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I think I just broke my mind. I and someone I know both applied for the same 'testing' position at a local company. I applied on Jul 31st, he two days ago. He has an interview for the job tomorrow. I haven't heard back. His resume is a text file which breaks every known resume rule, including references, ethnicity, and a single, short line description for every job. Mine is a fancy job adapted from having purchased one from Resume to Interview. I wish him the best of luck and all, but I just don't understand it. I don't know if I should do him the favor of 'touching up' his resume or just print out the .txt file because that's what got him the interview. I don't know anymore, this day has already been stressful enough with having to (almost) ride out a tornado at my current job. edit: He also has things like "Team Work" and "Leadership" listed as skills. I'm starting to think someone up there doesn't want me to have a good job. 
CovfefeCatCafe fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 02:58
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YF19pilot posted:I think I just broke my mind. I and someone I know both applied for the same 'testing' position at a local company. I applied on Jul 31st, he two days ago. He has an interview for the job tomorrow. I haven't heard back. His resume is a text file which breaks every known resume rule, including references, ethnicity, and a single, short line description for every job. Mine is a fancy job adapted from having purchased one from Resume to Interview. Having a pretty resume is not the advantage you seem to think it should be.
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Aug 8, 2013 03:56
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Nippashish posted:Having a pretty resume is not the advantage you seem to think it should be. I'm not talking "pretty" vs. "rough". I'm talking about having a professional and well thought out resume vs. one that looks like it took all of five minutes to put together. It's about all I've got outside of my (thus far) worthless and useless network, so pardon me if I take it a little seriously. Ah, well, doesn't matter; I've got an interview with another staffing agency about "potential opportunities with clients" coming up. Maybe this time they'll do more than just blow smoke up my rear end for a week then never speak to me again.
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Aug 8, 2013 04:35
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YF19pilot posted:I'm not talking "pretty" vs. "rough". I'm talking about having a professional and well thought out resume vs. one that looks like it took all of five minutes to put together. It's about all I've got outside of my (thus far) worthless and useless network, so pardon me if I take it a little seriously. A professional resume is important, but it matters a lot more for some fields than others. Between two resumes with similar content, the one that is well-made will get the interview 10 times out of 10. I suspect that your friend's resume had better content (more experience, or more relevant experience, more of the keywords they're looking for, and so on). If not, it's also possible that the hiring manager was so lazy that he only went through a portion of the submitted resumes and liked the content on your friend's resume the most out of those, and yours was in the pile that he didn't bother to look at. I don't believe that this sort of thing happens as often as people think that it does, but I'm sure it happens occasionally. Either way, best thing for you to do is to move on to other job openings.
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Aug 8, 2013 04:49
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Maybe they wanted the shittier resume because it's a crappy job with low pay (at least compared to other options)so they assume anyone that can put together a nice resume won't stick around. I mean there was a law suit against a police department for excluding candidates that were too smart because the logic was they'd be dissatisfied.
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Aug 8, 2013 16:13
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Yeah, without knowing more about the contents of your resume and his, I don't think you should chalk this up to "his ugly resume got picked over my pretty resume". All things equal, the more professional-looking resume will get picked first but content is more important than how a resume looks (I also used R2I and the most valuable part of that process for me was learning the level of detail needed to make a good resume a great one). And maybe your resume wasn't even read by human eyes- if it was an online application it probably went through a bot first, who's designed to ignore the formatting and just pull out keywords (a goon in D&D's Lost Generation thread proposed putting a 1-pixel sized textbox and the end of your resume, then copy-pasting the job listing and/or keywords in question a dozen times into that box. Invisible to humans but sends bots into a boner-rage, though I have no idea if it works or not) I know this firsthand because I still can't get a job, as no one in chemical industry wants to hire anyone with no previous industry experience. I even had a hiring manager call me just to say "we'd hire you for this position but we're looking for someone with a little more industry experience, and not just academic work" gently caress you lady, just because an acquaintance gave you my resume doesn't mean you need to cock-tease me like that.So yeah, how do your qualifications match up with your friend's? I'm sure that decided the issue more than how your resumes look. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 17:03
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How do you know the guy (or his parents) don't know somebody at the company? References and networking counts for way more than a resume.
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Aug 8, 2013 17:17
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I don't want to go into too many details about things, but I think it may be the industry. The position involves an industry which this person has worked in for a while, so there is that. Probably just the stress of yesterday getting to me; I had to ride out a tornado (almost) at work, so that was fun to say the least. Sorry for leaking e/n in the thread.
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Aug 8, 2013 18:14
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Oliax posted:
Thank you everyone for your help! I found one exciting, no-experience-required  position and I wrote up a cover letter to go with it. I would love to know what you all think of it!Dear Director of Human Resources: (recruiting path is obfuscated, can't find a specific name) I am applying for the full-time <Title> position in the <department>. Based on the job description, my education, and my work experience, I believe that I am an ideal candidate for your consideration. I have worked both in engineering labs at Rice University and as a Helpdesk technician, which has bolstered my talents in diagnosing systems and mastering new electrical and mechanical technology. Although my degree is 4 years old, my charter school teaching experience has equipped me with customer service skills and professionalism that will be hard to find from younger candidates. This position fits my long-term career goals of working on HVAC systems as a senior engineer or in new hire training at an engineering firm such as <company>. I am quite excited to start a long relationship with the <product group> of Siemens, and I look forward to speaking with you soon about this position. FYI, here is the job description: Responsibilities • Assist with the startup and commissioning of mechanical systems. • Work with various <company> customers on several mechanical and HVAC related projects. • Support and adhere to commissioning and engineering standards in the industry (construction, mechanical and electrical). • Support and adhere to the documentation process as defined by the engineering Project Manager. Required Knowledge/Skills, Education, and Experience - High School Diploma and/or Associates Degree in Electronics or Mechanical Technology or equivalent. - Ability to travel at least 30% - Aptitude and ability to learn new electrical and mechanical technologies quickly - Network Technologies- Be computer literate - Mechanical Systems Thoughts?
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Aug 9, 2013 18:50
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YF19pilot posted:edit: He also has things like "Team Work" and "Leadership" listed as skills. I'm starting to think someone up there doesn't want me to have a good job. I would say at least 50% of the interviews I went on, HR converted my resume to a text file to print out and gave that to the interviewers, so they never even saw how it looked. They usually didn't spend much time reading it either, because no one wants to read a text file that wasn't formatted to be a text file. And as cheesy/stupid/not though out as it sounds, everyone looks for teamwork and leadership, so throwing them on there and daring them to ask you about it could be seen as a plus. Though if you list vaguely like that, you better have some seriously good examples ready to back that up in the interview.
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Aug 9, 2013 21:46
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BrianBoitano posted:Thank you everyone for your help! Not bad, here's how I might have written it. [square brackets] will need you to insert some specifics: Dear Director of Human Resources: (recruiting path is obfuscated, can't find a specific name) I am applying for the full-time <Title> position in the <department>. I believe that my experience as a [make up something cool sounding that isn't a complete lie] at Rice University's [John Smith Laboratory of Mechanical Engineering], a Help Desk Technician at [insert where you did this] and as a teacher of [subject] at [Charter School Name], make me an excellent candidate for this position. During my time at [rice university lab job] I developed [cutting edge expertise in the latest cool engineering poo poo related to this job. Later as a [help desk technician] and [teacher] I learned how to communicate and cooperate with a wide variety of audiences. Having spent the last four years as an educator, I am now looking for an opportunity to return to my true passion engineering and build my career as part of an industry leader like [company name Siemens?]. My long-term career goal is to build a career as an engineer of HVAC systems, [short plausible clause about why, perhaps something like "a field which I believe will grow tremendously in the next 10-20 years"] This position would be a terrific opportunity for me to develop expertise in my chosen career and I look forward to discussing it with you further. Best regards, Brian Boitano You are on the right track in your cover letter and hitting all the right points, my edits are an effort to "punch up" those points with some insight on WHY you want this job (beyond it being a job) and re-stating your cool professional pedigree. Hope it helps.
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Aug 10, 2013 05:55
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Does anybody know of a good background check service? What's the best way to find this out? 
Knot My President! fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2013 21:18
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There is no Permanent Record anywhere of anyone's employment history unless you work for the government or something. No one cares about Starbucks. If you really care, call them and pretend to be an employer yourself and ask if you worked there between dates X and Y, they will either confirm or deny. To my understanding, companies don't really talk to each other about employees because it opens up a legal can of worms.
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Aug 11, 2013 02:32
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So I'm a senior this year, a chemical engineer at Florida State University. My GPA is poo poo at 2.70, and I have no internship experience. My only research was at my community college doing organic chemistry research. I know I am at a severe disadvantage and need to hit the ground running on applying to jobs starting in September. I am going to finish my resume and linkedin profile when I'm done visiting my family, as well as starting weekly interview practices. I figure I need to ace any interview I do get. What other moves should I be making, joining clubs? Going to regional AiChe meetings? Willing to listen to any goons that have been in this situation.
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Aug 12, 2013 02:08
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I have a bachelors degree in toxicology and some research experience. I've been looking for a job in biology/chemistry and anything related to those two now for over a year. Out of more than 100 applications I've only received 2 interviews and didn't get past that stage. My process has been: -Look for companies that are biology/chemistry related, -Find an entry level job that is not sales or customer facing, -Tailor a resume and cover letter for the job, -Apply for job. I make sure I meet education and certification requirements but I ignore the "3-5 years industry experience," because that seems to be tacked onto literally every job I've seen. Is there something wrong with my process, I feel as if I have a really low success rating so I must be screwing up somewhere?
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Aug 13, 2013 02:02
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Xeom posted:So I'm a senior this year, a chemical engineer at Florida State University. My GPA is poo poo at 2.70, and I have no internship experience. My only research was at my community college doing organic chemistry research. I know I am at a severe disadvantage and need to hit the ground running on applying to jobs starting in September. I am going to finish my resume and linkedin profile when I'm done visiting my family, as well as starting weekly interview practices. I figure I need to ace any interview I do get. What sort of organic chemistry? I finished a Master's (Chemistry) program a couple months ago and I'm looking for a job, and almost every position I've applied to has asked for experience in one of GC, HPLC, or MS. Other instrumentation like UV-Vis or FTIR-NIR do pop up, but those are the big three that everyone in industry uses (there are slight permutations- I looked at an ad calling for someone with UPLC experience, and I interviewed at a lab a couple weeks back that would have had me doing ICP-MS). If you have experience with those, play it up and elaborate on it in your resume. If you don't have experience with those, get it ASAP. If your organic work was just a lot of straight-up synthesis, then that's useful too but it's not something as easy for HR to check off as "knows HPLC YES/NO". I don't know how useful benchtop synthetic skill is for a chem engineer, but if you did large-scale reactions I could see that being useful for industrial processes (and I have seen a couple of postings asking for "experience doing organic chemistry on >1L scale" so someone out there wants it). So think about what sort of organic you actually did and play up the parts that are most applicable to an engineering career. Other than that, it can't hurt to make more friends and attend more conferences. But as far as your skill-based concerns go, I left grad school not having done a lot of wet chemistry until my final year, and not having used any of those aforementioned instruments (that's what I get for picking a spectroscopic project that I loved, I guess  ) so if you want to go into industry don't make the same mistakes I did!E: It might be worth it to ask around for advice in the BFC Lab Chat thread, if that's the direction you want your career to go.
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Aug 13, 2013 03:37
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Azuth0667 posted:I have a bachelors degree in toxicology and some research experience. I've been looking for a job in biology/chemistry and anything related to those two now for over a year. Out of more than 100 applications I've only received 2 interviews and didn't get past that stage. My process has been: In my experience, when a job listing says 2 years experience or less it's an entry-level position and I have a chance at it as a fresh college grad. I think for "3-5 years" the hiring managers actually want some sort of professional experience.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:32
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Ron Don Volante posted:In my experience, when a job listing says 2 years experience or less it's an entry-level position and I have a chance at it as a fresh college grad. I think for "3-5 years" the hiring managers actually want some sort of professional experience. Completely anecdotal but I got a 3-5 years position as a fresh grad with no professional experience due to networking. So even 3-5 years isn't completely out of reach if you don't have the experience!
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Aug 13, 2013 17:35
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Yeah it varies so much I ignore it for entry level positions.
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Aug 13, 2013 22:11
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How do people fight the feeling of being unfulfilled / uninspired at corporate jobs? I'm giving a lot of thought still to my earlier post, and this is a feeling I keep getting every time I think about working at my current internship company or really any job at a huge company. Am I just being restless?
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Aug 14, 2013 19:24
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Fluue posted:How do people fight the feeling of being unfulfilled / uninspired at corporate jobs? I'm giving a lot of thought still to my earlier post, and this is a feeling I keep getting every time I think about working at my current internship company or really any job at a huge company. Am I just being restless? Your fears aren't unfounded. Working for a huge corporation is a lot different than working for a small outfit and you'll get different things out of each. I think the security and mobility offered by larger companies can sometimes be a strong asset; even in the face of having a position that you don't absolutely love.
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Aug 14, 2013 19:34
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It is possible to get a job at a corporation that you really enjoy, but like Bucket Joneses said, what you're feeling is definitely a thing. Especially when you're working for a bank, it's probably not that interesting and there's going to be a lot of bureaucracy. But with your IT/development background, you should be able to move around. The second thing to consider is the people. Do you like your colleagues? What about your manager? For many people, that's (plus having a stable job that pays decently) enough. Other people want the more relaxed start-up environment. Some really need to have a mission they believe in and feel like they're doing important or interesting work. All are fine. Looking back at your other posts, here's what I'm seeing. You moved to a new city for this internship, so you probably don't know that many people, and you said you're not old enough to go out drinking. The company you're interning at has a bureaucracy, and it sucks. That's true-ish everywhere, but some companies are significantly worse than others. The person you were interning for probably did not utilize you as well as they should have, so that made everything seem worse. Xandu fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 14, 2013 23:16
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Xandu posted:It is possible to get a job at a corporation that you really enjoy, but like Bucket Joneses said, what you're feeling is definitely a thing. Especially when you're working for a bank, it's probably not that interesting and there's going to be a lot of bureaucracy. But with your IT/development background, you should be able to move around. Spot on. I'm only in the city for my 10-week internship stint (they were gracious enough to provide housing stipends), so I didn't have too much time to meet people. It's also difficult at times to get to know a lot of people when there's 10,000+ people in your building with an IT staff of 2000. I expressed to my manager my under-utilization and it was fixed to the best of his abilities, so I was appreciative of that. I did enjoy the people at the company and they go against a lot of "bank norms" (i.e. jeans are allowed all the time unless you're customer facing). Thanks for the suggestions! I'm definitely in the boat of "important and interesting work," so if I get an offer to return for a second internship I'd have to make that a stipulation (we're allowed to put in areas where we would like to work). Appreciate the perspective on these things 
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Aug 15, 2013 01:43
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also a large part of the important interesting work is just not going to be available at an entry level. Paying your dues is a real thing just because the stuff people don't want to do or are overqualified for (aka "don't want to do") ends up on your desk. I posted earlier about our intern's big contribution but from my personal experience: I am just now getting a shot at what I actually want to do. Thats after 3 years and one job change where I've done some of the most mind numbing crap imaginable. I'm talking, updating tax collector's addresses all day boring.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:42
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Xguard86 posted:also a large part of the important interesting work is just not going to be available at an entry level. Paying your dues is a real thing just because the stuff people don't want to do or are overqualified for (aka "don't want to do") ends up on your desk. I'd rather do that than be expected to work 14-hour days. Yeah, dude, I'm starting my career. I get that. I'll get your coffee if you want me to, I just need to pick up my kid before her school starts charging me by the minute.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:09
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If I got to the interview stage with a company before being rejected and now see another position with that company that I'm interested in, is there an appropriate waiting period I should follow before applying again? Or should I not even bother to put in an application?
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Aug 16, 2013 18:45
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Ron Don Volante posted:If I got to the interview stage with a company before being rejected and now see another position with that company that I'm interested in, is there an appropriate waiting period I should follow before applying again? Or should I not even bother to put in an application? Is it a large Company? No harm is applying again worst they can say is no, and I would be more incline to give the tie to the guy who applied twice to my Company if deciding between a number of candidates. So yah go for it.
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Aug 16, 2013 19:53
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Are you saying you were already rejected? If yes then of course apply. If you are waiting to hear back from the formal interview I would still probably apply.
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Aug 16, 2013 20:08
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Just realized that pretty much as of this month I now have enough retail/customer service experience to try applying for banking positions again. I've worked at a bank for a year, but really wish I could've been there for two. Would've opened a hell of a lot more doors for me, but looks like I can start knocking again. Here's to full time and banker's hours.
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Aug 19, 2013 18:52
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So, I recently quit my job as a teacher. I'm planning to continue substitute teaching while I look for work. $97 a day before taxes. Not amazing, but manageable as I still live at home. I was an English major in college (graduated in 2010) and I'm looking to get back out on the market. My skill set consists mostly of being pretty decent at writing and oral communication and not being afraid of being in front of large groups. I'm also pretty awful at all non-arithmetic math, for what it's worth. Some career paths I was looking at include copy editing, corporate training, counseling, or something marketing/advertising. At this point, I'm obviously in no position to be picky with what I do, and I'm willing to work my way up from the bottom. I'm wondering if there is some sort of government work where I can utilize my English degree as well. Moving out from South Florida is not possible as I have sick family members and a significant other of nearly a decade (who happens to have an excellent job.) Please goons, I'm 26 years old and I'm basically starting at zero after teaching for half a year. Any advice on what I should do? Nanigans fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 21:49
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I wonder if I should also crosspost this in the ‘Tell me about being an Engineer!’ thread but this post is a bit more appropriate for this thread. After approximately a few months of throwing out resumes on major job search engines, as well as applying to aerospace corporations such as Boeing, Northrup, Raytheon and the like, I’ve barely gotten any responses to job positions I have been applying to. Even more weird is hearing nothing back from the aerospace corporations (not just a rejection notice but literally no replies). From those responses that I’ve gotten, they were simple phone interviews and the rare on-site job interviews. I have a Masters in EE (specialized in computers but more emphasis towards embedded systems) with a 4.0 GPA from an ABET-accredited state university, and some Boeing and JPL internships listed on my resume. The only job offer I got? Junior engineering position for a medium-sized company that pays $50k/year with extremely little benefits, literally take it or leave it with no negotiations. This position is located in Southern California. At this point, I wonder whether or not I should just give up and just take whatever the job market throws at me, die a little (or a lot) inside and chalk it up to gaining life/job experience, or just keep fishing?
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Aug 22, 2013 09:23
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km2 posted:I wonder if I should also crosspost this in the ‘Tell me about being an Engineer!’ thread but this post is a bit more appropriate for this thread. Are you just looking in CA or other places as well?
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Aug 22, 2013 13:48
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Reinanigans posted:So, I recently quit my job as a teacher. I see a lot of openings for QC Laboratories in Miami looking for various technical/copywriters when I search for writing jobs. Just a heads up, the market sucks if you don't already have 3-5 years professional experience (and even if you do). Welcome to the suck! 
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Aug 22, 2013 15:26
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km2 posted:I wonder if I should also crosspost this in the ‘Tell me about being an Engineer!’ thread but this post is a bit more appropriate for this thread. Where are you located? I presume you're willing to re-locate if you're applying to Boeing. The thing to remember about Boeing: As long as you get a position in a division that works with SPEEA engineers, the first job is just how you get your body through the door. After you're in SPEEA, you can network around the company and probably transition into something else that you really enjoy (and that pays better). It works the same for IAM (the mechanics analog to SPEEA). There are people who get jobs at Boeing as janitors and then transition to being actual mechanics after a period of time since the janitors are all IAM employees. Certainly, you have to be qualified in order to get a job as a mechanic at Boeing, but if you're already in IAM then it's way easier. It's all about just getting that first position.
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Aug 22, 2013 16:38
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I got a call from the HR department of my local bank with a verbal job offer. I immediately accepted over the phone but wondering about the process after accepting a verbal offer. How long before I get my official job offer with the other paperwork? Also, should I send a thank you email after all the paperwork is finish and I'm formally employed or should I just send one now? Thanks in advance Pistol Packin Poet fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Aug 22, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 20:09
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km2 posted:I wonder if I should also crosspost this in the ‘Tell me about being an Engineer!’ thread but this post is a bit more appropriate for this thread.
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Aug 22, 2013 21:44
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Declan MacManus posted:I see a lot of openings for QC Laboratories in Miami looking for various technical/copywriters when I search for writing jobs. Just a heads up, the market sucks if you don't already have 3-5 years professional experience (and even if you do). Welcome to the suck! What site do you use to search for job postings?
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Aug 22, 2013 23:36
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It was stressful as hell for about a year and a half, but I got permanent, decent work through temp agency placements. I worked for the uber-bank which shall not be named, shamefully auditing employee expense reimbursement requests for just shy of a year. That place was/is/will be executing nasty layoffs, but it got me the references required to do temp-to-hire work at a huge not for profit in my state. (Plus the resources necessary to pay student loans and buy a consult from R2I). After 8 more months (nearly) of temp purgatory, I landed a full time position. Less than three months after that, I got a raise. I have gold-planted benefits and I'm basically a scrub who never did an internship and has an MSAcctg. The temping thing is overlooked, but realistically, temp positions are pretty much one of, if not THE, fastest growing category of jobs. They're fake jobs and they're stressful, but they're also income and networks and stepping stones. Temp positions are open for practically every job description you can think of--our security at the unspeakable bank was handled by a specialized temp firm. I worked with Randstad, who contracted to Adecco, who contracted to the nameless bank; Randstad was actually pretty great and I never even saw my recruiter in person. He was happy to interview me and talk on the phone, via email, and accepted documentation by fax and email. Accountemps was pickier about face to face meetings and filing I-9 and W-4 documentation at their office, but they seem to have tons of bureaus around. There are a lot of other agencies out there, but I had a pretty decent time with those--pay was on time, I didn't opt into benefits, and don't expect PTO. Experience with receiving useful details (like when you're supposed to go in on your first day, holiday and overtime policies, your actual work duties, sundry other similarly useless details) varies by your agency recruiter/manager/go-to.
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Aug 23, 2013 03:27
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J4Gently posted:Are you just looking in CA or other places as well? Bucket Joneses posted:Where are you located? I presume you're willing to re-locate if you're applying to Boeing.
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Aug 23, 2013 05:42
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km2 posted:Just looking in CA, particularly near SoCal. That might be the issue, the first job is always the most difficult and that initial experience is so valuable. If there are a lot of qualified applicants in a specific area (and So Cal is a very nice place to live) it becomes much more competitive. Given the state of the economy and recent layoffs you are probably competing against people who have significantly more experience. There is some good advice above, and I'll add my bit of advice which is to expand your search area. You could also try looking for smaller firms to get your foot in the door.
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Aug 23, 2013 16:53
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