[Dante Hicks]

Pig is right - you are being rejected from some of your jobs because they think (quite rightly I would imagine) that you would leave them as soon as something else came along (or simply quit in despair after a few weeks). We recently advertised for a temp and of the CVs that we were sent the most qualified two candidates were both discounted by both myself and the other person selecting them.

I was rejected by both Safeways and Ryman's the Stationers in my initial attempt to find a job. This is either because I failed the Safeway's test (you had to add up three items in an example basket) or because they thought that I might not be in for the long haul.

Either stop applying for those type of jobs or tailor your CV to suit them.

Ask every single person you/your family know if their office would appreciate some (unpaid if necessary) assistance in filing / light admin work as others have noted. If you really need to (although I doubt it's necessary) you can lie a bit, no-one's going to phone up your Uncle Jim to ask if you helped out in his shop for three months.

If that's not your bag, undertake some kind of project by yourself to help you gain confidence/experience in a given area. You're into politics, right? Well, stand outside a local supermarket, ask twenty people their views on a random issue, write them down and that way when people ask what you've been doing lately you've got an exciting project to discuss which helped gain face-to-face people skills, as well as experience in managing paperwork, motivating yourself and so on.

Also, apply at call-centres (directly) even if they're not advertising for new staff. They have terrible turnover as I've said before and always be looking for new staff. Most places accept people with zero experience.