The 8 Bugbears of Every Jobseeker

As a naive fledgeling of a graduate (who has spent the best part of three years having a great time and doing only the occasional bit of work), you might think the next stage of working life is going to be easy now you’ve got your degree.

For some that’s true – depending on your field, you might be lucky and get onto a graduate scheme or find a position low enough on the career ladder that’s perfect for someone just starting out.

However, for many graduates, entry-level jobs which directly relate to your field of study are few and far between. Needless to say, job applications aren’t the most riveting past-time and there are some parts of the process that are nothing less than infuriating:

1) “Entry-level” jobs

As logic suggests, when the title of a job includes the phrase “entry-level”, you expect them to be searching for a candidate with little to no experience, or perhaps a recent graduate with no explicit work experience. It would seem logic is wrong. These days you need 20 years of experience at 23.

2) ‘Did they get my application?’

Another annoying thing to get used to is hearing absolutely nothing from the places you apply to. With no communication, you have no idea if they received your application, have already selected people for interview, or just straight up rejected your application.

Employers, if you’re reading, even a generic acknowledgement is appreciated!

3) Radio silence

Ok, so in a perfect world, employers would write to say if your application wasn’t successful. Begrudgingly, they could be forgiven if that doesn’t happen, especially when they’ve had hundreds of responses.

However, what is unforgivable is when you’ve gone through the interview stage, which may have involved multiple stages, to then be ignored. If you’ve had an interview you should always get feedback provided by the person who conducted it. That should be the cardinal rule of all jobs!

4) Long application forms

They’re laborious and not always easy to follow, end up saying the exact same thing your CV would have, but take hours longer to complete – the absolute bane of a job seekers existence.

5) Creating an account to apply

You can’t even remember the password to your online banking, never mind an obscure company’s career portal. Let’s face it, after this one application you’re never going to look at again, so why do they do it? It’s just sadistic.

6) Finding out you don’t have enough experience

At the interview. That they invited you to. When they’ve read your CV. And know every job you’ve done since you were 16… *insert sarcastic emoji here*

7) When the job isn’t what you expected

You’ve practically memorised the job description and spent hours preparing possible answers to employers’ tough interview questions. You get to the interview and suddenly the role sounds completely different from what you had imagined. Whether it’s different duties, a load of extra duties or different pay/hours, FYI employers, it is annoying AF!

8) Scam job posts

Sadly, fake job posts actually exist. If you’ve been on a job site long enough, you’ve probably come across them, but there are usually clear giveaways. Seeing the same job post advertised multiple times with slightly different wording each time is a red flag. That age-old saying ‘if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is’ applies here.

There have even been horror stories of identity theft, so keep your wits about you.

When things feel like they’re not going your way, it’s always nice to know you’re not the only one. If you’re frustrated with the job search, this post is proof that your experience isn’t unique. It can take a while to get there and the struggle is most definitely real, but keep plugging away and your break will come.

Ellie Abraham is a guest contributor for Inspiring Interns. Based near Brighton, she has a Geography degree from MMU and is now turning her hand to writing. Check out her blog here.

Inspiring Interns is a graduate recruitment agency which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships and giving out graduate careers advice. To hire graduates or browse graduate jobs London, visit our website.