I have a business studies degree but am stuck in a part-time job in a shop
I graduated in 2014 with a first-class degree in business studies. I am 22 and work as a sales assistant in a clothing store. It was meant to be part-time for extra income while studying. But it feels like I am going to be stuck here for ever.
I am looking for office roles, particularly in admin or HR. I’ve been applying for jobs since I graduated. I either get no response or, once in a blue moon, I get an interview but it doesn’t end well. Most places I have applied to say I am an introvert and that they prefer someone more confident in communicating. Or they say that I lack work experience.
How am I going to get work experience when no one gives me a chance? Every role requires some work experience, even internships and entry-level jobs. I’ve been to local recruitment agencies and handed them my CV, but it’s been three months and still no reply.
I am getting demotivated and desperate, please can you give me some advice.
Jeremy says
You may find some of my advice unfair and even hurtful but please don’t reject it out of hand. I suspect, in common with a great many others of your age and qualifications, that on graduation you allowed yourself to feel almost entitled to a good job and you’ve therefore found persistent rejection dispiriting.
It’s an easy enough misconception to entertain: after all, most colleges and universities like to stress the practical value of a good degree in obtaining well-paid work (though few prepare their graduates for the often arduous process of finding it). After three years’ hard work, your first-class degree in business studies must have felt like a huge achievement – as, indeed, it was – and one that would surely open many doors. That, of course, hasn’t happened
Reading your letter, I’m struck by a sort of passivity on your part. Yes, I know you’ve been assiduously applying for advertised jobs but I can detect little evidence that you’ve taken any initiative. A standard response is unlikely to mark you out from other candidates any more than handing your CV to recruitment agencies and waiting for them to come back to you.
And when potential employers call you introverted and say that they’re looking for people more confident in communicating, it suggests that you come across as lacking in assertiveness.
You need to take a more determined and positive grip on the task of finding a good job. I suggest you remember all you learned about marketing as part of your degree course and apply it, quite consciously, to yourself as the product.
You say you’re looking for office roles, particularly in admin or HR. That’s not good marketing: you’re not going to get a job just because you want it. Good marketing identifies an existing need and demonstrates how you can satisfy it – and that’s what you need to do on behalf of yourself. What would each potential employer gain from taking you on? Make the case forcibly.
And you’ve no need to be so downbeat about your lack of experience. If you’ve kept your eyes open, six months or more as a sales assistant in a clothing store will have taught you a huge amount about customer relations and retailing generally, as well as practical stuff that nicely complements the more theoretical knowledge you’ll have acquired on your degree course.
Readers say
• First, you’re getting interviewed which, in itself, is no mean feat. I’ve recruited a number of times and the initial sift has sometimes got rid of 90% of applicants. So what is it that gets you on a shortlist? Work it out yourself or ask the people who interviewed you. Don’t think “I have a degree”. Think “I have transferable skills”. Most positive thing on your CV? You’re in work.
Finally, HR ain’t all that! What attracts you to it? Could you find that elsewhere, somewhere less overcrowded?
Good luck. nodafthats
• Have you thought of giving a few hours each week in a volunteer role for a charity organisation in your chosen office area? Get the skills, experience and references plus work on your confidence and social skills? plaingoldband
• As someone who has only just left a similar situation – albeit halfway around the world – I know exactly how frustrating this can be. The single best piece of advice I was given during my eight-plus-months job search is that it doesn’t matter where you begin, what matters is where you end. NykkiC
My husband needs a job closer to home, but has no time to search or network
Following redundancy, my husband worked hard to find a new job as we have a young family and he is the main earner. As he is in a senior position, jobs were thin on the ground so he reluctantly accepted one a long way from home.
He is away from Monday to Friday and, although the job is going well, he misses us all terribly. We are considering moving and there would be some assistance for relocating. However, house prices are significantly higher where he is working, and we all love where we live currently with its great schools and friends.
He is trying to look for a job closer to home, but works long hours in an open-plan office, so any searching has to be in the evening. Also, jobs at his level don’t seem to be advertised as they rely on word of mouth and networking.
We are all agreed that we need to be back together as a family, but I feel helpless in making this happen. Are there any independent agencies or consultants who can help him search for a position closer to home and do the networking for him?
Jeremy says
I strongly encourage your husband to continue to look for a job nearer your home. The kind of life you’re living at the moment puts dangerous pressure on a family. Online networking sites, as I’m sure you already realise, are the best source of potential opportunities.
But given the importance of word of mouth, he should consider taking a week or 10 days’ holiday and devoting it to plugging into physical networks – formal or informal, such as clubs, pubs and relevant societies – within a certain radius of your home.
It may not deliver immediate results but if he makes sure to keep in touch with the contacts he makes, he should be among the first to hear of any suitable openings that may crop up.
Readers say
• The whole point of networking is that you do it yourself. It’s about the personal connection, and that generally means an ongoing relationship. I can’t imagine how trying to do that through a third party would work. Calley
• I wonder whether working from home at least some of the time might be an option; this would allow him to spend more time with you but without giving up the job. If he’s been in his job for more than 26 weeks then he has the right to request it (though it is still at the employer’s discretion).
Also, is there a natural break point you might want to work towards as a deadline for finding the new job or moving? Having that end point is useful as it doesn’t get you into a mindset of thinking this is how it’s going to be forever. tyorkshiretealass
