What should I do?

Nippy1

Ok, things are not going well for me. I'm unemployed, have few friends and in general life isnt great. All, I want to do is drink (but so far have pretty much resisted the temptation).

Why would life be so unfair to me? I never asked or wanted for much, a satisfying job and a couple of friends to have a drink with. But oh, no, I end up unemployed after 4 years of college with little hope for the future.

So, my internet colleagues, what should I do?

Miss Fluff

I work within the recruitment sector and I find it genuinely inconceivable that anyone could be unemployed in this day and age without very good reason. What was your course in? Where have you been looking? Have you attended interviews?

Nippy1

yeah, attended interviews but am no good at them. Im qualified in IT where evrybody looks for experience (as far as i can see)

LundiMardi

yeah man, there isn't really any reason to be unemployed... the only people i know who are unemployed are just picky feckers!! ha.

Go out and get a job rather than moaning on the internet.. If you've had no success then head over to the work forum and show them your cv/cover letter, as this is most likely effecting your chances.

LundiMardi

Nippy1 wrote:

yeah, attended interviews but am no good at them. Im qualified in IT where evrybody looks for experience (as far as i can see)

why are you no good at them? in what way?

meditraitor

Fair play to you for keeping away from the drink so far, it will only make matters worse, being a natural depressant and all.
As for your work prospects, if your finding it difficult to get a job that relates to your college work then I advise you to look elswere for the moment, get a menial job on a building site, or in a pub, something to keep you going till the right job comes up. This will help as it keeps the mind occupied and may stop you falling deeper into depression.
getting out there might also help with meeting new people which will give you an opportunity to socialise.
Get involved in something your interested in, sports, clubs etc these will also help with meeting people.

Just dont despair dude, there are plenty of people out there worse than you.

Good luck

Mark

Miss Fluff

Here are some tips on writing a good CV as well as some hints for interview.

http://www.irishjobs.ie/resource_centre/index.asp

Are you searching independently or going through agencies?

www.irishjobs.ie has a part of the site dedicated to Graduate roles specifically.

Also have a look on http://www.gradireland.com/ also

You also say you are "no good" at interviews. It's perfectly acceptable when being told you were unsuccessful at interview to establish WHY. You don't simply take the first "no" and become all defeatest about it. There could be something very simple that you are doing in interviews that is your downfall.

jhegarty

where in the country are you ?

I am sure someone on here will know where there is entry level/call centre jobs going.......

*Oul_Doll_Cork*

Nippy1 wrote:

Why would life be so unfair to me? I never asked or wanted for much, a satisfying job and a couple of friends to have a drink with.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself for a start!! I'm sorry but life is what you make of it... you can't expect someone to come knocking on your door offering you a job!!! You say you can't get a job... somehow I don't believe that you have been trying!!! Fair enough you might not be able to get a job in IT at the moment but you have to look for something else to keep you occupied!! You could always do some voluntary work part time in the IT sector so you can gain some experience!! You won't meet anyone if you are at home on your computer all day!!
Good luck with the job hunting!

edanto

Fair play to you for recognising the problem and asking for help in fixing it.

You're in control. If 'things aren't going well', it's up to you to make the changes you want. A job's a good place to start - work 9-5 on getting a job and you'll have one in no time.

In the meantime, hang out with your friends, invite them round for dinner and enjoy the extra time you have at the moment. Think about the things in life that bring you pleasure and spend more time doing them.

You might say, 'sounds easy to do'....it is and it isn't. It's not always smooth, but it's always worth it.

The best of luck.

Corksham

Where do you live? There are plenty of jobs out there dont be afriad to take a helpdesk job even if ya want a 100k Oracle developer job, any work is better than no work

PDD

Ok for starters snap the **** out of this Woe is me attitude! Im with Miss Fluff and a few others here who have told you to wake up and cop on. Dont bitch and whine coz you thought you So you thought you would automatically get a job after college but it didnt happen for whatever reason (lack of experience on C.V etc). You have two very simple choices here (and at any given point in your life about pretty much anything):

A) Do nothing about it, bitch, whine, moan, drink yourself into a stupor and surround yourself with people who will pitty you and agree with you so you can continue on a self loathing cycle that leads nowhere.

or

Do something about it. Have a look at the situation and decided this is not what I want and Im going to change it. No one else will do this for you, nor can anyone else do this for you. You have put yourself in this situation because you have chosen to sit back and do nothing about it.

So you've got no IT experience on your C.V. so go get some then. As somebody mentioned here volunteer for work. Typically any local volunteer group would love to have someone with any IT expereince help out. Go talk to them explain your situation and start up new projects for them like making sure they have decent backups etc. Then you can put it on your C.V. with a lil fluff like "implementing a new records management and backup strategy".

You said you dont do good interviews, well ok ask the interviewer or recruitment agency to give you feed back.

As someone here suggested work on your cover letter and C.V. these should be customised and individually written for every job you apply for. So many people over look this its unbelieveable. Ask people for C.Vs and see how they word things if its in IT chances are its a HR person who looks at the C.V first rather than a technical person.

As a few people mentioned if having no job is that depressing start with any job or get something in your field like helpdesk. Sure its not the job you want but its experience we all had to do that.

Just so you dont think Im bashing you for no reason. I graduated from college after having to postpone my exams due to illness, I was still recovering when I did my exams and got a ****ty result which flushed a funded 200K Phd down the drain and left me out in the IT market in 2003 just after the IT bubble had burst. I worked in a local internet cafe to get experience, convinced the owner he needed to do some upgrading which I did. I did that for about 6months then got another job on helpdesk, did that for about 6months till I got offered a job doing some programming. I did that till the company downsized and I got let go as I was the last one to join and after that I managed to get a job at a low end position in a blue chip company and work my way up. This isnt an "Im so great rant" its just what happened to me and I bet there are tons of people on this forum who've had much bigger set backs then Ive had and they still got on with it! As Ive said before snap the **** out of it and stop waiting for someone else to make things happen - your the someone to make things happen now go do it!

Nippy1

Geez, ye guys are harsh

im situated in Cork (Home of Liam MacCarthy) but I wouldnt even dream of revealing my identity

LundiMardi

what exactly were you expecting?

mada999

VMWARE in cork are looking for people......(well they were a month ago)

the_syco

Sh|t @ interviews? Goto your local Job Centre (or FAS), and say that you have a cert/degree from college, and that your finding it hard to get a job, and you're wondering if there is some interview technique help they can give? Pretty sure they do that sort of stuff.

Miss Fluff

http://www.irishjobs.ie/query_new.asp?IsProvince=1&MatchPerc=40&Ranking=&Roles=&Recruiter=Both&Category=3&Location=4&KEYWORDS=cork+graduate

The Corinthian

Nippy1 wrote:

Geez, ye guys are harsh

What are you expecting? Someone to offer you a job here?

The reality is you’re going to have to put in the effort and do interview after interview after interview before you’ll get that first job. Get feedback from each interview. If they didn’t offer you the job, there’s a reason - perhaps you didn’t highlight a skill well enough or perhaps your attitude sucked - which means you can adapt your CV and interview technique for the next interview. Eventually you’ll get a job.

God helps those who help themselves.

I wouldnt even dream of revealing my identity

We don't actually care who you are.

Samhildanach

I think you were disheartened after graduation, you expected to be employed straight away and lost a little faith (the anticlimax), hence your negative attitude. When I graduated it was almost impossible to find a job in my sector (market being oversaturated and the experience aspect). So I took a part-time job in a related area and in that time decided the CV route wasn't working. So I decided to be brave and take the initiative .... I opened the Golden Pages ... checked out my sectors listings and cold called. On day 1 of the cold calls, phone call No. 3 I got a positive result and an interview which lead to a great job. YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE AND BE RESOURCEFUL TO GET ANYWHERE. The company gave me the opportunity (despite my lack of experience) because the boss was impressed that I had the nerve to cold call - most employers like people who take the initiative.

There are many ways to get a positive result ... you just have to keep trying and be positive that you can succeed.

Victor

Get a job, any job.

It will give you interview practice, job skills, put food on the table and self esteem in your heart.