Some retrospective job hunting advice

Hello there! Welcome to my first post of 2020.

Although I'm still searching for an Apprenticeship/Job as of writing this post, I've learned quite a lot about how people get jobs and the honest insane difficulty of the job market. Of course, mistakes were made and this post will relay some of these mistakes so you don't have to make them yourself.

Let me get things straight, it is not easy getting a job or an apprenticeship. Even the 'menial' jobs like McDonalds are hard to get into.

Everyone's floor is a different level

Although getting a job isn't easy, I think everyone has their own financial floor depending on qualifications or experience. I do want to expand on what I said about the fact that getting a McDonalds job is not easy, maybe it might be for some because they looked convincing enough to the hiring manager to get a job there. From my experience I was rejected from McDonalds for unexplained reasons after I had an interview there.

Others might be overqualified for McDonalds, and perhaps something like an English teacher in an Asian country (japan pays quite a lot) or a Spanish country etc is what they may call a 'bottom floor'. Perhaps someone may have had a job before and they can fall back on it if their more ambitious plans fail. You can see some ideas here (which is where I got the floor idea for this section from), although for most of them I'm either not willing to relocate, don't have the qualifications or they are too risky for a job meant to serve as a 'backup option'. I wouldn't ever want to serve in the army if it means killing people just for some money in my pocket. Even then, you still need to pass an interview stage for these kinds of things.

Enthusiasm is everything

People think that qualifications are everything and the kind of university you go to is pivotal to your success. Although it can play a role in getting an interview, this is ultimately useless after you get into the interview because in order to impress the employer, you need to sell yourself to the employer. By that I mean talk about how you can contribute to the job and why you should be hired rather than Tom over there. Practicing interview questions and how you would respond to them would be a great start. This is a little bit like practicing for a play minus the hammy acting. Things like "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" (yes, some menial jobs even ask this question), "What are your strengths/weaknesses?", "Why do you want to work at this company?", may pop up in interviews so make sure you research the company well - look at their history, mission, projects, blogs or news reports about them Recruiters can help you with things like these, because it is in their best interests to get you a job and you can sign up with as many as possible.

The more, the merrier

Don't think that if you sign up to just one recruiter everything is cool - it's often better to sign up to multiple to get the best chances. I made this mistake when applying to apprenticeships - thinking that I could only sign up with one. You could miss tons of opportunities that other recruiters provide that others may not.

Having more people you know would also be very helpful since loads of jobs are not advertised (60%). This would be quite useful if you have more experience and are looking for something more niche. Perhaps they work at a company that you may desire.

Don't expect to get a job right away

When people apply for universities, they expect that as long as they get the grades (among other things) they will be able to start their course on September. For the most part, a job is not like that. A job can start in February, November, August or any other month. The good thing is that you don't have to wait for a certain time window, the bad thing is that jobs are competitive. Don't let that put you off though! Graduates will face this anyway, sooner or later.

Job hunting is more like a selling process, it takes time and patience. You have to wait for opportunities to pop up and apply to them. Especially if you plan on getting a very specific job, since it might be rare for such specific vacancies to exist. Or you can meetup with people you know and ask them if they know anyone who works in your chosen field. You never know, you might meet someone who will get you a job you desire.

Conclusion

Getting a job is not easy, not even the ones that society says is 'menial', because even in something like retail you'll need to have good customer skills and cope with stress. I hope this blog may be of use to those who are looking for jobs. Good luck! You're going to need it!

That's all from me!