My Sad Situation - Help :)

Bobby1985

Here is my rather bleak situation.

I have been unemployed since completing university in July. I graduated with a 1st class honours degree in Geography. As well as my good education I have an okay work history including numerous retail jobs and a couple of office based jobs.

The thing that really is disappointing is still being unemployed. I look daily for jobs and post CV’s and Cover letters when appropriate. I must apply for about 3 – 4 jobs a day or at least send off my CV. I have had very little response from any employer and even less interviews.

What is it that I am doing wrong? I think my CV is pretty neat. I have listed all my experiences and skills I have acquired throughout my work history and education.

To make things worse I now have to go to some kind of 2 week job search, where they help you to fill out application forms and write your CV. I don’t really need this help at all, but it is not optional.

Do you guys have any advice at all? Been reading some of the posts on this forum and you are a bunch of helpful people.

I’m depressed

itsmedi

my job hunt going nowhere either but try keep ur chin up & stay positive, you never know this 2wkcourse may make all the difference plus give you the oppertunity to meet new friends!

Bobby1985

Hope so, but Ive heard some pretty bad things from my cousin who also went. So im not really looking forward to it, needs must though.

magic57

Poor you. I don't think you are doing anything wrong, that's just the way it is at the moment. I can only suggest you write directly to anywhere you would like to work. Don't wait for an advert. Find out the name of the manager or director and write a personal letter with a CV asking if there are any opening and telling them why they should employ you. Enclose an SAE to encourage a reply.

Don't feel too down somwthing will turn up. Good luck.

Oldernotwiser

You may think your CV is "pretty neat" but you have to accept that it's not working! In the circumstances it seems unreasonable to say that you don't need any help with this or filling in application forms.

I'd go along in a positive frame of mind and accept any help that's offered; after all, you're getting nowhere on your own.

llh189

I graduated over 10 years ago now but I remember my initial job search to be a struggle.

I graduate with the notion of the type of job that I wanted, the career path I wanted to follow but this was far from the reality of the situation.

I had always worked, hotels or shops never in an office, in the end I approached agencies for temp work and yet I still had over blown expectations about the positions that I could achieve.

My first temp position was in an underpinning company in their accounts department, very low hourly rate and yet I went on to spend 8 happy years there with a promotion every year - I now have a different job.

My advice would be to start really small, I know your education cost a fortune and that you worked very hard, but it is easier to get a job when you have a job, it is easier to network and it does keep your spirits up.

Try local agencies for temp work, maybe do an evening course (which might be free if you are in receipt of benefits) in typing or shorthand!

I realise I was lucky in the temp job that I took an not all will result in 8 happy years of work, goodluck!

woody01

magic57 wrote: »

Poor you. I don't think you are doing anything wrong, that's just the way it is at the moment. I can only suggest you write directly to anywhere you would like to work. Don't wait for an advert. Find out the name of the manager or director and write a personal letter with a CV asking if there are any opening and telling them why they should employ you. Enclose an SAE to encourage a reply.

Don't feel too down somwthing will turn up. Good luck.

I am sorry, and i know you wrote the above with good intentions, but its not good advice.

I run a large company, and if i want someone i will advertise. I dont want to waste time reading letters/cv's from anyone that feels like writing to me. In this climate, i have more imortant things to do, so these letters (and i already receive alot), go straight in the bin.
I know most of the company directors around aswell do the same.

OP. Although a 1st is a good personal achievement, it wont cut you alot of slack in the job market (as you are finding out).
The only degree employers do take a second look at, unless the person wants to specialise, is a degree in one of the sciences.

Unfortunately for you, a Geography degree, in normal working life, going for a normal job, wont help at all.

Please remeber, a degree these days, is no longer an indicator of someones intelligence and it hasn't been for the last 15 or so years. All it tells an emplyer, is that you can apply yourself to learning. BUT......and this is where the value of a degree stumbles, if i can get experience over a graduate i will almost always go that route, as they will have the application skills AND the practical skills.

Graduates will struggle even more ESPECIALLY seeing as now there are so many experienced people flooding the job market.

Savvy_Sue

What sort of jobs are you applying for? Because if you are applying for anything and everything, from shop work to office work, you really need to give the impression that despite your degree you have 'seen the light' and this is what you want to do now and forever. Otherwise you will appear overqualified and they'll assume you'll be off at the first opportunity.

Temping is always worth trying, IMO.

Oldernotwiser

woody01 wrote: »

I am sorry, and i know you wrote the above with good intentions, but its not good advice.

I run a large company, and if i want someone i will advertise. I dont want to waste time reading letters/cv's from anyone that feels like writing to me. In this climate, i have more imortant things to do, so these letters (and i already receive alot), go straight in the bin.
I know most of the company directors around aswell do the same.

.

I do agree with this (and the rest of your post) but I have come across the situation where a speculative CV has landed on someone's desk just as they were about to advertise a vacancy, the person called in and the job offered. Considering it just takes a little time, together with some printing and postage costs, I always think that there's little to be lost by this approach, as long as you don't expect too much from it.

magic57

My post was written with the best intentions! I got a very good job doing just that.

3plus1

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I do agree with this (and the rest of your post) but I have come across the situation where a speculative CV has landed on someone's desk just as they were about to advertise a vacancy, the person called in and the job offered.

My OH got his job that way last year. Sent in a CV and covering letter and his now boss decided it would be worth calling him in for an interview to see what he was like before bothering to advertise the job. He liked him and the advert never made the papers. I agree with oldernotwiser in that your chances of landing a job on spec are lower than if you were to respond to an advert, but that it's still very much worth trying.

As for dismissing all arts/social science degrees - I think that's terrible advice! (I'm referring to woody01's comments, not oldernotwiser's.) I help out in graduate recruitment for my company from time to time and we look at people with a 2:1 or above in any subject from any university, providing they didn't just get a degree while they were at university.

A degree on its own is worthless, but a first combined with work experience can be valuable. OP, what sort of jobs are you applying for?