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I see why nobody wants to hire you.
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Sep 3, 2015 14:40
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Hey helpful BFC goons, I had a couple interviews with a Canadian government department in August, and they told me I'd hear back from them by "hopefully the end of the month." Of course, that was Monday and I haven't heard anything. Is it OK to send them an email asking for an updated timetable for when they'll have a decision? And if so, should I send it to one of the people who interviewed me (my prospective bosses) or to the faceless HR person who initially emailed me to set up the interview? By the way, the info in the OP has been really helpful for me while I'm applying to my first real jobs, so thanks for that!
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Sep 3, 2015 15:39
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I see why nobody wants to hire you. How insightful. I don't see what I did to offend you so much that you have to be a dick for no reason, so would you kindly elaborate on exactly what I wrote that was so bad, that upset you so? Sorry for stepping on your toes, really. Guy DeBorgore posted:Hey helpful BFC goons, Helpful indeed. To actually give you an answer, I would call if you can, send an email if not. But this is coming from a guy who is unemployed after 4 years of applications, so it might not be the best advice. Downs Duck fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Sep 3, 2015 |
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Sep 3, 2015 16:37
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Guy DeBorgore posted:Hey helpful BFC goons,
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Sep 3, 2015 20:55
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It really sucks when you're contacted by a hiring manager for a position you'd love and would be a good fit for but the company headquarters is in the middle of nowhere. I am too young and single to consider moving out of the city.
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Sep 3, 2015 20:58
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Never mind
ColdBlooded fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Sep 4, 2015 |
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Sep 3, 2015 23:33
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Chaotic Flame posted:It really sucks when you're contacted by a hiring manager for a position you'd love and would be a good fit for but the company headquarters is in the middle of nowhere. I am too young and single to consider moving out of the city. This is a known recruiting problem at places like Los Alamos.
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Sep 4, 2015 00:38
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MickeyFinn posted:This is a known recruiting problem at places like Los Alamos. Moving to the middle of nowhere as someone in their 20s is signing their social death warrant. It's also begging companies to overwork their employees - someone who is in their 20s and doesn't have family or friends nearby will naturally work more simply out of a sense of having nothing better to do.
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Sep 4, 2015 02:46
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Guy DeBorgore posted:Hey helpful BFC goons, When it comes to the Canadian government's hiring process, take everything you've seen in this thread about timelines, multiply it be two and add a couple of months. They move slow.
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Sep 4, 2015 06:07
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Chaotic Flame posted:It really sucks when you're contacted by a hiring manager for a position you'd love and would be a good fit for but the company headquarters is in the middle of nowhere. I am too young and single to consider moving out of the city. Most of those companies will reserve those corporate HQs in the middle of nowhere for their back office/operations people, it's just too expensive to pay for them to be in big cities, but they'lll have other, smaller offices for the harder to recruit for positions. But I know the feeling, nothing worse than getting contacted by a top tier firm for a job two hours away from the nearest major city.
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Sep 4, 2015 06:22
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Have you heard of Kohler? There is nothing good about Kohler or it's headquarters in Kohler, Wisconsin.
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Sep 4, 2015 14:11
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Shipon posted:Moving to the middle of nowhere as someone in their 20s is signing their social death warrant. It's also begging companies to overwork their employees - someone who is in their 20s and doesn't have family or friends nearby will naturally work more simply out of a sense of having nothing better to do. At the same time, you can't take a job in the middle of nowhere if your spouse wants to have a career that isn't as a secretary or serving sandwiches.
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Sep 4, 2015 16:02
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I've got a question about having realistic prospects! I recently graduated with a B.Sc. in cellular biology, and I've been looking for all kinds of lab technician positions (chemical and biological labs). However during my bachelor's I didn't work in any labs over the summers, so my only real technical experience is from the coursework I've completed. Would this lack of summer lab positions (etc) significantly bar me from entry level positions as a basic lab tech? I've put out many applications already but haven't received any call backs - I understand that this could be for a million reasons, but I'm suspecting that many employers would rather take a new graduate that already has experience and some professor references. Is this totally off base in your experience? Also I've been submitting resumes for the positions and not CVs - all the positions I've seen have asked for resumes, but I'm not sure if I should put together a CV instead and try that way. Thanks for any insight!
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Sep 5, 2015 00:30
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Dream Attack posted:I've got a question about having realistic prospects! I recently graduated with a B.Sc. in cellular biology, and I've been looking for all kinds of lab technician positions (chemical and biological labs). However during my bachelor's I didn't work in any labs over the summers, so my only real technical experience is from the coursework I've completed. That being said, check out temp agencies. Anything you can do to get your first scraps of experience. Companies like Lab Support and Aerotek are always looking for people. Do you live in an area with a lot of biotech? If not, move. Take anything you can get. You can move back to where you actually want to live when you have experience. What's your GPA like? If you got good grades, you could always talk to professors you were close with at college and see if they need lab techs. It's unlikely, but it might work. As for a CV, if you haven't done any lab work, you don't have anything to put on it. You don't need a CV for entry level positions anyway. Did you do any sort of senior design project? You can possibly talk that up as experience. I know it works, because I hired a guy with no lab experience who could talk intelligently about a senior design project in ChemE that incorporated the skillset I was looking for.
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Sep 5, 2015 12:39
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Dik Hz posted:You screwed up by not working in a lab while in college. For anyone reading this who's still in school getting a BS, you need to work in a lab as much as possible to get a job or get into a good grad school. It should be your number two focus after GPA while in school. This is definitely the case, I should have been thinking more about future prospects while I was doing my BS. I'm in prairie Canada and I know Aerotek is a possibility here - though most biotech jobs are in BC and Ontario, I'll have to build up some funds and general work experience before I can consider moving unfortunately. My grades weren't particularly great all-round but I do know some professors who had me doing well in their courses, and have let me know about their future research plans. I'll definitely see if they have a need for any lab techs. No design projects either unfortunately, so yeah it's not like I could put together a CV without any actual experience. Thanks for the summary, my position isn't great but you've helped me decide what the best next steps are. Appreciate it!
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Sep 5, 2015 20:47
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I was told by the IT thread to post in here. I might have to go on the hunt again if I can't come to an agreement for FTE conversion with my current employer, so I'm looking for feedback. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1xzfo86o3dv4e0/Eargesplitten%20Resume.doc?dl=0 I'm trying to move to a Jr. Sysadmin role from Help Desk. I'm currently studying Powershell, I'll slap that in there once I feel comfortable getting interviewed on it.
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Sep 8, 2015 02:10
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I was told by the IT thread to post in here. I might have to go on the hunt again if I can't come to an agreement for FTE conversion with my current employer, so I'm looking for feedback. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1xzfo86o3dv4e0/Eargesplitten%20Resume.doc?dl=0 Tough love inc: From a hiring manager's perspective, I'm not seeing a ton of reasons why I'd hire you for a jr sys admin. I feel like your resume is lacking in the "meat" dept. Tell me more about what you do/did... Did you recently graduate and is your degree IT related? If not, I'd move it to the bottom. If it is and it's relevant, you may want to include some of the projects or cool stuff you worked on to bolster your ~1 yr of IT experience. I'd love to see more bullet points from your last two jobs. And so long as you're mentioning ticket metrics, would you happen to know your individual numbers and how they compared to the team? Add a summary - who are you and what do you do well? I rarely endorse an objective statement, but in your case make it clear you want to move to server support. Show a little confidence and personality (without being over the top) because communication skills are paramount in support roles. Outside of that, just be aware the best way to make that leap is within a company, because otherwise you have to convince someone to take a chance on you. If it's an option where you are, great. If not, and I'm assuming this is the case, don't be scared to look at lateral moves provided there is a path out of the helldesk.
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Sep 8, 2015 15:19
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Dream Attack posted:I've got a question about having realistic prospects! I recently graduated with a B.Sc. in cellular biology, and I've been looking for all kinds of lab technician positions (chemical and biological labs). However during my bachelor's I didn't work in any labs over the summers, so my only real technical experience is from the coursework I've completed. My friend recently became a PI and put out a listing for a tech. Almost everyone who applied had no real lab experience. She only interviewed the 3 of 20+ applicants that had done -anything- in a lab outside of coursework. If you could even somehow TA a lab or ask to intern without pay for a month at some nearby lab, you should do it if you can. Of those 3 she picked someone with the least relevant experience but the most enthusiasm who also dressed appropriately for an interview. At least one of the 3 came in inappropriate clothes and was immediately disqualified. So if you do get lucky and get an interview without having to TA/volunteer in a lab, dress very nice and look excited.
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Sep 8, 2015 16:39
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Dark Helmut posted:Tough love inc: Thanks. Most of my resume writing knowledge comes from my school, and I get the feeling their ego tells them that school needs to be front and center. They also said to put the GPA in, is that a good idea? I'm hoping to stay within my company, but I basically didn't ask for enough money to begin with, and now that I'm getting married and taking full financial responsibility for another life, I need a significant raise. If I do stay here, there is almost certainly room to move up. I'll add an objective, I've just always heard not to. Is that really something that doesn't just belong in the cover letter? I also was trying to keep my resume under a page. Is that not as important for technical roles?
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Sep 8, 2015 16:55
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Thanks. Most of my resume writing knowledge comes from my school, and I get the feeling their ego tells them that school needs to be front and center. They also said to put the GPA in, is that a good idea? School is important if it's recent and relevant. If you have a BS in History from 5 years ago, it needs to be at the bottom. If you just graduated with an IT degree of any sort, then you might put it up front. Most places don't care about GPA, but if you have anything approaching a 4.0 then I might add it. Once you're ~5 yrs into your career, I'd probably delete it. So if you moved up at your current company, I would think that would be a point to renegotiate. But on the flip side, no one is going to pay you more just because you got married. Just make sure you keep taking the right steps to get you where you need to go long term and don't take a dead end opp just because it pays a few bucks higher. As far as the objective goes, you're right. I almost always advise against telling "what you want" as opposed to "how you can add value", but in this case I just mean that you need to convey that you're targeting jr admin jobs and more importantly: how and why you're qualified for that. Your resume doesn't currently do that well. I don't care about one page, but the important thing is that you need to assume no one will read past the first page. For your level, I think one page should suffice. I'd delete your non-IT jobs too, they aren't helping. Positioning yourself as a recent grad with 1.5 years exp is a pretty solid play. Just my two cents...
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Sep 8, 2015 18:06
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Okay, thanks. I was concerned about length of job history, but at my age, I guess it doesn't really matter. I've been consistently employed since I started IT, so I guess that's good enough.
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Sep 8, 2015 18:20
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I'm slightly concerned about "taking full financial responsibility for another life" - does that mean your fiancee is not working?
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Sep 8, 2015 18:21
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Thanks. Most of my resume writing knowledge comes from my school, and I get the feeling their ego tells them that school needs to be front and center. They also said to put the GPA in, is that a good idea? The thing you put up top, front and center, is the thing that makes you look best for what you're applying for. If you're a recent graduate that is probably your education. This is why schools say to put that up top. Most students graduating are in their early 20's and if they have work experience at all it's mostly going to be "I was a cashier" or "I made sandwiches and carried boxes." Chances are a degree-requiring job gives few shits about that but cares a lot about degrees for entry-level stuff. Otherwise you should mention your education but it quits being the most important after you have work experience in the subject. What I was told was you put your GPA on if it's exceptional. Like 3.5+. Generally speaking you want to avoid objective things whenever possible. They don't want "I am good at X" they want "this is my experience with X.' Don't say like "I can code C#" put down that you took classes in it/wrote some programs in it/did it for a living, for example. Sometimes you can't avoid it because you've spent some time learning about it but don't have proof of that. Whenever possible thought avoid objective statements. You can say you're familiar/mildly skilled in things that are related to stuff you've been doing but again, you want concrete statements whenever possible. Any idiot can claim that they're an expert IT person but not everybody can say they have a bachelor's degree and 15 years experience. Well I mean they could say that but with no proof it's blatantly obvious they're full of poo poo. Plus who looks better on a resume; somebody that just says "I know a lot about computers" or somebody that got a computer degree and then did computer work for X years? When it comes to resumes you want to be as brief as possible. Don't put down your entire work history if you've had 12 jobs, for example, and trim the fat in any way you can. Ideally you want it on one page. In practice two is fine but two is the absolute maximum unless you're writing a CV or a portfolio. Resumes are meant to be read very quickly and highlight your best traits related to the job. If you want say a programming job you can probably leave off that you shoveled poo poo in a stable for 3 years as a teenager. If you want to stay within the company there is really no harm in asking your boss what other positions may or may not be available. ToxicSlurpee fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Sep 8, 2015 |
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Sep 8, 2015 18:32
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I'm slightly concerned about "taking full financial responsibility for another life" - does that mean your fiancee is not working? Seconding this.
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Sep 8, 2015 19:34
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I think he's sponsoring a child in Ecuador, maybe? 
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Sep 8, 2015 20:04
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I was told that was only 40 cents per day.
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Sep 8, 2015 20:40
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Dark Helmut posted:Seconding this. She's working some, but she can't work much. E/N / medical stuff. I am the primary source of income.
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Sep 8, 2015 21:46
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I was told by the IT thread to post in here. I might have to go on the hunt again if I can't come to an agreement for FTE conversion with my current employer, so I'm looking for feedback. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1xzfo86o3dv4e0/Eargesplitten%20Resume.doc?dl=0 As a tech recruiter and op said, needs more meat but keep it to 1 page, just detail your day to day operations and mirror whatever the job description is calling for. There will be no resume to rule them all, so every job app you will need to cater your resume around said job. As it stands it looks ok for a help desk gig. 3 biggest players/needed people right now in IT? .Net, Java and oracle.
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Sep 8, 2015 23:34
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Dr.Hashshashin posted:3 biggest players/needed people right now in IT?
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Sep 9, 2015 00:35
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Alright, so at age 27 I figure it's time to learn how to write me a resume. Situation: Got an AAS, worked several years as a mechanic (what I went to school for), decided I didn't like it, now I'm a full-time mechanical engineering student. At the moment most of my applications will probably be to internships, but I figure a resume is a resume. I'm reading the OP so hopefully there aren't any duplicate questions, but don't crucify me if I miss something.
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Sep 9, 2015 04:13
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Vulture Culture posted:Are you from 2005? My market is always need more and more developers within .net and java. Oracle is also in my city and DBA's we don't have enough of.
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Sep 9, 2015 04:35
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According to Tiobe Java is the #1 language right now. C# is still way up there. Like #5. When job hunting I see a lot of places asking for ASP.NET. It's still in demand like whoa.
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Sep 9, 2015 14:55
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My market is .NET all the way. Only a few Java shops in town. But here I think I'd place web/front end stuff like Javascript and all its flavors above Java and Oracle too. And cloud stuff like Azure or AWS is right up there too.
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Sep 9, 2015 16:12
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Yeah I kind of regret not learning more JavaScript and ASP.NET at the moment. I could brush up on it some but no way could I get years of experience in time. Granted most of what I've been doing in my off hours runs on C# but still. Oh well, I know C#, Java, and C++ and that should hopefully be enough for now. Doesn't help that I positively loathe JavaScript but what can you do?
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Sep 9, 2015 16:56
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ToxicSlurpee posted:According to Tiobe Java is the #1 language right now. C# is still way up there. Like #5. When job hunting I see a lot of places asking for ASP.NET. It's still in demand like whoa. That aside: raw quantity is cool, but right now, if you're taking a Java job and it's not doing Android development, there's a real good chance you're supporting some poo poo corporate dead-end middleware or weird internal-only line-of-business app and doing absolutely nothing that will further your career in any respect. There's some worthwhile stuff in there too, for sure, but I never take keyword frequency as an indicator of what's good to learn if you want to move your career forward. Vulture Culture fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Sep 9, 2015 |
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Sep 9, 2015 20:09
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Hawkeye posted:My friend recently became a PI and put out a listing for a tech. Almost everyone who applied had no real lab experience. She only interviewed the 3 of 20+ applicants that had done -anything- in a lab outside of coursework. If you could even somehow TA a lab or ask to intern without pay for a month at some nearby lab, you should do it if you can. Of those 3 she picked someone with the least relevant experience but the most enthusiasm who also dressed appropriately for an interview. At least one of the 3 came in inappropriate clothes and was immediately disqualified. This is pretty useful info too, I'm definitely going to consider volunteering in a lab if it's at all possible in the next few months. If I do happen to get any interviews I'll take this advice seriously too - I've got a nice fitting suit and I'm eager to work in a lab, so I'll be sure to study up on the procedures and equipment a place uses before headed to an interview. Appreciate it!
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Sep 9, 2015 21:04
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What's a good answer to "Be honest, what's the biggest disaster of your career"
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Sep 9, 2015 22:06
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stickykeys posted:What's a good answer to "Be honest, what's the biggest disaster of your career" "Apparently, this interview." Seriously, this is a poo poo question. Don't ever mention your failures in an interview. If they pressed for an answer, I'd interpret them as asking for a major challenge you overcame or a serious business threatening incident you resolved. Are they seriously expecting a candidate to say, "Well, there was that time I forgot to validate the backups in the tape library, lost six months of data, and the company I worked for went bankrupt. Hence me being here."
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Sep 9, 2015 22:36
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I got asked this in a previous interview and I basically pretended they'd asked me what my biggest weakness was and they surely saw through that bullshit. Since it was an internal interview I think I might be asked the same question again. Your answer about the backups made me think of a time I did screw up which could have cost the company money but I learned from it and my boss was understanding so maybe I could tell them about that if I can't think of anything better. But probably I should think of something better
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Sep 9, 2015 22:57
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Vulture Culture posted:This is fascinating but I don't see how it's remotely relevant to someone looking to move into a Jr. Sysadmin position. And if that's the only job you're offered... 
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Sep 10, 2015 01:13
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