Why can't I get a job? Unemployed for 1.5 years!

theoretica

I agree about the relocation - if you have a job you surely can find some way of getting there, even if you need to move by taking a suitcase on the train and asking for a wage advance the first month to rent a room and going back for the rest of your stuff once you can afford the transport.

JamesWMH88

I'm not sure that not stating I'd need an advance would be a good idea. What if they turn around and say no? I'd be stuck without anywhere to live, and possibly without a job in that case. The very latest I should mention it is interview stage surely?

Daedalus

JamesWMH88 wrote: »

I'm not sure that not stating I'd need an advance would be a good idea. What if they turn around and say no? I'd be stuck without anywhere to live, and possibly without a job in that case. The very latest I should mention it is interview stage surely?

So you are back in your original position? Lost nothing.

jacques_chirac

If you can't get/ don't want to ask for an advance, find another way to make the move happen - sell some things on ebay, ask parents for a short term loan, don't buy a new tablet?

Voyager2002

JamesWMH88 wrote: »

I'm not sure that not stating I'd need an advance would be a good idea. What if they turn around and say no? I'd be stuck without anywhere to live, and possibly without a job in that case. The very latest I should mention it is interview stage surely?

In that situation, banks and credit card suppliers suddenly become very helpful. When that happened to me, at a time when my credit rating was very very bad, I showed my job offer letter to people in my local branch of the Co-op bank, and not only did they find a way to lend me the money I needed to move, they even made the loan interest-free!

JamesWMH88

jacques_chirac wrote: »

If you can't get/ don't want to ask for an advance, find another way to make the move happen - sell some things on ebay, ask parents for a short term loan, don't buy a new tablet?

Ha ha, that's going to be a birthday present from my grandparents next month, so I don't have to keep using my mothers laptop.


I wouldn't quite be in the position I'm in now, the main thing I will have lost if I don't mention that I need an advance is JSA, which would leave me a bit screwed.

Perhaps I should ask for an advance at the same time I might get a job offer phone call?

I was wondering if something like offering to take a lower salary and get a the first month in advance might work? Or would that be complicating things?

jacques_chirac

Voyager2002 wrote: »

In that situation, banks and credit card suppliers suddenly become very helpful. When that happened to me, at a time when my credit rating was very very bad, I showed my job offer letter to people in my local branch of the Co-op bank, and not only did they find a way to lend me the money I needed to move, they even made the loan interest-free!

Not a hope of that happening in the current financial market - if you look at the loans board there have been several threads with graduates unable to get credit before their job starts.

JamesWMH88

Voyager2002 wrote: »

In that situation, banks and credit card suppliers suddenly become very helpful. When that happened to me, at a time when my credit rating was very very bad, I showed my job offer letter to people in my local branch of the Co-op bank, and not only did they find a way to lend me the money I needed to move, they even made the loan interest-free!

That's a very interesting idea, perhaps it would be worth me speaking to my bank (NatWest) and asking if I got a job whether they might be able to offer something similar. Or maybe go to the lower level credit card companies with the job offer (Aqua, Vanquis, Capital One etc)??

jacques_chirac

JamesWMH88 wrote: »

Ha ha, that's going to be a birthday present from my grandparents next month, so I don't have to keep using my mothers laptop.


I wouldn't quite be in the position I'm in now, the main thing I will have lost if I don't mention that I need an advance is JSA, which would leave me a bit screwed.

Perhaps I should ask for an advance at the same time I might get a job offer phone call?

I was wondering if something like offering to take a lower salary and get a the first month in advance might work? Or would that be complicating things?

Get a job offer in the bag before asking for an advance, don't jump the gun. Larger companies will be used to the question, even if the answer is no.

Could you speak to your grandparents and ask if they would mind saving their kind gift in case you need to move? I'm sure they would be proud to help if it meant you getting a job?

shop-to-drop

Once you have a job offer ask for a relocation package if it is not offered with the job offer. Once a company finds the right candidate they are generally happy to help them be able to take the job. My dh was given a fantastic package worth £1000's when he got his first graduate job as the company wanted to make sure he was able to take the offer. It costs them a lot of money to recruit so when they find someone they want them to be able to take the job.

I wouldn't mention it in interview unless they ask as it looks like you are putting up barriers.

Is your voluntary work related to your engineering.