The Job Experience Paradox

After graduating from university I find myself in the same position as many other people leaving school, college or university and the vast majority of them much younger than me also but I digress.  After returning to education for 6 years I have went and achieved something that I would never have imagined that I would have my name on in the form of an honours degree.  However, my experience in that field is limited at best which puts me at a disadvantage when trying to acquire employment and get the job centre off my back.
An interesting article prompted me to write this piece appeared on the C&IT website stating that event salaries for mid level and senior roles are on the rise due to a shortage of talent in those positions.
My feeling is that more people should be employed at entry level and then trained up into mid level and senior roles as this would be more cost effective than trying to headhunt someone who may or may not exist and if they do exist paying them over the odds.
My frustrations are borne out of the fact that I have now lost count of the number of events positions I have applied for (some I've even accidentally applied for twice) since I graduated and yet I am yet to receive a single interview with almost every knockback citing lack of experience as the reason for my application being rejected.  I have recently finished volunteering at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games and it was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone and I naively thought that working at those massive events as well as the fantastic reference I received from the creative live events company who ran the ceremonies would give my events career the shot in the arm it sorely needs but alas it is not to be (thus far).  Almost every application is met with another demoralising "no thanks" and has had me contemplating a return to retail even though I really don't want to as I am far more passionate about events than I ever was in my 10 years working in retail but then even ASDA said no.
 Another thing that is a roadblock to applying for events jobs is that many of the job site searches are dominated by companies such as Glasgow Interactive, Celica Marketing, IJP, A4 Interactive and many others who are nothing more than cold calling companies either door to door, over the phone, in shopping centres or in the street who pay their staff on a commission only basis hence the aggressive tactics of their staff in trying to get people to sign up for whatever it is they are selling or raising money for.  These companies buy premium space on job sites and use buzzwords and phrases such as "Events Sales Assistant" (there is no event to speak of), "Graduates Welcome" (this will be of particular interest to younger and naive graduates perhaps looking for their first job).  The sheer dominance of these adverts on the job sites normally leads to people clicking on it and possibly applying for the position (a recent advert on reed had 16 applications a day after being posted).  People who work for these companies normally work between 10 and 12 hours and are lucky to grab half an hour for something to eat at most and like stated previously no "sales" means no wages.
Hopefully, a forthcoming rejigging of my CV using advice I've read on the Guardian Careers website including a section of making the most of your degree will make my CV more attractive to potential employers but at times it's like a dog chasing it's tail.  I won't get any tangible work experience to the level that employers are looking for if I can't get my foot in the door and then the paradox appears again and while there aren't many if any events employees at entry level capable of making the step up to mid or senior level the talent shortage will become even more apparent.
Recently I have had a constructive discussion about helping with events and the marketing of events with the new event coordinator at Abbot House and it is something I am very willing to do to gain experience, however this in on a voluntary basis and as much as I love volunteering for the people at Abbot House and gaining experience in the field will help even the basics such as food and clothing cost money and scraping by on dole money is far from ideal.
I realise that this piece just looks like a lot of whinging and to be fair it probably is but sometimes you just need an outlet before knock back after knock back kicks off a depression spiral as it is demoralising not to even have an interview to prove yourself such as in the tragic incident in which a 20 year old lad  became so disillusioned he took his own life.  I can't pretend to know what was going through the boy's head but I can certainly empathise with him.