Ashamed to admit that i'm stuck and in need of help

[phoenixz]

Essentially i'm in something of a Catch 22 position

I have been trying to find a new job for the last year with no luck. I reside in Aberdeen, so there are plenty of opportunities and i have even been to numerous interviews, but with no success.

I went straight into a banking position (big mistake) from Uni and have been unable to move up within the bank. This is due to the fact that i am not a salesperson and am unwilling to force products onto people that they do not need.


The problem is that my 4 years of experience counts for nothing outwith the bank. Finance companies don't count banking experience as finance related (i know why, it's silly but there's nothing i can do about it).
Oil and Gas don't count it as office experience.

I particularly want to move into admin as it is the area i excel in, but prospective employers do not see banking as an admin role. Despite explaining to them that nine tenths of my banking experience has been admin related.

Hence my reason for being stuck. I'm not sure where to go or what to do.

Any advice or information would be massively welcome

[phoenixz]

bugmenot said:

What area of banking? Business or retail? Branch or telephony?

Retail, Branch

bugmenot said:

You're a frontline employee, it's part of your job to promote (not force) the products & services of the company you work for. I'm sure you were aware of this when you started.

Sadly i was not aware of this when i started. I (like the person above) believed that the banks had changed after 2009. When interviewing i was informed throughout that this was a customer service position and that the sales was a very small part of the role. Whilst that is mostly correct they failed to mention that you would be assessed only on that very small part regardless of your performance in other areas.
Upon starting i discovered that since 2009 the targets had increased and more pressure had been put on staff to perform. Even after starting i was informed that if i didn't enjoy sales i could go down the management route. But, through the course of applying for a management position, i found out that the managers are hired purely on their sales performance

bugmenot said:

You're getting interviews though, so what sort of jobs were those for? They obviously thought your experience was relevant.
At the moment I can't get give any better advice then to keep trying and try not to get disheartened.

You could also try moving to a similar position at another bank. I know you're not necessarily enjoying your current role but you should be able to negotiate a better salary and you might find the culture to be a better fit for you.

Unfortunately i have learned (through other colleagues and friends) that the culture is the same in all high street banks. And salary is fairly non-negotiable.

Interesting that you mention "relevant" experience as the reason that most places give (when i ask for feedback) for not being hired is usually: "we chose a candidate with more relevant experience"

[phoenixz]

okgo said:

If you can't/won't sell the banks products, what hope have you got of selling yourself in an interview?

Hardly the same thing. I am willing to sell myself as i am a product that i believe in and feel strongly about.


The problem in alot of the interviews i have had, is that the person interviewing is not the same person that filtered through the CVs.
One interviewer i went to had a stack of CVs on her desk and it took her a few minutes to find my one, then a few minutes to read through it.



But genuinely, thank you for your advice

[phoenixz]

Whilst i appreciate the responses I think that this thread has gone off on a complete tangent.

I was not asking for advice on selling, i have heard all of this already (including the unconstructive comments from OKGO)

I have no problem selling or implementing improvements in the work place or within the job. I have made many over the years that have greatly improved the working environment or made things vastly more efficient. As i said, I excel at administration, but am simply not cut out for the "hard sell".

What i am looking for is advice on how to get into a company where these improvements are taken into account and valued in terms of advancement. That is clearly not the banks.

[phoenixz]

Thank you very much craigjm.

That was extremely useful and exactly the kind of help i was after.


P.S. i have indeed tried council positions, but with no success