What's the job situation like in your area, is it really as dire as it's made out?

paulwf

I use my facebook group and twitter account when advertising a vacancy...can't see the point in paying the newspaper to do it and they only publish weekly in my area so there is too much of a time delay. I see other high st shops going back to just putting a notice in the window, people come in and ask me for jobs all the time, there isn't any need to pay for job listings.

I think job hunting is now a skilled job in itself, many companies only post jobs on their own website so those need checking daily, put some feelers out on facebook & twitter, check for new notices in shops, get the newspaper etc.

Hammyman

trixieb wrote: »

kind of my point if you'd read the first post - that there are little to no jobs - in my area - advertised in those places but don't let that get in the way of jumping to your stupid wee conclusions and being rude to someone eh?

Which is why I said to get out there knocking on doors....

Around here NONE of the shops (other than national chains) or cafes advertise jobs anywhere else other than by a notice in their window.

scooby088

There are alot of jobs out there and from what i am looking they seem to be many that require you to be self employed and work for commission only which doesn't really inspire you to go out there and spend money, money many people haven't got.

gravitytolls

There's limited oppportunites here too. Tourist, rural.coastal area, end of the tourist season unemployment has risen, temporary jobs may come up over Christmas, but not enough. The fight to save 200+ jobs at the Cromer Crab Factory continues, though it seems unlikely that many can be saved as the operation is being moved to Grimsby in the main.

Even temporary/agency work is few and far between, my son spent weels calling agencies, he's replied to, on foot, ads in shop windows, he gave up looking for full time work a long time ago, and has applied for anything, even if it means still receiving some benefits while he's looking for F/T.

His scenario is by no means unique. Every single person i speak to with young adults or school leavers in their family say they simply cannot find work. As for self employed and knocking on doors, he's tried to build up a small window round, to no avail, cleaning, folk really prefer women, and there's plenty of people offering their services in a times when so many are letting cleaners go.

sigh, it's piggin' tough right now.

jfh7gwa

Horace wrote: »

I am not just looking at events thankfully, I am looking at secretarial, PA work, general admin, marketing, sales, cleaning, fruit picking, blogging, SEO, retail - again it is particularly difficult jobs are very few and far between.

I'm so sorry but I had to point this post out.

I think you should narrow down your sights - focus focus focus.

How the heck can you put unskilled manual jobs in alongside the other stuff you mentioned (admin (PA/secretarial), IT (blogging/SEO) and marketing)? If employers have the same "she's doing the scattershot approach" impression that I have, it's no wonder you're not getting anywhere.

When I was looking for my first job, I was told by a family friend that employers like to be "seduced" - them knowing you're wanting to take "a job, any job" doesn't make you stand out.

That's why I always feel sorry for people when they say things like "I've sent off 50 job applications in two weeks, and never hear back". It's akin to completely randomly walking up to 50 women in a bar and saying "fancy a date?", and then wondering why you don't have a wife yet.

So - basically - make your prospective employers feel special, focus in on the type of job/career you really want, and you might have a better chance, IMHO.

Take a look at the type of job you want, have a look at which skills/attributes/qualifications are being touted as "essential", and see if you can arrange to get them. Then look at the list of "desirable", rinse and repeat. But don't just apply willy-nilly to all and everything (across multiple sectors, multiple industries, multiple experience levels, multiple skillsets) - it will come across in your applications and/or interview. It's a total waste of your time.

There are plenty of jobs around where I am, but not in a general sense. If you have a degree + experience in a field, I've found it's fine (at least getting interviews - my experience). If you have a degree and no relevent experience, it's tough (friends' experiences). If you have no skills, nothing that makes you stand out, it's very very very tough. And that's why you need to make your potential employer feel even more special.

p.s. I don't work in HR but have worked in admin and regularly help our on hiring panels internally (2nd interview onwards plus CV sifting). This is purely my opinion, based on that.

magenta22

I see a lot of jobs advertised but they are either not paying enough to live on or they are not something I have experience in.

So saying there are also a few roles that are okay.

Difficult to say really at this time of year because people are not really going to be changing jobs as much as at other times of the year.

westv

jfh7gwa wrote: »

I think you should narrow down your sights - focus focus focus.

And if people come along and say they are doing that someone else will invariably post to say they should be looking at any jobs available and not being too focused.

magenta22

westv wrote: »

And if people come along and say they are doing that someone else will invariably post to say they should be looking at any jobs available and not being too focused.

Yes and no,there is no point applying for something you know you can't do.

Horace

jfh7gwa wrote: »

I'm so sorry but I had to point this post out.

I think you should narrow down your sights - focus focus focus.

How the heck can you put unskilled manual jobs in alongside the other stuff you mentioned (admin (PA/secretarial), IT (blogging/SEO) and marketing)? If employers have the same "she's doing the scattershot approach" impression that I have, it's no wonder you're not getting anywhere.

When I was looking for my first job, I was told by a family friend that employers like to be "seduced" - them knowing you're wanting to take "a job, any job" doesn't make you stand out.

That's why I always feel sorry for people when they say things like "I've sent off 50 job applications in two weeks, and never hear back". It's akin to completely randomly walking up to 50 women in a bar and saying "fancy a date?", and then wondering why you don't have a wife yet.

So - basically - make your prospective employers feel special, focus in on the type of job/career you really want, and you might have a better chance, IMHO.

Take a look at the type of job you want, have a look at which skills/attributes/qualifications are being touted as "essential", and see if you can arrange to get them. Then look at the list of "desirable", rinse and repeat. But don't just apply willy-nilly to all and everything (across multiple sectors, multiple industries, multiple experience levels, multiple skillsets) - it will come across in your applications and/or interview. It's a total waste of your time.

There are plenty of jobs around where I am, but not in a general sense. If you have a degree + experience in a field, I've found it's fine (at least getting interviews - my experience). If you have a degree and no relevent experience, it's tough (friends' experiences). If you have no skills, nothing that makes you stand out, it's very very very tough. And that's why you need to make your potential employer feel even more special.

p.s. I don't work in HR but have worked in admin and regularly help our on hiring panels internally (2nd interview onwards plus CV sifting). This is purely my opinion, based on that.

When you find yourself with literally no money, you apply for anything and everything! So I went for non skilled jobs as well as those with skills.

I may well have something coming up next year because I attended a meeting yesterday around activity for the olympics because we have two big teams that are using my city as a training base. My toe is in the door.

In the meantime, I am concentrating on applying for jobs where I do have the experience and the skills! I also using my networking skills to find work either on a self employed basis or on a salaried basis.

jfh7gwa

westv wrote: »

And if people come along and say they are doing that someone else will invariably post to say they should be looking at any jobs available and not being too focused.

Whilst I agree, the poster I was referring to posted such a huge array of job types that I don't think I was out of turn to point it out

Take, for example, she mentioned "marketing" jobs.

I've worked in marketing departments (admittedly in a very specific niche industry which I won't bore you with) on two occasions, both in admin roles. The idea that someone is applying for a fruit picking job one day, and then trying to get into a marketing department the next is just silly.

At the one end, you have the Director/HoD level which clearly is a career goal and way out of the poster's league. At the other end you have junior marketing exec who need degrees, experience, and (in a good many cases, from what I've witnessed, more and more) even proof of internships to boot. Sure, marketing exec sounds fancy but it's the grunt job of the marketing department - at least where I've worked. You're also in competition from people who really, really want to work in marketing as a career, so will have a host of other things to bolster their application - being involved in industry events, possibly membership to industry groups... basically people who scream "I haven't just applied for a job, any job" - which is how the poster comes across to me. And I fear would come across to HR folk in the CV or during her interview.

That's the strange disconnect between jobs that lept out at me with regard to the poster I quoted. Hence my suggestion to focus, and skill up if she's serious about applying to a particular role that has a list of "essential" vs. "desirable" skills (i.e. above NMW jobs).

To give you a very real example of what I'm talking about, my company was recently recruiting for a junior-mid experienced level employee (criteria: no experience needed, short of being able to type, converse on the phone, and an agreement to study for industry qualifications - ideal for a new grad or even someone out of school because a degree was only "desirable"). I'd forgotten how random some of the applications we received were, and it was a piece of cake to help the other three CV sifters bin the inappropriate ones. One that sticks out in my mind was from a woman who I'm guessing was in her early 30s - from her CV, she'd basically done A-levels, went travelling for a year, and spent the next 10 years doing random odd jobs (no more than a year in each post) across a huge variety of sectors. A bar job here, a shop assistant job there, a voluntary music teacher here, a waitress job there. It was all over the place. Why the heck would we put someone like that into the "possible for interview" pile compared to some of the others in the submission pile, who maybe don't have experience BUT can prove they have an interest in working for US in THIS particular role? Madness to think she even had a chance. One of the other sifters actually said out loud "what the !!!!?" when he spotted her CV, which I felt was cruel, but it kind of sums up the attitude of the hiring panel when faced with scattershot approaches.