The Unemployment Stage

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The plot thickens

I have since received a potentially suspicious email from them. Asking for information that an employer would only typically need after an employment has been confirmed. So I did some research and it turns out that it is quite out of the ordinary to ask for such documents before an interview. Now I am suspicious of their intentions as such information could be used for nefarious purposes. I will provide the necessary details, but I will skip the more suspicious categories. If they push for this information, then I will draw out. Although they otherwise look official, I cannot let my guard down here since there could be more to this case then meets the eye.

Be careful out there, folks.

Have you done research on the employer itself. About complaints about them? Have other people raised suspicions about them?

Are there any specialized employment agencies for your field?

How about the employment services at your university?

Dang what are you qualified to do?

Get a job agency?

Get any job? Ask anyone who asks you what their degree is? And if they got their job through placement tell them to try a different industry.

I decided the best course of action was to withdraw my application. Along with their suspicious behaviour, the job listing turned out to be rather misleading. Our talks confirmed that it was aimed at a-level students as an alternative to a-level, which was not the impression I had when reading the job listing. It wouldn't make a great deal of sense for me to pursue a qualification that is lesser than the one I already have. I am significantly overqualified for such a position. Yet in some ways underqualified (story of my life).

I'll find a solution. It's what I do. A friend did offer to pay me to make a portfolio for her business, she is an indie published game developer so that would look good on my CV. It could potentially get me started as a freelancer. So I am considering that.

I should probably clarify some things.

- Most jobs will not ask for GCSE certificates. They typically have a requirement of at least five GCSEs but tend not to chase up on the details of them (I have more than five so that's not an issue). The only reason they asked for this is because it turned out to be an a-level type qualification.

BTEC colleges and a-levels will ask for GCSEs, my BTEC college asked for them when I registered when I was sixteen. However, they still let me attend despite my D in maths (but I did have to retake the subject twice whilst I was there, to no improvement unfortunately). I studied web and multimedia at that level. This is the qualification level you get before going to University. Since I already have a 2:1 University degree, it wouldn't have made much sense to continue pursuing the application. If you count my college experience as well as my university experience (including my foundation year) then I've technically been studying design for about six years.

- In the UK, there are two types of apprenticeships. The first typically being aimed at 16 to 18 year old students looking to learn skills before going to university. However, the other type is aimed at university graduates searching for industry experience (this is less common though). Based on the job listing, it sounded like the latter, but after doing research it turned out to be the former kind of apprenticeship. Frankly I didn't know they were paying 16 year olds now to do such schemes. That's what threw me off.

- Due to the pandemic, I was unable to get as much industry experience as I would've typically had alongside my university degree. On design courses, you typically work alongside clients as well as work on your own projects. I missed out on a great deal of my degree because we were restricted to zoom and a great deal of businesses that would've usually paired with the university were struggling to keep afloat. It was no one's fault, just unfortunate timing for all of us.

- There are often lulls in the market. January is a popular time for job listings to appear. However, during the seasonal period (October - December) there is sometimes a lull in demand. Except in retail and customer support, there's an uptake in temporary placements for such jobs.

I've applied for a volunteer web design position. Hopefully I'll hear back on it, gaining more field experience would be good for my CV. It would give me something to do over the seasonal period. Of course I'll keep an eye out for paid positions as well, but the industry is quiet at the moment. I'd also like to do some animation practice since I have the time. I might look into customer support and retail - but it's certainly not my first choice.

There are people I know who have gotten clerical sorts of jobs to "get their foot in the door."

Then, they show off their specialized skills, and sometimes get hired to the job which reflects their specialized skills.

One example. This Indian guy I know was hired as a data entry operator. He started showing his bosses his skills with fixing and programming computers. Maybe two years later, he got hired as a programmer.

Well, I have some good news. I'm now a temporary web design volunteer for a charity. Unfortunately that does mean early mornings...but it also means having recent relevant field experience which would look good on my CV. Plus it could help me get back into a routine.

I meet the other volunteers on Monday.

Congratulations, Lost_dragon!!

I hope you enjoy the experience!!

Congratulations, Lost Dragon!

You certainly got it all covered, LostDragon!