# Well... Time to have a rant.



## JCFarnham (Aug 15, 2012)

I never unload on people like this but frankly I need it right now. Hope you don't mind. Heh...

Someone explain to me how and why its so easy for benefit cheats to get money, when normal law-abiding guys like me--who genuinely aren't able to get a job because business in this country is _that_ broken--are unable to get a bloody penny. 

So here is it. I've been trying to find full time employment since leaving university last summer (yes, I've been trying for over a sodding year now). It hasn't happened, aside from my family throwing the odd sympathy job my way (which I'm greatful for thankfully, it paid for six months rent). Finally I decided enough is enough. I signed up for a little thing the government does called Job Seeker's Allowance. Hugely demoralising standing in a line with the dregs of society, but it's money I'm entitled to. Right?

Well apparently something about myself makes it ridiculously difficult to either get a job, or get benefits meant to help me, you know, keep my house and actually _eat_ in the mean time. I thought for once perhaps there would be a scheme in this country that would help someone like me. Over my life, I've done literally everything I've been told with regards to getting a job. Volunteer, make your cv look good, go to university employers will snap you up...

It doesn't work.

And you know what, when I finally do get paid any arrears I have via the JSA I bet I'll be working for Â£15k per annum any way. What a joke. JSA is _made_ for people in situations like me.

Urgh. They're just TRYING to make it difficult aren't they.


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## Kit (Aug 15, 2012)

When I went to college (this was back when dinosaurs walked the earth), the prevalent thinking was "Get a college degree, and you're set for life."  Even if you got a degree in something not terribly practical (liberal arts, philosophy). 

This is not true any more. 

I finished college (two associate degrees and a bachelor, in something practical and- I thought- recession proof) but still got laid off two years ago. 

My two housemates both flunked out of school and played with their computers. Now they're each making ten times what I make.

It's not about education and hard work any more; it's about adapting to a constantly-changing world of what people are willing to pay for.


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## Chilari (Aug 15, 2012)

Yes they are. I was in the same situation you're in: I left uni in September last year and put off claiming for 6 weeks, living off Dad's charity and babysitting for my neighbour while looking for jobs. One job I applied for they asked me to come do a trial shift, working in a restaurant in a rural hotel. So I worked the shift, wrote down my hours on their time sheet, and waited for a call to see if they would offer me a permanent position. Anyway a little after that I signed up for jobseekers. The actual people working there were great, but the hoops i had to jump through were stupid and then they were pointing at shop jobs because there's no graduate support, the whole system is not designed for us. But anyway, eventually I called the restaurant back and asked if they had any other shifts and could they pay me for the last one please (when i'd finished it the manager had assured me he'd phone in the week to get my bank details to pay me). Apparently they don't normally pay for trial shifts. Not impressed. I made it clear that this information had been kept from me until this point. Anyway they offered me another shift, I worked it, gave my bank details, eventually got paid for both shifts but on the same payslip, even though one was in early October and the second in mid November. This made it difficult with my JSA because they take away what you earn from your JSA except for Â£5 (stupid system, hardly encouraging you to work now is it). It took me a month back and forth filling in forms and providing evidence to support my claim to get them to give me the amount that I'd earned before I signed on. Stupid system.

Oh and for weeks afterward I had to fill in a "part time work" form because I'd done one shift with this restaurant while signed on and there was a slim possibility it might happen again* so each fortnight I had to sign to confirm I had not worked for them, in addition to everything else I had to sign.

*it wasn't going to happen again. I was 23. Minimum wage is Â£6.08 for me. All the other people working for them were 17, minimum wage for them is Â£3.68, quite a difference. Discrimination based on age is illegal but I didn't like the job anyway so I couldn't be bothered to take it any further, but after the first shift I did, the trial shift, it was heavily impied they were happy with me and I could expect to see two shifts a week, but after two phone calls asking for shifts (and money) I only ever got the second shift six weeks later (and paid two weeks after that). I guess they must have found out how old I was.

In early November I interviewed for the job I now have. My boss wanted to offer me the job but finance and HR hadn't signed off on it, so she suggested I do a week's work experience before Christmas. I brought this up at my next signing on session, and they told me no, I can't do that, it would mean I am unavailable for work for the week and would thus lose that's week's precious Â£53.45. I had to do two weeks instead, organised through the Job Centre, and call it Workfare. And I had to do it after Christmas because there wasn't the time to organise it before. Anyway, after my two week placement I was of course offered the job, but I am convinced that if the Job Centre hadn't gotten in the way and just let me do the week before Christmas, I'd have started getting paid for this job at least 2, if not 3 weeks earlier.

So that's the story of how the Job Centre delayed me getting a job.

The Job Centre is so broken. It seems targetted at keeping people off unemployment. One little error, or one refusal to apply for a job (I read about one young woman who wouldn't apply for a job in a strip club and was docked JSA) and they take you off it for a certain amount of time, and you can't get back on unless you continue to look for jobs all the while they're not giving you anything to pay for food to eat or whatever.

Oh and for the record, my job now is less than a graduate salary. More than minimum wage, but entry level administrative.


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## Ireth (Aug 15, 2012)

I know how you guys feel. I'm still in college, but haven't been able to find work for two consecutive summers (not for any lack of trying), so much of my tuition these past years has been paid for by either my parents or by student loans. I'll never be able to pay off those loans if I can't find a job once I graduate, and I'd be EXTREMELY lucky for any of my books to make a big enough profit that a day job wouldn't matter.


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## JCFarnham (Aug 15, 2012)

Kit said:


> When I went to college (this was back when dinosaurs walked the earth), the prevalent thinking was "Get a college degree, and you're set for life."  Even if you got a degree in something not terribly practical (liberal arts, philosophy).
> 
> This is not true any more.
> 
> ...



My degree is joint Marketing and Music Technology. The Music because I enjoyed it and the Marketing because if your business is going to flourish well it better have a marketeer on board. Fool proof says I. In fact it should be. There is no reason, aside from people not wanting "the risk", that I'm still unemployed. I've got four or five volunteer placements on my cv. I'm applying for job relevant to be BUSINESS degree. I'm literate so my cv and cover letters are hardly going to be the problem.

No one out of the people I've spoken for can give me a reason why in over a year of trying for work I haven't gotten a single interview. Yep, you heard me right people. Not. A. Single. Interview. 

Needless to say I've lost hope, so being screwed by the Job Centre isn't helping right now! heh 

EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot to mention that have a Japanese qualification and am going to be taking a Web Design course. Don't suppose that's going to do any good...

On the plus side I found four + jobs this week, compare to last week's one. Things might be looking up but I'm not holding my breath after today's issue. Already been turned down for one, no doubt the others will follow in a "working week".


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## JCFarnham (Aug 15, 2012)

Ireth said:


> I know how you guys feel. I'm still in college, but haven't been able to find work for two consecutive summers (not for any lack of trying), so much of my tuition these past years has been paid for by either my parents or by student loans. I'll never be able to pay off those loans if I can't find a job once I graduate, and I'd be EXTREMELY lucky for any of my books to make a big enough profit that a day job wouldn't matter.



What we weren't told was that our student loans start acruing interest almost immediately. To the tune of twenty quid at least each period (I'm not even sure how the loans company defines that). Oh well, at least I don't have mortgage payments yet...

I hope you're one of the lucky ones Ireth, like my girlfriend, or her friend Jordan who stepped straight out of a chemistry degree into a HIGH paying Lab Tech job in the county he was already living in.

The buggers ....


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## Ireth (Aug 15, 2012)

JCFarnham said:


> What we weren't told was that our student loans start acruing interest almost immediately. To the tune of twenty quid at least each period (I'm not even sure how the loans company defines that). Oh well, at least I don't have mortgage payments yet...
> 
> I hope you're one of the lucky ones Ireth, like my girlfriend, or her friend Jordan who stepped straight out of a chemistry degree into a HIGH paying Lab Tech job in the county he was already living in.
> 
> The buggers ....



Well, I honestly have no idea what a BA in Biblical Studies will get me in the future. ^^;


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## Caged Maiden (Aug 15, 2012)

@ JC, You said your CV was good, and I don't want to doubt that, but I used to be a recruited and have conducted over 500 interviews.  If you want another opinion on the CV or tips for interviewing (I have my fingers crossed you will get one soon), let me know.  

Sometimes it's just as simple as refreshing your qualifications and experience.  

There's tons of people unemployed here too, and while we can't all open our own business, there must be some way to get people back to work.  I quit my job as a recruiter four years ago when my second son was born, to stay home because I couldn't afford the $12k/year cost of day care.  I miss working, but I'm virtually unemployable at this point (four kids, running a household, and off work for that long).  Luckily my husband's job is very secure, because if he lost it, our family would be screwed.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 15, 2012)

Unfortunately, western society has bred a notion in young adults that when they get a degree, businesses will come knocking on their door with good job offers. It just doesn't work that way any more. In our parent's generation, where post-high school education wasn't common maybe that held true but it's certainly different now.

In my own situation, I graduated high school, served in the Marines for 7 years, went to college the next four. After graduating (and with military service in the background) I had five long years of working jobs I was way overqualified for and way underpaid. Those five years, living very meagerly, earned my stripes so to speak, allowing me to eventually land a great job in a growing industry. 

Being able to exhibit success & experience is the only thing that REALLY matters nowadays to employers. That degree (with the exception of highly technical fields, medicine, law, etc) is nothing more than a screening process for today's employers that tells them you're a person that completed a long course of study.... You can start what you finish.

I know that sounds harsh. I agree, it is, but that's been my experience. Living in a state with over 15% unemployment, I see it all around me and feel quite fortunate. You may have to work those low paying jobs to earn that invaluable experience before someone takes a chance on you. 

Look at it this way. If you were the employer, who would you call in for an interview? The person who has a degree with little to no experience, or the person who'd been working in the industry for the past few years with a demonstrated track record of success?

Either way, I wish you luck. I know it can be hard. Keep your chin up.... With hard work & determination it does get better.


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## Ireth (Aug 15, 2012)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Look at it this way. If you were the employer, who would you call in for an interview? The person who has a degree with little to no experience, or the person who'd been working in the industry for the past few years with a demonstrated track record of success?



And therein lies the real problem. It's hard to get a job without experience, and it's harder to get experience without a job. Cycle of fail.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 15, 2012)

Ireth said:
			
		

> And therein lies the real problem. It's hard to get a job without experience, and it's harder to get experience without a job. Cycle of fail.



Agreed. It certainly seems that way. That's why most of us have to work jobs that we may feel beneath our skill level at first just to get some of that precious experience.


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## Philip Overby (Aug 15, 2012)

@JC, you mentioned you have a Japanese qualification?  It may not be ideal, but have you thought of leaving your country (I assume England?) and coming to Japan?  The pay is decent for teaching jobs, although it's not ideal if that's not what you really want to do.  I'm assuming you got the Japanese certification for a reason.  

Some people are put off living here now because of radiation concerns, but as long as you live a good distance away (like I do) I don't think it's a big deal.

When I was sort of floating around and couldn't get work in the States, I decided to go abroad.  So maybe that could be something for you.  Not even Japan, but maybe another country?  There are loads of ESL/EFL jobs and some are entry-level with decent pay.  It could be something to get you out of your country and see some new sights as well.  Then, while you're working, hopefully you can find more kind of jobs that you'd prefer doing.  

Anyway, for me the ESL life has worked out.  I work with a pretty good company now and I've gotten offers from other companies as well (I have about 4 years of teaching experience now, a Master's, and teaching license though, so that may help.) I don't feel like I'm in a rut as some people in the field do.  I don't look at anything I do as a career, but just a way to make money so I can do other things I like doing:  writing, eating, watching movies, playing video games, etc.  

Just a thought!


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## Chilari (Aug 15, 2012)

Bear in mind, JC, that nearly a quarter of under 25s in the UK are currently unemployed: with your education, and from the sound of it your hard work and dedication, it's not being underqualified that's the problem. It's the job market.

Before I got a job I was seriously looking into starting a proof-reading business. I created a business plan (with several drafts), spoke to the Princes Trust about the possibility of a loan, investigated website costs and competitors, all sorts of things. If you can find a way to use what skills you have to create your own business, it might be worth trying. With a marketing background I'd say you've got a headstart.

Even in the job I have, I'm on a temporary contract. I work for a relatively large company, one with 40,000 employees worldwide and 2,900 in the business unit I'm in, but they're not hiring permanent staff at the moment, so I'm on my second 6 month contract and I forsee a third before I get a permanent one. They've not run the graduate scheme for four years and are "starting it up again" by hiring graduates as interns (earning Â£12k a year) for six months and offering them permanent graduate positions after that if they're good enough and there's a position available for them. Admittedly I'm in a sector which took a particularly hard hit.

I heard that you can tutor subjects up to the qualification below what you've got in that subject. So if you have an A-level English (C or higher I think) you can tutor up to GCSE, provided you charge less than Â£10/hr, without a teaching qualification. Not sure how true it is, but if you're so inclined you could look into it. A lot of parents with kids in years 4 to 6 get tutors to try and get their kids into selective secondary schools, or just to help them catch up if they've fallen behind - a colleague of mine has a daughter about to start year 5 who she's considering getting a tutor for because the daughter is so behind in her lessons.

Other than that I don't know what else to say.


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## Reaver (Aug 15, 2012)

If you can deal with it, get a small business loan and open up a funeral home. You'll never run out of customers.


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## JCFarnham (Aug 15, 2012)

Reaver said:


> If you can deal with it, get a small business loan and open up a funeral home. You'll never run out of customers.



Hah. Trust you 

As for the "earning my stripes in an underpaying job" idea... I can't even get something like that. I'm too qualified. I can't get anything unskilled, like shop work, or labouring (hell for that you need a qualification now days), I can't get anything I AM qualified for, moving abroad is completely off the table (6 month housing contract... and I just don't want to at this point in my life. Maybe I'm too patriotic...) 

Frankly, I should have ignored common advice, stopped education WAY before university--which would have angered my family greatly--and become an apprentice. It would have scuppered any chance of getting a decent job when the market stabalises, but at least I would be qualified and earning by now from skilled labour.

I'm under no doubt that all I have to do is wait for some bright spark to decide, "Oh, durp, we should probably give people chances if we want the economy to shape up, cause you know, they need experience and they'll take over our jobs when we retire, hurp". 

I mean, I've been waiting since 2008 for some "expert" to announce on the radio that we shouldn't be cutting spending we should be investing in the future, regaining faith in the financial world, all that stuff... I suppose since I was harping on about it for long enough some one read my mind. 

If I don't die of starvation or become homeless in the mean time everything will eventually be okay--and lets be honest neither of those have to happen. I have a girlfriend who will eventually be a qualified chartered/management account (let be honest, it's not fair for her to pay everything in life), and a family to sponge off. 

But not the government. Oh no. Can't get anything from them can I.

Cannot win. At all.

All I have to do it seems is keep plugging away at applications.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 15, 2012)

I certainly don't know your situation intimately JC. Different countries as well so employment scenarios are surely different. When I mentioned "earning stripes" I was only speaking from my own personal experience & similar struggles I went through years ago.

Keep your chin up & keep plugging away. That advice doesn't help I know but it's the only thing you can do sometimes...


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## ThinkerX (Aug 16, 2012)

Not so much what you do, but what you make of it - and how reliable you are.

I've done a lot of different jobs down through the years.  In large part that stemmed from a highly seasonal local economy: in the summer you worked your butt off, in the winter you counted yourself lucky to be working even part time.

About fifteen years ago, I hit a low spot and because nothing else was available, I took a job delivering pizza of all things, even though it was generally seen as 'kids work'.  But because I actually showed up (unlike most of the kids) I got the good shifts and literally made enough to buy some land, build a house on it, and pay it off in just under eight years.   (Then the management changed and I hit another rough patch).

These days, I work for a guy who holds a postal contract delivering mail down a rural route.  I got that job because I'd filled in for him on other routes before, because I always showed up, and I had the clearances to start rightaway - which was what he needed.  By most peoples standards, this is not much of a job - after taxes, its not even 25 K a year - but I don't have near the expenses of most other people, plus I have afternoons and early evenings free.  (In the past I've gone the part time job route here).


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## JCFarnham (Aug 16, 2012)

It feels like I've said it so many times before but.. once I can coax someone into realising how incredibly reliable I'm willing to be it'll work out. 

Ignoring the vicious cycle of no-experience-can't-get-experience.


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## ThinkerX (Aug 16, 2012)

Persistence pays off in the great game of jobs.

I said earlier the job situation hereabouts (Alaska) is highly seasonal.  Until I ...found my current niche(s)... I had to find a new job every spring...or at least a second part time job to supplement the part time gig which got me through the winter.

How it was done - and how it is still done for the oil industry/construction/environmental type jobs is this: You'd make up some paper resume's, and *early* every morning without fail, you'd visit the various (machine) shops, make sure the higher ups saw you, and put in a few words with the gal upfront.  Eventually, they'd either tell you to go away and not come back or they'd hire you on some sort of trial basis.  

Afterwards, I found it was pretty much the same in the service industry type jobs: I got the pizza delivery gig simply because I showed up three times over a five day period, and a couple times the next week.  That told the guy doing the hiring that I was serious about getting this job, not just 'pretending.'   Same story pretty much in other service industry type jobs I've held.  

Now, I have heard that the 'big box' type outfits - Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, and the like are often not keen on hiring people with 'too much' education, on the grounds they figure those people will leave the moment something better comes along. But with the not quite so big chains, it is a different story.  During my long stint delivering pizza, I saw all kinds of people come through there for differing reasons - working for the summer, being with relatives, hiding from exes, ex convicts, future convicts (had a couple of cooks who were just put on leave whenever their stint in prison came up) so on and so forth.  

Straight up laboring jobs, from what I recollect, and from what I hear these days, education level doesn't matter near as much to them as does persistence in showing up asking for a job to start with and continuing to show up once hired.


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## Jabrosky (Aug 17, 2012)

I worry about having to look for a job too, but my fundamental issue is that I want a job I can enjoy. Of course I would like to make money too, but I would never sacrifice pleasure for money. My ideal job would allow a lot of creativity and wouldn't involve too much face-to-face interaction with rude and unreasonable people. For this reason I would avoid the service industry like the plague.

Of course, there's always the option of getting a girlfriend who would win my bread for me, but then I fail at attracting the opposite sex.


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## ThinkerX (Aug 17, 2012)

> I worry about having to look for a job too, but my fundamental issue is that I want a job I can enjoy. Of course I would like to make money too, but I would never sacrifice pleasure for money. My ideal job would allow a lot of creativity and wouldn't involve too much face-to-face interaction with rude and unreasonable people. For this reason I would avoid the service industry like the plague.



If you can pass a background check, are reasonably physically fit, and want *lots* of time to read / study, might I suggest looking into a security guard gig?  This was one of the many short term / part time gigs I did in my younger days.  You get a night shift somewhere, absolutely nothing happens for hours on end.  Lot of college guys, including myself, went this route.


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## gavintonks (Aug 18, 2012)

Do not be despondent, I had to walk the streets to get a job when I left college and my first job was a tyre salesmen before getting a job as a shoe designer.
My son had the same problem he worked for me for 2 years, then he got a job where the guys screwed him stupid but he persevered for 6 month and was offered something better when he was delivering, he has just recently landed a very prestigious position at Deloitte and everyone wants him - it is just staying the distance until you get the opening

Make a plan, I had a friend who wanted to work for a company so bad he went there everyday for 6 months and sat in th foyer until they gave him a job and then proved they had made the right decision

It is a tough world out there, It is even harder for my generation who are seen as too expensive and not in on the latest - so good luck and hang in there


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## Shockley (Aug 18, 2012)

I am pursuing one of the more useless degrees - History.

 Ideally, I want to teach history at a college or university somewhere and write in my free time. That's the dream at this point, though I think it's attainable. It's publish or die, you know, and I have enough confidence in myself that I could pump out a few textbooks and get a nice, forty thousand a year gig somewhere in Montana or North Dakota.

 But that's not what I want, you know? I want to get my degree, be a professor at some prestigious university and travel the world. Do things. See India. Publish a novel. Become famous in my own way. That will be hard - that will be very hard.

 At the end of the day though, that's difficult. Near impossible. But that's what makes it worthwhile.

 Don't give up. Don't ever give up.


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## Chilari (Aug 19, 2012)

Shockley, not to rain on your parade, but I have some experience in what you're doing. I thought I'd go to university for three years and get a degree in something I found interesting - ancient history and archaeology - and write in the mean time, and by the time I got my degree I'd also be published and my life would be set, and I had a back-up - get a forensic archaeology degree and join the police force. Well plan A definitely didn't work out, and plan B went down the toilet when, just as I was applying for a place on a course at a prestigious post graduate university, a friend of mine died in circumstances which I realised that, had I been in the police doing what I was aiming for, I'd have been investigating, and it made me realise I didn't have the stomach for it. So plan C was staying in academia, get a masters then do a PhD and become a professor. That didn't happen either. Turns out just applying to do a PhD takes a lot of work, and I didn't know what I wanted to do it on let alone where I wanted to do it. Plus it helps if you've got a paper published in the field you want to examine, which I don't, are fluent in Latin and Greek, which I'm not, can read articles in languages a lot of the literature is in (in this case German) which I can't and added bonus (less essential for the more theoretical topic I am now considering) some excavation experience, which I don't have.

Meanwhile, getting into teaching isn't easy either. My best friend has been trying for ages. The first time he applied for a teaching course he was told he didn't have enough classroom experience, despite having been a voluntary teaching assistant in a primary school once a week for 4 months. He kept at that and now, with a year and a half experience, they accepted him and he starts next month.

Primary is one thing, secondary subject teaching another. In the UK at least there's a glut of history teachers, and a shortage of science and maths teachers. If what you want to do is teach, swap course to something they want. If you want a career in history, I urge you to get a museum studies qualification, volunteer in museums whenever you've got a free couple of hours, and just not stop. There are two museums in the city I went to uni in. Repeated letters and a few phone calls and even in-person visits got me nothing in terms of voluntary shifts. They didn't want me. Over one summer I volunteered for a week (the only week I was at my parents house that summer) to help with the building of a Roman villa at Wroxeter, about which there was a channel 4 documentary series, and there's one shot where they're putting the frame in place where you can see me in shot. Mostly I made mud bricks, shaped rocks with hammer and chisel and used a hatchet to turn round tree trunks into roughly square beams. That experience counted for nothing in my attempts to get museum experience.

Careers in history are few and far between. Think about how many history professors there are at your college. Now think how many history students. And now thing how many students have graduated from your college since most of those teachers started their tenure. My sister's girlfriend's mum went to my uni and did the same degree I did thirty years ago and one of the faculty is still there. Meanwhile some 1600 students have passed through and got their degrees. And when I was doing my Masters degree, there was a postgrad office for all the AHA department's postgrad students, including the dozen or so PhDs. They never stopped complaining of how difficult it was to get a faculty position. One, with three published papers and a chapter in a book, spent hours every week applying for positions for six months before she got invited to interview. She got the job but even with a PhD and a strong publication record, there's a lot more supply than demand when it comes to lecturers in Roman archaeology.

So my advice to you is this:
1. Get yourself a plan B and probably a plan C
2. Find out precisely what you need to do to succeed and work hard at it.

Your biggest ally in getting an academic history job is publication experience. Research, write, ask for feedback, rewrite, submit to peeer reviewed journals and keep resubmitting and rewriting until you get it pubished.

Your second biggest ally is networking. Keep in touch with professors. If there's an article you've read which is closely related to what you're interested in studying, get in touch with the author and discuss it with them, if they're happy to do so and also alive still.

Good luck.


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## Shockley (Aug 19, 2012)

Not to derail the thread, but I'll respond.



> Turns out just applying to do a PhD takes a lot of work, and I didn't know what I wanted to do it on let alone where I wanted to do it. Plus it helps if you've got a paper published in the field you want to examine, which I don't, are fluent in Latin and Greek, which I'm not, can read articles in languages a lot of the literature is in (in this case German) which I can't and added bonus (less essential for the more theoretical topic I am now considering) some excavation experience, which I don't have.



 I am more than willing to do a lot of work. I can write a paper no problem (I went to a charter school geared towards history, so I've been writing the equivalent of term papers since the sixth grade). I can read Latin, Greek and German (and Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse, to boot), though I can only speak in German and my Greek is shoddy. 



> Meanwhile, getting into teaching isn't easy either. My best friend has been trying for ages. The first time he applied for a teaching course he was told he didn't have enough classroom experience, despite having been a voluntary teaching assistant in a primary school once a week for 4 months. He kept at that and now, with a year and a half experience, they accepted him and he starts next month.



 I was tutoring history for my school (with wages, time cards, etc.) from the eighth grade on. Three days a week, three hours a day. Not a problem.



> If you want a career in history, I urge you to get a museum studies qualification, volunteer in museums whenever you've got a free couple of hours, and just not stop. There are two museums in the city I went to uni in. Repeated letters and a few phone calls and even in-person visits got me nothing in terms of voluntary shifts. They didn't want me. Over one summer I volunteered for a week (the only week I was at my parents house that summer) to help with the building of a Roman villa at Wroxeter, about which there was a channel 4 documentary series, and there's one shot where they're putting the frame in place where you can see me in shot. Mostly I made mud bricks, shaped rocks with hammer and chisel and used a hatchet to turn round tree trunks into roughly square beams. That experience counted for nothing in my attempts to get museum experience.



 I am lucky enough to have a local museum which I have a great relationship with - The North Texas Museum of History. Not only has my father (who is a historian in his own right) given them a good portion of their exhibits, I have helped them on a number of research projects. This will not be a difficult obstacle for me to surmount. 



> Your biggest ally in getting an academic history job is publication experience. Research, write, ask for feedback, rewrite, submit to peeer reviewed journals and keep resubmitting and rewriting until you get it pubished.



 Naturally. Being the son of two professors, this is something I have drilled into my head daily.

 I am not going into this half-cocked. I am not going into this without a plan. I didn't wake up one morning and say, 'Man, I should go to college because I have nothing else going on.' I've breathed history since I was very small (I remember getting a book on ancient Egypt when I was four, which might have been the start) and it's beyond passion and into obsession. When I was twelve I went to a charter that specialized in this, and I was accepted into university at fifteen. This is something I have been working towards forever, and it's going to take more than a glut of teachers or a down market to stop me.


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## Chilari (Aug 21, 2012)

Wow you're prepared. I wish I knew five years ago what I know now, but it looks like you've got it sussed. Best of luck.


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## Jess A (Aug 21, 2012)

You could try doing some short courses. Responsible Service of Alcohol and hospitality ones, for example, or other 3 month, 6 month courses. Good luck finding the cash and time to do them. But it's a thought. 

I've been at University for a long time and am doing my third degree - I want to combine them. It's a risk and a long stint and I hope that it will be well worth it. I work part time in the family business. Job uncertainty is unpleasant and weighs on my mind, as it does most university students and graduates. I wish you the best of luck.


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