Saturday 1 May 2010

A Quick Thanks

Thanks for all the help and advice I've received via email and other mediums.

Some of the advice was harsh, but probably fair. I've taken the majority of it on board, and shall definitely be putting it into action the very near future.

I've ditched the old CV, and with the assistance of a few people I'm close to completing a my new one.

I now have a fresh attitude to my search, a new CV, and a newfound optimism.

Thanks,

Craig

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I persisted with your blog as you appear to be a Blur fan... Good thing to change the CV... Also want to add some things, having been an unemployed graduate myself. First, don't see volunteering as a 'last resort'! You could land yourself a role with more challenges and empowerment than a paid job. I'm 27 but have spent the equivalent of about 18 months full time volunteering in the last 5 years - (alongside part- or full time jobs) - and both of the two big roles I had have totally changed my CV.
Second, having worked in recruitment, I have seen the other side of the coin - MASSES of applications, the majority fulfilling the criteria and many much much stronger - unfortunately, we didn't have the manpower to have explore every candidate's motivations, individual circumstances, etc etc - we just had to pick the 'best' or 'most fitting' based on what information we had.
For me, the worst thing was always the fear that the unemployment 'gap' in my CV would grow and grow until I was no longer employable as a result. This is where volunteering can help. If you don't get the role you applied for in youth justice, look elsewhere (e.g. do-it.org).
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I read the posts on the TSR site and found them particularly harsh in my opinion. I got a 2:1 law degree in a top London Uni and still found I could not find a job after graduation. Got rejected for all lawyer trainee positions as competition was too fierce. Then found that I was over qualified for lower sales/retail positions and too inexperienced for middle range employment. Got rejected week after week with no interviews, and sometimes even no response/feedback from applications. It was disheartening to say the least. I then tried teaching by getting on a PGCE, but after 3 months on it, I realised that without true passion for teaching young people, I wasn't going to cut it in the profession, so unfortunately I quit (first time I had quit anything in my life, but I knew teaching definitely wasn't right for me).

I then decided that the only remaining option for me at this point had to be graduate schemes that required no experience whatsoever. A lot of the graduate schemes I applied for only asked for 2:2 as a minimum requirement and 240 UCAS points. I haven't seen your CV, but if you have at least 3 Cs at A level or that equivalent, these graduate schemes would be open to you? The schemes that came back to me were the ones where you had to do online verbal and numerical tests, so when I finally got offered interviews it was based on competency alone, rather than what my CV looked like. So after months of applying to countless graduate schemes, I finally succeeded in getting just 1 lone offer with the Audit Commission as a graduate trainee.

I just want to say don't ever give up and keep plugging away with the same enthusiasm. There are always options, whether it is going into teaching, doing another diploma/degree (in social work for example), or getting on a graduate scheme. Remember the latter often have 50 or more places to offer sometimes, which definitely increase the chances of you getting the job.

Good luck

Tanya de Grunwald said...

Hi Craig,

Thanks so much for linking to Graduate Fog - I've just found that you've sent lots of people my way!

Your site is fantastic - it definitely reflects how so many of my users are feeling about their job hunt. People forget about the psychological aspect of job hunting. As you know, it's not just about CVs... A large part of the battle is to do with motivation and confidence - which can vanish scarily quickly once you lose your routine and become isolated when you're not working. Throw in a few knock-backs and it can be very difficult to find the will to keep going.

I hope the fact that you've linked to Graduate Fog means that you feel my website is a useful resource for graduate job-seekers?

I certainly hope so as I'm passionate about helping you lot. I feel your generation has been badly let down by those who insisted that going to university would lead to a good job without too much trouble. That's turned out not to be the case - so what are they going to do now to help you out?

I'm working on spreading the word about Graduate Fog this summer, so anything you or your users could do to help out would be great! The bigger our army, the louder we can shout!

Happily, Graduate Fog has already had three mentions in the Guardian, which has really helped us get noticed. In the 6 weeks since the site went live, we've had 2,600 visits - not bad with zero advertising!

In case you're wondering, I'm not making any money at all from Graduate Fog (and only 25p per book I sell at full price!). My short-term plan to enable me to keep the site going (and pay my rent - eek!) is to use the fact that I have the book and website (which makes me an 'expert') to get commissions writing about this subject for various newspapers and jobs websites (I'm a journalist by trade).

So rest assured I'm not suddenly going to install a paywall for my users, or anything horrible like that!

Thanks again for linking to GraduateFog

Tanya x

PS. It's been a couple of weeks since your last post - i hope that means things have picked up a little?

Chris said...

Hi- Just to add to what Tanya has already said I wanted to mention that the Graduate Fog job board launched recently and has some great opportunities which might be of interest- http://graduatefog.co.uk/jobs/job-board/ Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi Craig,

I recently came across your blog and have found it to be very interesting. I too am a recent graduate and have found it difficult to get work, although it is somewhat easier living in London. I realise you haven't updated this blog in a while, but perhaps I could persuade you to give it a second life?

I was wondering if you would be interested in sharing your blog on Glipho? Glipho is a new social blogging network that aims to promote the writing of its users and help build their audiences. We are trying to establish a creative community at Glipho, and your blog is just what we are looking for.

As your blog is powered by Blogger, you can simply import all your old posts to Glipho without affecting your existing blog at all. You can use your Glipho account to connect to any other major social network accounts you may own, so you can spread your blog as far as possible. We also use our own social media accounts to promote your content.

If you're interested check out our website at http://glipho.com and have a look around. Please feel free to ask me any questions, and if you would like to receive an invite to set up an account!

Have a great day,

Teo



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