Rejection bringing me down

Hi all

Last year was a very tough year for me. I was hurt really badly by a guy I loved and had to cut ties with him, I was doing a really difficult postgraduate course with little support, and I was really struggling financially, which made me have to take out a loan. As a result I suffered from the worst depression that I had ever experienced, and it made life unbearable.

After my course ended and I cut ties with him, I was determined to live a fulfilling life and to be happy. I wanted a job in the legal sector (as I have a law degree and Masters) but knew how competitive it was, so after lots of applications I settled for a banking role and decided to do some legal volunteering on top of my other job to increase my chances.

I have been doing this for 10 months, however last month I started to applying for juniour legal roles religiously, hoping that my voluntary work experience would have boosted my chances. After hundreds of applications and rejection after rejection, I got 6 interviews. I am waiting on 3 to get back to me, 2 rejected me and 1 didn't even have the common courtesy to let me know that I had been been rejected. I have always been very free-spirited but feel really trapped right now; like I want something that is out of my reach.

I feel trapped in a job that I hate going to. Although I am very good at it, every day it is a challenge to drag myself to work. I feel trapped living in my mum's home, and in an area that I wish I could walk out of and never look back. This feeling of being trapped makes me lose all hope, when I was so full of hope at the start of the year. It feels like no matter how hard you work, you will stay at a disadvantage if that's how you started off (I have no connections in the industry). I just go about my daily life like a zombie with nothing to look forward to, and I hate it.

How do you change your life when no one will give you a chance?

If you're not getting the junior roles then maybe your CV isn't as strong as other candidates. Or it could be your interviewing technique.
Did you get feedback from the ones that rejected you? If not, send them an email or give them a call and ask if that's a possibility.

1 of them gave me feedback: they suggested that they had chosen someone with more relevant experience. If so, why invite me to an interview in the first place? I requested feedback from the other and I'm still waiting for it.

No responses yet from the other 4. I will have to try and chase it up, but one of them is supposed to get back to me tomorrow (can't even count on that anymore). The issue is that there is always going to be someone with more/better experience, so how do I even get my foot in the door?

I have had my CV reviewed multiple times, even by professionals.

Because they might have relevant experience but be a terrible person in real life. They have to interview to find out who has the best mix of what they need.

There might be people with better experience, but there might not. There's always that chance that you find a recruiter that you just click with and they know you'd be a great fit for the organisation.

Can you get more experience on a voluntary basis? Even something in an evening once a week just to enhance your CV?