Support Each Other In Looking For Work?

asparagusnextleft

Morning everyone,

I'm not in a good frame of mind today. My husband is not speaking to me (he hasn't been since last night) so I didn't get a good night's sleep and the silence continues this morning.

I've lost all motivation, I look on the job sites and see the same old rubbish all the time, admin assistant jobs or admin jobs where they want sales or lettings experience etc. I've applied to Asda twice and have heard nothing back either time. Plus I think that as soon as any recruiter or interviewer claps eyes on me they just rule me out on the spot as I'm overweight (size 18) and not far off 40. I'm not exactly a 'hip, young go-getter'!

Fed up, fed up, had enough.

November5th

asparagusnextleft wrote: »

Morning everyone,

I'm not in a good frame of mind today. My husband is not speaking to me (he hasn't been since last night) so I didn't get a good night's sleep and the silence continues this morning.

I've lost all motivation, I look on the job sites and see the same old rubbish all the time, admin assistant jobs or admin jobs where they want sales or lettings experience etc. I've applied to Asda twice and have heard nothing back either time. Plus I think that as soon as any recruiter or interviewer claps eyes on me they just rule me out on the spot as I'm overweight (size 18) and not far off 40. I'm not exactly a 'hip, young go-getter'!

Fed up, fed up, had enough.

Feel better! Look around you at the people who have jobs, they aren't perfect! Being called "edgy, you should probably work in Shoreditch or something" didn't help me at all, I just got ruled out by that recruiter completely

Think about all the good things you have done...

livermum

asparagus we all feel down at times but we can all relate to how you are feeling because we have all been there. I would like to think that your abilities and skills would mean more to an employer than your appearance. Feel free to PM me if you feel you would like to talk to someone more privately.

Smidster

The bleak weather is not doing me any good.

Completely had enough - I am clearly unemployable...once upon a time I had lots of ideas and would have tried to do something myself but now am just a bumbling mess.

loops87

asparagusnextleft wrote: »

Morning everyone,

I'm not in a good frame of mind today. My husband is not speaking to me (he hasn't been since last night) so I didn't get a good night's sleep and the silence continues this morning.

I've lost all motivation, I look on the job sites and see the same old rubbish all the time, admin assistant jobs or admin jobs where they want sales or lettings experience etc. I've applied to Asda twice and have heard nothing back either time. Plus I think that as soon as any recruiter or interviewer claps eyes on me they just rule me out on the spot as I'm overweight (size 18) and not far off 40. I'm not exactly a 'hip, young go-getter'!

Fed up, fed up, had enough.

So sorry to hear you're feeling so down.
Maybe you could have some time off from the job hunting this morning? Do something you want to do? Come back to it when you're feeling more positive? Things WILL get better, it is tough but you will find something!

loops87

Smidster wrote: »

The bleak weather is not doing me any good.

Completely had enough - I am clearly unemployable...once upon a time I had lots of ideas and would have tried to do something myself but now am just a bumbling mess.

Sorry to hear you're down today too. We all have these days. I'm sure you are not unemployable- you're still the same person who had lots of ideas. It's just difficultto stay positive and motivated when it's so tough to find work. But things WILL get better, I'm sure of it. Right now maybe you should take some timeout from the search for a morning, do something you enjoy that will make you feel better?

persa

asparagusnextleft wrote: »

I've lost all motivation, I look on the job sites and see the same old rubbish all the time, admin assistant jobs or admin jobs where they want sales or lettings experience etc. I've applied to Asda twice and have heard nothing back either time. Plus I think that as soon as any recruiter or interviewer claps eyes on me they just rule me out on the spot as I'm overweight (size 18) and not far off 40. I'm not exactly a 'hip, young go-getter'!

Fed up, fed up, had enough.

The rejections without feedback or acknowledgement are the hardest, because they leave you hanging and you get no closure. I know what you mean about job sites - in the past few months I've seen nothing advertised in my line of work. I've been dutifully looking every day (and I guess I must still keep looking for temporary work until I close my JSA claim!) but known full well that nothing will show up.

Have you tried using a recruitment agency for admin work? I think a lot of office jobs never actually make the paper, so you need to befriend the major agencies in your local town to hear about the jobs when they arise.

I know most people hate agencies (I admit fully to speaking to a few useless ones over the past few months) but some are actually really good. I used to temp through a local independent agency for admin work and for my new finance job, again, it wasn't a big chain that found it for me. They spotted me online, asked for my number, rang me back in ten minutes, talked about a job they had in mind, rang me back in an hour and said the company wanted to meet me. That's what I call efficient! You do have to talk to a lot of unhelpful people before you find some real leads.

Whilst I'm not as big as you, I am overweight too - by about half a stone, maybe a bit more - am refusing to check the scales until I lose my 'unemployment weight'! (I have comfort eaten quite a lot during the job hunt to date.) To an extent, it has knocked my confidence as I know full well I've looked better, but I've faked the confidence when making applications and that's been fine.

At the end of the date, an employer is looking for someone respectable who can do the job. That's you. As self-conscious as we might be about how we look, the truth of the matter is that it's not as big a deal to other people - in fact, the majority don't care. You need to remember that you may have all these hang ups about your body, but you're the only one who's bothered by them. You have to walk into an interview feeling that you look good and that you are the best damn person for the job.

If you can't fake feeling good, maybe it is time to make some changes and slim down. Everyone has a weight that they'd like to be - it might not be that much smaller than what you are now - but if it makes you feel better about yourself, it's something worth aiming for.

But I rather suspect you're just having one of those awful days we all have and once you've cleared your head and made up with your husband, you'll look in the mirror again and know you look beautiful the way you are right now. Job hunting really messes with your head sometimes!

Slinky

Still waiting to hear the outcome from husband's second interview on Friday afternoon. It's down to him or one other person, both through the same agency. The agent was supposed to be speaking to the company late on Monday afternoon, so spent a horrid day yesterday waiting for the phone to ring, getting more and more despondent as time went by.

Eventually the agent called to say the meeting that was supposed to happen on Monday didn't so he has no news yet and doesn't know when he will have. So we don't know if this is true, or whether the job's been offered to the other person and they haven't accepted it yet and my husband's being kept on hold in reserve.

However given how long it took to arrange both a first and second interview, the delayed meeting is entirely credible and it could be the case they haven't decided yet.

We're still waiting on a second interview for another job (one he doesn't want in a place he doesn't want to work, but maybe needs must) which is supposed to be happening this week, but the days are running out now. Can't get hold of the (different) agent who is supposed to be organising that one.

This afternoon he's going to see yet another an agency in London about a possible contract job. I've lost count of the number of times he's done this and nothing has really come of it, but you have to keep trying.

Drea

Well done persa, and thanks for writing what you did. Good luck on the move, I've had to do it to Cardiff from Edinburgh before a job started once before (I had three weeks - nightmare).

Good luck everyone with interviews or waiting to hear back.

lexilex

Hi everyone and congrats Persa, great to hear good news!

I've nothing to share, no interviews but I have started a little project.

I've made a website, www.wantajob.co.cc where I have tried to bring together all the info for job seeking. It is only very basic, but I hope it might be helpful to people just starting the search. Can anyone think of anything more I should add? I'm going to add a money saving page (obviously ) later on once I've finished zumbering.

Also there is the option to add files to pages, so I was thinking if people are still interested in sharing CVs and giving each other tips and advice this may be a good way of doing it.

Let me know