I didn't get rejected SHOCK

Sometimes the JobHungryGrad really has to pinch herself. This often occurs when I've received rejection letters from companies I haven't even applied for or been invited to job interviews. This is such a rare occurance that sometimes JobHungryGrad's partner need to get the smelling salts out to revive her before she has the energy to blog about receiving an invite. Seeing as I don't often get job offers (it's the nature of the role of being constantly JobHungry) I rarely register shock at getting a job offer. Let's just say I'm out of practice.

So my initial reaction was this:

How do I celebrate a feeling other than rejection?

I have a job offer. Interesting new concept.

Relief: it's all over now (apart from the need to  apply for extra income part time job

But this is the anger for all the grads out there who are still wasting their wonderful young lives trying to find the elusive job of their dreams. Don't give up. Fierce determination. Pride. And lots of love from JobHungryGrad. 

How to get a job? Top recruiters reveal industry secrets

Because I've been feeling a little fed up with getting nowhere at all on the job application front, I decided to do a little bit of interviewing for graduate advice. I asked three top recruiting agencies what their advice was when it came to graduates who were just trying to get their feet in the doors.

"You find a lot of graduates with lots of experience in one area, be it university events or sport organisation blindly applying for sales jobs. They think they have the skills, but if they aren't passionate about earning money and reaching targets then they'll never get that job. Transferable skills aren't really valued any more. Instead, you need blind, focused experience."

What about for those grads who just aren't sure what they want and are trying to make their minds up in a difficult job market?

"Those sorts of grads won't get jobs in today's market. The market is so competitive these days that you won't get a job if you just want to 'try it out'. I advise all grads who aren't sure what they want to do to complete some kind of internship or unpaid work placement so they can get a real taste for the field they want to go into".

On average, how many job applications do you get per job? 

"Well, obviously it completely depends, but often no fewer than 800 per job. Often the numbers push into the thousands for the more popular jobs."

And how do recruiters whittle down 1000 to 1?

"By reading and evaluating applications carefully and eradicating ones with silly mistakes or those with not enough experience." 

Are you sure that they don't just throw half in the bin to reduce numbers, I jokingly asked?

"Of course not." Icy silence.

So how do people get that elusive job then?

"By having exceptional amounts of experience, a CV that stands out, and an excellent degree result."

How do graduates get lots of experience?

"By doing unpaid work experience."

And how do they afford that when they come out of university with lots of debt?

"I know, the job market is incredibly tough right now. But graduates will just have to take a further loan out, or ask their parents for more help to get the experience."

What's the most common mistake graduates make on applications?

"Apart from strange punctuation sometimes, it's sending out the same generic CV and covering letter to every employer. More time needs to be spent on these CVs. If you're going to be competing against 1000 other applicants, it really has to be top notch. Also, graduates often apply for events assistants after working in events at university. It just isn't the same. You need more experience."

Any tips or advice?

"Don't forget, in this market, you're often competing against people who have been made redundant in these areas. A lot of the time senior events managers are applying for junior jobs, editors are applying for editorial assistantships. You have to be very, very good to stand out.".

I thanked them all for their time. 

JobHungryGrad says enough when...

...When I get rejected from a job I didn't even apply for. For some reason I had an email in my inbox telling me that Deutsche Bank were unable to continue my application for the position of Analyst.

Well, er great?

How has it come to this?

Are companies actively seeking me out just to send me rejection letters for kicks?

Deutsche Bank: at least let me spend three days writing and perfecting my application to you before you reject me next time!

Pret: Just be thankful...

Thankful though I am to be allowed to nest in the corner of Pret a Manger eating Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar hand cooked crisps and drinking Americanos, one thing the JobHungryGrad is very grateful for is not having to work at Pret.

Here is some insane job related information about Pret:

• Apparently Pret employs 1 in 14 applicants, which is an insanely small number. 
• Pret employees have to demonstrate that they are 'inwardly happy with themselves'. 
• Mystery shoppers use Pret once a week. When I worked at a very well known restaurant chain we were threatened with mystery shoppers all the time but we never got one once, because we never had any feedback from them.

Nobody who works at Pret can be inwardly happy. Is anybody really inwardly happy? Am I being a miserable JHG whose just jealous of people who work at Pret because they're employed?

 Maybe. 

When an interview goes tits up

Excuse my French, but when I showed up for an interview this morning (after guessing where it was because I hadn't got an invite) I was given a task that I should have been given the weekend to prepare for but they forgot to send me the email.

God knows if I'll get the job, but in that situation, JobHungryGrad suggests that you smile, remain polite and just grit your teeth. Don't worry, you're not totally worthless, it's just the interviewer is super busy and the reality is, you are at the bottom of the pile, but it's imperative that you remain professional and try not to let it panic you. Perhaps it was all intentional, perhaps this is the interviewer's way of putting you under pressure.

With one interview down, and one to go tomorrow morning that I want more than anything in the world, I'm feeling good.

I'm preparing for tomorrows interview by memorizing why they're hiring, what the job will entail and scenarios that I've undertaken that will fit the brief. I always get a little concerned when the brief is so vague. I easily fit the criteria, and presumably so do one million and one other people. So how I was chosen for interview, I'm not sure. What will mark me out as better, I don't know.

I've just got to keep trying and remind myself to live in the moment, just in case tomorrow goes tits up too.

Monday morning and the quest for blue and white enamel

This morning felt a little Joycian. I had decided to task myself with recording exactly how a JobHungryGrad feels on a Monday morning, when the rest of the world has disappeared off to their offices and places of learning, and is left at the kitchen table drinking tea in front of their red laptop.

Next to me is a small pile of crusts (I have not yet reached the depths of unemployed graduate poverty that I will willingly eat the crusts of a week old gluten-free loaf). My left hand's ring finger is sticky with marmalade, so I am taking care not to allow it to touch the keyboard. My tea is simmering in a white and blue enamel mug. And what a mug. It is a fabulous, light, unbreakable mug which started my quest to replenish my crockery stash with a row of blue and white enamel mugs hanging off hooks in our new kitchen. (http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/camping-equipment/plates-enamel-wear.html)

My excitement was fueled by the discovery that it's also possible to buy a classic blue and white enamel pie dish and a classic enamel Billy Can. The Billy Can I can understand, but who goes camping and bakes a pie? How do you bake a pie in a tent? All the more questions for the JobHungryGrad to query during the long week ahead.

Otherwise, I feel happy. I had an incredible weekend, and and have an invite to interview tomorrow. It's unlikely I'll get it and the hours are long and yes, it's based in an office, but it fits my schedule and I crave human interaction.

I went to an incredible coffee shop in Shoreditch yesterday (www.weekendnotes.co.uk/fix-126-cafe-shoreditch-it's got the best coffee in the whole of London) and sat down with my boyfriend to make a comprehensive list of everything I want to achieve this week. I stayed up until midnight last night writing article updates and then this morning have decided to finish writing my chapter on Budapest in my book. I job hunted before my toast and marmalade, found nothing because it was 7am and will resume the search later this afternoon.

If there's one job hunting lesson I learnt last week it was that just searching for jobs can drain the energy and the life out of your short time on earth. The reason I left the civil service was because I wanted more time to write and because I didn't like the painfully hierarchical and unpleasant structure. Why waste my new found free time trying to conform it to the constraints of a working day? I work best early in the morning and late at night so why try to impose a 9-5 structure when it didn't really work before? Surely the middle of the days should be for doing things, seeing things I wouldn't usually get to see, walking around in circles and catching up on writing?

I quit my graduate job because I needed some space to work out my path but also to work on my path. I can't forget that like I did last week.