Why can't I get a job? Recent Grad, 3.7 GPA, Good Exp, Year and a half of searching..

[retaildaytrader]

You have to be sneaky.

If you talk to HR, then you are not going to get anywhere. You must find a way past HR and get to the "decision maker". Try something like calling in anonymously to the department you are applying and ask for the manager or director. Leave a message on their voicemail asking for a callback. Do not say on the voicemail that you are looking for work. Just leave a generic message asking for a call back. They will call you back because they dont want to risk a complaint to their boss about them not returning phonecalls. For all they know you could be a client so they will call you back.

If you talk to HR, then your not getting the job so there is no harm in being sneaky and getting to the decision maker directly.

Prepare your 30-second speech. Remember that less is more when it comes to selling yourself. Practice and rehearse with others before you talk to the decision makers. Always sound positive, calm and confident. Never say anything negative about yourself. always swing it to the positive.

For example, you have no experience for the job being applied, a negative. The positives are that you are young, full of energy and learn quickly. You dont have any bad habits to unlearn. You do exactly as you are told without question. You are loyal to your boss no matter what happens. You are willing to come in before hours and work afterhours. You are willing to come in on the weekends. You will do whatever it takes no matter how extreme it might be. You are highly determined to learn the job.

Quote from INeedAJob:

Well what do you suggest when you walk into a place and speak to someone in HR who says everything is on the website now, you need to create a profile and work on your application through the portal.

 

[hoffmanw]

Quote from INeedAJob:

I technically am still on the books at the one marketing company, although I have not done a job for them in some months, but my resume shows as current.

I have been working for an appliance company delivering refrigerators/washers/etc for some extra income off the books, but have not included that on my resume.

I am living on my own, basement apartment, not to bad. So I do have bills to pay, luckily I have been getting assistance when I need it.

I am 25, I can't take delivering fridges much longer, I need a career. I was offered a management position/partnership agreement with my bosses in a well known chain store when I was 18 because they wanted to expand and bring me in as I had worked there for several years. I wanted more from life, in hindsight I should have taken it. They opened up several more location after that and I would be an owner by now.

Dude, get a degree in Pharmacy. You will be making tons of money couple of years from now.

 

[TGregg]

Quote from INeedAJob:

I know I am a great candidate. . . . was at the top of all my classes. . .I can show how good I really am

I think that quote speaks for itself.

 

[milktruck]

Quote from TGregg:

I think that quote speaks for itself.

um, I dont get it. Good is an adjective here, well would have been an adverb on the verb "to be," which makes no sense. whats wrong with the statement? I did blow my sentence corrections on the GMAT so what do I know (besides math).

 

[S2007S]

Quote from hoffmanw:

Dude, get a degree in Pharmacy. You will be making tons of money couple of years from now.

That field will be so over crowded soon, everyone is jumping into this field since construction, real estate jobs, finance jobs etc. are extremely out of favor. Even teachers, everyone is going back to study to become a teacher as well, a very over crowded area.

 

[stinkyfelix]

Quote from retaildaytrader:

Try something like calling in anonymously to the department you are applying and ask for the manager or director. Leave a message on their voicemail asking for a callback. Do not say on the voicemail that you are looking for work. Just leave a generic message asking for a call back. They will call you back because they dont want to risk a complaint to their boss about them not returning phonecalls.

I would NOT do the above. That's a good way to get on the firm's DND list.

At the firm I used to work at, the Managing Director had 3 office phone numbers. One of them is the public number, the other two are for established clients, other executives within the company, calls of a personal nature, etc.

He would never answer the public number. It would always go to voice mail. His executive secretary would listen to all the voice mails and screen them. Same went for email. If an established client couldn't get ahold of the Managing Director, they would call his Executive Secretary directly on his/her line. The Executive Secretary was everything from gatekeeper to bulldog to problem solver. In our company, an Executive Secretary would make $75 to $95k before bonus. When some of our junior analysts found out about the salary level for the Executive Secretaries, they wanted to apply.

When a position was open the official procedure is to notify HR. HR would post the job for a minimum of 5 days. Everyone, internal and external candidates would apply online. Potential internal candidates would call others in the dept and ask if the Managing Director already had someone in mind for the job or if this was truly an "open" position. You get the idea of how it really works.

In todays work environment, a hiring Managing Director definately would have someone in mind. There is alot of unemployed experienced talent available willing to work for less $$.

Sorry, but the chances of being hired off the street with your resume is very slim and the little trick that was suggested won't work. It will backfire.

A better way would be to call and identify yourself as an applicant for x job that was posted online. If the Executive Secretary is in the mood (the tone of your call is very important) he/she might pull up your online application and give it a 2 second glance. If nothing stands out on your application it goes back into the abyss... That's the way it works. Good Luck

 

[Eight]

I dunno, times are about as tough as they ever have been... maybe you should mention that you are doing some manual labor currently...

I've done sneaky things to get a job.. some of these companies are in turmoil all the time and you just have to play it... I used to take along a workbook with all my job interview appointments to interviews.. then I would "forget it" somewhere, like on a chair in a conference room or whatever, that allowed me to make a less official return visit to retrieve it, get to know the girl at the front desk a little better and it did get me a job once, I had retrieved my book, "got lost" and was wandering around looking for the exit, I hear a conversation about filling the position I had applied for, one guy is saying "what are you waiting for, we have to get this work done" and I popped in asking for directions out of the place and steered the conversation to the job and told them I was there, my car was in the parking lot, no problem getting home and if they wanted to get some work under way I could start right then, they could work out paying me later.... it forced the procrastinator guy's hand and I was employed... it was tough dang times too, Early 80's.. I had another job that year working for some guys that had a legal half to the biz and an illegal half, I hired into the legal half and kept my trap shut...

 

[Surdo]

Quote from Eight:

I dunno, times are about as tough as they ever have been... maybe you should mention that you are doing some manual labor currently...

I've done sneaky things to get a job.. some of these companies are in turmoil all the time and you just have to play it... I used to take along a workbook with all my job interview appointments to interviews.. then I would "forget it" somewhere, like on a chair in a conference room or whatever, that allowed me to make a less official return visit to retrieve it, get to know the girl at the front desk a little better and it did get me a job once, I had retrieved my book, "got lost" and was wandering around looking for the exit, I hear a conversation about filling the position I had applied for, one guy is saying "what are you waiting for, we have to get this work done" and I popped in asking for directions out of the place and steered the conversation to the job and told them I was there, my car was in the parking lot, no problem getting home and if they wanted to get some work under way I could start right then, they could work out paying me later.... it forced the procrastinator guy's hand and I was employed... it was tough dang times too, Early 80's.. I had another job that year working for some guys that had a legal half to the biz and an illegal half, I hired into the legal half and kept my trap shut...

You write great fiction!

 

[blackjack007]

don't go into pharmacy. you study your ass off for 3 years post-grad, rack up $200k in loans, all so you can start at $90k/year and be yelled at by angry patients whose insurance denied their prescription drug. i consider it a high-end customer service job. it's unpleasant.

if you went into engineering, you would start at $65-75k, have no grad loans, and you don't lose out on 3-4 years salary from going to grad school. in those 3 years, your 65k salary would climb to 80k. lifetime, an engineer would make more than a pharmacist.

my pharm friends had a silent envy because they borrowed $150k+ and made less than i did when i worked in tech. they needed 8 yrs of schooling and i only needed 4.

 

[aegis]

Quote from blackjack007:

don't go into pharmacy. you study your ass off for 3 years post-grad, rack up $200k in loans, all so you can start at $90k/year and be yelled at by angry patients whose insurance denied their prescription drug. i consider it a high-end customer service job. it's unpleasant.

if you went into engineering, you would start at $65-75k, have no grad loans, and you don't lose out on 3-4 years salary from going to grad school. in those 3 years, your 65k salary would climb to 80k. lifetime, an engineer would make more than a pharmacist.

my pharm friends had a silent envy because they borrowed $150k+ and made less than i did when i worked in tech. they needed 8 yrs of schooling and i only needed 4.

An engineer won't make more than a pharmacist over a lifetime. Yes, his starting salary will be high, but he'll hit a glass ceiling at $80-90k. He will have to take on more debt as he would likely need another 2-3 years of school to pick up a second bachelors degree. Problem is, he won't qualify for Stafford loans for a second bachelors degree so he would have to find a way to get private loans, which is nearly impossible without two years of full-time work history. He would need a co-signer.

The only real advantage of being an engineer over a PharmD is that he could get his PE license and open his own engineering firm.