Should I just give up?

Chuchoter

I'm an 18 year old girl whose been looking for a job since April and to be perfectly honest I'm getting nowhere. I've applied to every coffee shop, clothes shop, hotel, secretarial position I can think of and I've yet to even hear back. So many of my friends are getting jobs even though they have no more if not less experience than I do. What am I doing wrong?

Piriz

Hi there,

i can only imagine how difficult it is to get a part time or full time job as a teenager (young adult in your case) these days...

A serious amount of hob hunters out there are fierce competition for anyone who does not have experience unfortunately...

Do not give up however; you will find something at some point and it will be the start of your work experience which will set you up to get other jobs from there...

maybe get someone to improve your C.V. and try having a conversation with cafe owners etc. when you seek work so that they can see your personality and may hire you as a result of that...

good luck...

boobar

Chuchoter wrote: »

I'm an 18 year old girl whose been looking for a job since April and to be perfectly honest I'm getting nowhere. I've applied to every coffee shop, clothes shop, hotel, secretarial position I can think of and I've yet to even hear back. So many of my friends are getting jobs even though they have no more if not less experience than I do. What am I doing wrong?

Sorry to hear this.

Sometimes it's down to luck, or someone giving you the heads up about a vacancy so that you can get in before the job is even advertised.

My advice would be to talk to all family, friends, former school pals and let them know that you're looking for work.

One of the best jobs that I ever worked in or got was because I mentioned to an old pal that I was in the market for a job, he said well you're hardly interested in this job, he thought the money wasn't great. It was exactly what I was looking for and I got it and stayed there for 4 years.

So my advice continue sending out CVs, calling to places, but ask to speak to the manager.

And talk to everyone, friends, family, postman, milkman everyone you can think of or come into contact with.

Mr. Loverman

Compare the tactic you are using with the tactic your friends are using to see where you are going wrong. This includes:

CV
Cover Letter
How they are applying
Etc.

Get them to critique what you are doing.

It is very possible you are doing nothing wrong and have just been unlucky (or more likely, they have been lucky).

kneemos

How many cv's go straight in the bin I wonder.I'd imagine if they kept them all they'd be swimming in the things.

kneemos

Reminds me of someone who works in employment said cv's placed in folders or binders are binned, too much bother to file apparently.

Kensington

It's easy to be disheartened - don't! Tough market out there at the moment

Have you asked one of your friends who was successful for their CV and covering letter and done a side-by-side with yours?

Employers get hundred of CVs a month - any CVs which are badly formatted, poor grammar, contain spelling mistakes or don't include a covering letter are generally immediately binned without even being read. Make sure you are not putting them off your application before they've even seen what you have to offer.

Caseywhale

when i was 17 and left school there were no jobs to be got anywhere.
none of us could find work.
a friends 18 year old twins recently had the same problem and i told them what we did. they then repeated this formula and are now both working.

heres what i told them to do.

1 apply everywhere.
2 tap up all of their parents friends to see if they have anything.
3 go abroad and then look for a job.

well they did this and are both now working in germany.
some of their other friends went to oz for work.

whole generations had to do this in the past to find work.
sometimes its the only way.

delos

I know it's tough but you just have to keep at it.

Talk to your friends and see if there is anything they did that might improve your chances. Unless they applied for advertised positions that you also applied for I'd almost guarantee that they were simply in the right place at the right time

Assuming that you are handing in CVs on the off-chance that they ,might have a vacancy sure you get it to a manager/assistant manager. If they are not in, find out when they are in. Places get loads of CVs handed in and unless they happen to be looking for someone at that time it will be filed in the bin. It's nothing personal, just unlucky timing. That is why you have to keep trying.

Anyway, good luck and I hope something comes up soon.

dodderangler

I was in same situation
I was nearly going from one job and few months later getting let go and it was weird for me cuz I always worked and was workin in same job for 3 years
Been out of work for 5 months now bored and depressed thinkin nothing gonna come up then other day got phone call to go back workin in a garage on cars and start tomoro
So keep chin up

antodeco

I'm 30 and have been unavailable to find work for nearly 12 months. I have an excellent cv and experience. The issue I have found is that my line of work has always been well paid, so when I applied for 'minimum wage' roles (just so I'm working again) I was seen as someone using it as a stop gap. OP, perhaps you can do a small bit of voluntary work? Potential employers love seeing someone with voluntary work, as it shows a good working ethos and desire to work.

El Horseboxo

Definitely look at your cv. You really need to highlight your strengths and then sell yourself in the cover letter. I have seen loads of cvs and cover letters that appear to be generic templates and the applicant just amends the job title. It comes off as lazy to me. If you're going for a job in a clothes shop you should tailor your cover letters towards that position. Don't lie on your cv but you can change that a bit too to include strengths related to the position you are applying for. Likewise for a waitress position. Tailor your cover letter towards that role. For any customer facing positions try convey a friendly outgoing personality as much as you can on paper. I know at 18 you don't have too much life experience but also try include a bit about how you have handled fast paced environments, dealt with pressure and problem solving. If you look and think hard enough there is most likely something in your life that translates to those strengths whether it's through school work, sports teams or hobbies/clubs etc. Good luck anyways.

qwerty93

I was the same for the last two Summers, dropping in CV's and just knowing you wont hear anything back.. However in the last 2 weeks iv had 3 offers!
This was down to mainly people I know letting me know of vacancies or in their own companies!
This was annoying in a way because this is probably one of the reasons iv not been having luck with jobs and my friends havent!
Id advise you to let everyone know youre looking for a job, casually even through conversation! something might come up.
Sadly its who you know these days I think..

Mrs OBumble

Chuchoter wrote: »

I'm an 18 year old girl whose been looking for a job since April and to be perfectly honest I'm getting nowhere. I've applied to every coffee shop, clothes shop, hotel, secretarial position I can think of and I've yet to even hear back. So many of my friends are getting jobs even though they have no more if not less experience than I do. What am I doing wrong?

Don't give up: if your friends are getting jobs, then there are jobs out there. The fact that your friends are getting jobs is A Good Thing (tm).

Make sure you keep in touch with them, and ask them to let you know - or even better recommend you - if anything comes up where they are working.

Don't assume that they'll do this (friends can be a bit dim at times ) - explicitly ask them to do this for you. And remind 'em every month or two.

Also ask friends of your parents etc - any older people who might have workplace leads. Obviously be sensitive about this - asking someone who's just been made redundant themselves isn't cool. But you need all sorts of people to know you are looking.

mazy12

Hi Chuchoter,

I know exactly how you feel. The very same thing happened to me when I was your age and is happening to people all the time. My advice to you is to stick with it and keep applying. Maybe get some help tuning your CV and making it look a bit better and things like that. But there are definitely jobs out there you just need a slight bit of luck is all.
Keep your head up

Melanoma

Well if you are interested in retail then I don't know but places like London probably would have openings with the possibility of training in retail management. Just be mindful that some people that go abroad do get work but are lonely and hit the bottle/ drugs and save very little while drifting along. Going wild a bit while home is often fine but abroad well I have seen people fall down a bit. You've got to be able to keep thinking about getting on but its a slow process.

The best of luck with your search, right now Ireland has few openings in shops and such as folks got laid off from many of them and they'd love to hire them back if there was an upturn.

On the other hand I heard of a shop that hired some people in Wicklow it was like a spar, so maybe its here for you. Keep in mind a lot of very successful people just got a summer job in say catering or leisure and it got them ideas that worked despite a recession.

su27

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Tailor your cover letter towards that role.

Let me quote my recruiter: "nobody reads cover letters".
Learn how to write a functional CV tailored to the job.

dMaN24

I know exactly how you feel. I've been out of work since late april myself.
At some point you just give up and just think "-F*ck it." and feel like just give up and lay on the couch all day. I was like that until yesterday.

I got a call from a headhunter i've been dealing with for sometime and just braced myself for the "-Oh dear... you don't fit in. Goodbye!"

But i got a job! And this morning i got a call from another headhunter telling e that another place wants me.

I've never had these kinds of problems before.

Hang in there. You'll get a job. Just keep yourself active until then and don't get couch-locked. That shows on interviews.

G'luck.

bsj

dMaN24 wrote: »

I know exactly how you feel. I've been out of work since late april myself.
At some point you just give up and just think "-F*ck it." and feel like just give up and lay on the couch all day. I was like that until yesterday.

I got a call from a headhunter i've been dealing with for sometime and just braced myself for the "-Oh dear... you don't fit in. Goodbye!"

But i got a job! And this morning i got a call from another headhunter telling e that another place wants me.

I've never had these kinds of problems before.

Hang in there. You'll get a job. Just keep yourself active until then and don't get couch-locked. That shows on interviews.

G'luck.

Well done!
Good to hear someone's good news, I just got a rejection email this morning for a job i thought i was well suited to. As they say its like waiting for a bus!!

vitani

su27 wrote: »

Let me quote my recruiter: "nobody reads cover letters".
Learn how to write a functional CV tailored to the job.

Not necessarily - I was tasked with narrowing down candidates for the previous company I worked for, and I went through every CV and cover letter we got. Your recruiter works with CVs for a living - but not everybody does, and a lot of the small companies who only have the occasional vacancy would take everything into account, including a cover letter.

Of course a tailored, functional CV should be written, but don't underestimate the power of a good cover letter. I'm convinced it's what got me my current job.

Mr. Loverman

su27 wrote: »

Let me quote my recruiter: "nobody reads cover letters".

Your recruiter is a sales person, and obviously not good at the recruitment aspect of her job if she doesn't bother reading cover letters.

I would ignore her advice...

kneemos

If you've seen one you've seen them all I'd imagine.Is a busy recruiter really going to read them.?

Mr. Loverman

kneemos wrote: »

If you've seen one you've seen them all I'd imagine.Is a busy recruiter really going to read them.?

Well written cover letters are unique to each person. Also, a person who takes the time to write a decent cover letter is already showing enthusiasm and diligence, and will be able to point out things which can't really be mentioned on a CV.

I have gotten interviews based on my cover letter only (the employers told me so).