University graduate & can't find a job ANYWHERE! Please please help!

skintandscared_2

candyflossing wrote: »

I have actually considered this, my main concern is the cost of travel for interviews. Aren't the living costs very high too?

The majority of people who work in London don't live in London - it's way too expensive. Most big London firms offer season ticket loans after your probationary period - they give you the money for an annual ticket and deduct it in 12 instalments from your salary and it's interest-free. I live somewhere affordable and commute an hour each way every day to get to the City.

paddyrg

How about hotels and holiday parks? Seasonal peaks over the holidays, but if you're good, they'll take you full time once they see your potential. These places have high churn rates, which makes it easier to get a foot in the door, and then easier to shine too. An old friend who worked in the parks with me years back and stayed in that sector now turns over budgets that none of my graduate friends could come close to. But then even if it is just stop-gap work, it is fun, residential, flexible hours to apply for other jobs, and a great experience!

pmlindyloo

Pupnik wrote: »

I think your best bet would be to contact some of the major employers in that area- probably not Windsor but Slough and Reading for sure (don't they have major companies like Nestle, Microsoft and tons more there?) and ask whether they need any temporary staff. A lot of big companies hire their own temps rather than going through agencies and they are much more likely to give you a chance than the agencies. Don't get me wrong, agencies have their place but in my experience unless you have the exact experience for a particular role they won't even consider you. Big companies and also institutions like universities, hospitals etc are much more likely to give you a chance and you can build up work experience while you carry on looking for something more long term. Good luck- 5 months isn't so bad in this climate, and those first months after graduation really are the worst time to be looking.

Not my daughter's experience! Degree in History and ended up working for a national newspaper through an agency in London.

Not sure which field the OP ultimately wants to work in but often obtaining a degree can open doors to all different kinds of jobs. A case, sometimes, of 'suck it and see'.

Not easy I know and does involve some hard work traipsing around agencies. I think that sometimes if they can meet you first they can suss out the kind of person you are and recommend you based on their assessment. CVs are fine but when companies receive hundreds they may only get a cursory glance.

Just my opinion.

Racheldevon

Hi, I'm not sure if you're aiming to eventually go into one of the many psychology related fields, clinical, forensic etc, however as you're aware there are many people studying psychology at undergrad level, so experience -voluntary and paid is essential. I'm not sure if you've come across this forum http://www.clinpsy.org.uk/ but it's a really good resource if you're aiming for the clinical psychology route - be prepared for a really long journey!

If you're a member of the BPS, you might want to try searching for jobs through them, and also through jobs.ac.uk where you can register for a range of locations and areas, including paid and voluntary roles in this field. Also try the NHS website for jobs in relevant mental health, health support, support worker roles, care assistant posts and all the other usual stating points for psychology graduates wanting to get the opportunity of an assistant psychologist post to boost an application for the DClinPsy course, and gain valuable experience under the supervision of a clinical psychologist - few and far between, but it varies from area to area. This is of course assuming you did your degree to go into that field.

Best of luck

pinkshoes

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

are you a recruiter? (just wondering - I'm not an engineer)

No, I just work in the field and know many companies that are struggling to recruit decent engineers.

claire16c

There are lots of agencies you could sign up to in Reading. I was on JSA for 5 weeks and then one found me an office job which Ive now been doing for 3 weeks.

Living in Windsor you can commute to London, you dont need to live there! Why would you be worried about the cost of getting to a job interview if its for a good job? I went into London a few times for interviews from Reading, and travelled down to Reading when I was at uni in Manchester, but the least of my worries was the cost of the train ticket!

Lots of shops are hiring temp workers. Waitrose HO in Bracknell were offering 20k customer service advisors a couple of weeks back and the same job but temp roles for xmas and were paying £9-11 an hour or something similar.

Walking round Reading shopping Ive seen lots of ads for shop assistants. Even in the paper Ive seen some good jobs advertised. Have you walked round the town centres with your cv?

but, in the long term, what exactly is it you want to do? Is it something pyschology related? Maybe employers are wondering why you are applying to a shop job when you want to do something completely different.

abbecer

Hi OP. I work as a health care assistant in a mental health unit (forensic) so I know the jobs for the more qualified posts are few and far between. I've looked on NHS jobs website and they are needing bank HCA's in your area. Maybe this would be an option. You can work the wards, build up direct experience with service users (patients!) and get your foot in the door. My husband is a qualified railway engineer but kept getting laid off so he has become an HCA and has never been out of work for nearly a year and a half. Once they realised he was a good worker etc they put him on temporary contracts and he's just got one for a further 6 months. Permanent would obviously be better but in the current climate many wards are using bank/temp workers instead of employing permanent staff who they would have to pay sick pay etc to. My friend had a criminology degree and she couldn't find work so did HCA work for about a year or so till a job in her field became available. By being bank staff she could pick hours to suit her interviews. Wishing you all the luck in the world.

Rebecca

P.S it's so lovely to see a post about someone so desperate for work instead of some people who think the benefits system is there to support them when they can't be a$$ed to work. I am not knocking anyone who genuinely needs support.

donquine

I understand that you've tried looking for degree specific jobs and come up with nothing (yours is a tough field, that's understandable) and also for unskilled jobs, but have you tried applying for generic graduate schemes?

We're mid September now, so right at the start of the year's milkround. There will be some graduate schemes accepting applications right now and others opening shortly. The graduate schemes run by the larger employers will generally pay your travel expenses if they're reasonable and you ask their HR departments nicely.

Re signing on, depending on resources in your area, even if you qualify for no cash (I doubt you've racked up enough NIC payments to qualify for contributions based JSA and I don't know if your parents' income will be considered as household income preventing you from claiming income based JSA), you may get help with interview costs where the employer won't cough up. You may also get help with your application and interview techniques (after a year, a fresh insight can't be bad) and generally, a bit of support.

You will definitely get your 'stamp' paid, which although means nothing to you now, in terms of cash in your pocket, will be useful when you are older.

Let's take a step back though and talk about why you're not getting any unskilled jobs - do you have any work experience, or just a degree? Paid work experience, e.g. a summer job at uni? Unpaid work experience, e.g. voluntary work done during term time?

At both ends of the market, experience counts, but particularly at the lower end, where your degree is just a piece of paper. If you are lacking in experience, you need to get some and this will involve unpaid work. If you're lucky, you'll get your expenses paid. In the event that you do qualify for JSA, volunteer work is ok on the condition that if you found paid work, you'd give it up in a heartbeat, which I'm sure you would without prompting anyway.

What do your parents do? Any aunts, uncles etc who work? What about friends' parents? Have a think about any contacts who might be able to get you some work experience, even if it's just a week doing filing. It'll count as office experience, which will help you get into the temp office market if nothing else.

If any of your contacts do anything particularly interesting, or work for a large company that does interesting things, you could potentially get much more out of the experience.

If you don't have any contacts, make some. Your university will, I'm sure, have a careers advisory service which pesters its graduates on a semi-regular basis, for information about their careers. Speak to your careers advisory service - some former graduates may have consented to people like you getting in touch with them and begging for advice! Maybe a fellow graduate, several years ahead of you, can help hook you up with some work experience and/or words of advice for getting a relevant job to your degree?

No such service? Ok, try looking for an alumni group on LinkedIn. I bet there's one. Ask very nicely there if anyone has any words of wisdom and/or can sort out some work experience for you!

"Networking" is bloody awful, I'll freely admit I hate it, but it's not as if you haven't tried the 'fairer' ways of getting your foot in the door. Suck up your misgivings, if you have any and just do it.

And finally, speaking of just doing it, try looking on the do-it website for details of volunteering opportunities near you.

I hope my post might give you a few new ideas, but it's by no means a criticism. As KiKi says, you're doing a lot of right. The trick now is to keep going and not get disheartened.

Good luck. I hope you find something - and do keep us posted. Rooting for you!

bristol_pilot

You are applying for the wrong types of jobs. There are almost no jobs in psychology, not with just a first degree, this has always been the case and it is not the result of the recession. And the other jobs you are applying for you are over-qualified for! The good news is that at least you got a 2.1 and are based in the South. Apply for general graduate entry schemes - tough competition of course but I think your best course of action.

System

Racheldevon wrote: »

Hi, I'm not sure if you're aiming to eventually go into one of the many psychology related fields, clinical, forensic etc, however as you're aware there are many people studying psychology at undergrad level, so experience -voluntary and paid is essential.

I already have a lot of voluntary experience. A lot of the time, when you are rejected from psychology posts, you are offered unpaid volunteer positions instead. I've taken this up a few times.

Post graduates in BPS courses such as forensic are very competitive. None of my friends have gotten in either. I am re-applying every year with more and more volunteer experience so hopefully I will get a place. However, I am quickly using up my post-grad savings so I will need a paid job to make this money back.

claire16c wrote: »

There are lots of agencies you could sign up to in Reading. I was on JSA for 5 weeks and then one found me an office job which Ive now been doing for 3 weeks.

but, in the long term, what exactly is it you want to do? Is it something pyschology related? Maybe employers are wondering why you are applying to a shop job when you want to do something completely different.

could you recommend any in particular? A lot of the agencies I've come by charge high fees.

I want/need a post-grad to get onto my chosen career path. Until I get a place I need a job to pay for it. Any job will do. It has been recommended to graduates to omit their degree from their CV to increase their chances of getting a job. I may do this next.

abbecer wrote: »

it's so lovely to see a post about someone so desperate for work instead of some people who think the benefits system is there to support them when they can't be a$$ed to work. I am not knocking anyone who genuinely needs support.

If I go on benefits I cannot afford my post-grad education. It's not an option for me. Most of my graduate friends are on benefits right now, but a lot of them really want work too.

donquine wrote: »

I understand that you've tried looking for degree specific jobs and come up with nothing (yours is a tough field, that's understandable) and also for unskilled jobs, but have you tried applying for generic graduate schemes?

Going to try and answer all your questions.
- I've tried graduate schemes, I've only gotten places on unpaid work schemes. I did this for a few months last summer for the experience.
- I have a lot of volunteer experience. Usually, when you are rejected from psychology posts, you are offered unpaid volunteer positions instead. I do these a lot of the time.
- I've only had 1 part-time job before as a store assistant. I went to CV clinic and they said lack of paid work was my issue. I have no employer references.
- Sorry, what does 'get you stamp paid' mean?
- Only my father works, he's in security, not many contacts there.

- I added most of my grad year on facebook for networking purposes. Unfortunately, most of my grad friends are unemployed and on benefits.

- It is very clear our university has washed their hands of us. They only contact us to ask for donations. It took myself and fellow students months of begging to get references for our post-grad apps this year. In short, my university doesn't care.