Advice get further education or tough it out trying to get a job?

Butterfly182

To give you a bit of background about me.

I finished college in 2015 with a BA in arts and I have a good Leaving Cert.

I found it hard to get a job after i finished college, i had to stay working at my part time job in a fast food restaurant so i could support myself and get more experience in the workplace.

Landed a TCO (temporary clerical officer) contract last year, still working there but it looks like the job is coming to an end so worried about what to do next.

I'm afraid that im going to end up in the exact same place that i was last year, struggling to survive on part time wages and coming really close to landing good jobs but just not making it over the line at the final hurtle.

There were a few reasons why I struggled to get a job after graduation:
Lack of interview experience- can address this
Lack of experience outside of college
Couldn't apply for jobs that require a licence- I only have a provisional licence
Lack of qualifications in areas i would be interested in- i.e. Payroll, and admin.

I have an opportunity to do a level 5 in business admin- it covers spreadsheets, word, Sage, excel and it has some work experience.

Should i do the course or brave it out applying for jobs and hope they accept me without the qualifications? If i did the course for the 9 months i would stay working part time and learn how to drive, should be able to get my full license by then. I never did business at school or anything.

In total my paid work experience amounts to:
2 years part time fast food- area: customer service and some admin i.e. Cash control
5 months part time library assistant
1 year clerical officer.

Hoping to get a full time job in administration/ customer service or human relations.

Any advice?

Thanks.

starlit

Hi there, I would suggest to do the course its worthwhile to have when looking for work. I am from a similar background did a BA Arts course and did IT and business courses after still struggling to find work experience in the career path i'm looking into in my locality so have to search further afield without much luck. I do apply to the public/civil service from time to time.

I think it be great to have business admin on your CV on top of your degree. You get contract work/part time work plenty around for summer months as temporary contracts. It can be hard to get full time permanent admin roles at the moment that's just from my own experience. Location might be a factor here as to variety of choice of where to work though may not affect you if you in or near a city and have good public transport nearby.

Looks like you have good enough experience to get an admin role but I'd advise to do the course and do what else you need to do. You get up to date on the software packages and whats being used in general offices now days technology can change as you know. Its basic enough admin studies but what you learn doesn't change much other than the technology and applications being used such as sage, found it a bit hard to use as I'm not great with accounting in general I would be more geared towards more advanced IT stuff and better at business subjects.

Keep the job you are in and learn to drive. Learning to drive would be important once mastered and passed test you have more job opportunities to choose from! I've noticed that myself when applying some jobs require you to have a full licence so you are a bit restricted can be disheartening so be good idea to apply for places that service good public transport when you only on a provisional. I had that when I first started out working I was lucky with public transport for both college and work during those few years but was glad of the car once I had to do a work placement.

There are courses in customer services as well if you were interested in doing that I say there might be short term courses in it. I highly recommend doing the business admin first when it take longer to do and do the customer service course that is short term probably be worth your while doing it now before the admin course starts in September not sure if you could do the two together? Look into it in case you could tie in or a course that combines all those subjects in one. Definitely go for a course that has a work-placement it stand to you in the long run it put you in a better position when looking for work after the admin course.

Might be worth your while getting someone to help you with the cv and interviews. Interviews have changed over the years since I started doing them and they getting tougher!

Best of luck with it all!

MySandwich

If it's just general office jobs you are after, then do up your CV and send it on to recruiters as they may be able to help you. You're year experience as a TCO should be enough to get you some interviews.

You could also check out some grad programme since they often don't require a specific degree.