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Feeling unemployable...

C

caleb

Well-Known Member
I finished uni at the very beginning of May - ended up getting a decent degree from a good university, despite my mental state / lifestyle making that seem impossible a few years before. After finishing I moved back down to London and into my parents, got a job in a pub and worked solidly, full time up until August when I had had enough of my boss (a racist, aggressive bully), and a bunch of us decided to quit more or less at the same time because of his behaviour. At this point I didn't have much money (minimum wage and a lot of what I made went on travel), but at least enough to have a pleasant summer, which was always my intention.

Beginning of September I started to look for jobs where I might be able to use my degree (English Literature and Language - something I regret but was almost forced into as a result of GCSEs, A Levels, long story...) and previous experience (alongside my second year at uni I also worked at a communications company doing copywriting, etc.) In the middle of September I lost an old school friend to suicide so the job hunt was forgotten about for a week or so, but since then I have been looking and looking to little avail -- one interview and two phone calls from recruiters, I think, in nearly two months and after many applications. I just heard back from the people who interviewed me saying I have "some strong relevant experience and are clearly very accomplished" but that they decided to give the job to a "candidate with a little more consumer media relations expertise."

In truth I don't really have any idea of the job market I'm attempting to navigate: I'm looking for jobs I'm suitably qualified for that will give me an insight into particular industries, but I'm constantly finding that there is a level of assumed skill, experience and knowledge that is beyond what I possess, even for entry-level and junior positions. In part I think this is because I didn't do any unpaid internships or work experience placements as a student (I basically worked as childcare for my mum throughout my uni summer holidays, and even if I didn't have to do that I wouldn't have been able to afford to work unpaid, nor would I have wanted to do it) and I get the impression the people I'm up against for roles have all gone through that process. In fact, it's not an impression, I know for a fact that many of my fellow students spent summer holiday after summer holiday doing internships, etc.

I know this will sound just like the rantings of yet another millennial discovering the real world, etc. but it really does get to you. I haven't signed on yet as I had made the money I saved from the pub job last a while, but I'm going to rectify that asap. I just don't have any idea of the direction I'm meant to be going in or what I'm doing wrong...
 
Good luck. Guess you've thought of this but can you use your skills in a voluntary capacity, charity, etc, few hours a week in the mean time to get more experience. Is it something you can do at a distance online? You don't have to do it for a year as far as putting down I have experience in doing x for y, on CV. IMO anyway.
 
Fuck direction. Do what the rest of us do, blunder through life/work until you find a place that you can tolerate, or if you're doing well, quite enjoy.

Get a job, any job, as a first step. Once you're employed you're going to get more responses to your applications and you'll have time to think about where you want to go. My first job out of Uni was a step up from data entry on a couple of quid above minimum wage, 9 months later a job i applied for finally came through.

Several years on i've actually got a career that has decent money attached and that I enjoy

If you want my advice on general direction: Try to work out what you enjoy doing. Is it problem solving as part of a team? Is it producing something on your own without distraction? Do you want a desk job or does that depress you at the very thought of it? From there you can look at the careers you would enjoy rather than just falling into one because it's expected.
 
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I recommend you see if your Uni's careers department can help you. They can be quite good. It is hard if you don't yet have a career in mind, you could also try the NCS (National Careers Service) whose services are free and they have some careers questionnaires you can sit which give ideas as to careers where you would fit.
 
Someone I know with English went into publishing. She had to work as an intern for a few weeks to get in initially I think. She wanted specifically to get into a sector of publishing, setting I think it was.
 
Belushi said:
Overall I've had a positive experience of temping, got to get a lot of experience of my sector and two of the permanent jobs I've had came through going places as a temp initially.
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yeh, but you weren't temping for *a popular high street bank* in their clearing department.
 
Oh yeah, to clarify, I could just go back to working in a pub or retail for example, but I know that that will be a cycle of working solidly for a while (and drinking and being basically unproductive in my free time), and then doing fuck all. I'll have a bit of money for a bit and then be in the same cycle again.

On the other hand it's not a case of me wandering out of uni and wanting to walk into a £30k job in marketing. One of the jobs I thought I had a good shot of getting was as a student support assistant at a music school, put a lot of effort into the application and... nothing.

I just want to find something that pays decently, has sociable working hours and gives me a bit of breathing space while I work out wtf I'm doing.
 
Belushi said:
Damn straight I wasn't :D

A hell of a lot depends on which agency your with, I landed on my feet with the first one I signed up with in London and worked on and off for them for fifteen years.
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have been with select and manpower in my time. not sure i'd recommend either of them. in fact am sure i wouldn't.
 
caleb said:
Oh yeah, to clarify, I could just go back to working in a pub or retail for example, but I know that that will be a cycle of working solidly for a while (and drinking and being basically unproductive in my free time), and then doing fuck all. I'll have a bit of money for a bit and then be in the same cycle again.

On the other hand it's not a case of me wandering out of uni and wanting to walk into a £30k job in marketing. One of the jobs I thought I had a good shot of getting was as a student support assistant at a music school, put a lot of effort into the application and... nothing.

I just want to find something that pays decently, has sociable working hours and gives me a bit of breathing space while I work out wtf I'm doing.
Click to expand...
jobs.ac.uk
 
What Belushi said... try a bit of temping, try for comms/marketing assistant level. Also create an online portfolio (WordPress or similar) with your best writing esp if it's been published. If nothing published write a few bits for a local independent news site (something like Brixton Buzz maybe) unlikely to get paid but it's something tangible you can show to prospective employers. Good luck x
 
Lidl pays living wage - £9.35. Lots of part time store assistant sort of jobs - could give you time to volunteer/job hunt etc. As well as graduate entry management stuff.

Don't worry about 'forever' just get something, anything, for now and then keep looking.
 
Apart from publishing some people with English used to do TEFL and travel. Don't know how many do it these days but - anyhow would you like to travel?

Also, do you want to use your English in your career?
 
caleb it's very easy to feel unemployable, especially when out of work for a while or after having a particularly unpleasant work experience, you obviously are not and I'm sure in the back of your mind you know that. Try not to let the nagging thoughts get to you.

I don't have any advice in regards to direction, I'm another graduate bumbling from one low paid non graduate job to the next, there are plenty of us around unfortunately. Honestly I agree with weltweit, if I didn't have an OH with a good job here then I would go and do TEFL somewhere.
 
I am only saying TEFL is an option, I think the UNI Careers office first, then NCS (National Careers Service) get all the options on careers you can and see what takes your imagination. I am not sure I agree with the people who have said take anything, because job hunting takes time and if you are working in a shit job you won't have time to focus on it.
 
weltweit said:
I am only saying TEFL is an option, I think the UNI Careers office first, then NCS (National Careers Service) get all the options on careers you can and see what takes your imagination. I am not sure I agree with the people who have said take anything, because job hunting takes time and if you are working in a shit job you won't have time to focus on it.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, although thinking like that is a bit of a luxury not everyone can afford. When I was working in a call centre I was just too depressed to look for anything else.
 
Cheers people, some helpful advice and links, and it's nice to just have a rant because it was getting to me earlier.

Some general stuff: I have articles published going back a few years (I write about music as a hobby, every so often), and all the positions I'm applying for are at the very bottom level (assistant, entry-level, junior positions, paid internships, etc.) My OP made it seem like I'm really concerned with having some sort of career path set out ahead of me but that isn't really true at all, I just want to find some half decent, well paid employment. In actual fact there are a lot of other things in my life I'd like to focus on (I'm in the process of organising a club night to raise money for Mind, for instance) and in the grand scheme of things I don't want to be doing copywriting or working as a marketing assistant, or most of the things that I'm applying for, I just don't know how to get out of the rut of working temporarily for low pay and at shit places, etc.

A friend who didn't go to uni was unemployed for nearly a year, got an apprenticeship at a housing association, got employed full time for two years and has now saved up enough to move down to Melbourne. Likewise, I'm not looking for a job for life, just something to get a bit of experience behind me, enough money to actually save, and then see where I'm going, but I've had absolutely no luck.
 
It is tough after uni. I also had a literature degree, good mark, good university, couldn't get a job. I didn't ever feel unemployable, just frustrated that I couldn't seem to get across *why* I was employable! TBH in the end it took a career-specific postgrad course (in publishing) to get me started, but I was fortunate that was a financial option for me.

The problem with 'just wanting to get a proper job' is that you may fail to convince potential employers that you really want to stick at it... in my first job they would always go through tonnes of applicants for editorial assistant, and the commissioning editor was forever turning people down because she wasn't convinced they really wanted to do it and thought they'd leave for something better paid the minute they got a chance and thought editorial work would be 'nice' in the meantime. And lately at my current job, I heard one of the hirers saying she wasn't sure of an applicant's commitment - at entry level it counts for a lot. Obviously, once you're some way down the career path, no one has to doubt you have some sort of stake in that line of work, but before that, no one wants to take on someone who might get bored/want more money/jump ship when something they really want comes up.

So you need to make sure you have some really good, committed-sounding reason for each role. Try to look for things that might draw together your writing and voluntary work so you can use those as a basis to support your application - be creative about how your skills fit in.

It really does suck, but hang in there and good luck.
 
I'm in the same boat caleb, literature graduate, not much recent experience, lack of direction, no success with applications etc.
All I can offer is to see the applications as a numbers game keep applying for jobs but if you can be selective about it then just go for jobs that you could imagine yourself doing for 6-12 months.
But yes. Similar circumstance, similar feelings *solidarity post* it will get better.
 
At 50 I'm in a career, sorta, but blundered from job to job for years :D still not sure I'm doing the job I really want to do , but bills and stuff :hmm:
 
In terms of employability in a commercial environment, a little relevant professional experience is often a big 'value multiplier' for academic experience. That is, IME, when comparing computing & engineering students from the same university with the same results, the one who has done a year in a placement job is massively more employable, disproportionately so based on the time they've put in. It's not a one way street either; it also gives the applicant a much clearer idea about what they want and how to go about getting it.

So, have you got any way of engaging in something along those lines, even the less than ideal at a personal discount or cost? I'm hesitant to say that because I'm well aware it's a luxury that not everyone can afford, but some short term cost is likely to repay itself in subsequent employability. It's not only commercial employment either; personal projects and personal development have value, if slightly less coherent.

The other thing is that, along parallel lines, a candidate who has done the non-vocational things you describe, like being a carer, is still a better candidate than one who has glided untroubled through academia. Play it up instead of considering it to be a negative; for example, with a foot in the door, all those 'give an example of a time when' questions aren't only answerable with boring anecdotes from gainful employment. And how you feel about this strategy is important; half of it is not what nonsense you're saying in answer to those questions, but how much you evidently have confidence in it or not.

I also suggest you try and extract more feedback from failed applications, and similarly but separately, advice from those who won't offer you a job anyway. If you're in a position to be employing people, many come at you looking for a job or some other reward, but only a few go seeking something as pure as your advice and mentoring. All of this is sometimes difficult especially if it goes hand in hand with a personal setback, but if you're stuck as to how to refine what you're doing, then this is likely to be valuable.

Edit: Quora is full of total shit but I happened upon this anecdote the other day that illustrates my 'advice' point.
 
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