Job search

[London Wolf]

Arrg. I have delurked for the first time in forever (since college was keeping me too busy to post) because I have finished college, am unemployed and bored.

Also I am of the mental state that looks like this: and gets an amateur diagnosis from my BFF who has depression (but is ok at the moment) of 'You are me, lolz'. Just for context.

So, I am looking for jobs in the recession. Yay. Not too much pressure 'cause I am still living with the parents, but actually they are mostly the source of pressure at the moment.

I actually *got* a job, which isn't too bad seeing as how I only started looking at the start of September and what everyone says about the economy, but it's only temporary, for three weeks over Halloween. It is an awesome job. Hasn't started yet.

So, I am looking for another job to start after that one, Christmassy stuff. I like the temporary thing because I get to spend time on my own projects (me and a bunch of other drama-student-types are starting our own not-for-profit theatre company) and I still get to apply for acting jobs, anyway I will hopefully be going to drama school next September. I've applied to about five Santa's elf/ toy demonstrators in department stores type jobs.

The problem for my parents is that this is not enough. My mum actually said to me "Most people would be filling out five or six applications a day." Now, even if I had the energy for that (I don't) I'm lucky if I find find five jobs that I seriously want to do and had a chance in hell of getting in a week, never mind a day.

So, my days now consist of several hours of boredom/volunteer work for the company, punctuated every day at getting-home-from-work-time by a grilling to see if I've done enough jobseeking, followed by a sulk when it's decided that I haven't.

Gah.

So, anyway, I just wanted to rant at you as my way of saying 'Hello again'.

[Elkhound]

Have you thought of signing up with a temp agency, such as Adecco or Manpower?

[Arriah]

While I don't have anyone putting pressure on me, I totally get the irritation at there just not being 5 jobs a day to apply for. I've been looking for about 2 months now and I've found about a dozen jobs worth applying for. Sure, I could go to the mall and fill out all those applications but I don't want to work at the mall, it wouldn't be worth my time after paying for daycare, and I'd rather like to get a job that is a bit related to my degree.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by London Wolf

So, my days now consist of several hours of boredom/volunteer work for the company,

You don't know who you might meet doing volunteer work, and you don't know who those people might speak to. Everything I've read about job hunting says one thing: NETWORK!
Welcome to the ULMB btw!

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by Arriah

While I don't have anyone putting pressure on me, I totally get the irritation at there just not being 5 jobs a day to apply for. I've been looking for about 2 months now and I've found about a dozen jobs worth applying for. Sure, I could go to the mall and fill out all those applications but I don't want to work at the mall, it wouldn't be worth my time after paying for daycare, and I'd rather like to get a job that is a bit related to my degree.

not to mention that it may be harder to find a good job while working full time at a crappy one.

[jw]

Surprisingly, my Uni going son, has managed to have four different part time jobs over the past year, despite the R word.

Are you not still at college and just looking for part time work? If this is so, then your parents are maybe being a bit overbearing.

However, I can see their POV if you have finished college completely.

[Darth Credence]

I am not sure how it works on your side of the pond, but does the Royal Mail (is that right?) hire a lot of temporary workers during the Christmas season as the USPS does? That may be a good choice for temporary work.
Also, as DawnStorm said, getting to meet and interact with various people can certainly help in job searches. So if you volunteer, make sure you are friendly and engaged with those also volunteering. I have a friend that volunteered at a local soup kitchen, and was friendly and polite with everyone there. As people do, they talked about personal lives while working away, and it turned out that one of the people volunteering was a VP at a medical device company, and they were looking for engineers. So, friend gave him a resume, got an interview shortly after, and got a job, based almost entirely on the VP knowing his work ethic and his people skills from volunteering. Granted, this was years ago before jobs got tight, but the theory still applies.
Anyway, good luck to you, and welcome bark from Lurkdom.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Darth Credence

I am not sure how it works on your side of the pond, but does the Royal Mail (is that right?) hire a lot of temporary workers during the Christmas season as the USPS does? That may be a good choice for temporary work.

They certainly do.

[London Wolf]

Originally Posted by DemonWolf

not to mention that it may be harder to find a good job while working full time at a crappy one.

This is exactly my problem; I really don't think I need to be considering full time sales assistant jobs just yet. I'm not a people person and I can't begin to imagine how much a job like that would mentally exhaust me... it's a last resort, and I don't think my current situation calls for last resorts. I sent CVs to half a dozen office temp agencies, but they're all either looking for people with more experience than me or completely buried in new applications at the moment.

I'll totally look into that Royal Mail thing, thanks.