To feel sad I can't get a job? :(

[Tillu]

I've just had another rejection email through today; I didn't even get an interview. :(

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.

Am I too old? I'm 32. I'm applying for admin jobs around 20 - 25k per year. I have a degree and experience of being self-employed and working online from home.

I want a change and to get out of the house, but I can't even get an interview.

Does anyone have any tips or advice? I'd love to work for a charity organisation or similar, but I am not too fussy at this stage!

I have my degree and relevant experience on my CV.

I'm presentable, polite, professional and friendly. At least I think I am! Maybe I'm not!

What am I doing wrong?

Sorry to hear this, you sound employable to me! Are you going through the job specs and saying how you meet all the criteria?

Have you done any volunteering for charities similar to those you would like to work for?

I got into admin work for a charity after volunteering there for 18 months or so.
Volunteering didnt guarantee me a job by any means, but it enabled me to understand a lot about the organisation, I accessed relevant training and I knew the right language.

I also did some computing qualifications like the European computer driving license.

Thanks @Freebus

I just feel like such a failure. Yes, I go through what each company is looking for and tailor my application towards them.

I triple check everything and still, nothing. I was starting to thing maybe I'm missing out on some trick that everyone else knows about, haha.

Ah sorry OP, admin jobs can be pretty competitive so it may not be you’re doing something wrong as much as there lots of applicants per role and it’s a numbers game. Are you making the most of covering letters? They can be a great opportunity to talk yourself up and detail all the ways you meet the spec.

Do you do a covering latter with your cv?

I have a friend who was filling in her online cv wrong and was missing some pages (the 'next' button wasn't very clear). As soon as she knew what she was doing wrong she had 3 interviews.

The other thing is filling in the forms so you show how your experience aligns with the person specification/criteria, using STAR and keeping your bullet points in the order of the person specification.
Not all application forms make it easy, but if you do it that way, it makes you easier to shortlist.

I’ve shortlisted for a lot of jobs and the key thing is to go through the person spec and show exactly how you meet the criteria with examples

So if it says - experience of working in a team don’t say something like “I see myself as a team player & have worked in several teams” say “when I was at x company/organisation I worked in this team who has responsibility for x. My role in the team was to y”

Have you any friends or family would look over your cv. Many companies now use a computer programme to accept and reject cvs at the start. Is your cv done in a format that the system can read as some formats cannot be read and are rejected

Have you considered doing some agency/temp work ??

Always handy if places have a vacancy and you're doing the job already 👍

Are you on linkedin? Some recruiters use this rather than advertise. Follow organisations you are interested in.

have you got any volunteering experience? how long is your CV, keep it to 2 pages. Also as mentioned a covering letter.

that being said, the job market is crazy. Keep smiling and the "right" job will come to you.

Does your council offer careers help? They often do..... to get a recruitment view of your applications..also look at them/NHS for roles as usually a form with strict criteria/experience grids..

Are you underselling yourself?

Also voluntary sector paid work can be hard to get into without volunteering experience so 2nd that as a thing to do same as arts organisations.....

It could be they think having been self employed this will just be a stop gap for you before you go back to being self employed? Make sure your cv has a bit about why you are keen on that particular job. Lots of keywords in there for the computer searches.

Perhaps go on the Civil Service jobs website and have a look there? Register for an account and you can get jobs filtered out and e-mailed to you that are suitable in terms of area, pay or specific words such as "administration" or contract type. You can look online for tips from Civil Service HR on how to complete an application and also about the types of "Behaviours" and "Strengths" questions that may be asked during your interview. For behaviours they are looking for polished answers and for strengths they are looking at honest, off the cuff answers.

Good luck, no matter what route into work you decide to take.

There is so much competition for admin roles at the moment. Don’t get disheartened. We had 25 apply for a role in the last month. Temping could be a good way in via agency…

Yes, I thought it could be the self employed thing.
Would that put you off as a potential employer?

Thanks @Summertime16 that made me smile! I tried to keep my CV to one page. Should it be longer?

Sometimes it is really competitive, sometimes not all the CVs are even looked at. Last time I was recruiting we had 983 CVs - only 1 job. There were 5 who came for interview, 2 that came for 2nd interviews and 1 selected and 982 disappointed candidates, the whole process took months.
Rather than taking it personally look at it that you have to beat the odds to be seen sometimes. So yes tailor your response, but send out as many applications to as many jobs as you can so hopefully you get the pick of what is out there, rather than waiting for one to pick you.
It is exhausting and relentless but put the time in, keep applying to everything you can and you will get there.
Good luck

That's good to know @washingmachines4 thank you.

Definitely expand CV to 2 pages, you're probably not getting enough detail in one 1 page to get through initial filtering.

Thanks @TheBossOfMe

Does anyone know if there's any websites which show examples of good CV's? I've googled it, of course, but I keep coming across American websites and nothing that looks particularly helpful.

As bad as it sounds- employers generally see that you have a degree and will assume that you want a higher salary. They shouldn't but a lot will. Stress your experience in your cover letter.
Is your degree relevant to admin?

Could be something wrong with your cv.

Personally I would be sending emails to the companies, and asking for feedback. Hopefully someone will reply.

My degree is in English Lit.

Tbh, I'm not just applying for admin roles. I've applied for some graduate programmes (I think I'm too old though!) I've also applied for a job in a bookshop and a few within the education sector (all under 22k).

There must be something wrong with my CV, I think.

Many of the jobs do specify that they require a degree, however, I think they probably expect someone fresh out of uni.

Is that normally the way? I'm starting to feel embarrassed about applying to roles which may be meant for 22 year olds!

@Tillu I've been in the same boat and it's soul destroying but the amount of applications they receive is unbelievable in some cases.

expand your CV to two pages, keep all the key points in the covering letter.

I've removed the personal section on mine as I didn't find it relevant.

temping is also a good way to get a foot in the door.