My Sad Situation - Help :)

Burlesque_Babe

I graduated in London in 1991 in the last recession and it took me 6 months and just over 100 (then handwritten!) applications before I got a low grade administrative job in local government near Portsmouth and then worked my way up from there. You just have to keep going and keep your search as wide as possible.

How about doing a PGCE and then teaching?

bristol_pilot

Speculative letters can and do work - I have got jobs that way and also taken on people who have written such letters. However, this works best for experienced professionals with something to offer including a track record of achievement - not for new grads with no specialist skills. The usual route with a geography degree is to realise that there are no jobs in geography and to train to do something else....civil service, accountancy, teaching etc.

Oldernotwiser

Samantha83 wrote: »

Tip: I get my CVs photocopied en masse at a local stationers as it is cheaper than printing my own. Then I have a steady supply to send out and/or enclose with job applications.

Not a very good tip, actually. The fact that you're sending out the same CV, regardless of the vacancy, may well account for your long period of unemployment. CVs should be tailored to individual jobs if they're going to have any chance of success.

jessicamb

Definitely target your CV/application to each individual job requirement - show how closely you fit those particular requirements rather than your all round goodness. If you can show clearly that you have everything the job role is asking for then you stand a much better chance of getting an interview.

As others have recommended also try temping. Not only will it get you some quick cash it will also get you valuable experience that you can talk about in interviews and applications. Dont look on it as a stop gap until you get something better - if you can impress the employers you are working with they may consider keeping you on or remember you when they have another vacancy. I have got interviews and jobs this way before.

Burlesque_Babe

I agree - any job should have an individualised application which fits your skills and experience to each of the listed objectives and responsibilities of the post you are applying for rather than one document fits all.

onlyforboards_2

I'm not sure if everyone on this forum is aware of the amount of unsuccessful applications people are currently getting through in a week and of the similarity between job specs for most large organisations.

There is not enough time in the week to tailor every single application you make no matter how desirable it is to do so. By the time you are up to the hundreds on supermarket applications, as many people are, the most effective way to submit applications is to bulk copy sets of cvs for certain job markets.

Oldernotwiser

onlyforboards wrote: »

There is not enough time in the week to tailor every single application you make no matter how desirable it is to do so. By the time you are up to the hundreds on supermarket applications, as many people are, the most effective way to submit applications is to bulk copy sets of cvs for certain job markets.

The people to whom this advice has been addressed are unemployed, so time shouldn't be an issue. I also doubt that many people have made hundreds of applications just to supermarkets!

If you have a small number of CVs, each aimed at the different employment areas you're applying for, it only takes a few minutes to "tweak" each one to target it at a specific job. Sending out identical CVs across the board is a total waste of time and postage.

Js_Other_Half

Burlesque_Babe wrote: »

I graduated in London in 1991 in the last recession and it took me 6 months and just over 100 (then handwritten!) applications before I got a low grade administrative job in local government near Portsmouth and then worked my way up from there. You just have to keep going and keep your search as wide as possible.

I graduated at the same time and was unemployed for a year. I finally got some temp jobs with local council, and eventually got a permanent post (based on my voluntary work since I was a teenager).

Soubrette

onlyforboards wrote: »

I'm not sure if everyone on this forum is aware of the amount of unsuccessful applications people are currently getting through in a week and of the similarity between job specs for most large organisations.

There is not enough time in the week to tailor every single application you make no matter how desirable it is to do so. By the time you are up to the hundreds on supermarket applications, as many people are, the most effective way to submit applications is to bulk copy sets of cvs for certain job markets.

If you are sending out literally hundreds of CVs and getting no interviews though - surely you have to rethink your tactics? Or is really just a question of numbers?

Sou

chriswatts

onlyforboards wrote: »

There is not enough time in the week to tailor every single application you make no matter how desirable it is to do so. By the time you are up to the hundreds on supermarket applications, as many people are, the most effective way to submit applications is to bulk copy sets of cvs for certain job markets.

I read somewhere that the idea CV consists of two sides of A4, any more and it's considered too much. True enough for a lot of jobs there's a lot of similarity between job specs so what I'd suggest is a larger master CV which you can gradually add more to as your career progresses and trim down and adjust to produce a targeted one.