New mature Graduate...am I unemployable

emlovespink

Hello

Any advice would be much appreciated please.

I'm 32 now and left school with no qualifications and got married as a teenager. My husband was very controlling and didn't want me to work so apart from some voluntary work I have hardly any work experience. I finally left him in 2007 and then decided I'd get an education so I could get on with my life. I did a year full time doing A level quiv and then got onto a degree course at The University of Manchester, studied for three years for a BA and graduated with a 2.1 last July. I've been looking for work now for almost a year with no luck. I've applied for loads of graduate jobs but I can't even get a cleaning job. I do work voluntary, I've done lots of voluntary admin and I'm a school governor but I feel as if I'm unemployable and that the last few years have been a waste of time. Can anyone give me any advice as to what I need to do to make myself employable please? I'm desperate for a career break and to get on with the rest of my life.

Thank you

Ian4996

What's your degree in? And what sort of work are you going for?

FBaby

There seems to be a lot of assumption from those who left school with no qualifications that returning to education at later stage will secure them a career and well-paid job.

Unfortunately, a degree is far from the ticket entry to a satisfactory career, and the experience of 'life' is not as appealing to employers as it is sold to be.

I myself was surprised how difficult I found it to get a job after I returned to study a Master's degree after a Bachelor degree to change my career path. It wasn't miles away either, and I hadgained managerial experience, had done work experience during my Masters and it was before the crash! Still it took me 9 months to secure something and I wasn't even exactly the job I had hoped for when I went back to studying.

In the end, employers are look for well-rounded people, who have the degree AND some work experience AND the right personality/attitude. Don't give up, definitely don't give up, you didn't study for nothing, but you might need to look at other pathways into your employment of choice, whichever would add value to your applications. You might have to accept to do something different, if at least it can give you some related experience, or maybe voluntary work. It all depends very much on your degree and career path.

Affynity

It's a tough labour market out there.
Graduate saturation and economic weakness are really co-destructive forces for anybody looking to use their degree to gain work.

But having the qualification doesn't hurt, it's still one box ticked for when opportunities come around.
All I can suggest is follow some of the good advice in this thread. Volunteer where possible, keep up to date with developments in your chosen field and prepare to sell yourself.

Who?_me?

When applying, do you focus on the subject of the degree, or do you put some empahsis on the skills you gained? Employers are looking for team work, problem sovling, thinking, business awarness, self management skills, communication skills as well as literacy and numeracy. If you can use what you did in your degree to give evidence of these skills, you could be onto something. Don't just go for jobs your subject is in, go for jobs that you think you would enjoy and could do, regardless of what the subject is. Obviously you can't be a Doctor without a medicine degree, there are some limitations, but I hope you know what I mean.
Its dog eat dog out there, and no fun for anyone.

National_Careers_Service

Some good advice from Fbaby and Affynity and I agree it is a tough labour market out there but that shouldn’t dissuade you from continuing to forge ahead with those job applications. It’s really difficult to remain focused and motivated when so much effort is being put in and there’s little reward. I’m really sorry to hear you feel (as you put it) like you’re unemployable and hope that a lot more people will get involved in this post to give you a little reassurance that you’re not on your own.

It’d be really useful to know where you’re heading in regards to a career direction but meanwhile I have an idea or two up my sleeve that may help you to look at this from a different angle!

Ok so we know you’re putting all the hard work in; looking for vacancies and opportunities and I get the impression you spend a good amount of time and energy completing online applications and tailoring your CV. Is that about right? But do we know that employers are getting the full picture or the right message?

· Do they know how good you are?
· Do they know what type of person you are and that you’ve dedicated much of your personal, spare time, to support others?
· Do they know that people respect and trust you enough to vote you in as School Governor?
· Do they understand that you’re an independent, strong individual with a desire to progress within your chosen career path?
· Do they know that you have a strong work ethic and are willing to take an entry level job in order to kick start your career path?

(Take a deep breath Tracey!)

All these questions have come to mind simply because I can ‘hear’ what you’re saying. I can ‘feel’ the passion in the words you use. And all this from one short post!

· Does your CV give the same impression?
· Do your applications build up a similar picture?
· Would you feel confident about trying to convey a similarly powerful message within a cover letter in a succinct and professional way?

I hope I’ve managed to make you think about these things in a positive way.

I wonder... have you spoken to anyone, a friend or voluntary work colleague about this? Could be helpful

Let us know how you’re getting on emlovespink!

Tracey

Fire_Fox

emlovespink wrote: »

Hello

Any advice would be much appreciated please.

I'm 32 now and left school with no qualifications and got married as a teenager. My husband was very controlling and didn't want me to work so apart from some voluntary work I have hardly any work experience. I finally left him in 2007 and then decided I'd get an education so I could get on with my life. I did a year full time doing A level quiv and then got onto a degree course at The University of Manchester, studied for three years for a BA and graduated with a 2.1 last July. I've been looking for work now for almost a year with no luck. I've applied for loads of graduate jobs but I can't even get a cleaning job. I do work voluntary, I've done lots of voluntary admin and I'm a school governor but I feel as if I'm unemployable and that the last few years have been a waste of time. Can anyone give me any advice as to what I need to do to make myself employable please? I'm desperate for a career break and to get on with the rest of my life.

Thank you

Are you applying for any relevant role or only graduate positions? Are you doing a skills-based CV/ application, do you understand the value of your transferable skills and are you communicating them effectively? Are all your voluntary positions on your CV/ applications? Are you not even getting interviews, or getting interviews but not job offers?

ergintony

There are different ways of finding jobs and I suggest you to use both online and offline channels as well as your personal network.

I think first, you should register and upload your CV jobsites such as strike-jobs.co.uk, reed.co.uk, totaljobs.com, cv-library.co.uk and others

You should also start visiting local recruitment agencies and dropping your CV to any company who is looking for a job. It is better to start from somewhere even if it is not the job you are looking for. Because, you should cover your expenses...

At last, you should tell all your friends that you are looking for a job, because being referred by someone is easiest and quickest way to find job