Losing Motivation for Job Seeking

LegacyUser

I do feel burnt out at this stage looking for jobs for almost three years since I finished college.

I could not even receive job seekers allowance during the first two years of unemployment due to parents means test and could only do volunteer work to keep myself busy during that space of time.

I have gone through plenty of interviews for various jobs and always manage to fall short because someone has more experience than me based on rejection letters.

I suppose the only positive now is that I will be eligible for a CE scheme soon enough, but I think there is a high chance of me getting sent to Jobpath which means another year of looking for work with very little progression in terms of work experience for myself.

I do wonder has anyone been on a similar boat like myself.

token101

Yes. Not three years, but 5 months that felt like a decade.

My advice is probably what you don't want to hear: you need to emigrate at least temporarily. Save as much as you can, and just move somewhere, anywhere.

Courses, CE schemes, etc will get you nowhere and you'll piss away another year doing them. Just get out of wherever you are and get a fresh start.

Pelvis

Emigrating is a bit extreme. There is no reason for any capable and willing person to be unemployed in the current climate, especially for three years.

You're falling short somewhere and you need to figure out where. Have you gotten any professional advice regarding your CV and / or interview style? Are you being too picky about what jobs you're applying for? How many jobs do you apply to daily?

LegacyUser

Emigrating or moving somewhere else always sounds like a good idea like most of my college friends did after college since North-West is not as strong as Dublin or UK in terms of employment opportunities. But, I never had the money or confidence to take that action.

I did manage to get a good few interviews here and there relating to my degree or not during my first year and second year of unemployment. I just find it extremely difficult to sell my voluntary experience to an employer in an interview situation.

Berserker

I feel for you OP. I'm looking to change jobs at the moment and the interview process is taking forever, well over a month and I still don't have an answer. It's very frustrating. I would start looking for work outside Ireland, if I was you.

shesty

If it's been three years-you need to change tack.That's about 12-18 mths too many, to be honest.
Get your CV looked at.Can you see a career counsellor?Get your cover letter looked at.Sit down and think about what you are applying for vs what you are qualified for.Can you change your expectations, or widen or narrow your field of search.Give yourself a time window to do all this ....6months or 10 months or something.
In the meantime, do some research on emigration.Not the ideal solution but if you have got nowhere in the next x number of months maybe you need to consider that.You can't sit there indefinitely wasting your life on job applications, you need to change something.

Ursus Horribilis

Have you ever gone for help with interviews? I did years ago when I was starting out. It was a mock interview that was filmed and then played back to me. God it made my toes curl but it was well worth doing.

It'd also be worth having a professional looking at your CV and to get some help with that. There's a distinct possibility you're underselling yourself and making problems for yourself. A professional should be able to put a better spin on the experience you do have and to make it look better.

Rave.ef

Are you only looking in the line of work of your degree. Plenty of min wage jobs that would be better then the dole and it would also stand for you in the eyes of an employer. Id prefer to hier an engineer that has been delivering pizzas since collage then volunteering. Sorry if I sound harsh.

Rave.ef

Are you only looking in the line of work of your degree. Plenty of min wage jobs that would be better then the dole and it would also stand for you in the eyes of an employer. Id prefer to hier an engineer that has been delivering pizzas since collage then volunteering. Sorry if I sound harsh.

Mokuba

You need to get a job. Any job. Its easier to find a job when you already have one.

3 years without a job would raise serious questions about you from an employers point of view. I'd go as far as to say you will almost certainly not get a job in your preferred field right now.

Nothing you can do about that now.

If you want to work in a degree related field then I'd also look at a short term course related to the degree. 3 years and employers will think that you have forgotten what you learnt because it has been sitting there. You are competing with new faces fresh out of college every year.

LegacyUser

I have thought about doing IT conversion online course in September while also trying to get a job on the side as another option for myself. Since it is one year course, I will do basic free courses online to at least understand the basics and to see that I enjoy it.

One thing that HR manager told me about my CV as a review is that don't have really clear direction about my career. It is really just a case narrow down the options that I have just like after Leaving Cert all over again (:/ ) .

I originally studied accountancy in college before changing my discipline in my final year since I had problems with my accountancy exemptions since I did not get 50% or over in one of required subjects. I have been doing volunteer admin/clerical work since leaving college.

I have to admit that I have learned a lot about job seeking that I wished I knew back when started college especially on here. Bare in mind that I am only 25 years old.

LegacyUser

Rave.ef wrote: »

Are you only looking in the line of work of your degree. Plenty of min wage jobs that would be better then the dole and it would also stand for you in the eyes of an employer. Id prefer to hier an engineer that has been delivering pizzas since collage then volunteering. Sorry if I sound harsh.

I have no issue with applying for minimum wage jobs since I want to move on with my life. I do feel though that my applications get ignored for minimum wage jobs because they might think that I will leave as soon something better comes along.

(sorry to double post)

baby and crumble

Are you looking for a job, OP, or yor first move in a career, because they are two very different things.

If you "only" have a degree (I am not being horrible, I now getting a degree or any qualification is a big acheivement, but a huge amount of Ireland has a degree at minimum now, thanks to free fees when I was doing my undergrad etc) then you won't stand out in a job hunt at all, if you're going for a career job. Very few undergrad degrees qualify you for anything. I have maybe 2 friends that got a job in their chosen degree field after graduating from their degrees, everyone else has needed to at the very least get a H.Dip or Postgrad diploma. On the other hand, some employers will look at you with a decent degree and say "well I'm not going to take them on to make sandwiches, they'll be gone as soon as someonthing better/ more suited to them comes up".

If you're looking for a job (not a career one), then you need to think creatively about your skills and what you have on your CV, and how it's laid out. I couldn't get a job for love nor money during the reciession- I was either studying or unemployed from 2008-2015 (By that stage I had a degree, a H.Dip and a Masters). It wasn't until I did a JobBridge internship in my desired field that I got my current job which I love. That and changing how I formated my CV. I went from a timeline one (the standard one you get shownin school) to one that put my skills and experience (in part-time and voluntary roles) at the top. It also helps brush over gaps in your working timeline.

What is it you want to actually do, long term? I know it might seem pointless looking at that now when youve struggled to find any job at all (which sucks, I remember it really well it's so so demoralising) but unless you have an idea of that, you'll struggle because your heart won't be in whatever you do. Does that make sense?

I do think they idea of seeing if you can move away from where you are now, if there's no job prospects, is a good one. Whether that's to a city like Galway or Dublin, or to London or maybe Aus or Canada, it's worth looking into. You may find it easier to pick up a random job elsewhere.

zoobizoo

I've 25 years experience in my field of work and I was out of work for six months

I took a two day a week job in my field and have only recently got a full time job after a year.

The advice given above is great.

What field of work are you looking for?

Are you living in a city?

Could you say you were working for yourself?

LegacyUser

I would like to add that I did manage to get a job a few months ago because I kept handing in my CV to the manager, but I lost it very quickly which was fair enough. They did give me good constructive criticism for my efforts though.

It really did knock my confidence, but I am starting regain it by going into some stores every fortnight and trying talking to the manager with smile on my face especially places where I know can be good at selling products. At least I get to show my personality that way rather than faceless CV.

The reason why I took this approach is because I was sick of trying go through online applications with big retail stores with their filters in place and always like getting out of house and meeting new people at least in this way.