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Funny enough if you have a phd primark will not hire you as retail assistant as in their eyes you’ll be overqualified and most likely leave as soon as you land something better.
Yep, I am finishing off a PhD and no one will touch me with a 10ft barge pole. I'm a mature student who has run their own business and have decades of work experience but nothing. Oh well just keep on looking I guess.
If you get desperate for a job just leave a large chunk of your qualifications and experience off your CV. It’s not illegal - the opposite is obviously.
My mate worked as a caretaker for 12 months because he needed money. Obviously left his engineering and maths degrees off. He loved that job funnily enough.
I obviously don't know what your approach to applications is, so this isn't really targeted at you per se.
I'm a senior member of staff at a research institute and do a lot of hiring. It's incredibly common when recruiting for junior-mid seniority jobs to have people with way more experience/seniority than the post requires apply. I don't rule those people out automatically, but what tends to sink their applications is the fact they don't explain why they're applying for this job.
When we're shortlisting it isn't simply a case of shortlisting the best skills, it's also about ensuring a successful recruitment so while the first parse will be weeding out the unqualified candidates the second parse will be which are the candidates that are best suited to the role and most likely to be viable candidates.
If I have a shortage of candidates then candidates with question marks over their application might get lucky and get an interview. However, I'm not interviewing every candidate who meets the criteria - interviewing is very labour intensive and beyond 4 candidates (in my opinion) your wasting people's time - both your colleagues and the candidates. So if you have 5 good candidates, four slots and one of those 5 raises questions, that's the one that's going.
I know the people here are serious about the job they're applying too, but you would be surprised at how many people apply to jobs that they don't want. It can be anything from wanting to leverage the job offer to persuade their current employer to improve their pay and conditions, to wanting to get the foot in the door of the organisation and the belief that once in, they can just do the job they want to do, not the one they've been hired for (you wouldn't believe the shit I've seen on this front).
I can't promise this can easily be overcome, but do what you can to make your application more credible and understandable. Removing your PhD and saying you've been working in a lab is one option and another is to include the situation in a cover letter and explain why you're applying for this job when it doesn't seem like a likely route for you.
Shit, this may be my problem. I am in an awkward position of not having quite the right experience for entry-level IT, but I have a masters degree in computing and have been running my own businesses for 18 years.
I got rejected from a company when I was looking for part time work during sixth form, I spoke to a friend who worked there about it, they told me it’s because my GCSE grades were too high and they didn’t want someone who wasn’t going to stay long term… just from my GCSEs lol
Yep. You have to tailor yourself to a job. Before I started university back when I was 18, I applied for McDonald's. I didn't tell them about my upcoming uni, just said I was jobless and out of education. I basically acted like an idiot on purpose. And told them I love Maccies and want to be a manager here I can see myself staying forever. Got the job straight away lol. I knew if I told them about uni they'd realise I wasn't going to stay.
I remember handing a CV in at laser quest after I'd done my GCSEs (couple of decades ago) and the guy looked at the results I'd put in and "Ha, BOFFIN...I'll take it and if something comes up we'll call.". They did not call.
Tbh they're not even all that. As, Bs, a C and D in Food Technology lol. Neglected to do the coursework for that.
And then when she is working in Primark when someone says "excuse me miss I want to complain about this pair of socks" she can say "actually it's excuse me Doctor"
Sort of get it though....why hire and train someone who will leave in 6 months just do the it all again
I doubt a newly minnted phd has Costa batista in mind for long term career
Never crossed my mind if I was hiring for Christmas, I know of a few store managers who had this mindset of only hiring younger people before university etc or older experienced retail staff, as more chance they'll stay, but I never took that approach with my shops. All I would ask is at the minimum just give me a week's notice before they start if they get something else and I'd ask this at the hiring stage. And I always got that in return from people, as far as I'm concerned if you've been to uni you'll have a future elsewhere in a desired field. Which is understandable. But then I used to treat my staff with respect and support them as best I could, so I got that back from them also.
the issue youve got with trying to go into marketing, right now, is that there are so many experienced marketers that are out of work and going for more junior positions, you just can't compete. It's a saturated industry. You've got a few months volunteering and the others might have multiple years experience.
The fact is, while the market is like this, there's no incentive at all to train newbies up, as you can employ someone thats already got the training and experience for not much more.
Thoroughly, thoroughly saturated. To the point of the fabric downright ripping apart. My job is Higher Education-adjacent across 30+ universities, and about 90% of our students are doing marketing, business, or business and marketing. There's only so many adverts the world needs before they need people doing something to follow it up.
And AI is replacing a lot of the junior, starter and "easy" marketing roles.
There are more than enough experienced marketers to top up AI's limited knowledge and apply it.
Your students are gonna have an incredibly tough battle to break into one of the fastest changing industries on the planet. I mean it's moving ridiculously fast.
I've been in for years and my role is going to change a lot in the next 6 months and it's nothing like it was 2 years ago.
The days of a career JUST "writing ads" for a living are gone.
ChatGPT can write an ad.
So what can you do that it can't?
Marketers now must be multi-skilled and have above average/ChatGPT expertise.
And you must be able to network your knickers off - because nobody thinks you're special anymore.
This is not 2006.
GPT is just a language model. It’s not replacing junior jobs. There’s also no evidence of it doing so.
One big problem replacing jobs is companies hiring low level workers off shore for cheaper. Such as call centres.
ChatGPT can write an ad. But it won’t be very good.
However, GenAI is coming on leaps and bounds. It’ll never replace truly great copywriters, for whom it’s a useful tool. There’s too much ideation, networking, questioning and management involved. That’s not ignoring the phenomenally naturally talented.
That said, if you’re a recent graduate focusing primarily on copywriting, you’re an idiot.
> ChatGPT can write an ad. But it won’t be very good.
Yeah, but nor will the ad written by a fresh graduate.
People often talk about how LLMs aren't as good as the best developers/writers/artists/etc - but they don't need to be. They just need to be better than the lowest paid juniors.
To some extent, yeah. Depends on the company set-up.
Ultimately the best copywriters will just use LLMs to handle the grunt work. And the potential there is infinite.
Imagine you have 50 products that can all be purchased together or separately.
Now imagine you have to write individual emails to advertise those products as a custom bundle to each user. Ain’t happening.
But if you can have GenAI do it *and* have an in-house copywriter teach it tone, assess the work and so on? That’s a licence to print money.
I think "never" is a dangerous word to use. Do you expect that in 20 years from now, AI won't be capable of sufficiently mimicking the ideation, networking, and questioning involved in copywriting?
This I say to those who say it'll never replace designers in a similar way - look at how far and fast it's come on in the last 5 years, and how (especially post Covid) a lot of crappy employers want to save on people costs and will happily encourage it.
The world, our industries are changing and they're not going to go back.
It's like when there's a major jump in technology - digital cameras, digital music, so much prior tech and the ways of creating is wiped out in a few years.
It's really interesting. Because of course most of what humans create is made up of things they have seen, using ingenuity and creativity to wrangle them into something original. Sometimes, but not always, there's a part of that final piece that perhaps comes from somewhere truly original. The AI tools definitely don't do the second bit. Is what they're doing just the first bit? Are they doing that in a different way - whilst a human "copies"/reinterprets the concept of the art, does the AI just copy the output? I think there's a humanistic reason to stop them from regurgitating content - it's a miserable dystopia. But also where will new art, that second part, that true creative part, come from when only the regurgitating machine is left?
I think the mistake people make is thinking of designers and writers as purely executors of work.
In a corporate or advertising setting, that’s just not the case. They come up with ideas, negotiate with stakeholders, ensure consistency and collaborate to provide the optimum outcome.
Gen AI will ultimately mean being able to communicate a product or vision to an individual, based on that individual’s needs or interests.
It will *always* need a human behind the scenes to provide direction, context and the original idea.
Anyone prophesising the end of human creativity because AI can do it all is either a doom-mongering idiot, or has never worked with a good writer or designer.
They are quite literally irreplaceable.
However, your 22-year-old recent grads who think “Do you need xxx? Then you need yyy!” is a great copy line, or agonising over pantones and line work is the pinnacle of graphic design, are going to be replaced.
I don’t think many people will mind.
AI does everything these days. Does SEO. Does ad creatives. Does email marketing. It has made my job x100 easier. Just being careful I don't put myself out of a job.
Marketing as a general area is incredibly difficult to get into. Speaking as a designer who has worked in marketing teams for over 10 years, their industry is similar to mine in terms of the job market - colleagues have said its deeply concerning.
There's just too many people, experienced, inexperienced, and graduates, and nowhere near enough jobs to go around.
I hate to say this as I had to do it with my degree, but as others have said, take your PHD off the CV if you're applying for retail roles.
It really stinks that you're having to hide something you worked hard for, but it's the reality of where you are.
Sadly you’ll be competing with people who have experience and given the state of the job market currently that will make it very difficult. There are lots of people competing for very few vacancies.
90% don't give a fuck about a PhD. There are some professions and academic careers where it matters. In retail it's a sign you will be bored, unmotivated and leave at the first opportunity. Would you want to hire someone for a job they think is beneath them just because they are desperate?
Employers care first and foremost about professional experience. Whether you are a cleaner in McDonald's or an astronaut on the moon that holds true. Education is a foot in the door when there are too few in the profession.
Unfortunately the world doesn't owe us anything. Even if we have 3 PhDs.
2016 was a long ass time ago. In 8 years have you only got a degree and nothing else? What paid work experience do you have?
If the answer is none in 8 years without a good reason no one’s gonna want to touch you with a 50ft barge pole. They’ll take a 17 year old with a year experience in McDonald’s than a 25 year old with no work experience at all.
Also you sound wildly entitled like the jobs are beneath you. Yet they aren’t because you’re not even worth hiring for them as there are people with actual experience. Even working in a coffee shop it’s better to hire someone who already knows how to work the machine and doesn’t think it’s beneath them…
Most degrees aren’t worth the paper they’re written on anyway, I’ve interviewed grads in academia who couldn’t even string a coherent sentence around their own degree. Universities will give them to anyone with the money to pay, and businesses are well aware of it.
I hire frequently for low level retail/front of house based roles and we get a huge influx of graduates. We also get a lot of people who have spent 2-5 years out of school working in retail, so they are naturally more qualified for the role. I think it’s just a tough time for graduates, everyone and their mum has a masters.
I’m someone without a degree who has just worked since I left school in 2018. I’m 23 now and work in a pretty high up position in my particular field, I think I hit a perfect storm really. I also apply for everything and interview for positions even if I’m not fussed about moving jobs, the experience helps a ton and you learn so much.
Degrees largely mean fuck all these days, I’m afraid.
They can be used as a CV sifter, but if 100 people apply for a job and 80 of them have relevant degrees, you could still be competing with at least 80 of the 100 applicants for an interview.
You need to figure out where your weakness is.
If you aren’t getting interviews, is there something wrong with your CV or how it is presented?
You could be applying for the right jobs with the wrong CV.
E.g
If your CV says you’re a marketing professional, why would I hire you for my barista role?
If you are getting interviews and rejected, then ask for feedback from the hiring manager.
My recommendation would be to have everything peer reviewed by friends. Your cv, do mock interviews, check your interview attire etc
You could also look for a job coach, I’m sure your local Job Centre or local charities will be able to help. Charities are probably a better option, but y’know
>
> If your CV says you’re a marketing professional, why would I hire you for my barista role?
It's mad but I wouldn't call someone a marketing professional even if they had a degree in marketing. They would have to have been working in the industry for a while before I would call them that. They're still an intern even if they have a degree.
Yup, you see it all the time, but even if their CV said "aspiring Marketing Professional", it would still make me think "Well, you're probably going to be gone inside 6 months."
This is all just conjecture, though, maybe their CV is great, but they're using Comic Sans in teal green?
Either way, get that shit peer reviewed at the very least.
All of the people who would be in entry level roles are working in those coffee shops. I have a masters and i work in retail atm. Lots of my colleagues have degrees too but they have previous retail experience so managed to land the job. You need to apply to the most undesirable jobs unfortunately - night shifts and warehouse work.
Everything about your post stinks of someone with a bad attitude.
>What requirements it’s a coffee shop not rocket science????
Yeah, don't expect to be employed by a coffee shop if that's your attitude. The service industry is hard.
Yeah exactly. Having a degree is worthless if you are not self aware enough to recognise that working in a coffee shop is worthy work that needs application, training and experience too.
“Whenever you think something or some person is ruining your life, you’re right it's you.”
Because well educated people are often amazingly thick when it comes to matching CVs to jobs.
You dont need to list every single qualification you've ever picked up. They'll have filed your CV in the bin by the time they've got halfway through the 18 GCSEs you seem to think is vital to that warehousing job.
Simialrly keep work experience relevant. Volunteering for 6 months in some trustafarian paradise might be of interest to a prospective employer if you're wanting to intern for The Guardian, but is completely irrelivent for bar work.
Basic employers just want reliable people who will turn up on time and crack on with minimal supervision.
What’s your degree in? Is it related to marketing?
Also, what’s your work history look like? You said you weren’t able to work when you were younger due to personal issues, but you’ve now been here 8 years, presumably been to college and uni here. What jobs/experience have you had in the meantime?
What about your home country? It also depends on the area u live, if ir out in sticks there are usually more jobs, especially in hospitality as young people don't want to hang around
1. Too many people
2. Too few roles
3. Companies spreading existing staff as thinly as possible to avoid hiring more staff, and associated costs that this entails
4. See point 1
>My friends, no degree, who moved to the uk in 2016-2019 say they got jobs the second they landed here. Costa, primark, whatever it may be.
Companies like this are making the most of the immigrants moving here who will take poorly paid work with terrible hours. It's that simple.
I worked at Costa, if you didn’t pass the assessment then it was an automatic rejection. We could still see your application but it would tell us the system had rejected you.
OP - judging by your attitude & use of language, I suspect it’s down to your entitled attitude just because you’re a recent ‘graduate’. There’s so many factors as to why you’re not being hired (experience, degree, location, type of business and so on). Approach it with willingness to learn and humbleness then you’ll see better results.
They seem to be just frustrated and might be something different irl. Reddit is the only place where we can truly let it out without going insane,and given the shit show which is going on, any reasonable and "humble" person can lose it. Especially when they have bills to pay.
I can't speak for coffee shops or restaurants etc. but I can for retail, it's not that you're overqualified. It's that not many places this time of year need people, sales are shit, they've probably got people from Christmas they let go due to budget issues they'd rather bring back. I was a store manager for 5 years and the only people I'd hire in the summer with a view to get them permanent were people I did not have the budget to keep in January. August and September are good months to apply if the places you are applying for are organised. October onwards for the unorganized ones.
We are actually in a recession even if the technocrats say otherwise. As far as normal people's jobs go we have been in a recession for a few years now. People aren't hiring because there is little growth in demand so they don't really need more staff, and there are a large number of people who are desperate for jobs. While technically unemployment is low, I think the long term unemployed who aren't counted in normal unemployment figures is very high. Lack of government investment and a coherent industrial strategy, combined with the real abject chaos of the last decade has meant that businesses do not want to invest in long term planning or training of staff because everything is in flux. For normal people we really are experiencing the worst of both worlds. Things that should be stable are changing all the time, and things that should be changing aren't.
Strange that because my company are currently hiring and have been for the last 2 years
Minimum requirement LGV C+E
Can actually drive one and do the job of delivering correctly.
because they're not. There's not a lot of stuff going and of the positions available there's more competition now so less options, harder to get hired.
Are they actually hiring or just advertising ghost jobs to keep the current employees on their toes and to give a false impression of a fast growing business?
They can take some of the ones that seem to fall off a boat and into security far too many shifts these days u show up and being fluent in English or born here is the minority on staff
Was the same when I was a chef a couple years ago, 3 guys that had never held a knife let alone know how to say it in English. I was less teaching cooking and more the names of basic stuff.
I'm a team leader and recruiter . If I saw someone that gave me the opinion of " it's a coffee shop not rocket science" I wouldnt hire them lol.Unfortunately degrees these days don't entitle you to a job. Tailor your CV to the role you're applying for . If working in Primark/Costa doesn't need your degree don't include it . Even if you know it's a stop gap.
>If I saw someone that gave me the opinion of " it's a coffee shop not rocket science" I wouldnt hire them lol.
I'm fairly certain they didn't say that the the people hiring, just venting here and they're certainly correct about it. Making coffee is a task an ape could probably do.
Experience trumps qualifications in most sectors, especially retail and hospitality.
Why hire a PhD grad who likely has a bit of an ego and no customer service experience when you can hire someone younger, for less, who has more experience.
Im qualified up to a Masters too but I NEVER declare my degrees when applying for labour jobs, you are overqualified and they dont want to waste money trainging you.
They want someone desperate like someone who needs to work to ensure their visa is renewed, this is why many Petrol stations hire foreign workers, no British person is going to do that shitty job with daily abuse and little pay
You need to drop that attitude, because it’s employers’ market. Plenty of experienced and competent people competing for few jobs. For unskilled retail jobs, your attitude is a major deciding factor
Country is bloated, not enough jobs created to keep up with increasing population same with housing. We also don’t have our own industry and have a horrible culture of importing stuff we can do ourselves.
Trades/construction work - (carpenter, plumbers, electrician, etc), I have family and friends and most of them are doing better than most the people I know who went to uni. Site work or domestic or a bit of both.
Oh yes, always work for tradesmen but you also need site managers and building inspectors which are degree and experience based jobs for a reason, plus actual skilled tradesmen if you’re building mass housing. Not someone who’s done a 8 week course, but it’s the funding by the government which is the big issue.
Too much immigration into the country, not enough housing. Supply and demand simple maths.
Yeah, if I was looking for work now or starting out a career I would be looking at construction and renewables. People need to think more what is going to be needed instead of jumping in to random degrees in overly competitive areas and wondering why they can’t get work.
I honestly think it's because they think people who have just come here are that desperate for work that they can basically kick the shit out of them and they won't leave. Whereas being a native you're probably more in tune with your workers rights and are more likely to say no. Idk it's impossible for me too, I can't be arsed doing 3 interviews for Aldi and not even get a rejection email
But she’s saying her friends got here between 2016-2019 so it’s not like they’ve just arrived in the country. I think it’s more likely that since they got jobs back then and have more experience than OP they’re able to step into roles more easily now.
1. You seem to think UNI is the be and end all. It really isn’t for the majority of jobs out there. Employers like experience far more than a qualification. A qualification means fairly little unless it’s a practical one. To gain experience you have 3 avenues.
A) Get a paid job in that area of work
B) Get an apprenticeship in that area of work
C) Volunteer in that area of work
2. Working at Costa might not be rocket science, but that doesn’t make it any less work or the people that do the work any lesser than anyone else
3. Someone that hasn’t worked at all for 8 years isn’t exactly an appealing candidate, Especially if the reasons aren’t clear and what a company would consider justified
4. There are jobs out there. If someone doesn’t mind what job, what the hours are, what days they’d have to work etc the work is there. I’m in the south east and almost every supermarket and pub have signs up asking for staff. A lot of it is long shifts, evening work, work every weekend, folks just don’t want that in general
5. Maybe primark didn’t hire you because you gave off an air of superiority and felt you looked down at the business and fellow employees, From what you’ve written here it’s easy to believe that
Employers are only interested in university degrees if they're A. actually from top universities or B. directly relevant to the role.
No one cares if you have a 2.1 in Business Studies from The University of Lincoln
Attitude and communication skills matter more than a degree.
Just because you've done a degree doesn't mean you're entitled to a job unfortunately, since you think it's all beneath you.
Perhaps work on marketing yourself better, ironically.
"Nobody hiring" =/= "nobody hiring *me*"
There are vacancies in countless industries, including retail. If you think your experience is excluding you due to over-qualification, omit that experience on your CV. Conversely if you're not experienced enough, embellish (but not stupidly) the work experience you've done. Mention projects and hobbies that are relevant. It is more than possible to land something.
Companies have lost access to minimum wage immigrant workers and are flooding the entry level market with non-immigrant workers that will soon realise they have to accept what little is available. That and they are hoping interest rates are cut, even though they will not be cut 3% in one go and are unlikely to be cut outside of significant black swan event.
If all hiring managers gonna look for real experience, there will only be only one set of people working and no opportunities. I know people working three contracts with different companies and as it would stand they can't give their 100% at any.
Marketing is beyond oversaturated. Every man and their dog goes into marketing, the boom of social media saw to that.
You’ll struggle to get a retail or basic job if you’ve got a degree of a phd.
Any prospective employer will be wondering how long it’ll be before you leave and take a job in the field you’re qualified for.
I've spoken to a few agencies in the past few weeks as I'm advertising a role at the moment. A lot of companies are holding off until after the election as they feel labour will 100% put corporation taxes and change employment law to make it harder to get rid of staff so they want to wait and see what happens.
I've spoken to a few agencies in the past few weeks as I'm advertising a role at the moment. A lot of companies are holding off until after the election as they feel labour will 100% put corporation taxes and change employment law to make it harder to get rid of staff so they want to wait and see what happens.
I felt this one. I graduated in 2016 in computer science and not once have I ever been able to step foot in my field. Not even for internships, or volunteer work. Years of work experience always being required is insane. Like what do I do? All this volunteer work I was pushed into is utterly worthless. Not once has it ever even been mentioned in an interview.
Every single professional I talk to has absolutely no idea what is going on. Going to try and qualify for disability so maybe I can work that angle instead. Its been 8 god damn years bro. Like I don't know what to even say. Sure I've worked in other areas, but not even a single step towards a job I literally went into debt for.
It's not your desired job but it will house, feed you and pays the bills.
Seasonal work in a hotel.
Lot of available jobs in Scotland, especially the Highlands.
If they say you're not qualified for marketing but do have experience, I'd get a foot in the door by doing an internship or \*anything\* in the field while earning money deliveirng pizzas, whatever. Or try different cities temporarily.
I relate to this a lot, I been job hunting for two years and its been extremely hard. I am a uni graduate too (BA in English Literature). I have constantly been rejected for the majority things I have been applying to (been applying everywhere from retail to office jobs, etc). Only thing that I have gotten accepted is unpaid internships and volunteering as a sales assistant to get more experience
Even got rejected for a Library Assistant position in a uni nearby, and a museum. Like who has worked with libraries and online library resources more than an English Lit student?
The museum job application asked if I had experience explaining and discussing interpretation of things and art, English lit students are brilliant at explaining and discussing interpretations of things. I have spent four years writing academic essays discussing and explaining interpretations of literary works.
What is worse are the jobs that claim to be entry level jobs but require 5 years of experience. How is that entry level?!?
Dude.... You write like a child. Your expectations are somewhat childlike. If that's how you present IRL - I'm sorry but it's not a huge shock to me that no one is rushing to hire you...
Maybe your friends had more realistic expectations. Maybe they could string a sentence together more effectively.
If no one is willing to hire you maybe it's worth considering for a moment that the problem might be you....
(Edit. Read comment history. Yeah the problem is you. You need to take a good long look at yourself and grow up.)
University is so over encouraged in schools. A degree isn’t worth a carrot half the time. More children should be encouraged to get into a trade rather than it being an option for the kids who aren’t academic.
>My initial plan was to apply for something in marketing because I’m good at it and enjoy it but apparently I’m not qualified for that either. Despite the fact that I volunteered as a marketing assistant for a nonprofit so that I could get some experience.
Marketing is horrendously broad and a difficult field to get into at the right company. Also what makes you think youre qualified after being an unpaid assistant? Why would we ever hire an assistant from a non profit that probably changed POS marketing but has no real experience in designs, communicating with shopfitters, or using any software to roll out projects?
You getting a tickbox on your CV doesnt really mean anything to an actual marketing team.
>If I’m not qualified, train me, how the hell are we supposed to learn without training???
I agree it is a bit ridiculous companies now dont do much training but thats why most people have to start from the bottom.
>I’ve gone to uni how much more qualifactions do I need??
Lol, alot.
>I Guess these days university is the bare minimum???
There are a few people in my marketing team that dont have a degree so no.
>maybe I need to get three different phds so the prestigious primark will finally offer me the position of a retail assistant?
Yikes.
The job market is pretty skrewed ATM no matter what your trying to get into. Because of all the redundancy and cutbacks over the last couple of years the job market is flooded with people so competition is really high. If there is someone with even slightly more experience working in the service industry they'll get the job over you because less investment for the employer. I'm guessing the service industry is flooded with people with experience in the field looking for jobs.
I'm a programmer with 11 years experience and IV been unemployed for the last 9 months.
University degrees are becoming increasingly invaluable. It seems to have flipped on it's head. Companies now seem to value any sort of experience over university now. I got a degree in event management (useless degree) couldn't even get a basic job. Looked at the market and future of where the economy is going so decided to teach myself programming. Write a bunch of apps in my spare time, applied for a bunch of jobs and here I am.
Even the programming industry is now over saturated and hard to get into. I was just lucky enough to be born earlier.
It's going to be though, but your just going to have to grind or see where the jobs are and pivot to that. All companies need marketing (unless your Tesla). so once your foot is in the door of any job that relies heavily on marketing, you can hopefully transition into marketing once your in a role by showing interest and learning on the job.
Good luck it's rough out there.
Marketing favors natives. I'm a non-native myself and whenever I'm at a marketing event it's pure white people, even in London. And in this recession, where jobs are scarce trying to be a unique case in marketing sector is unlikely.
I'm don't have much hope of the UK economy and if you really don't have to be here you should look for alternatives to pursue your career.
it varies. it is stark between companies in london. some have a commitment to DEI and are diverse like the other guy said (not neccessarily visa but diverse in general including POC brits). some are 100% white af.
Unpopular opinion - market is tired of job hoppers and figured the people they now hire aren’t actually that great for the money that are offered, cause everyone used it as a way to get payrise so businesses stopped recruiting.
Conversely people forced into job hopping because employers don't give pay rises commensurate with experience and cost of living. Possibly a more popular opinion too?
One doesn’t negate the other. Bad hire is huge risk for companies, it now outweighs the potential loss of innovation and efficiency with keeping current staff, so there is a potential in shift towards investing in own staff. What I’m saying is dumb people followed the smart ones when the trend started, so smart companies not only got rid of dumb people seeking salary bumps, they also snatched good ones from the market and now are stable :) apart from that theory, yes, there’s systemic issue with overall wealth flow, but it’s not fixable at hire trends level imho.
You really need to hit those equality and diversity requirements.
Going to uni hasn't guaranteed anyone a job in decades, there's people having done a 2 or 3 week boot camp out earning uni graduates left right and centre.
Assuming you have a first language that is not English, you can leverage that. Go home (and let's face it UK sucks on so many fronts). Don't go to your capital city, but a semi large city far from the capital where fewer people come to live, and there are no next to no English speakers to compete with. You will find work, not just in a coffee shop, but somewhere your PhD matters. Thank me later.
If you come across anything like you do in this post in an interview, the problem is your attitude.
To be a bit clearer - even entry level jobs want to see some commitment and if you act like it’s beneath you. So many people are applying for jobs right now that you have a lot of competition - so entry level jobs can pick the best of the bunch and that means experience, willingness, flexibility and someone that looks like a safe investment.
And if you say, ‘well I’m not qualified then train me’ then they will just hire someone already trained. Why waste time and money on someone when they can get someone with experience ready to go.
Shift your attitude towards recruitment now that the culture in the UK is changing. Getting a job isn’t a right something you can just snap your fingers and acquire. It takes much more effort and you are very much going to have to work for it.
LOL somebody telling us he just came here AND complaining that there aren't enough jobs :D
Let me put it this way: I enjoy my house. I realize it's a privilege compared to people who rent a flat. And yet, I lock my doors and choose to enjoy my house EXCLUSIVELY.
I think that having the above sentiment evaporate when it comes to COUNTRY instead of "house" is idiotic, against human nature, against our own best interests and a net problem globally (as it plasters over structural problems with bad countries, preventing a real reform THERE).
Our duties are to;
Our own selves > Core family > Extended family > Friends > Neighbors > Compatriots > Allies > People of the same culture
What we've done is wipe out the whole hierarchy mentioned above and then wonder why everyone is worse off :D
Its a mixture of things mainly companies just squeezing as much work out of 1 collegue then if they really have to. hire somebody. I work for a retail company and post covid, our job responsibilities has just been ever growing.
If you’re applying to retail jobs I’d advise not mentioning your degree if possible as it makes you seem overqualified for a retail assistant type role and they expect that you’ll move on soon, which they want to avoid.
When it comes to marketing roles, I’m afraid it is just a case of plugging away at it. I’m applying to marketing roles right now with a BA and MA in literature and two years’ corporate experience in a marketing-adjacent role (content management - my specific role involves elements of marketing as well as content strategy/writing/editing) and of 60+ applications I’m at interview stage for 2.
Getting more qualification’s won’t help, it might even be a detriment.
Speaking from personal experience, I have a Master’s Degree in Law with a Distinction grade yet I’ve been struggling for the last sixth months to even get hired as a legal assistant because employers are all worried about me going off to law school and spending lots of money I don’t have to become a solicitor.
I'm a data analyst and I didn't finish uni, I don't even put it on my CV because it shows I'm a drop out. I only had mediocre GCSEs at best, nothing higher than a C I don't even mention those anymore.
If you want to do marketing set up a website, create a newsletter, join LinkedIn (as insufferable as it is) prove you can do whatever it is in Marketing you can do.
I got a job with an agency because I showed them that I could do better insights with BigQuery. They had a garden furniture client on board for PPC and I proved that their conversions were correlated with the weather allowing them to change the spend cap depending on where in the country was sunny or not. They sucked all my dicks to get me on board after that.
Economy has been going steadily down, high levels of immigration which has led to jobs being more competitive, Brexit, etc.
People are hiring, just in skilled industry, and mostly stuff like law, medicine, finance, etc
A lot of companies hire people who are already in the company or their friends and families. They put up an application so it’s fair but the job was gone before it was posted.
In 2014 I was waiting for a CRB and visa for a job and applied for a temp cleaner role at a casino and got told they couldn't hire me as I was over qualified and would not be a long term appointment. It took 3 months for me to clear the job was a 4 week gig.
The only thing they want in retail is flexibility.
If you have two brain cells and are happy to work whatever shifts you’ll get a job in retail yesterday
"If I’m not qualified, train me, how the hell are we supposed to learn without training???"
That is how those of us born here feel every time a guy fresh off the boat gets the job..
Welcome to Britain...
don’t disclose your higher education when applying for low skilled jobs. such places don’t want to hire someone that is overqualified since risk this being short term gig you will dump for better paid job is pretty high and it makes manager’s life difficult. dumb your CV down accordingly to position you are applying for.
Honestly… it’s tough to land a job in a chosen field or a specialist field even with great qualifications.
Things like marketing are over saturated too. Way too many candidates are looking for these generalist skilled roles rather than specific industry expertise.
A good way is to start off in a junior role in a field / company that you know has room to grow into a more specialist role. Work hard and prove your worth and you’ll soon be in their skilled workforce.
If you are applying for a retail job, make sure you have recent retail experience on your CV. Rhis can be volunteering in a charity shop. Remove qualifications that make you look over qualified
Friends gf. Saturday job in TK Maxx at 16. They saw potential. Offered a full time job. 18 supervisory position. 21 running a TKMaxx shop. Intelligent enough to go to Uni. Didn't have to.
Man a lot of the retail stores in the UK are going through the private equity crisis. They are looking for well-trained cheap resources which is rare in this economy.
You literally gave yourself the answer in your post.
Coffee, what requirements are there, it's not rocket science. &and I bet on the CV you handed over to then you had listed on it your degree and great qualification and .ayve even soke fantastic placement experiences.. so why are you applying there? It is a business that needs employees, doesn't necessarily need the absolute best but it needs consistency and constantly re-hiring of people is going to detract from a smooth operation.
Your problem is that you have been given great opportunities to pursue and advises by society or your parents to pursue a great education and no one either gave you a life lesson, experience or a general education on how to sell yourself/ present yourself to different industries and people.
You need to think long and hard about why with a degree you are applying for coffee shops and not something more deserving of the hard work you've invested over the last 4yrs.
You HAVE to start tailoring your CV to the industry you are applying for. You might have 10ndifferent CVs all using different 'buzz words' for different industries.
Really actually think about what the employer wants for thst job posting. They are trying to run a company and they are going to go with the best option in the bunch for THEM. Not the best in the bunch completely.
I feel you friend, got turned down by tesco for ‘not being a right fit’ going purely off how I answered a questionnaire. Ironically, while a degree may be useful for specialist roles, it does seem to scream ‘I aint gunna be here long’ to those seeking long term employees in retail & service roles. Even though you may have little experience in serving & aren’t exactly overqualified I’d say having a degree, it’s a sign that you can get higher positions. I got turned down for a tonne of retail stuff I would have liked, before finally landing a role in Planning (which my degree was in). To get into most graduate planning roles now, you HAVE to have that degree, so it finally proved useful. That being said, even some planning roles weren’t keen on me due to me not having had any practical experience - so I’d say any degree that gives you a year in industry is a good shout for those now going to uni.
Already having a degree and being past that though, I’d say the best you can do is to try not to let loosing these roles make you think you’re not good enough! You will get there, job market is just super pants atm. A lot of my friends have found success in applying for admin roles, so that may be a shout. If the job search is getting you down, do try and get in contact with a receuiter too (if you haven’t already), I found that really helped me. Always nice when you’re spending ages on individual applications to get a few interviews immediately at the same time via the recuiter.
Warehouse or factories are always hiring and probably offer better money than retail or coffee shops. Apply to agencies to get into work faster you can often be in work 24hrs later with them.
I had the same question couple weeks back. The reality is the general election is very soon so any hiring would be detrimental if there is a change on policy for the companies. This was mentioned to me by a senior
Probably because you think that a job in a coffee shop is beneath you? It's not rocket science but as someone who has done ok career wise I can categorically say that working in a coffee shop took more of my efforts than my current role does.
Sorry to say this but the answer is too many foreigners over here looking for jobs- we had a position at work and were flooded with immigrants looking for work, they're not for us as we try to only hire local lads as workers.
This is what you get when there's 600k economic migrants flooding the country every year. This needs to stop.
Maybe your friend could try looking for work somewhere else? Like where they come from?
I only have a bachelors degree at the moment (still unsure about the value of doing a masters in my case), and wanting a career change. I've not experienced difficulty in getting interviews for certain types of jobs - they were all somehow related to the transferable skills in education jobs though, which I had plenty experience of. I did find that jobs unrelated to what I did were very likely to reject me - such as sales, marketing, even admin. I'd suggest you try doing a marketing sort of apprenticeship to get a foot in the door of the marketing industry. I tried applying for apprenticeships in totally unrelated work sectors and they actually called me in for interviews, so I think your best bet is to go in through very entry level positions like being an apprentice. And also I second others saying take the phd off your CV. In fact I'd also advise you to take the masters degree off too if you have it - especially if you're applying for a very entry level position such as an apprentice. These advanced degrees really don't add much value to your application for entry level roles and in fact may jeopardise them.
From your description, I take it you are not a British citizen? A lot of companies are wary of hiring foreigners due to the insane hoops they have to jump through thanks to our current government. This might change in a couple of weeks.
The upshot is, unless they are despite, they won’t hire you.
Personally, I think this is wrong, but I can see the company’s point of view.
Plenty work out there. The problem is you need to get off your phone and stop refreshing indeed. Plenty groundwork jobs, trade jobs, labour jobs, van mate jobs. The problem is, people want to either work in retail or some cushy office or think they're going to be social media influencers. Go pick litter, plenty of them roles going too. Removal jobs are always going. But the problem is people don't want to graft, they want an easy life in a heated building where they can chat 💩 for hours and steal a wage.
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Funny enough if you have a phd primark will not hire you as retail assistant as in their eyes you’ll be overqualified and most likely leave as soon as you land something better.
A lot of places are like this lol
Yep, I am finishing off a PhD and no one will touch me with a 10ft barge pole. I'm a mature student who has run their own business and have decades of work experience but nothing. Oh well just keep on looking I guess.
If you get desperate for a job just leave a large chunk of your qualifications and experience off your CV. It’s not illegal - the opposite is obviously. My mate worked as a caretaker for 12 months because he needed money. Obviously left his engineering and maths degrees off. He loved that job funnily enough.
I obviously don't know what your approach to applications is, so this isn't really targeted at you per se. I'm a senior member of staff at a research institute and do a lot of hiring. It's incredibly common when recruiting for junior-mid seniority jobs to have people with way more experience/seniority than the post requires apply. I don't rule those people out automatically, but what tends to sink their applications is the fact they don't explain why they're applying for this job. When we're shortlisting it isn't simply a case of shortlisting the best skills, it's also about ensuring a successful recruitment so while the first parse will be weeding out the unqualified candidates the second parse will be which are the candidates that are best suited to the role and most likely to be viable candidates. If I have a shortage of candidates then candidates with question marks over their application might get lucky and get an interview. However, I'm not interviewing every candidate who meets the criteria - interviewing is very labour intensive and beyond 4 candidates (in my opinion) your wasting people's time - both your colleagues and the candidates. So if you have 5 good candidates, four slots and one of those 5 raises questions, that's the one that's going. I know the people here are serious about the job they're applying too, but you would be surprised at how many people apply to jobs that they don't want. It can be anything from wanting to leverage the job offer to persuade their current employer to improve their pay and conditions, to wanting to get the foot in the door of the organisation and the belief that once in, they can just do the job they want to do, not the one they've been hired for (you wouldn't believe the shit I've seen on this front). I can't promise this can easily be overcome, but do what you can to make your application more credible and understandable. Removing your PhD and saying you've been working in a lab is one option and another is to include the situation in a cover letter and explain why you're applying for this job when it doesn't seem like a likely route for you.
Really sage advice 🙏🏻
In my experience saying you've run your own business also gets you on the reject pile
Shit, this may be my problem. I am in an awkward position of not having quite the right experience for entry-level IT, but I have a masters degree in computing and have been running my own businesses for 18 years.
Obvious answer is focus on your business
True this
I got rejected from a company when I was looking for part time work during sixth form, I spoke to a friend who worked there about it, they told me it’s because my GCSE grades were too high and they didn’t want someone who wasn’t going to stay long term… just from my GCSEs lol
Time to lie on that C.V.
Are CVs even used for these types of jobs?
Same
What's the PhD in?
Yep. You have to tailor yourself to a job. Before I started university back when I was 18, I applied for McDonald's. I didn't tell them about my upcoming uni, just said I was jobless and out of education. I basically acted like an idiot on purpose. And told them I love Maccies and want to be a manager here I can see myself staying forever. Got the job straight away lol. I knew if I told them about uni they'd realise I wasn't going to stay.
Are you still at McDonald’s now 😃
No I have a career now. That was 20 years ago lol
I remember handing a CV in at laser quest after I'd done my GCSEs (couple of decades ago) and the guy looked at the results I'd put in and "Ha, BOFFIN...I'll take it and if something comes up we'll call.". They did not call. Tbh they're not even all that. As, Bs, a C and D in Food Technology lol. Neglected to do the coursework for that.
To be fair, this sounds correct. OP should use 2 CVs, take the phd off one of them for jobs like this.
And then when she is working in Primark when someone says "excuse me miss I want to complain about this pair of socks" she can say "actually it's excuse me Doctor"
Haha that’s the one!
Yeh so write your CV appropriately for the job you apply for.
But also apply to hundreds a day? So how many Cvs are we writing?
Write them for the level of role, then a short (very) covering note to go with it. Fewer CVs, short note for each job.
Makes sense, thank you
Maybe don’t apply to hundreds a day?
my wife has two PHDs and couldn't get a single bite on her CV. Then, she removed those from the CV and got a job within decent time (for this market).
Sort of get it though....why hire and train someone who will leave in 6 months just do the it all again I doubt a newly minnted phd has Costa batista in mind for long term career
I never got this about super markets etc. Their turn over is so high already why does it even matter
Smart move on their part
When applying for any job you need to show how you meet their requirements- done need a phd for that.
Also it's easier to control / exploit someone here on a work visa..
Never crossed my mind if I was hiring for Christmas, I know of a few store managers who had this mindset of only hiring younger people before university etc or older experienced retail staff, as more chance they'll stay, but I never took that approach with my shops. All I would ask is at the minimum just give me a week's notice before they start if they get something else and I'd ask this at the hiring stage. And I always got that in return from people, as far as I'm concerned if you've been to uni you'll have a future elsewhere in a desired field. Which is understandable. But then I used to treat my staff with respect and support them as best I could, so I got that back from them also.
Not just that. There are a lot of insecure people in leadership positions who don't want someone there who might correct them.
the issue youve got with trying to go into marketing, right now, is that there are so many experienced marketers that are out of work and going for more junior positions, you just can't compete. It's a saturated industry. You've got a few months volunteering and the others might have multiple years experience. The fact is, while the market is like this, there's no incentive at all to train newbies up, as you can employ someone thats already got the training and experience for not much more.
Thoroughly, thoroughly saturated. To the point of the fabric downright ripping apart. My job is Higher Education-adjacent across 30+ universities, and about 90% of our students are doing marketing, business, or business and marketing. There's only so many adverts the world needs before they need people doing something to follow it up.
And AI is replacing a lot of the junior, starter and "easy" marketing roles. There are more than enough experienced marketers to top up AI's limited knowledge and apply it. Your students are gonna have an incredibly tough battle to break into one of the fastest changing industries on the planet. I mean it's moving ridiculously fast. I've been in for years and my role is going to change a lot in the next 6 months and it's nothing like it was 2 years ago. The days of a career JUST "writing ads" for a living are gone. ChatGPT can write an ad. So what can you do that it can't? Marketers now must be multi-skilled and have above average/ChatGPT expertise. And you must be able to network your knickers off - because nobody thinks you're special anymore. This is not 2006.
GPT is just a language model. It’s not replacing junior jobs. There’s also no evidence of it doing so. One big problem replacing jobs is companies hiring low level workers off shore for cheaper. Such as call centres.
It's already replaced a junior at my place of work. We've been told to not replace her and to lean into ai more
What’s their job and what is the Ai being used for
I'm in marketing. AI is being used to replace most of what the junior marketer did. As per the comment we're replying under.
What did the junior do as per the comment were replying under
ChatGPT can write an ad. But it won’t be very good. However, GenAI is coming on leaps and bounds. It’ll never replace truly great copywriters, for whom it’s a useful tool. There’s too much ideation, networking, questioning and management involved. That’s not ignoring the phenomenally naturally talented. That said, if you’re a recent graduate focusing primarily on copywriting, you’re an idiot.
> ChatGPT can write an ad. But it won’t be very good. Yeah, but nor will the ad written by a fresh graduate. People often talk about how LLMs aren't as good as the best developers/writers/artists/etc - but they don't need to be. They just need to be better than the lowest paid juniors.
To some extent, yeah. Depends on the company set-up. Ultimately the best copywriters will just use LLMs to handle the grunt work. And the potential there is infinite. Imagine you have 50 products that can all be purchased together or separately. Now imagine you have to write individual emails to advertise those products as a custom bundle to each user. Ain’t happening. But if you can have GenAI do it *and* have an in-house copywriter teach it tone, assess the work and so on? That’s a licence to print money.
lol never replace them, **it is replacing them**
Proof?
I think "never" is a dangerous word to use. Do you expect that in 20 years from now, AI won't be capable of sufficiently mimicking the ideation, networking, and questioning involved in copywriting?
This I say to those who say it'll never replace designers in a similar way - look at how far and fast it's come on in the last 5 years, and how (especially post Covid) a lot of crappy employers want to save on people costs and will happily encourage it. The world, our industries are changing and they're not going to go back. It's like when there's a major jump in technology - digital cameras, digital music, so much prior tech and the ways of creating is wiped out in a few years.
It's really interesting. Because of course most of what humans create is made up of things they have seen, using ingenuity and creativity to wrangle them into something original. Sometimes, but not always, there's a part of that final piece that perhaps comes from somewhere truly original. The AI tools definitely don't do the second bit. Is what they're doing just the first bit? Are they doing that in a different way - whilst a human "copies"/reinterprets the concept of the art, does the AI just copy the output? I think there's a humanistic reason to stop them from regurgitating content - it's a miserable dystopia. But also where will new art, that second part, that true creative part, come from when only the regurgitating machine is left?
Derren Brown did a great show decades back about creative industries and how suggestable and derivate they were. Worth a watch.
I think the mistake people make is thinking of designers and writers as purely executors of work. In a corporate or advertising setting, that’s just not the case. They come up with ideas, negotiate with stakeholders, ensure consistency and collaborate to provide the optimum outcome. Gen AI will ultimately mean being able to communicate a product or vision to an individual, based on that individual’s needs or interests. It will *always* need a human behind the scenes to provide direction, context and the original idea. Anyone prophesising the end of human creativity because AI can do it all is either a doom-mongering idiot, or has never worked with a good writer or designer. They are quite literally irreplaceable. However, your 22-year-old recent grads who think “Do you need xxx? Then you need yyy!” is a great copy line, or agonising over pantones and line work is the pinnacle of graphic design, are going to be replaced. I don’t think many people will mind.
AI does everything these days. Does SEO. Does ad creatives. Does email marketing. It has made my job x100 easier. Just being careful I don't put myself out of a job.
Grad schemes are still operating if you’re a competitive candidate, L’Oréal etc
Marketing as a general area is incredibly difficult to get into. Speaking as a designer who has worked in marketing teams for over 10 years, their industry is similar to mine in terms of the job market - colleagues have said its deeply concerning. There's just too many people, experienced, inexperienced, and graduates, and nowhere near enough jobs to go around. I hate to say this as I had to do it with my degree, but as others have said, take your PHD off the CV if you're applying for retail roles. It really stinks that you're having to hide something you worked hard for, but it's the reality of where you are.
do you animate?
I can do a bit, short clips for social media using After Effects. I wouldn't call myself a motion designer.
because you could see 5 years ago that it was an industry prime for disruption by AI and automation
Sadly you’ll be competing with people who have experience and given the state of the job market currently that will make it very difficult. There are lots of people competing for very few vacancies.
90% don't give a fuck about a PhD. There are some professions and academic careers where it matters. In retail it's a sign you will be bored, unmotivated and leave at the first opportunity. Would you want to hire someone for a job they think is beneath them just because they are desperate? Employers care first and foremost about professional experience. Whether you are a cleaner in McDonald's or an astronaut on the moon that holds true. Education is a foot in the door when there are too few in the profession. Unfortunately the world doesn't owe us anything. Even if we have 3 PhDs.
2016 was a long ass time ago. In 8 years have you only got a degree and nothing else? What paid work experience do you have? If the answer is none in 8 years without a good reason no one’s gonna want to touch you with a 50ft barge pole. They’ll take a 17 year old with a year experience in McDonald’s than a 25 year old with no work experience at all. Also you sound wildly entitled like the jobs are beneath you. Yet they aren’t because you’re not even worth hiring for them as there are people with actual experience. Even working in a coffee shop it’s better to hire someone who already knows how to work the machine and doesn’t think it’s beneath them… Most degrees aren’t worth the paper they’re written on anyway, I’ve interviewed grads in academia who couldn’t even string a coherent sentence around their own degree. Universities will give them to anyone with the money to pay, and businesses are well aware of it.
Interest rates went up and that means companies hire less.
100thousand vacancy’s disappeared in the uk ,40thousand more unemployed since 2019 kinda sums it up
I hire frequently for low level retail/front of house based roles and we get a huge influx of graduates. We also get a lot of people who have spent 2-5 years out of school working in retail, so they are naturally more qualified for the role. I think it’s just a tough time for graduates, everyone and their mum has a masters. I’m someone without a degree who has just worked since I left school in 2018. I’m 23 now and work in a pretty high up position in my particular field, I think I hit a perfect storm really. I also apply for everything and interview for positions even if I’m not fussed about moving jobs, the experience helps a ton and you learn so much.
Degrees largely mean fuck all these days, I’m afraid. They can be used as a CV sifter, but if 100 people apply for a job and 80 of them have relevant degrees, you could still be competing with at least 80 of the 100 applicants for an interview. You need to figure out where your weakness is. If you aren’t getting interviews, is there something wrong with your CV or how it is presented? You could be applying for the right jobs with the wrong CV. E.g If your CV says you’re a marketing professional, why would I hire you for my barista role? If you are getting interviews and rejected, then ask for feedback from the hiring manager. My recommendation would be to have everything peer reviewed by friends. Your cv, do mock interviews, check your interview attire etc You could also look for a job coach, I’m sure your local Job Centre or local charities will be able to help. Charities are probably a better option, but y’know
> > If your CV says you’re a marketing professional, why would I hire you for my barista role? It's mad but I wouldn't call someone a marketing professional even if they had a degree in marketing. They would have to have been working in the industry for a while before I would call them that. They're still an intern even if they have a degree.
Yup, you see it all the time, but even if their CV said "aspiring Marketing Professional", it would still make me think "Well, you're probably going to be gone inside 6 months." This is all just conjecture, though, maybe their CV is great, but they're using Comic Sans in teal green? Either way, get that shit peer reviewed at the very least.
All of the people who would be in entry level roles are working in those coffee shops. I have a masters and i work in retail atm. Lots of my colleagues have degrees too but they have previous retail experience so managed to land the job. You need to apply to the most undesirable jobs unfortunately - night shifts and warehouse work.
Everything about your post stinks of someone with a bad attitude. >What requirements it’s a coffee shop not rocket science???? Yeah, don't expect to be employed by a coffee shop if that's your attitude. The service industry is hard.
Yeah exactly. Having a degree is worthless if you are not self aware enough to recognise that working in a coffee shop is worthy work that needs application, training and experience too. “Whenever you think something or some person is ruining your life, you’re right it's you.”
Because well educated people are often amazingly thick when it comes to matching CVs to jobs. You dont need to list every single qualification you've ever picked up. They'll have filed your CV in the bin by the time they've got halfway through the 18 GCSEs you seem to think is vital to that warehousing job. Simialrly keep work experience relevant. Volunteering for 6 months in some trustafarian paradise might be of interest to a prospective employer if you're wanting to intern for The Guardian, but is completely irrelivent for bar work. Basic employers just want reliable people who will turn up on time and crack on with minimal supervision.
What’s your degree in? Is it related to marketing? Also, what’s your work history look like? You said you weren’t able to work when you were younger due to personal issues, but you’ve now been here 8 years, presumably been to college and uni here. What jobs/experience have you had in the meantime?
I think you need to work on your attitude not your qualifications.
What about your home country? It also depends on the area u live, if ir out in sticks there are usually more jobs, especially in hospitality as young people don't want to hang around
More jobs out in the sticks? What are you smoking?
Well it worked for me, I spent a year living in London after 20 years overseas, no jobs so moved to the countryside and there was plenty of work
1. Too many people 2. Too few roles 3. Companies spreading existing staff as thinly as possible to avoid hiring more staff, and associated costs that this entails 4. See point 1
3 hit too close to home
>My friends, no degree, who moved to the uk in 2016-2019 say they got jobs the second they landed here. Costa, primark, whatever it may be. Companies like this are making the most of the immigrants moving here who will take poorly paid work with terrible hours. It's that simple.
I worked at Costa, if you didn’t pass the assessment then it was an automatic rejection. We could still see your application but it would tell us the system had rejected you.
According to the system I did well in the assessment,but for some weird ass reason still they wouldn't call me.
If it makes you feel better I wouldn’t recommend working for them. They are not a good company to work for since Coca Cola took them over.
It's not like I am dying to work there, I need the paper to make do, not like I have love lost for them.
OP - judging by your attitude & use of language, I suspect it’s down to your entitled attitude just because you’re a recent ‘graduate’. There’s so many factors as to why you’re not being hired (experience, degree, location, type of business and so on). Approach it with willingness to learn and humbleness then you’ll see better results.
They seem to be just frustrated and might be something different irl. Reddit is the only place where we can truly let it out without going insane,and given the shit show which is going on, any reasonable and "humble" person can lose it. Especially when they have bills to pay.
I can't speak for coffee shops or restaurants etc. but I can for retail, it's not that you're overqualified. It's that not many places this time of year need people, sales are shit, they've probably got people from Christmas they let go due to budget issues they'd rather bring back. I was a store manager for 5 years and the only people I'd hire in the summer with a view to get them permanent were people I did not have the budget to keep in January. August and September are good months to apply if the places you are applying for are organised. October onwards for the unorganized ones.
We are actually in a recession even if the technocrats say otherwise. As far as normal people's jobs go we have been in a recession for a few years now. People aren't hiring because there is little growth in demand so they don't really need more staff, and there are a large number of people who are desperate for jobs. While technically unemployment is low, I think the long term unemployed who aren't counted in normal unemployment figures is very high. Lack of government investment and a coherent industrial strategy, combined with the real abject chaos of the last decade has meant that businesses do not want to invest in long term planning or training of staff because everything is in flux. For normal people we really are experiencing the worst of both worlds. Things that should be stable are changing all the time, and things that should be changing aren't.
Strange that because my company are currently hiring and have been for the last 2 years Minimum requirement LGV C+E Can actually drive one and do the job of delivering correctly.
one example of your company hiring doesn't reflect the whole job market
People aren't hiring was the quote in the above post.
because they're not. There's not a lot of stuff going and of the positions available there's more competition now so less options, harder to get hired.
Are they actually hiring or just advertising ghost jobs to keep the current employees on their toes and to give a false impression of a fast growing business?
They absolutely are, since Brexit many industrial firms have been struggling to get workers in.
They can take some of the ones that seem to fall off a boat and into security far too many shifts these days u show up and being fluent in English or born here is the minority on staff
Was the same when I was a chef a couple years ago, 3 guys that had never held a knife let alone know how to say it in English. I was less teaching cooking and more the names of basic stuff.
Errr I said they are hiring did I not?
I'm a team leader and recruiter . If I saw someone that gave me the opinion of " it's a coffee shop not rocket science" I wouldnt hire them lol.Unfortunately degrees these days don't entitle you to a job. Tailor your CV to the role you're applying for . If working in Primark/Costa doesn't need your degree don't include it . Even if you know it's a stop gap.
>If I saw someone that gave me the opinion of " it's a coffee shop not rocket science" I wouldnt hire them lol. I'm fairly certain they didn't say that the the people hiring, just venting here and they're certainly correct about it. Making coffee is a task an ape could probably do.
I own and run an independant cafe in central london, and i wouldnt hire you either....
🤣 brutal
Experience trumps qualifications in most sectors, especially retail and hospitality. Why hire a PhD grad who likely has a bit of an ego and no customer service experience when you can hire someone younger, for less, who has more experience.
Im qualified up to a Masters too but I NEVER declare my degrees when applying for labour jobs, you are overqualified and they dont want to waste money trainging you. They want someone desperate like someone who needs to work to ensure their visa is renewed, this is why many Petrol stations hire foreign workers, no British person is going to do that shitty job with daily abuse and little pay
Leave your PHD’s off your CV. Tailor your CV to each job you apply for
You need to drop that attitude, because it’s employers’ market. Plenty of experienced and competent people competing for few jobs. For unskilled retail jobs, your attitude is a major deciding factor
In 95% cases your degree means nothing.
Country is bloated, not enough jobs created to keep up with increasing population same with housing. We also don’t have our own industry and have a horrible culture of importing stuff we can do ourselves.
There’s certainly jobs for building houses tho
Elaborate?
Trades/construction work - (carpenter, plumbers, electrician, etc), I have family and friends and most of them are doing better than most the people I know who went to uni. Site work or domestic or a bit of both.
Oh yes, always work for tradesmen but you also need site managers and building inspectors which are degree and experience based jobs for a reason, plus actual skilled tradesmen if you’re building mass housing. Not someone who’s done a 8 week course, but it’s the funding by the government which is the big issue. Too much immigration into the country, not enough housing. Supply and demand simple maths.
Yeah, if I was looking for work now or starting out a career I would be looking at construction and renewables. People need to think more what is going to be needed instead of jumping in to random degrees in overly competitive areas and wondering why they can’t get work.
I honestly think it's because they think people who have just come here are that desperate for work that they can basically kick the shit out of them and they won't leave. Whereas being a native you're probably more in tune with your workers rights and are more likely to say no. Idk it's impossible for me too, I can't be arsed doing 3 interviews for Aldi and not even get a rejection email
But OP said they moved here in 2016?
Whoops, either way they know a bit more than someone who has just landed.
But she’s saying her friends got here between 2016-2019 so it’s not like they’ve just arrived in the country. I think it’s more likely that since they got jobs back then and have more experience than OP they’re able to step into roles more easily now.
Make a CV that makes you look dumber and more exploitable - you’ll get more call backs that way.
I did that,got called for interviews. Prepared for them thoroughly, yet did not get the role.
They obviously didn't find you exploitable enough.
1. You seem to think UNI is the be and end all. It really isn’t for the majority of jobs out there. Employers like experience far more than a qualification. A qualification means fairly little unless it’s a practical one. To gain experience you have 3 avenues. A) Get a paid job in that area of work B) Get an apprenticeship in that area of work C) Volunteer in that area of work 2. Working at Costa might not be rocket science, but that doesn’t make it any less work or the people that do the work any lesser than anyone else 3. Someone that hasn’t worked at all for 8 years isn’t exactly an appealing candidate, Especially if the reasons aren’t clear and what a company would consider justified 4. There are jobs out there. If someone doesn’t mind what job, what the hours are, what days they’d have to work etc the work is there. I’m in the south east and almost every supermarket and pub have signs up asking for staff. A lot of it is long shifts, evening work, work every weekend, folks just don’t want that in general 5. Maybe primark didn’t hire you because you gave off an air of superiority and felt you looked down at the business and fellow employees, From what you’ve written here it’s easy to believe that
Employers are only interested in university degrees if they're A. actually from top universities or B. directly relevant to the role. No one cares if you have a 2.1 in Business Studies from The University of Lincoln
Attitude and communication skills matter more than a degree. Just because you've done a degree doesn't mean you're entitled to a job unfortunately, since you think it's all beneath you. Perhaps work on marketing yourself better, ironically.
"Nobody hiring" =/= "nobody hiring *me*" There are vacancies in countless industries, including retail. If you think your experience is excluding you due to over-qualification, omit that experience on your CV. Conversely if you're not experienced enough, embellish (but not stupidly) the work experience you've done. Mention projects and hobbies that are relevant. It is more than possible to land something.
Companies have lost access to minimum wage immigrant workers and are flooding the entry level market with non-immigrant workers that will soon realise they have to accept what little is available. That and they are hoping interest rates are cut, even though they will not be cut 3% in one go and are unlikely to be cut outside of significant black swan event.
I found it harder to get jobs since I got a degree than since before I got a degree
Hiring managers typically want real experience over academic qualifications as the real experience helps them more.
If all hiring managers gonna look for real experience, there will only be only one set of people working and no opportunities. I know people working three contracts with different companies and as it would stand they can't give their 100% at any.
Marketing is beyond oversaturated. Every man and their dog goes into marketing, the boom of social media saw to that. You’ll struggle to get a retail or basic job if you’ve got a degree of a phd. Any prospective employer will be wondering how long it’ll be before you leave and take a job in the field you’re qualified for.
I've spoken to a few agencies in the past few weeks as I'm advertising a role at the moment. A lot of companies are holding off until after the election as they feel labour will 100% put corporation taxes and change employment law to make it harder to get rid of staff so they want to wait and see what happens.
I've spoken to a few agencies in the past few weeks as I'm advertising a role at the moment. A lot of companies are holding off until after the election as they feel labour will 100% put corporation taxes and change employment law to make it harder to get rid of staff so they want to wait and see what happens.
I felt this one. I graduated in 2016 in computer science and not once have I ever been able to step foot in my field. Not even for internships, or volunteer work. Years of work experience always being required is insane. Like what do I do? All this volunteer work I was pushed into is utterly worthless. Not once has it ever even been mentioned in an interview. Every single professional I talk to has absolutely no idea what is going on. Going to try and qualify for disability so maybe I can work that angle instead. Its been 8 god damn years bro. Like I don't know what to even say. Sure I've worked in other areas, but not even a single step towards a job I literally went into debt for.
It's not your desired job but it will house, feed you and pays the bills. Seasonal work in a hotel. Lot of available jobs in Scotland, especially the Highlands.
>Seasonal work in a hotel For some weird reason,those hotels don't want to consider us.
Many look for staff, why would they not? If you wanna work you get a job there.
everyone and their nan went to university - unless it's a relevant degree it's basically worthless.
Sorry but in case you haven’t noticed , the immigrant in this country has skyrocketed since Brexit. There are too many people .
If they say you're not qualified for marketing but do have experience, I'd get a foot in the door by doing an internship or \*anything\* in the field while earning money deliveirng pizzas, whatever. Or try different cities temporarily.
You are in marketing, your pitch there didn’t sell me
I relate to this a lot, I been job hunting for two years and its been extremely hard. I am a uni graduate too (BA in English Literature). I have constantly been rejected for the majority things I have been applying to (been applying everywhere from retail to office jobs, etc). Only thing that I have gotten accepted is unpaid internships and volunteering as a sales assistant to get more experience Even got rejected for a Library Assistant position in a uni nearby, and a museum. Like who has worked with libraries and online library resources more than an English Lit student? The museum job application asked if I had experience explaining and discussing interpretation of things and art, English lit students are brilliant at explaining and discussing interpretations of things. I have spent four years writing academic essays discussing and explaining interpretations of literary works. What is worse are the jobs that claim to be entry level jobs but require 5 years of experience. How is that entry level?!?
Dude.... You write like a child. Your expectations are somewhat childlike. If that's how you present IRL - I'm sorry but it's not a huge shock to me that no one is rushing to hire you... Maybe your friends had more realistic expectations. Maybe they could string a sentence together more effectively. If no one is willing to hire you maybe it's worth considering for a moment that the problem might be you.... (Edit. Read comment history. Yeah the problem is you. You need to take a good long look at yourself and grow up.)
University is so over encouraged in schools. A degree isn’t worth a carrot half the time. More children should be encouraged to get into a trade rather than it being an option for the kids who aren’t academic.
>My initial plan was to apply for something in marketing because I’m good at it and enjoy it but apparently I’m not qualified for that either. Despite the fact that I volunteered as a marketing assistant for a nonprofit so that I could get some experience. Marketing is horrendously broad and a difficult field to get into at the right company. Also what makes you think youre qualified after being an unpaid assistant? Why would we ever hire an assistant from a non profit that probably changed POS marketing but has no real experience in designs, communicating with shopfitters, or using any software to roll out projects? You getting a tickbox on your CV doesnt really mean anything to an actual marketing team. >If I’m not qualified, train me, how the hell are we supposed to learn without training??? I agree it is a bit ridiculous companies now dont do much training but thats why most people have to start from the bottom. >I’ve gone to uni how much more qualifactions do I need?? Lol, alot. >I Guess these days university is the bare minimum??? There are a few people in my marketing team that dont have a degree so no. >maybe I need to get three different phds so the prestigious primark will finally offer me the position of a retail assistant? Yikes.
The job market is pretty skrewed ATM no matter what your trying to get into. Because of all the redundancy and cutbacks over the last couple of years the job market is flooded with people so competition is really high. If there is someone with even slightly more experience working in the service industry they'll get the job over you because less investment for the employer. I'm guessing the service industry is flooded with people with experience in the field looking for jobs. I'm a programmer with 11 years experience and IV been unemployed for the last 9 months. University degrees are becoming increasingly invaluable. It seems to have flipped on it's head. Companies now seem to value any sort of experience over university now. I got a degree in event management (useless degree) couldn't even get a basic job. Looked at the market and future of where the economy is going so decided to teach myself programming. Write a bunch of apps in my spare time, applied for a bunch of jobs and here I am. Even the programming industry is now over saturated and hard to get into. I was just lucky enough to be born earlier. It's going to be though, but your just going to have to grind or see where the jobs are and pivot to that. All companies need marketing (unless your Tesla). so once your foot is in the door of any job that relies heavily on marketing, you can hopefully transition into marketing once your in a role by showing interest and learning on the job. Good luck it's rough out there.
Marketing favors natives. I'm a non-native myself and whenever I'm at a marketing event it's pure white people, even in London. And in this recession, where jobs are scarce trying to be a unique case in marketing sector is unlikely. I'm don't have much hope of the UK economy and if you really don't have to be here you should look for alternatives to pursue your career.
Just to provide some balance to this opinion… I work in marketing in London and my office of 500ish people is about 50% British.
That is surprising, maybe they are focused on overseas countries?
We have some global clients but also a UK only business.
it varies. it is stark between companies in london. some have a commitment to DEI and are diverse like the other guy said (not neccessarily visa but diverse in general including POC brits). some are 100% white af.
Unpopular opinion - market is tired of job hoppers and figured the people they now hire aren’t actually that great for the money that are offered, cause everyone used it as a way to get payrise so businesses stopped recruiting.
Conversely people forced into job hopping because employers don't give pay rises commensurate with experience and cost of living. Possibly a more popular opinion too?
One doesn’t negate the other. Bad hire is huge risk for companies, it now outweighs the potential loss of innovation and efficiency with keeping current staff, so there is a potential in shift towards investing in own staff. What I’m saying is dumb people followed the smart ones when the trend started, so smart companies not only got rid of dumb people seeking salary bumps, they also snatched good ones from the market and now are stable :) apart from that theory, yes, there’s systemic issue with overall wealth flow, but it’s not fixable at hire trends level imho.
You really need to hit those equality and diversity requirements. Going to uni hasn't guaranteed anyone a job in decades, there's people having done a 2 or 3 week boot camp out earning uni graduates left right and centre.
Assuming you have a first language that is not English, you can leverage that. Go home (and let's face it UK sucks on so many fronts). Don't go to your capital city, but a semi large city far from the capital where fewer people come to live, and there are no next to no English speakers to compete with. You will find work, not just in a coffee shop, but somewhere your PhD matters. Thank me later.
If you come across anything like you do in this post in an interview, the problem is your attitude. To be a bit clearer - even entry level jobs want to see some commitment and if you act like it’s beneath you. So many people are applying for jobs right now that you have a lot of competition - so entry level jobs can pick the best of the bunch and that means experience, willingness, flexibility and someone that looks like a safe investment. And if you say, ‘well I’m not qualified then train me’ then they will just hire someone already trained. Why waste time and money on someone when they can get someone with experience ready to go. Shift your attitude towards recruitment now that the culture in the UK is changing. Getting a job isn’t a right something you can just snap your fingers and acquire. It takes much more effort and you are very much going to have to work for it.
LOL somebody telling us he just came here AND complaining that there aren't enough jobs :D Let me put it this way: I enjoy my house. I realize it's a privilege compared to people who rent a flat. And yet, I lock my doors and choose to enjoy my house EXCLUSIVELY. I think that having the above sentiment evaporate when it comes to COUNTRY instead of "house" is idiotic, against human nature, against our own best interests and a net problem globally (as it plasters over structural problems with bad countries, preventing a real reform THERE). Our duties are to; Our own selves > Core family > Extended family > Friends > Neighbors > Compatriots > Allies > People of the same culture What we've done is wipe out the whole hierarchy mentioned above and then wonder why everyone is worse off :D
Its a mixture of things mainly companies just squeezing as much work out of 1 collegue then if they really have to. hire somebody. I work for a retail company and post covid, our job responsibilities has just been ever growing.
If you’re applying to retail jobs I’d advise not mentioning your degree if possible as it makes you seem overqualified for a retail assistant type role and they expect that you’ll move on soon, which they want to avoid. When it comes to marketing roles, I’m afraid it is just a case of plugging away at it. I’m applying to marketing roles right now with a BA and MA in literature and two years’ corporate experience in a marketing-adjacent role (content management - my specific role involves elements of marketing as well as content strategy/writing/editing) and of 60+ applications I’m at interview stage for 2.
Too much tax and regulation
Have a version of your CV without the PhD bit. It’s perfectly acceptable to be selective about your experience and qualifications.
Getting more qualification’s won’t help, it might even be a detriment. Speaking from personal experience, I have a Master’s Degree in Law with a Distinction grade yet I’ve been struggling for the last sixth months to even get hired as a legal assistant because employers are all worried about me going off to law school and spending lots of money I don’t have to become a solicitor.
I'm a data analyst and I didn't finish uni, I don't even put it on my CV because it shows I'm a drop out. I only had mediocre GCSEs at best, nothing higher than a C I don't even mention those anymore. If you want to do marketing set up a website, create a newsletter, join LinkedIn (as insufferable as it is) prove you can do whatever it is in Marketing you can do. I got a job with an agency because I showed them that I could do better insights with BigQuery. They had a garden furniture client on board for PPC and I proved that their conversions were correlated with the weather allowing them to change the spend cap depending on where in the country was sunny or not. They sucked all my dicks to get me on board after that.
I know the company I work for has a range of jobs available in the south west
Economy has been going steadily down, high levels of immigration which has led to jobs being more competitive, Brexit, etc. People are hiring, just in skilled industry, and mostly stuff like law, medicine, finance, etc
A lot of companies hire people who are already in the company or their friends and families. They put up an application so it’s fair but the job was gone before it was posted.
This seems to be a plausible explanation.
In 2014 I was waiting for a CRB and visa for a job and applied for a temp cleaner role at a casino and got told they couldn't hire me as I was over qualified and would not be a long term appointment. It took 3 months for me to clear the job was a 4 week gig.
The only thing they want in retail is flexibility. If you have two brain cells and are happy to work whatever shifts you’ll get a job in retail yesterday
"If I’m not qualified, train me, how the hell are we supposed to learn without training???" That is how those of us born here feel every time a guy fresh off the boat gets the job.. Welcome to Britain...
don’t disclose your higher education when applying for low skilled jobs. such places don’t want to hire someone that is overqualified since risk this being short term gig you will dump for better paid job is pretty high and it makes manager’s life difficult. dumb your CV down accordingly to position you are applying for.
Maybe try posting the CV, see if people can help?
Honestly… it’s tough to land a job in a chosen field or a specialist field even with great qualifications. Things like marketing are over saturated too. Way too many candidates are looking for these generalist skilled roles rather than specific industry expertise. A good way is to start off in a junior role in a field / company that you know has room to grow into a more specialist role. Work hard and prove your worth and you’ll soon be in their skilled workforce.
If you are applying for a retail job, make sure you have recent retail experience on your CV. Rhis can be volunteering in a charity shop. Remove qualifications that make you look over qualified
Friends gf. Saturday job in TK Maxx at 16. They saw potential. Offered a full time job. 18 supervisory position. 21 running a TKMaxx shop. Intelligent enough to go to Uni. Didn't have to.
Man a lot of the retail stores in the UK are going through the private equity crisis. They are looking for well-trained cheap resources which is rare in this economy.
You literally gave yourself the answer in your post. Coffee, what requirements are there, it's not rocket science. &and I bet on the CV you handed over to then you had listed on it your degree and great qualification and .ayve even soke fantastic placement experiences.. so why are you applying there? It is a business that needs employees, doesn't necessarily need the absolute best but it needs consistency and constantly re-hiring of people is going to detract from a smooth operation. Your problem is that you have been given great opportunities to pursue and advises by society or your parents to pursue a great education and no one either gave you a life lesson, experience or a general education on how to sell yourself/ present yourself to different industries and people. You need to think long and hard about why with a degree you are applying for coffee shops and not something more deserving of the hard work you've invested over the last 4yrs. You HAVE to start tailoring your CV to the industry you are applying for. You might have 10ndifferent CVs all using different 'buzz words' for different industries. Really actually think about what the employer wants for thst job posting. They are trying to run a company and they are going to go with the best option in the bunch for THEM. Not the best in the bunch completely.
I feel you friend, got turned down by tesco for ‘not being a right fit’ going purely off how I answered a questionnaire. Ironically, while a degree may be useful for specialist roles, it does seem to scream ‘I aint gunna be here long’ to those seeking long term employees in retail & service roles. Even though you may have little experience in serving & aren’t exactly overqualified I’d say having a degree, it’s a sign that you can get higher positions. I got turned down for a tonne of retail stuff I would have liked, before finally landing a role in Planning (which my degree was in). To get into most graduate planning roles now, you HAVE to have that degree, so it finally proved useful. That being said, even some planning roles weren’t keen on me due to me not having had any practical experience - so I’d say any degree that gives you a year in industry is a good shout for those now going to uni. Already having a degree and being past that though, I’d say the best you can do is to try not to let loosing these roles make you think you’re not good enough! You will get there, job market is just super pants atm. A lot of my friends have found success in applying for admin roles, so that may be a shout. If the job search is getting you down, do try and get in contact with a receuiter too (if you haven’t already), I found that really helped me. Always nice when you’re spending ages on individual applications to get a few interviews immediately at the same time via the recuiter.
Warehouse or factories are always hiring and probably offer better money than retail or coffee shops. Apply to agencies to get into work faster you can often be in work 24hrs later with them.
If you’re interviewing at retail take the degree off your CV
I had the same question couple weeks back. The reality is the general election is very soon so any hiring would be detrimental if there is a change on policy for the companies. This was mentioned to me by a senior
Probably because you think that a job in a coffee shop is beneath you? It's not rocket science but as someone who has done ok career wise I can categorically say that working in a coffee shop took more of my efforts than my current role does.
Don't worry there's going to be war soon, plenty of jobs!
Try marketing for a charity! The pay isn’t amazing but a great place to start. https://www.charityjob.co.uk/
Sorry to say this but the answer is too many foreigners over here looking for jobs- we had a position at work and were flooded with immigrants looking for work, they're not for us as we try to only hire local lads as workers. This is what you get when there's 600k economic migrants flooding the country every year. This needs to stop. Maybe your friend could try looking for work somewhere else? Like where they come from?
Economy
I only have a bachelors degree at the moment (still unsure about the value of doing a masters in my case), and wanting a career change. I've not experienced difficulty in getting interviews for certain types of jobs - they were all somehow related to the transferable skills in education jobs though, which I had plenty experience of. I did find that jobs unrelated to what I did were very likely to reject me - such as sales, marketing, even admin. I'd suggest you try doing a marketing sort of apprenticeship to get a foot in the door of the marketing industry. I tried applying for apprenticeships in totally unrelated work sectors and they actually called me in for interviews, so I think your best bet is to go in through very entry level positions like being an apprentice. And also I second others saying take the phd off your CV. In fact I'd also advise you to take the masters degree off too if you have it - especially if you're applying for a very entry level position such as an apprentice. These advanced degrees really don't add much value to your application for entry level roles and in fact may jeopardise them.
Make sure you vote 🗳️
Illegal immigration took it all I'm afraid
From your description, I take it you are not a British citizen? A lot of companies are wary of hiring foreigners due to the insane hoops they have to jump through thanks to our current government. This might change in a couple of weeks. The upshot is, unless they are despite, they won’t hire you. Personally, I think this is wrong, but I can see the company’s point of view.
They are. Become a teacher.
Sounds like you’ve got a pointless degree us taxpayers will get the bill for when you inevitably don’t pay it off. Cheers.
Plenty work out there. The problem is you need to get off your phone and stop refreshing indeed. Plenty groundwork jobs, trade jobs, labour jobs, van mate jobs. The problem is, people want to either work in retail or some cushy office or think they're going to be social media influencers. Go pick litter, plenty of them roles going too. Removal jobs are always going. But the problem is people don't want to graft, they want an easy life in a heated building where they can chat 💩 for hours and steal a wage.