Will I ever find a job?

[ChocolateFrogs]

Hi everyone.

To give a bit of background, I graduated from university in summer 2015 and started working as a private tutor in my hometown.

Last summer, I then moved to another city to start a teacher training programme. This didn't work out unfortunately, and I resigned from the programme last winter after having quite bad mental health difficulties.

Since then, I've registered with tuition agencies and have started jobs through them as a tutor. I've also started volunteering with a few different organisations.

I am enjoying the volunteering and the tuition work, however I really would love a full-time job. I've applied for a few vacancies with different organisations, but haven't heard anything back yet.

AIBU to ask you for some help and support?

Thanks so much :)

Are you set on tutoring work?

Hi Cat - thanks for your reply :)

Not really, to be honest. I enjoy it, and it is a really helpful source of income, but it's not something that I'm imagining going into full-time.

Yes, you have a degree. If you want to teach then you will benefit from having a teaching qualification, so you might want to think about trying a different (perhaps local) uni to do it. You can also think about different careers - what fields did your uni colleagues go in to? It's difficult to get into teaching without a PG Cert.

Thanks Lelly :)

I'm certain that I don't want to go into teaching again. I felt pushed into it for a variety of different reasons, and had misgivings about going into it as soon as I was beginning the training course.

Job areas that I'm interested in are charity and third sector jobs, journalism and the media, the government and the Civil Service, as an example.

I'm also still very interested in education - I'd be very keen to be involved in education outside of teaching, for example in a policy role. I'm not sure how I could get into this area. If anyone has any ideas about, or insight into, careers in these areas, I'd love to hear from you :)

I'm not sure if they still exist (I haven't looked for jobs for a while) but the Guardian always used to publish jobs in those fields. It might be worth having a look on their website.

How about a pastoral role in a school? Salary isn't as high as teaching (at least the starting salary isn't) but you can be involved in behaviour and wellbeing, attendance and communication with outside agencies. You could always carry on your tutoring as an after school/weekend thing and during the school holidays.

Do you already know people in those industries/areas/careers who can help you make your CV really relevant to the jobs you apply for? If not, there will be some form of recruitment out there somewhere for these sectors, I found a recruitment agency helped me better my CV and interview answers, so even applications I didn't do with them have benefitted from their advice.

It is very early in the morning for me so excuse my slight incoherence!

Firstly, looking for jobs is an arduous task, particularly in the fields you are looking at. I would decide exactly what type of job you want, I.e policy, journalism, media then target your volunteering to that type of job. If you want to enter journalism then you'll need to gain an nctj qualification (also, journalism isn't for the feint hearted, I did my nctj, got a job then quit to work in the much friendlier world of pr and comms in the 3rd sector).

I am looking for my next step up right now and have applied, and been rejected, by many employers so far! This has been the case over the last 20 years every time I've gone for a new job. It takes time, persistence, practise at saying the right things during interview then finally you will find the right job who are looking for someone just like you.

Civil service is a good option but in my (well practised!) opinion, very hard to get into. But don't let that put you off...what I'm trying to say,in a long-winded way, is keep going. Don't assume rejections mean it isn't for you.

Decide exactly what you really want to do, get unpaid experience in that area and apply, apply, apply. You will get there, good luck!

Through my job I see lots of graduates seeking employment. The best advice I can give you is to apply, apply, apply. Find jobs and apply for them (even if they don't sound like your ideal career). You'll start to get a better picture of what interests you, and you'll get good interview practice. Lots of graduates seem to get put off by a few rejections. The ones who find something great have often applied for 40+ jobs to get that one!

Have you tried temping - any work gives you something to put on your applications and gives you skills/experience.

Cross post with BobDylan on the apply, apply, apply thing!

Thank you so much everyone for all of your advice! :) Just bumping this in case anyone might have any extra advice to add :

*Lelly^ thanks for the tip about Guardian jobs.

Screwin I haven't looked into school pastoral roles yet but that's definitely something I'm interested in. Thanks!

DSHathaway (love your username by the way! ) Your tip about recruitment agencies is really helpful - thank you! I don't have anyone I know for most of the industries that I mentioned above, so approaching recruitment agencies is a great idea.

MrsBob and Pickerel thanks for your advice :)

Rude I haven't looked into temping that much. I approached a couple of recruitment agencies in February, and one of them in particular had a really interesting role coming up as a temporary job, but unfortunately they had a recruitment freeze so decided not to hire anyone for the job apparently. I'll keep on looking into temping opportunities. If you've got any tips on how to get the most out of temping opportunities, it would be great to hear from you :)

Thanks again, everyone!

I assume you're already using them but when I've recruited in some of the sectors you've mentioned above I've advertised on w4mp, charityjob and the alumni job boards of various universities.

Whereabouts are you based and what was your degree in? PM me if you don't want to share - I'm in an education-adjacent field and may be able to point you in a couple of right directions.

Are you the Oxbridge grad that posted a few months ago?

What feedback are you getting from the jobs you're applying for?

I work in a school and came through temping.
One of my friends now has a pastoral role in a sister school - she was an admin temp but it definitely gave her an insight into the schools working - so got the permanent job when it came up.

Hi everyone, sorry for not updating this thread for a while!

Thanks so much for all of your advice.

This is really, really outing, but I'm getting slightly desperate now as my rental agreement for the place I'm currently living in finishes at the end of July, so ideally I'd love to find something by the end of the July or the end of August. At the moment, I'm still tutoring to 'pay the bills' etc.

Ladyformation thanks so much for your tip about the jobs boards - I often use Charity Job, but will start the other ones you've mentioned more frequently too.

I did a Modern Languages degree, and am currently based in London.

indigox yes that's me! :) I haven't heard anything back from the jobs that I applied for so far. Do you think that it's worthwhile me asking them for feedback from my application?

RudeDog temping sounds like a really good idea - thanks so much! :)

Also, just wondering if anyone might know any good ways of finding temping jobs by the way (any good websites or agencies etc.)? Thanks so much!

Try good moves website

My first job out of uni was as an Assistant Housemistress at a private boarding school looking after the welfare of 50 girls. This was 10 years ago, but I got £14k plus no bills, rent as well as all meals free and those long holidays off, but paid.

That was through the Guardian. I expanded the role to suit my interests. The only downside was the lack of time off during term time.

A possibility perhaps?

Forgot to say, the 'interests' were teaching assistance and careers guidance.

Thanks 1Potato :)

I've now emailed quite a few recruitment agencies to find out if they have any jobs available.

If anyone has any further ideas, it would be great to hear from you :)

Have you considered educational support/administrative roles? Have a look at your nearest university to see what's available, look at faculty and registry administration first to give you a grounding in the area.

www.jobs.ac.uk

Make sure your C.V. is up to date and polished, get your interview skills up to scratch.

www.theguardian.com/careers

jobs.theguardian.com

jobs.mumsnet.com

Journalism wise is there a particular area you are interested in writing about? There's lots of freelance writing positions for websites around, although some are unpaid, if you can find pieces to write in your area of interest you'll end up with a portfolio of work which will help your CV and give you some talking points in an interview.

Of course you will!