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Lost_dragon
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01 Jun 2022, 10:26 am

You know what's absurd? The job market. However, more specifically, the world of volunteering. You think, oh I'll volunteer to gain experience for my CV so I can appeal to employers. Unfortunately, everyone else is thinking that as well and suddenly you're back to competing. For a position that doesn't even pay.

Recently I was turned down from a volunteer position due to a lack of experience. A lack of experience. Which is just plain silly. They told me they didn't want to put the resources into training me, but it was one of the most basic jobs. It could've easily been a quick conversation. Listen, if I can animate in JavaScript then I can manage a spreadsheet and send some emails. Yes, I haven't dealt with customer calls before, but I could easily memorise such protocol if you gave me the chance.

Fortunately, I'm already volunteering elsewhere. Thankfully no one has stolen my tasks (which has happened in previous volunteer positions before) and the company is rather quick to respond. Still, I had to jump through a whole bunch of hoops to even get there. I had to send my CV, my portfolio, I had to write an essay about why I value their company. All so I could work for free. It's tiring.

Even in an interview I had for a paid position, they had the cheek to ask if I'd consider volunteering for them. No. If I'm good enough that you'll sit me down in a room and interview me, then I'm good enough for you to pay me in money. Not exposure. Money. It's especially annoying when recruiters get in touch and tell me to apply to something, only for them to turn around and say yeah no we're looking for five years of experience. This is an entry level position, five years experience would make it senior (or at the very least middleweight). You want five years? Put it in the description. Don't waste our time. You have things to do and so do I.

I'm now looking for paid retail work as well as design roles. My initial attempt to get into admin work backfired but I may keep applying for such roles as well. I know my generation is stereotyped as lazy but I think many of us are trying the best we can. A shame I couldn't end this one on a more positive note but...I'm just tired.


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klanka
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01 Jun 2022, 11:42 am

Was the volunteer job in coding?

Recruiters tend to just scan my CV for keywords and then say i'd be a 'good fit for an upcoming role' when i'm not. It is annoying.

I'm doing cleaning temporarily, it is good as they just leave me alone to clean the room ...i listen to my music then go home :)



Lunella
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01 Jun 2022, 1:10 pm

To be honest in this day and age you kind of just have to BS a bit, I had to otherwise I would have literally got no where. And you need to find a CV company or a friend or anyone to write a CV for you because there's a hell of a lot of technical HR wording you have to get right for them to even consider you.

I will give you an example from my old CV, feel free to steal it I couldn't give a s**t I have my own business now but this kind of stuff used to get me in the door at most places. Oh one tip though "the process" is everything at these companies. Mention how you will drop dead and do anything for the sacred process at these companies.

Key Achievements
In-depth knowledge of Warehouse Management Systems, supported and worked alongside users checking/configuring their set up on site remotely, informed them exactly where the issue lies, whist maintaining high call standards, maintaining number of call statistics, and continually leading.

Diagnosing technical issues, sending out clear concise information, the correct recommendations to solve the issues, carrying out first level fixes, followed by root cause analysis if required.

Timely response to tickets with in house ticketing system whilst liaising with relevant teams to manage incidents in accordance with customer’s guidelines and escalation procedures, ensuring SLA’s were met and any impact was identified early to minimize any outages, and all teams/clients kept up to date on progress/resolution.

Systematic application of root cause analysis to identify solutions to customer issued task alerts and provide rapid communication of responses to appropriate internal team or clients on timely basis.

Kept all databases, documents, spreadsheets up to date, ensuring all work instructions were standardised and easy to follow. Ensured assets and server information was maintained and correct.

Made sure Operational Processes were up to date, created new processes as standardised Work Instructions, ensured processes were followed correctly, and knowledge transferred to colleagues.


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shortfatbalduglyman
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01 Jun 2022, 4:03 pm

An unpaid internship arranged through a community college required three professional references and it told me that it phoned all three of them

Plenty of unpaid internships and volunteer jobs have had the nerve to reject my worthless corpse.

Sometimes they tell me that I don't have the job skills. Even in jobs without many job skills

Maybe they just say that because they don't like my demeanor

The company could do anything, legal or illegal, and unless you win a civil lawsuit, you can't do anything about it

Based on your description it sounds to me like th company did nothing illegal or even unusual



Lost_dragon
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01 Jun 2022, 5:07 pm

On the plus side, I did (after posting this thread) hear back from one of my paid job applications. I was sent a message asking if I was still interested. Hopefully this means they're looking to set up an interview.

klanka wrote:
Was the volunteer job in coding?

Recruiters tend to just scan my CV for keywords and then say i'd be a 'good fit for an upcoming role' when i'm not. It is annoying.


No, it wasn't in coding. The role was handling spreadsheets (keeping information organised) replying to emails and answering the phone. Receptionist / Admin work. My point was that I definitely have enough of background in tech that I could've easily taken on this role. They were claiming that it would take too many resources to teach me how to do the job.

shortfatbalduglyman wrote:

Based on your description it sounds to me like the company did nothing illegal or even unusual


Yup. Nothing illegal but definitely disappointing and annoying.


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klanka
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02 Jun 2022, 1:56 am

Yeah that is laughable. I can imagine doing the spreadsheet job for no money would just make me angry. so I wouldn't be able to do it just for something to go on my CV.



Dial1194
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07 Jun 2022, 12:26 am

I'm glad internships here are all paid by law. With volunteering, I wouldn't put up with all that nonsense. Either you want an extra warm body or you don't.



PheonixDove
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12 Jun 2022, 3:29 pm

Lost_dragon wrote:
You know what's absurd? The job market. However, more specifically, the world of volunteering. You think, oh I'll volunteer to gain experience for my CV so I can appeal to employers. Unfortunately, everyone else is thinking that as well and suddenly you're back to competing. For a position that doesn't even pay.

Recently I was turned down from a volunteer position due to a lack of experience. A lack of experience. Which is just plain silly. They told me they didn't want to put the resources into training me, but it was one of the most basic jobs. It could've easily been a quick conversation. Listen, if I can animate in JavaScript then I can manage a spreadsheet and send some emails. Yes, I haven't dealt with customer calls before, but I could easily memorise such protocol if you gave me the chance.

Fortunately, I'm already volunteering elsewhere. Thankfully no one has stolen my tasks (which has happened in previous volunteer positions before) and the company is rather quick to respond. Still, I had to jump through a whole bunch of hoops to even get there. I had to send my CV, my portfolio, I had to write an essay about why I value their company. All so I could work for free. It's tiring.

Even in an interview I had for a paid position, they had the cheek to ask if I'd consider volunteering for them. No. If I'm good enough that you'll sit me down in a room and interview me, then I'm good enough for you to pay me in money. Not exposure. Money. It's especially annoying when recruiters get in touch and tell me to apply to something, only for them to turn around and say yeah no we're looking for five years of experience. This is an entry level position, five years experience would make it senior (or at the very least middleweight). You want five years? Put it in the description. Don't waste our time. You have things to do and so do I.

I'm now looking for paid retail work as well as design roles. My initial attempt to get into admin work backfired but I may keep applying for such roles as well. I know my generation is stereotyped as lazy but I think many of us are trying the best we can. A shame I couldn't end this one on a more positive note but...I'm just tired.


It's a frustrating experience at the best of times! I had a similar experience recently when searching for graduate jobs, as well as applying for internships when I was at university (if anything the internships were even more competitive).

When I was finally offered a job, it was all a bit out of the blue - I think they were simply willing to give me a chance and look past my lack of experience (relative to their expectations). Although I know that the company is in the process of recruiting heavily right now, rather than just offering one or two roles.

I think that's all a lot of us want, just to be given a chance to show that we are perfectly capable and skilled for the job.

It sounds like you're working hard and doing everything you can. It will pay off eventually, I'm sure of it.