Graduate Unemployed for one year - How do I get a half decent job?

peter999

Ken68 wrote:

Surely with all the twisted people about, there is a need for your service.
An advert in the newspaper to ordinary citizens.
GET YOUR MENTAL MOT NOW.

Ken68 wrote:

Something wrong here. You have been trained at vast expense, there are people needing your help, yet all the advice I read is, a career path structure.
Surely there is some person or agency that can put you in touch with the people who need help.
There has got to be more than the one employer.
Is it a fair bet, OP, that in a board room environment (for example), your training would let you know what everyone was thinking.Their mannerisms, body language and such.
If so why are YOU not in control of the interview.

Stirrer !!??

Ken68

You could be right, Kitty, BUT Anewman, you know 10 times what the ordinary citizen knows about life.
It seems something or somebody is coming between your training and the poor sods that need your help.
I was in hospital admin for a few years and do realise the structured career setup , but that setup wasn't for the patients benefit.
Brave of you Anewman to ask for help, my advise is to cut thru the red tape, and ask your interviewers why the delay in inplementing your usefullness.
I would guess that volunteer help is needed at drugs and drink abuse clinics. Good luck, but really nothing to do with luck.

Pennywise

anewman wrote:

Unfortunately many volunteering positions ask for excellent verbal communication skills; something I do not have.

So you do some volunteer work to improve your communication skills! There are very, very few jobs where you would be successful without good communication skills, so dealing with this is the most important.

I didn't go to Uni, but when I left school, my verbal communication skills were not existent. I found it impossible to hold a conversation or engage in social small talk. I would even get tongue-tied if someone said "good morning" in the street. I had zero social life, no friends, just moped about the house all day. Completely hopeless.

I found the courage to go along to the local "Institute of Advanced Motorists" starter course, and followed the course through to passing the advanced driving test. (total cost about £75 but you do need your own car!) During the course, I went to various events, such as classroom tuition, actual driving lessons, and visits to the local fire station, police headquarters, look around an ambulance, etc. All very simple things, but every time was a help to improve my social communications. After I passed, I started teaching the next intake how to drive the advanced way and soon realised I was a hell of a lot better than I thought, and my confidence and communication skills improved. All this from just one evening meeting a month and a "one to one" driving session every two weeks - just 3 or 4 hours a month!

As a few of the local group members were police drivers, I got interested in the police and became a Special Constable. Not only was this an excellent way of improving communication (directing traffic, crowd control at events, dealing with small scale crime, etc), it was also excellent for teamwork building with other police officers and we did get a lot of training. Again, not very time consuming at all, just a few hours a month.

After about 6-9 months, I was a completely different person on just a few hours a month of voluntary work. I stormed through job interviews and very quickly got a very good job - all down to improved self confidence.

I appreciate that advanced driving and the specials are not everyone's preference, but there must be loads of other opportunities. What about joining local groups or clubs - whether it be stamp collecting, model making, art, scouts, whatever - they're always wanting helpers - find something that fits with your lifestyle and interests.

You can NEVER overestimate the true value of volunteering. Try to get past the obvious things like the Oxfam shop or the local charity. They may look good on your cv, but I think what you really need is to improve your self confidence and communication, and you can do this by just "getting out and about more" and joining a few local member groups.

Ken68

Same as a nephew of mine, a Doctor of Philosphy, no small talk at all, yet a lecturer at Edinburgh Uni.
But mention astrophysics or maths, whew, away he goes.
When he was one or two years old, told his mother to get him looked at, too quiet.

johanne

hiya,

i have not got a degree...and i have SOME work experiance but i can identify with you a bit myself....

I was bullied at school.... aged 15 i tried to commit suicide one monday morning cos i just couldnt face it anymore... rushed to hospital and two weeks off school .... tried to go back after that... couldnt do it.. couldnt bring myself to walk through the gates... i suffered depression, anxiety attacks and was physically ill most days just getting up in the morning... id vomit if i put my school uniform on.. just cos i was soooo scared of going. I never went back. I was a grade A student... working towards 10 GCSES with expected results of A's/A*s..... and here i was 15 with no GCSES.. and nowhere to turn.. I ended up in college that septemeber to do my last year of school there... i started my GCSE's and did 5 in one year getting (2 A's 2 B's and a C) ... i then started my A levels and come out with 2 AS levels (grade B and D)... while studying these i worked part time in Matalan... just evenings and weekends.

Since then i have been plagured by illness..... trying to start my A2's twice and having to leave a few months in due to illness.......ive never finished my A levels, I have had the following work history after matalan:

• Menswear shop (3 months - pt sales assistant) - quit as was being bullied by boss
• 8 months unemployment
• Clothes shop (2 months - pt sales assistant) - made redundant as company went bankrupt
• 2 months unemployment
• DWP (1 day!!) dont ask
• Tesco (10 months - nights stacking shelves) - dismissed for being off ill 3 months
• 3 months unemployment
• Jewellers (6 weeks!!) - dismissed for being ill/dubious claim of unauthorised absence(loooooooong story)
• 3 months unemployment (thats now... )

I start a new job on Monday... export customer service clerk.... its not what i wanna do.... but its a job.... i have no prior experiance of office work or anything similar and as you can see a dodgy education/work history..... but yknow what really interested them in the interview and i know had something to do with me clinching the job?? Two things... i just started a beginners course through the open university... and ...

Im volunteer as an assistant scout leader!!! ... 2 hours a week i go and act like a big kid and get to go camping the odd weekend here and there for free !:rotfl:

Im soooooooooooo shy you wouldnt believe it... i got dragged into scouting as my boyfriend at the time needed a female leader for his group urgently ... was only meant to be a temporary thing... and first few meetings i was ill thinking about going.. i sat in the corner and hoped and prayed no-one spoke to me... but being round the kids its brought my confidence out.... and now the boyfriends long gone.... im still in scouting........!!

The kids arent as scary as facing adults.. and if u mess up and do something stupid? You just say "oh was trying to make the kids laugh!" or something.... you dont need fantastic communication skills... Kids dont have them do they?? So u can communicate with them on their level...... i didnt have them when i started i wouldnt say boo...i was low as low could be when i started scouts - was actually under treatment for depression and anxiety attacks....... but you sorta get this "ive gotta be responsible and speak out now" feeling.... or you just get chatting with the kids on a one to one basis and they encourage you as alot of them are shy kids themselves (scouts isnt really seen as cool unfortunetly so alot of the bold kids dont bother joining :rolleyes: ) You learn how to communicate...!

I know its not for everyone and i NEVER thought id say it but as a 20 year old girl i LOVE being a scout leader... im so much more confident and getting to experiance a bit of the childhood i never got. If you didnt wanna work with kids aged 10-14 like i do... there is cubs..or beavers which are younger so less likely to answer back on the odd occasion!:rotfl:

I really really do think volunteer work helps... and it doesnt have to be "instead" of paid work...... i go home and get changed on a wednesday night and then head to scouts... an hour and a half with the kids.. 30 mins maybe sorting activities etc... or chatting to the 2 other leaders... then i go home.. make my tea and have the rest of the evening to myself.

But what im trying to say with all this waffle is yes it is hard... god if youve read my threads on DFW etc then you'll know life is pretty poop right now for me... but whats got me through it is how im trying to be positive...... You need to think positive and try and try and not let a knock back or hearing nothing put you down... i mustve applied for 50+ jobs in the last few 2 months... had 1 rejection letter and 1 interview (for the job i got) ........ all i kept thinking was i WILL get a job.... dont make excuses and give up... cos you'll miss the best oppurtunities.. even the rubbish ones... just to get your foot on the ladder.

i personally DONT want an office job... i DONT want to work in shipping... but im willing to do it as it pays a salary of 13K a year and gives me a good thing to put on my CV... so even though its not what i want at all im going in there on monday with a positive attitude and trying my best...

I really would reccommend some kind of volunteer work though.. boosted my confidence and self esteem so much.. and it gets you out the house!

Voyager2002

Look, there are two basic ways that Anewman can approach his situation. Either do what most posters are advising, and change those aspects of his personality that are stopping him from getting a job, probably by doing volunteer work and developing people skills. That may work, but could take quite a long time. OR he could do the kind of thing I have suggested: identify the (relatively few) jobs where his personality would not be a barrier, and where his high academic ability, determination and capacity for hard work would provide the basis for success.

And despite his degree subject, what he says about his personality indicates that he is unlikely to be good at most jobs involving practical Psychology.

Whatever happens, he needs a strategy, and I suggest that an expert careers adviser could be a big help in developing his strategy and identifying jobs that he might not have considered, but might actually do very well (eg I could imagine him being really good at IT applications for the financial services industry -- hard work and long hours, but fantastic salary).

jobbingmusician

Anewman, have you tried contacting your local Mind association? THey are bound to want volunteers, and you'd score highly for having personal experience of mental health problems plus a psychology degree.

I wouldn't interview you, either, with NO work experience. (Most school-leavers have some experience of a Saturday job, surely - let alone graduates!) If you want a job you are going to have to have something on your CV, and volunteering is an excellent start - just look at some of the stories above.

Ken68

A very shy guy goes into a bar and sees a beautiful woman sitting at the bar. After an hour of gathering up his courage, he finally goes over to her and asks, tentatively, "Um, would you mind if I chatted with you for a while?"

She responds by yelling, at the top of her lungs, "NO! I won't sleep with you tonight!" Everyone in the bar is now staring at them. Naturally, the guy is hopelessly and completely embarrassed and he slinks back to his table.

After a few minutes, the woman walks over to him and apologizes. She smiles at him and says, "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. You see, I'm a graduate student in psychology, and I'm studying how people respond to embarrassing situations."

To which he responds, at the top of his lungs, "What do you mean $200?!"

filigree_2

jobbingmusician wrote:

I wouldn't interview you, either, with NO work experience. (Most school-leavers have some experience of a Saturday job, surely - let alone graduates!)

You'd think so, but I've seen loads of applications from graduates who have no work experience. I can only guess that their parents paid for absolutely everything during their studies!

When my son's old enough I'll urge him to get part time work, as long as it doesn't interfere with his studies. It will be to his advantage when he leaves school/college and starts jobhunting in earnest.

grade15

how about looking at univ website..for jobs..maybe u can have a PT masters at leeds and work there too..
I'm sure that leeds univ has vacanies as its one of Britain's largest and most popular universities!!