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getting into admin work
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
I have 11 gsces at grade c and above and 4 As levels at grade c and above.
I want to get into an administration career but even something simple such as an office junior earning 11k a year i'm getting turned down for, my only work experience is as a barmaid and at the moment i'm a senior sales assistant in threshers. What can i do to help myself get into this career? i've even looked into doing a course in admin but you have to be in relevant work to even do it.
I want to get into an administration career but even something simple such as an office junior earning 11k a year i'm getting turned down for, my only work experience is as a barmaid and at the moment i'm a senior sales assistant in threshers. What can i do to help myself get into this career? i've even looked into doing a course in admin but you have to be in relevant work to even do it.
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Do you have any IT qualifications - either software use or typing? They are always useful to get on your CV.
Speaking of your CV, do you list your skills rather than just your experience? By skills, I mean the things that are transferrable between jobs like being organised, methodical etc. (there are many more but my mind's just gone blank!). In between admin jobs, I was a waitress so had to write my skills on the first page to get me noticed and the reader interested in me before they turned the page and found out I was a waitress at present!
I'm an administrator in a HR Dept. now - if you want me to have a look at your CV I'll happily give you tips on how to change it to get it noticed.
Looking at my CV i've not listed skills as i don't know what skills i could say i learnt from being a barmaid.
Plenty
I'll come back tomorrow with the one that got me the job I have now.
In the meantime, here is the one with blanks to give you an idea for a new layout
Just need that one employer to give me a chance but eveyone seems to want previous experience.
Make that tomorrow as in Friday!
I was getting turned down for really basic admin jobs when like you I had my GCSEs and college qualifications. It's because a lot of admin jobs tend to go to younger relatives or partners of managers.
The way I got into admin was by getting a really crappy telesales job. It enabled me to put on my CV and applications that I had telephone and computer experience. The company I then applied for, for an admin role, thought I had relevant enough experience for the job.
So if the temp agencies don't get you anything, try sales or customer service. They're a really easy route into admin. And as others have said, remember to big up your skills on your CV. A lot of standing out in the selection process is using the right jargon.
Even being a humble barmaid you've developed fantastic customer service skills, you interact well in a team and you're a good team player, you're organised and diligent when working as an individual. You've learned how to manage yourself in stressful situations (when drunks get nasty or flirty), you've developed negotiation skills (by refusing to serve drunks), and if you've worked in a number of bars you've shown that you can adapt to new people and new workplaces quickly and easily.
You're a skilled user of administration software, in particular Microsoft Office, and you have a qualification in IT.
By posting here you've been involved in a major national charity aiming to help vulnerable young people.
It's not what you've done, its how you write it that counts. Crowbar the buzzwords in. You're selling yourself with a CV, you've got to enhance the positives. Don't lie but there's nothing wrong with a bit of exaggeration.
Register with some temping agencies and you should be posted into some admin work fairly soon. You'll be starting low down, minimum wage, but as you prove your competence you'll get better positions.
You'll be fine, just pimp yourself a bit better
Anyway it was a super help and meant that i was better at the touch typing and data entry skills when i went to see some agencies.
The first job i had was as a press assistant at the office of the national lottery as a temp (in the days before email!) and they offered it to me as a permenant position - unfortunatley i was going travelling and then to do a degree so i said no - but basically i guess what i'm saying is that once you start its all pretty self explanitory.
Make sure to mention if you have any experience with multi line phones, any type of customer service work, the bar work would be great to reference to.
Any job that is in an office would be one to try to get. Whether it be basic office duties like filing and sorting, working in a mailroom. Data entry, reception, assistant... many jobs will give you skills and you will be able to move up in the company, or simply use it as a stepping stone to another country.
The one thing I would say though, I'm not sure if your CV is what is common there, but in my experience (I've had more jobs than years I've been alive and worked with the hiring process in a couple jobs) interests are not interesting, lengthy sentences should be substituted for phrases, bullets and easy/quick readibility. Many places have alot of applications to go thru and seeing bullets with applicable points are much easier to see and grab your attention than having to read through sentences. I've also always been told to avoid writing in the first person. Don't personalize.
For example, for the part time bar staff, I would write it more like
Stanstead Abbotts Village Club
Bar Staff
Provide service to customers in a variety of situations
Organize and stock bar area while ensuring a clean and well maintained area
Responsible for takings nightly
But then again I've learned they could be so so so different in the UK and US (it's illegeal to ask an applicants age, so dob would be out of the question), school grades and such stuff would never be added
I'd also suggest more direct language. Even in such areas as the very end. Instead of references can be supplied if needed, I've always seen, references available upon request, just little stuff, but it's always seemed to make a difference in the overall content.
Don't hesitate in kissing your own ass
i'd just left school, had good grades for gcse and a levels and wanted to do an admin job
i also got turned down left right and centre because i didn't have any experience but no one would give me a job so i could get the experience
luckily, i then found an NVQ training centre that found me a placement in a workplace and helped me get NVQs in Admin, Customer Service and IT which then also gave me the experience that work places wanted - got paid £50 a week training allowance as well
is there anything like that in your area?
T2 usually do something like it so may be worth getting in touch with them if you have one in your area
There are ways to break into office work if you're not happy doing telesales and such