And that’s at least two pages too long. Two pages maximum (absent certain specialised areas like academia), and it’s the top half - maybe even the top third - of the first page that sells you.
Please please please give me any advice on how to secure my first *real* full-time job post-college.
Have you considered the military? It’s not a dream job, and sometimes it basically sucks. But… (A) It does have a need for Communications skills, (B) it is stable employment as long as you’re not a dirtbag, © no civilian job will match its medical benefits, (D) you get a ton of education benefits, credentials, and experience.
Maybe you like it, maybe you hate it, either way you fleece the government for skills, experience, and bennies that you can take with you.
There’s good advice in this thread about how it may be your interviewing. I was in a similar boat to you, though, and sometimes it’s just straight up competition. Back when I was doing this on the side from my own “dead-end job”(i.e. a mom & pop company with no room for promotions), it was tough to get interviews to begin with. I felt like I did great interviews when I got there, though. I even got reports back from potential employers that I had the best interview and strongest portfolio out of all their candidates. I wasn’t hired though, because someone else had experience that more precisely matched their exact job type. Stuff like that turned out to ruin every interview I had (I had a sneaking suspicion that when I took that dead-end job because “I need the money and it is still in a part of the field” that it would ruin my career, and it essentially did. Nobody ever looked at me twice once they found out I hadn’t done design work out of an agency). I always got great feedback about my interviews and communication skills, but they would always go straight for the candidate that had 100% matching experience. I never figured a way out of this trap. I could hammer my flexibility and how I’d worked on projects just like theirs in the interview, but all the employers wanted was the person who worked on projects like theirs 100% of the time. Them’s the breaks, I guess. Good luck.
Oh and, do cut your resume down to two pages max, unless you’re going for the jack of all trades approach. I had a friend who could do just about any job, and had a 5 page resume of the 20 different companies he’d worked at to prove it. He always got hired.
Also, yeah, I need an explanation on how searching job boards online for positions is the “wrong way” to go about it. Recruiters certainly didn’t get me any closer to a new job - they did squeeze the feedback about how I interviewed great, though.
Your resume doesn’t seem to be the problem, since you are getting interviews.
How are you practicing? With someone? Are you recording the mock interview and seeing if you have annoying mannerisms? Are you coming across as boring instead of high energy? Are you asking questions of the interviewer? What questions are they asking you, and what are your responses?
Have you researched the companies? Have you asked what their problems are that require a new hire? Are you showing them how you can make them money?
I may be totally wrong, but I’d think that a Communications major would be expected to be able to communicate during an interview at a very high level. Are you sure you’re doing this?
If you could network that would be good, if not just for getting an interview but for getting some feedback after you interview. At the moment everyone who has responded is just guessing.
If you have something that distinguishes you from the pack, anything will work. For those who don’t, if you apply to an opening on a job board you are applying with a zillion others who may or my not have the skills needed. I’ve gone through stacks of resumes and it isn’t any fun. How are you going to get to the head of the line?
A real recruiter - who knows what you do - can help. But the best way is to make connections in a company. Very few managers enjoy hiring, and if someone they trust tells them that you are pretty good, you’ll be ahead of all those who replied to job boards. You still have to interview well, and have the right skills, but you’ll have an advantage.
This is absolutely true. Not only do managers not like going through the interviewing process with numerous candidates—many of who look promising on paper but are disappointing in person—but companies are often curtailing search efforts and limiting interviews to just video conference. Having anyone a hiring manager knows to vouch for you, even if the reference is secondhand, is a big leg up.
Stranger
Since you seem to often be failing at interview, let me ask a personal question: do you smell? Do you bathe and shave before interview? Do your clothes smell? When was the last time you had your suit cleaned?
Not necessarily, if he’s landing interviews.
Also, keep in mind that someone might not land the interview through no fault of their own. Assume there may be 5 other candidates, just as perfect as you.
A few folks have mentioned military. Why does that not appeal to you? Benefits, pay, training, advancement are all included. With your degree, you could go officer right off.
Government jobs - not real sexy perhaps to the those outside the sector. I had a great career with good pay, lots of travel including overseas, opportunity to advance. Advanced degrees. You too could get shot at or mortared :eek:
Well, I’ve actually had a couple more interviews since my last post. The most recent was earlier this week, and - though I deliberately do not make presumptions about my interview performances anymore - I left the interview feeling cautiously optimistic about how it went.
Moreover, I actually got a response back from one of the interviewers after I had sent him a thank you email. Sure, it was a brief response (something to the effect of ‘thanks for your message. We [the employer] will get back to you soon!’) Of course it could just be a courteousy on the interviewer’s part, but I am interpreting it as a net positive in my favor just because I have never before - not once - received a response to any of the prior post-interview thank you emails that I’ve sent.
What do you guys think?
It’s good to stay cheerful and optimistic. I hope they call you back with an offer
Well, of course I did not get the position I mentioned earlier, but FWIW I at least have confirmation that it was not because I bombed the interview. One of the people who interviewed me called me to tell me that I didn’t get the job* but that my interview went excellent and that I should still keep applying. The position was actually awarded to somebody at the company already so nobody from the outside got it.
Man, I don’t know anymore. I guess I will still keep applying. Maybe this whole fiasco is just part of being a college grad? I just don’t know how my experience compares - at maybe 20 interviews so far but no offers - to others in my boat now that I am nearly two years out of university.
*Speaking of which, is this a thing that employers do? I’ve always either received a ‘thanks, but’ email or just no response at all to jobs that I had applied to but didn’t get.
This sounds normal to me and unfortunately reflects my experiences, both as an interviewer and interviewee. In a recession or slow recovery, which most of the country is in, any slightly decent entry position is going to be flooded with applicants. I’ll also note that I am terrible at interviews and personally off-putting to hirers, a grim fact that I had to admit and work hard on improving.
I don’t mean this to sound shady, but are you of any demographic (ethnic, gender, etc) that you can play up to and use to your advantage in the hiring process? Can you do some volunteer activism to build your interview references? Many medium-to-largish companies are selfishly interested in demographic hiring and will put more points into those metrics to show that they are progressive employers.
I’ll also echo what others have said. The ugly truth of American capitalism is that full-time employments with medical benefits, vacations, and retirement options are an entitlement privilege, not a right. You should really consider slogging through the temp-agency and contract-agency path to get as many networking contacts as possible. It took me 3 years of this before I got a random email from out of the blue from a manager from a dozen jobs ago that himself had landed at some different company and was hiring and knew that I could be a quick fill for the position. Bingo, American dream job! The resume and interview grind had SFA to do with anything in the end, just took one person who liked working with me at one time.
Sorry to hear that.
Understand this: that person was likely to get the job before the advert went up. Make sure you write back to the interviewer to thank them for the feedback and ask them to keep you in mind for similar roles.
No, a personal callback is quite unusual now. Mostly they just send an email ‘Sorry…’ letter, or nothing at all.
Did you also get an official notice from the company later? If so, that means this interviewer was impressed with you, and would have liked to hire you. (But most companies give preference to current employees when filling a job. You want to work at a company that does this!) So this interviewer is telling you to keep applying for jobs at this company. He might even call you and let you know of openings. (That internal employee who got the job – his job has to be filled now, right?)
All excellent points!
+1 to heading to a temp/staffing agency. Note: No legitimate agency requires you pay anything up front or take payment from your pay. They charge a premium to the client for placing you there. The funny thing is, since I work in Accounting, I’ve often had to enter and pay the invoice for my work!
At the very least, they’ll give you interview tips and tidy up your resume. After all, they’re presenting you to the client. At least in Hawaii (because it’s required), they provide medical insurance.
A few pointers for interviews that may have already been pointed out.
Be yourself, but your professional self. People can see through BS like water.
Listen 90% and talk 10%. This is a basic rule of sales and you’re selling yourself. Keep your answers short, simple and truthful. There’s always a chance at the end to ask questions.
Always ask 2-3 questions at the end when asked. This is like your pre-college teachers checking to see if you were paying attention. Use “Tell me more.” another sales technique. “You said I’d have to be able to multi-task. Tell me more about a typical workday.”. This shows you were paying attention and have an interest in meeting the challenge.
Don’t bring up anything on your resume that the interviewer doesn’t ask about. “So I see you graduated with a 3.9 GPA in Communications”. “Yes, I did, and I minored in Linguistics.”
Finally, I don’t mean to bring you down, but,“You were in the running, but we hired someone from within the company.” is a standard CYA line. So are, “Thank you, but you’re overqualified.” or “Thank you, but we decided on someone who fit the requirements of the position better”. Everyone is so worried about being sued for slander, they won’t ever give you the full details of why you weren’t hired. This is also the reason why you often don’t get callbacks or followup emails/letters. The less said, the better.
Also, by Federal Law, your job application, if one is filled out ahead of your interview must be kept for at least one year. Some companies will refer back to these, especially if you were really #2 on the list, but most of the time they’ll start a new search.
Oh, another thing. Just because a job opening is listed, it doesn’t mean the position is really open. Again, another CYA move. The company may have someone lined up, but they need X number of applicants to make it look legit.
Also, I may have just missed it, but have you ever been to a second interview? If so was it at there at least one or two different people there? That’s a good sign. This is standard practice for higher paying positions and an HR manager or rep will usually always be there.
That’s too long for someone 2 years out of college who has been working the same “dead end part time job” since they were 19. A resume should generally be no more than two pages and in your case I’d go with one page.
I’m an executive with 20 years of experience and a dozen jobs and I don’t use four pages.
It may be possible your long resume is presenting you as a much more experienced candidate, which won’t reconcile in the interview for an entry or junior level role.
Yeah, I don’t know where this expectation where everyone has to find their “dream job” came from. I had no idea what sort of job I wanted when I was in college (presumably related to my major in civil engineering). My “dream job” in business school was to work for a large management consulting firm like Deloitte or Accenture (which I succeeded at). Not because I thought it would be the most wonderful place on earth, but because they paid well, had great reputations as companies and would open doors to future jobs.
Nowadays there seems to be this perception (largely thanks to Silicon Valley) that everyone should work for these adolescent fun houses whose mission statements align with their personal brand or whatever.
I don’t know that leaving a steady, if part time and unfulfilling job to pursue the unpredictability of temp or contract work is the answer. Yes, sometimes that can lead to a permanent job and many people do prefer that type of work over a full time job. But it’s not without risk and it’s not that easy to just go on Upworks.com and grab a job.
I personally think the trend towards contingency workers (temps, consultants, contractors, freelancers) has hurt job prospects for recent college grads. 20 or 30 years ago, companies tended to look for cheap, inexperienced workers who they could train and eventually grow with their company. I think most companies now would prefer to just hire a contractor to do a specific job for however long they need them.
There also appears to be a bit of a bifurcation of the skilled work force. If you go to an elite school and are a top student, there is a good chance you would be recruited by various Fortune 500 companies, tech firms, investment banks, consulting firms and other organizations through on-campus hiring into their “new hire programs” or from prior internships. That will typically lead you down a path of longer-term permanent jobs with management and executive tracks.
For people who fail to make the cut for those sort of jobs I think it becomes a lot more challenging.
I’m a big proponent of temp agencies especially for people starting out their career as the OP is. It’s easier to get your foot in the door and network while building up your resume. Also, some placements are temp to perm. If you click with your workplace, they may decide to keep you. I’ve got several permanent jobs that way.
That said, I agree that it does potentially take job opportunities away from possible candidates. But it’s often a big win for companies since it reduces their potential employee/employer liabilities to almost zero since the temp is employed by the agency. Decide at any point you don’t want or need the temp at any point and their termination is just a phone call away.