Why cant I get a job?

[Deathsnova]

I went for an interview for a grocery store chain, they said my knowledge of their company was impressive, I came across very positive and confident, they even took my phone number at the end, then the next day I message the the guy who interviewed after me (we talked while waiting for the interview, turns out he graduated from the same school as I did but 3 years prior) and it turns out he got the job and I was rejected. I've been applying for dozens and dozens of jobs, i can't seem to catch a break. Does anybody want to look at my resume and see if they can give me any tips? Or any other advice for a university student looking for part-time work?

The kicker is the guy they hired already had a fucking job, working weekends at yum cha. They're going to regret hiring him, but I feel so useless without employment.

 

[JohnK]

hey babe. first off, why do you think you can't get a job? additionally, why do you feel useless without employment?

 

I went for an interview for a grocery store chain, they said my knowledge of their company was impressive, I came across very positive and confident, they even took my phone number at the end, then the next day I message the the guy who interviewed after me (we talked while waiting for the interview, turns out he graduated from the same school as I did but 3 years prior) and it turns out he got the job and I was rejected. I've been applying for dozens and dozens of jobs, i can't seem to catch a break. Does anybody want to look at my resume and see if they can give me any tips? Or any other advice for a university student looking for part-time work?

The kicker is the guy they hired already had a fucking job, working weekends at yum cha. They're going to regret hiring him, but I feel so useless without employment.

I think your problem is you're applying for a job that anyone can do.

They probably get 10 applications a week. Plenty of people in their 40's with 20 years of work experience.

What is your degree? Maybe try something more specialized.

 

[Deathsnova]

hey babe. first off, why do you think you can't get a job? additionally, why do you feel useless without employment?

I think I'm not getting jobs because I don't have a licence..but I have no motivation to get my license (you have to do 100 hours of driving with another person) if i dont have ea job. I've been out of work for 11 months now, I finally get an interview and they ended up hiring some asian who was 3 years older than me and has another job even though I have full availability, so that makes me think Age isn't the factor in getting a job, but rather, theres something about me as an individual that is unappealing to employers. I'm starting to feel useless because its very disheartening spending all this time sending out resumes and applying to jobs and not getting any offers of employment. I need money man, do you know how much a Q is here?

 

[Snow Patrol]

I think your problem is you're applying for a job that anyone can do.

They probably get 10 applications a week. Plenty of people in their 40's with 20 years of work experience.

What is your degree? Maybe try something more specialized.

10 appications a week? Try 10+ applications a day, especially for an entry level job with such high turnover. My first job working at a grocery store when I was in high school, the store email was slammed with job applications, and my manager on a good day would look at 2-3. Of course it varies per institution but you get the drift.

Landing a job is a total lottery, I have 8 years of work experience, 3 pertaining directly to my desired field, held a job in some capacity since I was 17. I've completed my Bachelor's degree and attend a top 10 university for my MBA.

I'm currently in the process of searching a new job, as I've grown sick of my current one. I've personally applied for 200+ jobs and partnered with 5 recruiters in the past month and a half. I've gotten less than 10 callbacks for interviews. The bright side is I have 2 interviews scheduled at an industry leader on Tuesday but if that falls through I'm back to the drawing board.

The first thing I'd work on is your resume/cover letter. If you want I can take a look at it, but as I'm preparing for my interview I won't get a chance to get any comments back to you until late next week. If you don't already have a cover letter I'd get started on that too, something you can simply C&P in the body of a paragraph, and most job sites require you to add one as well, at least in my industry. Once you have your resume/cover letter down, it's just a matter of firing them off. Glassdoor partners with TopResume for a free resume critique, I'd take advantage of that in the meantime. Take a look at some of their examples in the sidebar here: https://www.topresume.com/?action=casestudy&case=eric

Industry contacts go a LONG way. My current job was a result of an employee referral, if you know someone (family friends/classmates) that works at the company you're looking to apply at, ask for a referral if you feel comfortable. Hell I've gotten referrals from people I've PM'd on reddit, it's all about who you know.

Don't get discouraged, just the fact that you got an interview means they were at least interested, which is a start. Keep your head held high and don't get discouraged, on to the next one. It's easy to get frustrated and impatient when searching for a new job, just gotta take it a day at a time and continue improving your resume/cover letter/interview technique.

 

[Deathsnova]

10 appications a week? Try 10+ applications a day, especially for an entry level job with such high turnover.

Landing a job is a total lottery, I have 8 years of work experience, 3 pertaining directly to my desired field, held a job in some capacity since I was 17. I've completed my Bachelor's degree and attend a top 10 university for my MBA.

Yeah. The reason I didn't reply to that other dude is because he's a total post whore. He throws out whatever comment he can muster up just to increase his post count and name exposure on the site, actually, look at that profile. Some people just take this forum way too seriously. Anyway, I agree with the lottery statement. The chance someone even looks at my application and resume versus getting shortlisted for the interview and then passing the interview, it feels like 13%/6%/1.345%.

I custom write a cover letter for every single job I apply to. For the job I recently interviewed for, I'm still waiting for the official rejection call or email, so there is a small chance they could change their mind, but I'm not counting on it. Also last night I applied for a warehouse position, got a reply from the employer who said they'd send me the job information after I let them know my avalibility, after I emailed them back they've gone silent, it's been about 16 hours, but is is the weekend. I'm thinking the fact I said I had to go back to university in Feb scared them off. The economy is Australia is horrible.

 

Yeah. The reason I didn't reply to that other dude is because he's a total post whore. He throws out whatever comment he can muster up just to increase his post count and name exposure on the site, actually, look at that profile. Some people just take this forum way too seriously. Anyway, I agree with the lottery statement. The chance someone even looks at my application and resume versus getting shortlisted for the interview and then passing the interview, it feels like 13%/6%/1.345%.

I custom write a cover letter for every single job I apply to. For the job I recently interviewed for, I'm still waiting for the official rejection call or email, so there is a small chance they could change their mind, but I'm not counting on it. Also last night I applied for a warehouse position, got a reply from the employer who said they'd send me the job information after I let them know my avalibility, after I emailed them back they've gone silent, it's been about 16 hours, but is is the weekend. I'm thinking the fact I said I had to go back to university in Feb scared them off. The economy is Australia is horrible.

Holy shit, shots fired lmfao.

I have no idea how old you are, but when I was 16 holy shit was it a struggle. I was forced to live by myself by the age of 17, I had to live off of minimum wage in San Diego, you have no idea how hard that is. I applied to LITERALLY 30 places a day. This is, of course, places like fast food/grocery chains. It took me THREE weeks to find a job. I custom wrote around 500 cover letters. I was slaving myself around 6 hours every day filling out applications while still going to high school. All I know is, I landed that ONE job. It opened up so much for me, and even though I don't work there anymore, I'm glad I experienced how hard it is to find a job, as now I know the struggle a lot of people face looking for employment.

Good luck on your search, and don't stress too hard no matter how hard your limits get pushed. Once you find a decent job, it WILL work out, and you WILL open up a lot of doors. Cheers!

 

[Snow Patrol]

Custom writing cover letters can be a tedious process, the one I have written up I literally just change the company's address and name in the opening paragraph, everything else is pretty much cookie cutter. Takes less than 2 minutes and is a page in length.

 

[Punjabi3]

Sometimes going into the store and making a good impression with the manager helps as well. I got my first job in high school by just asking the manager if they were hiring and since he saw how I could communicate well he offered me an interview. If you're up for it maybe you could have someone review your resume/ cover letter for spelling and grammar mistakes. Nothing gets your resume thrown into the "do not hire" pile faster than a spelling or formatting mistake.

So far all except one of my jobs/ interviews have been through an employee referral.

 

Finding a job is a job itself. It's really discouraging to continuously get rejected over and over for shitty jobs with horrible pay, and it's the reason why the middle class continues to decline, while the poor gets larger in proportion.

How are you dressing? Business casual? Try switching it up and being more formal about your attire.

Always smile, and try to be outgoing with a vibrant personality even if that isn't who you are. They look for those type of people, especially for jobs that involves teamwork.

For every interview I went to, asking for my phone number was a staple. I don't think much of it at all as an indicator, in fact i think of it as the opposite. Shitty jobs like fast food joints usually hire on the spot if positions are open.

Just keep at it.

 

[kmjt]

Feel free to pm me your resume and I can take a look.


I don't think grocery stores care at all if you have a driver's licence since you will never (most likely) need a licence to do a grocery store job. I didn't have a driver's licence when I worked in a grocery store during high school.

 

[Deathsnova]

Feel free to pm me your resume and I can take a look.


I don't think grocery stores care at all if you have a driver's licence since you will never (most likely) need a licence to do a grocery store job. I didn't have a driver's licence when I worked in a grocery store during high school.

They told me in the interview they're looking for someone who they can call up on a friday night and even though you're going to the pub with your mates, you have to say Sorry guys work comes first and be at the store in an hour. Even though I explained to them i'm just a 15m bus drive away, its possible that didnt cut it.

Or it could have been my referees on my resume, they're both teachers at my highschool and im going on 3 years since my graduation

 

[Hamouze]

I'm a bit confused, does your university not offer jobs? The uni I attend and practically all the unis my friends attend offer some form of work-study if a student chooses to take it. At my university they pay minimum-wage and offer shit tons of benefits. Did you try looking into that?

 

Yeah. The reason I didn't reply to that other dude is because he's a total post whore. He throws out whatever comment he can muster up just to increase his post count and name exposure on the site, actually, look at that profile.

I guess you we're talking about me.

I was genuinely trying to help you out, you don't need to be rude about it.

I don't post in Personal Support that often, but I've been in the exact same situation so I can relate.

 

[Deathsnova]

I'm a bit confused, does your university not offer jobs? The uni I attend and practically all the unis my friends attend offer some form of work-study if a student chooses to take it. At my university they pay minimum-wage and offer shit tons of benefits. Did you try looking into that?

ahhahahah.

This is Australia, buddy.

The only jobs on-campus are for 4th year students as tutors and professor-aides (i'm going into 2nd year). And all the restaurants on site look like they only hire international students because I swear every single one of the food workers is foreign.

 

[Dunsford]

You said in the post about them employing the other guy over you.. To me that's pretty normal because being in a job makes you much more employable, it shows a willingness to work if you have a job AND still are applying for another job.
Either way, you just gotta keep going and don't let your head drop because you didn't get that minimum wage job buddy.

 

[Sweden]

I suggest doing some kind of internship/work experience.

Usually people will take you on full-time after a couple of weeks, and while you aren't getting paid on the initial, it gives you even more experience and the chance to be asked to stay full time.

 

[ASAPgang]

Ya'll are sitting here telling him to get an internship, see thats the whole dilemma to begin. Internships don't tend to be offered to students until their penultimate/3rd year of studies in Australia and NZ respectively. Sucks to hear about the grocery chain man, might I ask if it was coles/woolies? I currently work fast-food, as bad as it sounds, it works perfectly with my university timetable. It is a terrible job but I enjoy the likeminded individuals I work with. The way I got the job is just walk in, told them I was struggling to find a job and I was offered an interview on the spot. It is as simple as being proactive about the approach you take and you will be sure to find a job in no time.

I'd advise going to your support services at your university/on campus and ask them to go through your resume with you. They will do this at no charge and should offer a service as such. In NZ we have a website called student job search, I'd advise looking for something of similar nature to this in Australia.

 

[JohnK]

I think I'm not getting jobs because I don't have a licence..but I have no motivation to get my license (you have to do 100 hours of driving with another person) if i dont have ea job. I've been out of work for 11 months now, I finally get an interview and they ended up hiring some asian who was 3 years older than me and has another job even though I have full availability, so that makes me think Age isn't the factor in getting a job, but rather, theres something about me as an individual that is unappealing to employers. I'm starting to feel useless because its very disheartening spending all this time sending out resumes and applying to jobs and not getting any offers of employment. I need money man, do you know how much a Q is here?

see bold above, it looks like you may have answered your own question. why is having a job so necessary for you right now?

 

[malakadang]

Do your parents know of anyone, that might be able to give you a job? Or do yo u have friends who know people that might be able to give you a job? Or even better, do you know someone that might be able to help?

You may not be getting call backs because you interviewed poorly, or don't have the requisite skills. This is a possibility, but ultimately it comes down to value. A lot of the time, the most value for the jobs you're applying for, casual jobs, are that the person who gets the job is known by the employer, or a co-worker, and the job was given as a favour. People want to help those that they know, even if it's just an acquaintance. By submitting resumes constantly, you're not tapping into that, and just relying on your interview. If you have anyone that can help 'open doors' for you, you'll get a job instantly. If you're not that lucky, then you can always try networking in the hopes of developing connections and finding a job.

You can send me your resume and I'd be happy to take a look.