Completely lost trying to find a new job/career

MeTV

Hoping you fine folk here can get me on the right track with some advice.

First off, a bit of background to my current situation: I've been in my current job 10 years, come March, and at the start of the year was put on a 3 day week and, as of last week, those 3 days have been changing day by day making it impossible for me to make any plans. Also, a week in to February and I've yet to be paid for last month and I've a few bills to pay.

I was willing to go with the flow for the first month in the hopes that business would pick up again as my number one priority this year is to purchase an apartment and a change of job/career would mean a minimum wait of 6 months before I could be approved for a mortgage. Things, though, haven't improved and I've become extremely frustrated with the situation - it's time for a change.

The problem is, I've been fortunate enough to walk into every job I've had - my current job was a FÁS placement that a family member organised for me and my previous employer (a large retail chain) was that desperate for staff at the time they hired me, I walked in off the street, they asked me 2 questions and told me to start the next day. So, I've never had to look or apply for a job, don't have a CV and I've no clue where to start on either! I've done a bit of searching over the past few days but there's just so much (sometimes contradictory) information out there, that it's completely overwhelming.

I'm sure there have been others in a similar situation to me, any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

finisklin

Invest time in a CV. It's vital to market yourself.

However, you need to figure out first where your interests are.

Do you like working with people? When are you at your most happiest?

If your current employer asked you, why are you here, what would your repsonse be? Is it because you are interested in what you work at or are you happy collecting the cheque at the end of every week?

Ask friends and family what they think your strengths and weaknesses are. Make a note. Are you good with numbers and figures etc? Have you led a team? Do you work well under pressure?

Get your CV done as a matter of urgency as it looks like the writing is on the wall for your job.

Head up and keep questioning yourself about what makes you happy and those work situations that you thrive on. This will help focus your career/job choice.

After this looks at jobs.ie, irishjobs.ie, recruitment agencies etc.

Best of luck and head up.

MeTV

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Finisklin, appreciate the advise. A lot of tough questions there, it's going to take a long time to figure them out! Right now my only concern is doing whatever I have to to get a mortgage. Been working on my CV since Monday but all I have in there so far is my portfolio (and I'm still not happy with how it looks) - zero idea what else to put in!

Someone else mentioned recruitment agencies so might try going straight to one of them - anyone have any recommendations as to which ones are the best? Also, how much do they cost and do they usually offer career advise as part of the deal?

nibtrix

MeTV wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Finisklin, appreciate the advise. A lot of tough questions there, it's going to take a long time to figure them out! Right now my only concern is doing whatever I have to to get a mortgage. Been working on my CV since Monday but all I have in there so far is my portfolio (and I'm still not happy with how it looks) - zero idea what else to put in!

Someone else mentioned recruitment agencies so might try going straight to one of them - anyone have any recommendations as to which ones are the best? Also, how much do they cost and do they usually offer career advise as part of the deal?

A recruitment agency don't charge you, if they place you in a job they get a fee from the company that hires you. However they'll expect you to have a basic cv and an idea of what kind of job you want. They MAY help you polish your CV and with interview skills but only if they think you're going to be worth their while.

You may need to go to a company that specialises in career advice and cv production. I don't know what they charge, hopefully someone can post.

What areas have you worked in - retail, office work, factory etc etc?

InReality

Doing a CV is never easy . just do 1 draft , then another , another. each draft will be better than the last.