Jobless and still looking HELP

JoblessJane

Hi to everyone here.
Apologies to all as I am new to this site and not sure am I following the rules here.
Can I ask if anyone is having the same problem as myself. Im sure I am not the only one with this problem.
I am as you can tell from my Username JoblessJane.
I have found it hard to find any kind of employment in this country.
I am from Cork and have Studied and been educated in this country and I feel somewhat of a second class citizan when it comes to getting employment.
I am a very hard working person and have worked since I was 15. I dont know what it is like to not work.
I am now in a situation where I am 30 and unemployed and with christmas around the corner Im getting teary now that I will not be able to buy my niece and nephew presents. Its come to the point that I may have to emigrate......

Im sick of applying to non existant jobs trough websites ect
I feel that I have really exausted my options with looking for a job.
I have sent 1000's of emails followed up by a phonecall , contacted numerious recruitment agencies and gone shop to shop business to business and handed in my cv to them. I have also tailor maid my CV so that it suits the position being applied for.
Now I am not setting my sights too high either as I have applied for jobs that require no experience or education im in a total rut.

Here I am looking and looking but nothing is coming from it.
Does anyone know how to help me ?
Am I doing something wrong?
Thankyou for listening to me
Please Help
JoblessJane

Andy Magic

Are you related to any politicians?

tripper1963

Hi Jane
hear you and feel your pain and frustration it can be truly demoralising when you are not recieving feedback
have you considered extra training perhaps? while the situation remains stagnant would it be of any use to you personally to train up and recieve extra qualifications?

RedXIV

what did you study/train as?

reilig

I work with unemployed people to try to get them into employment for the first time or back into employment. (Not going to mention what I do or who I work for). I'll be honest with you, there is no magic solution. You need to put in a lot of work and a little bit of luck - buy you can make much of your own luck by working hard.

I had a client who I have been working with for the last 3 months who eventually got a job last week. When I started working with her first, she had a definite role that she wanted to do - it was fitting to her education and her experience. To be honest, it took a month of refusals and failed interviews before she she bought into my plan for finding her a job. First of all she had to accept that it would be very difficult for her to find the exact job. I had to convince her that she would have to take something which was in some way related to her education, skills and experience as opposed to directly related and then work her way towards getting employment that she really wanted.

We started with her cv. Broke it down, and rebuilt it to something that would be acceptable and appealing to employers - she had already spent a lot of money with a career coach to try draw up the cv. It was just wasted in my opinion - they were just interested in getting the money out of her.

We started searching for work with companies/organisations that realistically would have work which she would be able to do. We set a plan every week of printing out 20 cv's with cover letters and she hand delivered them to the appropriate people in the appropriate offices (which we had pre-identified). Over 8 weeks, 150 cv's went out.

We also applied for every job that even slightly interested her that was advertised - but many seemed to be gone even before the advertisement went up.

For my client, it was all about the cold calling with her cv and eventually last week she got a call from an employer that she had given her cv to on week 2 who was just about to advertise a position and was willing to offer her an interview before spending money on advertising to see if she would be suitable.

We prepped for the interview, going through every question imaginable, preparing for questions taht might catch her out and making sure that everything she was going to say in the interview was true as opposed to adding unexperienced fiction which she could be caught out out on.

She interviewed last friday and starts tomorrow.

The jobs market has totally changed in the last 4 years. Employers have any amount of experienced people applying for jobs. As a jobseeker you have to go that step further than others - like my client did by applying to somewhere that she knew wasn't employing at the current time but might be in the future. You have to re-examine your cv and get advice on it from a professional - you don't have to pay someone, but you need to find some who knows what employers are looking for. (Business HR professionals, managers, owners etc.)

You need to be prepared to go above and beyond what the other applicants are able to do (Flexability, ability to do more than the job demands, etc) and be able to demonstrate this to the employer in a non "needy" way. ie. The employer wants you to be hassle free and be able to do more than the job describes.

Some of the clients that I work with cannot do this. They can't commit in their own heads to working an extra half hour a week to ensure that deadlines are met (without being asked), they appear questioning to employers - as if they are the best thing since sliced bread instead of being humble to employers who may be able to offer them employment.

Hope that helps a little.

JoblessJane

Hi Guys
Thanks for your kind replys
No I am not related to any politicians again this is an avenue that i have also exausted even though I still have not given up hope.
I am quite a politically minded person and have canvased for some local candidates in the past and would know them on a personal basis the main feedback that im getting from both my local council man and my local politician is that its not a case of who you know anymore.

Just going to give ye a quick rundown on what I have done.

Degree in Fashion Design Limerick
8 yrs fashion retail managerial experience
Lost my job last yr
Went back to college did 2 parttime courses
Hr training and development
Bio pharmaceutical
Now I am doing an add on course by night to get a full Degree in HR managment.

I have visited my local Fas office also to see if there was anything else I could do and all Im getting is Hold tough your doing your best.

I went to a career guidence twice and she was a lovely woman but had to fork out €200 per session eeeeekk.

But I felt that ok this person helped me but still not many replys from job apps.

Relig thanks so much for all of your advice.
Would love to possibly speak to you more if that is at all possible.

Thank you all
you dont realise how comforting it is to have some support. x

JoblessJane

stop animal cruelty

JoblessJane wrote: »

Hi Guys
Thanks for your kind replys
No I am not related to any politicians again this is an avenue that i have also exausted even though I still have not given up hope.
I am quite a politically minded person and have canvased for some local candidates in the past and would know them on a personal basis the main feedback that im getting from both my local council man and my local politician is that its not a case of who you know anymore.

Just going to give ye a quick rundown on what I have done.

Degree in Fashion Design Limerick
8 yrs fashion retail managerial experience
Lost my job last yr
Went back to college did 2 parttime courses
Hr training and development
Bio pharmaceutical
Now I am doing an add on course by night to get a full Degree in HR managment.

I have visited my local Fas office also to see if there was anything else I could do and all Im getting is Hold tough your doing your best.

I went to a career guidence twice and she was a lovely woman but had to fork out €200 per session eeeeekk.

But I felt that ok this person helped me but still not many replys from job apps.

Relig thanks so much for all of your advice.
Would love to possibly speak to you more if that is at all possible.

Thank you all
you dont realise how comforting it is to have some support. x

JoblessJane

€200??!?! thats crazy! l only had to pay €50!

tony81

You could try to get a job in recruitment.
Also there's a springboard recruitment fair in dublin tomorrow and ones in other cities in the coming weeks.. google it

RussRamsden

Jane (hopefully not jobless for long)

I am a senior recruiter based in Dublin, I know exactly how you feel and unfortunately it is a sign of the current climate we are working in, clients expect that there are always "more suitable" candidates on the market and this is not always the case.

As a recruiter I have the same problems as you, I put people forward who I think are great, but the client then thinks there are better people, it's not a nice situation but I would just say keep chipping away and opportunities will come up. There are certainly plenty of jobs out there and it's just making sure your CV is as relevant as possible to the roles you are applying.

When applying directly for a job you need to remember 3 main points, I call them the 3 R's:
- Relevant - Have any experience you have that is relevant to the role at the top of the 1st page, clients and recruiters won't keep searching down a CV if they don't see something relevant.
- Recent - Clients especially are interested in what you did most recently, if that means a college course in HR then put it in a short profile at the top of the CV, HR is important in most industries and also shows you are motivated.
-Real - Don't lie on a CV (sounds obvious but people do), because companies are much stricter now in researching peoples backgrounds, it's not a problem to stretch what you did in a company as long as it's based on the truth.

Finally I would say that there are a lot of agencies out there that are not so professional, but there are also good ones that work (in a hard market) to find people a job. I would suggest that instead of sending your CV off to 1000 people, call them first and arrange a face to face meeting to discuss your background and expectations, the truth is if they don't want to meet you then they don't have your best interests at heart (& move on to the next).

Anyway the main thing is to keep the head up, keep chipping away and the roles will come.

All the best

Russell

Elessar

It seems to me that if you are multilingual you will have no end of job opportunities available - every second job wants a second language. Unfortunately many Irish people are not.

It also seems that there are very few entry level jobs anywhere. Every job posting is looking for 5-10 years of experience and a host of certs and experience with many different technologies at the same time.

So, it seems, unless you are a good at programming, or multilingual, or have a decade of experience in a specific field with loads of experience of every practice, methodology and related technology you are sh*t out of luck.

Although I am working I'm looking for something different at the moment and these are the brick walls I am coming up against.

I am hoping to retrain in IT but even then, entry level jobs are few and far between.

Good luck in the job hunt OP, I know how disappointing and bleak it can seem but you have to persevere and keep positive.

arealhumanbein

Is HR the area you want to move into? if it is, I would definitely recommend an internship. Even one day a week. Competition is huge for entry level HR roles and you really need to get your foot on the ladder with an internship.

Failing that, there are always roles in customer service/call centers advertised. Fair enough, they are soul destroying but you develop alot of transferable skills to bring to other roles. You could even move into a one day week internship within that!

Best of luck!

merlie

Hello Jane,

Yes I completely understand you. I have been in the same position for a good while now. Sent off applications to many prospective employers and never even get to the interview stage. I am older then yourself. The jobs market has certainly changed. I do recall a time when a job was advertised and you applied you were always guaranteed an interview. The process is much longer now and with more applicants I can see why it is as it is.

I am constantly sending out CV's and waiting to hear. I sometimes get an email response, usually automated, and never hear anything further. It has become rather impersonal these days.

I just keep on going until I get something, who knows how long it will take! Theres an old saying ' Persistance pays off!' so don't lose heart Jane.

Blush_01

I worked in recruitment for a sum total of 9 months - small company, mainly multi-lingual, high volume stuff. Totally turned me off the recruitment industry if I'm honest.

As Russ said, we had candidates who, based on our brief, would have been amazing at the job blindfolded. In my case, many got to second and third round interview, and then the position or brief changed, because the company wasn't willing to commit, or thought that there had to be someone better, cheaper and faster out there *somewhere* and they were willing to wait for this golden egg laying goose. Many are still waiting (and advertising their positions in the interim).

You don't sound like someone who is resting on their laurels. It sounds like you're doing all the right things. Just keep going, and the right role will turn up.

I moved to a totally unrelated field (from the outside) to what I was doing in recruitment, and although my role is ending there soon and I'm back on the job hunt again, each thing you do brings you a step closer to the next thing you'll move into. Perspective is really important - look at where you want to be, map it out, and if there are two or three similar positions to that which you could aim for, or jobs that seem to be diagonally related to your preferred position, look there too. It might take a little time, but you'll eventually move back to what and where you want to be at, if you truly want to be there, and you'll acquire new skills while you're doing it.

Easier said than done, but don't allow yourself to get disheartened and down about it, because it's harder to pull yourself back up mentally than it is to avoid getting down in the first place, and (as one particular candidate I worked with really emphasised for me) desperation is a hugely unattractive quality and the panic you convey as a result won't do you any favours.

Best of luck with it all!

Adrian4

It is hard.

Been there.

It is soul destroying.

Recuitment agcencies often gave me the run around.

Don't let the job situation get you down.

Maggie 2

After being on the Dole for 12 month's I got on a FAS scheme. This was good and lasted for 3 years. For that 4 years, I did like you and applied for everything going with no luck. Last month I started a 2 year Higher Certificate in Business course. You may be too late for this year, but some colleges are still taking on new students. I am doing it on a Back To Education scheme. You may find a full time course to suit you and help you get something suitable. Good Luck.