I was strongly tempted to make this a pit thread, but right now I am simply trying very very hard not to be bitter about the whole thing.
I had been lead to believe that even with so-so grades, a person can make a name for themself through experience, social skills and rapport. While that may be the case for many jobs, it wasn’t for the job I applied for. After all my efforts, all those days working for them as a subordinate, smiling day in, day out, keeping my enthusiasm even when many co-workers were quitting left and right because the job didn’t pay enough, I find that none of it really mattered.
In the end they didn’t care about my work experience. The fact that I had been working for them for nearly three years meant absolutely zilch. Nor was my other work experience with kids (as a crossing guard and as a piano teacher) The only thing that really mattered was my GPA, which was half a point below their minimum (3.0). Yes, I didn’t do too great in college, and I have had several months to mull over the regret of not working harder and doing better. They called me back for all three interviews to see if maybe I had some remarkable ability that would compensate for my abysmal grade point average but ultimately I didn’t have enough to win them over
A part of me thinks that going to college in the first place was kind of a waste- since having a Batchelor’s degree isn’t terribly useful when places like this are going to turn me down anyway. One possible option would be to go back to school and bring up my GPA…it is something I am considering seriously.
My graduation ceremony is this Saturday, and getting turned down for this job, something I have wanted for two years, makes the whole thing feel very melancholy.
That’s too bad, Incubus, and it certainly wasn’t very nice to string you along like that. I hope you find something soon.
The fact that you do have job experience is going to work in your favor eventually, though, and once you’ve been working longer, the GPA isn’t going to matter much. The only times I’ve ever been asked to provide transcripts was in applying for government jobs, where the whole process is incredibly anal.
Take encouragement from the fact. What it means is that the company was willing to put up with you for 3 interviews to find something, anything that could make up for the fact that you had a low GPA. The fact that a company would go to such lengths to try and hire you means that they were very keen to have you.
I had a fun one i didnt even apply for. I was sought out for a promotion
I had 2 interviews then had to fly cross country CA-FL for my final. After 4 hours of meets with 3 different people, lunch with two more, and final with the dept head for 2 hours in the afternoon I get told “we will let you know in the morning” They even made arrangements for me and my wife to meet with a realtor and had us checking out houses for 5 hours the next day. They finally call me back 2 days after I got home and said no thanks. Apparently I made a comment at lunch that pushed someones pet peeve button.
I want my 4 days back damnit. At least they could have said no the next morning so I could cancel the realtor and gone to disneyworld but NOOOOOOOO!
I’m sorry to hear about that, Incubus. Are you still working there? If so, I can see how this would really suck.
I’m interning at a career services office right now, and tomorrow I’m going to interview for a permanent position they’re adding. If I don’t get it, I’ll finish out the summer, but it will be hard to muster up the same enthusiasm.
Yeah, I still work there, in fact I just got back today.
And working today, I realized that I lost all sense of purpose at the job. Up until now the idealism of someday becoming THE BOSS! helped me put up with a lot of unfair situations; always willing to come in early/stay late, etc. If there wasn’t that desire to be a manager there, I think I would have quit that job a while back in favor of similar jobs that paid more. I thought that sticking it out when others quit (as of now I have worked in that center longer than any of the other staff-including the managers) would go a long way toward helping me achieve something greater.
But since they don’t really care about that, my passion for this job has plummeted. I feel kind of embarassed to be there- sorta like that big kid in Elementary school who had to repeat 5th grade several times. Right now, the only thing that is keeping me going is the kids there, who were happy at the prospect of getting to hang out with me for a little bit longer before I find a full-time job. Despite my disappointment at not getting hired as a manager, I didn’t want to take it out on the the kids. Though, as Kirk VanHauten said in an episode of The Simpsons, “Its going to be tough to be peppy today!” :mad:
Oh well. With any luck I can move on to hopefully find a job that either A.) Pays more than $33,000/year or B.) Doesn’t require 50-60 hour workweeks.
I was once called for an interview at a place that I knew was a stickler for degrees; I don’t have a college degree, I’m entirely self-taught. Still, I have a great resume, and my ex-boss worked at the place and highly recommended me for a position, and that was enough to get me an interview.
The first interview was a telephone interview. I was very much up-front about my lack of degree - I flat out asked them “I don’t have a degree. Is this going to be an issue?” I was assured that with my resume and my ex-bosses recomendation it wasn’t an issue.
I was called in for a face to face interview. It was one of those interviews where I was routed through several people. I made no secret of my lack of degree either.
I was called back to meet with the big boss. We chatted for a while, then he said “Well, I don’t know if this will work out. We don’t hire people without degrees. You’re not qualified for this job.”
What a fookin’ waste of time. The guy went on to ask me my previous salary, and I told him. He then accused me of lying about it. “You made that much and you dont have a degree?” Did I mention my ex-boss worked at the place? Why the !#@$@!# would I lie about my salary when I knew that all they had to do to verify it was to walk over to ex-boss and verify it?
I went on to get a better job at a higher pay rate, at a place who looked at what I could do, not what slips of paper I had. You’ll find something, Incubus - just keep looking.
Incubus, I’m not one of those people who always greet misfortunate by saying, “This happened for a reason”, but maybe it will help you to think of this situation like that.
As a tutor, you have valuable skills. You could go into education, right? What’s your degree in? Is it possible for you to take on substitute teaching or private tutoring while you continue the job search?
Can you apply for a management position at another tutoring place? What about community rec centers?
Right now I am sending applications out to local private schools. Some private schools don’t require a teaching credential to work there, and at this point I’m just trying to get my foot in the door, somewhere, in order to get my career off the ground. My degree is in English, but I am looking at a lot of options.
Man, I’ve had at least 20 dream jobs get away from me, it never gets any easier though. I have also landed a couple jobs I thought were dream jobs that turned out to be not all that great after all. And I have taken jobs I thought would be mundane and boring that turned out to be a lot of fun with really cool people. You just never know how a job is going to be until you have worked there a few months.
Well brother, pick up the pieces and move on. There’s another dream job waiting just around the corner for you, I guarantee it.
Two years ago, I worked as a lab tech. My boss was one of those “now” types who hate
keeping registries, because “who’s gonna look at them 3 months from now?” (usually you, when you try to play at being a process engineer)
procedures, because “hell, you have to change them every time you decide to change the way you do things” (but isn’t it nice, when people run into problems at 3am and can look for the solution in a paper instead of calling you in hysterics)
so he’d delegated most of his management tasks on me.
So when he got a lateral move, I applied for his job.
I got passed over for a new hire who had less experience than me, which was a royal bummer.
Two months later, I applied for an international job within the company and, you know, it’s been a helluva lot of work and yes, right now I’m unemployed, but I’ve loved every minute (well, 90% of the minutes) of this job and I have a resume for which the general reaction is “oh, WOW!”
If I’d gotten the “little” promotion, I would never have tried shooting for the big one.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, sometimes things that at the time feel like a kick to the balls ends up being best.
Best wishes, and btw, yes the thing about the GPA is true in 90% of cases; I’ve got 10 years of experience and when people ask that kind of questions I always end up finding it’s people who have no idea what my major is all about.
I just wanted to say good luck and don’t give up.
You’ll get a job and it will either be better than ever anticipated or lead you to the job that you never thought could be so fookin’ awesome!
OOh yes. I can empathise with you people. I recently graduated and am in the process of qualifying to practice as a lawyer. I was very excited to be called for a recent interview at XYZ government legal department for a junior legal position. I cancelled several prior appointments that day, travelled to the place of interview, waited for 45 minutes after undergoing a security check, was interviewed for an hour (palms sweating all the while), and told that they’d get back to me within the week. After two weeks they still hadn’t, so I phoned them and emailed them. Finally, yesterday I get an email saying that “circumstances have changed within the team you were interviewed for and unfortunately I must inform you that there is no vacancy at this time.” :mad: :smack: :rolleyes: :dubious:
Fuck this for a game of soldiers.
Anyway, I have a short-term job now, but I’m still worried about getting a permanent position asap.
