Job Fairs - Will you be my answer?

Last Wednesday I visited my first job fair in nearly five years. The last job fair I had visited was while I was at Sixth Form.

I find the whole concept of the job fair rather odd to be honest, a market place for employers in basis. Chances are, if you've been to a job fair before, you can at least in part predict which organisations will be represented. The Armed Forces for one are frequently found recruiting at the job fairs. Similarly are the public services (Police, Fire Ambulance).

While I have no problem whatsoever with these organizations recuruting at job fairs, they aren't the sort of jobs that I'd like to do. I've thought about the Emergency Services, and I came to the conclusion that my path in life doesn't lie with them. I've had the Armed Forces try and recruit me before, but the idea doesn't interest me as a potential career.

At this particular job fair I visited I admit to spending roughly Thirty seconds at the fair itself, I entered seeing if there was a stall that might interest me and found that I was greeted by; a) the aformentioned public services, b) a number of universities and c) a small number of banks and insurance services who were merely trying to gain new customers, not new staff.

Did the experience dishearten me? Not particularly, from previous job fairs I felt as though I could guess at what to expect, and I was right. The target audience for this particular fair wasn't the graduate field from what I could tell. As a result, never mind, something else will come along before too long I'm sure.

The Job Interview

Earlier today I had a job interview, my second interview since I started applying for jobs all three and a bit months ago, the job in question that I had applied was for a receptionist, a position which, should I be successful shall be very grateful for, however, I'm not going to lose sleep over it (I have far more important subjects to loose sleep about.)

Anyway, the point of this article, every interview is exactly the same. Is this a revelation? not really no. So what's the point in writing about it? Well, its good to be prepared and it's something to talk about.

Job interviews are a very peculiar occurrence, for starters, the layout for an interview; (in my experience as someone who has been both an interviewee and interviewer) follows the layout of...

A welcome from the reception area, usually, "Hello, welcome, please take a seat so and so will be with you in a moment, would you like a drink?"

This is followed by the interviewer (AKA so and so) entering the reception area and greeting you then leading you to the interview room.

Once in the interview room the candidate is met with a small barrage of questions such as; "Why did you apply for this job? What do you think you can bring to this role? and something specific to prove that you have read the job description.

After this exchange the interviewer poses the question which I'm beginning to believe really is the highlight of the interview for the employer; "Is there anything you would like to ask us? AKA Do you have any questions?"

The employer loves this question as it means two things, firstly, (Interviewers thoughts ahead) "The interview is now as good as over, I can have myself a nice cup of tea and a biscuit." (or a similar snack) and secondly, "Chances are I'm going to hear a new question, which is nice as the questions I've been asking have become a bit boring to hear."

May I just note that I'm not criticizing any interview that I've ever been a part of, I'm merely generalising in summation.

The odd thing is how much job interviews resemble quiz shows, there's a prize at the end (A Job), several contestants all trying to win said prize (The Job) and a number of rather trivial questions that stand in the way of the contestant (Interviewee) and the prize (Brand new Job).

I think I'd like to see a new take on the interview, doubt it will happen though, even when I'm the employer.

So it's back to the job hunt for me (for the time being at least).

You can expect to hear from me within the week.

Is a degree a bad thing?

I recieved an email on Tuesday evening stating that I had been unsuccesful in my application to work in a DVD and Music shop. This email re-ignited a question I had been asking myself recently, "Does possessing a degree act detrementally when trying to find employment?"

Now I can't prove whether it does or not, however, this particular store, like its competitors possesses my beloved "Graduate Training Schemes" with the intention of turning fresh faced graduates like myself into future store managers.

At this point I'd like to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against Graduate Training Schemes as I know of a number of major retailers who recruit their next potential C.E.Os in this very fashion.

Back to the point in hand, my rejection from this DVD and Music store read that, "applications to our website has been very high, and the quality is of an exceptional standard."

This to me raised more questions than answering, the application form in question was automated, and, apart from the odd sentence where the candidate stated in twenty words or less why they would be an exceptional candidate the application form was restricted to ticking boxes.

If you're wondering what questions were raised, they included "Did the employer believe that I was lying when I said I possessed an expert knowledge in film and music? (Which I genuinely do, ask my pub quiz team)"

The key question for me was "Did I become less employable when I stated that I had a degree?"

What does the degree have to do with it?

Remember the statement I referred to in my last post, "Graduates can expect to earn up to 20% more in wages than a non- graduate"

Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't help but feel that when faced with the best part of possibly a hundred applications, those with degrees may be among the first to go. After all, would you hire someone for a part time shop position if you thought they could get a "Graduate Job" and leave after two weeks?

I wonder what my chances for part time employment would be like if the next time I was to convieniently forget to mention my degree when sending in my C.V.