Looking for a job is a full time job.

I saw you post this just as I was going to bed. I was going to leave it until tomorrow but I can't sleep so here I am. I used to be one of those people that offered jobs with nine pages of largely superfluous rubbish required and much of it was because Local Authority/Civil Service/LEA jobs double as a statistics gathering exercise. The first thing that all Governmental organisations are expected to do is to recruit on a fair and open basis. This means that every applicant applies, is selected for interview and appointed on equal terms with other applicants. Ethnicity, sexuality, equal opportunities for example are there largely because the Government wants to know the demographic make up of the public sector labour force. It wants to ensure that it is attracting a good cross section of society. These figures get passed to the Government in what are called Annual Stewardship Reports and the data therein eventually finds its way to the UK Statistics Authority and is used to demonstrate achievement against UK national Governmental targets. Of course most of the stuff you fill in on the forms is relevant to the job you applied for. In the main the questions that you are asked are what are called "competency based". Rather than ask closed questions such as " have you ever poured custard to 300 juniors in 60 minutes", for which a correct answer might be "yes". Truthful, but doesn't tell the interview board much about your experience; they ask more open questions "please can you give an example of your experience of working in a restaurant environment, what was your role" and etc. The theory is that these give you wider scope to provide a more detailed answer that they can test against other applicants. I am not an advocate of these types of questionnaires for many non clerical jobs. They are, as you say, complicated and frustrating, and in reality I suspect not examined in too much depth. When I have been selecting staff I have always been more interested in relevant experience and enthusiasm for the job applied for, than anything else. One point about equal opportunities though. Organisations want to ensure that people that they employ are able to understand the importance of equal opportunities and diversity in the workforce. That's also why they ask the question in addition to satisfying the Government that they are recruiting on a fair an open basis. I never thought that I would have to explain that again in my life. I hope that it was of some use. At least as an explanation. What it doesn't answer is why employers expect the earth from you but don't give it in return or why they treat people that are not currently in the 9-5 routine as a lesser life force. I was always happy to have people with your type of background. You can work around childcare etc if needs be. They were frequently better organisers and managers intuitively than some of those that we paid a small fortune for in training.

I can offer you a job that is FREE to join and you can make some nice money. You don't need waste money, but you have to put some work into it. But it will pay. Let me know if want to check it out. have a great day! send me a message.. and we can talk more about it.

Hello pumpkinjam, how are you doing? Well, as for looking for a job is work. It's lots of work because you have to fill our forms and things. Have you considered going to a job/temporary agency? They help you get jobs a lot of time. You could also look in the paper or on the internet. I think they just want to see if you would fit them for the job, otherwise they may not wnt you to work there. Pablo

I completely understand what you are going through and i feel for you. I had been a stay at home mom for the past two years and finally found a job. I've been working there for only a week, but it was a long and exhausting search. I ended up going through a staffing agency. I was hesitant at first cause I had never done anything like that, but my mother-in-law and sister-in-law had both been through it and had positive feedback. If you've never done it before, I would recommend calling around to them and asking what type of work they specialize in. For instance, I was wanting some kind of Administrative position, and a few of the staffing agencies focus on other things like general labor. It is also a good idea to check out references with these staffing agencies too! But once you find one that works well, it will take off in no time. you simply turn in your resume to them (some will even help you create one if you don't have one) and you may have to take a few tests (depends on your job preference...like for office work you may have to take a test to see how fast you can type, etc,) But then you have a short interview with the staffing agency asking what your experiences are and how much you would like to make, etc. Then they do the looking for you. I still kept looking for jobs while the staffing agency was looking for me, but they were a lot more successful than I was. So I definately am a fan of staffing agencies now if you are having trouble finding a job for whatever reason. good luck in your search!

i feel you.. thats what i need right now job a regular job.. just a job..that will make me happy. i felt so useless right now.. i felt like i am no good and nobody wants to hire me.. oftentimes during my frustrations i just wanna break down and cry.. geez.. sometimes i hate life.. its so hard..

You're right... With all the rules and all the qualifications, even for just a barman or waitor you would have to attend to an interview and send a CV. How stupid is that... Just get them to work for one day and see if they can manage... But I guess for the more qualified positions you do need some sort of information about the applicant... but not nine pages :)

i've looked for jobs myself all over my hometown,and came up with no luck neither.i thought that i was the only one that was having trouble with finding a jobe.apparantly there are others that are having trouble finding a jobe.i've not worked in a place in about 5 years aproximately. i went to a place where they find you a job,and they looked at my record,and said that they couldn't hire me b/c the fact that i haven't been working in 2 years.HELLO! i didn't know that you had to have been working at least 2 years to get a jobe.stupid ppl.i still haven't found one yet,and so i've about decided to give up and just try to find a job on the internet doing something.i don't know.