Job searching...

themeinside

...is horrible. That is all.

joeyowen

Don;t give up mate

Can be soul destroying if you are never hearing back, but it'll come good!

Bygone_Tones

The search facility on those job websites are terrible and put you off before you have even begun.

joeyowen

Bygone_Tones said:

The search facility on those job websites are terrible and put you off before you have even begun.

haha last time I searched for .net developer

the top three results were cleaning jobs.

must be trying to tell me something....

Hertz32

I know the pain - currently have had an application as a christmas temp in for over a month saying I could start immediately. called them up 2 weeks ago asking if I had an interview and they aren't even looking at the applications until the 30th sept. 
Should be easy to get a job as a temp for a shop, it's proving to be a pain in the ass!

EricTheWeary

It is. And the search facilities are surprisingly crap. 
And the agencies string you along .

It's a miserable process.

jellyroll

Try to stick with it. To paraphrase Churchill - when you're going through hell, keep going.

thermionic

You have my sympathies. Apply for anything and everything.

I used to enjoy a bit of detective work when I was unemployed. If I found a job advertised by an agency, I'd try and find out who the company was and approach them directly. Sometimes you just don't have enough information, but when you do, it's very satisfying. At least once, if not twice iirc I was given the cold shoulder by an agent (either telling me the job was filled or telling me I wasn't suitable and refusing to pass on my CV) only to get an interview after I worked out who the company was and getting in contact.

Good luck.

ennspek

It's a horrible process.

PolarityMan

Is it down the back of the sofa?

DrJazzTap

I'm the same boat mate, sucks donkey balls at the moment. I've been on it for a while now. It really staggered me how much of a pain in the arse it's been.
I've had four jobs and four interviews in my life. I didn't even get the whole "cover letter" thing until my GF explained it to me.

I'm applying for jobs but not had any offers of interviews yet. My girlfriend works in HR and has told me that the job market has improved and to keep my chin up, she's had people turn down job offers which is a first since 07-08. The right job will come along mate.

TheMarlin

Alas, most CV's are not read by another human. 
Recruiters use a computer program to match CV's against keywords in the job description.   So, you pretty much have to tailor your CV to match a job description. 
What is your line of work?

Winny_Pooh

Read a couple of job descriptions and re write your cv so its generally plagiarises the requirements and key words of typical jobs.
Eventually you will have 2 or 3 cv's that give a different perspective on your skills depending on who you are applying too.
List real world facts. Instead of "I developed such n such" give practical benefits/outcomes & if possible financial benefits of your contribution. 

themeinside

Thanks all- just had yet another rejection and was rather deflated earlier. I've graduated recently, and have been applying to lots of things in my degree field (history), but I've been casting the net wider and wider for months. Still nothing.

Stay strong everyone, i'm sure the right thing will come along for us all

spark240

What type of work are you looking for?

EricTheWeary

A lot of the ads seem to want people who can hit the ground running. All the must have experience of...type ones. I know you ignore that and try to show your transferable skills but at the same time you do feel you might be wasting your time: 'he's never worked in vole strangling, on the reject pile.'

I do have a good CV but I've seen very little where they actually want it, everything I'm looking at is online applications. 

fields5069

Don't give up! I finished my sponsored slacking in the summer of '92 and finally got my first job in September '93. That was back when all of this was still American-owned fields. I think I subscribed to some sort of job pamphlet / magazine and went through newspaper job adverts etc. I probably sent 5 CVs out per week on average.

lloyd

It's a full time job looking for work.

I had a few second interviews last year but never got any of them, which killed my spirit so haven't done any applications for a while, managed to snag a job while out drinking though, which is nice, a mate of a mates company, no CV or interview, just a look in the eye and a firm handshake, which was nice.

You've just got to keep at it and something will give.

Good luck.

themeinside

@spark240 Ideally, something within the archival or curatorial fields, but anything really. It doesn't help that it is a niche area, and that, as @EricTheWeary mentioned, even the placements for gaining experience before a masters want experience! A never ending spiral, it seems.

ESBlonde

Not looked myself for a few years, but others I know have and it seems that updating your CV online brings it to the top of the heap for employers or agents looking. So perhaps just refresh that and see if the enquiries increase.

EricTheWeary

I'm going to a LinkedIn seminar thing tomorrow. I'm unconvinced but apparently it's a good thing to do.