Worried I may be unemployable, job hunting for 3 years

[ASDnocareer]

I have posted a lot on here about my job hunting issues, I remember previously some kind MNetters (I know they meant well) would say I’m worrying too much on my old threads, that I’ve got plenty of time and it will all simply work out in the end…

Sadly all of my worries have become reality, three years of jobhunting and I haven’t landed a new job. I’m autistic but can mask it well (no issues making new adult friends and people are shocked when finding out I’m autistic). I have always worried my “skills” were worth very little in today’s competitive job market. I have a 2.1 degree, did internships, coding bootcamp course, 5 years experience of junior office roles (undesirable ones!) but I still haven’t landed a new role. I don’t think I’m looking for a fancy or prestigious role, but do need it to pay 30k as I’m in London.

3 interviews this month which is rare for me, but all rejected me (at different stages). Two in operations and one in legal client services. The one role where I got to final stage said I showed strong experience of xyz and aligned with the technical aspects of the role but “we felt that other candidates demonstrated a closer match to the specific requirements and priorities of this position“
The other two ghosted after first stage, even though one the recruiter had seemed very happy with my CV/experience at first stage call.

Few months before this and hadn’t even landed one interview, it may be ages until I get shortlisted again.

I don’t see how things are ever going to improve, yes I’ve tried thinking of it as a ‘numbers game’ but three years on and not one job offer… I don’t know how I messed up so much in life.

I’ve always had good performance reviews (hit targets and got bonus each year), I’ve volunteered for extra responsibility (didn’t help my prospects just gave me extra workload without reward), yes I’ve joined networking groups (engaged too, but it doesn’t open doors for me), won a spot on two mentorship programs at work but both mentors were too busy for me even when I did the mental load of organising things they would often bail last min. No one in my team has been promoted in past five years and barely any internal vacancies.

Rejected from disability confident civil service roles too, I had thought EO would be entry level but seems they’re out of reach for me too. I understand CS hires a different way to private sector, I have stalked the CS reddit forum for tips, always use STAR but still rejected.

I don’t think I am entitled to a job, I’d like to think I’m pretty humble and know my place.
I just naively thought if I was polite and worked hard, as well as regularly exploring external opportunities I could land something but I’ve failed at everything.

I’m willing to take a pay cut!

Is it really this much effort to be considered foran entry level role these days?

It may not seem it to others but I’m genuinely trying SO hard, can’t think of anything else in life I’ve put so much effort in for nothing to come out of it

I’m already light years behind my peers and I’m doubt I’ll ever catch up (yes I know can’t compare life paths). I’m already frugal but of course I have the odd days where I think how different it must feel to be them with good jobs and not being scared of the future.

Why does it need to be over £30k? How have you had £90k to support yourself for the last 3 years if that's how much you need? Unemployment benefits don't cover that much. I'm not trying to be horrible, I'm trying to point out that perhaps you should lower your salary sights, anything that pays what you're living off now would be enough to live off, then work your way up. It's much easier to get another job when you're employed. Otherwise, if you've somehow managed to fund £30k a year until now but you're running out, you need to move elsewhere where there's a lower COL and get a lower paid job.

@BombayMixIsTheBestMix Sorry my post is unclear, I’m currently in work (if include my bonus I earnt around 36 this year) but lacking any prospects, and trying to find a new role. A side step seems better than staying stuck at a dead end

30k is not a lot in London, I don’t live in a desirable area either and my living costs are actually cheaper than when I lived up north. I don’t own a car and mostly take bus instead of tube, my social network is here too.
Even if I move to cheaper part of the country, I’d imagine they’d have less job opportunities

In public sector salaries for London staff is 30k (sometimes considerably more) even for junior roles

Yeah as PP said, you need to just take any job that pays more than UC. You're clearly applying for things that are seen as a level above. And with the career gap I don't think you can afford to be fussy.

Try and go for AO level government jobs. Then you can work your way up.

Have you been with agencies? You should try and join as many of those as possible.

Do you absolutely have to be in London? Moving even just slightly out would save a lot. Though that's a last resort of course.

She doesn't have a career gap.

OP is employed but is struggling to get on that next step on the ladder

30k isn't much above FT at minimum wage. I don't know where this idea that 30k is a good salary has come from, it's barely keeping your head above water kind of money.

@BillieWiper sorry my original post was unclear, doesn’t let me edit OP, I’m in work with no CV gaps. I haven’t been able to find a new job in three years as at a dead end at my current place

Have you been with agencies? You should try and join as many of those as possible.
I have signed up for quite a few but rarely hear back, and continue to apply for advertised junior agency roles I come across with but little success.

I would intentionally target agencies which had good google reviews especially from ‘junior’ level professionals, but even then I wouldn’t get same treatment which makes me thinks my skills aren’t worth much to the agency.

Ocasionalyl I’ve had a few come back but the role they proposed for me was bad match (still tried my best at initial recruiter call stage) so not surprised hiring manager didn’t want to interview me further.
Also, had few times where agency recruiter has approached me with role that’s not advertised on their site and it looks very desirable to me, feel I’m a good match, but then they ghost when I express strong interest even though they were the ones to first approach me with the role. All in all, I don’t expect much from agency recruiters tbh

Ah ok cool. That's better. I did think you meant you'd been out of work for three years. Not quite as dire straights as I thought.

I hope you find something soon. I know it's really hard out there. Mid level admin type jobs I think are in high demand with people newish to the market as well as those going back in all competing for limited roles.

I’ve noticed when seeking career advice on MN, it sometimes can bring out two extremes

On one hand, some people think 30k is expecting too much (even with a degree and 5 years experience). Is it a race to the bottom?

Meanwhile others will mention people working at admin level without a degree at their company can earn 50k

I once interviewed for a role that paid 45 - 50k for much less responsibility than current role in an industry I’ve never worked in. These roles do exist but rare and I wouldn’t expect to land such a high paying role

I also appreciate my prospects aren’t great so I can’t be too fussy and hence open to pay cut but don’t think seeking 30k is that fussy

OP I understand your frustration and I agree that you aren't asking for too much. It sounds like your current role is restricting your development, therefore considering a pay cut for better experience seems like a reasonable idea - though you shouldn't have to! The civil service would be good for you but the interviews do take practice. Keep going, you will get there.

In the meantime, can you sit down your manager and tell them you really want to be considered to work on something a bit different for your development? I'm sure you've tried this though...

It is frustrating but as an interviewer decisions do come down to all sorts of things, not just technical but whether you would be a good fit.

I look for people who have expanded their skillsets - do depending on your field of employment look at the new skills required such as AI etc. it is not just can you do the job but what else can you bring to the table.

30k is entry role. If you have 2.2 degree & 5 years experience I would be worried you might not stick around for long. Know your worth & maybe aim a little higher.

Thank you for your tips, we use AI to support our work already and I do take advantage of any free learning at work to increase prospects. For example, as well as typical MS Office, Jira and Confluence skills (think that’s expected most offices these days) I took initiative to learn Azure DevOps, Visio and PowerBI.

Although I have five years of experience that includes internships, and the four years I’ve gained after graduation are likely perceived as ‘undesirable’ (niche operations at financial services), I don’t think it counts for much to recruiters.

I presume being stagnate for 3years + looks like a red flag to recruiters because ‘normal’ people who do these types of roles would move on to a better job within a year. Feels like I missed the boat

Seeing as my role is bit niche so it’s not like say a ‘HR assistant’ where even if I’d been stagnate for few years at least there’s plenty of equivalent roles to apply for and you’d presume another company would at least have better progression.

There’s not a clear equivalent role to mine externally, only two other companies would have the equivalent type of operations we do but they’re not recruiting

Are you working at all? My advice would be to take any job and go from there. Shop, cafe whatever.

sorry - read update

@ASDnocareer I honestly suggest you bin this disappointing thread, re-write your OP and try again. It appears the level of comprehension has plummeted lately. (I had no trouble understanding your post, but almost every response here seems to have been written without even basic attention to what you’ve said.)

So if I understand correctly, you have been in a low-paid entry job for the past 5 years and have been trying to progress with no success for the past 3 years. You have been applying for internal promotions and been turned down, depspite hitting targets and taking extra work and have not been succesful at external jobs. Am I understanding correctly?

One thing that struck me is that you mention volunteering for extra responsibilities and that did not lead to a promotion. I've read the article "Being Glue" by Tany Reilly and really really wish I had read that piece much sooner in my career. Basically this article explains how taking on certain initiatives and responsibilities actually harm careers rather than advance them, even though they benefit the entire team. I don't know if that describes your situation or not but it's worth a read.

This is a rather harsh comment. From the username and OP, which includes comments about not feeling entitled to a job, it is easy to see why people thought the poster was out of work until she updated.

“I don’t think I am entitled to a job, I’d like to think I’m pretty humble and know my place.
I just naively thought if I was polite and worked hard, as well as regularly exploring external opportunities I could land something but I’ve failed at everything.“

Honestly OP, the bit about being humble and “knowing your place” depressed me. You are just as good as anybody else. I wonder if your attitude of being less than other people is coming across in interviews? You aren’t lesser to other people and wanting to earn 30k should not be an impossible dream. It’s not much more more than minimum wage.

Thanks but as someone who lurks in career threads a lot, I’ve sometimes seen quite negative posts from people with ‘employers don’t owe you anything’ mindset (which is fair enough!), but it can feel a bit accusatory and like a race to the bottom. Not all posters are like that, but I didn’t want the thread to get derailed with posters calling me rude/entitled

I would like to think I mask pretty well in interviews, I avoid sounding negative and my NT friends would even say I’m confident speaking to new people. Although it’s rare I’ll get an interview for a role that I meet all of the requirements perfectly. I’ll often have few gaps and then they’ll say they went with someone who had more experience in xyz. It’s so rare for me to find the exact same type of role I do now externally even though I work at a large well known company. I don’t get many interviews compared to amount of applications I make

Have you tried rewriting your CV so it is more focused on transferable skills, particularly if your experience-to-date is very niche.

Do you do adequate research into the company/organisation as well as the role?
Do you know anyone who you could do practice interviews with and get constructive feedback from?
Do you have model answers to common interview questions that you can then adapt quickly to suit the exact interview question? (and if you can weave in a point or two that's relevant to the organisation, even better)

Recruitment agencies are working for the organisation not you. So you need make their lives as easy as possible - get a really comprehensive CV because the more keywords and "boxes" your CV can tick in their candidate database, the more often you will come up when they are searching for potential candidates. Also, you have to ring them fairly regularly so that they know you are seriously looking.

Apologies if you have already tried the above. Good luck with your job hunt.

What’s your degree in? Is it a STEM subject?

Not a stem subject, I studied a humanities degree

I know some may assume that’s the reason for my struggles, but I think degree subject matters less than experience for most roles these days? I know theres exceptions like medicine but for typical office roles (HR, marketing, operations, product, UX, procurement) I think having the right experience is far mroe important

I had intern experience (large regulated firm) before graduating but it didn’t help me much. A lot of my friends studied unrelated (non stem) subjects too and have good careers now.

I regularly read UK job market articles and lurk other sites job forums, seems many STEM graduates are struggling too

I often wonder if degrees have a bit of an unwritten shelf life… if you don’t find a ‘grad’ level job or a job with prospects within few years it can be harder to break out of dead end roles

It’s not going to be the main reason, no. I was just going to suggest if it were STEM that you could try some of the engineering grad schemes, which are competitive but with your experience a consultancy in this area might have fitted and that area can also suit people with ASD (I have ASD and ADHD myself).

Hi there thanks! I would like to say yes but I don’t know if maybe I’m doing a bad job of it.
I have lots of different versions of my CV, I choose version closest to ad then fine tune it further according to the ad requirements. I leave more niche details about my current experience if it’s unrelated to job ad I’m applying to, I presume won’t mean much to other recruiters. I try my hardest to make my CV ‘transferable’ but not sure if it is. I sometimes ask chatgpt to rate how suited my cv is /10 for a job ad before applying too

I do research company before interviews, yes, I don’t have anyone to practice interviews with but as recommended on another forum, I use ChatGPT on voice mode to ask me mock interview questions based on the ad/company. 😂 Sounds sad but I think it’s good practice

It almost sounds like you are applying for jobs which are not quite a good fit for you. Maybe try for some different types of roles - ones which might not be an obvious choice. And if in doubt remember men will apply for roles they are a 40% fit for, women 90%.

for your cv I would recommend the book ‘knock out CV’ by John Lees. It still stands today and might help reframe your past & current experience & skill set.

from times when I have been the interviewer often the best candidates were the ones who were most relaxed, smiled, and just took things slowly. A quiet confidence does make a difference.

Also always have questions for the interviewer- try different ones than the usual ones suggested by LinkedIn etc.

Try to aim for stem based jobs. Make it very clear you are autistic in your application. I hope you will find something.

I’m a lot older than you with an IT degree. I didn’t get the career I was after so in the end after 2 careers in corporations which didn’t suit me I had to set up my own business at home doing something completely different. I’m now semi retired 12 years later and cannot find anything wfh , I don’t even get to an interview stage. (Disability nowadays so I need to wfh) The moment I put previously self employed there’s not even a response. I’ve virtually given up hope now.

And yes to different questions at interview. One of my past roles I ended up having a big chat about greenhouses for tomato farming….not relevant to the job as such but very interesting. I got that role against 6 other better qualified young men.