The Workplace & Job Hunting

[Synthline]

I just graduated and I'm in the midst of this as well. It's truly awful, to be entirely frank. It's really disheartening when jobs listed under "entry-level positions" require "1-2 years of relevant full-time experience."

In the meantime, I've held on to my unpaid internship and nonsense campus job, and I've been """networking""" with connections afforded to me by lovely professors who liked me.

 

[DoggySwami]

It's really disheartening when jobs listed under "entry-level positions" require "1-2 years of relevant full-time experience."

YES. That's hard to read in a day and age when people have to go from internship to internship to survive and not get outdated even before landing the first proper job.

It's very hard in my field, where you subsist by working on small projects from time to time, rather than going to an office every day. It's difficult to measure time in that situation.

The funny thing when you enter a company is to find a considerable number of people who never got the skills required for their current position, yet you had to go through a super-tough selection process even to get a small internship.

 

[Syzygyz]

To be honest, in the U.S. anyway, many companies will take you without that "required" job experience, or you can twist and stretch just about any job you've done to fit in to any field.

The biggest issue I'm currently having is that I originally thought I wanted to go into academia and get my Ph. D, but after working research positions for 2 years, I've come to the conclusion that it's absolutely miserable and most definitely not for me. This leaves me with no practical 'real world' experience to find a job for the gap year between undergrad and graduate school, and I'm kind of shitting it, despite my 4.0 and Latin honors.

 

[2014]

I'm in a bit of a predicament;

I've been working at my local supermarket for the last 4 years and haven't thought about quitting or anything, in fact I've asked for more hours since i've finished uni and want more money. However, I applied for a position at a local radio station a few months ago and I just received an email saying they want to talk me about it, but the only slot they can offer me is on a Saturday, when I usually work. Do I go straight in and say 'I'll do it', leave my job and just focus on the radio, as that's experience for what I want to do in the future, or should I ask about being notified for anything slot, as its only volunteering and I won't get paid for it, but I'm worried if I don't go for it, I won't go for anything else and always be too nervous, or I'll miss my chance. I am useless in these situations but I know I could regret it if I don't take a chance...

 

[Deleted member 3416]

Can't you change your day of work? Especially since you've finished university. Just say you can work any day apart from Saturdays?

 

[Lander]

Phone in sick?

 

[Mr.Arroz]

I'm in a bit of a predicament;

I've been working at my local supermarket for the last 4 years and haven't thought about quitting or anything, in fact I've asked for more hours since i've finished uni and want more money. However, I applied for a position at a local radio station a few months ago and I just received an email saying they want to talk me about it, but the only slot they can offer me is on a Saturday, when I usually work. Do I go straight in and say 'I'll do it', leave my job and just focus on the radio, as that's experience for what I want to do in the future, or should I ask about being notified for anything slot, as its only volunteering and I won't get paid for it, but I'm worried if I don't go for it, I won't go for anything else and always be too nervous, or I'll miss my chance. I am useless in these situations but I know I could regret it if I don't take a chance...

Find a way to make it work. That sounds like brilliant experience to put on a CV and also just good exposure to have. #doitgirl

 

[lally]

The good thing about supermarkets is that they're open tons of hours, so surely you could still pick up a Saturday shift, even if it meant doing Saturday nights or first thing in the morning. Definitely go for it. You don't want to burn any bridges by turning them down.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Yeah, I would have thought it's pretty easy to change your shifts around, especially since you've worked there for a long time (and thus the management there will know you, trust you, and should want to accommodate your needs). 2014, you definitely shouldn't let a good opportunity like that pass you by.

 

[2014]

Thanks for your replies. I'm gonna wait and reply to the email on Sunday, I need to think about it and perhaps talk to my manager tomorrow when I see him. I'm not sure if radio is still the way I want to go, but it is still experience and I don't want to write it off.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Give radio a go, you could be the next Wendy Williams! (Or failing that, Keifer).

 

[TeenIdle]

Ahh, will do. So would I say 'Who do I contact about work experience?', or do I say 'I want work experience!!' in the complaints bit? I think I'll go for both.

Surely looking through the publisher's website is a better option? They'll have job listings there.

Only smaller, DIY "nu-wave" magazines have direct employment info via their site.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

I had a brief foray in the publishing industry with an internship I did, and it's surprisingly difficult to get experience with local papers. Most of the small publications are actually owned by much larger conglomerates, and an office hundreds of miles away has a lot of say in who they hire/fire/how many interns they are allowed to take on. Try contact the local paper directly, if they are part of a larger consortium, maybe call up head office and find out who you need to speak to/how to go about applying for experience? Without being too pessimistic, journalism is a rapidly contracting field, and is massively oversaturated with people who want to work in it. Don't take it personally if you find it very difficult to get a position.

 

[jordxn]

I'm not looking for graduate positions yet, but I'm hoping to stay in Sheffield this summer with my best friend so these last two days have been spent filling out applications and going into the city/Meadowhall and handing out CVs wherever will take them. It's not a huge problem for me, I have a job back home I can go back to should I fail to find one in Sheffield but I forgot how tedious the whole process of finding part-time work you're not particularly enthusiastic about is! I suppose I'm lucky in the fact that I have both retail and catering experience so I stand a better chance of finding something I guess.

 

[Hudvar]

I had a brief foray in the publishing industry with an internship I did, and it's surprisingly difficult to get experience with local papers. Most of the small publications are actually owned by much larger conglomerates, and an office hundreds of miles away has a lot of say in who they hire/fire/how many interns they are allowed to take on. Try contact the local paper directly, if they are part of a larger consortium, maybe call up head office and find out who you need to speak to/how to go about applying for experience? Without being too pessimistic, journalism is a rapidly contracting field, and is massively oversaturated with people who want to work in it. Don't take it personally if you find it very difficult to get a position.

100% this.

I did my NCTJ about 3-4 years ago and there are almost no jobs (despite those running the course saying there was a "national shortage" of sub-editors). I met a columnist at an event last year and she basically waved her arms and told me to run from journalism as fast as I could, apparently people who have worked for 20 years have never seen a wage increase and redundancies are occurring left, right and center.

Almost everyone I did the course with has ended up in social media roles, with one guy writing for NME and another at Total Film, but the money is next to nothing because there's no shortage of unpaid internships for all the shitty work nobody wants to do.

 

[Rmx]

Got a summer job at the National Railways! I have an intake tomorrow morning at the head quarters, which is not in my town... Have to be on the train before 8, eek! Setting at least three alarms because I'm in my lazy student rhythm which means I will not be alive tomorrow morning.

 

[_hazzie_]

I have a 'group assessment' on Thursday for a job, never had one before so I'm not really sure what it will entail. I also have an interview on the Friday, eeek!

 

[Vasilios]

Got a summer job at the National Railways! I have an intake tomorrow morning at the head quarters, which is not in my town... Have to be on the train before 8, eek! Setting at least three alarms because I'm in my lazy student rhythm which means I will not be alive tomorrow morning.

Collect 'em coinz my love! Well done.

 

[Jeffo]

100% this.

I did my NCTJ about 3-4 years ago and there are almost no jobs (despite those running the course saying there was a "national shortage" of sub-editors). I met a columnist at an event last year and she basically waved her arms and told me to run from journalism as fast as I could, apparently people who have worked for 20 years have never seen a wage increase and redundancies are occurring left, right and center.

Almost everyone I did the course with has ended up in social media roles, with one guy writing for NME and another at Total Film, but the money is next to nothing because there's no shortage of unpaid internships for all the shitty work nobody wants to do.

While this is all quite true, it should be said that if you're getting into journalism for the money then you're a damn fool.

 

[Hudvar]

While this is all quite true, it should be said that if you're getting into journalism for the money then you're a damn fool.

I was getting into it to write and edit and nothing more. Fortunately I get to do that to some degree (and for a wage, no less!) - but the definition of 'what journalism is' should probably be clarified for everyone thinking it's some Lois Lane gig.