When will someone take a chance on me?
Job-seeking blogger James Alexander is fed up of being told to 'just get a job' and just wants to be given a chance to shine.
Last week's blog about recruitment agencies seems to have stirred up a bit of controversy, including a response from a recruiter writes James Alexander.
I guess I should say outright here and now - I know it's tough for recruitment agencies too at the moment and that they can't create jobs – they can only do so much to help place you.
This is quite possibly the worst recession I've ever known. At thirty two I'm too young to remember the strikes and shortages of the seventies, and even the strikes of the eighties are a blur to me.
This is, by far, the longest I've ever been unemployed, and it's getting more and more disheartening as time goes on.
What makes it worse is when you hear people judge you for being out of work for so long.
I don't want to be in this situation; I hate not being able to provide properly for my family and it stings when I hear people call people in my position 'scroungers'.
'Just get a job' they say, like it's as easy as falling off a log.
The fact is, it isn't – there is very, very little available.
Worse still is that I seem to be falling into a catch-22 situation; if I go for a job I can do easily then I'm overqualified and they won't hire me because they think I'll leave within six months. Yet if I go for a job about the level I should be going for, then they won't hire me because I've been out of work for three years.
When you've filled in a four page application form, had a group interview and then a final interview it hurts when you don't get offered a job.
I've done isometric tests by the dozen, group interviews involving problem solving and presentations, face to face interviews – one firm even asked me to work for three hours one morning before deciding I wasn't right for them.
All I want is a job. I don't want anything that pays the earth, just enough to keep my head above water. I'm willing to move, I'm willing to travel, I'm willing to learn.
When will someone be willing to take a chance on me?
Read James' earlier articles in our careers blog
