I can’t get a job in the UK

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Hi everyone, i’m 22 and I live in the UK, I left college two years ago and I can’t get a job anywhere. It might sound like I’m exaggerating but I honestly can’t.
I did health and social care and performing arts at college and studied for 4 years. I have applied to care homes, nurseries, hospitals, hospices, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, shops, stacking shelves at supermarkets, office jobs, manufacturing jobs, you name it i’ve tried applying. I applied to McDonald’s as a last resort and I thought I had a shot at being hired there but even they wouldn’t hire me. I sometimes get interviews but I never get hired.
I’ve done a couple of courses to help me find employment and i’m still on one now but i’m still jobless. Even they seemed shocked when I said McDonald’s wouldn’t even take me on, it makes me feel embarassed.
Another thing that really annoys me is that people seem to just want me to volunteer instead of working to get experience. I’ve done work experience in nurseries and in offices so it’s not like I have zero experience.
I really don’t want to volunteer as I want to earn a wage and plan my life out like everyone else, i’m not looking down on it, my boyfriend volunteers and he’s starting an unpaid internship but for me personally it’s just not for me and I get sick of people telling me they’ll try and help employ me and then trying to just fob me off with unpaid work.
Anyway, sorry that this is a long rant but it’s starting to seem impossible to find a job even with all the help i’m getting, it feels like i’m getting nowhere. I’ve also applied for apprenticeships and things like that but I’ve not got anywhere with that either.

do you tell them you have aspergers? if so i think you deserve not to get a job. i would never tell anyone that you work for that you have aspergers. people do not want to have to deal with it. i was working in london and walking past an office block that is attached to my job. there was a young man, early twenties, smartly dressed and a woman outside the office on the pavement. the young man was sat on the pavement looking pissed off and moanly like a child about how someone in there was not supposed to be doing something that he did not like. and the woman was leaning over him, angrily trying to get him to come back in and work. the problem with some aspies is that they are just a major problem to everyone. i sort of let on to the people at teh same job that i may have this problem. they didnt give a s**t. i said that my problem with socialising was becuase of this. they didnt give a s**t. they kept telling me, i have to try and get on. the truth was, i did not like any of those people, i knew that i would never be able to get on with them, i knew they were s**t and wouldnt change and that any effort i put in was wasted. i weathered the storm and left when i was supposed to, i had a year there as a trainee. i completed the year and got the f**k out of dodge. those people were s**t and will always be that way.when you are at work and there are people there that do not like you, you are f****d regardless of what you do. so if there are any issues that you have, you should sort them before starting work or learn how to deal with the s**t they will give you. if you dont have a sociallising problem then why tell them you have aspergers/autism. it will only go against you. i dont care what anyone on here says, it will go against you. you will be damn lucky to find an employer that will take you on and fall over themselves trying to help you. goodluck with that. otherwise, people struggle all the time to find work. i wanted to work in television. if you know anything aboiut that industry you will know the struggle ahead of you. if you think you have it bad try getting work in television. anyway i tried, knowing the mountain before me was bigger than any i had climbed before. i started on the journey of contacting people, fishing for anything that i could. twos days after starting i got a lead, a phone number from the head of a department on the uks most popular tv show. i called and spoke to a recruitment person. they took my cv and had a chat. two months later i was working. so now i say things like, getting work in the television industry is simple because for me, it was! i dont have anything special. and i did not tell them i had aspergers. i just called the right person at the right time and that was it. that is what getting a job is all about. you have to let people know you are available, that is rule one. two, you have to be aiming for something you can get and do! i was aiming at a position as an electrician in the lighting department. i had electrical background and qualifications. it was a trainee position, not an expert position. if you want to work in care, then contact a manager, not a secretary. talk to the person that will be your boss or supervisor. try to come across keen. DONT BEG! tell them about your training/knowledge of the job. where you want to go, ask how you could start. ask them what could you offer them that they require? see if you can get a few days working for free to see what it is like, this will let them see you at work. volunteering in the wrong place is a waste of time, but in the right place could make a world of difference.

That's unfortunate, but not uncommon these days. I myself was 21 before getting my first job that I actually got paid for and that was after a half a year of unpaid work in that place. Even in my current place I did three months of unpaid training before getting an actual job... they might have made me work unpaid for longer, but I made it clear that I'll look elsewhere if I won't get paid after the three months. What I'm trying to say is that you could try to work unpaid for a few months somewhere and if they don't want to hire you properly then you could leave and try elsewhere. Job hunting is hard and serious business, so don't feel down even though you haven't gotten one yet!

Hi, yes it is very difficult, I left college and subsequently started a retail job and couldn't get on with that through lack of company training and extremely long hours. Obviously, if you're not worried about your hours, there are a lot of paid professions, whereby you can get apprenticeships, like hospitals. Mackies, is not somewhere you want to persevere as a profession, as they are extremely biased and rude towards their workers, often putting migrants in charge of students. Basically, you need to start off small, and build on recommendations and job experiences to get a lead into the job market. My dad has been working for a manufacturer for close to forty years, and believe me, the amount he gets put upon, he may as well be made redundant now and start retirement early, they rely on experienced workers as the work is often time consuming and mundane, with very little thanks at the end of the day. Most jobs can be like this but the longer the hours, you need a mindset of solid steel to get through the run of the mill and make it back in one piece. Most are dying off trades now, like these industries that are slowly being killed off.

You mentioned nurseries, they are very particular, and rely on good solid references for unpaid work, which I got through my education and character built contacts. Also, they often need a four year contact base with your colleagues in order to firm up a picture of the kind of person they have coming into their heavily safeguarding establishment. As are most professions concerning the young, old and the vulnerable. There are first aid courses you can try to get somewhere in this field, along with the active references, as most of these places can benefit from having more than one Paediatric First Aider and be on hand to help. My reasons are they are expensive and start too early in other towns and I have to rely on many modes of transport which is unreliable and untrustworthy.
I have and am active on online schemes that further my interest but a CPD although valid for three years, needs the backing of a child diploma, apprenticeship etc, to get fully noticed, and at your age, you could take up one.

In order to build up safe, non biased, genuine character traits, you need to offer them what your capability set is, and try and reinforce that into the workplace. It could be light office admin tasks or a good rapport with kids that gets you noticed. I know it seems tedious, but if you can secure the references and that is something you have to do, then you will gain further insight and experience into a field of potential professional expertise.
What you did at college, might help you later, it all depends on where you want to go with it in order to find greater happiness and self esteem rather, than doing it for the money.

Please read this to gain understanding. It is not intended to maky you dissapointed. It is intended to give you an insight into the employers thoughts and experiences.

For all people ggetting the first job can be the most difficult as more and more businesses and companies feel that the qualification system is failing them as a reliable sourch to find good employees, so they look at experience rather then ones qualifications. It is likely to be why you have been given the advice to volunteer somewhere so you can prove your usefullness to them. For an employer, as the education industry has had many mixed standards and the employers probably don't know much about which courses are easier to pass then others, they tend not to want to take risks to employ someone without evidence to show that one is employable.

Don't give up but they are offering you very good advice. Try volunteering while you are job hunting so you have some substance behind you. I know it is hard work for no money. But it is not for long. Time soon goes, and it may help you get the ideal job!

Good luck. And never ever give up hope. And also, even if you don't think you will get a position apply anyway. You stand a chance by applying. You stand no chance if you don't apply.

However. Do you know a family member or relation, or good family friend who knows you who maybe an employer or knows a manager or has con ections to a company? This is an ideal way to bypass the no experience situation because the person can personally recommend you based on knowing your character first hand. It's just a thought.