My guide to post-college job searching: because nice job = nice car. 

"Noah - Now with more boost." (antriebverliebt) 05/20/2015 at 17:28 • Filed to: None

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I’ve noticed that many Oppo regulars are either already college students, or about to be enrolled in college. I graduated in December, and it took me five months of searching to find a job. They don’t teach you how to do that in school, and I really wish someone had told me at least a few of the things I had to figure out on my own. So, here ya go, Oppo! My basic post-undergrad job search guide:

Looking for jobs sucks; it’s frustrating, tedious, and emotionally taxing. You spend all day sending out application after application, carefully composing emails, and getting way too excited when a human actually contacts you, only to find out that their company is a scam... or that the compensation is a joke and there are no benefits... or that you bombed the interview and they are throwing out your application after the first round.

Fill out the application, antagonize over the cover letter, rearrange your resume, and hit send. Over and over again, 5-10 times per day, month after month. All while juggling phone, skype, and in-person interviews that probably won’t pan out, statistically speaking. Sounds terrible, right? It would be nice to get a job as quickly as possible, right?

First thing: Lets talk about a few myths your peers will fall victim to.

1. Big online job boards (ie: monster, craigslist) are the way to go - just no. There are:

A: too many jobs - Having hundreds of thousands of jobs to search through sounds like a good thing, but it limits your ability to fine tune your search. Sending out three carefully-completed applications to jobs you’re actually interested in and qualified for is WAY better than spamming 10 half-assed applications to a bunch of firms you didn’t research. Your odds are better with option #1. Less is more. An acquaintance of mine recently spent eight months applying to jobs. He had a great degree in engineering, an entry-level engineering job on his resume, and fantastic grades. What took him so long? He was sending out 40-50 job board applications PER DAY. That’s the wrong way to do it. It’s remarkable that he even got a job with that strategy.

B: way too many applicants - Competition is TOUGH right now. You need to give yourself an edge via applying to jobs with a smaller applicant pool. If you’re shooting out resumes to generic jobs anyone with an internet connection could find on Google’s first page, you’re not doing it right. Do yourself a favor and try to avoid job listings with hundreds of applicants. Use common sense - if the listing is older than two weeks or is listed on a massive site like Craigslist or Monster, you might want to consider looking elsewhere. Some sites will even tell you how many applicants a job received.

C: most of your applications will probably go to a machine, not a human. Most companies don’t have the time to go through the hundreds of applications they receive when they list positions on job boards, which they do as a last resort. They try hiring from within first, then go to referrals, then hit the internet last. Those first two steps are why networking is so important, more on that later. Anyway - these companies rely on computer programs to sort and qualify the applicants. This doesn’t work very well, as the machine is just looking for keywords in your cover letter and numbers on your resume. Many qualified candidates get booted out of the system for using the wrong work experience-related vocabulary, or having a 3.495 GPA instead of a 3.5.

2. Your major matters - nope, not really. Your resume is way more important than your major, which is just a piece of the puzzle. Obviously, if you’re an engineer/CS/chem major, you’ve set yourself up for a very specific career path, so this does not apply to you. You will probably have a job right out of college. You bastard. For the rest of us (who have no idea what we’re doing and majored in liberal arts), it is a relief to find out that one’s undergrad major has little or nothing to do with one’s career path, unless you want it to. The flavor of your resume is far more important. Want to work in business? Get business internships. Want to curate museum collections? Go volunteer at your local art gallery. Even if you’re a biology major, a marketing HR manager will choose you over a business major with no experience if you have relevant internships. You need to pack your resume with internships, jobs, volunteer experience, and extracurriculars. Not because you actually want to do those things, but because you love cars, and you need a job to buy a car. You will inevitably be asked stupid questions about dedication, leadership, customer service, and problem solving by a recruiter, and they won’t care how hard it was to beat the final boss in Dark Souls II, or how charming your friends say you are. They want CONCRETE EXAMPLES. You need to show recruiters that you kick ass everywhere you go, and convince them that you really were doing something productive with your free time, not just partying your ass off.

3. You’re not qualified for any of the jobs you want - shut up! Not with that attitude! That’s why you’re applying to “entry-level” jobs open to anyone with a college degree. Almost nobody is particularly well qualified immediately after college. That’s why HR departments have massive hard-ons for people with internship histories (aka two or more); they want to see you making an effort to gain experience. They’re wondering if you even know how to work in an office. 99% of the jobs you apply to will involve ground-up training, so they just want to make sure that you can work hard, work well with others, work independently, and do it all with a smile.

4. Job searching is something you can simply jump right into after college - definitely not. First, you need to do everything you can to give yourself an edge. Would you take your car to a show without washing or waxing it first? Not if you want to win. Here are the steps I recommend taking:

A. Research - you can’t do enough of this. Find CURRENT and well-reviewed job searching books to read. They will help you understand the process, the odds you’re fighting against, and what you can do to even out those odds. Also research EVERY company/job you apply to. What is the job supposed to be like? What is the company’s reputation? Are there benefits?

B. Plan and schedule - you need to make yourself a job searching schedule, and you need to STICK TO IT. I was very bad at that. Set REASONABLE goals; 15 to 20 applications per week is a very good number if all of your apps were completed carefully and you’ve actually researched the firm/position. Around 4-5 hours per day is the max amount of time you should put in. More than that is overkill, and you’ll start sending out shitty apps to jobs you didn’t research.

C. Clean up and enhance your internet presence. Google yourself at an IP address that isn’t your own and write down anything unsavory that pops up - expletive-laced Oppo posts, offensive youtube comments, embarrassing photos - write it all down and GET RID OF IT. That’s the obvious part. Not so obvious: You should probably have a personal website. This is so uncommon among people our age that it’s a MASSIVE turn-on to recruiters. I read that 70% of recruiters will click on a personal website if one is given, but only 12% of applicants our age have them. Think about that for a second. Then throw together a free wordpress.com blog disguised as a personal website, and utilize the site as a digital resume. Link anything you think might impress recruiters. Think of your website as a digital extension of your resume. I wanted to go into digital marketing, so I set up a website and two blogs, both of which I promoted on twitter. That seemed to impress many HR people, as I received many compliments on my personal site/twitter “marketed” blogs. The folks at the job I hold now were especially impressed. This really does work.

D. Utilize every resource available to you. The lazier you are, the longer you’ll be stuck in your childhood bedroom, answering your parents’ job search questions, and developing an unhealthy hatred for all of your friends with jobs. LinkedIn has job listings, your school definitely has a career services page with opportunities posted, and you also need to NETWORK. I recommend using Angel.co too, a small site that focuses on startup jobs.

E. Take breaks! Job searching makes everyone miserable, and you need to balance that out to be on top of your game. It’s the difference between sounding strung-out and miserable on the phone, or sounding refreshed and happy because you just ran around outside with your dog for a few minutes.

F. If you’re looking for a job, you need to have your phone on you AT ALL TIMES. This is extremely important. Recruiters won’t always tell you when they plan on calling. Cold calling you during business hours is a great way to check how responsible/flexible you are. I happened to catch the first call from the job I hold now right as I was walking into my room with a freshly made omelette - but if I’d walked up the stairs thirty seconds later than I did, I would have missed it. Don’t underestimate Murphy’s law. You can receive no feedback for weeks and then get three calls in one afternoon while you’re out shopping.

G. Never give up!! You got this!!! Put the right amount of effort into the right places, and you’ll get a job eventually. With a college degree and a good head on your shoulders, YOU get to choose where you end up in life. That’s an extremely fortunate circumstance to find yourself in. It’s stressful too, but way better than being our age in a place like Iran, Russia, or North Korea ... which hundreds of thousands of young adults just like you and me are currently experiencing. We have it pretty good! Yes, today’s job market SUCKS. But it’s not the end of the world, and at least you didn’t graduate during the height of the recession.

Initially, I didn’t put very much effort into job searching, so I got shitty results. I was too burnt out from college, too pessimistic, and focusing on the wrong aspects of my search. Then, I heard from a friend that she applied to 47 jobs before she got an offer. I started trying to match that number, but I still received no feedback. So, I gave up, and complained to my friend again. Then, she told me the most important thing I heard throughout my entire job search: “I gave you that number not to give you a goal to strive for, but to demonstrate to you that the success of your job search does not always depend on how well you search for jobs, or how qualified you are - I wanted to show you that luck and perseverance are factors too. Never give up.”

dogisbadob > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 17:31

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You can always apply to Costco and car dealers while you wait for a good job to come.

Of course, there is always retail and fast food. These are adult jobs now.

I love the entry level jobs that require 3-5 years experience

Noah - Now with more boost. > dogisbadob 05/20/2015 at 17:43

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... and then when you apply with 3-5 years of experience, youre overqualified

KylesPerGallon > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 18:58

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Conversely, the majority of really successful people of recent years have created their own jobs. Carved out a niche and made it profitable.

Noah - Now with more boost. > KylesPerGallon 05/20/2015 at 19:14

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A very interesting point. I know that’s true, but it is also much easier said than done!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 19:31

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Did somebody say “Orange Rally Z-Car”?:

KylesPerGallon > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 19:32

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Ohh yea it's definitely not for everyone... It takes a certain breed but that's what I'm working on

GhostZ > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 19:37

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I love this post, though it could use some cleaning up and simplifying.

I would suggest also portfolio building for most jobs, and for looking for internships/job opportunities well before graduation. The friends of mine who do it right get offered jobs their third year of college, contingent upon their graduation, after a successful summer internship.

Your major does matter, but only when it comes to career jobs (engineer, management, finanace, etc.). If you just want to try and make some money, nah not really.

Online courses and certifications (especially for software related stuff) can go a long way. An employee who knows their way around a company web code is more valuable than knowing multiple languages these days. Most of these you can do while searching for a job.

Patrick Glace > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 19:48

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Overall great advice. I graduated in 2012 with a degree in History and a minor in German - everybody thought I was going to be a barista for 5 years.

The key to my career has been willingness to move, professionalism, and keen interpersonal skills. I am fortunate now to run the communications department for a small/medium sized school district and it has nothing to do with my major, but everything to do with my ability to adapt.

Noah - Now with more boost. > KylesPerGallon 05/20/2015 at 19:54

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Now THAT I respect immensely; good luck!

Noah - Now with more boost. > GhostZ 05/20/2015 at 19:59

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Thanks! Yeah it was very rough haha. Re: web courses - definitely! That was on my to-do list when I was on the hunt, but I didn’t get to it. I’ve always wanted to check out programming, maybe I’ll pursue that in my free time so I can have some skills in reserve for the next job search.

Noah - Now with more boost. > Patrick Glace 05/20/2015 at 20:03

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Interessant! Mein Hauptfach war Deutsch.

Congrats on your position!

Noah - Now with more boost. > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 05/20/2015 at 20:06

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That looks like so much fun, I definitely endorse hooning older cars on dirt, that’s for sure! Also, video replys are the best replies.

Patrick Glace > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 20:08

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Very cool! Have you decided on your next car - just read your post.

Noah - Now with more boost. > GhostZ 05/20/2015 at 20:11

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And thx again! Just re-read it, there a couple pieces of the diatribe that make no sense. Edited

JGrabowMSt > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 20:22

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As a young person who has two sweet cars, a great job, a beautiful significant other as well as benefits from the job, I cant agree enough. Most students today do not understand the importance of starting early and searching for what fits them.

Now, I started working in college. My initial work experience taught me absolutely nothing about working. I have boatloads of volunteer experience which taught me to show up on time, take command of stressful live events, and just be the boss.

Im not one to normally take crap, and I once I went jobless for 5 months and had a bit of an expensive girlfriend at the time. It was a bad situation. I then landed a great job, though it was only a part time job. It paid well, I created my path, became the lead tech (computer repair), and then through both my other experiences and good connections, I landed my current job.

I dont work in my field of study, but I love my new job. Its not a “traditional” job by any means, but its a serious job and has incredible potential.

So to everyone else, barely had a 3.4GPA (I dont think it was actually that high), I just focused on taking advantage of the best opportunities I could, and I didnt back down. I would look for local places to walk into an inquire at first. Be close to home, build up a reputation of reliability and integrity, and the rest will sort itself out. If it worked for me, it can for you.

Noah - Now with more boost. > Patrick Glace 05/20/2015 at 20:23

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Hahah funny that you should ask - I recently invented and researched a new scenario that is 10/10 responsible (***as responsible as I can bear to be) and 10/10 fun at the same time: Step 1. Buy a Lexus LS400 because I think they look great lowered a little with some nice wheels filling the wheel arches. It also helps that I can probably afford to buy a minty one next month. Step 2. Save the rest of my money for grad school/a project and buy something stupid after taxes if I think I can handle the cost and the insurance hike. Another hilarious thing happened today - I talked with a dude who works in my building re: his 330i and asked him how it was doing, he said it was fine until it crossed 100k and systems started failing. He recently paid $1000 for the dealership to chase a drain. Ridiculous! No thanks

Noah - Now with more boost. > JGrabowMSt 05/20/2015 at 20:27

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Congrats on your ideal situation! Sounds like heaven, that’s exactly what I’m shooting for right now. That’s some solid advice, and your non-traditional job sounds interesting.

In a Mini; let them mock me as My Mini Countryman is higher than you > KylesPerGallon 05/20/2015 at 20:48

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>Implying that Capitalism works for the common man

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/20/2015 at 23:15

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In my 4th year (doing a fifth) of high school, thanks for this, at least I now know, to some extent, what it’s like.

Noah - Now with more boost. > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash 05/21/2015 at 06:47

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Of course! Yeah it's tedious but ultimately totally doable

JGrabowMSt > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/21/2015 at 11:14

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I work in home automation and technology integration.

What I’ve noticed with a lot of friends is that they have great skills doing things, but no professional reputation to back that up. Realistically, it should be at the top of everyone’s list to find somewhere they can at the very least volunteer for a few hours a week in order to build that reputation and make a name for themselves.

Why focus so hard on working for a small company if you can spend your own time actually doing more? Simple, you need referrals. My job description right now is “Executive System Consultant” yet what I actually do spans from fabrication to schematic level drawing. I don’t consult directly with clients, and I hardly ever meet any. I meet business partners because I am the Fabrication department, but to go back to the original point, I could have all the experience on paper in the world, if a company can’t call someone for a referral, how do they know what I’m capable of? Friends and family aren’t really the best referral because it’s partially biased towards putting you up high on a pedestal. I can work on my own car, but if the shop can’t call some other shop and ask about how well I know cars or if I’m capable of the workload, how will they be able to confidently hire me to work for them? Because I can change oil in my driveway? That’s hardly enough experience to be hired by. Even if all you do is sweep floors and lend a hand, people will get to know you, they will need an extra hand and you’ll be the one there to lend it. Building a reputation is no overnight process, and trust is very give and take. Do all jobs work out? No, but that’s where you get to learn from your experiences and be able to recognize jobs that are either good or bad for you. Things can start well and take a turn for the worse, but you have to be able to either put your nose to the grindstone and see if it gets better, or you need to be able to cut your losses and say whether it’s really for you or not. When I was younger, I didn’t know how to do that, but after working my way up to lead technician at my last job, now I know how to turn down a side job when my bosses ask me about it. There are days I don’t work late, days I’m willing to work late, and it all comes into play when extra jobs pop up.

But before all of that, you need to start somewhere, and the sooner the better. I don’t want to give too much away about my experiences, but as I said before, if I can do it, anyone else can.

Noah - Now with more boost. > JGrabowMSt 05/21/2015 at 11:16

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Gothcha. Yeah it really helps to think of jobs as positions with wide-ranging responsibilities rather than just a job where you’ve signed up for one single responsibility.

evil2win > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/21/2015 at 15:13

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I’m actually at the other end of the spectrum, just entering retirement. I know times have changed, but I never got a good job though an advertisement. (I was offered a job working for Tesla a few months back that was through their website. I don’t think that counts as answering an ad). Generally the best jobs I got by researching who I wanted to work for who did something that matched my skill set, then pursue a job with them. there is a lot less competition if there is no listing. There were times that the people I talked to didn’t have a job but knew someone who did and sent me there.

Noah - Now with more boost. > evil2win 05/21/2015 at 15:44

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Fascinating perspective. Things are definitely different now, but everything you said is 100% true - that’s what I meant by companies’ preference for hiring references (people someone within the company can vouch for). Enjoy your retirement! May it be filled with many happy car memories. Now you finally have time for some road trips...

evil2win > Noah - Now with more boost. 05/21/2015 at 20:20

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Thanks, my latest thing has been learning to fly, I learned that the speed limit for VFR private pilots is 250 knots in most of the country, and I’m all about getting there with the throttle open. I can get a small used plane for the price of new Honda civic, then get where I’m going as the crow flies, and at a good 150 mph, and I don’t have to look over my shoulder for flashing red lights.

Noah - Now with more boost. > evil2win 05/22/2015 at 10:50

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That sounds exhilarating, no roads necessary for your trips now!

Matthew Phillips > Noah - Now with more boost. 06/08/2015 at 10:45

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Thanks for the advice, I’m two years out from my Bachelor’s, and currently work seasonally at my current workplace. I’ve been there for the past three years and I’m blessed to know that when I come back for the holidays or when I finish school I can always come back and go full time till I find a job in my skillset.

Matthew Phillips > Noah - Now with more boost. 06/08/2015 at 10:47

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Where you’re going... you don’t need roads.