Job search strategy discussion thread

Oh, don't get me wrong, they're fun to read. Is there a collection of them somewhere?

Quickmeme has a lot of them.

Alright, my resume is in.

They told me they'd be looking at applications this upcoming weekend.

"oh noz the Social Security trust fund is broke~" is a myth, "people are actively trying to sabotage Social Security by the time I'm old enough to collect it" is a sad fact.

KnowYourMeme to the rescue!

edited 27th May '13 1:14:58 PM by RadicalTaoist

Whoo! Just got back from a bike ride from a place I'm prying to apply to! Met the HR manager, shook his hand and TRIED to leave a good impression so he invites me for an interview.

Oh that's true, you've got a lot of people who want to bankrupt social programs-the "Starve the Beast" strategy.

Though that's off-topic.

edited 27th May '13 10:50:08 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

Yeah, I think I was mainly wondering about how easy it used to be to find a decent job and save up for things. Social security is an entirely different can of worms that is harder for me to think about given that I'm still relatively young and have much more immediate concerns.

Biked down to Dairy Queen and Little Caesar's right near my house, gave them my application and resume. The former said "Hopefully you get a phone call" the latter "I'm full but I will definitely keep you in mind if a position gets let go." Seemed impressed by the fact i went to college in HS! :D

Gonna bike down to the three places I applied to I still have applications standing with and talk to the managers! Wish me luck.

You got it: good luck!

Aaand I'm back.

The Jimmy John's guy gave me a menu to memorize in case I do get an interview. They typically have people write down the menu, the sandwicehes and ingredients at the interview.

As for Freddy's, another week before hiring starts..

Little Caesar's, no clue.

Time to get impressive and hit Google to find obscure variations on the standard you might get asked for, then... and trot out a couple in the interview.

It seems like everywhere people are asking for at least 1-2 years previous experience. Even a local restaurant has a 1-2 year experience needed, (not preferred required) for a server position. I understand people without relevant experience can apply anyway, but I've seen a lot more older workers in these positions. Why are companies making those requirements for entry level jobs?

Anyone got Student jobs at their colleges?

edited 13th Jun '13 1:45:50 PM by Wildcard

I got my undergrad work study by volunteering in the office for about a year before they gave me a position.

I suspect the experience part is where I'm running into trouble too. What really gets me though is I've been told that the experiences I do have are valuable, and I am doing a lot of the right things to get myself noticed. And I've been hearing this from job coaches and recruiters, people who should know what they're talking about. I don't know, maybe there's just something wrong with my résumé, or me. It certainly doesn't help that I'm about at my wit's end with my current job, and have been for some time.

Yeah, the "experience" thing is a deliberate Catch-22 thing to weed out applicants. A lot of managers aren't interested in being the one to have to teach a new worker the basic "can hold down a job in this field" skills. You should apply for those jobs anyway if you like the job description and are pretty sure you can handle it. Then should you get to the interview, wow the hiring person with your knowledge of the job requirements and enthusiasm.

Yeah, but it's making it a hell of a time trying to enter the workforce. I've been lucky to be able to get any money but I know it's worse out there for a lot of people. Kinda makes me wish most of us grew up a few years before, even in 2000 you probably could get a decent paying job straight out of college, probably not your dream job but it would probably pay the bills for a decent place and some fun.

In my case I'm not even getting interviews. I figure my problem is either with my resume or the way I'm following up. Now, I've been told my basic resume is pretty good. Sure, there are a few things here and there that I could touch up, but that's probably true with anyone's, and it also seems to be the case that literally every single person I show it to has different ideas for what I should do with it. But that being the case, I have also been told that having a generally good resume doesn't mean a whole lot beyond having something to hand out at job fairs and the like, and I should really be judging the resumes I am using to apply for jobs based on how relevant they are to the job descriptions. I guess the trick is figuring out how to do that in the most efficient way possible.

A fun trick we learned in job club—do a word cloud of your resume, and compare it to a word cloud of a job posting. Do the key words match? If not, you may need to adjust your resume to include some.

Anyone here work from home?

*raises hand*

Really? Did you find it through a website search, a friend or what? Can you link it? Or is it art you created and you market it online?

Just got a call from the Mcdonalds I applied to on Barnes....going in at 8 in the morning for an interview!

Good luck!

Rescheduled for 10:30.