Monday, January 02, 2006
Job hunting rant
In July I graduated with a 1st Class Honours B.A. in Religious and Theological Studies, achieving the highest average grade in the class and being awarded the Theodore Robinson Award for excellence in languages.
Since then I've been stuck working for a supermarket doing the most brain-dead and menial tasks possible. And now my store can't give me any more than part-time hours.
Oh, I've applied for various jobs. My C.V. is registered with just about every recuitment agency in Cardiff, as well as a few national ones. I thought I wanted to get myself on a finance-related graduate training program and I almost got into one at PwC, the world's biggest accounting firm. But my psychometric test scores, which I had prepared as best as I could for, were so crap that I realised I needed to think things through again. I've thought about going back into education, to perhaps continue my theological education to Masters and PhD level, or to do a fast-track program in Medicine, or Computer Science, or something else I have some sort of vague interest in. I'll keep thinking about what I'll do come September but in the mean time I'm praying and searching for something other than working behind a till. Apparently though, having a degree means you're less likely to even get an interview for a basic admin job than someone with no qualifications. Or there's always "essential criteria: minimum of X amount of admin experience". I swear admin experience must be something you buy on the black market in dark alleys in inner cities at night because I haven't found a vacancy yet that just wants someone who can learn quickly and work damn hard in a professional manner, and has a proven record for it.
I don't know where this rant is going but every monotonous and mindless shift I work at that place I'm more and more likely to totally flip out ninja-style go on a rampant killing spree.
Since then I've been stuck working for a supermarket doing the most brain-dead and menial tasks possible. And now my store can't give me any more than part-time hours.
Oh, I've applied for various jobs. My C.V. is registered with just about every recuitment agency in Cardiff, as well as a few national ones. I thought I wanted to get myself on a finance-related graduate training program and I almost got into one at PwC, the world's biggest accounting firm. But my psychometric test scores, which I had prepared as best as I could for, were so crap that I realised I needed to think things through again. I've thought about going back into education, to perhaps continue my theological education to Masters and PhD level, or to do a fast-track program in Medicine, or Computer Science, or something else I have some sort of vague interest in. I'll keep thinking about what I'll do come September but in the mean time I'm praying and searching for something other than working behind a till. Apparently though, having a degree means you're less likely to even get an interview for a basic admin job than someone with no qualifications. Or there's always "essential criteria: minimum of X amount of admin experience". I swear admin experience must be something you buy on the black market in dark alleys in inner cities at night because I haven't found a vacancy yet that just wants someone who can learn quickly and work damn hard in a professional manner, and has a proven record for it.
I don't know where this rant is going but every monotonous and mindless shift I work at that place I'm more and more likely to totally flip out ninja-style go on a rampant killing spree.
