Why do i need experience for menial jobs?

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Actually a friend of mine applied to mcdonalds (the one i work at when im not at my other job) and she got rejected, even though she already has a degree, does voluntary work etc.
Anyway, whats wrong with mcdonalds?!?!?!
It may seem like a lowest of the low, horrible job, but i think you will find the job is harder than it looks, and it actually isnt that bad. The pay isnt bad, the people i work with are great, there are lots of social events/outings paid for by the company, there are lots of training opportunities etc.

Point taken.

Reply 21

her0n

Quite often, a "menial job" won't employ someone who is overqualified as they think they won't stay with the company long.

Which is probably quite true. However it sucks not to be given a chance.

Reply 22

Genocidal

Menial jobs are nothing to do with experience at all, it's just that so many are applying, as many have said.

Also, in some cases, if you show that you have a degree and lots of experience on your CV then you might be rejected anyway because they won't believe that you intend on staying in that job for long. They want a long-term worker not someone who will be actively looking for a job the moment they start working there.

Reply 23

Henwin

Just think about it this way, it's not EVERYWHERE that needs experience, and once you've got one of those, then you have the experience to move elsewhere.

You can get supermarkets jobs without experience, some clothes shops (I had a friend start working at New Look when we'd just finished our GCSEs), McDonalds you can get without experience (although they repeatedly rejected me so there must be some other criteria that TSR members are lacking?) and I even had an interview with Apple - a 16 year old girl fresh out of school who's never even used a Mac.

Just think, as soon as you've got one and stuck at it, you've got the experience to go to the places that wanted it in the first place. And stay positive. I've been looking for a job for 9 months now, and the only thing you can do is keep going.

If you're interested here's a list of places me or people I know have got jobs/interviews at with no experience, just a few off the top of my head:
Jessops
Pizza Hut
New Look
Argos
All supermarkets - ASDA, Sainsbury's, Tesco
Greggs
McDonald's
Call centres

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 24