Difficulties getting out of the starting gate with employment

Granted, my husband and I have only been in the UK for three weeks and got our UK mobile phones set up a little over a week ago...but it has been very difficult to get out of the starting gate with respect to jobs.  We've been filling out applications, doing all sorts of assessments (and getting rejected) handing out CVs and popping in and out of shops.  Yes, it is way too early to get discouraged, but we are looking for any advice on how best to approach this.  I'm afraid that there are cultural differences we may be overlooking.  The assessments (hypothetical scenarios) are actually proving to be quite challenging to us.  We are both mature professionals (perhaps too mature?) and are open to many different types of work.  We get regular updates from Indeed and several other online job portals.  We also connected to the city and county job site.

Any pearls of wisdom?

Have you contacted recruiters for your specific fields?

August is always slow.  Things should pick up a bit now.

Volunteer to get some UK job experience and references. There are many places that will be more than happy to use the help and they are used to having short time volunteers.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Don't you just love those online assessments?  There is something they must be looking for that is not naturally what we are trained by experience to discuss. 

I have been jumping the hoops for Civil Service jobs (which may or may not be representative of the employment market in general).  I am a seasoned professional with 20+ years of progressively more responsible program management positions.  I've been through a "can you read" (verbal reasoning) test with very good results. Then on to their "judgement" test where I was presented with situational essays and asked to rank possible actions as to their effectiveness.  Then on to open-ended short essay sections to "describe examples of my competencies" as they match the "competencies" they are looking for. I really wish I could just send them a resume and a list of references, but that doesn't seem to even come into the picture at all. 

Haven't heard if I'm washed out of the latest job application stream yet....  My thought is that I probably overthink things, but I'm really not quite sure what  they are looking for. I've read the guidance that SAYS what they are looking for, and it's not particularly helpful. Something is lost in translation.    One of the jobs I applied for was pretty similar to one I'd done for several years in the past (same types of tasks) and for which I received stellar performance ratings.  But none of that matters - it's those short-answer blocks that are killing me. I am uniformly rated as "qualified" but nothing special.

If you've only been at it 3 weeks, you definitely should give it a bit longer. Everyone I've met says it takes much longer to get hired on here. And it's helpful to "know someone" in the organization in the  first place.     I found several jobs with law enforcement/safety but cannot apply as I haven't lived in the country for three  years (security issues). Too bad, really, as I'd have been good at them. Again, there's a different set of rules at play here. Good luck!

Have you contacted recruiters for your specific fields?

August is always slow.  Things should pick up a bit now.

This.
Nobody is doing anything in August. 

Perhaps the biggest cultural difference is that it will take forever to find a job.  And employers will expect you to sit around waiting for weeks, even when they offer you something. 

The good news is that just when it seems the darkest, like you are absolutely getting nowhere, you will get the call. It always happens.

Thanks.  I really don't think I've ever worked so hard for a minimum wage job.  I've got a Master's degree, have worked in civil service for nearly 30 years and have a lot to offer....I'm beginning to think that there are some prejudices with respect to age and perhaps nationality. 

I've been bombing on the assessments; not really sure what the employers are looking for.  I've been in the workforce long enough to know about customer service and that really things are not (always) straightforward.  Oh well, back to the applications.

I'd guess it's more about class than age or Nationality if you are trying to get a minimum wage job.  They simply don't know what to make of you.  "Why would a person with a master's degree want this minimum wage job?"

Well, it sounds like Farmgirl and I are in the same boat.  Also have a masters (Public Administration - basically, applied bureaucracy) and decades of related work experience. I can't begin to try for higher level civil service jobs as the criteria for them are specific and I've had no opportunity to get those qualifications. I thought it might be nationality (EU), and also age, but.... also suspect that there may be points given as they are in the USA civil service - veterans get preference to a lot of jobs, so perhaps I'm coming in behind the vets. Something like that, perhaps?

Or it could just be that they really want very young, fresh-out-of-Uni people who they can train and keep for years.  Or the screener's cousin's roomate's brother needs a job....

I had exactly the same problem finding a job.  I too have a masters and a teachers certificate.  I worked as a civil servant for 20+ years working front line and management level. In my first 6 months I applied for over 600 jobs, I got a few interviews but no job offers. I was convinced it was because I was not a citizen and it was not easy for any employer to check my references or my qualifications. As I could no longer aford to sit at home I decided I would do some work with a temp agency so I could get some local experience to see if that would help with local references and new info for my CV. After working with a local Investment Management company I was offered a full time post with them.  I worked with that company for 11 years and ended up as a manager.  All of this was when I moved to the US in 2005 ..
 

Three weeks is a very short time in the UK hiring world.  For the job I ended up getting (whose interview was 4 months after I got here) this was the timeline:

Job listed
I applied right away
Two weeks later the job closed
One week after that I got an invitation to interview
The next day they offered me the job
Three weeks later I signed my contract
One week later I actually started the job

So it took like 7 weeks overall to get the job.  The long closing dates are really tough for those of us applying right away and having to wait!  But you'll get something.  For what it's worth, I had been really upset to go on interviews and not get those jobs, but the one I got ended up being a lot better paid and a better job title than the ones I didn't get.  So sometimes it works out to not get the first or second (...or ninth) thing you apply for.

Are either of you two in London? If so PM me, may have some thoughts on your situation if you have public admin interest/experience.

Hi Farmgirl,

Firstly, although at risk of sounding all cliche, Don't give up!! I know it's an avalanche of applications, rejections, frustration and resentment towards the whole scenario, but as already mentioned, there'll be that call which will be someone wanting to take you and your partner on!

Secondly, for the interest of full and rounded knowledge, then yes, you are right, there is a 'undercurrent' of prejudices here in the UK for when it comes to Age of an applicant also race, gender and lately, origins of a person too. It's highly irritating and I absolutely hate it all - My background was in Financial IT and this sector is notorious for not attracting enough women. This was usual to read about in industry publications but thankfully, each of the three American companies I worked for, there was a great mix of male/female employees and from what I could tell, zero discrimination. I was also blessed with colleagues from all over the world so those companies got the blend right in my opinion. Other sectors, perhaps it's more prevalent for the negatives to still exist which makes me irritated firstly with a mild dose of anger too as I know there's many many fantastic very suitable people looking for those jobs - like yourself.

Other factors include where in the UK you are geographically, and the sector of industry you are in and your specific skillset and experience etc.

On top of all that, the UK has recently gone all 'anti immigrant' and 'anti immigration' with the ugly head of more outright/direct racism appearing. Associated with that is the whole outside of EU immigration thing which many UK people who want rid/complain about 'foreigners' keep going on and on about loudly and publicly, which again doesn't help you both at all.

I hope and implore you to keep looking and not to lose heart and here's to hoping you'll soon be posting to say you've both found something !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Sough UK!