Can't seem to get a job after graduating??

Here's the thing I 've been working throughout the entirety of my Degree and have accumulated a work history of working at a museum, environmental research, tutoring and most recently working at a bank. You may be thinking you had jobs, why didn't you stay? Museum was shutdown for renovation, research thing was an internship, tutoring was difficult to find with the organisation I worked with and the bank thing I left a few months before graduation because I really needed to put my all into my dissertation project and my final assignments to achieve a first.

Besides my work experience I've done 15 extra curricular courses and programmes/bootcamps all led by massive organisations and I've also taken part in a lot of student group stuff as well - I've got a first class with honours degree in Comp Sci - good gcses and a levels but I am not getting anywhere.

I've easily done over a hundred applications using indeed, LinkedIn and directly on company websites, but it feels impossible and worst of all I just get ghosted in the applications process. I'm trying to find something part time because I am going to be doing my masters in September and have also tried looking at roles outside of my degree along with stuff in retail - but no success there either and the fact that I'm getting rejections for the retail work is daft, considering I've got 3 years worth of work experience for retail.

I'm really confused and was wondering if anyone had any advice on this / was going through something similar

Reply 1

hotpud

Original post by Anonymous

Here's the thing I 've been working throughout the entirety of my Degree and have accumulated a work history of working at a museum, environmental research, tutoring and most recently working at a bank. You may be thinking you had jobs, why didn't you stay? Museum was shutdown for renovation, research thing was an internship, tutoring was difficult to find with the organisation I worked with and the bank thing I left a few months before graduation because I really needed to put my all into my dissertation project and my final assignments to achieve a first.
Besides my work experience I've done 15 extra curricular courses and programmes/bootcamps all led by massive organisations and I've also taken part in a lot of student group stuff as well - I've got a first class with honours degree in Comp Sci - good gcses and a levels but I am not getting anywhere.
I've easily done over a hundred applications using indeed, LinkedIn and directly on company websites, but it feels impossible and worst of all I just get ghosted in the applications process. I'm trying to find something part time because I am going to be doing my masters in September and have also tried looking at roles outside of my degree along with stuff in retail - but no success there either and the fact that I'm getting rejections for the retail work is daft, considering I've got 3 years worth of work experience for retail.
I'm really confused and was wondering if anyone had any advice on this / was going through something similar

Are you applying for computer jobs? Do you have the skills they are looking for? If you don't, that is the problem. Computing and tech jobs are looking for very specific skill sets. They are not looking for generalists with transferable skills. So, either you need to make more of the skills you have and relate them to what is required or you need to go for more general jobs.

My final piece of advice is get off LinkedIn. It is a toxic place that will offer you nothing and start applying for very specific roles that interest you. Do not send generic CVs. Tailor each one to the job.

Finally, be aware that different agents will work for the same employer and if you send your CV to both for the same job, there will be a clash and you will lose out so look at the wording carefully because agents are not clever enough to change the job spec provided by the employer.

Good luck!

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Here's the thing I 've been working throughout the entirety of my Degree and have accumulated a work history of working at a museum, environmental research, tutoring and most recently working at a bank. You may be thinking you had jobs, why didn't you stay? Museum was shutdown for renovation, research thing was an internship, tutoring was difficult to find with the organisation I worked with and the bank thing I left a few months before graduation because I really needed to put my all into my dissertation project and my final assignments to achieve a first.
Besides my work experience I've done 15 extra curricular courses and programmes/bootcamps all led by massive organisations and I've also taken part in a lot of student group stuff as well - I've got a first class with honours degree in Comp Sci - good gcses and a levels but I am not getting anywhere.
I've easily done over a hundred applications using indeed, LinkedIn and directly on company websites, but it feels impossible and worst of all I just get ghosted in the applications process. I'm trying to find something part time because I am going to be doing my masters in September and have also tried looking at roles outside of my degree along with stuff in retail - but no success there either and the fact that I'm getting rejections for the retail work is daft, considering I've got 3 years worth of work experience for retail.
I'm really confused and was wondering if anyone had any advice on this / was going through something similar

I don’t blame you, I’ve been applying to jobs and have been rejected too many times to count. You just have to keep looking. Also to make your life easier I suggest you network with people, open up a LinkedIn and just pop in a message or two to a few people to see if they’re hiring or what the hiring process is like? Things like that usually take you a long way.

Reply 3

Makro

Out of interest, are you listing all those work experiences & extra curriculars?
how far are you getting in the process? do you get called for interview or pass the assessment stage or do you not hear anything beyond submitting your initial application?

The answer to the problem lies within the above somewhere.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post by hotpud

Are you applying for computer jobs? Do you have the skills they are looking for? If you don't, that is the problem. Computing and tech jobs are looking for very specific skill sets. They are not looking for generalists with transferable skills. So, either you need to make more of the skills you have and relate them to what is required or you need to go for more general jobs.
My final piece of advice is get off LinkedIn. It is a toxic place that will offer you nothing and start applying for very specific roles that interest you. Do not send generic CVs. Tailor each one to the job.
Finally, be aware that different agents will work for the same employer and if you send your CV to both for the same job, there will be a clash and you will lose out so look at the wording carefully because agents are not clever enough to change the job spec provided by the employer.
Good luck!

I've applied to both really, I have listed the courses I've done, my skills, coding languages and projects that I have worked on also. In regards to my job decryptions I've written them efficiently so its detailed and concise. In terms of linkedin, you're right. Its rubbish and I even saw a post recently that had a guy who applied for hundreds of jobs on there and only got 2 call backs - so that says a lot about the hiring process through that... In regards to the CV thing - that's a good point but there's only so much motivation to do that until you get burned out from doing it. TT_ TT

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

Original post by Anonymous

I'll definitely try messaging a few people - that's an interesting point. I've managed to get 2 interviews for next week, so wish me luck! I hope things go well for you too, you've got this! 🙂

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

Original post by Makro

Out of interest, are you listing all those work experiences & extra curriculars?
how far are you getting in the process? do you get called for interview or pass the assessment stage or do you not hear anything beyond submitting your initial application?
The answer to the problem lies within the above somewhere.

I definitely am listing everything, usually I get tests and stuff and sometimes I have gotten interviews - but most of the time I am getting ghosted and that's probably because I'm applying through indeed instead of directly on the company website

Reply 7

Makro

Original post by Anonymous

If that is the case, you must have a VERY eclectic CV - 15 different extracurriculars plus 4 different jobs (you don't say what the roles were) - that could come across to an employer as 'lacking focus'. Do you tailor your CV for each job or just use the same CV for all applications? how many pages long is your cv? for undergraduate it shouldn't be more than 1 page at most maybe 2 but pushing it a little so I'm curious how you're fitting everything in.

How well do you 'focus' your CV for individual job descriptions because this is what they will be looking at? It's good that you've got a lot of experience but it comes a point where 'more' is too much.
Each time you look at a job description think carefully about which one of your extracurriculars and jobs actually complements the role you're applying for? you don't have to put absolutely everything down otherwise it gets confusing and there's too much to remember. Be selective about which ones you include or highlight as experience rather than offering a feast of achievements for the employer to digest.