Job vacancies

[Head Honcho]

I've just trawled through over 200 CV's and to be honest no potential employer would consider interviewing around 90% of the candidates.

It's simple if you want an interview don't put on your CV that you can't work this or you can't work that.

[HEGGSY]

I've just trawled through over 200 CV's and to be honest no potential employer would consider interviewing around 90% of the candidates.

It's simple if you want an interview don't put on your CV that you can't work this or you can't work that.

Are you hiring or have I got it wrong

[The Year Of The Fox]

I've just trawled through over 200 CV's and to be honest no potential employer would consider interviewing around 90% of the candidates.

It's simple if you want an interview don't put on your CV that you can't work this or you can't work that.

What do you do?

[Rincewind]

I like to be honest. If I'm not experienced at something I say it but I also say I am willing to learn. It isn't easy when you have worked 30 years in one industry that has all but disappeared then another job for seven years then findind yourself out of work close to retirement age

[Fox92]

How are people getting on in their job searches?

Any luck?

No luck over here.

My job search is ridiculous, got nothing. I live in a small town, there is nothing at all. So, I look into Sheffield and Doncaster etc but still no luck. I've applied for many jobs but no luck, and, no reply.

I finished college in July and got the best results I could have, I pushed myself so hard. I didn't apply for university and I think I have made a massive mistake there. So, with no job, I can't afford a car etc

Its horrible having no job, seriously.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

No luck over here.

My job search is ridiculous, got nothing. I live in a small town, there is nothing at all. So, I look into Sheffield and Doncaster etc but still no luck. I've applied for many jobs but no luck, and, no reply.

I finished college in July and got the best results I could have, I pushed myself so hard. I didn't apply for university and I think I have made a massive mistake there. So, with no job, I can't afford a car etc

Its horrible having no job, seriously.

I'm in the same school year (or would have been) as you, and I gained 3 A-Levels at good grades but couldnt get a job.

Was unemployed for like 6 months, then got a job through the Futuree Jobs Fund which created jobs for young people through the council. I worked as a Admin Assistant in the Peterborough city centre Police station. Was a great job but they were only created for a duration of 6 months so it was always going to end. Working there helped me get into the Specials (Special Constables) and I have been having my Police training since the start of September on Wednesday and Sundays. Its voluntary but least its a job and being a full Police Officer but voluntary is great, though I'm still in training which is long and not exactly easy.

Have now also started at Lidl. So havea paid job too. Start tomorrow at 6am! Going to be knackered this time tomorrow!

Good luck with your job searching, I have been in the same boat and know what its like. Whats annoyed me is that there are far more people in jobs who are lets say not as bright or academic as me, yet I cant get their jobs (really think putting down qualifications isnt helping as I'm sure employers arent as clever as I am!!!!)

Just keep trying and applying thats all you can do. Personally I'm glad ui didnt go to uni as I have never been interested in going and really would rather go out and work than be a student (not a fan of them at all!).

Whats typical is that after waiting ages for a break, I get offered a Lidl job and also get offered interviews by Royal Mail and ASDA for Christmas temporary jobs! But Lidl is permanent so thats why I chose them.

Anyway good luck, hope something happens for you soon. So glad I dont at least have to go to the job centre again soon!

[The Year Of The Fox]

I was jobless for four months. It's the worst thing in the world pretty much. Signing on was the worst. Hated doing it. I was a plumber and ended up losing my job. A job came up in the plumbing merchants 4months later. The worst boss in the world, (he wanted to sack me for serving two asians) but it paid the bills, and enabled me 18months later to get in with a good plumbing firm who'd I'd never have had a chance with before.

My tip- accept anything. No jobs too small or menial. I've cleaned bogs before, but fuk it. Better than nothing.

(not saying people aren't trying, just wanted to show an example of how one opportunity leads to others)

[Turtles Head]

No luck over here.

My job search is ridiculous, got nothing. I live in a small town, there is nothing at all. So, I look into Sheffield and Doncaster etc but still no luck. I've applied for many jobs but no luck, and, no reply.

I finished college in July and got the best results I could have, I pushed myself so hard. I didn't apply for university and I think I have made a massive mistake there. So, with no job, I can't afford a car etc

Its horrible having no job, seriously.

Whereabouts do you live? I know of a job in Sheffield, what kind of thing are you after? Full time?

[Ozwin]

Going uni does not mean you suddenly become first choice for every job going. In fact it's probably harder for you, especially if you have no experience.

Who would you want working for you? Someone who went uni and will leave the first chance something better comes along or someone who's got good experience and is happy to be given the chance?

[Fox92]

I'm in the same school year (or would have been) as you, and I gained 3 A-Levels at good grades but couldnt get a job.

Was unemployed for like 6 months, then got a job through the Futuree Jobs Fund which created jobs for young people through the council. I worked as a Admin Assistant in the Peterborough city centre Police station. Was a great job but they were only created for a duration of 6 months so it was always going to end. Working there helped me get into the Specials (Special Constables) and I have been having my Police training since the start of September on Wednesday and Sundays. Its voluntary but least its a job and being a full Police Officer but voluntary is great, though I'm still in training which is long and not exactly easy.

Have now also started at Lidl. So havea paid job too. Start tomorrow at 6am! Going to be knackered this time tomorrow!

Good luck with your job searching, I have been in the same boat and know what its like. Whats annoyed me is that there are far more people in jobs who are lets say not as bright or academic as me, yet I cant get their jobs (really think putting down qualifications isnt helping as I'm sure employers arent as clever as I am!!!!)

Just keep trying and applying thats all you can do. Personally I'm glad ui didnt go to uni as I have never been interested in going and really would rather go out and work than be a student (not a fan of them at all!).

Whats typical is that after waiting ages for a break, I get offered a Lidl job and also get offered interviews by Royal Mail and ASDA for Christmas temporary jobs! But Lidl is permanent so thats why I chose them.

Anyway good luck, hope something happens for you soon. So glad I dont at least have to go to the job centre again soon!

You seriously sound generally like me. Good luck to you as well.

I hate going to the job centre.

Whereabouts do you live? I know of a job in Sheffield, what kind of thing are you after? Full time?

Live in Worksop which is close to Sheffield. I gained 3 A-Levels in IT, so thats may preferred choice, although anything like a printer would be ok as well. And yeah, it would be a full time job.

You would think that, living so close to Sheffield in particluar (because it is a massive City), there would be lots of jobs, but I am learning now that IT is fairly hard to get into.

Going uni does not mean you suddenly become first choice for every job going. In fact it's probably harder for you, especially if you have no experience.

Who would you want working for you? Someone who went uni and will leave the first chance something better comes along or someone who's got good experience and is happy to be given the chance?

Yeah, true. Thats one of the reasons I didn't apply anyway (out of my college class last year, 4 of us didn't apply out of about 20). I just look now, I'm very interested in web design, I have no job, so should have I applied? Always in my mind.

Anyway, I didn't want to go to university, I just wanted a job Thought it would be fairly easy getting one, but, no.

[somebum]

Immigration, eh. I love it.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

You seriously sound generally like me. Good luck to you as well.

I hate going to the job centre.

What I hate about it is that I shouldnt be there. Dont mean to sound arrogant, but I shouldnt. Most people in there have no intention of looking for work let alone getting some.

And the staff can be very snotty with you I find. Most are alright but they generally treat you like they dont care, again whats annoying is that they are hardly the cleverest bunch of people there, not as clever as me anyway.

IT does sound like a hard thing to get into, not as qualified as you in it but I have two GCSEs and a AS Level in it, but dont think I'd have much luck either, very specialist.

What started to annoy me is that I might as well have not done A-Levels or tried hard at GCSE. Being unemployed they are useless anyway. Makes you wonder why we bother.

[Fox92]

What I hate about it is that I shouldnt be there. Dont mean to sound arrogant, but I shouldnt. Most people in there have no intention of looking for work let alone getting some.

And the staff can be very snotty with you I find. Most are alright but they generally treat you like they dont care, again whats annoying is that they are hardly the cleverest bunch of people there, not as clever as me anyway.

IT does sound like a hard thing to get into, not as qualified as you in it but I have two GCSEs and a AS Level in it, but dont think I'd have much luck either, very specialist.

What started to annoy me is that I might as well have not done A-Levels or tried hard at GCSE. Being unemployed they are useless anyway. Makes you wonder why we bother.

Going to the job centre every two weeks on a friday is just un-motivating as well, for me. I try so hard looking for work.

And, regarding how IT is hard to get into, thats why I constantly think I shuld have applied to university for a specialist subject, such as web design, which I am interested in the most out of the whole IT.

I just keep looking, and hopefully something will turn up.

[The Year Of The Fox]

What I hate about it is that I shouldnt be there. Dont mean to sound arrogant, but I shouldnt. Most people in there have no intention of looking for work let alone getting some.

And the staff can be very snotty with you I find. Most are alright but they generally treat you like they dont care, again whats annoying is that they are hardly the cleverest bunch of people there, not as clever as me anyway.

IT does sound like a hard thing to get into, not as qualified as you in it but I have two GCSEs and a AS Level in it, but dont think I'd have much luck either, very specialist.

What started to annoy me is that I might as well have not done A-Levels or tried hard at GCSE. Being unemployed they are useless anyway. Makes you wonder why we bother.

That's the thing though. You and me sound similar, but were no different to many others,. When I went to sign on there were the usual coalville drop outs there, but there were also business men in their suits looking for jobs. The staff do treat everyone with contempt, and it took some time for them to understand I was fairly intelligent and detested signing on. The first time I went down they handed me a sheet which I had to fill in every time I enquired about a job. When I went back the next day to start my signing I'd recorded 58 jobs firms who'd I'd approached. Admittedly I hadn't approached 58 in one day, I recorded all the ones I'd tried for through the previous two weeks. Anyway, the woman who was dealing with me couldn't believe how many I'd tried. She said most people don't try that many in weeks. She said 'oh it looks like you're trying to find work' They do tarnish you with the dame brush, but noone is too good to lose their job and have to go in the dole.

[Finnegan]

I was out of work for nine months, signing on for six. You take the attitude that you're God's gift and you're better than everyone because you have an AS in ICT and you'll be there for ages. And rightly so.

I'm smarter than almost everyone I know and I have fantastic A-Levels but an employer wants to see maturity and work ethic, not an empty CV.

I took on an entry level labouring job with the council; sweeping streets, picking up litter and weeding public gardens. It was min wage and part time. But I grafted, showed what I could do, worked hard to stand out and now I earn a tidy sallary in a really responsible post at Blackbird Road depot.

You get in what you put out and I feel much better about myself for sucking it up, swallowing my pride and arrogance and cracking on with any job I could find.

Oh, and you don't get good IT jobs without a good IT degree.

[The Year Of The Fox]

I was out of work for nine months, signing on for six. You take the attitude that you're God's gift and you're better than everyone because you have an AS in ICT and you'll be there for ages. And rightly so.

I'm smarter than almost everyone I know and I have fantastic A-Levels but an employer wants to see maturity and work ethic, not an empty CV.

I took on an entry level labouring job with the council; sweeping streets, picking up litter and weeding public gardens. It was min wage and part time. But I grafted, showed what I could do, worked hard to stand out and now I earn a tidy sallary in a really responsible post at Blackbird Road depot.

You get in what you put out and I feel much better about myself for sucking it up, swallowing my pride and arrogance and cracking on with any job I could find.

Oh, and you don't get good IT jobs without a good IT degree.

Agree with that.

On a side note, has anyone going on a college course been told if their gcses are over 5 years old, then they become irrelevant?

[nuttytimmy]

Makes me angry that I've done everything expected of me - from government and country as well as family, etc - and now have no job.

I did my GCSEs, did well. I did my A-levels, did well. I did my degree (Geography), did well. I did my teacher training, did well. I applied for jobs - and failed because there are that many unemployed teachers and school budgets are so tight they are recruiting 'Humanities' teachers in place of Geographers and Historians. There's half the jobs for twice the people that were trained according to government-set limits. It frustrates me that there were x amount of teachers trained by the government last year without the number of jobs to give them. Ludicrous! No job = no money.

I know I'm in a specific industry but this is but one facet of the short-sightedness that's crippling lives across the country. It'd be funny if I wasn't so cold.

[nuttytimmy]

Agree with that.

On a side note, has anyone going on a college course been told if their gcses are over 5 years old, then they become irrelevant?

To be blunt, that's just wrong. They don't 'run out' or anything, they're a qualification for pete's sake! They only really become redundant (and not irrelevant AT ALL) if you go on to supersede them through further study. Even then, most jobs require GCSEs in Maths and English in addition to specific and/or higher qualifications.

[RobHawk]

I was out of work for nine months, signing on for six. You take the attitude that you're God's gift and you're better than everyone because you have an AS in ICT and you'll be there for ages. And rightly so.

I'm smarter than almost everyone I know and I have fantastic A-Levels but an employer wants to see maturity and work ethic, not an empty CV.

I took on an entry level labouring job with the council; sweeping streets, picking up litter and weeding public gardens. It was min wage and part time. But I grafted, showed what I could do, worked hard to stand out and now I earn a tidy sallary in a really responsible post at Blackbird Road depot.

You get in what you put out and I feel much better about myself for sucking it up, swallowing my pride and arrogance and cracking on with any job I could find.

Oh, and you don't get good IT jobs without a good IT degree.

Completely agree with this. I dropped out of Uni and started working in the halls of residence as a cleaner. That first interview to be a cleaner was just over 5 years ago. Im now just a step away from being a manager. Im on a good wage i get a good pension and am relitively secure even though universities are also cutting back. I was lucky along the way but 5 years ago before i took the cleaning job i applied for 100's of jobs and rarely got an interview! Its tough but you gotta fill your CV to show how good you are.

Employers are looking at what you have an experience in working showing what you can do means alot more than a few GCSE's and an A-level or 2!

[Dr The Singh]

I work in IT and don't have an IT degree, but the most difficult thing is getting yourself on the ladder, once you have assembled some experience, things do get easier!! I get several CV's of grads willing to work for free just to get experience. The market is flooded with low skilled IT, it will only make life more difficult!

[The Year Of The Fox]

To be blunt, that's just wrong. They don't 'run out' or anything, they're a qualification for pete's sake! They only really become redundant (and not irrelevant AT ALL) if you go on to supersede them through further study. Even then, most jobs require GCSEs in Maths and English in addition to specific and/or higher qualifications.

Dunno whether you're disbelieving me or the system, but its true. I superseeded my GCSE a grade in English by a B in my AS Level as well as an NVQ Level 3 in comms skills. All of them are classed out of date now, though the college are trying to waiver the need for me to do NVQ level 2 in comms skills and maths during the qualification I'm actuallygoing to college for.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

When I was unemployed, and went to the Job Centre, I just felt I was being treated as a number, or object, rather than a person. There was no one there to encourage, or motivate me, and looking around could see that many others felt the same. Of course, there were the usual people who really did not want to work, and it was as if everyone was tarred with the same brush. Very very depressing, and demoralizing.

[Finnegan]

Dunno whether you're disbelieving me or the system, but its true. I superseeded my GCSE a grade in English by a B in my AS Level as well as an NVQ Level 3 in comms skills. All of them are classed out of date now, though the college are trying to waiver the need for me to do NVQ level 2 in comms skills and maths during the qualification I'm actuallygoing to college for.

That's retarded, else anyone over the age of 20 odd wouldn't have any qualifications.

Use your common sense, most employers don't give a **** what you did at school - they want to see a good work history, particularly in the current job market. What the F do your GCSEs prove? People just want to see that you passed English and Maths. You don't need to put your specific GCSEs on your CV unless you're really, REALLY desperate to pad it out. "5+, including maths and English" etc.

[Guest Bilo]

Your GCSEs become much less relevant as you get older is the message really.

I'm 27 now, all my GCSEs tell me really is how well I did in my exams 11 years ago. Since then, I've completed my A-Levels, worked more or less uninterrupted in the UK for four years after that, worked abroad for six months and then gone on to university to study the degree I needed to get my current job. All of those things say far more about the type of person or employee I am now than exams I took in 2000.

The main GCSEs employers want to see are Maths and English, Science to a lesser extent. An A* in Food Technology from a decade ago will mean the square root of fvck all if you're attempting to procure employment in a bank. Common sense really.

[Jon the Hat]

Lots of good advice on here, one observation from me - If I am looking at a CV, there is nothing worse than gaps without a story. You have to realise that in a stack of CVs you wont get through the first sift if you can't show that you are motivated to work hard. So do something useful with your time if you cannot find a job. Sign up for some training, volunteer or get involved in a a community organisation of some description. Be a cub or scout leader, work in a charity shop, go and paint something for a local hospice. Anything which shows you have got some motivation and a desire to work. You get self belief, experience dealing with people, used to responsibility, real life skills and most of all something to put on your CV so you have a half decent chance of getting to actually sell yourself.