Do i have a point or am i being stupid? (Career related!)

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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I'm having an arguement with my girlfriend about how important it is to have as much as you can on your CV from an early age. I have 3 years of retail on mine whereas she has 1 year at a call centre on hers. My point to her was that she is less employable than myself because of what i have on my CV and how it proves i can do quite a lot of things - ie customer service, working under pressure, selling, variety of skills etc.

So i said i'd help her get a job but she seems fine to do warehouse work until she graduates. I said that it would be very difficult for her to get a decent job because of her CV, especially in the current climate where there are so many people trying to get a job.

I used the example about how i got my job at Next...i was only employed by DSGi because i had the Tesco experience and only employed by Next because i have worked in a sector of retail before. I also argued that retail shows many things and doesn't have to apply solely to the 'retail sector'.

Should i get off my high horse...am i being a bit silly? Just don't want her to do badly and so on after University. :o :(
 
It all depends on what she is planning to do once she graduates? Admittedly experience is experience, but surely it also needs to be relevant to the area she wants to work in?
 
Why warehouse work is worse then retail?

I wouldn't be particularly bothered what you did, as long as you have the skills I am looking for. If neither of you have the skills, I would't hire either of you.
 
how many jobs have you had? It doesnt look good to employers if you leave jobs/get fired after a short time in each. Gives them no reason to hire you if you arent likely to stick around.
 
Davepen said:
It all depends on what she is planning to do once she graduates? Admittedly experience is experience, but surely it also needs to be relevant to the area she wants to work in?
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That is why we clashed. My arguement was that retail shows a variety of transferable skills whereas warehouse is still an okay job but has less interaction on a shop floor, ie customer service and selling.

rsatd said:
Why warehouse work is worse then retail?

I wouldn't be particularly bothered what you did, as long as you have the skills I am looking for. If neither of you have the skills, I would't hire either of you.
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See above, i think the word i should have used was something along the lines of transferable skills. And when i mean warehouse, i mean production line. Low of the low style but pays £7 an hour style.
 
HEADRAT said:
Exactly, unless she needs the money she may be better off putting 100% of her effort into her studies and leaving with the best Degree she can.

HEADRAT
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She isn't sure what she wants to do when she graduates and because it is a Psychology degree and she doesn't want to go into that field anymore as such, i said it would be difficult when it comes to comparing her to other applicants, ie she needs a headstart of some sort.

Bennie-Mac said:
how many jobs have you had? It doesnt look good to employers if you leave jobs/get fired after a short time in each. Gives them no reason to hire you if you arent likely to stick around.
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I'm on my 3rd job. I appreciate that point though about not having too many jobs and showing dedication/sticking at it.
 
I've rather the same situation, gf has only worked at a ferry port or in call centers over the last few summers, now looking for job after graduating from an english degree.
I've worked in retail the whole time, and have padded my cv with bull from it, and while i'm looking for a job in a specific field and having no luck, she's looking for any jobs available, and getting just about the same.

though I know a number of people who have never had a job, after uni they decided they'd spend a day job hunting, and then couldn't understand why they weren't suddenly emplyed, all at 21 years old >.<
 
I did some really carp jobs while I was at Uni just to make ends meet, I guess the only thing they showed my first employer was that I was will to work and self fund my education.

Why on earth did she choose Psychology!!

HEADRAT
 
mac1st3 said:
I've rather the same situation, gf has only worked at a ferry port or in call centers over the last few summers, now looking for job after graduating from an english degree.
I've worked in retail the whole time, and have padded my cv with bull from it, and while i'm looking for a job in a specific field and having no luck, she's looking for any jobs available, and getting just about the same.

though I know a number of people who have never had a job, after uni they decided they'd spend a day job hunting, and then couldn't understand why they weren't suddenly emplyed, all at 21 years old >.<
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Your final paragraph is basically my point to her...its stupidly competitive out of there. Out of curiousity, where did you work and what is your 'specific field'?
 
HEADRAT said:
I did some really carp jobs while I was at Uni just to make ends meet, I guess the only thing they showed my first employer was that I was will to work and self fund my education.

Why on earth did she choose Psychology!!

HEADRAT
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Not sure but i personally chose it because i wanted to become a psychologist or psychotherapist...i've changed my mind though. :o Hence why i feel okay knowing i am still employable even without a relevant degree.
 
If she's happy where she is then leave it.

I spent 3 years at Tesco whilst at university and to be honest it did nothing apart from fill a box on my CV.

Some employers look to see if you can hold a steady job, so moving every 6 months might tarnish a CV unless you can give good reasons for leaving.
 
SideWinder said:
Low of the low style but pays £7 an hour style.
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So you are planning to stay in retail forever? Without telling us what she is studying to be, its meaningless trying to compare two "low skilled" jobs without giving us context.

Changing jobs often is bad anyway. Most people expect a student to have some part time job during uni carrier, but I would advice against that during the final year.

Really, I think you are being silly. If you are really interested in a job that will be helpful, instead of working in some warehouse/shop, go to a company that specialises in your chosen degree/carreer, and ask to work for them for free over summer. That looks far better on CV then any years part time student jobs anyway.

If I was hiring a software engineer, I couldn't care less if they were working in a shop or a warehouse as a student, but if they bothered to go out of their way to get programming experience in a real company, I would assume they at least have some forward planning and are keen on the carreer path.
 
EVH said:
If she's happy where she is then leave it.

I spent 3 years at Tesco whilst at university and to be honest it did nothing apart from fill a box on my CV.

Some employers look to see if you can hold a steady job, so moving every 6 months might tarnish a CV unless you can give good reasons for leaving.
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That is what i am half tempted to do...dunno, just the whole 'caring side of a boyfriend' coming out a bit. :o

Relating to the Tesco bit, apparently employers are quite impressed with Tesco because of their management style and training. It is certainly a good foundation to a CV or something like it. :)
 
SideWinder said:
Your final paragraph is basically my point to her...its stupidly competitive out of there. Out of curiousity, where did you work and what is your 'specific field'?
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worked for DSGi myself for a year and a half before uni, worked at GAME for a year at uni and since graduating, got my old job back with DSGi which has been a year, and very depressing lol, so granted i'm a bit more lucky in the sense that I knew people who were able to get me my current job, but we've just employed a guy who owned his own shop for 4 years, moved up here and got a job with us pretty much immediately.

and as for my field, I'm a concept artist/3d modeller trying to get into the games industry, got a job with Microsoft back in febuary as a games tester to break into it, but I never actually started cause they're "still waiting for the project to come through" :/ so i'm having to look again.
 
Warehouse work is pretty dull/repetative mostly, but that doesn't mean it's any less valuable than retail. Lets face it neither of them is going to scream "hire me" to anyone, but one thing that will help is if she's stuck at a job for a long time and not jumped about between jobs regardless of what those jobs were.

Employers like people to be stable and stick at their work, what that work is doesn't really matter especially as it's pre-graduation work where all you're really after is something to put on the C.V. in the first place and some money in your pocket.

In short - yes you're making too much of it. If she's happy leave her alone, but frankly unless you're able to get a part time job in the sort of sector your degree is for then it's unlikely to make any noticable improvement to your chances of being hired over someone working in McD or Poundies. Everytime someone job-jumps that costs their employer money and time which isn't exactly something you want on your C.V.
 
SideWinder said:
Should i get off my high horse...am i being a bit silly? Just don't want her to do badly and so on after University. :o :(
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Yes, its good to have work experience on your CV, showing either a range of skills or a particular interest in the area that you want to do into.

But there's not really much point in ragging on to her about it. The more you rag, the less likely she'll do it. Its up to her at the end of the day and she's her own person.

If you want to influence her - be practical. Find some job adverts for actual positions that she could apply for. 'Help her' but don't 'tell her'. Nobody likes being dictated to.
 
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