Getting a job in this country. (unemployment thread)

Discussion in 'U.K.' started by J0hn, May 26, 2007.

  1. J0hn

    J0hn Phantom

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    Feel free to mingle with other unemployed people with little or no qualifications like yourselves?

    As I am unemployed, been unemployed for two years, it has dawned on me that any more time lost and i will like so many others become unemployable. Too be honest I don't know whether I have already reached that stage.

    Few weeks ago I sent out 60 spec letters to a certain industry to many employers. NOT ONE, NOT ONE, employer has since responded. I would have thought out of common decency, they would have acknowledged my spec letter. I even enclosed a brilliant CV. Well, now you know spec approaches now seem useless. It is ashame as many jobs are not even advertised.
    Tried networking and got some contact with some Peter Germaine bloke in Marble arch. THis guy turned out to be some pompous fool. He was bowled over by the fact I only had a land line. He rejected me and was very abusive toward the friend who I networked with.

    Share your woes and offer encouragement where possible. This is the unemployment thread.
     
  2. bokonon

    bokonon Senior Member

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    I've been out of work since mid-January. And it's been crap! Living off dole money and a small overdraft. I registered with four differant job agencies in two months, applied directly for at least 20 jobs and had three interviews.

    Then it was the company I was working for before Christmas who called and asked if I'd like to come back.

    Since then, started back there two weeks ago, I've been offered two jobs through the agencies and been offered an interview at Nissan (who I think are the biggest employer in my town).

    "Feast or a famine" as my Dad put it.

    I've never sent a spec letter out, but a friend of mine does quite regularly. He could go a few months before hearing anything off the back of one of those. But some have responded.
     
  3. J0hn

    J0hn Phantom

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    On the bright side I have an interview on monday. I know it is yet another bank holiday but employer was quite willing to interview me:) Based in Eden park. Bonus.It is a lot harder to get jobs now. Not only because of competition but also because there are many more people applying for them. You will now find that application closing dates get put forwards due to having too many applicants.

    Unemployable. (My definition)

    being unemployable means that you have got a gap spanning across many years. Like a small stream, you need to get onto the other side. Right now it is stepping stones. Quite soon you need to build a bridge, strong enough to carry you over. Soon the stream becomes a river and then it becomes an ocean. Then when you cannot build a bridge that far, you realise you are unemployable. basically means that no matter how hard you try or how much more training you have put in, it is all in vain as the employer will simply turn his nose up at your efforts. It is a sad reality, sad fact but many have become unemployable. The older you are, the harder it is and the longer you are out, the harder it is. Those with a criminal record, like myself, an exconvict. only 40 % of employers will be willing to give excons like myself a second chance.
     
  4. Peace-Phoenix

    Peace-Phoenix Senior Member

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    Unemployment is relatively low at the moment and there are usually jobs going in most areas - though of course some may be stagnating. The problem, often, isn't under qualification, but short-term over aspiration. There are a lot of jobs out there that require no qualifications at all, but also offer few long-term prospects. Bar work for example. It's very easy to get bar work, especially when not in holidays when the students are away. And the benefit of bar work is that it means you have a skill which can get you a job pretty much anywhere in the world if push comes to shove. It's not particularly glamorous, but once you've been working a few months and have built up a good reference, the CV points will definitely help in getting a slightly better job. The same with fast food I'd expect - in the bigger cities they'll always be hiring. In the short term it might be best to set your sights lower so that in the long term you can raise them higher. In the long term the importance of qualifications can't be stressed enough however. What you could do is take a low paid temporary job, and go on a course at the same time, perhaps at the Open University or something similar. Today's job market is becoming more and more competitive. Occupations that once required A Levels are now asking for degrees because every guy and his dog has some sort of BA in fashion or hedge trimming or what not. It's the drawback to our modernised, globalised, individualised society - it means that individuals are compelled to push themselves harder, or society will ensure they fall by the wayside....
     
  5. mellowthyme

    mellowthyme Member

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    I have all the sympathy for you both. The problem is the longer you go without a job it almost feels impossible to do the basics if you are given the chance, well that's my experience. In saying this I would be reluctant to take anything, be mindful of what you want. It's a good idea to volunteer or even approach a firm and offer some sort of deal, that being you work for them for nothing. That way you're gaining experience for your CV, networking and 'foot in door' bollocks. It also allows you to move closer to what you may enjoy. One things for sure if you take any job you'll find you maybe there for a long time, slowly becoming more and more demoralised and may hit a hard depression.

    Fuck Nissan, they're slave drivers. Why else would a huge firm locate in an area which had mass unemployment if not to exploit the workforce, knowing there were no other jobs. I've had friends who have had to leave on medical grounds through the repetition of the assembly line. Shot knees, and elbows and Nissan try their hardest not to be accountable and get away with it. Use it as a short term goal if you take it on, 6 - 12 months.
     
  6. Red13Faerie

    Red13Faerie Member

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    i dont know how to get a job, ive never had a job before a lotta places want previous experience and shit and job searching websites are shit, and i dont know how to write a CV :(
     
  7. Peace-Phoenix

    Peace-Phoenix Senior Member

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    There are plenty of guides on the internet to show you how to write a professional CV. A good structure will go something like this:


    1) Contact details
    2) Educational history
    3) Qualifications
    4) Employment history
    5) Skills - ie computer literate, interpersonal skills etc.
    6) Achievements - awards, Duke of Edinburgh, special things that make you stand out.
    7) Interests - sports, hobbies, things that make you human and interesting.
    8) Referees, though these can also be given on request.

    A good CV, properly set out, can make the world of difference in a job application....
     
  8. J0hn

    J0hn Phantom

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    It it perhaps inaccurate to suggest that there is low unemployment. But maybe it is true compared to the 80's. However with consideration with the countries latest immigration problem, it is quite often common place for someone who immigrated to the uk gets the job. Why pay 20 quid to someone who lives in uk all their lives when someone from say France would be willing to work for five pounds an hour? I am sure the figures are around 4000 unemployed.

    Additional:

    I do support the need for foreigners to come help our economy once in a while. Infact if we didn't have so many foreign people working in London alone, London and the rest of the country would be as bland and boring as paper.But too many immigrants and then we have a huge inevitable strain on our economy. It is about getting the balance right. That is all anyone who feels strongly about immigration are really saying.
     
  9. bokonon

    bokonon Senior Member

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    That's a really good point. It was definitely my biggest obsticle when I was a bit younger, in that most jobs I'd had had been through agencies or ended suddenly. So I'd have no good references to put down on applications.

    It's better now, and that's came from applying/taking any job that popped up. Wether it's volunteer, one week contracts, cleaning loos! Showing you're hard working and willing you can do in any field, and I've come to believe that it's easier to get a job when you have a job :rolleyes:
     
  10. Peace-Phoenix

    Peace-Phoenix Senior Member

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    Although it's wrong to use immigrants as cheap labour, it is true that immigrants often end up doing the jobs that most British people don't want to do. This might become an issue in times of high unemployment, but in times of sustained economic growth, where there continue to be many higher level occupationg opening up, immigrants on the bottom rung of the ladder take a place that few British people want to take themselves, but that someone has to take. In effect, they give a leg up to everyone else....
     
  11. lithium

    lithium frogboy

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    From an economic perspective it makes more sense to expel the longterm unemployed than to prevent work-hungry immigrants from coming in. We need people to fill the jobs gap at the lower end of the market as well as highly trained workers to fill the skills shortage at the other end. We are having to carry the poorly trained and terminally lazy on the back of the taxes paid by these hard working immigrants. That's not very fair is it? We should expel the jobless from the country and encourage unlimited immigration.
     
  12. mbworkrelated

    mbworkrelated Banned

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    I think it is a waste of energy sending spec' letters out.
    Asking a company if they have jobs when tey quite possibly have none is a little soul destroying.
    They may keep your records on file - but it still is disheartning when they do not respond.

    I do not think any body is unemployable.
    It might be true you lose the confidence to gain employment - you lose the confidence to aspire to anything and are ''happy'' doing fuck all.
    It does get harder the longer you are unemployed that is true - but like has been said the job market is quite sturdy at the moment. I'm not working at the moment [redundancy] so know how you feel and how the mindset of fatalism can take hold.

    I just think you need to slow down a touch - lower your expectations a little [like PP] was advocating.
    This will increase your self confidence and give you the confidence to accept failure as well as success.
    I do a bit of voluntary work and have just finished a IT course - as to keep me in touch with ''real people'' and maintain my confidence.

    People who have been brought up in this country are unwilling for the most part to travel or re-locate. So immigrants are more likely to go for those jobs that you might hear about but are unwilling to go for.
    Low paid jobs will be filled by immigrants because they on the whole have a bigger picture in mind - it is just to keep them in housing and food while they study. Not to pay a morgage and provide long term prospects.
    Only the underhand and ''gangmasters'' pay foreigners a low wage that is unacceptable for the majority of us.
    Companys have to maintain the minimum wage - so £5 is a bit wrong from the outset - they should not be paying that in the first place.
    Somebody from France would not work for that either - it would be people whos wage would barely make up a months wage for us [even on £5 a hour].

    I think this is your biggest hurdle - that does absolutely stink - I know lots of decent hardworking people who have been sacked after their criminal records have been read by employers.
     
  13. mbworkrelated

    mbworkrelated Banned

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    Have you been too:
    http://www.careers-gateway.co.uk/mainpage.htm
    I only see that you live in Scotland - I do not know if you live in a big city.
    Your options and available resources may be lower if you are in the middle of nowhere.
    http://scotland.gojobsite.co.uk/Careernews/cv_coverletter.html
     
  14. ronald Macdonald

    ronald Macdonald Banned

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    mwi mwi mwi mwi - moan moan moan !

    if youre unemployed get some sense and teach yourself something useful - give yourself 3 to 5 years to completely master something you are ok at - go from ok to genius at it - something that other people pay good money for, get a computer - teach yourself internet systems networks - get some decks master them fuckin things, even if its just getting bits of wood and learning to make picture frames - do it till youre the best at it - work at it day after day after day until there is nothing you dont know about that thing -then sell the product of your knowledge but 4 things you gotta know

    1) dont rely on anyone but yourself - no-one is interested if you succeed or not
    2) dont beg or borrow money from anyone to set you up- they aint interested
    3) Forget your friends - socialise with em but go into business for yourself
    4) dont dream about it - do it


    Fuck the government I starved and I went homeless rather than take money of that bunch of cunts in parliament - then I set up in business 5 years it took me to master a trade - I never took a penny off em - FUCKING RELY ON YOURSELF get your arse off the dole
     
  15. J0hn

    J0hn Phantom

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    Being unemployed is like being outside of everything. However there are jobs out there but getting the jobs is usually the hard part. Having a criminal record, means everyone prejudges you. They get the idea that anyone who spends the night in a prison perhaps down the block being kicked and spitted at by the screws, means the excon is a hardnut. Most ideas from the public run contrary to the real truth. Excons, atleast 75% want to change their lives for the better. One thing we should not lose, is hope.
     
  16. Peace-Phoenix

    Peace-Phoenix Senior Member

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    I think that's actually a very good point.

    And John, what did you do?
     
  17. mbworkrelated

    mbworkrelated Banned

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    Yeah well one does pop up from time to time.
     
  18. mamaKCita

    mamaKCita fucking stupid.

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    i'm currently unemployed...should be obvious, i think. but i've worked some awesome jobs. i had one hell of a resume and recommendation letters that get me all misty-eyed whenever i read them. but i never knew ANYONE who actually read spec letters.
     
  19. wiggy

    wiggy Bitch

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    Im looking for a job 16 hrs or under. Trying to find one that suits me and what shitty medical condition I have isnt easy - not impossible but not easy.

    Good luck to ya all
     
  20. J0hn

    J0hn Phantom

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    It isn't uncommon for employers to be flexible with their wage packets. I mean it wasn't long ago when women were paid considerably less than men. Even now, there is still the odd swindle. As for immigrants, they are quite often desperate people who have no money, no home and need a job. Money is on their mind. Even if they need to limbo down to a five pound an hour job. The immigrants are an acet to the country but I do believe citizens born in this country get priority. It is only natural. If i immigrated to their country, I would expect a similar heirachy. Just fairness really.

    Still struggling to get a job but have suddenly realised that I have another opportunity at New deal. This time I will make sure they put me on something that is constructive and that can help me in getting a job. Training further education Ftech or Btech. Need as much help now. Just don't want to end up like that forty year old woman who looks as old as my great grandmother. When I was born, she was made redundant. In the year 1982. So 25 years.She has been dissallusioned and do feel for her. Nobody has the heart to tell her she is unemployable. Instead they dance around her pretending she has a chance. I mean she used to work for Army and Navy when it was called something else.
    I feel for her. By god I don't want that to be me:(
     

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