Steak Pie
Striker
Excellent story that, well done mate.Christ what a year and a half it has been. I never did get that recruitment job I interviewed for. In fact I didn't get a full time grad job at all until the following April (8 months later). Despite applying for all the jobs people on here suggested, I even got a free careers counsellor through a charity, I found it impossible to get anywhere.
Moved down to London last November as I said I was planning to the post, luckily a friend worked in the building trade and got me a bottom of the rung labourers job as I couldn't get anything else - which saved me to be honest. I worked as a labourer through the next couple of lockdowns as nobody was hiring. It was tough physical backbreaking work, but I don't mind that - it was good to be doing something to be honest. The pay is alright as well because you work such long hours (12 hour days, 6/7 days a week). The lads I worked with were class as well, most of them didn't speak any English but they worked harder then anyone i've ever seen. I did a course to become a slinger, which paid significantly more towards the end as well.
I total I think I must of applied for over 250 jobs and had maybe 20 or so interviews? But the market just wasn't there at all. I have a masters from Cambridge and a decent CV (which I made sure i tailored to every job I applied for etc.), but I wasn't even getting close to jobs as people with years of experience in the industry were applying for grad/ trainee jobs. Eventually a company in the industry I most wanted to work in, who I interviewed with in January for an unpaid internship (which I didn't get, as I was competing with others), rang me up and asked if I'd do a three paid internship with them. A month and a half into that they hired me as a graduate, which is where I am today. The good news is that 7 months in I love me job so much, I enjoy the work I do and the company/ people are class - couldn't be happier.
Now it's all about getting my head down and racking up experience and qualifications, I feel like that first job in any industry in the hardest?
After graduating I couldn't get onto the career I wanted so spent 5 months working nights on a road gang, basically hitting asphalt with a massive hammer on the M62. Still look back on those days with fondness, although I doubt I could have done it for years. None of the gang I worked on could speak English either, they were from Co.Mayo......
I ended up getting a trainee accountancy job with the same firm. The first step is definitely the hardest, just try to hoover up as much knowledge and experience as you can.
