Originally Posted by Clak Reminds me of some of the It jobs I've seen posted on CL. Basiclaly asking someone to be the IT deprtment for maybe $40,000. That's not bad for a starting position, but not for what they (the employer) want. I'm sure they'd get somebody though, because like you said, people are desperate.

I once applied for an accounting job, which would be the only accountant in the company, reporting directly to the COO. They were offering $26-32k, which I got after speaking with them over the phone. I said the job I just left paid double that and the guy lost interest (didn't call me back when he said he would)- but not before trying to convince me that I should be privileged to work at their company because they make they're a green company and somehow that makes it right to pay a CPA close to minimum wage. It was a for profit company too! My current job is at a non-profit that doesn't have a pot to piss in and they are still paying me almost double! Some employers just don't want to pay for decent employees, and then wonder why they have poor employees and/or retention.

Originally Posted by n8rockerasu The idea that your degree itself is worth something is a joke. What IS worth something is the ass kissing and brown nosing you do while you're in college (when people at least pretend to care about your existence). If I had it to do all over again, I'd go to school in the same town (or at least the same county) as where I wanted to work afterward, and I'd spend the entire time licking my professors' collective balls. In today's job market, that is basically the only shot you have of getting a job with no experience (unless you were given a silver spoon by mommy and daddy). At least through your school, you can beg/bribe/con//blackmail/etc. one of your professors/deans/chancellors/etc. to convince one of their old golfing buddies that you're not completely worthless and might actually be able to do the job. There are so many displaced workers right now, without this, you're going to run into "not enough experience"...but you need experience to get experience...yup.

I can't tell you how many times I saw shit like this on entry-level jobs while looking for something this past semester. Luckily and without much ass-kissing/networking, I found a decent paying entry-level job in my chosen career field right out of college.

The networking thing is on point, you pretty much have to ass kiss or know someone to not have trouble finding a job these days. Never really heard of ass kissing professors though. Maybe it's because I was in the business school; it's definitely not a thing there. Maybe it's more common in Arts and Sciences?

Well, I'm just saying, in college, that's where you have the most resources. You're being groomed for a field by people who are very well versed in that field and know people in that field. If you're not milking that for all it's worth, the road to getting where you want to be becomes infinitely more challenging. But people don't seem to talk about that reality too often, as while you trying to be "whatever you want to be", everything is just flowers and kittens. I don't know what the answer is though because there just doesn't seem to be enough jobs to go around. What's scary though is that even the less glamorous jobs are experiencing this. It's a rat race to be a teacher or a nurse now. Who the hell saw that coming?

Advertisement

Register for free to remove this ad

Unless your professor is active in the field still, they're little help in hooking you up.

Same with the counselors at your school's career services office. In my experience, I've found they have little real world experience themselves, like many professors. If those people had in depth job experience, for example, 10 years as an attorney at a large firm, they wouldn't be piddling around as a career services counselor most likely unless they were really dedicated to that school and the idea of helping students. And even if they wanted to switch jobs, their big law firm experience would get them paid a lot more to head hunt or whatever with a non-academic entity. It's even worse for undergrad because there's so many different potential career paths and a small to medium school maybe has a handful of counselors at best?

All any of them do is tell you to make the font on your resume different, add quirky interests to "make you appear human," network, and network some more. If you don't have family to hook you up you have to network. Unfortunately even your "networking" contacts can hardly help you out because the job market is such shit. "If I hear of something I'll let you know" or "I'll pass your resume on to someone else." It's a nice thought and gesture, but most of the time its useless. The odds of them passing on your resume to someone who can actually provide you with a job are probably the same as winning the online job application lottery.

Other than playing the lottery that you'll get selected for the job on your merits, you've got to buddy buddy up to someone via "networking" and pray they'll like you enough or see enough value in you to hook you up with a job directly.

Originally Posted by kodave Other than playing the lottery that you'll get selected for the job on your merits, you've got to buddy buddy up to someone via "networking" and pray they'll like you enough or see enough value in you to hook you up with a job directly.

There are some tricks that I know because I've been on both sides of the desk. One of the jobs I got was because I not only showed up in proper attire and aced the interview, but I was also the only candidate to call back the next day to say what a pleasure it was to meet the company officers and it was the kind of opportunity I was looking for. Calling - not emailing - you want that personal touch.

I was told this months later by the guy who hired me.

College is too much fun these days. Your degree and a good GPA is pretty much guaranteed as long as you stay awake, so it's easy to become delusional about what you're worth when graduating. Have to put in the work outside of class to get anywhere. Not even internships or getting lucky, just mastering your craft and creating your own portfolio -- the internet makes these things very doable. Though I speak as a computer science major.

Originally Posted by camoor There are some tricks that I know because I've been on both sides of the desk. One of the jobs I got was because I not only showed up in proper attire and aced the interview, but I was also the only candidate to call back the next day to say what a pleasure it was to meet the company officers and it was the kind of opportunity I was looking for. Calling - not emailing - you want that personal touch. I was told this months later by the guy who hired me.

From what I've experienced and heard, many place hates getting non-essential calls regardless of where you are in the hiring process unless you made a good personal connection with someone you spoke with at the company and can call them directly. Most of the time, the people conducting interviews outside of HR are busy enough as it is with their other responsibilities. If its not a do or die, time is of the essence situation, a mailed letter instead of an email is also a good personal touch though. Especially quick thank you notes to everyone who you interacted with in depth (as opposed to just being introduced to). Just get them in the mail the same day as you interview and they'll be there within a day, two max. But everything will vary by company and you just have to get a good read on it and the situation.

But thank you notes and figuring out the appropriate attire for an interview are things everyone should be able to understand and do, but weirdly a lot of people can't grasp those things.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs when you find instances of predatory hiring like this. I have heard the film industry is bad like this too; They just call their workers "interns" and suddenly they have a bunch of free labor in the form of people desperate to get a leg up in the industry.

Originally Posted by kodave But thank you notes and figuring out the appropriate attire for an interview are things everyone should be able to understand and do, but weirdly a lot of people can't grasp those things.

Especially IT. Not everyone in IT has the best social skills...