Support Each Other In Looking For Work?

Drea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxrfEeRYAk&feature=share - this will cheer everyone up

Drea

lexilex wrote: »

I normally avoid all job seeking on a weekend but I've got an hour free so thought I would share a letter I received yesterday. I applied for a shop assistant job a couple of weeks ago, not ideal but I thought if I got it (slim chance as no experience) it would be something that would get me by for now.

Anyway this is the letter I received yesterday.

"I am pleased to inform you that your application has been successful, however we may not have any current vacancies that match your skills and experience, however we will hold your details on file for up to 6 months for any future vacancies which may arise to match your application. If you have not heard from us within 6 months please assume your application has been unsuccessful."

What the ..?? It's a total contradiction of itself!

My mum had something similar (she just recently moved back up to Scotland), she went for an interview and was told she had been successful. They then told her they had no vacancies for her! Why bother interviewing people?!?

She now has to go for another interview for the same company but elsewhere. Very odd.

Sharon87

Drea wrote: »

My mum had something similar (she just recently moved back up to Scotland), she went for an interview and was told she had been successful. They then told her they had no vacancies for her! Why bother interviewing people?!?

She now has to go for another interview for the same company but elsewhere. Very odd.

Well I had an interview once and then the budget changed and they had no job for me. So things can change quickly.

Firefly_777

Hey everyone

I'll be joining you shortly with the job hunt. I'm in my final year at uni, so will be looking after exams in less than 2 months time.

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (it is so long! Been distracting myself from revision *whistles*). Congratulations to those who managed to secure jobs whether permanent or temporary

I've been working on my job search plan... Just out of curiosity, how many applications do you roughly make a week? I'm trying to give myself realistic goals, at the moment I'm planning on doing 20 applications a week, is that obtainable? I don't want to set myself up for failure. I have a part time job as well which is 12 hours a week (evenings). Plus I haven't accounted for days which I might have an interview or interview preparation.

Opinions would be appreciated.x

stephyt23

lexilex wrote: »

I normally avoid all job seeking on a weekend but I've got an hour free so thought I would share a letter I received yesterday. I applied for a shop assistant job a couple of weeks ago, not ideal but I thought if I got it (slim chance as no experience) it would be something that would get me by for now.

Anyway this is the letter I received yesterday.

"I am pleased to inform you that your application has been successful, however we may not have any current vacancies that match your skills and experience, however we will hold your details on file for up to 6 months for any future vacancies which may arise to match your application. If you have not heard from us within 6 months please assume your application has been unsuccessful."

What the ..?? It's a total contradiction of itself!

I had a similar thing when I worked for the Job centre. I had an interview and was told I'd been successful but they hadn't actually got any places available. I was put on a 6 month waiting list and within those 6 months got a call asking me if I still wanted the job, and if I did it was to start the following week

persa

Firefly_777 wrote: »

Hey everyone

I'll be joining you shortly with the job hunt. I'm in my final year at uni, so will be looking after exams in less than 2 months time.

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (it is so long! Been distracting myself from revision *whistles*). Congratulations to those who managed to secure jobs whether permanent or temporary

I've been working on my job search plan... Just out of curiosity, how many applications do you roughly make a week? I'm trying to give myself realistic goals, at the moment I'm planning on doing 20 applications a week, is that obtainable? I don't want to set myself up for failure. I have a part time job as well which is 12 hours a week (evenings). Plus I haven't accounted for days which I might have an interview or interview preparation.

Opinions would be appreciated.x

What sort of work are you looking for?

Most of the graduate schemes would have been open between September and February, but there are some which remain open on a rolling basis.

Applications for grad jobs can be quite involved - you can spend a whole day filling out the forms for one, because not only do you have to put a lot of thought into the many questions, you generally have to do your research on the company before you even tackle the form. Then you get online tests, phone interviews, assessment centres, final interviews...

If you're looking for a non-graduate job, the application will generally be a lot quicker to complete.

20 applications a week does sound a lot to me, for someone who is studying full time and working part time. Most of us on this thread have more spare time than you, so bear that in mind if you're comparing how many applications we're making.

Do you know what you want to do after your degree or are you just applying for everything any anything?

stephyt23

Firefly_777 wrote: »

Hey everyone

I'll be joining you shortly with the job hunt. I'm in my final year at uni, so will be looking after exams in less than 2 months time.

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (it is so long! Been distracting myself from revision *whistles*). Congratulations to those who managed to secure jobs whether permanent or temporary

I've been working on my job search plan... Just out of curiosity, how many applications do you roughly make a week? I'm trying to give myself realistic goals, at the moment I'm planning on doing 20 applications a week, is that obtainable? I don't want to set myself up for failure. I have a part time job as well which is 12 hours a week (evenings). Plus I haven't accounted for days which I might have an interview or interview preparation.

Opinions would be appreciated.x

I was averaging about 4 or 5 a week. Some weeks there would be loads so I could be applying for one every day. Last week there wasn't even 1 I could apply for. So 20 a week would only be possible if there were 20 new jobs a week you could apply for, and the way things are you may find you won't get anywhere near that amount. I've totalled 30 jobs in 3 months that I've applied for. And that's for any Admin, Childcare/Education and retail job I've seen.

Drea

Firefly_777 wrote: »

Hey everyone

I'll be joining you shortly with the job hunt. I'm in my final year at uni, so will be looking after exams in less than 2 months time.

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (it is so long! Been distracting myself from revision *whistles*). Congratulations to those who managed to secure jobs whether permanent or temporary

I've been working on my job search plan... Just out of curiosity, how many applications do you roughly make a week? I'm trying to give myself realistic goals, at the moment I'm planning on doing 20 applications a week, is that obtainable? I don't want to set myself up for failure. I have a part time job as well which is 12 hours a week (evenings). Plus I haven't accounted for days which I might have an interview or interview preparation.

Opinions would be appreciated.x

Hey

I'm averaging around 20 a week and have been from the start but I think I'm in the minority there so might not be do-able. I wouldn't put a set amount on it, just apply for what you see

Good luck!

livermum

Like the others have said it how many jobs you can apply for depends on how many jobs there are, most weeks I am applying for 15-20 although there have been weeks when I have only for 5 or 6 to apply for. I think that rather than setting yourself a target it may be more beneficial to just apply for whatever is relevant for you.

Firefly_777

I will be looking for a mixture of graduate and non-graduate jobs (admin mainly, customer service). I was planning to apply for 5 graduate jobs and 15 non-graduate jobs a week. For the non-graduate jobs I was hoping to be using mainly the shotgun approach.

I will be looking for jobs after my exams are over, so I should have nearly as much time as everyone else bar 12 hours a week.

What I want to do after my degree? I'm a bit clueless really, currently finishing Bsc Applied Biological sciences at uni, however uni has put me off the subject now lol. My ultimate dream would be to become a police officer, but due to the cuts that will not happening anytime soon. So therefore I am leaning towards environmental jobs and biotechnology. But to be honest I will have a better idea when I start applying. It also depends on where the jobs are, as the jobs needs to be commutable from Bristol (partner has a job there).

Thanks Persa, Stephy, Drea and Livermum. I appreciate your opinions. Still not sure as everyone is different, maybe what I will do is aim for 20 and see how it goes (when the time comes). I'm quite sad, I even have a timetable lol.x