I want to use my degree

Question

I graduated with a degree in Travel and Tourism in 2000. Since then I have had temporary office jobs to boarden my experience. I'm 30 years of age and have no career as such, which is quite worrying at my age. I've got managerial experience in the hospitality industry as conference and banqueting, night shift and restaurant manager. I the past I let myself be pulled about by agencies and worked all over the country in problematic establishments. This, I thought, would gain me the right experince to fulfil my career objectives. I apply for managerial jobs and seem to be an unattractive prospect to employers. What do I do?

What the expert says

Lesley Reynolds, managing director, Portfolio International

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"You need to look at the problem from the employer's perspective and realise why you are perceived an unattractive proposition and then turn it around. "You have clearly had a number of very varied jobs and I would want to know more. Have you some good references that you could now use to your advantage? And what have the circumstances been that have caused you to move on swiftly? You mention problematic establishments, but have there been any personal issues that have caused you not to ‘stick'? "If you had a reasonable experience with a hotel group, I would encourage you to go back and talk through your predicament with their human resources manager and make a plan based on commitment and results from you. You will need to buckle down and work and prove your reliabity as well as competence, but a well-intentioned approach which states the reason you are where you are and how you now want to reposition yourself could prove very worthwhile. "In five years' time you ought to be looking back on this moment as a positive turning point."