Advice on CV & job hunting

[VdMfamily]

Hi everyone

 

having been recently made redundant from my job after 2.5yrs I am now on the lookout for a new role.

 

I think I've probably applied for 70+ jobs and just seem to be getting no where. I have worked in admin for 15yrs but seems I can't even get an interview for a reception position. Of all the jobs I've applied for I've maybe had 10% of companies reply. I've had one interview and they never got back to me (I must've been awful lol) and even then it was more of a casual chat and they didn't seem to ask anything relevant to my skills or the position.

 

Ive redone my CV and cover letter but am now thinking do I need to pay a professional to go over the cv to tell me where I'm going wrong... I've also registered with some temp agencies and even they say they have nothing.

 

Its all very disheartening and seems to be a who you know culture (I don't know many people so that won't help me)

 

sorry to Moan just wanted to vent and let it out.

[soo_the_panda]

Hi, when you've applied for a job do you call the recruiter and have a chat? Admin roles often attract 100's of CVs and when I've been recruiting often the stand out candidates are those who make the effort to do more than just submit their application, but actually call to have a chat, ask any (smart) questions and make a connection.

[VdMfamily]

I'll sure give that a try, thank you

[NicF]

First mistake I can see is that you have redone your covering letter and CV, suggesting that you send the same one out for each application. You should be writing a new covering letter for each job and potentially even adjusting your CV for each position as well. If a job has specified selection criteria then you need to ensure that you specifically address those selection criteria in your application by giving examples of how you have done those things. You can even do this by having headings for each of the criteria. When places are getting lots of applications for one job you be sure that at least some of the people applying will have spent two or three days writing an application for that job and these people will stand out when CVs are being filtered. Sometimes it's not about who is the best person for the job but who wrote the best applicaiton for the job.

 

The other thing I would suggest is try and get some temp or casual work somewhere (all three Unis take on casual staff) and don't be afraid of applying for fixed term positions. Often places will take someone on as a casual first and if they are a good fit for the organisation they will end up with something longer term. And remember it's not you. Even with the best application in the world sometimes there will be someone with slightly more experience applying, or someone that already works in the organisation. A lot of employers here prefer the devil they know to the one they don't unfortunately. Good luck.

[VdMfamily]

Oh sorry, yes I do a new cover letter tailored to each job. I meant I've reformatted the way my cv read. Will have a look at the Uni websites. Thank you