Hacked off. Employers expect too much..

Hello,

I'm seriously peeved, it seems impossible to get a job. Employers are expecting too much as far as I am concerned and some of them don't even live up to their obligations. Today I was told I would hear back about a job interview, whether it was good or bad news via the phone.

Did I f.... not a sausage. I phoned up only to find those who had interviewed me were now on their Christmas break. Well thanks, thanks a freakin;' bunch.

I have mused more on this here:

http://www.lilserenity.com/personal/lils_diary.php

I just really do not know what to do; everyone seems to want too much and I am getting ever closer to slapping my butt down on the kerbside and thinking what the **** is it I have to do.

There is sweet bugger all out there work wise and I am look elsewhere and I am going to try **** hard next week to get one of the 3 jobs I have interviews left for next week. But I am hardly holding out hope, as I have been let down enough, taken on board all criticism and improved things as very best as I could, and it really is not enough.

And I have little more energy to expend on it all.

As it turns out, I'll be doing the very same freakin' job I did when I was 16 with a clutch of GCSEs and nothing else.

Twisted huh.

Vicky

thats tough. I know things are different in the UK, I live n the united states, and while jobs don't fall from the sky, if you have qualities and talents that are desired, its fairly easy to find a job. I, for example, am more than capable for most jobs in graphics or printing, and knowledge of other areas and how things work make me desired and valuable. I am not saying you are not qualified, but it can be tough, even if you are over qualified, employers want good employes of course, but often set standards too high.

Well from my experiences of hiring people, we usually tell them we expect more than we do. We don't want the bottom of the barrel.

Well, I'm not trying to get jobs in the IT field as there are people out there who have way more qualifications than me in that particular field, plus probably better people too. Whereas I have experience of that stuff in my time...

I have been applying for jobs in admin/clerical sectors and planning control/policy where my degree and job experience actually lays. Suffice to say, competition is very hot, and I do have 3 interviews to go and I'll do my absolute very best to be the best candidate on the day for each, but I am struggling to find other ways I can really extol my virtues, and indeed short of having post-graduate qualifications I am not sure what else I can truly offer.

We shall see, I'll do my best and hope that I can exceed expectations and be the best on the day.

Vicky

Graphite said:

Well from my experiences of hiring people, we usually tell them we expect more than we do. We don't want the bottom of the barrel.

Click to expand...

of course, as an employer, you want the best people working for you, but some employers set standards too high.

Hmm, It's hard getting work in England. I moved to Holland to be able to earn a living but it's also been hard to get started and accepted and i still miss England after the ten years that I've been living here. Lets hope things improve.

Keep you chin up and keep trying, you will find something in the end.

yea i can simpathise with you on that one!

took me ages to get a job took me about 6 months to find one , its stupid how the all run and i too know about the
"...someone will be in touch you on day x" and the emails that say
".... you gave a great interview but there were stronger candidates.....im sure you will find something soon"

Keep your head up something will pop up soon

inflexion said:

yea i can simpathise with you on that one!

took me ages to get a job took me about 6 months to find one , its stupid how the all run and i too know about the
"...someone will be in touch you on day x" and the emails that say
".... you gave a great interview but there were stronger candidates.....im sure you will find something soon"

Keep your head up something will pop up soon

Click to expand...

Maybe because you can't spell sympathise?

hahaha whoops that might really have been the reason

Well today I had two interviews.

One I cocked up. I was such a bag of nerves when I got there (and I am not one for being nervous but this whole process has reduced me to this.. not healthy...) that well, I screwed up, and I did it good. I even lost track what I was saying half the time.

I didn't get offered the job. (Surprise)

Most of my attention was actually on my 2nd interview of the day for a job I really want, and I don't know the answer yet. But this sums up:

Do you ever get sick of hearing your own voice?!

I just feel right now that whilst I really need to work, my motivation is ebbing away, and all I want is a freakin' chance, and am beginning to feel that whenever they catch sight of me and notice I lack a halo and don't represent perfection I'm going to be a disappointment, it's only a matter of how much...

I shouldn't speak down on myself, but it's how I feel right now, I'm just exhausted, I just need a hug or three-hundred, and someone to tell me its alright... Maybe interviewers are purposely coy, or inexperienced but I felt like whatever I said was well, not relevant...

When I asked when I would find out whether I had the job or not -- they said it may not be until new year...


new year!? You mean you're going to send me away to stew for 2 weeks when I should be enjoying myself wondering whether I got the freakin' job or not. I was not best part happy with that...

But I may yet find out tomorrow. I may get told welcome on board, in which I'd jump for joy and finally feel useful again. Though, I'm expecting now to spend 2 weeks of Xmas and New year sweating and waiting for the big disappointment and the mandatory buttering up.

I have one interview left on Thursday, hopefully I'll be in a better mood... Or at least a little more optimistic. I know it's hard to find a job, but how many times can someone be told No before they start to think - screw this. I won't give up because I'm not like that but I do worry what it'll do to myself before I get there.

Maybe I'll get a job flipping burgers where the only brain activity involved is deciding which ones to spit in.

Anyway just needed to splurge this... I'm not good at keeping things cooped up inside of me...

Vicky

here is my advice. go about life the way you want. if you want to live strees free and flip burgers, do it. keep up all your work on the side and find different angles to get your name around. first thing is first, take care of yourself. you do some great work and you should be patient waiting for a job that you really want. again, supplement your income with what ever job will make your means, and keep up the hope that you will find the job you want or that is more compatible with your skills and move from there. dont see this as a set back, look at it as an alternative path to your goal of having a better job. i hope this makes sense, other wise i am rambling. good luck to you!!!!!

Dylan

I am keeping up the other side of things for sure. I am doing my best at looking after myself but after 2hrs being quizzed by the bank and then going onto another interview, followed by going to a busy laundrette after -- I was drained.

Thanks anyway for replying, maybe something will come along soon but I don't know what else I can do; I need this Christmas to recharge my batteries.

Oh and I got a call back re: yesterday; didn't get that job either. Foregone conclusion. Feedback was terrible though, not bad against me but the worth of it; "someone err, you know, uhm, someone that was uhh just a better fit for the role" - well holy ding dong, really?! You chose someone that was better for the role - how odd. Not So that was useless.

I still have one interview tomorrow and I hope to do better, but I think the thing that bugs me is that a lot of these jobs have tapped into my skills one way or another.

E.g.: my going out and about (which I cannot afford to do right now) photographing, and researching places to visit and typing it all up and making nice documents about places and stuff with my photos. I showed this in one interview to illustrate my skills in design: http://www.lilserenity.com/bodiamcastle.pdf

It wasn't enough.

I'm rambling again..

Roll on tomorrow for this years 36th interview.

Vicky

lil said:

....Today I was told I would hear back about a job interview, whether it was good or bad news via the phone.
.........I phoned up only to find those who had interviewed me were now on their Christmas break. ...........

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It is my personal experience that when a prospective employer uses the "we'll call you no matter what we decide.." usually means that they are not going to call you, and that you are not even being considered for the job.
It is (in their mind) a "polite" way of saying that they have no intention of hiring you. So should you hear that again, don't bother following up and don't wait by the phone with baited breath.
That very situation has happened to me on three seperate occasions for three very different jobs. Each time I called to get an update, the hiring manager was always conveniently on vacation, out of the office, or just too busy to come to the phone.

Indeed I think you are right.

I really hate getting palmed off though, I'd rather people just tell me as opposed to shirking away from their responsibility as an interviewer.

I am really hoping things pick up in the new year.

Vicky

Hi Vicky,

I gave your CV to several people at my employers and when I checked back with them they have basically done nothing with it!

In one breath they are moaning about not being able to find the right people and then in the next telling me they haven't followed up on a recommendation from me. Sometime I really despair!

I'll try to put a fire under someones butt in the new year but I'm not very optimistic, big organisations are very slow to act.

I hope you have a merry Xmas anyhow.

Amen-Moses

Vicky, I really liked the Bodium castle write up. You have talent. Hang in there, somebody will see that as fact and hire you soon. Happy Holidays