chicken/egg problem with experience

head_above_water

I am looking for idea's on how to gain experience in another sector. I have worked as a qualified QCF/NVQ assessor and trainer for retail, customer service and management qualifications for the past 10 years. My contract is due to end in late October and due to Welsh funding I haven't been able to get another job. I need and want to work so I have been applying for customer service/retail roles,. The problem is I keep getting rejected at the application stage due to no current experience, (even though I have assessed learners in these roles.) so to get recent experience i have applied for minimum wage retail,contact centre and CS jobs but have had no luck with these either. I have been told I have too much knowledge for these jobs and that they won't risk employing me as I will move on a soon as I get a better paid job.
so what can I do ? Before I became an assessor I worked in retail for 16 years but apparently as it's not current it doesn't count

KarlF

I'd recommend looking through your cv again. You say that you don't have experience, but I'm willing to bet that you do, it's just that you need to look at it from a different angle.

As an NVQ assessor, your customers are your students. No doubt, you have had experience resolving questions about your products (courses), queries on the service of the company (how courses are supplied, etc), all manner of things. You would have worked in a team, even if you were remote from the office, you still would have been in contact with colleagues and management to assist with issues.

head_above_water

That's exactly what i put on my CV and cover letter, I explained that my learners and their managers are customers and how i resolve problems and conflicts, provide a service, establish relationships ,work as a team and be self sufficient and pro active.
If I could get to the interview stage I could explain this in detail but if the employer doesn't understand what I do then its difficult.

amandacat

The other option is to look for work in an entirely different sector.

Is there anything else that interests you? There are always jobs in care work or support roles. That would also enable you to be able to assess in care and there are more assessing jobs for these sectors. My sister assesses Care and has always been able to find work.

Alternatively, could you change the slant of your applications so it doesn't look like you are leaving assessing due to redundancy but instead make it look like you have decided to leave to return to work in the sector that you love?