What do I do pls

[helpmehelpus]

🤔 forgive me but I have just stumbled on this thread.

My career is a big fat mess

BA in international relations and MA in theory and practice of human rights both from same uni in UK. Top uni too but no tangle job only hot job as a customer service for the past 4 years very demoralising on low pay after all the hard work to get those 2 degrees

I had a 2:1 and a merit and even got unconditional offer for PHD

Any advice on what I can do?
I have searched high and low for a decent paying job but no luck

Labour loves a quango so I’m sure you’ll find work soon!

Apply for the jobs anyway even if you don't have all the experience. If you have a stellar application with limited experience but with transferable skills, you make still get a interview.

Customer service transferable skills would probably include:

Conflict management, dealing with vulnerable people
Time management, working under pressure
Confidentiality, handling of personal data

Or look at the CS success profiles which amount to much the same thing.

Do you volunteer in places like the Citizens Advice Bureau? Local charities like a soup run, domestic abuse support, dementia support (all in my local city for example) would be good practical experience for you and open up new avenues with that on the CV of you want to go in to helping people.

What are your wage expectations?

What sort of work is your current job? Such as banking - can you look to transfer into their vulnerable customers team or where they manage bereavement work? If you're working for a travel agent, can you look to transfer into the resolutions team and manage emergency work?

You need to show progession in different ways since leaving uni if you're not currently an attractive applicant.

What are your salary expectations for a "decent paying job"?

You want to work in a London centric, highly competitive and low paying sector. Your degree is only the start of the proccess. In an ideal world you'd be able to do unpaid internships in London which would eventually lead to a entry level role. This isn't an option for most people who don't have London based family or family money.
And most of these roles are entirely about relationship building, which really need to be in person.

What do you really want to do? A job with high pay, a "helping people" job like social work or something else?

@GodWhereartthou I have a relatively similar background to you, though am now established in my career. I also do a lot of recruiting in my organisation, so see many CVs. There is an art to Civil Service applications, and at present the job market in certain sectors is incredibly tough. Happy to assist / give you some feedback and advice on applications and CV - drop me a dm if of interest.

What the others say about location - you're not helping yourself by being unwilling to go where the jobs are, and living outside of London not being able to drive is further limiting. It's difficult and expensive to work in London on low pay. But many careers are about sacrifice in the early years. There's a reason so many people starting out in this area are very young - the low starting salary and London base means living with family or house sharing and a long commute to work, and that all takes extra time and energy. Those jobs come with a cost. It's not just the price of a degree.

You can't choose to have it all on day 1 as a graduate. When you trade off staying out of London and not driving, the cost of that trade off is the options for your career of choice.

If you can't go straight in, and retail isn't a long term option for you, you could look for what you need to enter that career path later in life as an established professional. That means you should start looking for office based commercial roles near where you live. Admin, sales, marketing, and especially anything that looks like fundraising (including volunteering) - whatever you can do to get some practical experience of the kinds of office roles that those organisations need. That will be more useful to you in the long run.

Have you looked at council administration jobs or nhs ?
I think you'll need to also reconsider your aspirations to be not in London and Also being hybrid. Lots of jobs are now focused on office presence, civil service no exception btw.
Basically as you're clearly not getting through screening on applications maybe take a lesser job and work up ?

@flarp
£30k minimum is appealing to start with

I have had voluntary roles/work in the past

I am currently applying for a remote role that looks very good for me but then I have applied for a role with his organisation before and my uni career dept assisted me with the application then and I was very optimistic about it because I had all the skills needed, experience, linked to my degrees and passion etc but no luck. I will apply for this one and hope for the best.

@MorphandMindy
I said I would prefer fully remote jobs or hybrid but then I do apply for jobs in London etc. I have not said I don't apply for just that are suitable because they are in London although I ideally prefer remote or hybrid roles

Also, I don't drive not because I don't want to but i don't for medical reasons.

That's good to hear that you are open to London or hybrid roles - I was worried you were ruling yourself out of too many options!

Best of luck with this application. I'll be keeping everything crossed for you!

@flarp

I have a relatively similar background to you, though am now established in my career. I also do a lot of recruiting in my organisation, so see many CVs. There is an art to Civil Service applications, and at present the job market in certain sectors is incredibly tough. Happy to assist / give you some feedback and advice on applications and CV - drop me a dm if of interest.

Thanks @flarp, I will drop a DM soon thanks

OP a lot of students come out of university expecting to earn significantly more than their experience allows. Is 30k realistic given your limited career history in the fields? I started from the bottom of the ladder with my masters because I knew that I had to turn theory into practice. I climbed quite quickly but I had the expectation that I needed to move where the jobs were, take a lower salary and be prepared to put in the hours in the office. I also didn't drive for medical reasons and why I moved (although I recognise this isn't for everyone).

Do you think you could readjust your expectations slightly? Apply for civil service but at lower grades potentially - what grade have you been going for?

@MotherofChaosandDestruction thanks but like I have explained several times, I have applied for all sorts of jobs / low paying, very low, inline with my degrees and out of line with my degrees and all sorts but no luck

I even took a factory job at one point for income

This sounds like it might be CV/application presentation then? Have you had this reviewed by any recruiters?

Where are you based? Is English your first language?

Unfortunately it’s increasingly unlikely to walk into a 30k a year remote or hybrid role on your doorstep.

Use your uni career service to review your CV.
See if there is an Uni alumni group to network through.
Identify certain charities or industries and see if they run events or career fairs.

@GiantRoadPuzzle
🤔 you asked if English is my 1st language- does that affect me getting a job?
I have heard people with foreign names struggle to get jobs no matter how qualified they are

Yes, it's very important because errors in syntax, grammar, spelling etc may see you put to the back of a shortlist. It could also be a huge strength if you are multilingual.

There can be huge racism about names, yes. My Ghanaian friend changed his name on CVs and applications to a John Smith type name after barely getting any graduate job interviews and promptly got invited to dozens more than when he applied under his birth name. It's a terrible fact.

What is your nationality? Can you use it to your advantage if you speak more than one language?

@ButtSurgery has summed it up succinctly.

There can also be cultural differences in how CVs are written that could disadvantage you. Or assumptions about visa status for example.

For larger companies, they will use a software which will filter out CVs with grammatical errors as well as not using key words.

But equally if you are trying to get into an area to support people, additional languages can be hugely beneficial.

@ButtSurgery

Yes you are correct but then it is funny because some foreigners speak and write better English than some English people and not only that, some are even more educated 🤷🏽‍♀️

The assumption about visa based on a name etc is true but also ridiculous. But then, that's the way things are.

@GiantRoadPuzzle

Could please kindly elaborate more on the cultural differences in how CVs are written please.

On the differences between CVs thing, in the USA it seems to be customary to provide a photo with a CV.
In France and India you provide a photo, plus give date and place of birth as well as nationality.
In Spain you give all that, but also give marital status.

None of those things are normal on a UK CV.

Oh I see what you mean thanks

OP - London is your best bet.

Once you've established you can move from there with the experience and contacts you will have made. Best Wishes.

Thanks all

Solution is to

Change name if my name is foreign

Use key words in CV if not already used

Look in London (even though I can't afford to)

Make sacrifices

@ButtSurgery

Regarding this
"There can be huge racism about names, yes. My Ghanaian friend changed his name on CVs and applications to a John Smith type name after barely getting any graduate job interviews and promptly got invited to dozens more than when he applied under his birth name. It's a terrible fact. "

May I ask how your friend went about things when he applied as John Smith and was invited for interviews and I am guessing got a job. Did he then tell them his real legal name or did a deed poll to change name? Did he ever disclose the CV change of name to the companies that invited him for interviews? It would be interesting to know thanks.