Anybody else looking for work and finding it kind of depressing?

[AlexanderSkarsgardOhYes]

I've been looking hard for a new job for a couple of months and have had only one (disasterous) interview (for details of that for those who don't know see here). Just rang up to get feedback for a job I thought I hadn't got and, though it turns out they haven't shortlisted for it yet so I'm still in with a chance, the HR person mentioned that they've had 105 applications. For a part-time library assistant job! I'm starting to despair a little bit.

Feel free to come join in my grumble!

[M1SSUNDERSTOOD]

Hi I have just had 3 rejections in one day for interviews
I attended in last 2 weeks. At least I get to interview stage but I must look good on paper. Latest feedback is I don't know enough about post I am applying for. This is true as they had advertised two posts and I thought is was interviewing for weekend post and turns out it was the weekday one. However as I already have a post 2 days a week I wouldn't have been able to fit it in! Should I phone and ask for an apointment for more feedback and explain this? Tbh they didn't make it very clear either but did ask if I thought I could have done anything better.
I replied read up a bit more on the job I was interviewing for. The other two posts I knew i hadn't a chance and didn't want them either. I would have quite liked the other job though. Any suggestions so that I could be considered
for any other vacancies they come up with?

[Hardtofindwork]

Hi, I was totally dispressed, feeling a bit crap about myself in general after applying to so many jobs and not even getting an acknowledgement but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have been back in work for 12 weeks now, I have completed all my training so now have accredited training certificates in Health and Social Care. I am not sure if I will be a Support Worker for ever but so far every day has been different and I feel like I am growing in confidence each day as I am making a difference. I found the job through the jobcentre, but their jobs page is www.dimensions-uk.org/workforus if any of you are interested. My husband has also just joined their relief bank and is working some saturday afternoon shifts to get some more money in for Christmas..

[ronab2]

I have a great work from home opportunity for anyone whos interested PM me

[financialwizard]

Hi Alex. I have seen you around there. Shame about the jobs. I guess we all have to keep plugging away.

Salbertina, thanks. Might need that luck! I am a qualified mortgage underwriter/advisor but everyone wants recent experience, or the hours are not compatible with a husband that goes away all the time and two children. ah well, something will turn up if I keep going I hope

[AlexanderS]

By the way, congratulations madwoman and GettinTrimmer.

[AlexanderS]

Hi financialwizard, been following your posts on the support for housebuyers thread!

And hello again everybody, 'tis me, Alex - I had a little name change. Well, I didn't get that library assistant job, or the library assistant job I had an interview for last Tuesday.

I have also done a lot of volunteering, including jobs involving a fair bit of responsibility (for example, I've managed volunteers, and been a school governor), but it doesn't seem to impress employers in the least. GettinTrimmer, the guy you knew got work through volunteering, but it was with the organisation he volunteered for. It would have been interesting to see if he'd got the job if he'd volunteered at another school and they didn't know him. I have got a great reference through doing voluntary work but prospective employers never ask for it coz I never get past the interview stage.

[Salbertina]

Shame! Am overseas so will be in similar situation. Good luck.,

[financialwizard]

Well ladies, I hope you don't mind me joining this thread.

My husband and I have been based overseas for a few years, until we moved back in August. Having just bought our 'forever' home I am now on the look out for work. Only applied for a couple of jobs so far, but got a big fat NO from both, even though I was doing the same job up until June this year.

I think my CV needs an overhaul but I don't really know where to start, can anyone recommend any employment services?

[CorkandFelt]

Hi, good to see there have been some successes on this thread (well done madwoman ). Hope everyone else is making progress too. Everhopeful, you sound a bit like me. I've technically had my own business for a year but haven't had any income for 6 months. For the first 3 months it was a deliberate choice not to work ... for the past 3 months I have been looking hard for new clients and getting nowhere. Very frustrating, though I do know people who've been through similar in the past couple of years and who ended up getting the kind of work they wanted eventually. It's comforting to know it's not just me! Good luck to all.

[Everhopeful]

There's a lot of this about - I'm not sure how much it helps to whinge, though it is a small comfort to know it's nothing to do with any one of us. What to do about it though: I've technically had my own business for quite a while, largely supported by regular clients who knew me from before I set up, but they've both retired. I took my eye off the business a bit when DD turned up, for which I am now paying, as I can't seem to get any new clients (well, got one, but that hasn't proven very lucrative yet). If I go in for speculative applications, I worry that I'll look desperate, so they won't hire me as I'm obviously rubbish, or the business would have worked. I guess I'll have to get over it though, as it is about the only thing I haven't tried yet.

[GettinTrimmer]

Hi asianmum, carry on applying don't let it put you off. Are you mostly sending CVs off? Agencies?

[asianmum]

Same problem here.Im a professional accountant and Im even applying for admin roles but nothing happens. Ive been looking for a year now. Deppressing and im losing my self esteem already. But I keep telling myself not to give up.

[madwomanintheattic]

You too!

[GettinTrimmer]

Well done

[madwomanintheattic]

No, we moved to Canada a few years ago, and relocated last summer to the mountains. Very deliberate choice, but I obviously hadn't quite grasped the complexities of the job market.

I have been offered a job this morning, though. twenty hours a week, and no weekends or evenings. It's the same as I was doing ten years ago (and even then it was retrograde step to the max) but I'm just grateful to have got something... Subject to refs, credit checks etc. they all seem very friendly. I start a week on Monday.

Dear god, I hope my credit check is okay.

[GettinTrimmer]

Hi all, I am pleased to say I have a job in a library, on Saturdays & every 8th Sunday. Not ideal but I,m pleased to have something. No luck with school librarian job, had the interview but it went to someone who has been a school administrator and run a pre-school.

Becca, other people have got school jobs through volunteering - an 18 year old lad turned up to volunteer at school and was offered work, some are lucky and you can use them as a reference. What sort of volunteering would you consider?

Madwoman, just being nosey whereabouts are you? Scotland? I hope you get something soon even if only to keep the wolf from the door for a while.

[madwomanintheattic]

I had my two interviews yesterday. Have done the jobs before, and am v well qualified. They are entry level and both turned out to be part time (one 30 hours, one 18.75). The first interview was a telephone interview pre-screen before final face to face interview sift. It was really very stilted and very scripted, and I didn't get any sort of fuzzy vibe from the interviewer, none of this making the interviewee comfortable crap. the second one was kinda fun, and even if I don't get the job, it was a pleasant enough way to spend an hour and a quarter! She actually wants to make a decision today, and they are looking for two newbies to do a job share, so that should up my odds a bit. She was concerned that with the experience on my cv I would be bored, and would end up leaving for something else though, so we'll see.

I've also had a two line response from a developer looking for a (lol) high class hostess (!) to essentially man the show home. It's complete slave labour, and just hanging around smiling at people and answering questions, and handing out floor plans. As an additional tide-me-over, it's the middle aged equivalent of a paper round, but beggars can't be choosers. It's only two days a week when the out of towners come in, so I assume they want a posh British accent and Italian leather shoes. The development is right next door to dd1's school and on a huge golf course.

Becca, the volunteering thing is interesting. I think it very much depends on what you are doing and whether they are additional skills for your cv. I've got grant researching and application (and successful outcomes!), and payroll for volunteer positions, none of which appears anywhere else! (And to be fair, no one wants me to do either!) but I think unless it is directly relevant to the position you are applying for, it makes no difference at all. Volunteering shows you are a nice person, but being nice doesn't appear to get you a job. (I'm blardy lovely, I am ). Tis is all pure conjecture, obv.

[Beccatheboo]

How are things going? Any joy?

I have just posted in Employment Issues. I haven't applied for shedloads of jobs, but the few I have, I haven't even secured an interview. Feeling very down and wondered if any of you had good news to report?!

Reading GettinTrimmer's post has actually made me even more depressed (but reiterated what I thought), that volunteering doesn't count for anything :-(

[madwomanintheattic]

So, I have two interviews on Thursday. For identikit jobs, doing what I did ten years ago at entry level because we lived miles from anywhere.

I noticed a large local employer had readvertised a job that I had applied for, (I didn't get an acknowledgement, let alone a no thanks lol) so I called the manager and explained that I realized I had been unsuccessful, but wondered if he would be able to offer any advice to someone seeking an entry level job in the industry. He said no one would employ me, even for an entry level job. so, that's good to know.

So I turned up at the equivalent of the job centre with my résumé and asked the receptionist how in heck you get a job in this here town, and she skimmed it, said it was perfect, and booked me an appointment with the counsellor tomorrow, who might have some contacts. Having utterly failed myself, I've turned myself in to the Govt.

[madwomanintheattic]

[madwomanintheattic]

We can't move because of the house issue (believe me, with 5 of us in a 2 bed, I'd love to) but we can't afford to unless I get a job. catch 22. This mortgage was predicated on us both working ft. with only dh in work, we'd struggle to qualify for the mortgage we have now, let alone move to a house built for a five person family, in or out of the city!

We've considered the start-up. There doesn't seem to be an obvious niche, tbh. Not here, anyway, but I'm always open to ideas. Must look out xenia's thread!

[Mosman]

You should move but I guess you know that already. Employers don't have to take risks with transferable skills that you may or may not have right now, too many with the exact skill set to choose from.
Or start your own business.

[madwomanintheattic]

Aye. You don't live in the mountains miles from anywhere, Mosman. It's a three hour round commute to the city (dh does it every day, even in winter when it's below -20 with blizzards if the highway is open) and I would stand a much better chance of getting a job in the city, it's true. But with both of us driving for 3 hours a day in the dark, and concomitant fuel expense, no one would be around to get the kids out of bed, fed, and to school. The youngest is 9 with cerebral palsy, and facilities for her are great here. Childcare for three kids before school for two hours from 6am isn't really a possibility.

We aren't against moving per se, we have moved every year or two for the last twenty years, but have now chosen to live here out of choice - the rest have been dictated by work. Even if we wanted to move to the city, we couldn't. We live in a 2 bed condo with a basement room. I have three (quite large) children and two dogs. There are about 200 similar properties empty on the market, and no buyers. We bought at the height of the house sales, the biggest property we could afford.

All linked-in would do is confirm that there are indeed more jobs available an hour and a half away. I know that already. Dh uses linked-in a lot, and has a huge network - at one point he was seriously considering setting up a recruitment consultancy on the side, as he has successfully introduced about thirty people to their new jobs, just by knowing which of his business contacts are looking, and knowing which of his previous colleagues fit the criteria. For people job hunting in urban areas it's a great tool. For people job hunting in large rural communities with a single industry emphasis, not so much. (And I did laugh a bit at the two contacts thing, you must be in quite a small industry!)

I have a large amount of transferable skills that mean I could do most of the jobs here. But I am in competition with people who have direct experience (and are twenty years younger). All I need is one employer to recognize that my skills are transferable, even if I don't have any direct experience, and then I'm cooking on gas. Whether that happens or not is out of my hands, but I have no choice but to keep on trying.

But, y'know. Thanks for suggesting I'm wasting everyone's time. I should just, what, give up?

Genuinely happy to take constructive suggestions though. Linked-in isn't a go-er here.

[Mosman]

There is no point in applying for jobs you have no experience in. A waste of everyone's time. Are you on LinkedIn ? I get two contacts a week from that site asking me if I'm looking and DH got his first proper job in 4 years through it.

[madwomanintheattic]

Well, that'll be over a week since I last posted, about twenty more applications sent out (all cv tailored, all cover letters reflecting sincere interest in position and employer). I'm going wider. I'm now applying for jobs I have absolutely no experience in, with letters begging suggesting flexibility and general aptitude, as well as two jobs I have done but didn't really want to do again, but they are rare as hen's teeth and coincidentally came up out of the blue.

Quite a few closing dates coming up this week though, so let's see if I get short listed or called for an interview anywhere.

I am slightly concerned that paying my mortgage late twice this year might automatically rule me out of the two jobs I have applied for that I have actually done, though. which would be an absolute pisser, as that really would be case of last resort having the door slammed shut. Hard.

How's everyone else doing?