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Completely Lost. I don't know what to do.

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Wish you the best of luck of finding something.

However, I don't know if you have been trying to min wage jobs (if you've already said it and I've missed it, let me know!) but you will have to consider it also. (You have said about admin & office jobs. ) You've said these kind of jobs lead to 'unlikeable experience' - there isn't such a thing. It's shown you've gone to a crap job even though you worked hard to uni.

You were sucked it into the same thing as most, that any degree will do and give you a great job at the end. All our parents and grandparents were fed the same crap, and it has now come back to bite us.

So really, my question is are you prepared to work at a job that you are way over-qualified to do?

You're obviously an intelligent person, and hopefully will get something soon.

Reply 21

suziQ

Blindsive - it's not at all that I don't like the truth, I think that you and I probably have a different opinion as to what constitutes advice, and what constitutes trolling or just being obnoxious for the sake of it.
Nevertheless, it's a forum. And I asked for advice, so you've gotten your contribution out there. Well done.

As for your enquiry about my grades, I got AAAA, the results I was predicted, and wasn't 'stuck' or had to settle. The transition was relatively straight forward. No resits required.
The reason I didn't stay at home and apply to everything?
-- you're assuming I made no applications in my final year, which I did. I was unsuccessful and felt travelling might give me some breathing space, plus I had personal reasons for going overseas, something which doesn't apply anymore.

I do disagree with your implication that I have a lack of ambition or drive, although I concede I feel listless at the moment, that's not the same thing. Although I suspect that is merely a barb, so I will leave it there.

Reply 22

suziQ

Original post by n65uk

At the moment, I've been aiming for minimum wage and up - but there is very very little available, and I don't just mean perusing a website and not seeing anything that takes my fancy. I'm working part time in retail and have been since returning from travelling (and did this alongside admin jobs) in order to try and keep some money coming in and showing a bit of perserverance.

I'm certainly not adverse to working in a role where I'm over-qualified - but my problem is I feel a little fraudulent in saying over-qualified in the same context as me, as the degree didn't really qualify me to be anything!

I do take your points though, thanks!

Reply 23

suziQ

also - for a little bit more background, I know my OP reads like I've only been applying for grad schemes for 2 weeks... in actual fact I followed the CAS in 3rd year and applied as most of my friends did, for schemes following graduation. I wasn't successful, so I went travelling.

I secured the place on the GDL while I was in Aus, and I deferred it to this september as I didn't have relevant experience and wanted a bit of time to gain that. In the meantime, I spent the last stint of my work/travel period trying to secure schemes for me to come home to, or at least have some interviews lined up. It's not like I went away for a year expecting everything to be coming up roses when I landed.

Reply 24

thefish_uk

Original post by suziQ

Ah, I had a similar choice to make when I graduated, to either continue to apply for jobs or bugger off and do something totally different for a while... I stayed at home and applied for jobs! I'm quite glad I did - this meant I could look for work starting before September, and also get my applications in to all the graduate schemes I wanted to early. It did help though that I knew exactly what sort of job I wanted.

The problem with graduate schemes in this respect is that applications generally have to work to their timetable, so you have to keep yourself contactable and available. They have so many applicants that they don't care if this causes them to lose a few along the way. e.g. for the job that did finally accept me, I applied at the start of October as soon as applications opened, didn't hear anything for five months, then out of the blue got an e-mail basically saying "Please come to an assessment session a week today at 9am in London". Coming from Birmingham this required an overnight stay. No chance to say "umm well I'm in Australia, can we leave it a few weeks". Maybe I'm just bitter that I stayed at home not being able to plan more than a few days ahead, when some people were off travelling... but it got me a job!

At the risk of repeating what somebody else may have said... there is no such thing as too many extra-curricular activities, you just need to make sure they're described in a way that's targeted to the job you're applying to. If your CV just reads like a list of your travel history then it will make you look like a spoilt git with too much money. Make sure that each experience says something about what you as a person got from it - ideally you should list something relevant to the job that you got out of each activity, whether it's a specific achievement or just application and development of a transferable skill. Try and arrange it so across all of your activities you are listing a broad range of skills. If you are struggling to see what you got out of any particular trip (i.e. it was just a holiday) then leave it off.

You could also try laying out the extra-curricular bit of your CV in a more skills-oriented way: instead of listing your activities and putting skills next to each one, you could list transferable skills relevant to the job* (likely things like teamwork and problem solving) and under each describe particular experiences which have shaped your aptitude at that skill so far. I suppose ideally you'd keep it to your "headline" achievements in each skill, and you might find some activities are superseded by others in every skill, so leave them off! In fact, when you have such a large range of experiences to draw from, this is probably the ideal way of presenting them in a way that's targeted to the job.

* - hint: look at the "person specification" or similar on the job description, if there is one, to find out exactly what they're looking for!

You could also try the TSR CV Help service. I haven't used this and I have no idea what it's like.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 25

Blindsidev1

Original post by suziQ

I wasn't trolling nor being obnoxious, I stated what other people wouldn't, a slap of the wrist.

As for your enquiry about my grades, I got AAAA, the results I was predicted, and wasn't 'stuck' or had to settle. The transition was relatively straight forward. No resits required.
The reason I didn't stay at home and apply to everything?
-- you're assuming I made no applications in my final year, which I did. I was unsuccessful and felt travelling might give me some breathing space, plus I had personal reasons for going overseas, something which doesn't apply anymore.

You gained AAAA in what precisely, media studies, history... Core subjects like Math, physics would of given you a core platform to run off, career wise, and the advise could of been alot better at the time. You've stated you've made applications in your final year. Did you ever ask yourself "Why aren't I getting these vacancies?", didn't you phone employers and asked what they wanted exactly, so you could adopt more skills suited for the job.

I do disagree with your implication that I have a lack of ambition or drive, although I concede I feel listless at the moment, that's not the same thing. Although I suspect that is merely a barb, so I will leave it there.

You took time off for breathing space.. I'm sure there were people in a worse position than yourself, and they've made it work with dedication. The fault is not entirely on your shoulders. I blame those "advisors" you had.

Completely Lost. I don't know what to do.

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