Find Me A Job...
 

So friends, I'm ****ed.

As of the 28th of Feb, I have no where to work!

I will be leaving the big, red, evil, machine... partly because I want to, but mainly because they want me to.

I've previously been earning around 25k-30kish a year, varying on bonus and comission as such. I've grown quite used to this standard of living, and I feel extremely reluctant to give it up.

So, I figure a guy like me, lots of skills, lots of character, well spoken when I need to be... I wont have trouble finding work, right? right?

Yeah like ****, anyway, after 3 weeks of searching I've turned up absolutely, completely, 110% **** all. I've had one interview, with BP, which I didnt get. And I've not really found out anything else.

Oh, thats a lie, I've found out I hate graduates. Not because they had the balls to stick through college and Uni, which I did not, but because there are just so many of them these days. Does every job in the entire world want a graduate these days?

I've tried applying for some recruitment jobs, its business to business sales with a bit of people management thrown in really, so I figure its something that with a bit of training and some hardwork I could get my head around. I'm only looking at trainee roles, nothing too strenous.. 18k starting basic with a 30k+ OTE...

They all want graduates. Seriously. A degree in maths is going to help me sell people? And would you put yourself through 5 years of Uni... to come out and start earning 18k? Jesus.

I dont really expect you to find a job, although I expect a few humourous suggestions, I just wanted to rant about the jobs market in London!

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I only spent 3 years at Uni but I was earning about 13k when I was finished. :(

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

www.milkround.com
does that help?

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

What's your CV like? Can you put it online so we can maybe give you advice for it?

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Name: Christopher Riddell

D.O.B. 18.11.82

Address:

Telephone No.

Marital Status: Single



EDUCATION:

Secondary School: Woodside Community School
1994-1999 Woodside Road
Plaistow
London

College: Havering College
1999-2001 Ardleigh Green Campus
Ardleigh Green
Hornchurch,
Essex.

EXAMINATIONS:

GCSE Mathematics Grade A
GCSE Science Double Award Grade A & A
GCSE Information Technology Grade A
GCSE Statistics Grade A
GCSE English Language Grade B
GCSE History Grade B
GCSE German Grade C
GSCE English Literature Grade C
GCSE Electronics Grade D

A LEVEL Mathematics Grade C
A LEVEL Accounts Grade C
A/S LEVEL Accounts Grade A


CAREER HISTORY:

May 2005 – Present
Vodafone Ltd
Senior Business Advisor

Currently I am working for Vodafone Ltd, the UK's largest telecommunications company.
My role within the business team is to manage and develop existing business accounts in line with Vodafone objectives. This includes spotting development oppurtunities to grow the account, providing a greater profit for Vodafone while also offering the customer an enhanced level of service.
Another key part of my role is for me to manage my instore team, ensuring that they are fully briefed on current business objectives, to monitor their performance against store and individual targets, to provide motivation and coaching where needed, and to ensure that each individual functions to the best of their ability.
I am also required to support my manager, and regional manager on all audit related activity. This includes auditing all till transactions on a daily basis, checking all contracts against the ID proofs taken in store, managing large amounts of cash, and preparing reports at a store and regional level.

September 2002 – May 2005

During this period with I was a Senior Advisor with Vodafone Ltd.
The key part of this role was to meet and exceed monthly sales targets in line with store KPI's. This meant not only delivering a high volume of sales, but also ensuring that those sales were of a high quality to maximise Vodafone profits.
Further expectations were to ensure that the store was well maintained, organised, and running efficiently. This included filing, merchandising of products and ensuring that the shop floor and back office were present to a high standard.
I was also responsible for preparing various regional sales reports to head office, tracking individual and store performances, and preparing a weekly report on our competitors.

October 2001 – May 2002

Gollyhott Trading Ltd
Office Manager

At Gollyhott Trading Ltd I was responsible for the day to day running of our UK office.
The key objectives of my role were:
To monitor and reconcile all our daily trades across 5 accounts totaling over $100million in value.
To Prepare the accounts on a monthly basis, handling all invoice payments and liasing with the managing director about costs.
To provide first line IT support for our traders in-house, and to liase with an IT consulting company for any issues I could not resolve myself.
To handling payroll for all 12 employees, including calculating tax and national insurance contributions, and dealing with any issues that arised with pay.
To prepare reports for our US office daily, and to liase with them on money transfers to ensure both offices had the required funds to trade.
Entering all company accounts into Sage Line 50, making sure entrys were correct and the information provided to our auditors was accurate.


HOBBIES/INTERESTS:

I enjoy a variety of hobbies, including fishing, reading, and pool.

I also enjoy socialising, and trips out with friends.

REFERENCE:

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Git.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

There's always (apparently) work at the post office.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Rent boy.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Well I'm a graduate and I can't get a ****ing job because there are too many graduates. So I hate them too, and me...stupid ****er.

Actually I'm in a similar situation, my piece of shit 'tide me over' job in Dell is up on the 3rd or Feb and I have nothing else. 3 rejection emails (not even letters, the bastards) from interviews this week.
This actually makes 30 jobs in 4 months that I've not gotten (most having not been given an interview).
CV taylored for each position, interview technique updated, smartened myself up etc.

I'm beginning to think my name is on some sex offenders register somewhere, and I didn't even get the satisfaction of earning that!

:(

I'm starting to think this working lark isn't worth the bother.
Suggestions on a postcard....
Or a map to a desert island where I fend for myself and try to stay alive on a subsistance diet of coconut and fish.

****ing capitalism!

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I laughed (because of the magical way Dace is funny sometimes).



I hope you find a good job though. I know how it is to be at the end of one's with without money or work. It sucks. :(

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

consider leaving europe. the world is full of opportunities.
i myself left germany 2 yrs ago, and am now enjoying a nice job, USD 50k salary + benefits like mdeical insurance, yearly flights home etc (no, i dont have an unviersity degree) + an always sunny environment.

you're young-
think about it.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Firstly, the average graduate salary is around £17k, so yes, many would be happy with an £18k starting salary- would have been more than I started on.

Secondly, is your CV actually in that order? Would it maybe make sense to put the most relevant/useful bits at the top? (I.e. your current job rather than what high school you went to?) There are a few typos in the description bits as well, first impressions and all...

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Oh dear. When you get an offer for an Interveiw, THEY NEED YOU. All you can do is **** it up at that point. So the problem wasn't your credentials on that case. The best way to get a job now is through networking. Have a friend ask around at work.*



* May have to call upon some people who you don't hang out with anymore.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Leaving Vodafone?

That sounds similar like Caudwell getting out of the mobile phone business for a while.


But good luck with getting a new job (as I know **** all about job hunting).

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Why do you put your academic education first on your CV when it sucks and your work experience is obviously your strong point? Listing all the exams you sat is a bad idea too, especially when your grades werent that great.

:cvsurgery:

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Interesting, grades were the best in my year at school, college I ****ed up fair enough.

What would you suggest? Swapping work experience with the education bit and cutting out some of the exam grades?

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

You should think "what is the bit that potential employers are most interested in" and put that first
In fact, your whole cv should be "what would potential employers want to see from a perfect applicant" and twist your experiences etc to suit that.
Take words out of their job advert if need be.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Leave all the exam grades. You don't need to break them down into each subject for A-level or GCSE. You've moved on since school, so don't need to dwell on it.

Some people go in for have a sentence about themselves, describing what kind of a person they are. Don't waffle in with "non-words", but be concise, such as:
* "I am a hardworking individual, who has experience in xxx and xxx which has improved my xxx"
* "I am an energetic individual, who can offer xxx and xxx from my experiences in xxx and xxx"

Something like that?

Have you received any training at work? Anything you can use to plump up your CV?

I heard a quote once, which was "If Dick Whittington made a CV, it would simply say at the top 'thrice Lord Mayor of London' ". Less is often more. Don't dwell on things like exam grades - just list them in order.


I don't mean to be crushing, but maybe you are shooting above your level? Have you considered taking up a job that isn't that well paid, and doing some sort of qualification alongside it to make you more attractive to employers?

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

As far as i know youre not supposed to mention grades. You just put where and when you went to school.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I've considered this, unfortunately I simply cant afford to take anything less than 18k... Hell I was earning £18k when I was an untrained 18 year old who knew completely **** all.

I've looked at everything, from Office Junior roles, to Finance roles... and the requirements are utterly retarded in most cases.

Office Junior, a job that involves filing, making cups of tea, running around like a littble bitch... and they're asking for Graduates.

I see plenty of my friends, who are hardly highly skilled people, with worse grades than me, with less experience than I have doing jobs where they earn £25k easily.

Its not like I'm looking to start on the top rung here, I'm completely willing to start at the bottom and work my way up, I know I can progress quickly as long as I get my head down and work at it, especially in a sales role.

Anyway, applied for 5 jobs last night, got a phone call regarding 2 of them today, one of them was one of the recruitment ones that was asking for a graduate, so we'll have to see.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I've e-mailed one of my friends in recruitment about you Rids. I don't know if he'll be keen (they might need graduates too) but I'm sure I heard that people didn't need to be graduates to get a job there.

(he has an incentive too - if he refers people to the job, he gets a bonus for it)

If he agrees, i'll give you his contact details.

Should get the e-mail back by tomorrow.

(job in london by the way)

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Fly over to the Isle of Man

Theyre crying out for people with your skillset.

True, you have to live on the Island and flights back to london cost £200 a pop, but its worth it, honest

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Maybe your problems the other way? Maybe your shooting too low? Have you applied for something with a very similar salary to what you were on? A lot of employees might think, when they see a large paycut 'this guys just using us as a stepping stone until he can find something nicer', or will question why your cutting back responsibilities so much, or think that your gonna start pushing for pay rises sooner.... Just a stab in the dark....

When I was a student, before I started interning, I found it real difficult to get a job in a shop/bar etc. As soon as I cut out that I was in university, and my previous work experience (Job Centre lackey, Tech Support help desk), I got offers for shop jobs/bars and the like no problem. Wouldn't touch me with a barge pole otherwise.

Just a thought to consider

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Like the dude said, aim high. When I was last looking for a job I applied for places offering ~£4-5K above what I could live off. In the end the job I've go is paying more than I expected with my meagre skills.

When it comes job satisfaction, don't aim anywhere. You can't* tell from an advert or interview what the job will be like once you get it, but you can tell after a day or so doing it.

* mcdonalds, burger king and rent boy being some exceptions ;)

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

You should always put your strongest points first. Most graduates will start with their education because they arent likely to have much experience, but if youve got good experience then you should probably start with that. You want to make a good initial impression on whoever reads your CV, and your management experience is more likely to do this than your 2 C's at A-Level. Your GSCE's are good but afaik employers tend to look more at A-Levels (I'm not sure about that admittedly).

Also yeah, listing everything you took individually is generally considered pointless and a waste of space. Instead of

Id probably go with:

Or something.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Rids, I've sent you a PM.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

lol
i gotta agree, the thread is pretty true also.

Took Anselhelm (rl friend of mine from Norwich) ~~5 months to find a job after graduating uni with a decent honors degree. He got lucky and got a job as a phone operator at Barclays early December I believe. £16k or something, but what you gunna do?

And btw don't hate me, I'm studying for my MPhil (so i can add cool initials after my name ~ Dr./MPhil/MSc/BSc). I am dreading going into the job market. Besides, I look like a gorrilla... chances are I'll end up as a bouncer at a nightclub again (having a knife pulled on u at a PVD concert is fun) or as a bodyguard (dives in front of bullets - wastes 5 years of education - *dies*). Hey, if beautiful women can make a decent living out of being hot, why can't i make a decent living out of being a mobile tank ha! :rolleyes:

tuxed0

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Resurrecting this thread from the dead somewhat, due to TK's help, I stand a decent chance at having a shot at a recruitment job, however I need to tart up my CV a lot before I'm happy with it, but my attempts are proving close to futile.

Basically, I need to highlight my sales experience a lot more with regards to the business advisor job role, as I've been basing it on management experience.

So, I've had training on cold calling, closing the sale, overcoming objections, etc etc etc.

I'm a top performer in central london when it comes to overall sales figures, both on numbers and quality, I can do the job, I can sell... but I cant put all this into long words.

Any help that can be provided will be rewarded with a pint at the next GD london meet...

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

It occurs to me that you might not have to put it into long words - one of the things I did with my CV and a lot of recruiters commented on, was putting a Skills section in there, right near the top.
It was just a bullet point list of things like
-1 year of managing windows systems
-2 years of coding C++ programs
etc.

I dunno if you think that'd work for you, but bear in mind that people dont want to read lots of long sentances on a CV

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

google for "skills-based cv", theres quite a few sites that have tips. You could consider buying an actual book on CV writing but thats probably overkill.

I imagine that CV's are particularly important for sales jobs - if you cant sell yourself, how are you going to sell phones?!?!

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

http://www.alec.co.uk/cvtips/ has a few CV types on there, and plenty of info

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Glad I was of some help \o/

I forgot to ask my friend if he'd phoned you.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

isn't there stuff on www.i-resign.com or something?

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

The skills based CV approach really helped me refine my CV a lot, and made me realise how much it sucked ass previously.

Getting a couple of people to proof read it for me now since I cant spell for shit without a spell checker and then I'll whack it up here for you guys approval if thats cool? :o

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

go for it

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

CV of Christopher Riddell


PERSONAL DETAILS:

An excellent communicator, confident in dealing with people from all walks of life. I am ambitious, driven and focused, whilst appreciating the need to remain flexible.

SKILLS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:


Team working
Since the start of my working life I have always worked in a team environment. This has involved time management, negotiation, commitment, and communication, and helped me to realise the value of team working.
For over a year now I have been in charge of my own store team, giving me experience of role allocation, co-ordination, training, development and rewarding achievement.
Because of our team performance, the store has shown consistent over performance in relation to KPI targets, and has for several months running been the best performing store in the Central London region.

Effective Communication
Strong selling and negotiation skills developed through close customer contact in retail and business to business sales environments. Training in personal sales, advanced sales techniques and customer focus. Recently exceeded personal sales targets by 300% over a 1 month period.
Presentation skills and confidence demonstrated during weekly delivery of in store training to all members of store team, and daily briefings in regards to targets / sales coaching. Have presented briefings to groups as large as 25 on many occasions and enjoy public speaking.
Working in a complicated sales role has given me the knowledge and ability to pitch complicated product proposals to all markets in an effective jargon free manner, relating product features into tangible benefits for the customer.
Confident telephone manner, derived from cold calling experience and a constant need to communicate with other departments.

Problem Solving
Frontline customer service roles have taught me to find solutions to customer problems in a calm, organised and efficient manner.
Experience with audit related activities has taught me how to 'think outside the box' when presented with problems with no simple resolution. Because of this my store was the first in the Central London region to receive an 'A grade' audit.
Technical Skills
Fully competent with all Microsoft Office packages, and a number of telecommunications specific packages for customer / lead management.
I am a confident internet user, and have used the web for research purposes into forthcoming telecommunications technologies and into our competitors.
I am familiar with many types of email, web based, outlook, outlook express and mobile email formats such as Blackberry.
I enjoyed a product testing role, helping bug test and stress test a new EPOS system before it was rolled out into Vodafone stores nationwide.

Initiative
Developed a 'mail shot' to send to all prospective business customers which were then made standard nationwide. This has helped increase our hit rate from cold data to 18% above the company average.
Started a weekly analysis into our competitors and their special offers, primarily this was only for my store, but after recognition from the regional manager it’s now prepared for the entire region.


CAREER HISTORY:

May 2005 – Present
Vodafone Ltd
Senior Business Advisor

Currently I am working for Vodafone Ltd, the UK's largest telecommunications company.
My role within the business team is to manage and develop existing business accounts in line with Vodafone objectives. This includes spotting development opportunities to grow the account, providing a greater profit for Vodafone while also offering the customer an enhanced level of service.
Another key part of my role is for me to manage my in store team, ensuring that they are fully briefed on current business objectives, to monitor their performance against store and individual targets, to provide motivation and coaching where needed, and to ensure that each individual functions to the best of their ability.
I am also required to support my manager, and regional manager on all audit related activity. This includes auditing all till transactions on a daily basis, checking all contracts against the proof of ID taken in store, managing large amounts of cash, and preparing reports at a store and regional level.

September 2002 – May 2005

During this period with I was a Senior Advisor with Vodafone Ltd.
The key part of this role was to meet and exceed monthly sales targets in line with store KPI's. This meant not only delivering a high volume of sales, but also ensuring that those sales were of a high quality to maximise Vodafone profits.
Further expectations were to ensure that the store was well maintained, organised, and running efficiently. This included filing, merchandising of products and ensuring that the shop floor and back office were presented to a high standard.
I was also responsible for preparing various regional sales reports to head office, tracking individual and store performances, and preparing a weekly report on our competitors.

October 2001 – May 2002

Gollyhott Trading Ltd
Office Manager

At Gollyhott Trading Ltd I was responsible for the day to day running of our UK office.
The key objectives of my role were:
To monitor and reconcile all our daily trades across 5 accounts totalling over $100million in value.
To prepare the accounts on a monthly basis, handling all invoice payments and liaising with the managing director about costs.
To provide first line IT support for our traders in-house, and to liaise with an IT consulting company for any issues I could not resolve.
To handling payroll for all 12 employees, including calculating tax and national insurance contributions, and dealing with any issues that may have arisen with pay.
To prepare reports for our US office daily and to liaise with them on money transfers to ensure both offices had the required funds to trade.
Entering all company accounts into Sage Line 50, making sure entries were correct and the information provided to our auditors was accurate.

EDUCATION:

Secondary School: Woodside Community School
1994-1999 Woodside Road
Plaistow
London

College: Havering College
1999-2001 Ardleigh Green Campus
Ardleigh Green
Hornchurch,
Essex.

EXAMINATIONS:

9 GSCE's including Mathematics (A), Computing (A), English (B)
2 A Levels: Mathematics and Accounting

References Available upon request
08/02/06

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Doesnt display too clearly here, but the real one is tarted up nicely with bullet points, headers, etc.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Mostly, that reads pretty good.

In the effective communication section your sentances are a bit umm. They are about you, but they dont refer to you, if you see what i mean. It's not a major issue, specially if they are bullet points

This part of this sentance strikes me as confusing, i'd reword it to something the store has consistently performed above [KPI] targets

(wtf is KPI, and are people gonna know it ?)

Apart from that, seems cool :up:

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Key Performance Indicators. And yes anyone in a position to hire someone would know what it meant.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Thats a lot better, just a few grammatical corrections though

Teamwork (fix it later on in this paragraph too)

Change to something like "All my jobs have involved work in a team enviroment" ("from the start of my working life" is cliche and horrible)

This seems quite artififical, I would rephrase it but I'm not sure how.


Use the word 'perfomance' less. I have no idea what a 'KPI' is, and you cant guarantee that the reader of the CV will either.

This is very good, you have given concrete examples to back up your claims of having the skills.

"My proactive role in refactoring audit initiatives to improve team synergy has taught me to think outside the box while touching base" (sorry)

for = aimed at


were = was. Unless youre BSing here, this sounds pretty impressive and you might want to add a couple more sentences.

Primarilly = initially. Put a full stop after 'offers' and a comma after 'manager'.

clumsy construct
this sounds horrible, try "Another key part of my role involves managing the in-store team" (note in-store is not two words, I had to read this several times to work out what you were talking about).
activities

get rid of 'with'

KPI again

'in order to'


Doesnt make sense, either 'to' should be 'for', or 'preparing' should be 'presenting', depending on what you mean.

'liase' is a shitty word, however I realise its the sort of nonsense youre meant to put on CVs. I would avoid using it twice in consecutive sentences though, since it seems like youre trying too hard.

'to handle'

similar comment about 'liase'.

unless this is an industry standard package you expect the reader to know about, you might be better off using a more generic name.,

wooly, try "ensuring that entries were correct, and that the information..."

No need to capitalise Available.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I'd say you're fine with KPIs and Sage, but if the majority think otherwise, then replace the terms completely rather than explaining them, if that makes sense.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

I would imagine Sage should be a pretty safe thing to mention.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

KPI will be recognised by anyone in a recruiting/staff managing role as that is what is used to tell if staff are doing their jobs. Given that this is aimed for a job in recruitment, they will be even more used to jargon than most, as they will get it all the time from clients. I would be exceedingly suppised if they didn't know what Sage was as well, it is massively used among smaller businesses.

Generally I would say that looks fine. I just wish there was a branch of the group I'm with near you so I could get the £1k bonus...

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

you could change KPIs to Targets as they mean the same thing.

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Getting through the interview is what worries me as thats by new means a certainty :p

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

Nodrog should become an editor or grammar teacher, he's good at it!

Re: Find Me A Job...
 

much improved \o/