work help: Why can’t I get a job? - Help.com

Get somebody to check over your CV make sure you haven’t made an error that’s holding you back.

Getting work is tough at the moment but if you’re not even getting responses perhaps something is wrong with the way you are applying..

If you’re in the uk it’s REALLY tough atm to get work, I know people who have graduated in cambridge with a 1st in maths and they’re working in a shop. I’d suggest going on jobseekers till you find something. How’s your CV? As thats what people are judging you on

Anyone who reviews my CV says it is outstanding - but they are thinking of my own field of work. I don’t have any recent experience in anything else, and no experience at all in retail or restaurant work. My field of work is totally dead right now.

I’m in a small city in southern US.

I’ve been only part-time employed for two and a half years, and totally unemployed for seven months now, though not for lack of trying. I quit my part-time job because my boss didn’t pay me, but because I quit, I can’t get any unemployment insurance - and yes, I appealed it and it was denied again.

Anonymous wrote:
Anyone who reviews my CV says it is outstanding - but they are thinking of my own field of work. I don’t have any recent experience in anything else, and no experience at all in retail or restaurant work. My field of work is totally dead right now.

I’m in a small city in southern US.

I’ve been only part-time employed for two and a half years, and totally unemployed for seven months now, though not for lack of trying. I quit my part-time job because my boss didn’t pay me, but because I quit, I can’t get any unemployment insurance - and yes, I appealed it and it was denied again.

What field you were working in may be you should try in that field.

vikram wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anyone who reviews my CV says it is outstanding - but they are thinking of my own field of work. I don’t have any recent experience in anything else, and no experience at all in retail or restaurant work. My field of work is totally dead right now.

I’m in a small city in southern US.

I’ve been only part-time employed for two and a half years, and totally unemployed for seven months now, though not for lack of trying. I quit my part-time job because my boss didn’t pay me, but because I quit, I can’t get any unemployment insurance - and yes, I appealed it and it was denied again.

What field you were working in may be you should try in that field.

Sometimes you can be clever and pick out some transferrable skills - don’t be afraid to embellish a bit -not lie however.

vikram wrote:
What field you were working in may be you should try in that field.

Land development. I’ve applied for EVERY job in the US that I’m remotely qualified for that has come up in that field, and there haven’t been many. I’ve also applied for jobs in transportation and environmental engineering, even though I don’t have experience in those fields, and construction management even though I don’t enjoy the work and I only have maybe two months experience in it.

PixieSticks wrote:
Sometimes you can be clever and pick out some transferrable skills - don’t be afraid to embellish a bit -not lie however.

I know. But how do I demonstrate that to an employer well enough to compete with people who have the same skills IN the field of the work?

Anonymous wrote:
how about odd dirty jobs, the ones that filipinos are known for
house helper, nurse or nurse assistant, care givers, nanny

it is odd, dirty, hard jobs, yet it is a job
and it pays well also, hard work will be ur capital

Nice dig at filipinos there…

Anonymous wrote:
how about odd dirty jobs, the ones that filipinos are known for
house helper, nurse or nurse assistant, care givers, nanny

it is odd, dirty, hard jobs, yet it is a job
and it pays well also, hard work will be ur capital

I’m a small woman, and 7-1/2 months pregnant, so I’m not sure I would be safe doing the more physical jobs. I’ve advertised babysitting services on craigslist, but no takers so far. I don’t live in the best of neighborhoods nor the nicest of houses. I’d feel safe with my kids with someone just like me, but without knowing me, I might not feel safe with my house full of mostly broken stuff in a borderline bad neighborhood.

I don’t feel that I’m above any type of work, but it has to pay more than it costs to do it. (In other words, it has to pay more than the cost of child care and transportation.)

Anonymous wrote:

SpinningPlates wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
how about odd dirty jobs, the ones that filipinos are known for
house helper, nurse or nurse assistant, care givers, nanny

it is odd, dirty, hard jobs, yet it is a job
and it pays well also, hard work will be ur capital

Nice dig at filipinos there…

yeah

dont u just hate it that theyre good at it

any kind of job is a job. it all pays money

That was Irony mate - I was having a go at you!

It’s not you–it’s the wrecked economy. And it IS wrecked, believe me.

Here’s what you must NOT do–don’t let them know you’re a single mom. If you drive your car to an interview, remove any baby seats beforehand–companies actually have people going into the parking lots and checking! Unethical? Yes. Prevalent? Most certainly!

Your resume is probably giving you away. You must edit it to show NO periods of unemployment. So that leaves out chronological resumes; you must do a functional resume that emphasizes skills and knowledge over a litany of previous jobs held. You must also edit it to disguise the fact that you’re a single mom. They won’t hire you if they know that, because they’ll believe you will be taking off time from work to do things for your kids.

chev.jame wrote:
Your resume is probably giving you away. You must edit it to show NO periods of unemployment. So that leaves out chronological resumes; you must do a functional resume that emphasizes skills and knowledge over a litany of previous jobs held. You must also edit it to disguise the fact that you’re a single mom. They won’t hire you if they know that, because they’ll believe you will be taking off time from work to do things for your kids.

I’m currently “self-employed” but if they ask, I have no current active projects. I haven’t had any active projects since 2009.

My kids are old enough to not need booster seats. I haven’t been to any interviews this year anyway.

Nothing on my resume indicates that I’m a single mom. However, if I do manage to get invited to any interviews, there’s going to be no hiding the fact that I’m pregnant. I’m as big as a beached whale. I look like I’m due any day, even though I still have two and a half months to go. Of course, since I’m not even getting interviews, I haven’t worried much about this issue.

Well, kid, all I can say is keep on trying. Go to the websites of companies you’d like to work for. Use all of your contacts–network like the very dickens.

It’s still hard. I hope that the business people and the politicians who created this mess will spend at least 5 million years in the hottest part of hell for “penance.”

Don’t give up. Just keep trying.

The day of reckoning is coming for those who sold out the little people in the name of greed!