The Student Room Group

I can't get a job

I have been to like 5 interviews now and made even more applications - every interview goes well I feel but I get pretty unhelpful feedback.

I've been applying for pre-university palcements for this year but it's getting so late now I feel I'll have nothing to do for the year

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Original post by isiaiah d
I have been to like 5 interviews now and made even more applications - every interview goes well I feel but I get pretty unhelpful feedback.

I've been applying for pre-university palcements for this year but it's getting so late now I feel I'll have nothing to do for the year

All companies want graduates with billions of billions of years of unattainable experience.
Reply 2
Original post by mharo
All companies want graduates with billions of billions of years of unattainable experience.


It's getting so annoying I thought that since it's pre-university nobody would have experience but I'm literally getting nothing even with some relelvant experience
What general feedback have you been getting from your interviews?
What kind of placements?
Reply 5
Original post by isiaiah d
It's getting so annoying I thought that since it's pre-university nobody would have experience but I'm literally getting nothing even with some relelvant experience

Likewise. It's so frustrating and annoying that they require billions of years of working experience for that job, but how are we going to gain that working experience if there are no companies that is willing to hire us fresh graduates with no work experience?
Reply 6
Original post by UncertainCertain
What kind of placements?


engineering but I've signed up to technology/Science ones too
Reply 7
Original post by cheesecakelove
What general feedback have you been getting from your interviews?


at one place they said I hadn't thought about the commute there and they didn't want to lose me.
At another my goup failed the logic exercise but I passed the rest of the assesment center.
Another time they basically didn't say anything apart from that they had many strong applicants and my application didn't stand out
Are you going into your interviews with knowledge about the role/company you are applying for? Making sure you seem open and approachable? Hardworking? Not just staying quiet, only speaking after being spoken to?
Like I say, people on this forum are living in a bubble.

I have a bachelors and a masters (first and distinction). Degrees are very overrated and league tables are redundant.

Employers want direct, relevant experience so they can put you straight into the job and pay you as little as possible.

You need to re-train like a lot of us do, but that is difficult now we have used up our student finance and are overqualified for apprecticeships.

I'm not having a go at you. I'm just pointing out reality.

The student room is a very dangerous forum because it propagates the myth that degrees and league tables are the be all and end all. Before you know it you have 5 figure debt and 3 wasted years.
Reply 10
Original post by UncertainCertain
Are you going into your interviews with knowledge about the role/company you are applying for? Making sure you seem open and approachable? Hardworking? Not just staying quiet, only speaking after being spoken to?


probably the last point I need some improvement on - I think I did seem a little nervous at my last interview because I really wanted the position and it really late on.
I had little - no opportunity to speak about the companies history but I did mention I was interrested in a project they were recently involved in and we talked about that.
I have loads of projects/school work to show I'm hardworking too.

I usually do struggle to ask questions but I'm not sure how to get past this.
In the latest interview I asked what kind of projects are you working on now because I had nothing else to say - how do I improve this?
Are you at college or anything? There could be someone there you could speak to about doing practice interviews
Reply 12
Original post by onepostonlytsr
Like I say, people on this forum are living in a bubble.

I have a bachelors and a masters (first and distinction). Degrees are very overrated and league tables are redundant.

Employers want direct, relevant experience so they can put you straight into the job and pay you as little as possible.

You need to re-train like a lot of us do, but that is difficult now we have used up our student finance and are overqualified for apprecticeships.

I'm not having a go at you. I'm just pointing out reality.

The student room is a very dangerous forum because it propagates the myth that degrees and league tables are the be all and end all. Before you know it you have 5 figure debt and 3 wasted years.


Im aware of alot of this why im really set on doing an apprenticeship (If I can get it).

I have just finished year 13 so I don't get how anyone else applying to these roles would have any actual experience. I think I will look for engineering work experience but by then it will be too late to get work for just 1 year right(i'm taking a gap year)?
Reply 13
can anyone help? I don't even know where to look now Ive gone through indeed School-leaver and YINI vacancies at this point
Get a job in the Apple Store.
Reply 15
Original post by SwissChocolate
Get a job in the Apple Store.


all of the jobs I've seen require experience and I have none apart from some website testing
Reply 16
Original post by isiaiah d
all of the jobs I've seen require experience and I have none apart from some website testing


Is that all you have as your experience? And you don't see what's wrong with you?

The problem with your application is that you may SAY you have great communication skills etc. but what's there to show for it without having any part-time jobs? Why haven't you worked in retail when 15 and 16 year olds are working in stores around the country?

I failed one year at my university and I had to resit this one exam the following year, so I knew I had to get a job. I worked that entire year at a retail store, waking up at 5am to open the store at 6:30am. I did that for a whole year 5 days a week, and then I went back into uni and I still kept my job for Sundays. Now I'm working at an Actuarial firm in the city (work placement sandwich year) with two years of retail work experience, and they took notice of that in the interview. After this year I'll have 2 years worth of experience at a retail store and 1 year at an Actuarial firm, and also a year of working as a Steward (previously). It's little things like this that build up your CV and now I can look back at my time with my retail job, and give examples of great customer service etc.
Reply 17
Original post by AnharM
Is that all you have as your experience? And you don't see what's wrong with you?

The problem with your application is that you may SAY you have great communication skills etc. but what's there to show for it without having any part-time jobs? Why haven't you worked in retail when 15 and 16 year olds are working in stores around the country?

I failed one year at my university and I had to resit this one exam the following year, so I knew I had to get a job. I worked that entire year at a retail store, waking up at 5am to open the store at 6:30am. I did that for a whole year 5 days a week, and then I went back into uni and I still kept my job for Sundays. Now I'm working at an Actuarial firm in the city (work placement sandwich year) with two years of retail work experience, and they took notice of that in the interview. After this year I'll have 2 years worth of experience at a retail store and 1 year at an Actuarial firm, and also a year of working as a Steward (previously). It's little things like this that build up your CV and now I can look back at my time with my retail job, and give examples of great customer service etc.


I'm a school leaver so my experience is surely more than the average since I have actually worked a paid job in IT.
So do you reccomend me getting a retail/hands on jobas opposed to a relevant placement at this time?
Original post by SwissChocolate
Get a job in the Apple Store.

You can't without exp
Reply 19
Original post by isiaiah d
I'm a school leaver so my experience is surely more than the average since I have actually worked a paid job in IT.
So do you reccomend me getting a retail/hands on jobas opposed to a relevant placement at this time?


What exactly did you do at your job and how long did you work with them for? Have you proof-read your CV? Have you been doing interview practice?

There are so many reasons why it won't work out. It may not be your experience, but moaning about the fact that you can't get a job because of X might make you ignore Y. You might be focusing on the wrong thing here. Make them love you at interviews.

Quick Reply

Latest