"Just get a job" advice

SimIsOnTheUp

Sammyantha wrote: »

Hahaha funnily enough I start a new job on Monday! I didn't (don't??) want yet another useless, boring, hoop jumping office job.. but needs must. I was fortunate enough to apply for one job, get the interview, and be offered 3 different jobs from it. I do however, follow my own advice. Don't necessarily like it, but it works.:rotfl:

HUGE Congrats! :T

Good Luck with it.

I'm three weeks into my home - based Tech Support job. Not my 'dream job', but I'd rather be working in 'a job' to start with!

Also starting with another company, for self - employed homes - based survey work too next week.

All the best,

Sim.

Sammyantha

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

HUGE Congrats! :T

Good Luck with it.

I'm three weeks into my home - based Tech Support job. Not my 'dream job', but I'd rather be working in 'a job' to start with!

Also starting with another company, for self - employed homes - based survey work too next week.

All the best,

Sim.

Awesome Sim. Glad it worked out for you!! I'm still reading your updates on the other thread

SimIsOnTheUp

Sammyantha wrote: »

Awesome Sim. Glad it worked out for you!! I'm still reading your updates on the other thread

Cheers Sammayantha (that is rather a mouthful..Ooh matron..)

I must get to bed, as I'm trying to be a good boy and get my body clock back!

Night night,

Sim x

PS - Love your MSE 'signature' :rotfl:

Person_one

Sammyantha wrote: »

While I understand how hard it is to be looking for work in an uncertain climate, I also know how easy it CAN be to find work if you apply yourself.

1. Start by listing all your experiences one by one (Not just work-wise - stay at home mom's have to juggle time management, organization, people skills etc ).
2. Next to the experiences list what qualities they have developed in you (i.e bar work = people skills, observation, understanding of body language, math skills, handling money.. the list is endless).
3. Then list your interests and next to those, what skills/ qualities they demand (i.e football = self awareness, pushing personal boundaries, goal setting, competitiveness, ambition, strength of character, focus etc)
4. Now list your qualifications and awards/ training, and again, the qualities these developed or demanded.
5. By now you've got a great big list of POSITIVE things you can offer a company and a heck of a lot to talk about
6. Next step is to collect job specs and sit down with your mammoth list of qualities/ skills/ experiences/ qualifications/ training and match each step of the job requirement with things from your list (I.e if the role demands excellent organizational skills, match it with the skills you have developed while being a stay at home mom, or doing your degree).
7. Make sure you work on the questions some employers like to ask to find out more about your key competencies. These centre around Teamwork, Responsibility, Decision making, Communication, Leadership, Commitment to career, Commercial awareness and Career motivation. Again you can match all your above skills/ qualities and experience to these areas and think up some real life examples to illustrate them.
8. The single most important thing to do in any interview is to sell the reasons why you're the best candidate for the job - match every aspect of their job spec with skills and qualities you yourself have, and you'll breeze any interview

If you're not getting the calls to interview in the first place, work on your CV and your methods of application. Face to face is better than telephone or postal applications. Include a cover letter with every application and tailor it to show a shortened down version of the list above (matching skills with job spec).

Failing all that, set up to work from home. At the end of the day, although income is not guaranteed, and it can be stressful, being your own boss beats jumping through the hoops required in "normal" job hunting and 9-5 office jobs

I actually have a job, thanks anyway though!

I didn't start this thread in my own defence, but because I was tired of seeing people attacked and belittled so often for the crime of struggling to find work in a recession.

While your advice is great and may help someone reading it to be the one out of 200 applicants who gets a particular job, sadly it won't create enough jobs for all 200 to get one.

flt5

Not all jobs are inundated with applications. I recently advertised on a jobs website and have had only 10 applications.
The job we advertised could have been a great second income for a graduate or for a (graduate) parent looking to return to the job market (the position is home based). I find it weird that so many graduates seem to be out of work but there ARE opportunities out there which pay well...

FleetFanatic

I've applied for jobs in the industry I worked in previously. 8 times now I have made the final cut, only to be told somebody had a stronger interview (which when said with I had the best knowledge of the job is puzzling). Meanwhile I apply for an average of 15/20 jobs a week. This has been the case for over a year!

But when you apply for some part-time job in a shop, get phoned the same day to go for an interview the next day, have a good interview & they phone you that night with "you had a really good interview, but we really want somebody who has done the job before", it makes you wonder why they even bothered interviewing you in the first place!

Others have replied with "we don't think you'd stay long term" (how can they be sure about that with ANY applicant?)

Put it this way - I applied for one job twice - once as me, the other as some 21 year old dollybird, just to see what happened. Obviously the dollybird application had no experience. Guess which one got an email to come for an interview? (Clue: it wasn't the one with experience of the job!).

Prospective employers are taking the pee at the moment.

Person_one

flt5 wrote: »

Not all jobs are inundated with applications. I recently advertised on a jobs website and have had only 10 applications.
The job we advertised could have been a great second income for a graduate or for a (graduate) parent looking to return to the job market (the position is home based). I find it weird that so many graduates seem to be out of work but there ARE opportunities out there which pay well...

I'm curious, would you mind linking to the advert or posting the details minus any identifying info?

Sammyantha

Person_one wrote: »

sadly it won't create enough jobs for all 200 to get one.

There ARE jobs out there. If you don't SEE an opportunity, then create one!

Person_one

Sammyantha wrote: »

There ARE jobs out there. If you don't SEE an opportunity, then create one!

Right, because small businesses have such a high success rate.

FleetFanatic

Sammyantha wrote: »

There ARE jobs out there. If you don't SEE an opportunity, then create one!

You must work in sales/marketing, to post mumbo jumbo that has no substance.