Some people want to be rocket scientists, Police men, Doctors or Lawyers. My dream job would be to work for a charity preferably in international development or health but I prety much would like to work in the voluntary sector.

Why? you get less pay but you are more valued by staff, the organisation and especially by the people who support it. There are loadsa benefits but mostly its because you know at the end of the day your helping an organisation achieve something good in the world. If I work in international development or health or volunteering projects I will definately use my degree to its potential which I really want to do.

I just gotta keep applying something will come up

9am I get a phone call 3hrs before my very first shift.

'Sorry Rachel we are going to have to cancel your shift, due to financial constraints I won't be able to employ you at all.... I feel really bad'

Really bad .... REALLY BAD I'm a 23 year old excited about a poxy part time job in a coffee shop and before i've even started I have been unhired. WHY BOTHER TAKING THE TIME TO INTERVIEW TAKING EVEN MORE OF YOUR PRECIOUS TIME AND MONEY. The real stabber in the story is I had another interview set up for yesturday, but I didn' go because I thought I knew I had this job. I couldn't ring the other establishment as there was no phone number anywhere for it...so there is no way I would be considered for that job either.

This optimisim hasn't lasted for long.

Well literally 24 hours after the CV drop I got 2 phone calls from prospective employers who wanted to interview me. YAY!!

So.... I went to the first one that afternoon and she pretty much gave me the job straight away, which is awesome. Its only part-time but its the coffee shop in the bookstore so I think it will be alrite. Just give it a bit of time because in the past i've started jobs that I thought would be fab and they've turned out to be a pile of crap... not mentioning any names F&B.

Now I can concentrate on applying for my dream job. At least I'm finding some charity fundraising jobs especially in the London area. I just gotta keep aplying and selling myself, which I have been finding pretty difficult. But at least it seems a bit better than in Febuary when I first started applying.

I was quite surprised at how positive i'm being over this whole situation. Been to the main part of Sheffield and spent a good 2 hours dropping CVs and generally selling myself to mostly retail stores. I really want to get the job of my dreams in a charity but I need a job now. Desperate times = desperate measures. I will not go back to waitressing but retail is alright.

I was mostly met with nnoooooo when asked if they had any vacancies, but that was in the more obvious places like on the high street. In the more random places like a coffeee shop in a book store or train station I got more luck. I've applied for a couple of jobs and there are a few people said there may be something coming up. I think the best approach is to go everywhere and don't give up and there are some retail jobs out there! I have a lot more hope now to finding some sort of job.

I noticed a report on the news today about a group of 18 year olds and there struggle to find work. Many criticised the jobcentre plus and their complete inability to help people with at least 2 brain cells. It reminde me of my partner and I struggle with them at the begginning of this year.

Before we could even go through the hurdles of 'signing on' we had to firstly prove that we were UK citizens because we left the country for more than three months. One of the questions was 'why did you return to the UK' ----- > maybe because I lived here for 22 years ... duh.

SO that obviously took at least another 2 weeks to decide. Then the dreaded sign on and the feeling of being the biggest loser that walked the planet. A woman in her 50's sat us down. I began to tell her my educational qualifications and when I said I had gained a 2.1 BA degree she didn't understand what I meant. She put I had a PHD which is sooo not what I have. Then in the most patronising way possible she told us to look for jobs. Well NO SHIT SHERLOCK. I asked her if the jobcentre could help me with finding a good recruiting agent suited to my skills which she replied.....'oh we don't do that'.

jobcentre plus staff don't treat people like individuals, they are not trained to cope with people already with skills and mostly talk to everyone like dirt. How is the UK supposed to lift itself out of this recession with the jobcentre plus as our first point of call as an unemployed person. It needs to be able to cope with the individual cases and move quickly about it. But where will the money come from to do that?? I vote MPS (and footballers!) give a 1/5 of there rather large salary to training and re-doing the current jobcentre plus then we may improve the unemployment rate in this country.

ok rant over :)

I was in LA on mine and Sarah's round the world trip. How quick does time fly. I remember being in a motel room in the most dodgy area of LA. Most of the people couldn't understand us, even though we both spoke english. The first couple of days were quite scary even though i'd been to LA before. The idea of several months away was so exciting but the unknown is alwys scary.

Its the best thing I have ever done traveling the world. I think you learn so much more about yourself and the world around you from it than any qualification. It was a real sense of achievement. I don't think many people feel that its a valid way to spend a bulk of your time, especially some employers. However, in my experience on the job hunt most have either commented on my traveling in a positive light or they have wanted to know more.

I do sometimes wonder whether things would be different for me if i'd started a serious job sooner. But you can never change the past. Why change something that has been such a positive thing in my life.

Completed my first ever cover letter today. Its taken me the best part of a week to write something thats about 3/4 page, bad aint it. I started out with a two page extravaganza with practically my life history all the way down to my blood type and I thought 'what a loads BS'... cut it down and put the main points from job discription. Its so much beter and the CV and cover lette combined I feel really complement each other now (FINALLY).

But I have a good feeling about this new job I'm applying for. I feel like i'm finally selling myself to my full potential. I just really hope somethiong comes of my hard work.

i've been writing my CV over the last few days and I can't believe how hard it is to sell yourself. Biggin up what you did is such a fine art. Being dyslexic also doesn't help as concise and dyslexic really don't go!

I've had so much advice from friends that basically have said to me to lie. I can't do that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Do most people lie?? is that how most people get jobs in the UK. If they do I've got no chance.

I do have a really good set of skills and some I should really brag about. I can do it on interviews but writting na. Don't you wish sometimes you could put 'well I'm the best person for this role, giumme the job. Oh go on please. I've already applied for 120 other positions and just out of law of averages one of you have gotta gimme an interview'

I must sound like such a loser. The truth is I have had nearly 6 interviews in the last 4 months and with mostly good feedback. The only thing that seems to be drawing me back is you don't have enough experience....... WELL IF YOU GAVE ME THE JOB AND TRAINED ME THEN I WOULD HAVE THE EXPERIENCE. Its the catch twenty two.

Anyway I have re done the CV and tailored it to each job I am applying for. Lets see how that goes!

well i'm a young female and uemployed... how did I get to this point I here you cry. well... I graduated at Sheffield University in 2007 with a respectable degree ---> I decided to stay as a waitress full time at a Pizza Express restaraunt (which I hated) ---> I left 1 year later to go on the best trip of my life around the world ---> I land Febuary 2009, full of beans and ready for work............. BUT DUN DUN DEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.............THE RECESSION.......... So I have been through all the motions with Job seekers. They are so useless for helping people who actually have some skills. I am not claiming at the moment. I got a crappy part time job which I quit soon afte because of the bullying and manipulation. Soon after, I secured a 2 month volunteering internship with a charity SPW. I've loved the last 2 months and gutted I have to leave ---> Now I am trying to find the job of my dreams. I think it might be a rough ride...... fancy joining me?