A different approach to getting a job?

becksy

I'm heading back to college in Galway in September, desperately need to get a part time job though. I've sent out about 30 CV's, tailored every CV to the shop I was applying, went into shops in person, many places won't even take a CV. Is there a different approach I could take, should I be ringing every place checking on the status of my application? I'd love some fresh ideas to stand out from the crowd. Not only do I need the money but I really enjoy working. I'm determined to get a job and willing to try anything!

flanree

Nobody is hiring these days just firing. You probably have to go somewhere like McDonalds for part-time.

becksy

flanree wrote: »

Nobody is hiring these days just firing. You probably have to go somewhere like McDonalds for part-time.

I know it really is tough I'm just keeping positive hoping to be one of the lucky ones and find something!

BostonB

Try family and friends. Usually more successful than just cold calling.

highgiant1985

becksy wrote: »

I'm heading back to college in Galway in September, desperately need to get a part time job though. I've sent out about 30 CV's, tailored every CV to the shop I was applying, went into shops in person, many places won't even take a CV. Is there a different approach I could take, should I be ringing every place checking on the status of my application? I'd love some fresh ideas to stand out from the crowd. Not only do I need the money but I really enjoy working. I'm determined to get a job and willing to try anything!

Well one different approach which may or may not work. identify the company you want to work for. Find out who the head guy is. Find out with time he comes in every morning. Be there 30 minutes earlier than that every morning with a copy of your CV, cup of coffee wouldn't hurt either and tell him/her of your desire to work for the company and you would be grateful for an interview. Repeat every day till either you get interview or you get arrested for stalking :P If someone did this to me I'd wait a week to see if they still have the determination to get up every morning and if they did I'd give them an interview. Unfort for you I'm only a new graduate so no hiring ability what so ever

RedXIV

highgiant1985 wrote: »

Well one different approach which may or may not work. identify the company you want to work for. Find out who the head guy is. Find out with time he comes in every morning. Be there 30 minutes earlier than that every morning with a copy of your CV, cup of coffee wouldn't hurt either and tell him/her of your desire to work for the company and you would be grateful for an interview. Repeat every day till either you get interview or you get arrested for stalking :P If someone did this to me I'd wait a week to see if they still have the determination to get up every morning and if they did I'd give them an interview. Unfort for you I'm only a new graduate so no hiring ability what so ever

Actually not a bad idea. In work now and one of the guys here was saying he got a 3 month probationary contract just because he emailed every day and popped in every other day to look for a job, after 3 weeks they finally hired him

highgiant1985

RedXIV wrote: »

Actually not a bad idea. In work now and one of the guys here was saying he got a 3 month probationary contract just because he emailed every day and popped in every other day to look for a job, after 3 weeks they finally hired him

yeah my thinking behind it is it might get you in the door. You'd need to impress to be kept on but getting the opportunity to impress is half the battle. Mightn't work so well for a part time job though which is what the OP is after.

becksy

highgiant1985 wrote: »

Well one different approach which may or may not work. identify the company you want to work for. Find out who the head guy is. Find out with time he comes in every morning. Be there 30 minutes earlier than that every morning with a copy of your CV, cup of coffee wouldn't hurt either and tell him/her of your desire to work for the company and you would be grateful for an interview. Repeat every day till either you get interview or you get arrested for stalking :P If someone did this to me I'd wait a week to see if they still have the determination to get up every morning and if they did I'd give them an interview. Unfort for you I'm only a new graduate so no hiring ability what so ever

Good idea ! I won't be back in Galway for another couple of weeks so I'll have to hold off on that until then. Should I keep ringing and e-mailing shops, clubs etc or would this put employers off calling me for interview if I come across too strong?

Nolanger

Why don't you work as a talent scout? Hire a venue in a hotel and put out ads that you're looking for people to work as extras in movies. Charge a fee to register with you, take their photo and cv, and then f*ck off with the money! Perfectly legal too.

Mrs OBumble

flanree wrote: »

Nobody is hiring these days just firing. You probably have to go somewhere like McDonalds for part-time.

Not true. There are actually more "staff wanted" signs in Galway now than there have been for months.

highgiant1985

JustMary wrote: »

Not true. There are actually more "staff wanted" signs in Galway now than there have been for months.

yeah and the company i work for has never been busier they just hired 3 new people. Irish software company about 140 employees in all.

becksy

JustMary wrote: »

Not true. There are actually more "staff wanted" signs in Galway now than there have been for months.

Nothing better than good news!! What places did you see ads? I was in Galway last week and saw only three ads, in bars/restaurants on Quay St. Did you see any in many shops etc? Going to head down at the weekend but want to have my CV's tailored to each place so it would be great to know!

Maybe things are beginning to look up? :P

Mrs OBumble

Subway on Abbeygate St
Providence Market Kitchen (same street)
Schuch (spelling!) on Shop St
.. can't remember others.

The problem with your approach is that if you're walking down the street and see a sign in a place that you don't have a tailored CV for, you don't have anything to give 'em.

Why don't you try having three or four types of CV (eg one for small-store-retail, one for big-store-retail, one for restaurant-cafe-takeaways, one for pubs, one for fashion-retail .. or whatever) - make 'em a bit generic, but hand out more?

(Personally I never leave a CV with a place unless they're specifically advertising for staff. I reckon that if you do, there's a 95% chance it goes straight in the bin the minute you leave. Waste of everyone's paper/time.)

becksy

JustMary wrote: »

(Personally I never leave a CV with a place unless they're specifically advertising for staff. I reckon that if you do, there's a 95% chance it goes straight in the bin the minute you leave. Waste of everyone's paper/time.)

I think you're right there, rang up about ten places that I handed CV's into, most said they probably won't be looking for staff until Christmas, hard to stay positive these days with feedback like that!

timmywex

I work in a shop, the other day for example we got in 2 cv's. not by post, just handed in, thrown behind the counter with one thats been there for weeks! Manager gets posted them now and again, she literally opens it, sees its a cv, and straight to the bin with it.

A bit of a waste i think to hand in so many cv's

leeroybrown

As others have pointed out above most places that are receiving lots of speculative CVs will just dump them. They've got nothing to gain by hanging onto them if they haven't got an open position.

I'll also add that the typical suggestion of talking directly to the manager probably won't work either. A lot of managers will have instructed their desk staff to ask what someone wants and not to disturb them if it's about a job. Once you realise that the manager doesn't want to engage with you directly about your CV then I'd suggest not to push it any further - just drop it at the desk like everyone else. Contrary to some advice given above 'harassing' the manager is more likely to get you remembered for the wrong reason.

BostonB

You're basically spamming companies. Far better to work family and friends for contacts, and do proper research on wheres hiring. Theres a lot less jobs about there. Its going to take longer than it was a year or so back to find something. Also don't spend all your time job hunting, or you'll go mad. Take up a new project to keep busy. Aim to complete a run, a cycle or do something like learn a new skill. Keep busy. Set X amount of time for job hunting but not all your time.

Gone West

95% of cvs get thrown in the bin at random because employers dont want to hire unlucky people in general.

BostonB

FuzzyLogic wrote: »

95% of cvs get thrown in the bin at random because employers dont want to hire unlucky people in general.

You'll have to back that up with a link

becksy

BostonB wrote: »

You're basically spamming companies. Far better to work family and friends for contacts, and do proper research on wheres hiring. Theres a lot less jobs about there. Its going to take longer than it was a year or so back to find something. Also don't spend all your time job hunting, or you'll go mad. Take up a new project to keep busy. Aim to complete a run, a cycle or do something like learn a new skill. Keep busy. Set X amount of time for job hunting but not all your time.

You're definately right there, I'm in the early stages of lunacy already.

I acted on previous advice about e-mailing regularly until they give in and give me an interview, needless to say I won't be getting an interview there anytime soon

BostonB

It might take a while to get a job. So fill the time with more than just job hunting.

Monkey61

As someone who has been responsible for Cv gathering and hiring in a chain store before, I'll just say that I don't think that harassing management is a good idea. More than likely, they aren't going to think "Oh here's a motivated and enthusiastic employee who will be a hard worker" they are thinking "Oh here's an irritating, pig headed employee who won't take no for an answer and can't listen to instructions."

If there aren't any jobs, there aren't any jobs. All the phoning up and emailing in the world isn't going to create a position especially for you. Any shop I have worked in as well has specifically advertised when looking for staff and outside of those times, CVs tend to go straight into the bin as it is just hassle to keep hold of them.

Part time work is always going to be harder to get anyway at this time of year, because it is when existing employees who have been working full time decide to go back to college and of course get preference on the jobs.

But just keep going. Check company websites for details on recruitment. Look for signs in windows. Have a good cover letter tailored for the specific job. At least when somewhere is hiring, your tailored CV will stand out a mile from all the generic ones!

Gone West

BostonB wrote: »

You'll have to back that up with a link

Aww bless. It was a joke.

becksy

Good news! I had an interview It was with a jewellery shop that I really love. I did make one mistake during the interview because of nerves but I'm just praying that it will be overlooked. Fingers crossed!