Why can I not Get a decent JOB!

Nightshiftguy

Hey everyone.. I'm a wee bit annoyed. I cannot find a proper job. I am currently temping and it is doing nothing for me. I am so bored in the job it is purely data entry and its doing my head in. I have 5 years of customer service experiance. The trouble seems to be is that i moved away for a couple of years (UK) and all I did for that 2 years was TEMP. Employers don't seem to take that into consideration as during that 2 years I had about 5 different temping jobs but they were all with the same temping agency. I have scoured the web for jobs. I just want a nice Customer service position in any industry as I am more than willing to learn. In the city center (dublin) and about 22 k is that too much to ask what am I doing wrong. Help me out guys. Please.

Highlander

AFAIK E-BAY were advertising for Customer service positions in papers in last few days, though they are in Blanchardstown, if that's any good for you.

Nightshiftguy

That would be perfect however already been for an interview and didn't get the job... the reason being too many jobs while living in the UK. once again another companys close minded and fails to see that it was all temp work for the same agency.... Grrrrr hate temping

WhiteWashMan

what exactly is the problem?

you really have got to help us to help you. some information would be good.

after all, i have been trying to get a job as a millionaire beach bum for the last 10 years, but i have failed everytime.
anyone want to help me out?

optiplexgx270

Posting your C.V. would be a start (rename the companies etc.) but a great C.V. IS the key. Interview skills are a bit harder to help you with.

SantaHoe

All the decent jobs are taken I'm afraid.
All that's left are jobs nobody wants to do.

:~X

optiplexgx270

SantaHoe

Not very helpful and not true.

amen

well if you really worked for same agency why
not change the CV and say you worked for Company X who provide a service Y (eg secretarial) to a wide range of companies inlcuding Company A,B,C
While working for Company X your work include secondment for company A,B,C for extened periods or words to that affect

Kulgan

optiplexgx270 wrote:

SantaHoe

Not very helpful and not true.

I found it helpful, you need to relax grandpa

p.pete

I'd go along with what Amen says - seems the most viable story for your situation. Also remember that it's just a story, a matter of how you present the facts to the company. Don't lie but don't spent five minutes trying to make excuses for working for several different companies either.

After that, what WhiteWashMan says, without more info we can do little (go to company X, ask to speak to person Y, they'll sort you out )

jesus_thats_gre

Vodafone in Leopardstown..

Drexl Spivey

optiplexgx270 wrote:

Posting your C.V. would be a start (rename the companies etc.) but a great C.V. IS the key. Interview skills are a bit harder to help you with.

Just playing on your cv is the equivalent of dropping advertisement lifflets from a plane..


A really good cv is, maybe be, suffisiant for 10 % of people who are going to find a good job they want to do.

In 90% of cases I think networking and friends are the best cards.
Of course you need something on your CV.

I am convinced that 75% of IT jobs can be done by anyone if you have proper training. There are a few things that one can not master after being explained how to do something. The problem is to get the opportunity to do the job.

If you have good networking, you will know very quickly when a job is available or is going to be available, and you will know who the key deciders are. Hence NOT the HR, but instead, the managers who are going to take the decision to hire you.

--->A decent job is ANY job NOT on the phone talking to customers.

WhiteWashMan

Jeff Bond wrote:

If you have good networking, you will know very quickly when a job is available or is going to be available, and you will know who the key deciders are. Hence NOT the HR, but instead, the managers who are going to take the decision to hire you.

.

i would certainly agree that the best way to get a job is through networking either with colleagues, former colleagues, friends, associates, whatever.

Jeff Bond wrote:

--->A decent job is ANY job NOT on the phone talking to customers.

ahh, not true. io do a lot of work on the phone and i love my job!
believe it or not, in every single job, you have a customer. maybe not in the strictest sense of the word, but everyone who depends on you doing something, or who relies on you is your customer.

the users are the customers for IT techies etc.

but im in sales

Drexl Spivey

WhiteWashMan wrote:

ahh, not true. io do a lot of work on the phone and i love my job!
believe it or not, in every single job, you have a customer. maybe not in the strictest sense of the word, but everyone who depends on you doing something, or who relies on you is your customer.

the users are the customers for IT techies etc.

but im in sales

Wwm, you're obviously not desperate like I am.
I don't mind a phone on my desk. What I do mind A LOT is that my phone number is on manuals and CDs of hundreds of thousands of my company's products, prominently displayed and available to those maniacs. Each and every call is a total waste of time in terms of learning as well as benefits on the CV (the longer you stay in a call centre, the best chance you have to STAY in the call centre business which is ok when you are 20 but pretty worrying at 30). And because every single tech/rep is as desperate as i am, they all apply for every position available.

Working on the phone, being a tech or sales or rep or whatever, is NOT a decent job because you stress more than in any other job in the company and it is paid LESS.

Haven't you notice lads how you know you could do the job of those QA people who are taking 1 hour break while you're rushing back to the phone ?
Why do you have the feeling that your team leader has an easier job ? (it is easier to ask someone to perform a task than actually performing the task)

Hoo look, they are all off during bank holidays, don t work in shift, spend 2 hours a day showing pictures of the little baby, are off at 3 on fridays etc ... and still they re making twice as much money.

When there is a calm period (less calls) they give you 'special projects' or 'translations' or 'stuff to do' .... Do you think that's gonna happen if you 're ..let's say, an accountant or the Network admin ? Don t think so.


No, tech/sales is NOT a decent job except if it is your first experience.

There is even worse case scenario than being a Rep ... Being a Rep with language!! And then, you're stuck for good (Exept if you can program Doom 4 I suppose ..)

In my company there s a guy who can speak 6 languages, he earns 20k my former supervisor couldn't remember what happened 5 mns ago. she was around 40.


Heeeeeeelp!!!!

WhiteWashMan

Jeff Bond wrote:

Wwm

Working on the phone, being a tech or sales or rep or whatever, is NOT a decent job because you stress more than in any other job in the company and it is paid LESS.

[\QUOTE]


ahh, i think you are talking about something completely different now.

you are talking about a job that you dont like. what you are talking about is a phone based support job like a call centre, or telesales.
ive done both, and i certainly wont do them again. i agree with you to that extent, but remember that not all techie jobs and not all sales jobs are phone based, but a big part of these jobs will be on the phone.
dont mix the two up, they are completely different.

Jeff Bond wrote:

No, tech/sales is NOT a decent job except if it is your first experience.
!!!

well, my first job was working in afactory for 12 hour shifts at night. but i worked my way out, got a job in a call centre for IBM, and then got a job as IT support in Gateway.

so, actually, there are worse things to start off.
it just depends if you are willing to work hard and take the opportunities that appear. and thats the hardest thing. figuring out what an opportunity is and how to take it.

Jeff Bond wrote:

In my company there s a guy who can speak 6 languages, he earns 20k my former supervisor couldn't remember what happened 5 mns ago. she was around 40.

!!!!

but you wouldnt complain if you were the supervisor.

now, im not having a go here at you, but ihave to make a point in general.

i really hate this sort of attitude. i get fed up hearing about how people are underpaid, how their boss sucks and is over paid, how this person is earning so much more money, how these other people get all the training etc.
why is the world so unfair that no one gives me anything yadda yadda yadda

well, its like this. if you dont ask, you dont get. and if you dont get, figure out how to put yourself in the position that these other people are in if they are getting so much.


you want to hear some irony?

i worked in NEC many years ago working inthat factory job.
i am now in london wokring in sales.
i recently got a call from the IT manager from NEC in ireland asking about some stuff. i got into conversation, telling him i used to work on C shift. i used to earn 780 quid a month.my supervisor at the time who told me i was crap, wouldnt do anything and was a waste is still a supervisor in NEC.
I am now earning probably around 4 times her salary. and she is still working shift.
i get to fly around the world. she gets to drive to work at 6am

so dont knock techie work or any other kind of work, becuase you can always get somewhere from somewhere else.
you just have to sit down and figure out what you want to do, and how to get there. you wont get a pay rise, a big promotion or a company car by moaning about what other people have, you need to almost aspire to have what those people have and try and rab it.

here endith the lesson...





for now

Chalk

without being too underhanded,
could you not give the name of the agency you worked for as your employer for 2 years,
and lump all your experience as diffferent positions within that company.

i mean , if you have the experience, can do the job and the only thing holding you back is your cv looks messy, then tidy it up.

if you have a contact in the agency, get a written reference, to say basic stuff , just to prove you were employed by the same company, sort of.

for 22k a year cust service i doubt theyll even ask for a reference, most will give you the job if your experience covers it/ you seem honest.

just my experience,
ive been in plenty of jobs and never had a problem merging 2 or 3 short jobs into one long one for the best company of the three.

Drexl Spivey

WhiteWashMan wrote:

well, my first job was working in afactory for 12 hour shifts at night. but i worked my way out, got a job in a call centre for IBM, and then got a job as IT support in Gateway.

so, actually, there are worse things to start off.
it just depends if you are willing to work hard and take the opportunities that appear. and thats the hardest thing. figuring out what an opportunity is and how to take it.

but you wouldnt complain if you were the supervisor.

now, im not having a go here at you, but ihave to make a point in general.

i really hate this sort of attitude. i get fed up hearing about how people are underpaid, how their boss sucks and is over paid, how this person is earning so much more money, how these other people get all the training etc.
why is the world so unfair that no one gives me anything yadda yadda yadda

Well, i am not saying i am better than them, but i am no worse. I am complaining not because of them having a good job but me having to talk to the customers, earning little money for a carreer that is a cul-de-sac.

I am not lacking of willpower and i can work hard, but i don t really know where to put the effort. Its a big problem.

I may be too obsessed by what i don t want to do, that i don't see what i want to do ...

well, its like this. if you dont ask, you dont get. and if you dont get, figure out how to put yourself in the position that these other people are in if they are getting so much.

Point taken.

I tried to find a job as a junior software developer. Agencies kindly showed me the door of tech support, and i stayed 10 months unemployed even after passing 2 Java certifications.
Maybe i didn t find opportunities, ...
The result of this little experience is I had to pass a tech support A+ certification, and oooops 2 days later i found a job in freaki*g tech support.

So I am ready to start from scratch with lower salary in a field that i would like, but it seems that the only door is tech support (don t forget i am not english-speaking native, agencies don't like to place people who speak languages in a real job (not tech support/customer service).

As a matter of fact I went to HAys recruitment in person (2 years ago), and the receptionist filtered me, refusing to give me any contact in the field i was interested in, and gave me the business card of ... The tech support recruiter !!! I am not telling you what happened next at CPL, you already guessed.



Come on, i understand you don't like moaners but please understand my frustration and the frustration of all my fellow colleagues who can t possibly be all lazy feck**s ))

you want to hear some irony?

i worked in NEC many years ago working inthat factory job.
i am now in london wokring in sales.
i recently got a call from the IT manager from NEC in ireland asking about some stuff. i got into conversation, telling him i used to work on C shift. i used to earn 780 quid a month.my supervisor at the time who told me i was crap, wouldnt do anything and was a waste is still a supervisor in NEC.
I am now earning probably around 4 times her salary. and she is still working shift.
i get to fly around the world. she gets to drive to work at 6am

so dont knock techie work or any other kind of work, becuase you can always get somewhere from somewhere else.
you just have to sit down and figure out what you want to do, and how to get there. you wont get a pay rise, a big promotion or a company car by moaning about what other people have, you need to almost aspire to have what those people have and try and rab it.

here endith the lesson...





for now

Well, thanks, i m not only here to share my copmplaints but i am also open to advice

WhiteWashMan

i understand the frustration. i really do. and like i said, what i wrote wasnt directed at you, it was just a general rant

you want some advice from someone who has pulled themselves from the gutter of factory work?

figure out what you want to do. it doesnt hav to be your perfect job, just say, i want to be in networking, or i want to be a developer or something.

then figure out how to get there. is it easier to go through a helpdesk type scenario, and then do technical support and then get onto 3rd level support and then into networking?
or can you fast track it by doing server+ and network+ from comptia?

its all about making yourself some very obtainable goals.
first goal, get out of factory work!
second goal, get into some technical enviroment, well, mine was phone support in IBM, and then helpdeksk phone support in gateway.

nut give yourself every opportunity to make the next step. saying you want to be president of america, and expecting to become it by accident is very unlikely to happen

but saying you want to be president of america, joining a party, running for governer, going for congress etc, is far more likely to get you there.

but the goals have to be realistic and obtainable.

and then you will find that in between goals, you will get opporutnities to do something else. you can take them, because your path is not set in stone, and this may be a better option. always be open.
and most importantly?
always manager your manager.

the most important person in anyones career is your boss. if you cont get on with them, dont expect to get promotions, or bumpeed up the ladder. sure its unfair, but thats life. look at the system, find the system, work the system and use the system to your advantage.

if you want to be cool and trendy, hold your own opinions and be a bit different, fúck off to college. if you want to get ahead in work, help you manager look good, work with them, suck up to them, and work them.

what else do you want my invaluable advice on

RicardoSmith

Well I think you have to make a judgment call on if something is worth doing, and what direction you want to move towards. Then look at what is required to get you there. IT was going through a tough patch and it has lowered the quality and the quantity of the jobs that are available. It is picking up a bit, but there will always the rubbish jobs in every sector.

Besides it not always about certifications. A lot of the time you need to make contacts and network all the people that you know. Work all the angles. It also requires a fair bit of luck too.

Theres a good book called, "what color is your parachute" makes you think.