BBC! I had aspirations to work for them too, but they are so stringent. They may be the biggest but they're not necessarily the best. Go for the smaller companies first and work your way up!

Your attitude is great and you've proved to everyone here that you're a hard worker and passionate too - this should come across in interviews and work in your favour.

Let us know how you get on and I'll keep an eye out for writing jobs in Birmingham!!

courtney_jacks

Thank you, I think that starting a blog would be a good way to get a writing style, I do write a lot of short stories in my spare time (um I have a lot of it!) so it would be great to do that.
I have sent lots of spec letters to schools, advertising agencies, media companies and local stations like the ITV Central, and when I follow up on them they always seem to be so welcoming but then there's a huge...NO at the end, but never mind, I'm not going to stop!!!!

GrammarGirl

No worries! You're doing it already - writing in a professional style! Blogs are addictive, I'm also a short story writer and would love to be published one day.

You will get there. You might have to do weird and unrelated jobs at first, but you'll get your first break if you're passionate and have the talent. Lots of luck to you!

BubbleFrogette

Dear OP,

It's a very difficult time with regard to employment at the moment, so take some consolation in that. You do at least have the advantage of having graduated from an excellent university with a very good reputation. I see you are in Birmingham - what about enquiring at the Brasshouse language centre to see if they have any teaching positions? They teach both French and Russian. Or could you teach an evening language course at the university?

Good luck

Horace

Dear OP

Have you thought of applying for a job with the civil service and in particular the Foreign Office? They take people with languages and will teach you to speak other languages too especially if you get a posting - I know someone who has two degrees Law and German and works for the Foreign Office and has since learned Arabic and Hungarian.

Have a look a the civil service gateway (sorry don't know the web address for it) or even look at the MI5 website as they are always looking for people.

Teresa60

How about advertising yourself on free advertising sites such as gumtree.com or freeads as translator?

Oldernotwiser

I do think that many people on here seem to be rather dazzled by your qualifications (all this talk of the FO and journalism is pretty unrealistic) which, without being unkind, are nothing out of the ordinary.

I think that the clue to what's wrong lies in your op, "but whenever i speak to someone on the phone, or go to an interview, i perform really well, i get through all the stages and then im just rejected." which suggests to me that you may not be assessing yourself correctly and that your interview technique isn't as brilliant as you think. There may well be help with this through the Jobcentre if you request it, or some of your "professional" friends may be prepared to role play some interviews with you.

I also wonder how you've been spending your time since graduating; have you been doing any voluntary work or anything that will help you to develop new skills? If you haven't done this yet, then I suggest that you either try to arrange something for yourself, or look at what New Deal has to offer to you in this area. As well as the skills this will also give you an up to date reference.

I hope that you don't think that I'm being too harsh but I've been a Careers Adviser for many years and have come across a number of young graduates in your situation. Of course, the recession isn't helping anyone, but there are steps you can take to improve your options.

Good luck.

courtney_jacks

I only said that I was performing well at interviews because that's what the recruiters always tell me before they reject me, I am most certainly not an arrogant person, I'm just aware that I perform to my best and that I've had a lot of positive feedback from them.

I have been doing work experience all over the place since graduating, schools, the BBC, and been trying to save up money to fund some kind of home learning course. Thank you for your help