I feel I will never get a job

[Auburngal]

I’m signing on today with no interviews etc in the pipeline. First time ever.

I am so fed up with not getting a job, fed up of ghosting (when companies don’t bother to contact you after the interview or a few days after application closing date) and certainly when get ‘we are very sorry that you weren’t successful’ type emails with zero feedback.

Without feedback, I have no idea what am i
doing wrong. Companies say that they don’t have the time to give individual feedback. They make notes during interviews. They could create individual feedback based on the notes. Without individual feedback, I have no idea what it is that is stopping me from getting a job. It could be answers to one or two STAR questions that are weak. If I knew that was the case, I would brush up on answers or think of a better answer. With no feedback, I am going to interviews with using the same answers not knowing that answer(s) are poor etc. Plus the STAR questions are my weakness for my dyslexia.

I can’t believe I am in this position due to a few people. The store manager who bullied me, took piss of my dyslexia (never had much of a problem until he came and bullied me), his area boss who made him store manager, even with his track record of making staff leave at his previous roles. I was the 8th person to leave in 5 months! Other stores in the area didn’t have any vacancies. If he didn’t become store manager at my work, I would still be working. My colleagues are upset that I had to go. Even not allowed to talk to them as bully shouted get back to work. He has no clue that supermarket work is team work! He is not managerial material.

My DM suggests that I apply working for the Co-op. Reason why people are leaving the co-op is shoplifting and teens hurling abuse and products at staff! Not McDs either

Any ideas what i could do?

Well, I've worked in retail and honestly you're likely to find the same attitude everywhere, including coop. The expectations being put on store managers to cut hours is crazy at the moment which leads to decent managers leaving and only really bullying ones being successful (aka good sales/less hours used)

If you're getting lots of rejections, it's the norm at the moment. There probably isn't feedback to give you about your application, honestly if you're looking for jobs like retail/'unskilled' likely they're not even looking at all the applications as there are too many.

Only advice is to just keep applying. Maybe go into places advertising for staff outside and ask to chat to the manager, instead of always making online applications. It's hard but you'll find something 😊 Is there anything you'd enjoy doing for work?

Sorry to hear you're in this situation. How long have you been looking?
Maybe we could help with feedback if you give examples of how you're answering the STAR questions?

Sorry you are going through this. It sounds like you left your job due to a very unfair situation. It’s natural to feel disheartened when going through situations like this. Things will turn around for you though, it’s just a matter of time.

What are your skills and experience? What really interests you? Is it supermarket jobs you’ve applied for or are you considering other roles?

Customer service - 22 years. Split into call centre for 5.5 years and face 2 face 16.5 years. Done admin stuff for about 3 years.

I am a fast learner with new systems and processes , as a new starter or when had new systems introduced whilst working. For example, Just Eat went onto an app on a handset. I was the colleague that learned how to use it first and colleagues asked me how to use it. Plus some colleagues don’t know how to log into the staff pages to do e-learning etc.

Then last year, the two usual colleagues that processed the newspapers once delivered were both off. Never done that task before but used to do the returns. So tried the reverse of that and worked. Both are done on a handset app,

Want to get out of retail. Being overstretched and abuse from customers since Covid is a joke.

Been looking since mid October

You mentioned signing on went I went to the job centre they had links to an organisation who helped with interview outfits and techniques is this something you could check that they offer?

How about teaching assistant or childcare work? You might find it more fulfilling?

It sounds like you’ve had enough of retail. How about a PA or Virtual PA job? Very easy to learn fast touch typing if you use a programme like Mavis Beacon or similar and stick with it. Some PA/executive assistant jobs are v well paid and it sounds like you have a similar skill set. May be worth thinking about if you are good at organising things?

Have you thought about what else may appeal to you outside of retail?

My Kind of hell. Plus my surname gets ridiculed as people don’t know how to pronounce it correctly.

Ok, STAR is an outdated and shite system, and is particularly shite for Nd brains, hence your struggles.

After you've given the result bit, expand on the longer consequences. So, the result was that your colleague learned to use this software confidently. This had a positive impact on targets, as there was another person trained in the process, leading to higher customer satisfaction scores, evidenced by xxxx

This is the sort of thing they're looking for.

I discovered this by having a feedback session after an internal interview and rejection. Got the role next application using the above.

I wish i could remove dyslexia from my brain. Those STAR questions are crap. As what answers you give you may not be able to do the same in the role you are applying for. As it maybe restricted to what you can do. For example, I had to go to another store to pick up a printer toner for printer that does the tickets. Whilst I was there, a customer bought a pair of trousers which were faulty and store had another pair in our size and we didn’t. I did ring the store beforehand Rang customer to say I have swapped her trousers.

That example I can not do at a call centre

That demonstrates that you went over and above to assist the customer. The result was that she got the trousers she wanted, and it meant that she left the store with a positive impression of the service provided. More likely to return and recommend to friends.

The reason why companies don't give detailed, proper feedback to unsuccessful candidates is because they can't be arsed. There's nothing in it for them at that point. Even when I have had feedback, usually it's very generic and a bit of a sound bite - vague murmerings of culture fit and being over or under experienced. Very rarely have I had actually useful feedback. So you shouldn't really expect to get much from feedback. Probably it's just a case of losing out to someone better. Not that there's anything wrong with you per se. A lot of recruitment decisions are on factors that you have no control about.

But STAR questions are stupid. Don’t suit people who are ND. If companies don’t allow candidates to have access to questions, allow more time, have notes/spider charts on them. That is discrimination

Funny how I am seeing jobs advertised back in November being advertised now. I’m sure AI is being used for scanning applications and selecting the wrong ones.

AI does not understand transferable skills. Ditch the AI and use human eyes.

Have you considered looking at being a sales rep that go into stores check compliance, add displays, use tech that guides you to map out your journey plan etc… With your retail experience it might be something to consider!

I agree! Fellow spicy brainer here. Currently on a drive to get shot of STAR within my company and making some inroad, thankfully.

Have you considered requesting this as a reasonable adjustment?

I have on a couple of applications so far this week. Not heard anything yet

Did I read that if companies reject me on application stage because of my request of reasonable adjustments of allowing me to have questions sent to me 1-2 days beforehand, is classed as discrimination? Or if 1-2 days before the interview, I still not received questions and I contact them about this. They fob me off or refuse - is that discrimination?

Yes, but hard to know how to do anything about it.

I loved working in M&S … they were very respectful to their workers and colleagues