A couple of job hunting questions

This thread is from 2013

1. Say you just graduated from college with a bachelors degree in one area, and 2 classes short of getting a minor in another, but to work in either of those fields requires either a minimum of 2 years or 5-8 years experience (depending on the particular job). How does anyone ever get work experience when you have to already have it to start working?

2. If most people are hired though personal contacts, but most job application processes are intended to keep you from actually talking to a real person, how do you get past getting no response but an occasional "thanks for applying but no thanks" automated e-mail? I know there is no good answer to those questions, but from what I have read here in the past there are at least some people who might have suggestions.

said graduate needs to figure out how the courses he's taken have given him the experience the job requires. also, that graduate should've gotten some co-op work experience when in school. and taken FSAE.

Tune your resume in such a way that you answer the need of the position you're trying to fill. Its a lot of work changing your resume for each job you apply for, but this method will get your resume at least further through process and hopefully read by a real person who will be able to see that you're actually a decent candidate.

The way I usually see it work is this: resumes that don't match up get ignored; resumes that have some promise move on to the next step of being read by more people (and usually a linkedin/facebook search is unofficially done). If you make it past that, you're on their radar.

Or find a recruiter that specializes in your field. You shouldn't pay them anything. They make their money when you get hired.

The biggest thing that I run into with people looking for jobs is that they are too picky. Sometimes its the potential commute, or that its not what they thought they would be doing. Mostly though, people think they should be getting paid more than what they really should. I know someone who is nearly unemployable that doesn't apply for or turns down offers on jobs over a couple thousand dollars in the advertised salary. Know that the advertised salary usually is just a number someone filled in when they wrote the job ad. There is wiggle room up OR down based on what you're bringing to the table.

The other side of the discussion is small companies. Most of them hire very infrequently and don't know much about writing job ads, reading resumes, or interviewing. Because of this, they write job ads thinking about the perfect new hire. They won't find that person and even if they do, they will wish they had hired the guy fresh out school for E36 M3 money that they can train to work their way.

In the end, apply for anything remotely close to what you want to do. The worst case is that you get an interview and don't like what you hear. Its good practice to apply and interview.

oh, regarding getting hired based on personal contact, i don't know if that applies to fresh-outs unless you're related to someone. for me, the personal contacts built up over years of working in the industry, and now i've got a leg up on a lot of people in this industry because of who i know and where those people are in their careers.

Most universities have career centers, designed to help students find a job after graduation. You don't specify what field you're in, but all of the companies I've worked for in the software industry recruit through on-campus interviews pretty aggressively, and that's how I got my first job out of school.

I don't know if that applies if you've already graduated and aren't a student any more, but it can't hurt to ask.

On your second question, the personal contact is how you get the interview, you still need to pass that to get hired. If you just send your resume in then it sits in a pile with a thousand others, if you send it to your friend, relative, former coworker, etc who already works there, then he hand carries it into his manager's office and says "Hey, I know this guy, he's good and we should interview him".

Volunteering, interning, etc. sometimes works.

Resume Canoe deleted.

This thread is from 2013...I wonder what Travis is up to now, 6 years later?

John Welsh said:

Resume Canoe deleted.

This thread is from 2013...I wonder what Travis is up to now, 6 years later?

Well he has over 4,000 posts, so I guess he is still around.    

Switched accounts but I did successfully find a couple jobs since then, mainly just by being lucky I suppose.