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I graduated from college in 2011, into not the worst economic climate, but certainly a challenging time to be a recent graduate looking for gainful employment. Add onto that I opted for a degree in the liberal arts (Political Science) rather than a bachelor of science and things were looking to be off to a shaky start. That being said, I was better of than some that were in the same boat.
Never bad to start out with Bernard Black
I had a job that could (rather tightly), pay my bills, and allow for some modicum of social interaction. I wasn't in a demeaning position, the company was fine. A few months after that I was brought on as a contractor by a major, US retailer and subsequently hired by the company proper. Since I graduated, things have obviously picked up, at least monetarily. I as many that graduated in a similar time frame did what we had to, we took what jobs we could to weather the economic storm and see where we fell out on the other end.
I mainly didn't want to be this guy, compliments of my favorite Onion headline
Well its 2013 now, two years and a few jobs later, not much richer, maybe a bit wiser but with a much more decently padded resume and a much broader vocabulary of corporate vocabulary than my twenty two year old self would have ever imagined.
I feel fortunate, and occasionally proud in that I am capable of supporting myself without parental involvement; friends of mine have not always been so lucky. I am now faced with the prospect of finding properly gainful, satisfying employment. I suppose I should start with a definition of what that incurs to me: a salary position (making more than I do now.) with benefits and which requires application of mental faculties in order to perform the stated functions of said job.
Again, things we are trying to avoid
Now that is a wide net to cast, and asking for a fair bit considering but I have a couple of things going for me. First and foremost is I have a fair bit more proper experience than I did out of the gate, which gives me a bit of confidence going into this process; then is that time is not completely of the essence. I have been in the position of needing a job, and having time to properly calibrate for each application is a luxury I am happy to have.
As for where I am looking, I am redirecting my interest towards my major a bit, seeing what listings are available in state government. Upon graduating, state government was essentially shrinking, and there was little hope of a former intern at the capitol out pacing 10+ year veterans of the state government scene.
At the same time, my current position allows me unique access to what could be called a bit of a club; the corporation in question is rather difficult to get into, but easy to move around within. There are some interesting opportunities in vendor management that piqued my curiosity.
The name of the game now is balancing what I know, at least to a certain extent to be, corporate work life to be and the personality conflicts that unquestionably exist for me in what is more broadly termed a "corporate culture." (A term I loathe with most of my being). That being said it is a rather nice day out where I am, and I am going to take a bit more of Bernard Black's advice, because no one is hiring this week in the United States.
Lucky for me, there is a bit more time than five hours
Link to that Onion Article, as well.
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I find that it is easy to get stuck into a place once you get a decent place. I found myself with no drive to move on for 3-4 years at my first semi decent job. I then moved up in the same company and now don't have any motivation to move on again. I think in my case it has to do with not knowing what are I would like to work in, thus anything works.
I hope you have luck finding something you enjoy more than what you are currently looking for. 
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i have only had one job in my lifetime that I got applying in college.
what is the process of getting another job outside of the shelter of college?
Is it a lot harder? Do companies respond to you a lot less since you are not a college student? Or are jobs looking for more specific skills now?
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Finding work is particularly difficult for those of us who absolutely can't stand communicating with anybody in anyway. So few jobs that involve zero human contact.
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^^ trash workers dont have to talk to anyone
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On July 03 2013 03:31 needcomputer wrote:
i have only had one job in my lifetime that I got applying in college.
what is the process of getting another job outside of the shelter of college?
Is it a lot harder? Do companies respond to you a lot less since you are not a college student? Or are jobs looking for more specific skills now?
Cold Application:
1. Find a job posting,
2. Tailor Resume/sort references.
3. Apply via website
4. Follow up phone call
5. Hopefully interviews starting with a phone interview (Generally there are more than one for a higher paying job, in between 2-3 but can be higher)
6.Job Offer/negotiations.
Warm Application (I would say this when you know some one or have a contact in the company)
1. Informational meeting/learn about position first hand
2. Resume
3. Apply
4 (In a lot of these cases a phone interview is generally given but no guarantees you move past that) Interviews
5. Job offer/denial/negotiations
Responses depends on the job, because I have more experience if I am looking at something fraud related (my field atm) I should get a phone call at least. Other stuff I lack experience in I am basically crossing my fingers.
When I was in school there were very few people that were getting positions straight out of undergraduate. Those that were looking for that, at least the ones I knew, mainly went to graduate school.
Essentially it is the same though, with a bit more nepotism in that you have a few more contacts in different areas through various outlets. There is still a lot of competition but from what I can tell twenty somethings have an odd advantage over certain demographics as a lot of hiring managers are seeing technological limitations with some older applicants, that and mainly we work cheaper/longer than they tend to. This is a generalization of course.
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^^ Thanks for the detailed response, it was very helpful!
Do you know more specifically how you find the job postings? (company website? monster.com? craigslist? job fairs? recruiter?)
Also, how many jobs should one apply for if looking for a new job? When I was in college , you always hear back from the company because they are in contact with the school... I have a feeling you rarely hear back anymore
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On July 03 2013 04:21 needcomputer wrote:
^^ Thanks for the detailed response, it was very helpful!
Do you know more specifically how you find the job postings? (company website? monster.com? craigslist? job fairs? recruiter?)
Also, how many jobs should one apply for if looking for a new job? When I was in college , you always hear back from the company because they are in contact with the school... I have a feeling you rarely hear back anymore
In my personal experience, monster is pretty much a scam to send you stuff, fraudsters actually use sites like it to recruit as well (same with Craigslist, which doesn't generally list the kind of job I am looking for). I'll be using the internal site for my current company, which has internal only listings as well as publicly available ones. State jobs have really clearly listed postings as well. Have an idea of what you can/want to do for a company and see what listings are at companies you are interested in have listed.
I will probably only have a few resumes out at any given time, 4 maximum for myself. I want to avoid double offers (HA, I am an optimist) and be able to keep my head clear for details specific to each position should I be given an interview.
Basically I don't want to cross any wires if someone asks, "why do you want to work here?" only to come back with, "What I like about Company X..." when I applied for Company Z.
I personally haven't used my university's resources for much of late, but from what I saw it isn't the most common avenue for post collegiate employment. Alumni groups can be strong, find the right company in the right area (my company has a ton of local alumni working for it), and individually they can be a great resource while working your way up.
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Hey Thomas
I finished my degree last year, and it's been kind of a nightmare for me as well. I've been with the same company for a few years, but they didn't boost my moneys after I got the degree (didn't count on it, but still). I even got a promotion but all I got was a shitton more work and not even a dollar raise, feels like a demotion really, I don't really believe in what I'm doing nor do I particularly enjoy it anymore.
So I sure as shit don't have any decent advice for you. I just wanted you to know it's probably worth it to hold out for something you're willing to tolerate for a few years. It's hard to make reasonable goals involving a house, marriage, or children when you hate your only source of income, and when your source of income resembles a blow-up pool slowly overflowing as opposed the raging waterfalls you had in mind initially.
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I wanted to point out something that hasn't been mentioned here yet: the importance of KEYWORDS. Remember that each time you submit a resume to a job posting, there are like a 100 other resumes in that pile. Companies will always use a keyword search to filter out the resumes then hand the remaining to the hiring manager. The only way to get around this mess is to either work through a recruiter, who will highlight your resume, or get a contact inside the company who will highlight for you. This is why "tailoring" a resume is so hard....sometimes the company wants to see overall bottom line "what have you accomplished" stuff whereas other companies want low level keywords like "TCP/IP" or "Labview".
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On July 03 2013 20:30 Ender wrote:
I wanted to point out something that hasn't been mentioned here yet: the importance of KEYWORDS. Remember that each time you submit a resume to a job posting, there are like a 100 other resumes in that pile. Companies will always use a keyword search to filter out the resumes then hand the remaining to the hiring manager. The only way to get around this mess is to either work through a recruiter, who will highlight your resume, or get a contact inside the company who will highlight for you. This is why "tailoring" a resume is so hard....sometimes the company wants to see overall bottom line "what have you accomplished" stuff whereas other companies want low level keywords like "TCP/IP" or "Labview".
Definitely not to be understated, I personally know some hiring managers in the finance industry and some other areas and it is kind of amazing how nonchalantly they will do away with half the resumes they got. "No MBA? So long," This is just one example. Depending on the company, industry, and corporate environment you are trying for, they can vary so much @___@
On July 03 2013 07:54 MountainDewJunkie wrote:Hey Thomas I finished my degree last year, and it's been kind of a nightmare for me as well. I've been with the same company for a few years, but they didn't boost my moneys after I got the degree (didn't count on it, but still). I even got a promotion but all I got was a shitton more work and not even a dollar raise, feels like a demotion really, I don't really believe in what I'm doing nor do I particularly enjoy it anymore. So I sure as shit don't have any decent advice for you. I just wanted you to know it's probably worth it to hold out for something you're willing to tolerate for a few years. It's hard to make reasonable goals involving a house, marriage, or children when you hate your only source of income, and when your source of income resembles a blow-up pool slowly overflowing as opposed the raging waterfalls you had in mind initially.
I know of very few jobs where the degree constitutes a direct pay increase, depending on the size of the company it is nice to get that positive reenforcement. I know some people with CFAs (passed the top level), that their firms instantly will give a markedly huge raise.
As for my income, it more accurately resembles a dripping faucet in the desert I am trying to get water out of XD, I don't think I'll see a waterfall for some time yet.
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