Graduated and still no job..getting desperate

lisa_75

I graduated in July with a First in Social Policy. I am looking for a job that will fit in with childcare, so no evenings or weekends. I also only want to work part time. I have applied for over 70 jobs and had 1 interview.

I am willing to do anything. I am mainly applying for low skill jobs, but getting nowhere. I have had help from uni with my CV and applications, but still nothing. I have not worked for almost 13 years and think this is what is holding me back.

Supermarkets are not interested as I can't work evenings and weekends. Similarly most cleaning jobs start too early.

I really need a job before Christmas. Will temp agencies even consider someone with no experience who wants to work part time only?

Should I take the degree off my applications and just say I have been a SAHM? Will this be putting employers off if I applying for low skill/low paid work?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

speranza

You shouldn't be applying for low-skill jobs with a First in Social Policy. Either apply for jobs suitable for someone with a third-level qualification or take the degree off your CV and apply as someone with little or no qualifications. But why do you want a low-skill job when you have a degree? Seems like a bit of a waste and you must be good if you got a first.

Edit: Sorry, just realised you want to work part-time. Still, you should be able to get something that uses your degree skills, in the public sector for example. I know some civil service departments offer alternative working arrangements or you could try to find a job share. The public/voluntary sector is probably your best bet for flexibility though, I think.

lisa_75

speranza wrote: »

You shouldn't be applying for low-skill jobs with a First in Social Policy. Either apply for jobs suitable for someone with a third-level qualification or take the degree off your CV and apply as someone with little or no qualifications. But why do you want a low-skill job when you have a degree? Seems like a bit of a waste and you must be good if you got a first.

Edit: Sorry, just realised you want to work part-time. Still, you should be able to get something that uses your degree skills, in the public sector for example. I know some civil service departments offer alternative working arrangements or you could try to find a job share. The public/voluntary sector is probably your best bet for flexibility though, I think.

Hi,

I have been checking the civil service recruitment website most days for months and found nothing in my area. Similar story with the DWP website. I have applied for a few positions that require a degree/a levels, but been told that no experience = no interview.

That’s why I am now applying now for low skill work as I need something and thought I would be more likely to get a low skilled job with no work experience. I think I will leave the degree off the CV when applying as it may be putting employers off. Is this legal? The only problem with that is trying to explain my skills, a lot of which were picked up at uni..eg team work, IT.

marky_p

I graduated in July too. I've only been looking for work for about 6 weeks (had to have a bit of a holiday ) but no joy so far, and just had 2 interviews. Getting a bit desperate really!

welf_man

It does seem daft to have run up all that debt studying and not use the degree! What did you have in mind when you chose Social Policy as a field?

You say you need to fit around childcare and that you only want to work part-time - does that mean you need to work school hours? If so, I'd have thought school jobs are worth looking at, and in fact Council jobs in general. Charities, colleges and universities are also worth a try.

Best bet is to apply for jobs that you really want and have the skills for, give applications and interviews your best shot and when you're asked "would you take the job if we offered it to you?", say yes, subject to negotiation on hours. An employer who wants you will accommodate you (and yes, this is from personal experience!).

Good luck -

Mel.

lisa_75

welf_man wrote: »

It does seem daft to have run up all that debt studying and not use the degree! What did you have in mind when you chose Social Policy as a field?

You say you need to fit around childcare and that you only want to work part-time - does that mean you need to work school hours? If so, I'd have thought school jobs are worth looking at, and in fact Council jobs in general. Charities, colleges and universities are also worth a try.

Best bet is to apply for jobs that you really want and have the skills for, give applications and interviews your best shot and when you're asked "would you take the job if we offered it to you?", say yes, subject to negotiation on hours. An employer who wants you will accommodate you (and yes, this is from personal experience!).

Good luck -

Mel.

I have applied for about 15 jobs with the local council and 4 with the local uni. Not one interview, even for kitched assistant! The only interview I did get, with the NHS, I was turned down because I couldn't work the hours they wanted. I have been told that a school job is almost impossible. They have qualified teachers applying for teaching assistant posts in this area. I really don’t stand a chance.

When I started my degree it was to get me out the house mainly and to build up my confidence. Never thought for a minute that family friendly jobs would be so hard to come by. Employers (in this area anyway) seem to want you to be available evenings and weekends for very little pay and flexibility seems to be unheard of.

Have been told by uni to start at the bottom and work my way up. Even the low pay jobs want you to be very flexible. I just can’t do that with childcare commitments.

linzi_h

I have exactly the same problem. I graduated the same time and got a 2:1 in Information Systems (computing) and I have applied for about 50 jobs and not 1 interview. I have had a lot of feedback saying that I have no experience within this field and therefore they will not employ me. I wish that I had a year where I could work within the industry to build up experience within this field. I have had to just get a full time job in a call centre to get me by as I really needed the money.

I do have a lot of work experience but in other fields but they don't seem bothered with it.

I just think that I have worked my a** off for 6 years by going to college and uni to get a qualification in something that I enjoy and got nothing out of it.

Dunno what else I can do really but to just keep looking and applying

[Deleted User]

Linzi, where are you? If you live near london I could get you a job interview within 2 weeks. IM me if you want to know more..

roxalana

lisa_75 wrote: »

I have applied for about 15 jobs with the local council and 4 with the local uni. Not one interview, even for kitched assistant! The only interview I did get, with the NHS, I was turned down because I couldn't work the hours they wanted. I have been told that a school job is almost impossible. They have qualified teachers applying for teaching assistant posts in this area. I really don’t stand a chance.

When I started my degree it was to get me out the house mainly and to build up my confidence. Never thought for a minute that family friendly jobs would be so hard to come by. Employers (in this area anyway) seem to want you to be available evenings and weekends for very little pay and flexibility seems to be unheard of.

Have been told by uni to start at the bottom and work my way up. Even the low pay jobs want you to be very flexible. I just can’t do that with childcare commitments.

I would say that your local council is still your best bet for flexible work- i can't speak for all councils but Brighton and Hove certainly tries to allow people to work as flexibly as possible - with job sharing, part time work and flexible hours. There will of course be some jobs which due to their nature cannot be as flexible as others.

If you haven't been given an interview for any of the council jobs, then I would advise calling the recruiting manager or the Human Resources department to ask if you can have feedback on why you weren't given an interview. If you know what has stood in your way in the past you can work to change it!

For example, I see a lot of application forms where the person looks as if they should be able to do the job standing on their head but they don't demonstrate in the application how they meet the person specification! Interviews are given on the basis of how many person spec points people meet, so these people lose out. I always use the person spec points as headings to make sure I don't leave anything out!

School jobs are hard to get - I got mine by being an unpaid volunteer at the school first to get direct experience.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

pinkshoes

lisa_75 wrote: »

I graduated in July with a First in Social Policy. I am looking for a job that will fit in with childcare, so no evenings or weekends. I also only want to work part time. I have applied for over 70 jobs and had 1 interview. .

Hello! Is there any specific reason why you want to work part time? The first thing I noticed about your post is the amount of negatives (can't this... want this...) so it will probably give an employer an instant impression of someone picky and difficult (I'm sure you're not, it's just how it sounds!!), and given that they get LOTS of applications, yours would probably be put aside instantly.

There's lots of private companies who have flexible hours, and most the secretaries or HR staff out our company seem to work part time, and can take time off if kids are sick.

maybe take a look at your cv again. if you want some help, PM me...

linzi_h

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Linzi, where are you? If you live near london I could get you a job interview within 2 weeks. IM me if you want to know more..

Hi ringo_24601

Im based in the North West unfortunatly so I couldnt work in London

Thanks anyways