Finding a job

mfboss

I'd like some advice. I'm looking for work but can't get any.

I'm graduate with a rubbish grade from a rubbish uni. I just turned 24 not so long ago and never had a job - don't really want it to sound like I'm making a excuse - because I have rare problem (which I won't go into) which has affected me since my teens. As a result it held me back to progress in life and I suffered academically and just barely scraping through to college and uni. Thinking back I would've done much better but I don't want to make it like that xyz made me fail this and that. I'm not an A Grade student anyway and I'm not lying, I was a little lazy at times.

The best part is that now I'd like to think that I've got it all under control and want to move forward and do something.

My short term goal is to get work preferably in a office just doing whatever that pays. My long term goal is to work in IT. I know that at the moment on paper that is way of out of my reach. Knowledge wise, pound for pound, I know that I can compete. I mean you don't even need to know alot about computers to work in IT especially in a junior/1st line support role

Problem is that I can't even accomplish my short term goal, because I have no experience in anything. I have no references either. To be honest, I don't even know what to write on my covering letter or/and application form. I usually just write some generic rubbish that I've used for every application and hope for the best, which obviously isn't working.

For example, why should I be employed rather than person xyz? I dont know how to answer that, because I have nothing to write about, about myself.
Even if say I was lucky and got an interview, I don't even know what to say.

The jobs that I've thought that would I get, didn't happen. As time had gone by, the more I've become unmotivated. Yes I know it's important to persist but it's very very hard to remain optimistic when you get no letters or calls. My confidence levels is at an all time low.

If someone gave me their application like mine, I'd crunch it up and boot it away. You'll do the same. So what can I do to make myself more employable when I have no experience? It sounds easy to say, just Get a Job, but that is the problem. I also think that for more modest jobs, they think that I will think that I'm too good and won't like the job, or it's not challenging enough and quit within a month which is nonsense when I can't even afford to do that!

C_Ronaldo

just out of interest what uni did u go to

have you tried the job centre about finding work

nenya

I don't mean to be degrading and i know you want a resonably decent job (heck don't we all) but my advice would be to start on the very bottom wrung - call centres.

However, you will need a CV. Just outline you education - GCSE's, A-levels, and your degree. Also outline you long term goals and your personality. For example, mine reads that i am a bubbly confident person who is willing to learn new skills.

Call centres are a great place to start because you learn different skills, and the biggest of those is communication. From that you get a reference, and you can keep looking for jobs.

I always find when going for a job where i don't have the experiance I plan my interview responces - Why are you going to better the xyz who has more experiance?? 'Well....' And by the time you have an interview you should have a clear idea of what you are going to say. Put every interview down as experiance. A lot of the same questions crop up in different jobs.

Failing that, just fake a CV and get your mates to act as references

[Deleted User]

mfboss - if we knew your rare condition it might help us pick a role you could aim for.

IT is a pretty broad field. There's networking, programming, support, installation of hardware, deployment of software, web design, security, consultancy... do you know what you'd like to do?

Remember, you still have a degree. What have you been doing in the last few years that might be relevant to IT? Do you do any programming/web design at home, what applications can you use?

Would your rare condition effect you ability to work in certain roles?

DonGotti

mfboss - I have a good degree from a great university and it took me two years to find a job. Please don't get down and persevere. In the mean time I worked as a library assistant and I loved that job (it offered interaction my office job doesn't). At the time I always wanted to leave and prayed I'd get a decent job. Now I have one, I want a salary increase, etc etc! It is human nature to always want more, but that is not the key to happiness and in the long run causes unhappiness.

Locate your interests and look to find ANY job that at least puts some money in your pocket, and more importantly experience

Astaroth

Whilst I think they are straight from satan I would agree with the suggestion of working in a call centre as a real possibility and would also recommend going to the local employement agencies (which most call centres recruite via anyway)

I also have a rare medical condition which affected my early life (mainly psychologically rather than the physical aspects of it) and whilst I did do well enough at school I more or less dropped out of university (didnt do my honours year) and felt that I would never get a decent job. I personally went to a job agency looking for call centre work but given that I wanted to use it as a route into something better I said that I wanted to work in insurance/ financial services as I knew that whilst it would still be call centre work there are many levels of specialism in the call/ claim centres and therefore a decent wage can be gained without having to go and be a "team leader" (something to this day I would hate doing)

Thankfully for me everything worked out massively better than expected. When I was at the interview for one of the jobs they had on their books I saw a poster in the office saying that the company had a graduate scheme but that existing employees could apply for it only having GCSEs as long as they had the support of their departmental manager.

I got the job and whilst I didnt go onto do their graduate scheme (because I got a better offer within the company) I have now got a job that I love, pays more than I ever thought I would earn and has great prospects for several future promotions/ advancements

All I can say is dont give up hope, others have been where you are and come out of it doing exceptionally well - dont consider the bottom rung too low to start on but do make sure you look at the longer term prospects

C_Ronaldo

you can go to college even if you dont have the money, you can get help from the college. Get a job while your at college,

eclipse

Have no useful advice re finding a job to add to the advice above, but what I will say is:
BE MORE POSITIVE ABOUT YOURSELF!
You *do* deserve a good job, somewhere. Make sure you make other people believe that too.
My uni helps graduates find jobs - does yours? Coudl you make an appointment with their careers service, or ring them if you've now moved away? I have talked online with the connexions people in the past - they're for under 19s but I lied and said I had just left school (!) and they gave me some ideas.

mfboss

Thanks all for posting

I'm prepared to start from the bottom - that is expected - so I don't have any problem with that. £5.05 or not - I'm not in the position to be picky at the moment.

I've got a CV but mainly having problems with my covering letter, as I don't know what to write especially for jobs such as data entry, filing etc. Whereas with IT related roles, I know what to write because I can say I know how to use this and that. There are examples on the net, but they are mainly aimed at those with some experience. So what job won't need or most likely not ask for a reference ?

@ ringo - My prefered choice is to work in support and then branch off to something (maybe) like networks. I think I've got good problem solving and technical skills so that's where I hope to be. However, the past few days, I've been thinking whether to get into software development (particularly in C#) instead because they are more in demand than technical support people. Junior support roles are over saturated as those who are not in grad schemes tend to apply for these roles, and also the fact that its considered to be the 1st step towards the IT ladder. I done Pascal and Java/C++ at college and uni respectively. Regarding with what applications I can use, I'm familiar with Director, Photoshop and good at using Word, Excel and Powerpoint but learn fast with any software that I use anyway.

I'll see what I can find on call centres. What it's like working in a call centre anyway?

Astaroth

Generally mind numbingly boring dealing with rude people on the phone day in day out with high targets about either making sales or finishing calls quickly (depending if you are sales or service based). At the same time all the call centres I worked in also had a lot of good fun as they tend to be full of 16-30 year olds.

Covering letters are easy enough to write and are equally if not more important than the CV itself - it is what makes the person decide if it is worth reading the attached CV/ application form or if it should go straight in the no pile.

First thing to do is to actually think what sort of person they are going to be wanting for the job - for example a data entry job is going to want someone who is good on a keyboard, quick, accurate where as a customer service job is going to want people that are computer literate, good at communicating, enjoy dealing with the public and importantly neither are going to want people that are massively driven for promotion (realistically the majority of people in a call centre will not make it to team leader within 12 months and so a lot will leave when they realise this meaning the company has wasted time and money training someone who they are now going to have to recruite a replacement for)

Once you have worked out what they want it is simply a case of saying that your skills/ preferences/ style etc matches this and back it up with examples say like volunteer work, work you did on your course etc. You can also add something about the company and why you want to work for a company like it - so a large company can be due to the security and long term opportunities where as a small new company can be for the close knit teams and rapid pace of change etc

One advantage of job agencies are that you dont have to write any covering letters as they do the introductions for you. It is always worth pestering them though.... they after all are paid for people they place in work and not by you and so they will concentrate on the people they think are going to be the easiest to place so if your picky about the job you want or dont have the worlds best CV then they may not give you their full attention

tansitoo

You could probably do with the money and who doesn't. But, why not try voluntary workfor now. There are lots of charities that need someone to help with IT. You may get expenses, you would definately get references, you would get experience, and I would bet that you self confidence would bloom. Good luck with whatever you do.