Is it my age? My nationality?

MWK1811

I’ve recently moved to Ireland from South Africa as I met and married a beautiful Irish lady. I am 35 years of age and have 15 years experience in retail and customer service. My concern is I have approached numerous recruitment agencies and applied to many jobs online. However I don’t seem to be getting any responses and the few (1%) I have got is “no thanks”. To make matters worse my wife’s daughter who has just turned 16 applies for part-time work at our local mall and gets a job within 2 days. So I decide to put my 15 years experience into a simple CV leaving out the 10 years management experience and only highlighting what would be required for a part-time position in a store. I then walked around the mall dropping off my CV at various shops… it’s been awhile now and still nothing. My question is – Is it my age? My nationality? Why would a person with so much experience be overlooked for a position, the same position that a 16 year old with no experience is given?

AARRRGH

Do you need a work permit?

I would be more inclined to think it is your cover letter and CV, and also the fact that recruitment agencies are fairly useless.

pow wow

I'm 25 and I never get interviews for retail work, I think it's my age and I'm 10 years younger than you! At my local retail establishments I'd be the oldest there by a mile off (excluding management who might just exceed my age slightly).

MIN2511

Since you are married to an Irish citizen i reckon you have a work permit/visa based on your spouse?
Have you thought about Retail Management? Like Dunnes stores, Tesco? Surely you don't want to continue being a sales rep for too long. Most people have ignored your CV because of your experience and maybe age.
1. Take out your age from your CV (No one needs to know!)
2. And also your Nationality (They should access you based on your qualification and experience)
3. You should try places like Dunnes, M & S, Debenhams, Clerys,

MWK1811

dublindude wrote: »

Do you need a work permit?

I would be more inclined to think it is your cover letter and CV, and also the fact that recruitment agencies are fairly useless.

Being married to an Irish citizen allows me to work in Ireland. Dont recruitment agencies work off commission? The harder you work the more money you get?

MWK1811

MIN2511 wrote: »

Have you thought about Retail Management? Like Dunnes stores, Tesco?

I tried that the first 2 months of looking for work, but to no avail. My last position in SA was an Operations Manager for a 2000m2 store. Now I would be happy if someone offered me a cashier job

MIN2511

At this stage i would think your CV isn't selling you well enough. Why don't you volunteer for a charity(Oxfam) and see where it leads or go do a part time evening course for a few weeks and get a cert or something.

I agree with ellscurr.

Where are you based?

MWK1811

Moonbaby wrote: »

I agree with ellscurr.

Where are you based?

I am based in Blanchardstown Dublin 15

eth0_

Being south african (white or black) won't be held against you in Ireland. I work with quite a few people from SA.

Have you gone into a recruitment agency for a meeting so they can go through your CV and see if it needs improving? Are they giving you any feedback as to why you haven't been called for any interviews?

the dee

I'm young and Irish and university educated and I had problems finding retail work last summer. Most agencys are awful too. I got my current job through a fantastic agency (I'm temp but have been 6 months in the one position and was offered a permanent job). I don't know if I can post the agency name so PM me, or mod, would it be ok?

The Hill Billy

OP - Do not adopt a "fire & forget" attitude to recruitment agencies or job applications. Follow them up with a phone call. Some agencies need to be reminded regularly that you are still available & looking for work.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

MWK1811

eth0_ wrote: »

Being south african (white or black) won't be held against you in Ireland. I work with quite a few people from SA.

Have you gone into a recruitment agency for a meeting so they can go through your CV and see if it needs improving? Are they giving you any feedback as to why you haven't been called for any interviews?

One agency did call me in for an interview... I was told I am over experienced for trainee manager/sales person etc and my experience was in homewares/furniture and most of the jobs in managment were in the clothing retail sector. Being in retail for 15 years, I have learnt that the fundamentals of retail no matter the product is all the same.

If I had a business and a person with 15 years experience was willing to work no matter the position... I would grab them with both hands and never look back

Thank you for all the advice, I shall heed it and continue with my search

mikeruurds

I agree that it's definitely not your nationality. I am a South African with dual nationality (Dutch) and have had no problem finding work in Ireland.

Some options for you would be to check out www.fas.ie and click on the jobseeker section. Alternatively send your CV to as many retail stores as you can. You really need to sell yourself and try and get as many interviews as you can.

Good luck and vasbyt! I'm sure that you'll find the right job soon.

Mike

AARRRGH

I see many CV's every day. Do you want to pop off your CV and cover letter to me and I'll take a look to make sure they're OK?

PM me for my e-mail address.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

I would suggest it is your CV that isn't working for you. Maybe it comes across as overly ambitious?

You could also PM me for my email address and send me your CV and i'll look over it for you.

I sit on a few interview panels, and it is usually the overly complicated CV's that we try to find an excuse to reject.

Raskolnikov

Take your nationality off your C.V. I imagine when employers see it, they assume you need a work permit and just bin it.

Dudess

Forget about agencies, forget about irishjobs.ie and jobs.ie and just apply directly. Some (most maybe) of those positions don't even exist any more, they just keep being automatically renewed.

Call into places - it's far better to have a chat with someone than to email or post an anonymous CV.

jimmycrackcorm

OP - have you applied to Lidl or Aldi. they are always ercruiting especially for management.

Musha

OP Maybe you are setting the bar too low, try for management

I know it is very hard to get good people with experience so hang in there the right job will come along