Where to find jobs?

filigree_2

www.jobs.ac.uk has lots in Leeds, maybe there will be something there to suit.

elisebutt65

Why doesn't she try teaching??? She could do a PGCE for a year - more loan though - but you do get a nice bursary usually and then get a job teaching languages - seems a shame to waste a language degree????

And there must be plenty of teaching jobs from all the advertising going on??

olly300

steveandel wrote: »

She has signed on to a few temping agencies but they haven't found her any temping jobs at all.

All temping agencies are like that. They don't want you unless you have experience.

The best way to get temping jobs through an agency is to have a mate who worked for the agency who is/was a good worker, and to use their name as a reference i.e. you go in and say Bill Gates my friend works for you and currently working at xxxxx.

While your daughter is waiting around to do temp work she should do some voluntary work even if she has to do it on a Saturday morning. It is just something to put on her CV and it helps with references later.

steveandel wrote: »

My gripe about companies looking for experience is that for companies with highly skilled employees, yes ok they take quite a time to train, but for a bog standard admin role you can learn all you need in 2 days which really isn't too much of a strain on resources is it? And in the long term, having someone intelligent as opposed to someone who just 'knows the ropes' is surely better for the company?

Being an administrator, secretary or receptionist teaches you a lot about people and how they interact in the workplace. You can't learn that in 2 days.

I was also offered two permanent jobs while doing temp work after university, one of which was in a bank where they promoted all graduates very quickly. Both companies used temp work as a way of screening their candidates. (The bank doesn't do this anymore as they were acquired by another bank.)

steveandel wrote: »

She did her degree because she wanted to, not to 'jump' the recruitment process and I appreciate that some degrees are pretty much worthless now. However, a 2:1 from the University of Durham, AAAAB A-levels and 6 x A* and 4A's at GCSE should show some differentiation from someone who's got a degree in a Mickey Mouse subject from a 'new' university? I think employers aren't paying enough attention to the actual degree anymore.

Acutally lots of "new" universities where and are well respected by employers in certain fields due to the vocational nature of their teaching and their links with employers. I've worked with people who were sent from "new" universities to get work experience while they were students, and my bosses said they would offer the student a job when they graduated. In my view some of the courses had mickey mouse sounding names however from what I do, the knowledge of the student and their attitude I knew the courses wheren't.

cannycat

Hi, I graduated with a degree in languages from Nottingham (many years ago now), just as the last recession was starting. I had very good A levels and good 'O' levels; a solid degree; my year abroad in France and Germany under my belt, and I'd worked part-time all through my final year at uni. I found when I graduated that I had to work for a good couple of years in admin type posts to build up some experience.

Sadly, a first degree in an arts subject doesn't, on its own, qualify you for very much. It took me a while to work that out and I eventually did a postgraduate qualification which helped me get into my current career. The truth is that a languages degree is not much use on its own unless you want to be a teacher or a translator. You need to do something else to make yourself useful and marketable. In the last 15 years I have been offered precisely one job which made use of my language skills - and it was too long after graduating; so I didn't take it. I now have a job as a medical librarian which I really enjoy. (And no, we don't spend our days stamping books and saying shush all the time.) It has though taken me until my 30s to achieve the level of responsibility that a lot of universities seem to pretend you'll have the second you walk out the door with your degree certificate. Perhaps those lucky few who make it onto graduate training schemes "a la" the Apprentice achieve this (and yes, I know there's a grave accent missing on that a), but in my experience it takes time to gain skills that will make you useful in an office.

As for being able to learn "bog standard admin" in 2 days, the average "bog standard admin" these days would have to be able to do at least some of Word reports, mail merges, Powerpoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, build Access databases, Desktop publishing. Not to mention finding information on the Internet and in dedicated databases, coping with in-house computer systems, coping with several phone lines ringing at once, visitors arriving at reception, deliveries arriving, and faxes and photocopiers breaking down - all of which I experienced in my various temping jobs. So if you think this can be learned in 2 days, I'd be intrigued to see the training schedule!

Eventually one of those temping jobs led to excellent training opportunities and a permanent job, but it didn't happen overnight. I can also truthfully say that there were many, many times when I had to bite my tongue in the early years of my working life as some of the people I worked for were complete idiots. But some of my colleagues were incredibly helpful, showing me how to use things like word processors and computers, and I learned an astonishing amount from them.

The single most useful skill I learnt was how to type with all my fingers, followed by making sure I could use the common computer programs like Microsoft Word and then followed by learning to drive. So that would be my advice to your OH - along with advice given by others on contacting the temping agencies. Some universities and councils also run their own temping pools, which can be a good way in. None of this is meant to be discouraging. Good luck to your OH.

poe.tuesday

as she is good at languages, what about doing subtitling for the hard of hearing or maybe working for a subtiting until that works doing foreign language films?

english must be excellent along with typing skills

lellie

It's difficult to get graduate jobs within a specific place.. Has she considered applying for graduate schemes with offices in Leeds? - often it doesn't matter what degree you have.

james02_2

Well I would like to get a couple of things sorted out when it comes to the online job search websites. There are some people who believe that these sites prefer persons who have a high level of qualification or those who have an adequate experience. Well it is understood as these people are going to get preference everywhere, but then where does the freshers go? Again there might be some who are not qualified that much but are skillful enough to adapt to a job! So are these people worthy of making online job searches! I personally never required to do this and am currently employed too. But this is something that I feel would help those who are yet to find anything.

lynzpower

james02 wrote: »

Well I would like to get a couple of things sorted out when it comes to the online job search websites. There are some people who believe that these sites prefer persons who have a high level of qualification or those who have an adequate experience. Well it is understood as these people are going to get preference everywhere, but then where does the freshers go? Again there might be some who are not qualified that much but are skillful enough to adapt to a job! So are these people worthy of making online job searches! I personally never required to do this and am currently employed too. But this is something that I feel would help those who are yet to find anything.

:spam: :spam:

Lady_E

I have read the post and I am a little confused . Why would the lady not want to do any translating? It seems to me that with our multi linguial society , the chance to use your degree to get a good job using your languages must surely be an opportunity not to be missed. I think she should pursue the translating angle and if she is finding things that difficult perhaps arrange a meet with her old tutors from Uni for inspiration. Jobs that come to mind using languages include Call centres/cabin crew/journalism/Embassy/Airline HQ...I could go on but how about just sending out letters with your CV to companies that you think would be good to work for and see what happens

I have to say I resent the implication that " bog standard admin work can be learnt in two days", perhaps it was not meant that way , but it came across as patronising IMHO.

hd7481

When i graduated from my degree in 2003 with a first class honours, I struggled on for 7 months to find a 'relevant' job. I eventually gave up and decided to start temping. As i had no admin experience on my cv (even though you gain a whole load of admin experience at uni) I had to still start at the bottom and spent a long 5 months working as a filing clerk which then allowed me to get better positions in the future. I eventually went back to uni to train as a speech therapist but still expect to temp. You have to do whatever comes along really so people can see what skills you actually do have.