Part of job hunting is compromise. When you first set out to find a job, unless you are especially flexible you set a number of criteria which any potential job has to fill. These may be location based, occupation based, money based or based on an entirely different premise altogether. When I first set out to find a job I wanted a marketing exec position in the south that paid over 15,000.
The money was the first thing to go. After all its less important really. For many Graduates, a salary at all is just numbers and I picked 15,000 as a limit as I thought that was reasonable. Of course clever firms are cutting costs by offering significantly lower salaries because they know how tight the job market is.
Next I cut down to look for any marketing position and soon got a few interviews for marketing research positions. This is turn became any business based position which involved marketing which has led me to apply to some rather odd job titles.
Location cannot be changed. I am tied to a contract in Southampton and dont want to leave what I have here and in a way it limits me as much if not more than the others.
I am fortunate in that I have some savings and therefore do not have to literally take anything. The question is though how far do we have to compromise?
Last week I applied for a purely Admin position, a job description which could be filled my a school leaver and which duties include filing and making tea. I justified applying because it was a year contract and would give me office exeperience.
I think this is where I have chosen to draw the line. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the economic situation and I don't expect the job market to simply pick up. I have therefore ruled out jobs which have absolutely no application to my chosen career in business. I could go and work in a shop but then I am effectively just wasting time. Time which for the moment I can use to hopefully find one break. I am not naive to think that with that first job everything will be exceptionally easy, I do think I will be considered for more positions, and at least the excuse "you have no experience" will not be flung at me.
Incidentally I have an interview for a sales and marketing position with JPA tomorrow. When I originally applied the position was a marketing one, the sales was tagged on later. However I was impressed with the company and the position has marketing in the title. It is after all, all about compromise.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Friday, 27 November 2009
Wasting your life?
Despite what many people may think, being unemployed simply is not fun. If you have gone through what is effectively 17 years of education without so much as a breather you really want to be able to go out and start earning money, having a life and leaving exams, essays and procrastination far behind you in the dust.
Unemployment would be more fun if there were actually any goals you could have other than get a job. Goals that help you fulfil your potential and ultimately satisfy you.
The thing I think that a lot of people seem to miss is that job hunting may be a continuous process, but it doesnt take up a whole day. Far from it in fact. I have a catalogue of sites I check regularly for updates, but that only takes half an hour, and maybe another half hour on top of that if I need to apply somewhere. Ultimately its not worth a spending a whole day job hunting, even if a job is posted when you refresh the page for the ninth time it will still be there tomorrow and you could have discovered it then.
The point is unemployment leaves you with a lot of time sitting around on your own doing very little. This is where the depression side of being unemployed can really hone in and do its damage.
I for instance have spent a lot of this week playing Fifa 2010. Many hours in fact, day hours whilst other people are out earning a living. Occasionally (jokes about football games aside) you sit back and think am I wasting my life? When I went to university and got a degree and a masters was it so I could sit and play Fifa all day a year later?
The answer clearly is no. But its really difficult to motivate yourself to do other things, I love to read for instance, but I struggle to spend most of a day reading unless I really engage with a book. Games are escapist in nature, and hours pass easily and ultimately thats what I spend most of my time doing, passing hours, days, weeks until the next job based opportunity.
It can be depressing if you dwell on it too much, but if you try to accept the circumstances and look forward and on to the next chance its bearable. After all if all goes well once youve got a job, you will look back on those many free hours with longing because ultimately you have to persevere. There is no other option.
Unemployment would be more fun if there were actually any goals you could have other than get a job. Goals that help you fulfil your potential and ultimately satisfy you.
The thing I think that a lot of people seem to miss is that job hunting may be a continuous process, but it doesnt take up a whole day. Far from it in fact. I have a catalogue of sites I check regularly for updates, but that only takes half an hour, and maybe another half hour on top of that if I need to apply somewhere. Ultimately its not worth a spending a whole day job hunting, even if a job is posted when you refresh the page for the ninth time it will still be there tomorrow and you could have discovered it then.
The point is unemployment leaves you with a lot of time sitting around on your own doing very little. This is where the depression side of being unemployed can really hone in and do its damage.
I for instance have spent a lot of this week playing Fifa 2010. Many hours in fact, day hours whilst other people are out earning a living. Occasionally (jokes about football games aside) you sit back and think am I wasting my life? When I went to university and got a degree and a masters was it so I could sit and play Fifa all day a year later?
The answer clearly is no. But its really difficult to motivate yourself to do other things, I love to read for instance, but I struggle to spend most of a day reading unless I really engage with a book. Games are escapist in nature, and hours pass easily and ultimately thats what I spend most of my time doing, passing hours, days, weeks until the next job based opportunity.
It can be depressing if you dwell on it too much, but if you try to accept the circumstances and look forward and on to the next chance its bearable. After all if all goes well once youve got a job, you will look back on those many free hours with longing because ultimately you have to persevere. There is no other option.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Bepuzzlement
As my main post today was about a general thing this is a shorter job related post.
Still waiting to hear from Amicus ITS a month on. Applied for a general admin job which is on a year contract.
Heard from College Chambers. Sounded like the standard conversation. It was a very tough decision, lots of good candidates...(yeah yeah get on with it)..so we are inviting everyone back for a second interview...
You will hear from us next week..
What?! I made a total hash of the interview. I looked nervous, clueless and totally unsuitable. Even if your giving everyone a second interview you may as well rule out some people, surely. Mystifying. I shall obviously wait to hear from them next week but it has left me a little bit of a predicament. From reading the earlier post you will know my thoughts on the job.
But its a job, which pays money and gives experience.
Its a difficult one.
Still waiting to hear from Amicus ITS a month on. Applied for a general admin job which is on a year contract.
Heard from College Chambers. Sounded like the standard conversation. It was a very tough decision, lots of good candidates...(yeah yeah get on with it)..so we are inviting everyone back for a second interview...
You will hear from us next week..
What?! I made a total hash of the interview. I looked nervous, clueless and totally unsuitable. Even if your giving everyone a second interview you may as well rule out some people, surely. Mystifying. I shall obviously wait to hear from them next week but it has left me a little bit of a predicament. From reading the earlier post you will know my thoughts on the job.
But its a job, which pays money and gives experience.
Its a difficult one.
Customer Service vs Business Service
You may or may not have noticed a two day absence of blog posts. This was because of an issue with my laptop which meant I needed to get it fixed. This post is more of a general post, rather than related to jobs, its more just about marketing. Enjoy!
Because of the nature of the deal made when buying my laptop I am effectively covered by a business warranty for 3 years. Earlier this year when my power cable died I got a new one sent the very next day. This time I not only got a new power cable I got the entire bottom of the laptop replaced 2 days after I reported the issue (And this was only because the guy bought the wrong part the day before)
Compare this to the tales I have heard of customer warranties and you hear a very different story. It is closer to your standard it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive, parts missing and some things simply not being the companies responsibility. These warranties generally arent cheap either and offer very little.
Now its understandable why a business can get such an exemplary server. Businesses are usually worth big money. In this case my name is tied to a corporate so its unsurpising they want offer a fast efficient service. Often however, particularly in the current economic climate, the choice of the business to go with a company will come down to who offers the best deal, and that usually comes down to money.
In contrast your average home customer will buy for other reasons, efficiency, WOM, belief in the brand or simply previous experience. A home customer is likely to remember bad service and seek to avoid a company for the forseeable future. Admitedly their full lifetime purchases probably wont rival even a percent of a year business contract but if you add them and their street and then the town, region etc it soon becomes a lot higher. The fact is if you provide exemplerary service to a customer which goes beyond their expectation they will remember, they will tell their friends, they may even blog about it or share it on social networking sites. They are likely to purchase again, as well as drive the purchases of countless others. Now clearly in some businesses it may not prove economical to provide such a service to every single customer but it is something to be considered.
For one thing people may be willing to pay more for warranties if they actually believe in them and that may in turn fund the service. A loyal customer is a powerful asset and it does seem sometimes that big corporations who have multi million pound contracts with other corporates ignore this and thus fail to delight the grass roots consumer.
Because of the nature of the deal made when buying my laptop I am effectively covered by a business warranty for 3 years. Earlier this year when my power cable died I got a new one sent the very next day. This time I not only got a new power cable I got the entire bottom of the laptop replaced 2 days after I reported the issue (And this was only because the guy bought the wrong part the day before)
Compare this to the tales I have heard of customer warranties and you hear a very different story. It is closer to your standard it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive, parts missing and some things simply not being the companies responsibility. These warranties generally arent cheap either and offer very little.
Now its understandable why a business can get such an exemplary server. Businesses are usually worth big money. In this case my name is tied to a corporate so its unsurpising they want offer a fast efficient service. Often however, particularly in the current economic climate, the choice of the business to go with a company will come down to who offers the best deal, and that usually comes down to money.
In contrast your average home customer will buy for other reasons, efficiency, WOM, belief in the brand or simply previous experience. A home customer is likely to remember bad service and seek to avoid a company for the forseeable future. Admitedly their full lifetime purchases probably wont rival even a percent of a year business contract but if you add them and their street and then the town, region etc it soon becomes a lot higher. The fact is if you provide exemplerary service to a customer which goes beyond their expectation they will remember, they will tell their friends, they may even blog about it or share it on social networking sites. They are likely to purchase again, as well as drive the purchases of countless others. Now clearly in some businesses it may not prove economical to provide such a service to every single customer but it is something to be considered.
For one thing people may be willing to pay more for warranties if they actually believe in them and that may in turn fund the service. A loyal customer is a powerful asset and it does seem sometimes that big corporations who have multi million pound contracts with other corporates ignore this and thus fail to delight the grass roots consumer.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Always have a Plan B(F)
I have always had the philosophy that it is worth having a back up plan. Things are sometimes subject to failure, they dont go the way you planned, something unexpected occurs, someone or something lets you down or you simply misjudge the situation.
For Job hunting my plan B was to seek out agency work, temporary office experience. As has been previously explained this failed as agencies are also now playing it safe and unwilling to hire someone who hasnt made tea or photocopied a sheet of paper in an office before, even if they have an excellent understanding of how to make a cup of tea and photocopy a sheet, in fact having done so before but just not in the hallowed office.
Okay maybe I overstretched that a little.
The point is having a back up, but sometimes you dont expect to need a back up to the back up to the point where you basically have back ups reoccuring.
Last week I requested suggestions and a friend suggested looking into volunteering in an office environment. Thus meaning I can say I have made the cup of tea and photocopied a sheet. Not to mention volunteering always looks good and perhaps, just perhaps I could make a difference. Another friend then provided me with links.
Today after a standard job search warranted not one opportunity I followed those links, signed up to one of the main sites and have now applied for two seperate volunteering opportunities.
Always have a plan B, but if that fails formulate a plan C and so on. There are after all 26 letters of the alphabet.
For Job hunting my plan B was to seek out agency work, temporary office experience. As has been previously explained this failed as agencies are also now playing it safe and unwilling to hire someone who hasnt made tea or photocopied a sheet of paper in an office before, even if they have an excellent understanding of how to make a cup of tea and photocopy a sheet, in fact having done so before but just not in the hallowed office.
Okay maybe I overstretched that a little.
The point is having a back up, but sometimes you dont expect to need a back up to the back up to the point where you basically have back ups reoccuring.
Last week I requested suggestions and a friend suggested looking into volunteering in an office environment. Thus meaning I can say I have made the cup of tea and photocopied a sheet. Not to mention volunteering always looks good and perhaps, just perhaps I could make a difference. Another friend then provided me with links.
Today after a standard job search warranted not one opportunity I followed those links, signed up to one of the main sites and have now applied for two seperate volunteering opportunities.
Always have a plan B, but if that fails formulate a plan C and so on. There are after all 26 letters of the alphabet.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Blog Distributor comes acalling
Its amusing, this blog, at its origin at least seems pretty dead. There is one comment on one post and that is all there is. Yet apparently I am now being offered cash to carry on writing the blog by blog distributor. The catch? - you post entries that are linked to sites.
Given the purpose of this blog is to discuss the issues facing unemployed graduates I cant see myself linking to websites other than to mention Id been offered a job by them. The email says the offer isnt made to everyone, a pretty standardised lie. But whether it is true or not I am not particularly interested. It does amuse me the way people outrightly lie and spotting the obvious ones is just now part of everyday life. You have just won, you could be lucky, you were selected, this is not spam..are now just everyday encounters on our travels around the web. Still its nothing new, such things used to come through the letter box.
I know from talking to people that people do read this blog, mostly through facebook still if anyone can link me to a traffic counter that works and is free Id be grateful, its nice to know who passes through the actual site and whether people are just lurking and not commenting. Id like to think I was being read by people I dont actually know occasionally as well!
In other news I have returned to my parents home this weekend so job searching takes something of a back seat. Also wont be posting anything till Monday. Nothing new in the job news arena. From yesterdays post I have decided to follow the advice of two of my friends and look to volunteer in a charity office. My next avenue of exploration.
Given the purpose of this blog is to discuss the issues facing unemployed graduates I cant see myself linking to websites other than to mention Id been offered a job by them. The email says the offer isnt made to everyone, a pretty standardised lie. But whether it is true or not I am not particularly interested. It does amuse me the way people outrightly lie and spotting the obvious ones is just now part of everyday life. You have just won, you could be lucky, you were selected, this is not spam..are now just everyday encounters on our travels around the web. Still its nothing new, such things used to come through the letter box.
I know from talking to people that people do read this blog, mostly through facebook still if anyone can link me to a traffic counter that works and is free Id be grateful, its nice to know who passes through the actual site and whether people are just lurking and not commenting. Id like to think I was being read by people I dont actually know occasionally as well!
In other news I have returned to my parents home this weekend so job searching takes something of a back seat. Also wont be posting anything till Monday. Nothing new in the job news arena. From yesterdays post I have decided to follow the advice of two of my friends and look to volunteer in a charity office. My next avenue of exploration.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
The Big "C" Approaches.
Those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning will know that Thursday is effectively Job Search day. Where I check all the sites for relevant positions I can apply for.
Today I find 0 suitable positions, not one single job which I was a candidate for. I put this down to the approaching of Christmas, which although still a month away begins to steal peoples consciousness about now, not helped of course by the media and the retail industry. It is a common joke that the appearance of Christmas stuff gets earlier each year. Soon we will be able to purchase over priced chocolates, novelty fish and decorations in August.
With the looming vastness of Christmas I think many firms are not looking for change. Its not a good time to break some one into the company only to have them disappear for a week or more over the Christmas holidays. This is especially true of Graduates who at times require hand holding and training.
I am left with a choice then really, a question that has been haunting me and I imagine other graduates since their unemployment:
Do I look for a part time job or do I spend the time spamming organisations with speculative applications when no other jobs present themselves or seem likely to in the foreseeable future.
Part time job
Pros: Money- obviously the biggest pro as a little extra cash around the holiday period is always welcome
Experience - Unless you get it in a relevant discipline then this is pretty minor
Something to do - Sitting around on your arse most days isnt fun, at least a part time job will give you tasks and allow you to meet people
Reference- That all important employer reference, gives you some variety on your C.V at least.
Cons: Money- Working more than 19 hours a week will mean you are unable to claim JSA and subsequently housing benefits. This may mean you earn less then youd get from the government, which seems counter productive if your not getting anything that makes you more employable and could be using the time for better purposes
Time consuming- Part time jobs especially around Christmas can be very time consuming, you usually end up working in the retail sector and working several days a week.
Working until Xmas - Chances are, you work for a retail firm and they will want you until Xmas Eve. Travelling home then isnt going to be fun.
Speculative Applications
Pros: May get you a job - The whole part of a speculative application is to show an employer that you would be an asset to their company so that when a position opens up they think of you, that or if you really impress them they open a position just for you.
Contacts - Even if a person reading the application doesnt want to hire you they might write back and you may be able to contact them in the future
Cons: Wasting your time? - Last year when I was searching for a position I sent out a number of speculative applications. One responded. Just one of the eight I completed and that required significant chasing only to get an almost automated thanks but no thanks letter.
Christmas - Here it is again, are people really going to be interested in your application with the piles of work they have to complete before they can make merry with their family, probably not. I sent a spec application to Twinings last year and took nearly 2 months to deal with as it got lost over the Xmas period
So there we go, a difficult decision. There is always do nothing, or maybe something I have not thought of. Thoughts?
Today I find 0 suitable positions, not one single job which I was a candidate for. I put this down to the approaching of Christmas, which although still a month away begins to steal peoples consciousness about now, not helped of course by the media and the retail industry. It is a common joke that the appearance of Christmas stuff gets earlier each year. Soon we will be able to purchase over priced chocolates, novelty fish and decorations in August.
With the looming vastness of Christmas I think many firms are not looking for change. Its not a good time to break some one into the company only to have them disappear for a week or more over the Christmas holidays. This is especially true of Graduates who at times require hand holding and training.
I am left with a choice then really, a question that has been haunting me and I imagine other graduates since their unemployment:
Do I look for a part time job or do I spend the time spamming organisations with speculative applications when no other jobs present themselves or seem likely to in the foreseeable future.
Part time job
Pros: Money- obviously the biggest pro as a little extra cash around the holiday period is always welcome
Experience - Unless you get it in a relevant discipline then this is pretty minor
Something to do - Sitting around on your arse most days isnt fun, at least a part time job will give you tasks and allow you to meet people
Reference- That all important employer reference, gives you some variety on your C.V at least.
Cons: Money- Working more than 19 hours a week will mean you are unable to claim JSA and subsequently housing benefits. This may mean you earn less then youd get from the government, which seems counter productive if your not getting anything that makes you more employable and could be using the time for better purposes
Time consuming- Part time jobs especially around Christmas can be very time consuming, you usually end up working in the retail sector and working several days a week.
Working until Xmas - Chances are, you work for a retail firm and they will want you until Xmas Eve. Travelling home then isnt going to be fun.
Speculative Applications
Pros: May get you a job - The whole part of a speculative application is to show an employer that you would be an asset to their company so that when a position opens up they think of you, that or if you really impress them they open a position just for you.
Contacts - Even if a person reading the application doesnt want to hire you they might write back and you may be able to contact them in the future
Cons: Wasting your time? - Last year when I was searching for a position I sent out a number of speculative applications. One responded. Just one of the eight I completed and that required significant chasing only to get an almost automated thanks but no thanks letter.
Christmas - Here it is again, are people really going to be interested in your application with the piles of work they have to complete before they can make merry with their family, probably not. I sent a spec application to Twinings last year and took nearly 2 months to deal with as it got lost over the Xmas period
So there we go, a difficult decision. There is always do nothing, or maybe something I have not thought of. Thoughts?
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