The Student Room Group

Graduate and jobless.

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Original post by yashradia
This is just for people who have graduated and are looking for job. How do you deal with the changing process? My life is so rubbish, I sit at home and feel so depressed. I have no friends as i studied in a different city, I always sit on my laptop getting bored and my head hurts and i have got mental illness like anxiety, lack of confidence. Anyone going through similar stage? I hate every second of this time and its so upsetting because i am such a positive person. I do go swimming once a week but even that is turning out to be expensive and yes because i have no job i have no money. I feel so useless and pointless in life:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:


grab your spoon, feel the real world, kid```:biggrin:
Reply 21
Lucky for me i have a very high boredom threshold.
Original post by Disenchanted
Don't you mean at least ten jobs a day? I was applying none stop and eventually it pays off.. three a week will get you nowhere unless you are holding out for a very specific job. It's best IMO to apply for minimum wage jobs and then look for a more suitable job whilst employed.


Ten jobs a day is totally pointless.

When you apply for a job you need to research the job, put some thought into tailoring the application to be specific to the job and actually coming over like a credible candidate. Even for low paid jobs employers receive hundreds of applications so if someone is just mailbombing their CV off to everyone then they are just going to get ignored. Three a week is a decent number because then you can spend a couple of days on each application.

Also when people say graduates should look for minimum wage jobs, this is fine if they have experience eg if they worked in a bar while at uni they might be well placed to get a job in a bar or a coffee shop. But if they don't have specific experience then the minimum wage jobs can be as hard or harder to get for a young graduate than a graduate job. Grad jobs are competitive but at the moment the bottom end of the labour market is even more competitive and there are people down there that have had experience and worked a lot more than you have.

I remember before I finished uni I always had this idea in the back of my mind that if I really needed a job I could go and stack shelves in a supermarket, but after I'd finished when I went contacting the local supermarkets none of them were hiring, one of the managers told me that realistically when any hours did come available they would offer to existing staff that were mostly part time anyway and were all desperate for more hours, the problem was all the unemployed/unskilled in the area wanted jobs in the local supermarkets, factories and cleaning jobs etc so they were competitive and they really want people with experience in that area.

It's a myth that there are these low paid jobs available that can't get filled because everyone on the dole is just sat on their backsides, when low paid jobs come available they get flooded with as many applications per place if not more than the graduate jobs do. If there are charity shops in the area though it's easier to get volunteering work there so doing that whilst on the dole at least is a way of getting experience for working in retail so that's one way to break in.
Hi :smile: I graduated with a 2:2 in Accountancy, and I got a job half way through my Masters because I knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who would hire me.

I work at the very bottom of the food chain - I'm a purchase ledger administrator. But it pays the bills, my boss is funding me to do CIMA, and I'm getting valuable experience.

Make sure everyone knows you're unemployed, apply to both big places and small (instead of sending in a CV, try e-mailing whoever is in charge - if you know someone who works at Big Company X, get them to find out who you should talk to about a job. I was given the e-mail address of the financial controller at Volvo, I contacted her and was allocated a desk a week later.
Reply 24
Original post by Ice_Queen
Hi :smile: I graduated with a 2:2 in Accountancy, and I got a job half way through my Masters because I knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who would hire me.

I work at the very bottom of the food chain - I'm a purchase ledger administrator. But it pays the bills, my boss is funding me to do CIMA, and I'm getting valuable experience.

Make sure everyone knows you're unemployed, apply to both big places and small (instead of sending in a CV, try e-mailing whoever is in charge - if you know someone who works at Big Company X, get them to find out who you should talk to about a job. I was given the e-mail address of the financial controller at Volvo, I contacted her and was allocated a desk a week later.


I don't have that many friends and frankly i am quite shy when it comes to talking:frown:
Reply 25
Original post by Ice_Queen

Original post by Ice_Queen
Hi :smile: I graduated with a 2:2 in Accountancy, and I got a job half way through my Masters because I knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who would hire me.

I work at the very bottom of the food chain - I'm a purchase ledger administrator. But it pays the bills, my boss is funding me to do CIMA, and I'm getting valuable experience.


My friend is doing that CIMA thing, he never went to University.
Reply 26
Unemployment is only boring if you make it so.
Reply 27
Original post by fourskin
Unemployment is only boring if you make it so.
tell me how is it not boring for you?
Reply 28
Original post by yashradia

Original post by yashradia
tell me how is it not boring for you?


I keep busy.

On this forum people tend to think anyone who doesn't have a job must just sit around masturbating and watching daytime TV.
Reply 29
Original post by yashradia
tell me how is it not boring for you?


Which university did you study at?
Original post by fourskin
My friend is doing that CIMA thing, he never went to University.


University is not a prerequisite for CIMA. However, there is a Certificate in Business you must achieve before you can study it, and my degree exempts me from that as well as a couple of the modules for the full qualification. It is important to get it because you're not classed as a chartered accountant and therefore cannot practice properly until you have it, and funding makes life a LOT easier. I would not be able to study it now if I didn't have funding; my MSc sapped everything I had!


Original post by yashradia
I don't have that many friends and frankly i am quite shy when it comes to talking:frown:


That's fine :smile: It was my boyfriend that got me the job (he works with someone who has a sister who works with my Big Boss) so really you only need to know one person! It just helps to know lots - wider pool! Don't rely on this method though, do as others have suggested and keep sending out personalised CVs, e-mails, phone calls, whatever it takes :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 31
Original post by fourskin
I keep busy.

On this forum people tend to think anyone who doesn't have a job must just sit around masturbating and watching daytime TV.


Busy in what?
Reply 32
i'm in the sam boat as you tc. i never thought i'd be unemplyed this long. Sure, iknew if wasnt going to be easy but it seems like all luck has diserted me. I got a good 2:1 in my degree (geography), i applied for all the relevant grad schemes, nothing fancy just the ones that i liked, but i didnt get through to any of them. i cant afford to relocate to london and i live in lancashire.

All the while friends on my course who didnt do as wellas they'd like got jobs pretty much straight out or within a few months. one got a job at the liverpool chamber of commerce as a policy assistant and was surprised as much as i was. It just seems nothing is going for me, overtime i began to look for immediate starts instead of grad schemes, then local retail work and i couldnt even get any interviews.

and now just like you i sit at home, on my laptop and feeling depressed about the whole thing.
Reply 33
Original post by yashradia
Busy in what?


If you really have to ask this there is no hope for you.

You think the only thing to life is to go to school, earn a qualification, and then become a worker bee? :confused:
Original post by ar22man
i'm in the sam boat as you tc. i never thought i'd be unemplyed this long. Sure, iknew if wasnt going to be easy but it seems like all luck has diserted me. I got a good 2:1 in my degree (geography), i applied for all the relevant grad schemes, nothing fancy just the ones that i liked, but i didnt get through to any of them. i cant afford to relocate to london and i live in lancashire.

All the while friends on my course who didnt do as wellas they'd like got jobs pretty much straight out or within a few months. one got a job at the liverpool chamber of commerce as a policy assistant and was surprised as much as i was. It just seems nothing is going for me, overtime i began to look for immediate starts instead of grad schemes, then local retail work and i couldnt even get any interviews.

and now just like you i sit at home, on my laptop and feeling depressed about the whole thing.


This 100%.

I did much better than most people I went to uni with yet I'm still looking and they all walked straight into graduate jobs (one even FAILED his degree so entered as a school leaver) - the reason? There was a company who recruit graduates and anyone who applies is guaranteed a job - so why didn't I apply?

The reason is simple, they required 12 weeks compulsory unpaid training and after that you're locked in for two years, if you leave or are fired you need to pay £5k in training costs. No big deal about being locked in for two years, a graduate job is a long-term commitment, the problem was the 12 weeks unpaid training; all my mates lived around Manchester where the company was based and so could actually commute every day (9-5 training), whereas I live in Lancashire (Preston) and it was going to cost me £650+ to commute during that time.

They even rang me up after I'd graduated to say they had graduate opportunities available. It went something like this:

Them: Good afternoon XXXXXX, we have found your CV.... we have graduate positions available...
Me: Aha, but am I right in saying it requires 12 weeks unpaid training?
Them: You will be required to undertake 12 weeks technical skills development, yes
Me: If it's unpaid, how am I supposed to commute?
Them: Erm..., erm....

I hung up.
Reply 35
Original post by A Mysterious Lord
This 100%.

I did much better than most people I went to uni with yet I'm still looking and they all walked straight into graduate jobs (one even FAILED his degree so entered as a school leaver) - the reason? There was a company who recruit graduates and anyone who applies is guaranteed a job - so why didn't I apply?

The reason is simple, they required 12 weeks compulsory unpaid training and after that you're locked in for two years, if you leave or are fired you need to pay £5k in training costs. No big deal about being locked in for two years, a graduate job is a long-term commitment, the problem was the 12 weeks unpaid training; all my mates lived around Manchester where the company was based and so could actually commute every day (9-5 training), whereas I live in Lancashire (Preston) and it was going to cost me £650+ to commute during that time.

They even rang me up after I'd graduated to say they had graduate opportunities available. It went something like this:

Them: Good afternoon XXXXXX, we have found your CV.... we have graduate positions available...
Me: Aha, but am I right in saying it requires 12 weeks unpaid training?
Them: You will be required to undertake 12 weeks technical skills development, yes
Me: If it's unpaid, how am I supposed to commute?
Them: Erm..., erm....

I hung up.


It's only 12 fukin weeks. You should have foudn a way.

What was the nature of the job, the pay AFTER the training etc?
Original post by Sea7645
It's only 12 fukin weeks. You should have foudn a way.


Fancy suggesting how? 9-5 training so it's not like I could have got a job to pay for commuting. JSA wouldn't have covered it either because I would have been employed (unpaid for 12 weeks but they don't class it as training so I wouldn't qualify for JSA). Overdraft was pretty much maxed out due to living costs in my final year and no bank was going to give me ANOTHER loan.

So yeah, any suggestions?
Original post by A Mysterious Lord
Fancy suggesting how? 9-5 training so it's not like I could have got a job to pay for commuting. JSA wouldn't have covered it either because I would have been employed (unpaid for 12 weeks but they don't class it as training so I wouldn't qualify for JSA). Overdraft was pretty much maxed out due to living costs in my final year and no bank was going to give me ANOTHER loan.

So yeah, any suggestions?

I think the point they're trying to make is, if you really wanted the job you would have found some way of making it work. Taking loans etc., whatever was needed to secure yourself a permanent job.
Reply 38
I was unemployed for a long time until I started working casually for an agency and got myself enough shifts to manage.

Worked in call centres, hotels, bars, homeless hostels, nursing homes and anything else I could manage to get, applying to MANY jobs.

"Graduate jobs" are a bit pointless, a lot of them are contracts, unpaid training, and they don't live up to the promise they get, and everyone applies for them.

Find something that is different but works with your degree, and do whatever work you can to get some money, or volunteer for a charity doing paperwork and get experience and transferable skills.
Reply 39
I was unemployed for ages after my degree and it was really depressing, I know how you feel.

Definitely give volunteering a try- I know its hard when your confidence is low but it will give you more confidence in the long run. Try looking for a charity that needs a volunteer in something finance-related.

And I know it sounds really trite but I find it helpful to pretend that I'm someone else when I'm in a nerve-wracking situation like an interview or presentation or something- I try and pretend I'm one of my more confident friends and it really helps me!

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