One Day Only

Applied for a job at cineworld because my friend sorted it out for me, I got offered an interview but I couldn't make the one date they proposed so that's that.

Application Forms

Jobs applied for today:

• Office cleaner, circle25
• Cleaner, jobisjob
• Nanny, 2 kids, gumtree
• Front of House Assistant, Wallace collection.

I just had to fill out an online application form. Does anyone else think they just take so long, and require so much effort. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me, I'm exhausted now! Why do they need such a tedious structure/amount of information!? I wish there was a one size fits all way of filling out my job history, I don't know about you guys but I've had a lot of jobs and just working out the dates and titles in chronological order is enough brain work for me! (I know, I could have just used my CV, but the thing is, they wanted no gaps so I may have had to tweak the information a little...) Shhh.

I hope that with application forms, they're more likely to read it though. Perhaps that 2 hours will be worthwhile!

"Youth unemployment: Fears over record figures"

Everyone's talking about unemployment among the youths this week, well they should try living it! With jobs no longer wanting to train people, and new rules on minimum wage and young people being paid properly it's no wonder no-one wants to employ us. It comes down to the simplest cycle: you have to get experience to get a job, you have to get a job to get experience... so what can we do? I have done years of voluntary work and employers don't really care about it, they want paid experience. They want you to step into a job and immediately know what you're doing so they don't have to bother with you. And with the amount of people coming to the UK to work, they can get that easily. So why would they make the effort of employing someone who has just left education?

Cameron says he wants to help young people, well then why make cuts to the most popular, effective scheme for young people- connexions... Hasn't anybody noticed that these increases in youth employment have shot up since 'the coalition' took power? Cameron, it is a matter of "great regret". The regret being: Why didn't we all just vote labour?

Article on BBC News
"Mr Cameron said that the unemployment figures, and particularly youth unemployment, were a matter of great regret."
Another article
"The dire jobs market is hurting young people more than older workers."
Independent -

"Steven Kirkpatrick, managing director of recruitment firm Adecco, said: 'There is still an imbalance between the number of new roles becoming available and the high proportion of people seeking employment.'"

The mirror

"The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance increased by 2,400 in January to 1.46 million, with the number of female claimants rising for the seventh month in a row to reach almost 450,000, the highest figure since 1996."

Jobs applied for today:

• Nanny, gumtree
• Care worker, jobisjob
• Care worker, gumtree

CRB Checks have been scrapped!

Jobs applied for today:

• Employment Consultant, Directgov.
• Live out Nanny for 2 kids and 1 baby, gumtree.
• Nanny for 6 year old girl, gumtree

This is my first time applying for a nanny job, I figure it's like being paid to be a mum, and maybe it would stop my broodyness. I can do this. Surely. Who knows? I don't actually have an NVQ in childcare, nor am I registered with ofsted but we'll see if my experience teaching art, and helping to bring up my sisters is enough. I wrote a detailed application, and even went so far as to send them pictures and information about my family.

But most significantly, did you know... They've scrapped CRB checks! A bit weird, but it'll save me hassle and money when applying for jobs in childcare! (Go on, See for yourself) Was it a bit cheeky of me to slip that in to my application just so that they knew?

What do people think about CRB checks anyway; invasive or necessary? I personally have nothing to hide so am not bothered by them, and saw them as nothing more than a hassle, but did it make all the mummys and daddys out there feel more comfortable about hiring someone to look after their kids, and how will it affect them? 

Outcast

Today I haven't applied for any jobs. It's the day I decided to start this blog. I have felt really down, guilty, worthless and worn out. I was sat at the train station watching people go past, and I felt like I was distanced from the rest of society. I felt like a lazy, worthless, pathetic person who doesn't deserve to be alive. It was like everyone who looked at me could see how much of a failure I am because I can't get a job. I felt guilty for having a drink with my friends on Friday night and not being sat at home searching for jobs. But when I did get home, I couldn't concentrate properly, and just felt emotionally drained. I'm tired of feeling like a failure, I don't even get rejections any more. Being ignored by employers is the same as people being ignored by the government, helping people get into employment isn't just about getting them money or reducing the amount of money spent on benefits, it's about improving the quality of life, the wellbeing and the satisfsction of individuals and helping them to feel a part of society rather than an outcast, and a burden.

11/02/11

Jobs I have applied for today:

• Speculative letter to connexions
• Market Researcher, jobisjob
• Mail order assistant, directgov
• Care worker, totaljobs
• Parcel sorter, directgov

I spent a long time applying for that Market Researcher job. My cover letter was frankly amazing. I wrote to connexions, I know their funding has been cut but I would really like to work helping people to find jobs, especially the neglected young people of this country. I also decided to search for postal services on directgov, and applied for those mail assistant and parcel sorter jobs, I'm hoping my experience in art handling/archiving in museum/gallery will be enough experience.

Response: I didn't get the mail order assistant job. They said my CV was of interest but unfortunately they recieved a lot of applications and there were people with more relevant experience.

Lying on your CV

Jobs I have applied for today: 

• Care worker, gumtree
• Artist in residence, univeristy of arts website
• Home keeper, directgov
• Domestic cleaner, jobisjob
• Room attendant, directgov
• Hospital porter, nhs

I've come to my mum's house to use her internet, and I am trying to wack out as many applications as I can but I'm finding it harder to even see jobs I want to apply for now, I feel like I've exhausted most of the ones I want to do so I'm having to branch out into areas I don't exactly have experience in. This is not my first time applying for cleaner jobs but I decided to up my chances of hearing back by altering my CV...

So I lied about having a cleaner job, well, I technically bended the truth a little. But how hard can it be? I've done cleaning in ALL of my catering roles!! I have been trained in food hygiene, cleaning, and safe heavy lifting, and done all sorts of cleaning tasks from cleaning floors to toilets. All I really did was add a job title I didn't have. Is it wrong if I have the skills and experience without the title that they scan for when looking at your CV?

I bet they have thousands of applicants and I'm starting to think I might be overqualified. Should I take my degree off my applications? Is it really a sin of omission... Or just one of the things we do for money.

I have also exagerrated language skills I have such as saying I speak basic French, when I did it at GCSE 8 years ago and remember a few words. Saying I speak basic Slovak when I haven't used it since I got back in November and pretty much never expect or want to again.

Job Centre: you HAVE to apply for these or we'll cut you off

Jobs I applied for today: 

• Receptionist, jobcentre
• Marketing Assistant, jobcentre
• Warehouse packer, directgov

The top 2 jobs were ones that the jobcentre gave me. I only realised today that they're giving me 2 every time that I have to apply for or I won't get benefits anymore. What's stupid is that they didn't even inform me of that in previous weeks. I just naively thought they were trying to help me (luckily I applied for them all anyway, because I am actually desperate)

When I was in the Housing benefit office, I remember hearing some woman moaning that they cut her off because she didnt apply for "one job", now I know what she meant.

It's worrying though isn't it. What happens when people who are employed in high paid jobs (for example in the public sector) face unemployment due to being made redundant (laid off), do they have to apply for any old minimum wage job that the job centre give them? Do people have the right to choose the job they want to do?

Personally, I have experience in waitressing, so the job centre have told me I must apply for jobs in that. Luckily I swayed them into generalising it as customer service instead, because I just don't feel confident or happy as a waitress any more. Will it come down to people being handed a job, and told they start on Monday or they won't get benefits. I won't be surprised if it does. But it just makes one's degree even more pointless.

Closing of public libraries

Jobs applied for:

• Care worker, directgov

I'm having trouble applying for jobs at the moment because our internet has gone down and they're not going to sort it out until the end of March! I'm having to use the local library (where I can get a maximum of 2 hours per day for free) I spend most of that time just searching for jobs I can apply for. It is good that the library is available for people like me though, I heard a rumour that the government are going to close loads of public libraries! The idiots. I swear they want our country to become an uneducated country with high unemployment....why? Don't they recognise that libraries are amazing for a number of reasons, including helping people to apply for jobs! Plus there's of all those librarians whose job will be lost.
Library cuts- Guardian Website

Not even a rejection!

 Jobs applied for:

• Cleaner, directgov
• Housekeeper, directgov

What I hate most about applying for jobs, is not hearing back at all. I can send tonnes of applications, and not even a rejection. Is it me? I just wonder if they even read them! I guess they don't have the time, I can have a realistic view, it's just that I spend so much time individually writing each application because I CAN do the bloody job!

I wouldn't mind being a cleaner, I figure that I could work independently without interacting with the public!! I actually enjoy cleaning, and love things to be clean. In my last job I was a bit OCD, everytime someone put sugar in their tea, I was there wiping up the tea rings. My colleague said to me one day "you really like this job, don't you"- I felt like a bit of a loser, and sheepishly hung my head with an  "I just like things to be clean."

I have so much cleaning experience, why won't they hire me!?