Where am I going wrong

popadom

Are you still working/voulenteering? If you are voulenteering, may i suggest asking the people you voulenteer with to let you try a diffrent role for a while? I dont know how flexable the charity can be but you ask if you could start making calls or even receving them if you can. You could even help design posters/write letters(shows you can use computers) anything you think might be useful. Then you can go to an employer and say "in my last job i did x y and z as well as a b and c" Wish you luck!

Xena_007

popadom wrote: »

Are you still working/voulenteering? If you are voulenteering, may i suggest asking the people you voulenteer with to let you try a diffrent role for a while? I dont know how flexable the charity can be but you ask if you could start making calls or even receving them if you can. You could even help design posters/write letters(shows you can use computers) anything you think might be useful. Then you can go to an employer and say "in my last job i did x y and z as well as a b and c" Wish you luck!

Thanks for the post....initially I was a fundraising officer where I was bid writing for funding and I raised over £84,000 then I went back to uni for my final year then I returned as a client engagement officer where I was working with unemployed individuals. My contract finished and now I'm a trustee of the organisation

gibson123

Xena the only person that can answer your questions is the recruiter, give them a call and ask them why you were not considered. Say you are not looking to appeal to them, argue their decision or make a pitch for a job, just want good honest feedback to help with your job-search. I see hundreds of applications and interviewees and invariably the ones that don't get through are the ones that don't answer the questions I ask or apply their skills to the job description. I am not saying for a minute you fall into this category, but hope to help.

Example of feedback to a young politics graduate with a 2.1 just this week, - I understand that you are indeed well qualified, however your qualifications are in politics not administration. I am recruiting an administrator and you did not mention that you can work the photocopier, type letters and manage diaries, or that you would approach these tasks with any level of enthusiasm. Yes I do realise that these are skills that I might assume you would pick up when working towards a decent degree, however I do not have time to second guess or make assumptions particularly when I have so many applicants who have very explicitly explained their skills in relation to the job role. The job went to a person who has recently completed a modern apprenticeship in business administration and achieved a VQ at level 3 in Administration. Yes I am afraid that for this particular job a VQ level 3 in this subject ares does trump your degree. However should I require a political researcher your application would have been at the top of my yes pile. On a positive note your application was well laid out with good grammar and no spelling mistakes.

gibson123

Xena, are you on linked in? There is a group called charity jobs in the UK, it appears to me that some of the jobs advertised in this group would fit your profile perfectly, that is of you still want to work in the charity sector.

reheat

My 1st guess would be your CV. The only way a recruiter can judge you is by your CV, and the only purpose of a CV is to get you an interview. When I lost my job in 2008 it took me a year to find another, and some months to even get an interview.

The CV style that eventually worked for me was inspired by this writing a killer cv article. Although it was written in 2006, and is aimed at software contractors, it has a lot of relevance for job seeking permanent roles in other industries also. The words "in the bin" are a wake up call, and you have to try and stop your CV ending up there!

As another web page on the same site says:-

It is important to realise that the employer will choose to interview the candidate who has the best CV for the job, not necessarily the candidate who is best suited for the job.

When you think about it, what other choice has an employer got - they only have your CV to go by.