Job Searching

"E90M3" (e90m3) 07/05/2016 at 14:57 • Filed to: None

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Is about the most discouraging thing ever. It’s been three months now and I haven’t gotten any positive feedback, the more I hear I’ve got great skills and am desirable, the less and less I believe it. I just want to give up.

OM617 for your time.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:05

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Hang in there. It sucks, but you’ll eventually land the right gig.

I had a fantastic job lined up for after I graduated school, and then it fell through during the sequestration/shutdown in 2013. I spent a year doing construction work for my dad while I looked for a job. During that time I got 2 really lowball offers doing work I know I would have hated. I stayed the course and eventually got my current position for much more money than my other offers and I generally like the job, though I’m waiting for an opening at aforementioned fantastic job.

Party-vi > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:05

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I apologize for not being familiar with your background, but what is it that you did prior to being let go? Are your skills translatable to another field that you possibly haven’t considered?

MountainRoadPhysicist > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:06

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That sounds eerily similar to my dating life of you change a few words.

JGrabowMSt > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:08

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I join a new company, find I work with a lot of unskilled people, and find myself considering leaving after only a couple of months.

Finding the right fit is very difficult.

SkyNet > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:21

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I feel ya brother. Currently employed but looking. Highly discouraging. Just remember, it’s a “numbers” game and it only takes one.

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:25

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It just took me 5 months to get a decent job after graduating early with an Econ degree and internships. It’s not fun, trust me, I know. You want to get excited, but you just keep getting let down and it kills you. Stay with it and keep churning out applications. I’d also recommend being unconventional and reaching out to companies that you’d like to work for. Something is bound to happen soon. Relax and be the best you can be. And, as others have said, it is a numbers game. At some point the shoe will fit.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:26

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Stick in there brother. Took me 9 months working retail and applying but i got an offer a couple weeks back and im going into a great job in september. It was hell on earth at times but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

lone_liberal > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:27

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I’m right there with you, since my stupid company can’t seem to make money and reduced me to part time. I can’t keep going on part-time wages for much longer. The last interview I had the guy even called me to let me know how great they all thought I was but how this other person was already a state employee and blah, blah, blah. I would have preferred a generic rejection email.

Hopefully we’ll both get great gigs very, very soon.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:30

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My job search after grad school took 5 months and I was told multiple times how fast that was. Same for the search that got me this job, around 5 months of searching. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you’ve got to experiment with what gets you the best response rate.

Chasaboo > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:30

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1) Along the lines of what others have said, reach higher. Don’t just point yourself into 1 slot. See if you can find something above what you’re looking at.

2) Never give up. When things are at their darkest, most bleak, that’s when you get the opportunity, when the breakthrough occurs, the eureka moment. Lots of people regrettably quit long before then. Keep banging away at it, you’ll get there.

DutchieDC2R > Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 07/05/2016 at 15:33

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This, right here! This landed me an awesome internship at a car exhibition centre supported by the city municipality.

I was at the same stage that you are in. Let down, disappointed, ready to give up and not give a damn about anyone or anything. My last straw was simply walking in with my suit on, my CV in my hands (preferably including an example of your work too, for me that meant a small report on a car company I did) and your story.

We live in an age where, as hard as it is to hear, you have at least 500 competitors going after the same job. It might not be 500 exactly, but even that one person striving for the same position with slightly more experience/better papers could snatch it away. In this day and age you need to make a difference, yourself. Head out there, meet with the people, sell yourself (in an honest, professional manner), show them that you want that job. Anyone can send in a nicely written letter and a CV, but knock on their door and show them youre serious, youre dedicated.

E90M3 > Party-vi 07/05/2016 at 15:34

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Chemical Engineering degree and worked as a frac engineer for 2.5 years, I’m not staying in oil and trying to figure out how to convey I have skills that are transferable to another industry is what’s hard.

itschrome > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:37

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Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that. I went 1.5 years a few years back with no job. Same thing, every job interview I went to they praised my skills and how desirable I was and how much they see me as part of the team. Then bam, a thanks but no thanks letter.. It’s maddening! I wish you the best of luck you’ll find something soon!

E90M3 > Aaron M - MasoFiST 07/05/2016 at 15:39

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I got this job out of college before I graduated, which was lucky, but back in 2012 all you needed was an engineering degree and a warm breath cause oil was booming and they needed bodies. I graduated with a 2.6, so I thought I was pretty lucky to have a job to begin with. It’s been 3 months since I lost that job, and I’m really hoping it doesn’t take too much longer. From the way it’s going, it looks like it’s gonna be a couple more months of unsuccessful searching.

E90M3 > lone_liberal 07/05/2016 at 15:45

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I couldn’t do the job I had anymore. I was unable to sleep and I had virtually no appetite. Working nights and going to bed at 7 AM and then waking up at 10 AM, cause I couldn’t sleep, and then working 6 PM to 6 AM is not easy. I lost like 15 lbs in February because I basically had no appetite and had to force myself to eat. I knew this was going to suck, I was preparing to leave that job when I got laid off, but job searching is no fun either. I’m with you, I’m hoping we both get something soon.

Lekker > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:45

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Well, I was jobless for 5 months right after college, I was let go a week after my graduation so that was no fun.

It’s a matter of time and perspective, I’d strongly suggest making sure to sign up for ALL online professional sites you can find. Monster, Dice, glassdoor, linked in, etc. Spend as much time as you can polishing the resume’s you submit for the particular job and make sure to follow up with them. That last part is something that seemingly no one does, and it’s gotten me TONS of results.

Give it two years once you get whatever job you get, and I’m willing to bet you’ll start being rained opportunities. It’s about keeping your eyes open, and chin up.

Textured Soy Protein > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:46

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I work in staffing. Let me paint a picture for you:

Every time a company posts a job, they get bombarded with applicants who may or may not fit the job, and more often than not those applicants are being reviewed by HR people who don’t necessarily know what the skills for that job really are, or a hiring manager who does know the skills but doesn’t know how to actually hire people in a good way, but thinks they do.

They start emailing people at the beginning of the line who might look good, and start setting up interviews, and at some point quit emailing new people about it as they get enough candidates going through the hiring process. BUT...until someone actually starts in that job, they keep the posting out there. You as a candidate have no visibility into this process.

All of which is to say, it’s a total volume game, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. If you get a response of any kind to 1 in 5 jobs you apply for, you’re doing extremely well.

Hit up every job board you can find and apply to every job you can find. Just keep applying. You’ll get some interviews, and there are various interview tips you can use, but basically, until the point that someone offers you a job, keep on applying, no matter how many interviews you get.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:52

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Yeah, I graduated in 2009...our first job fair of the academic year happened the week of the crash. Lehman Brothers had a booth, but no one in it because the company ceased to exist by the time the job fair started. I had two offers incoming that were both rescinded, one in the fall and one in the spring. I got a job working for a professor doing research writing for $10 an hour just because he knew me as a student, and scraped by on that while applying to grad school. Out of grad school I took a job in management consulting because no one in my field was hiring...the job I’m in now is the first one in my field, and it’s still a completely different functional area than my degrees (both engineering, I now work in economic research).

Incidentally, the economic research I do is in the energy field, so my advice would be to go wide and get into something not petro. We project oil prices recovering 2-3 years from now, and investment (read: recruiting) would come around the same time or later than that.

E90M3 > Textured Soy Protein 07/05/2016 at 15:53

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Yeah it’s a numbers game, but it seems no one even wants to look at my resume, doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop trying, it just sucks

Tripper > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 15:56

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Saw in a comment that you were a frac engineer. To what other industries do your skills apply? Anything with plastics/polymers? Not sure that I can be any help, but I know a lot of people in blow molding/injection molding etc...

RedlineZ bought an SV (And is getting rid of the z) > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 16:20

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I graduated with a 3.2 in Aviation Management in December of 2014.I applied to every entry level management or line service position I could find and got denied/no response everywhere. I picked up a job pumping gas at a local airport for $10 an hour and stayed there for 7 months until I finally got picked up by Teterboro on Nov 30th of last year almost a full year after I graduated college. Just keep grinding out those applications and make sure you follow up with the company a week or two after you send in your resume. If the first time you speak to them is when they call you then you’ve waited to long. Keep your head up at least you’re getting callbacks.

Ross Kraz > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 16:55

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So I’m not the only one that Jalopnik said no to :(

There’s always NewOldTopGear’s new Drivetribe, I guess.

Until then, I’ll just keep on keepin’ on, doing that SolidWorks grind.

E90M3 > Tripper 07/05/2016 at 17:16

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I’m trying to think how to market myself so my skills can transfer to another industry. I don’t have any experience in like a plant or manufacturing environment and that seems to be hurting.

Textured Soy Protein > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 17:40

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It’s not that nobody wants to look.

Think about it this way: when you apply to a job, you’re unlikely to know how long it’s been posted for, even if it has a posting date on it, because it could just as easily have been reposted from some earlier time. There are all kinds of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of you as a candidate for why you don’t get a response.

I know it’s frustrating. I’ve been in the same position and it definitely sucks. Knowing why it sucks doesn’t make it less irritating. But you just have to bang out at least 10 applications a week if not more.

Tripper > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 18:06

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Yea it’s weird that experience thing. Everybody wants you to have it but no one wants to let you get it!

I went through a similar situation at the beginning of my career. Got a good job out of the gate, then got laid off. After that and before the job I have now, I went through two disaster scenario jobs. I used to get upset about the 3.5 years that I wasted at them but I finally realized that the experience was worth it.

The things that got me a job when I didn’t have experience were at least in part, lies. I had never touched a server before my first job in IT, or managed a VoIP phone system or one any other of the countless computer basics for an entry level job in IT. So after getting turned down due to lack of experience a few times, I just started saying that I did have experience in whatever areas we’re relevant to a particular opportunity. BS’ed my way through a few interviews and good stuff started to happen slowly.

Maybe not the best advice, but it was confidence not experience that got me my first few gigs.

E90M3 > Textured Soy Protein 07/05/2016 at 20:37

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It sucks it’s a lot of it is automated as well. Oh well, I guess I’ll just keep trying and hopefully get somewhere.

E90M3 > Aaron M - MasoFiST 07/05/2016 at 20:38

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I’m getting out of oil for the time being, if for no other reason then to be back in Georgia near friends and family.

E90M3 > Tripper 07/05/2016 at 20:40

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I’ve got good experience, or at least I can make it seem like I do. I think I can cast a positive light on myself after working 12 hour shifts in a demanding environment. I might have to fudge some other things so I get the opportunity to tell that to a human and not a computer.

Tripper > E90M3 07/05/2016 at 20:55

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Yea, and when you’re at your next gig and they see that you hustle, it wont matter if you don’t have the experience that they thought you needed.

Even if you had more experience than they were looking for, a new employer is still going to expect you to have read their minds and know how to do your job on day one. So there is always that adjustment period where you learn what you need to know.

Anyway, I hope something good happens for you soon.

E90M3 > Tripper 07/05/2016 at 21:00

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Appreciate it, I’m hoping something happens sooner rather than later.