I can't find a job for a long time

2023 Author: Katelyn Chandter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:08

Career is one of the most important areas in which we want to feel successful. That is why the situation “I can't find a job for a long time” can be very difficult emotionally and sometimes even traumatic.

What are the reasons for this situation? What to do with it and how to live this terrible, adult life in general?

Let's figure it out.

Global reasons why you can't find a job

1. One of the most common reasons is age. You can be yesterday's student who fell into the "student trap": I want to get a job - they don't take it, because there is no experience - to get experience, you need to get a job. Below I will tell you what you can do about it.

2. Or the opposite situation: you have been working for fifteen years, you have rich professional experience, you have eaten in your field not only a dog, but a whole kennel, and now you, all so beautiful, decided to change your job, and … You are not hired.

They invite you for interviews, they enthusiastically admire such a brilliant specialist, they say "we will call you back" - and dully, like in a tank. This is age discrimination and is a common reason for a long job search.

3. If a girl has entered our site: childbearing age is a red rag for the employer.

It is believed that for any girl in the first place is the family, so an eighteen-year-old will jump out to get married in six months, a twenty-year-old will only get a job and immediately on maternity leave, the mother of a small child will constantly take sick leave, and if the children are already adults - granny, so it's high time for you at the cemetery!

And they don't believe that they spat from a high mountain on a family and children, and your role model all your life was Miranda Priestley from The Devil Wears Prada.

4. The market is highly competitive. Heard that in the nineties everyone rushed to get legal and economic education? As a result, there was a monstrous oversaturation of the market, and it became almost impossible to get a job in a specialty that only recently seemed so tempting and promising. I had to retrain or sigh for years “for a long time I can't find a job, and this was such a promising specialty”.

Now, for example, there is high competition in areas related to blogging. People have sensed that there is a lot of money spinning there, and now they are struggling to catch the rapidly departing train of earning money in social networks. And this is becoming more difficult every day - the competition is increasing.

5. Actually, you don't need it. No, you send out your resume, monitor job search sites, read articles with the title “I can't find a job for a long time”, sigh on this topic in conversations with friends … And yet, you don’t need it on a subconscious level.

No, no, wait to be offended! I do not mean at all that this is something bad.

Perhaps you initially chose the wrong specialty under pressure from your parents, few of us are able to decide on an occupation for life at the age of seventeen.

Perhaps you just burned out during your hard study and now you would just sleep off to start, and then think about what to do with your life.

Perhaps you actually feel comfortable in the role of a householder in general, but you cannot admit it under the pressure of society.

Or, on the contrary, you would like to do business, but you’re scared, and you are looking for “an ordinary job like everyone else,” again, under pressure from society.

There can be many reasons for a subconscious unwillingness to find a job, and no one has the right to blame you for this.

Technical mistakes in job search

Here I will tell you about the mistakes that you make in your behavior during the search. The good news is that you can fix them quite easily and quickly.

1. You demand too much and you can offer too little. Alas, even if you graduated from the university with honors, the teachers said only good things about you all the way, and in general, mom thinks that you are smart - this does not mean that you will be immediately offered a hefty salary, work close to home, a friendly team, and sexy secretary.

No, healthy ambition is great. The ability to appreciate yourself is also just super, a very useful quality. But one more thing must be added to them: the willingness to plow in order to achieve their ambitious goals. Sorry, no one said it would be easy.

2. You send the same resume to all vacancies. Yes, this is a mistake, the resume should be individual for each specific employer.

Look: your job is to get hired. That is, so that they see in you a person who can be useful.

Even in a similar field, employers will demand different things. Someone has a young team, and someone is older, someone is looking for an initiative, and someone is an obedient performer.

Or let's say that two companies require a manager. The responsibilities are similar, the level of power is similar, but one needs a strategist who can think through the company's activities for years to come and foresee all the risks, and the second needs a tactician who is able to act in stressful situations and make quick decisions.

It goes without saying that the summary in each case must be different. This does not mean a lie, get it right. I mean, show each employer different sides of your multifaceted personality. You're a diamond! Emerald! Ruby! Mom's pie!

3. Incorrect interview behavior. What mistakes could they be?

• You are too ingratiating and flattering rudely;
• It can be seen that you did not prepare for the interview, you speak with stereotyped phrases that can be applied to any company, it is clear that you have not studied your potential employer and do not know the specifics of his activities. HR here can reason simply: if he is too lazy to surf the Internet for an extra half hour and prepare for what he himself needs, then it is clear which employee will be.
• You allow yourself to behave "downright". Like, of course, I have a much higher qualification, pf, but so be it, I will deign to you, mere mortals, from the height of my professional experience, but we all understand here that you are a passing option for me, right?
• First, this behavior is repulsive. Secondly, this is just the same sign of unprofessionalism. Professionalism is also upbringing, and if you put yourself in a dialogue too high or too low in relation to the interlocutor, this is a sign of either bad upbringing or poor self-esteem. Both that, and another leads to the situation "for a long time I can not find a job, I eat the last doshirak."
• Self-doubt and inability to sell oneself, present oneself in a favorable light. It can come from a lack of communication, natural modesty, but you never know the reasons. Don't worry, it can be learned.
• Unkempt appearance. Yes, even for an interview for a position that does not require communication with people, you need to come clean-shaven, in neat clothes and smelling good.

4. You are not using all communication channels. Job search is not about lazy browsing between skating rinks. If you are looking for a job, everyone should know about it, including the neighbor's cat Marusya.

5. Social networks are the modern face of man. Perhaps yours compromise you. For example, a friend of mine had photos and videos from her half-dance classes (pole dancing, and yes, semi-erotic, which is already there). She ate my baldness on the topic “I can't find a job for a long time, what am I doing wrong, well ?!”, but I didn't know how to hint so tactfully …

What to do with all this: recommendations

1. To begin with, I suggest that you engage in introspection.

Why is this useful?

First, a purely practical benefit: you will formulate for yourself the answers to typical questions like "how can you be useful to our company?" and "what are your strengths and weaknesses." It will be easier to fill out a resume and answer an interview.

Secondly, perhaps you will realize that you did the wrong thing from the beginning, and hence your failures.

So, sit down and try to answer the following questions in any form convenient for you:

• Who am i? Start with the phrase "I am the person who …"
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What is important to me in life? Personal ambitions, health of loved ones, creative self-realization?
• What motivates me to work? For example, a feeling of one's own indispensability, a feeling that work is useful for people, a feeling of joy and pleasure from the process itself?
• What inspires me to work? For example, positive reviews, material rewards, the very kind of quality work done.
• What are my skills and knowledge? What is my professional experience?
• What do I want? Remember that we are talking here not only about vertical career growth, but also about horizontal one, for example, you want to eventually move from the office to a remote job and perform the same duties, but without these nasty people around.

It may happen that, after answering these questions, you will understand that you were initially looking for a job in the wrong place, you will change your search area, and you will no longer face the problem “I can't find a job for a long time”.

2. The main thing in the summary:

• A separate resume for each specific vacancy with an emphasis on what is required for this or that employer.
• Specific achievements, preferably with numbers. Saving achievements for an interview is a mistake, you need to report them right away, this is your trump card.
• “I have done, I have implemented, I have developed” - makes a positive impression as an active person with many achievements.
• It should be perfectly licked, without a single typo, neatly designed. Your resume is your face for HR and your future employer, until you see it firsthand, and it must be flawless.
• Better to do it in PDF format or make a one-page business card site, it is more convenient for HR, and he will appreciate that you care about its convenience.

3. Make yourself a portfolio so that you can show the employer the concrete results of your work. For example, in the format of a one-page site. You can attach it to your resume, it will pleasantly impress the employer.

4. On a business card site, you can place posts-synopses of books and articles on the specialty that you have read. Yes, reading materials on a specialty is useful. So you stay “in the subject”, continue to develop, and by posting notes on the site, you let the employer understand this. Plus, with the help of abstracts, the material is really remembered better.

5. Interview. You should be on it:

• In time;
• Look neat and smell good;
• Behave as an equal. As a person who can benefit the company, a competent and pleasant future colleague. Do not curry favor, do not be inert (oh, well, I don’t know what I want from work, oh, I don’t know what my goals are, oh, I don’t know, my mother made me look for a job, can I go);
• Prepared. Refresh your memory of your specialty, key terms, and go through research in your field to give the impression of a competent employee.

6. If you are a yesterday's student - write in your resume about your student achievements. What conferences and Olympiads did you participate in? What topics did you write scientific papers on? What projects did you defend? This is also a kind of experience, a marker for the employer that you know how to twist information to your advantage and really understand the topic, and not beat the thumbs up for five years in a row.

7. If there is no study experience either (for example, you are looking for a job outside your specialty), your way out is internships. Yes, this means a tiny salary or no salary at all, but this is the very invaluable experience and acquaintances in the field. If you try, you will be noticed, not noticed, so you will earn an additional line in your resume.

8. Take unofficial part-time jobs in your field to gain experience, reputation and acquaintances.

9. Don't announce your desired salary right away. First, you explain how you are beneficial for the company, and only then talk about money. There were cases when the employer initially planned to pay less, but he was convinced by the employee's self-presentation. Plus, try to find out how much they are ready to offer you, otherwise you may not fall into the salary bracket.

10. If all else fails, either lower the requirements or change the area (perhaps you have already decided to do this at the stage of introspection).

So, “I can't find a job for a long time” is a big problem that can be very emotional. But it has reasons and solutions, and you will definitely cope with it. I believe in you. May the Force be with you, young Padawan!