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

davidlizard

Re Psychologists - I work in research and development developing systems for vehicles, from cars and motorbikes to submarines. The company has a fair few psychologists on its books for conducting things like usability assessments - generally coming up with ways of making the things we make easier and more intuitive to use. Another area to explore if you have not done so already.

wantsajob

davidlizard wrote: »

Re Psychologists - I work in research and development developing systems for vehicles, from cars and motorbikes to submarines. The company has a fair few psychologists on its books for conducting things like usability assessments - generally coming up with ways of making the things we make easier and more intuitive to use. Another area to explore if you have not done so already.

Yep these types of things often pop up. Have seen Unilever advertise these types of positions.

candyflossing wrote: »

Thanks for the advice! I was only aiming for the BPS accredited courses (clinical, forensic) , unfortunately they are very competitive. So far, nobody from our grad year has a place on any of these courses! It's shocking, really. I did consider doing another masters to stand out from all of the other graduates, but I was worried it may just be a waste of time/money.

So what are you doing at the moment?

Maybe in your eagerness to apply for everything, clinical and forensic, you don't appear focussed/interested enough in either discipline to stand out amongst the crowd?

As for what I am doing now, rather ashamed to say I walked away from a job. It seemed to be a case of the company just being desperate to get anyone in. There was no interview which is one of the things I struggle with most, as I have Asperger's Syndrome. Was a temporary job until Christmas making Christmas cakes. This involved pressing a template design onto icing all day long on thousands of cakes. This required some force to do so to an acceptable standard. My wrists ache, I am getting some pain in my left arm/wrist, and am unable to rest any weight on it - so I believe I have Repetitive Strain Injury.

Usual hours were 8 per day mon-fri with half an hour break (which by the time you have gotten out of your shoes, hairnet, overall, and got them back on to return is in effect only 20 minutes), and was often expected to work overtime without notice, and no ability to opt out or higher rate of pay. I wasn't prepared for the management style of the line supervisors and being shouted at in a rather negative condescending manner. Nothing positive was ever said, and the only thanks was minimum wage. Should have had/quickly developed a thicker skin really - but I guess that's what happens as someone with Asperger's who has only ever been in education/done voluntary work. I was itching to answer back in some way, but as I usually do kept quiet.

It's a shame that the only way they can think to motivate a workforce is to be negative all the time, and try to show they're dominant through putting others down. Regretting leaving it now more than I thought I would - but what's been done has been done, and I figure I'm in no worse a position than I was before I started there.

The voluntary work thing is obviously just a big cop out from the National Minimum Wage legislation - same with David Cameron's "Big Society" idea of replacing paid staff with volunteers. I am guessing voluntary work experience rarely cuts it with employers, as they want to know you can be "walked over" - so to speak. Something voluntary experience can never prove.

Racheldevon

If you haven't already looked into the Clearing House (Leeds) you might find it a useful resource - it's the system that all clinical psychology doctorate applications are made through. The site provides information on each univeristy offering the course, in terms of what they're looking for in potential applicants. Some of the administrators for courses will also provide mroe detailed information on their short-listing if you contact them directly. I'm not surpirsed many of your friends haven't yet been invited to interview - there's so many people going for very few places, many of whom have a good range of clinical experience, links with clinical psychologists, voluntary work as APs/ other mental health posts etc, often alongside further academic qualifications. There's some stats on number of applicants vs number of places and other info on the Clearing House site. Last year 3528 people applied and 16% gained a place.

maryjane01

I am terrible in job interviews. I have not got an actual job I applied directly for for years. I even went for a government job where there were lots of tests. I got amazing marks in all the tests, 5/5 for written communication, but then in the interview when they asked me about my writing skills I got 2/5 when I verbally answered the question.

I have always had work though, there is a lot of work through temp agencies in London. Many temp jobs lead to permanent work. A company ay really need a new permanent member of staff but htere may a temporary recruitment freeze or something and they have to hire a temp in the meantime. I got a £30k a year secretarial job through a temp assignment. If I had directly applied for that job, there is no way based on my CV I would of got an interview.

The thing is to get on side with a temp agency you have to accept whatever they offer you initially so you get a reputation as a good worker. Some agencies are better than others, it is good to sign up based on word of mouth and referal if you can. Otherwise sign up to a dozen agencies and see who calls you back with work. Try and organise a few days in London and meet with temp agencies back to back. It normally involves a couple of hours because they stick you on a computer to test your Word, Excel skills etc. I think you could see at least 3 agencies in one day. If you are a recent graduate I would expect you would have the skills on Microsoft office programmes so you could walk into an office and do some menial work. Blag it a bit too. Say you did a little bit of reception work somewhere on a summer break for a family firend, every phone system is different anyway so you just say you have never used that type of phone before, and somebody will show you how to use it.

Also, they agency will probably want to know why you only want temp work, you could say something like you want to save some money for 12 months to go travelling, but of course you can change your mind and your story can change in the next 12 months. If you then get an assignment with a good employer let people know you are desperate for a permanent job.

Also, I agree with other posters, worrying about the train fare to get to an interview should be the least of your worries, you invested years in education, it is time to invest a little bit of money now on train fares so you can get a job. If you do get a permanent jopb in London, you could think about a houseshare and moving at some point.

Good luck!

System

wantsajob wrote: »

Maybe in your eagerness to apply for everything, clinical and forensic, you don't appear focussed/interested enough in either discipline to stand out amongst the crowd?

My main aim is always clinical psychology, and most of my experience reflects this. Forensic was a backup when I realised how competitive places are.

I don't blame you for walking from the job, that sounds awful!

I always worry that something like that will happen to me. I'm not sure how I'd ever cope. One of my friends got a job in Mcdonalds and walked out a week later when her boss gave her a patronising lecture on how to clean up spilled drinks. When you have a degree I imagine that kind of thing must feel so degrading.

maryjane01 wrote: »

Also, I agree with other posters, worrying about the train fare to get to an interview should be the least of your worries, you invested years in education, it is time to invest a little bit of money now on train fares so you can get a job. If you do get a permanent jopb in London, you could think about a houseshare and moving at some point.

I worry because I've gone to interviews only to be offered a volunteer position instead. This is a common thing with psychology posts. When you're on £50 a week JSA and have to spend £20 of that on a trip to London, it does worry me a lot. However I am so desperate for a job I will try anything right now.

claire16c wrote: »

I think your lack of work exp could definitely be a problem, did you really not have any sort of part time job when you were at school, sixth form or uni? Because many grads will have years of experience in part time jobs by the time they leave and its them you are competing against. Even if it was working at a supermarket you need to put it on your cv.

I had a part time job throughout university which is on my CV, however I do not have a reference. I left the job without notice due to ill health and my boss was not happy.

Not many grads get paid work experience during their uni time. Only a handful of people on my course were working during their degree, a lot of people did volunteer work that our uni set up for them. With psychology, volunteer experience is a big thing if you want to get into the post-grads.

claire16c

candyflossing wrote: »

I had a part time job throughout university which is on my CV, however I do not have a reference. I left the job without notice due to ill health and my boss was not happy.

Not many grads get paid work experience during their uni time. Only a handful of people on my course were working during their degree, a lot of people did volunteer work that our uni set up for them. With psychology, volunteer experience is a big thing if you want to get into the post-grads.

I didnt work in term time at uni, but I worked in every summer holiday and some some xmas hols. But plenty of my friends at uni had jobs working in shops or bars, or companies in their uni town and then in the holidays would work at their local branch at home. I hardly knew anyone who didnt have some sort of job.

Anyway as you did have a job, if its not one of your most recent jobs its unlikely someone would ask for a reference for it. If someone asks you for references, just give them 2 others. There is no reason why you cant use references from your volunteer positions.

have you tried looking on the hollister facebook page yet? It seems to be pretty easy to get a job there and they dont ask for anything.

dancingfairy

Hi - I have to say I've had 2 jobs when they haven't even been advertised. One I dropped my cv off and asked about christmas jobs, the other again I asked if there were jobs available.
I guess you've tried letting everyone you know that you are looking and available? have you updated your facebook status to reflect this? perhaps even made a post or 2 about it to remind all your contacts? Also have you checked there is nothing on any social network site that is putting people off?
I'd write to companies that you are interested in and send them your CV and ask if a) there are any jobs b) they can keep you on file if something does come up and c) whether they know anyone who might be interested.
Best of Luck
df

Pupnik

candyflossing wrote: »

I worry because I've gone to interviews only to be offered a volunteer position instead. This is a common thing with psychology posts. When you're on £50 a week JSA and have to spend £20 of that on a trip to London, it does worry me a lot. However I am so desperate for a job I will try anything right now.

I think they will give you travel money if you have to travel to an interview, don't they?

Also I agree with Dancingfairy- now is the time to apply for Christmas positions, there will be a lot of shops needing staff and if you don't fancy a shop you could try somewhere like a theatre- I spent some Christmases working at the theatre during pantomine season and it can be quite fun.

Deep_Ocean

Hang in there mate. I am in a similar position as graduate unable to find employment. I have 8 weeks worth of savings left before I can no longer afford to pay for my mortgage and bills etc. There is no shame in going to the job centre, it was created for our situations. I turned up in my suit when I applied for Job Seekers

lexilex

Just read through this topic and I am in the same position.

I graduated July 2010 with a 2.1 in psychology. I've had a cleaning job each summer since 2006 to fit around term time, so I did that until last October but since then I have been looking for work. I managed to do the cleaning again this summer so have had some money coming in for a few months but that ends on Friday.

I am refusing to go to the job centre this time because they made me feel so worthless, I would rather be skint.

I have applied for literally every job going. I've emailed a few places in the last few weeks about volunteering but have had no replies from any of them! A friend of a friend has got my an appointment with a clinical psych next week to discuss volunteering so that is my only hope at the minute. Psych positions are just so few and far between, especially up here. I live in Hull and I think I've seen maybe three psych related jobs in the whole time I've been looking. I have started to look at different parts of the country, but my OH has a job here, and it took him long enough to find that. At least one of us is earning at the minute so it would be stupid to move elsewhere. Ideally I would like to work with children so I have been applying for teaching assistants and that sort of thing to gain some experience there but the jobs are gone before they're even advertised.

It's just so tough out there!