Finding it absolutely impossible to find a new job!? 13 May 2019 at 7:15PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Employment, Jobseeking & Training 19 replies 1.9K views

Doshwaster

Sounds like you need to have a big think about how all the marketing and media skills you used at University can be used to market yourself.

In a previous job we hired a digital marketing chap who sent us some videos he had made of one of our products which were better than what we were producing in-house. In a competitive jobs market, you really need to show example of the work you have done. Saying "I studied it at Uni" isn't good enough. Do you have your own website or social media outlet where you can show off your work? Maybe contact some local independent businesses to see if you can do some one-off work for them in order to build a portfolio.

Tanvisane

Excellent thread! I got valuable information here...Thank you!

ohreally

Tanvisane wrote: »

Excellent thread! I got valuable information here...Thank you!

Avoid a media degree?

Jlawson118

MovingForwards wrote: »

Are your CV and covering letter matched to each role you are applying for?

As your hours have been cut can you get any work experience in media/marketing so you gain experience?

What types of companies are you applying for when doing the media / marketing applications?

Is your CV on any job sites for recruitment to see?

What job sites are you looking at?

Apologises for the late response here! Struggling to find work experience in any of the areas. I'm struggling to generally find the work experience within the industry. It was the reason I went to university in the first place, for the experience opposed to the degree, and they promised a lot of it but they didn't deliver. But nevertheless I keep looking!

I've been looking at general independent businesses but a lot of them when looking at the small print require mostly sales/telesales when in reality my degree involved more the creative side of marketing, not so much 'sales'

I've got my CV on LinkedIn, Monster and also Indeed. (Which also answers your final question of the sites I use to look for jobs) But I get the odd email once or twice a month from recruitment agencies trying to get me into some kind of telesales/door-to-door sales roles. I rarely even get offered anything related to my current job, let alone my degree. Apart from once I got a phone call with regards to a management role for a logistics company which an agency spoke to me about but then never rang me back.

Jlawson118

ohreally wrote: »

Avoid a media degree?

Avoid most degrees to be honest, I regret going to university so much! £30,000 in student debt just to be stuck in a dead end job. It's more the lies I believed before joining to draw me in that I think winds me up the most.
Funny thing is, most of my class are also stuck in retail or other such jobs, when they used to give me issues for having a part time job on the side.

Jlawson118

74jax wrote: »

In your other thread you said you thought the job you were interviewing for would start at 7am due to shifts.

What media / marketing are you looking at? We often have marketing jobs up - I work in housebuilding and know of many others but this is office work, what kind is it you want?

Are you on LinkedIn, connecting with people etc.

My other thread regarding commute time back in November? I made it to a final interview stage but unfortunately didn't get the job! Even though it sounded quite positive. I'd aced the interview but don't think I'd done so well in the assessment centre side of things.

I'm generally looking for the creative side of things such as advertisements, or working towards more of a business strategy kind of marketing, analysing data and figuring out from that data, what attracts customers and working towards that kind of thing. My main degree was more targeted towards video and film production, but I took a lot of joy into learning a little bit of app development by myself (creating a prototype more than an app itself)

I am on LinkedIn and I've connected with a fair few people over time, but I've posted the odd job search post and explained my dilemma but haven't really had a great deal of responses, apart from logistics companies telling me to jump on their graduate/apprenticeship schemes, but they're either unavailable to apply for or they're based quite far away

Jlawson118

LilElvis wrote: »

As a recent graduate are you applying for jobs locally or nationally? Are you prepared to relocate? As you have stayed in the city where you studied have you been back to your university to ask for career help? Are you in contact with any of your fellow students who have gained roles in your field who could advise you/ give you a heads up 're openings with their employers?

I'm mainly applying locally, which could be very much the issue now that I look at the bigger picture! Though I am open to relocate if the right offer was to become available, but I do have family where I am now that I care for and need to be around (my grandma and frequent hospital appointments for example, though my mum and step-dad are on hand a lot of the time) But I've also just got into a new relationship, in which we have discussed things and she's said she would be open to a long-distance relationship for now if it ever came to it.

Other students on my course are either in similar jobs at the moment, or I think a few are doing Masters Degrees. I got in on a Masters degree in International Business & Management, but deferred a year to try and find a job instead. Quite frankly I don't think I'm ready to go through yet another degree, but might be my only option

MovingForwards

Widen your search!

Look at law firms and universities as both have media / marketing roles and staff. I would imagine accountancy firms and property businesses would also have a dedicated marketing team. Banks and building societies may be worth a look at.

Small / independent companies will want someone who can hit the ground running.

You don't need a degree, you have enough theory now you need the practice. You need to get your foot in the door and work your way up or across. See if you can get admin work somewhere that has a marketing department, get mingling at staff events, keep your ear to the ground and an eye on their vacancies so you can move across from admin into marketing admin then work upwards. You mention analysis of data, again look at where I've pointed to for the media and advertising side of things; as you've a business paper under your belt look at finance, research companies as grants applications need putting together to fund the research which involves a dedicated team who are analysing info and data, preparing and costing everything needed for one si glad research grant application to be made.

Don't rule out call centre work as it's giving you a pay packet, additional skills to add on your CV and you never know where that leads.

Oh and them job sites, nah! Look at R££D instead, most people who are recruiting advertise on that.

It's so easy to dismiss many roles and places, without thinking of the bigger picture and what it can do to help you get to the end result.

theoretica

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I'm generally looking for the creative side of things such as advertisements, or working towards more of a business strategy kind of marketing, analysing data and figuring out from that data, what attracts customers and working towards that kind of thing. My main degree was more targeted towards video and film production, but I took a lot of joy into learning a little bit of app development by myself (creating a prototype more than an app itself)

So... why not produce a film as an open job application and try to get it to appeal to people without jobs to offer so it spreads on social media. Volunteer for charities to produce advertising for them and analyse what works to enhance your CV.