How do you keep morale up when job-hunting?

[christinarossetti19]

I'm finding it quite demoralising.

Sending applications and not even receiving an autoreply acknowledgement.

Preparing for interviews and just not hearing afterwards.

Not being able to apply for jobs/get interview because I haven't got enough experience in X.

Not getting jobs because I'm over-qualified.

I'm studying a post graduate course, seeing my friends outside, exercising etc etc but have this weird feeling that I'm somehow living outside of life.

I find myself look at people with jobs, even if I speak to someone on the phone, and feeling wonder that they've got this seemingly elusive thing!

I've been self-employed for a long time, which I don't think it a particularly desirable attribute for employers, but I can't do anything about that.

How do others keep their pecker up?

It used to be JorisBohnson2, but has now become very mainstream and the supply of people doing the work far exceeds demand.

I tried to generate more work (unsuccessfully) and apply for related jobs in the same field (unsuccessfully) and am now applying for anything for which I have broadly the right experience.

I go through person specs and job descriptions forensically and make sure that my experience/supporting statement covers everything asked. Along the lines that you said about your situation, a lot of my 'relevant experience' eg project management is from over 15 years ago. I do make sure that I give recent experiences for competency based questions at interview though as the work that I've been doing uses project management type skills.

The last batch of applications that I sent off without even receiving one invitation to interview has floored me a bit tbh.

I think that having been self-employed for so long and being in my 50s isn't helping, but I can't do anything about those factors.

I would retrain if there was something that I wanted to retrain in, but I've honestly explored every avenue over the last year or so. The careers person that I spoke with suggested 'consultancy' which made me smile as it's so naive.

Hang in there @christinarossetti19 you only need to get lucky once. I do wonder how much age plays a part. I'm mid 40s and pass for late 30s but I remember in my late 20s literally walking into jobs, at one time I was holding 3 offers simulteneoulsy after only a few weeks of looking. I can't decide if it's my age or the world, but something happened after the 2009 crash and it's never been the same since. Shame as I partly chose my profession (HR) based on the fact that it can be done anywhere and, if you have a generalist background, used to be pretty easy to pick up contract work if not perm.

As for me I've started the contract now but have no f-ing clue what I'm supposed to be doing... my manager is an interim too and is giving me odds and sods to do but it's one of those where it probably takes him longer to explain than just do it himself. Hopefully things will get clearer over the next week or so. If not - I'm on the payroll now so hopefully get some £££ at least. And it's WFH so not like i'm sitting in a big open plan office feeling stupid.

Hopefully your job will pick up soon. As you say, at least you'll get paid and not have anymore time out of your CV.

Very frustrating not to be able to use your skills and experience though.

I'm 51 and although I look younger and a lot of my work used to be with younger people and I get on well with them, I can't disguise how old I am when I put the year that I graduated etc. I'm even old enough to have done 'O' levels!

It's very demoralising. A few months ago, at least I could think 'well, at least I'm getting interviews'. I'm approaching person specs/JDs in exactly the same way, but now I'm not.

Experience used to be a valuable asset in my field, but it doesn't seem to be now.

I feel for you as DH is going through this at the moment. He's never been unemployed before and it's hitting him hard. It's as you've said - employers don't seem willing to look at transferrable skills (presumably they have enough candidates) and his previous field is dead in the water due to Covid. It's so horrible seeming him having to deal with sending applications out to not even get rejections back, just nothing. The worst was three rounds of interviews for a job which seemed really positive, to just get ghosted.

@Normaigai

I feel for you as DH is going through this at the moment. He's never been unemployed before and it's hitting him hard. It's as you've said - employers don't seem willing to look at transferrable skills (presumably they have enough candidates) and his previous field is dead in the water due to Covid. It's so horrible seeming him having to deal with sending applications out to not even get rejections back, just nothing. The worst was three rounds of interviews for a job which seemed really positive, to just get ghosted.

Its just a very tough market at the moment, that's all I can presume as I was getting interviews no problem back in 2019 although not with quite the ease of earlier in my career where it really felt like the jobs were out there waiting for me to rock up!

Its horrible to get ghosted, I've had this a couple of times even after getting to final stage and doing a personality test and jumping through all the hoops. I do wonder why a simple thanks but no thanks email is out of fashion these days.... in my darker moments I think maybe some hiring managers enjoy keeping the unsuccessfuls in the dark as some sort of power trip... but in reality they probably just can't be bothered.

It's awful Normaigai.

Ghosting after even one interview is horrible, let alone three. I think the worst bit an an applicant is that you can't even think 'well, I didn't want your job anyway' (because you did) and there's no way to tell the employer how rude they were.

You just have to suck it up, and it's extremely difficult not to be affected by being ignored.

I don't buy the 'well, would you really want to work for an organisation that's so rude?' line because they're obviously not ignoring the people they have chosen to progress/hire.

I hope that your husband finds something soon Normaigai.

JorisBohnson2 I totally agree that a 'thanks but no thanks' email would be acceptable - it's the waiting that's so awful when you're being ghosted.

I even had one time where the I'd got down to the last four, final stage, done a presentation and then waited for the outcome ... and waited.. and waited.. in the end I concluded I'd not got it but remembered the director (not the person who'd be managing me but on the panel) had given me his business card.

I thought right I'll show up (hiring manager) so emailed him very sweetly asking if I could find out what the outcome was as i'd not heard. Cue an hour later an apology email from hiring manager's assistant.. she'd gone on holiday! Without bothering to get back to any of the unsuccessfuls. Hope she got in trouble with the director!

@JorisBohnson2 I think it's the world, I graduated in 2011 and it's always been like this for me and almost everyone I know, very difficult to get jobs. Employers seem to want people who've done the exact same job before and who can show that the exact niche the job is in has been their passion since they were 3.

He's chased once and got told they were still discussing. That was weeks ago and I agreed no real benefit to chasing anymore. It's just ride and I agree saying 'well you wouldn't want to work for them anyway' doesn't actually help as of course he would!

It's frustrating as I can see his self esteem getting worse by the day. He's in his 50s and is wondering whether he'll ever work again. I'm encouraging him to retrain but I also wonder how practical getting a job after retraining will be.

He's not getting a look in at the junior jobs (presumably because they don't believe he'll stay), there is nothing in his field, and he's also experiencing wither sexism or agism in not getting a look in on some of the more typical trailing spouse jobs (we're not in the UK). Here he can't even apply for minimum wage jobs such as retail, care work or logistics as no one will hire a Brit to do that type of work here.

*rude

That does make me wonder whether one reason that organisations don't call is that no-one likes delivering bad news and people kid themselves that it's not that important.

Which I guess it isn't to the business - the process is over for them.

@christinarossetti19

That does make me wonder whether one reason that organisations don't call is that no-one likes delivering bad news and people kid themselves that it's not that important.

Which I guess it isn't to the business - the process is over for them.

I'm not expecting a call and in some cases would prefer not to have the awkwardness of that but a simple 'thanks but no thanks' email would take a HR administrator maybe a minute to send? If they had a template and just put in all the candidates in the bcc field and pressed send? Another aspect of recruitment that's changed I think, as I don't remember it being like that when I started out you would at least get a response then and this was when email was in its infancy so more often than not by letter or phone (shows age)

I think it's a job no one wants to do and they ultimately don't care.

I also think in these days of online applications, sending an email saying 'thanks but no thanks' to non-shortlisted candidates just isn't that much effort. I understand if there are thousands of emails coming in and the company can't log them all, but if they're already in an application system sending a rejection should be simple.

I agree no need for a call, just something for closure so you don't keep hoping that they're just doing something else! After interviews as a minimum.

@Normaigai

I think it's a job no one wants to do and they ultimately don't care.

I also think in these days of online applications, sending an email saying 'thanks but no thanks' to non-shortlisted candidates just isn't that much effort. I understand if there are thousands of emails coming in and the company can't log them all, but if they're already in an application system sending a rejection should be simple.

I can forgive not getting a response to an application and indeed no longer expect it unless they are interested in progressing. My investment in the job will be fairly low at the pre interview stage anyway... it's more after getting to final stage and all the encouraging noises along the way and hoop-jumping, when I'm really desperate for the offer, that it irks me the most.

I think it's just f-ing rude and can only hope that some of these hiring managers have the tables turned on them one day when they are applying for a new job.

I agree. I can forgive pre-interview but it still annoys me when I know the system will do it easily. Post interview is just rediculously rude.

Completely agree with both of you.

One of the applicants that I sent, which took me a day to write, I didn't even receive an autoreply of receipt.

I thought this was a bit odd and left it a few days and sent again, but still no acknowledgement.

I do sort of agree with you Normaigai about pre-interview, but I also think that a 'if you haven't heard from us by x, you've been unsuccessful on this occasion' is acceptable.

Just picked up a rejection interview.

Another candidate more closely matched the skills and experience required apparently.

I honestly don't know where to go from here. I've got no more interviews lined up, I spent 3 hours this morning trawling job sites with not one thing that I can apply for.

Sorry, rejection email after an interview I meant.

Can't stop crying.

@christinarossetti19

Sorry, rejection email after an interview I meant.

Can't stop crying.

I'm sorry to hear that and it's only those who've gone through this miserable experience who can truly understand....

How much impact do you think the pandemic is having on your job search? I've spoken to 2 recruiters today, all saying it's been the weirdest time and although some of the lower paid more manual jobs there is a shortage it's the opposite for more professional roles. One only has 2 minimum wage temp roles on her books and this is a specialist recruiter for professional, qualified roles.

Please don't think its game over... maybe give yourself a few weeks off the job hunt to get your head clear if you can. Understand if for financial reasons that may not be possible though.

Thanks. I don't know re: effects of pandemic. Other people are obviously getting the roles that I apply for, so it's not like there aren't any jobs.

I can't really take time off job hunting. Not just £££, but there's so little that I can apply for and I'm only getting older.

@christinarossetti19 please don't dispair. It will work out, it just will take time. I don't have any real words of wisdom just I'm sorry.

Thanks for your kind words Normaigai.

I am beginning to despair. I can't get an interview in the field where I have the most skills and experience, and someone else will always have more skills and experience in other fields.

I hope that your husband receives good news soon.

I had another interview yesterday and was told I'd be told by end of day yesterday, or today latest, likely in the morning and not heard anything, I've been crying for the last hour. There's still a chance it could change but in my past experience the rejects get told later as they're not priority.

It's so frustrating, I came out thinking I'd smashed it, I was well over qualified, they even skipped some questions because it was clear I could do it.

Had to book my next job seekers appointment today when I should be cancelling them.