Your first job??

thank you so much for the advice Sarah92 and lambe! 🙂

My first job at 18 was being a disability support worker to people with paraplegia and quadriplegia. It was a job I will always remember and it taught me so much and it was not without it`s challenges. Met some truly amazing people and had lots of memorable experiences. 🙂

Im in the same boat. I have next to no work experience, apart from just spending a week in my dad`s clinic as a temporary medical receptionist. ive listed alot of computer / it related skills on my resume and most places ive applied send me one of those general rejection letters. i really want to earn my own money to spend on what i would like.

also, i have a question, do i give in / attach my list of references along with my cover letter and resume or only give it when employers ask for it?

Definitely attach your list of referees (two or three, anyway) – it tells the prospective employer straight up that you have them.

Don`t give anyone as a referee unless you have checked with them that they are happy to give you a reference and have some idea of what they will say (sorry to state the bleeding obvious but you would be amazed how many people don`t check).

Also (again, forgive the obvious) – make sure your referees are appropriate and can actually talk about your skills and ability. Once I got a job application from a guy that attached a reference from his landlord just saying that he paid his rent on time. So: 5 points for fiscal responsibility, minus 10 for judgement.

I can`t reinforce too strongly the value of going to employment agencies if you are looking for entry level jobs. Even if they don`t have anything on the books for you right now, they will give you a lot of free assistance getting your CV in order and preapring you for interviews – they will also be more likely to find you those short term contract jobs that bulk up your CV for the real thing.

Best of luck. Job-hunting is tough; I hope I don`t have to do it again for a while!

Thanks for your advice, lambe 🙂 I`m going to keep trying and hopefully I`ll be successful.

Im in the same boat. I have next to no work experience, apart from just spending a week in my dad`s clinic as a temporary medical receptionist. ive listed alot of computer / it related skills on my resume and most places ive applied send me one of those general rejection letters. i really want to earn my own money to spend on what i would like.

also, i have a question, do i give in / attach my list of references along with my cover letter and resume or only give it when employers ask for it?

Definitely attach your list of referees (two or three, anyway) – it tells the prospective employer straight up that you have them.

Don`t give anyone as a referee unless you have checked with them that they are happy to give you a reference and have some idea of what they will say (sorry to state the bleeding obvious but you would be amazed how many people don`t check).

Also (again, forgive the obvious) – make sure your referees are appropriate and can actually talk about your skills and ability. Once I got a job application from a guy that attached a reference from his landlord just saying that he paid his rent on time. So: 5 points for fiscal responsibility, minus 10 for judgement.

I can`t reinforce too strongly the value of going to employment agencies if you are looking for entry level jobs. Even if they don`t have anything on the books for you right now, they will give you a lot of free assistance getting your CV in order and preapring you for interviews – they will also be more likely to find you those short term contract jobs that bulk up your CV for the real thing.

Best of luck. Job-hunting is tough; I hope I don`t have to do it again for a while!

Im in the same boat. I have next to no work experience, apart from just spending a week in my dad`s clinic as a temporary medical receptionist. ive listed alot of computer / it related skills on my resume and most places ive applied send me one of those general rejection letters. i really want to earn my own money to spend on what i would like.

also, i have a question, do i give in / attach my list of references along with my cover letter and resume or only give it when employers ask for it?

so I have been looking for a job for a few months now on and off, handed well over 20 resumes and done a whole lot of online applications. Absolutely no offers, not even an interview. The thing is that I have no experience apart from the 1 week of work experience I did at BH in year 10. I will say though that I`m picky, and I don`t want to work with food, or at supermarket. I just want a fashion retail job, but no-one will hire me without experience 🙁 I`ve been to 3 different pricelines and none of them offered my anything. It`s all quite dishearting… what should I do?

I was in the same boat looking for my first job! All I can say really is just to apply everywhere. I applied to all sorts of different jobs, and the only place I heard back from was a call centre. I ended up working there for 1.5 years and built up a lot of customer service skills so I was able to move into fashion retail 🙂

It`s tough, but don`t give up. Where possible, write a cover letter and tailor it to the specific job – if you hand out a standard cover letter for every job, it`s generally pretty obvious! You should try to be specific about why you want to work at this particular place. Do the same with your resume too – I had several different versions of mine.

If you drop off a resume in store, call back a week later and ask if the manager/whoever is in charge has had time to look at your application. Usually they`ll give you some form of response (they`re not hiring etc). I once got an interview from doing this.

Hope that was of some use. Good luck 🙂

so I have been looking for a job for a few months now on and off, handed well over 20 resumes and done a whole lot of online applications. Absolutely no offers, not even an interview. The thing is that I have no experience apart from the 1 week of work experience I did at BH in year 10. I will say though that I`m picky, and I don`t want to work with food, or at supermarket. I just want a fashion retail job, but no-one will hire me without experience 🙁 I`ve been to 3 different pricelines and none of them offered my anything. It`s all quite dishearting… what should I do?

was a shop assistant at a coffee shop when I was 18, lasted 2 days because I couldn`t cope with long hours standing and too many things to remember.

Second job was at Chooks, got silently fired because I was suspected of stealing things, which I was totally innocent, didn`t bother to explain because didn`t like the job anyway…

Its so cool reading about everyone`s first jobs.

My first proper job was at coles. I worked there all through my student years up to the day I graduated from uni. It was so awesome to be able to buy the things I wanted and be able to save up for holidays. I even bought my first car from the money I saved up from working at Coles 🙂 They are such a great company and the pay was much better than what my friends got at other shops.

Best of luck with your first job 🙂

My first job was at Macca`s and I stayed there for a year and 3 months before getting a new job at a medical centre. I`ve been working at the centre for 2 and a half years now. 🙂