Searching For A Job - Rant/Rave/Discuss Here

[quote name='paddlefoot']I need to vent. I graduated almost 2 years ago with a degree in accounting. Small well-respected private school, reasonably decent not great GPA (3.5), but have had no luck getting a job.

I believe my main reason for difficulty is my lack of networking or interning during school. I went to school part-time while working a full-time job. It was too late by the time I learned the importance of networking and getting your face in front of firms prior to graduation.

I still work a full-time job for the State. Great benefits, poor pay. Had around 5-10 interviews in the last year with no luck. I'm sure my lack of accounting experience in the current job market severly undermines my opportunities.


Any advice? I've been in my current position for almost 7 years and it has killed my drive and sucked the life out of me. I'm willing to do anything in accounting or business.[/QUOTE]

I don't understand why you wouldn't intern during an accounting degree. The pay is great, especially at the Big Four, and very often leads to a full time job after graduating.

And I agree, best thing you could do now is do temp and/or contract work. Also, do you have your CPA license? If not that's probably a big reason why you can't find a job.
 
And I actually got another call today from another recruiter!

Anyway, the job I'm in right now is a support role, kinda help desk/desktop support. I'd like to get into networking or systems administration, but I kinda feel like I don't know quite enough yet. If I interviewed for that network admin job I'd feel in over my head and it would probably show.

Here is the thing though, at the place I just started at, one of the network admins and the sharepoint admin started out on the team I'm on, moving up after a while on tier 1 support (they're basically tier 2 now). Plus the guy I replaced has moved onto do SQL database stuff on their dev team. They're really into letting people grow their skills and move onto bigger roles. Plus, without getting too specific, they have unionized employees, and as such they offer us the same benefits, thus the outstanding insurance and pension/401k. I doubt I'd get that at most places, kinda makes up for the bit less money.

On the subject of money though, I'm kinda wondering if I shouldn't ask for a bit more. I'm on a 3 month contract right now while they feel me out. I'm wondering if when it comes time if I should ask for just a bit more. The other guy they interviewed along with me wanted considerably more than I'm looking for, so I figure if I just asked for a couple grand more a year they probably wouldn't say no. Couldn't hurt anyway.
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']I need to vent. I graduated almost 2 years ago with a degree in accounting. Small well-respected private school, reasonably decent not great GPA (3.5), but have had no luck getting a job.

I believe my main reason for difficulty is my lack of networking or interning during school. I went to school part-time while working a full-time job. It was too late by the time I learned the importance of networking and getting your face in front of firms prior to graduation.

I still work a full-time job for the State. Great benefits, poor pay. Had around 5-10 interviews in the last year with no luck. I'm sure my lack of accounting experience in the current job market severly undermines my opportunities.


Any advice? I've been in my current position for almost 7 years and it has killed my drive and sucked the life out of me. I'm willing to do anything in accounting or business.[/QUOTE]


I graduated last year with a degree in Economics (and a minor in Accounting, which is more what I want to do) so I can relate. I got lucky and got a temp job in an accounting department a month after graduation and a permanent position there opened up after a few months. I now get good benefits, 401K, etc, and a decent starting salary while building my experience in accounting procedures and Excel, and can hopefully parlay that into a more specific Accounting job in a year or so. Contract jobs are definitely the best way to go to start out, especially if you want to build up your networking.
 
First of all thank you to everyone in this thread. I didn't expect such overwhelming advice and support.

[quote name='kodave']I'm not in the "business" or accounting fields, but are there any local accounting associations you could join? Surely there's some kind of local business associations or groups you could join. You might want to consider joining something like Rotary Club where many business people join for charitable activities. That will open up some networking for you.[/QUOTE]

I'll check into local business associations.

[quote name='yourlefthand']Where do you live? Are you flexible about that?[/QUOTE]

I live in Eastern Pennsylvania. I am willing to relocate within reason (OH, VA, NY, NJ, DE, MA etc)

[quote name='JP']My cousin had a similar situation on trying to get into the accounting field out of school. What he ended up doing was signing up on a couple headhunter locations in larger cities (originally from Southern Indiana) that he'd willing to move to. He ended up taking 3-6 month contract jobs for about a year and a half. Some of them can lead to direct hire but he went through 4 contracts and then had built up some good contacts. The lead for his current job came from his supervisor at his last contract job.[/QUOTE]

I will look into contract work. Was he able to find work without experience?

[quote name='Dead of Knight']I don't understand why you wouldn't intern during an accounting degree. The pay is great, especially at the Big Four, and very often leads to a full time job after graduating.

And I agree, best thing you could do now is do temp and/or contract work. Also, do you have your CPA license? If not that's probably a big reason why you can't find a job.[/QUOTE]

I didn't intern because of my full-time job.

Do not have my CPA license. The way I understood it most (all?) entry-level accountants do not yet have their CPA credentials. I do know none of my classmates who were able to find work with firms had their CPAs prior to starting.



On another note. I now need 150 semester hours to qualify as a CPA and only have 125 right now. The increase occurred several months after graduation. Would it be a waste to go back for an additional 25 credits and try to intern again if all else fails?
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']I will look into contract work. Was he able to find work without experience?[/QUOTE]
Yeah. The time it'll take depends upon the job market in your area but he found some relatively quick.
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']Do not have my CPA license.[/QUOTE]

A friend of mine who graduated last year got a job as an accountant without a CPA license as well. But I can say that the jobs are much easier to come by if you do have one. A lot of places want you to have it, and are willing to pay for you to get it. But in today's competitive market, somebody who already has a CPA is already a step above you.

I don't know a whole lot about accounting, as I'm a CS major, but I definitely learned that much from her job search.
 
I noticed that whole "calling a week after you submit your resume" idea is dead. Most large companies will have HR departments that will not return your calls.

Have you guys experienced this?
 
[quote name='elessar123']My sister actually didn't pass her CPA for many years, and still was paid a ton.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure she did, but that was obviously years ago. And even today, you'll still make good money. My point is that if an employer has two perfectly matched applicants except one is a CPA, the CPA is getting hired.
 
[quote name='JP']Yeah. The time it'll take depends upon the job market in your area but he found some relatively quick.[/QUOTE]

Yep, same here. Be prepared for the work to not be direct accounting but you'll work on projects for the accounting departments and that's a great way to network at a company.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']I'm sure she did, but that was obviously years ago. And even today, you'll still make good money. My point is that if an employer has two perfectly matched applicants except one is a CPA, the CPA is getting hired.[/QUOTE]

She actually graduated during the dot-com bust, so it wasn't all happy then.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']I'm sure she did, but that was obviously years ago. And even today, you'll still make good money. My point is that if an employer has two perfectly matched applicants except one is a CPA, the CPA is getting hired.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, things were different back then. Now the Big Four and even smaller firms are now very picky about new hires getting CPAs. Used to be in the Big Four you could advance to Senior without having a CPA and they were very lax about it, now you can't be promoted without one and give you big bonuses for passing early. Considering how shit the job market is now, it's a huge advantage to have one.
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']
Do not have my CPA license. The way I understood it most (all?) entry-level accountants do not yet have their CPA credentials. I do know none of my classmates who were able to find work with firms had their CPAs prior to starting.



On another note. I now need 150 semester hours to qualify as a CPA and only have 125 right now. The increase occurred several months after graduation. Would it be a waste to go back for an additional 25 credits and try to intern again if all else fails?[/QUOTE]

You can't get your CPA without having work experience or a degree anyway so of course none of your classmates would have it before getting jobs. But passing the exam as early as possible even if you don't have the experience yet shows motivation to employers and that you will be licensed once you get the experience. I had passed 2 of the 4 sections prior to starting my first job after college and had passed the rest less than 2 months into my job. I needed a year of experience (internship experience IS generally included in this requirement) to get licensed but the employers LOVED that I passed the exam so quickly. You need the degree and hours to take the exam, but you don't need the experience. Though of course requirements vary greatly state by state.

I would look for work while you go back for credit hours. Figure out exactly which classes you need to get the hours first. I had more than enough business and accounting hours and ended up taking completely unrelated electives to get the hours I needed. Many colleges, including community colleges, offer CPA prep courses for college credit. Check into this. You can combine studying and getting those hours in all at once.
 
[quote name='Xevious']I noticed that whole "calling a week after you submit your resume" idea is dead. Most large companies will have HR departments that will not return your calls.

Have you guys experienced this?[/QUOTE]

It's been dead for at least several years if not longer. There's a reason almost all applications/listings for every kind of job imaginable say "Do not call about your application - we will contact you."

If the business/company/organization is big enough to have an HR department, everything is going to be filtered through there first. So right off the bat, HR doesn't give a shit about you or your application. They possibly received hundreds and they will get to them and through them at their own pace before the next stage of the process. And if there is no HR department involved, it's then someone who has a full time job in charge of hiring someone else, so calling them to bother them about your application is a waste of their time. And I say that in reference to calling to "show interest" or whatever you think you're doing to get ahead (because you think everyone else hasn't already been given the same advice about "showing interest"). If there is a legitimate concern or issue with your application or resume, then of course you need to call.

The key is networking so you have more leeway or have inside connections or knowledge. That way when you submit an application or resume you don't have to call them and say "Gee golly I'm still interested in this job I applied for a week ago!" to get ahead. You'll have your inside contacts or whatever or someone will mention you or recommend you ahead of time so you know you're already on the fast track.

But I've read advice from others that have seriously suggested calling before applying and telling a secretary or receptionist to be on the look out for your application, call again to confirm the application was received, then call again shortly thereafter to make sure they know you're interested in the job still. With the high number of applicants these days, if I was in charge of hiring someone, I would probably throw their application in the trash if they thought it necessary to waste my time and my staff's time like that. But that's just how I see it.
 
Got an offer for one of the companies I interviewed at. Process Engineering job with a 11k bump in base salary. I blasted off an email the the other place I interviewed at last week to just let them know to see if they are close to deciding.

I assume that I will be likely taking the job. I'm out of the country on vacay right now so I will check out the official paperwork this upcoming Friday.
 
It took a month to give me an interview for an internal application.
It's not even a change in position. Just a different shift and different hospital.
Management moves slooooowwwwww.
 
I'd like to say my new job is going well but I really can't say. It's been two weeks and I've barely done anything. I'm getting worried because some of this stuff they support is fairly complicated, industry specific stuff, and if they don't train me more I'm not going to know how to do a lot of this stuff. I mean documentation is one thing, I can read that all day, but I'm not doing much of it.
 
Well they're going to have me answering random calls next week, and given what I've heard them deal with these last 2 weeks, I won't know much about any of this because it's specific to their business. They seem to have a kind of sink or swim attitude going on. I don't know, I'm just getting kind of anxious because I don't feel like I'm prepared.
 
Well, I didn't make it past my probationary period at Target. They let me go today and paid me what they owed me. I didn't like the job anyway, it paid very little, and they hardly gave me any hours.
 
[quote name='2DMention']Well, I didn't make it past my probationary period at Target. They let me go today and paid me what they owed me. I didn't like the job anyway, it paid very little, and they hardly gave me any hours.[/QUOTE]

What went wrong?
 
[quote name='2DMention']Well, I didn't make it past my probationary period at Target. They let me go today and paid me what they owed me. I didn't like the job anyway, it paid very little, and they hardly gave me any hours.[/QUOTE]

Speak more of this "probationary period", I like to know about other corporations "lack of awesomeness" (not trying to rub it in)
 
[quote name='yourlefthand']What went wrong?[/QUOTE]

I worked in the back room and they said I didn't "pull" fast enough.

Whatever. I didn't like the job anyway, it started at 4am, paid close to minimum wage, and they didn't give me more than 2 days of hours a week. I'll find something better, I know I will.
 
... and now I am down to 21 hours a week at Target. It's pretty insulting when you don't get a lunch break yet you cover the lunch breaks for others. My "reward" for working there for nine years.

I don't know if it was this thread or somewhere else but someone said Best Buy likes to hire young staff. I'm thinking Target is becoming the same way as more and more of the older staff has been leaving and "young, fresh meat" is getting all the work hours.

I'm in the process of moving to Palm Beach so if things go well enough I can go back to college and use my degree to find something better.
 
[quote name='2DMention']I worked in the back room and they said I didn't "pull" fast enough.

Whatever. I didn't like the job anyway, it started at 4am, paid close to minimum wage, and they didn't give me more than 2 days of hours a week. I'll find something better, I know I will.[/QUOTE]

If you don't mind me asking, but why Target? Are you in school? If so what are you going for?
 
[quote name='kodave']It's been dead for at least several years if not longer. There's a reason almost all applications/listings for every kind of job imaginable say "Do not call about your application - we will contact you."

If the business/company/organization is big enough to have an HR department, everything is going to be filtered through there first. So right off the bat, HR doesn't give a shit about you or your application. They possibly received hundreds and they will get to them and through them at their own pace before the next stage of the process. And if there is no HR department involved, it's then someone who has a full time job in charge of hiring someone else, so calling them to bother them about your application is a waste of their time. And I say that in reference to calling to "show interest" or whatever you think you're doing to get ahead (because you think everyone else hasn't already been given the same advice about "showing interest"). If there is a legitimate concern or issue with your application or resume, then of course you need to call.

The key is networking so you have more leeway or have inside connections or knowledge. That way when you submit an application or resume you don't have to call them and say "Gee golly I'm still interested in this job I applied for a week ago!" to get ahead. You'll have your inside contacts or whatever or someone will mention you or recommend you ahead of time so you know you're already on the fast track.

But I've read advice from others that have seriously suggested calling before applying and telling a secretary or receptionist to be on the look out for your application, call again to confirm the application was received, then call again shortly thereafter to make sure they know you're interested in the job still. With the high number of applicants these days, if I was in charge of hiring someone, I would probably throw their application in the trash if they thought it necessary to waste my time and my staff's time like that. But that's just how I see it.[/QUOTE]

Just curious about your thoughts, as this is a personal pet peeve of mine, but doesn't responding to applicants fall under one of the job responsibilities of hiring someone? Especially if you ARE in HR/Recruiting where that is one of your prime job responsibilities.

I hate that I rarely will even get a confirmation that my job application is received. I've done hundreds of job applications over the last 3 years, and I would say I had a communicative HR representative only about 5 times... 5 TIMES out of several hundred! I'm not asking for a lot, but simple communication like...

"Hi, thanks for submitting your application, we received it and will keep in touch"

"If you don't hear back from us in more than 4 weeks, please contact us about the status of the position"

The list goes on and on. Is it really that hard for an HR person to send out a quick email that, hey, we got your job application. I don't see how this is wasting their time, since in my eyes, this is their damn job. I understand that some people might send excessive email or phone calls about a job, but when I try to follow up in a week if my resume was actually received. I rarely get an email or call back saying, "why yes it has been received". When 2 months go by and I haven't heard a single peep about a job I applied and try to contact HR, I rarely get a response back like, "sorry, the job has been closed" or "nope, we are still looking." Honestly, for many jobs I applied to I never got a rejection at all, left in limbo forever. If you ask me, this is not a waste of time, it's people failing to do their damn job.

Seriously, if a HR employee can not respond to job candidates inquiry about once a month, which I think is a good time frame to check on job apps, then they just fail hard at their job. Not to count how anxious the job seeker is about the opportunity, it only hurts all the parties involved to remain in the dark the entire process. There shouldn't need to be this need to have internal contacts to ever hear a peep about your job application... this just shows a broken system.

Maybe someone can enlighten me about this, but in my opinion HR people are responsible for responding to job candidates. If they can't reply to few extra emails or calls each week, they just are lazy, and unfortunately able to get away with it in this terrible employment country we live in. That is part of their responsibility!
 
I almost found myself looking for a new job a few months back. I work in IT at a small private university, and due to a recent shuffling of Deans, my immediate supervisor (who is a Pharmacist... not a tech guy) was pulled up to function as interim Dean. Therefore, rather than promoting one of us to supervise ourselves, they handed the reigns off to a guy who was recently hired as an Instructional Designer.

In the past eight months, the Instructional Designer found it necessary to write me up for "attitude problems" twice and a verbal warning once. Now his reasons for the "discipline" are mind-blowing. According to him, when we are discussing changes, upgrades and projects, I come across as "combative", "confrontational", and "opinionated." What he fails to realize is that I just happen to play devil's advocate during think tank sessions. Such a role is vital in making sure that "all the ducks are in a line" before moving forward with a project. Because he doesn't like it when his ideas are challenged, he writes me up. Turns out that it was a good thing that I challenged his ideas, as the holes I uncovered in his plans were enough to cancel said plans.

Fast forward two months. I begin looking for a new job, and then I receive an interesting email from the school. I've been selected as one of four nominees for employee of the year.

This is proof that some people are just assholes.
 
[quote name='metaphysicalstyles']I almost found myself looking for a new job a few months back. I work in IT at a small private university, and due to a recent shuffling of Deans, my immediate supervisor (who is a Pharmacist... not a tech guy) was pulled up to function as interim Dean. Therefore, rather than promoting one of us to supervise ourselves, they handed the reigns off to a guy who was recently hired as an Instructional Designer.

In the past eight months, the Instructional Designer found it necessary to write me up for "attitude problems" twice and a verbal warning once. Now his reasons for the "discipline" are mind-blowing. According to him, when we are discussing changes, upgrades and projects, I come across as "combative", "confrontational", and "opinionated." What he fails to realize is that I just happen to play devil's advocate during think tank sessions. Such a role is vital in making sure that "all the ducks are in a line" before moving forward with a project. Because he doesn't like it when his ideas are challenged, he writes me up. Turns out that it was a good thing that I challenged his ideas, as the holes I uncovered in his plans were enough to cancel said plans.

Fast forward two months. I begin looking for a new job, and then I receive an interesting email from the school. I've been selected as one of four nominees for employee of the year.

This is proof that some people are just assholes.[/QUOTE]

There will always be a hater of what you do... A sad truth I learned about work and companies.

Also, every company I seem to work at has that one person that is just an asshole, but never fired. When I was first starting as an intern at a big company, most of my colleagues were really helpful, and appreciative of my passion, enthusiasm, and work I did. Except this one guy... he was always discounting my ideas, reported me to our supervisor for being combative and "stepping out of line", and generally would talk shit about everything I did.... Forgive me for giving my ideas during team meetings, when our supervisor actually encouraged me to do so. He was just an ass all around to me the entire time I worked there. Looking back on it, I think he was just jealous of me because I had gotten an internship at such a big company in a hard to find work industry. Like you said, some people are just assholes...
 
Looking for some job-hunting advice (specifically geared toward salary negotiation and the like) from my fellow programmer CAGs, if anyone has time to share their wisdom... :)

A little background info about me: I'm a CS student, graduating in about 7 months, and I'm starting to look for my first full-time programming job for after graduation. I'd say I have a significant amount more programming experience than my fellow undergrads, as I've been programming since junior high when I taught myself C++. Since then, I've developed many projects of my own, mostly games, in a variety of languages: C++, PHP/MySQL/JavaScript (web games), Java, and so on. Throughout college, I've held a few formal programming jobs (on-site and telecommuting for both web development in PHP and more generic software development in Java, and also had a paid internship in Manhattan a couple of summers ago) and have done a lot of freelance work as well, at pretty decent rates. I'm not saying this at all to brag or whatever, but just to point out past work experience and why I'm hoping to negotiate for a salary higher than a typical entry-level position would offer.

Anyway, later this month, I'll be meeting with a friend's neighbor, a programmer who has seen my resume and might be interested in working with me. I'm not sure specifically what his role is in the company hierarchy; all I know is that he is a fellow CS graduate. As far as I know, the meeting will just be a pretty casual discussion, maybe a 15 minute talk at my friend's house or nearby. What kinds of questions should I ask? If he (or someone else later on) offers me a job, how do I go about negotiating a salary? I have in mind a target salary that I'd like to get (which I think is a fairly typical rate for a graduate with a few years of experience), as well as a minimum salary I'd accept if no companies were able to offer my target salary (and failing even that, I'd just stick to freelancing for a while).

There are some other companies in the area to which I'm also planning to apply. When is the appropriate time to apply? My plan was to wait another two or three months to start sending in applications, as I figured now might be a bit early, considering I won't be graduating until December, and I could potentially add onto my resume between now and then with some summer projects.. I have one in the works right now which would be a huge boost to my portfolio if I were to finish it first.
 
[quote name='the_grimace']Just curious about your thoughts, as this is a personal pet peeve of mine, but doesn't responding to applicants fall under one of the job responsibilities of hiring someone? Especially if you ARE in HR/Recruiting where that is one of your prime job responsibilities.

I hate that I rarely will even get a confirmation that my job application is received. I've done hundreds of job applications over the last 3 years, and I would say I had a communicative HR representative only about 5 times... 5 TIMES out of several hundred! I'm not asking for a lot, but simple communication like...

"Hi, thanks for submitting your application, we received it and will keep in touch"

"If you don't hear back from us in more than 4 weeks, please contact us about the status of the position"

The list goes on and on. Is it really that hard for an HR person to send out a quick email that, hey, we got your job application. I don't see how this is wasting their time, since in my eyes, this is their damn job. I understand that some people might send excessive email or phone calls about a job, but when I try to follow up in a week if my resume was actually received. I rarely get an email or call back saying, "why yes it has been received". When 2 months go by and I haven't heard a single peep about a job I applied and try to contact HR, I rarely get a response back like, "sorry, the job has been closed" or "nope, we are still looking." Honestly, for many jobs I applied to I never got a rejection at all, left in limbo forever. If you ask me, this is not a waste of time, it's people failing to do their damn job.

Seriously, if a HR employee can not respond to job candidates inquiry about once a month, which I think is a good time frame to check on job apps, then they just fail hard at their job. Not to count how anxious the job seeker is about the opportunity, it only hurts all the parties involved to remain in the dark the entire process. There shouldn't need to be this need to have internal contacts to ever hear a peep about your job application... this just shows a broken system.

Maybe someone can enlighten me about this, but in my opinion HR people are responsible for responding to job candidates. If they can't reply to few extra emails or calls each week, they just are lazy, and unfortunately able to get away with it in this terrible employment country we live in. That is part of their responsibility![/QUOTE]

Taking the time to individually reply to a bunch of people is massively time consuming. Some jobs have HUNDREDS of applicants. Some HR departments might be just a few people big. I guess it all depends on the company. But companies often have a ton of openings in a ton of different areas at any given time. Individually replying to all of them to say the application has been received is a huge time suck. I don't blame them for not doing that.

If it's an online application, there should be an automated email saying they received the application. There's no reason not to do that. There's also no reason they shouldn't send an automated email for online applications for a specific opening that say "We've filled the position but we will keep your application on file for 6 months" or whatever, just to let you know. It takes very little time to set something like that up, but a lot of companies aren't that courteous.

If it's a snail mail application, which is increasingly rare, I personally send those Priority Mail or whatever with signature confirmation so someone has to sign. That way I know they received it since no one is going to bother to tell me they received it. It saved my ass once because someone in the mail room didn't deliver my application (and a whole bunch of other people's) before the deadline despite them being in before the deadline. I got a notice saying my application wouldn't be considered because it was late. So I turned around and showed them it was delivered and signed for on this date by this person. Then they apologized and said there was a massive error and my application along with a bunch of others would be considered.

I'm okay with companies not acknowledging your application or not telling you they filled the position. What grinds my gears is when a company takes your application to the next level - phone interview, in person interview, multiple interviews - then no one can be assed to tell you that you didn't get the position. Not HR, not any of the people you interviewed with. All it takes is a automated email or letter that says "Thanks, but no thanks." Not getting that is a huge "fuck You" and maybe you don't want to work at a company that can't take the time to do that once they've drastically narrowed down that candidate pool from a few hundred applicants to maybe a couple dozen interviewees.
 
Here's a question:

You interview for a job. They tell you they are going to make their decision by X date. X date passes and you don't hear anything from them.

How long do you wait to contact them? What do you say when you contact them? That you're still extremely interested in the position and hope you hear from them soon?
 
[quote name='kodave']What grinds my gears is when a company takes your application to the next level - phone interview, in person interview, multiple interviews - then no one can be assed to tell you that you didn't get the position. Not HR, not any of the people you interviewed with. All it takes is a automated email or letter that says "Thanks, but no thanks." Not getting that is a huge "fuck You" and maybe you don't want to work at a company that can't take the time to do that once they've drastically narrowed down that candidate pool from a few hundred applicants to maybe a couple dozen interviewees.[/QUOTE]

I had something similar to this happen once and it still bothers me till this day. I had been actively interviewing for a position for about 6-7 months. It was like, app in in April, hiring test in may, phone interview in june, then another in july, and another in august. On-site in september. After my on-site, i was told I would hear back soon. 2 weeks went by, no correspondance. I emailed asking if they had any updates. No reply at all. Another three weeks went by before I got a curt rejection letter. After 6 to 7 months, you just send this automated rejection along?! I emailed back asking if they could provide any feedback. No reply.

For the record, I thought the interview went well. I think a reason I didn't get the offer was that damn "requested salary" question (which is another pet peeve of mine..). I would be making a big move for the position to a higher salary area, and I think I might have made too high an estimate of the salary change. Later I found out that this company paid it's employees well below average as well, so my slightly high salary must have looked completely out of the park for them.
 
[quote name='frostybroc']If you don't mind me asking, but why Target? Are you in school? If so what are you going for?[/QUOTE]

I thought it would be a good place to work, and I need something ANYTHING. I have an old degree in telecommunications that is outdated, a 2 year degree in accounting, and a certification in Biomed. I don't know what I'm going to do next. I'm gonna take some time off first.
 
[quote name='the_grimace']I had something similar to this happen once and it still bothers me till this day. I had been actively interviewing for a position for about 6-7 months. It was like, app in in April, hiring test in may, phone interview in june, then another in july, and another in august. On-site in september. After my on-site, i was told I would hear back soon. 2 weeks went by, no correspondance. I emailed asking if they had any updates. No reply at all. Another three weeks went by before I got a curt rejection letter. After 6 to 7 months, you just send this automated rejection along?! I emailed back asking if they could provide any feedback. No reply.

For the record, I thought the interview went well. I think a reason I didn't get the offer was that damn "requested salary" question (which is another pet peeve of mine..). I would be making a big move for the position to a higher salary area, and I think I might have made too high an estimate of the salary change. Later I found out that this company paid it's employees well below average as well, so my slightly high salary must have looked completely out of the park for them.[/QUOTE]

I had a similar experience about 3 years ago. I was called back for a second all-day interview (this followed after a 30 minute phone interview and an all-day site visit to meet the boss and other people in charge). Things went great - I met everyone in the department and was even told by the head person when I could start and that they would let me know "soon" the rest of the details. I never heard from them again. So technically I still have a shot!

It is so discouraging.
 
[quote name='kodave']Here's a question:

You interview for a job. They tell you they are going to make their decision by X date. X date passes and you don't hear anything from them.

How long do you wait to contact them? What do you say when you contact them? That you're still extremely interested in the position and hope you hear from them soon?[/QUOTE]

It's perfectly fine to follow up and say you are still interested in the position and you really liked the company. Don't be pushy. Just a gentle reminder you are out there and still interested.

The hold up could be entirely on their end and its not your candidacy that's the problem.
 
Update for me. I was offered one of two positions I have been interviewing for.

Pay is a $13K raise over what I get now (more like 11K after what I would have gotten as a raise in July).

I asked the second company to give me an answer since they were still in there making a decision mode, but eventually emailed me back saying they decided to offer to someone else. I think I may have scared them off with my current salary and what I was expecting.

Honestly the offer I got is better than I expected. I didn't think I would get such a bump. I was guessing I would get a few thousand and then I would have to start playing the is it worth it to leave my comfort zone, etc.

I ended up going through 1 phone interview and 3 in person interviews for the job.

Also, for people talking about never hearing back after interviewing. That happened so many times to me.

One place I had 2 in person interviews after a phone interview and I'm still waiting to hear back 3 years later. I fired off multiple e-mails, voice mails, etc. and they refused to get back to me.

That was the worst company to ever do it, but there have been others that wouldn't get back to me after in person interviews or phone interviews.
 
[quote name='2DMention']I worked in the back room and they said I didn't "pull" fast enough.

Whatever. I didn't like the job anyway, it started at 4am, paid close to minimum wage, and they didn't give me more than 2 days of hours a week. I'll find something better, I know I will.[/QUOTE]

I don't know if it's like dayside, but they have a one hour per window to get stuff pulled. Back when flow was called "overnight" and started right when the store closed at 10 (and people had enough equipment back then), it didn't seem as bad. Were you guys allowed to have a radio playing? Our current management forbids it.

[quote name='2DMention']I thought it would be a good place to work, and I need something ANYTHING. I have an old degree in telecommunications that is outdated, a 2 year degree in accounting, and a certification in Biomed. I don't know what I'm going to do next. I'm gonna take some time off first.[/QUOTE]

This is common for my store as well. Lots of people there have degrees across various fields yet they can't find work. I think that's part of why I'm discouraged to finish college. Putting all this money into a degree then not finding anything to show for it.

Then again, I've put all this effort into Target which I thought would be good to work at (there's no way I'd go to a Kmart or Walmart) and here I am making under $1000 a month while covering various people. Who knew trying to do things right would result in punishment?
 
I worked at Target for 1.5 days before I outright stopped showing up and never even said I quit. Worst job I had in my life, and a terribly horrific experience.

I was unemployed at the time, just finished one professional contract and was looking for another. I was doing some freelance work on the side in my field, but it was slow starting and not bringing in a much money at all. (Now I can probably do it full-time if I wanted). I started looking around town for any work I could find to cover the extra cash I needed for bills. Applied to the whole lot of retail stores, was looking just for a stocking job. I'm pretty introverted so cashier/CS stuff wears me out way more than it should. Other companies told me I was too overqualified. Target however brought me in for the interview.

I was interviewing for the daytime inventory team. Like stocking the store (not the overnight flow), replacing misplaced items, marking prices, helping customers on the floor if they looked confused, etc. They asked me basic questions, but it was essentially, "here's the job details, do you want it". I said yes. Well, when I showed up for orientation, they said they switched me to to an Electronics position because they filled the Inventory spot.... what??... I also made 50 cents less, but that's just irrelevant, the point was that they just switched my position and pay without even asking me. They asked if that would be a problem, but I was desperate for a job at the time, I just was like, whatever.

So first day comes, and here I find out the first thing I do is have to CASHIER on the FRONT REGISTERS. They had a "throw you into the lion's pit" mentality. We were supposed to have a cashier shadow us and help us out, but my lady kept complaining about how she had to leave for her lunch break. After like an hour of her not helping me at all and me embarassingly doing the transactions, she COMPLETELY LEFT me. I have never used a cash register in my life, and here I was, no experience, front line. I don't think my face has ever been so red from embarrassement... The sweat I was pouring too from the anxiety... It was a horrific experience. To make matters worse, at least 3/4 transactions had some crazy payment method or question. One wanted to open a target card, another had a gift card that wasn't working, another had WIC payment, another had a registry, another had a target card that wasn't working and had to leave his stuff at the store... I had my blinker light on for help almost every transaction... I seriously wanted to break down and cry right there.

The misery didn't end there... My lady that was supposed to help never came back. Before I knew it, I was on the register for 5 hours, and overdue on my MANDATORY 15 minute and 30 minute lunch break. (Funny how much they stressed how important these were in the orientation!) I kept trying to call over the floor manager to move on (we were only supposed to cashier for 2 hours....but she completely disappeared. I felt like just walking off, I should have. Anyway, she finally was back at the 5 hour mark, and sent me right to another task WITHOUT LUNCH. I told her I didn't get any of my breaks, and she was just like "That's ok, we are busy today, we need your help".

So off to electronics I went. Where I ended up cleaning up the clothing section instead... after I cleaned up the clothing section, I went back to electronics where I now had to clean and adjust inventory in the clearance section. What sucked most about all of this I had literally no one to help me, so I was completely lost.. it was my first day and retail was completely new to me... They pretty much put me in a section of the store, said do this, and left. Customers kept coming to ask me stuff and looked at me disappointed when I was like, I have no idea where that is... sorry.

At this point, it was 8 hours in and I had no break or lunch... No one was around, so I just walked to the lunch room and took my own break. My supervisor walked in the room and was like, did you work in electronics yet? Truthfully, I said, no, I've been in other sections. She said that was not right, so to electronics she escorted me.... She put me on the cashier in electronics with another NEW guy, and once again, left the two of us to fend for ourselves. Once again, it went like most of the day had gone, being completely lost, constantly calling for help, and wanting to break down and run, but hey, at least I had someone going down with me. It was nice to have a partner in suffering. (Because if we could, we probably would have held each other and wept, lol)

My supervisor never came back till 11 that night, it was 12 hours I've been working there so far.... I thought we could finally go home. NOPE, she needed us to help close. I didn't leave till 12 at night with the doors locking behind me as I went... 13 hour day my first day with only a 30 minute lunch break. I never had a chance to take my 15 minute breaks, or second 30 minute break I was supposed to get for working so long. No one seemed to care either...

All and all, I didn't show up the next day, and had no intentions of continuing that crap. Quite literally the worst job experience I've ever had. They never even called me to be like, "hey, where are you". Whatever, I would have just said your company is terrible and I quit. I ended up working for a temp agency instead getting a variety of nice administrative jobs here and there that helped bring in about $200 a week.

Moral of the story... Target is a terrible workplace. I even went online and googled to see if others had bad Target work experiences. I found a whole website dedicated to workers ranting about it!

http://www.ihatetarget.net/

EDIT: Sorry for the long post! Had a lot to say there. :whistle2:\"
Also, this was in October 2011. Still makes me cringe thinking about it though...
 
Damn dude, they probably broke half a dozen state and federal employment laws right there. You should've sued them just to send them a message that they can't do that kind of stuff and you would've won too.
 
[quote name='Cage017']I don't know if it's like dayside, but they have a one hour per window to get stuff pulled. Back when flow was called "overnight" and started right when the store closed at 10 (and people had enough equipment back then), it didn't seem as bad. Were you guys allowed to have a radio playing? Our current management forbids it.



This is common for my store as well. Lots of people there have degrees across various fields yet they can't find work. I think that's part of why I'm discouraged to finish college. Putting all this money into a degree then not finding anything to show for it.

Then again, I've put all this effort into Target which I thought would be good to work at (there's no way I'd go to a Kmart or Walmart) and here I am making under $1000 a month while covering various people. Who knew trying to do things right would result in punishment?[/QUOTE]

Yea, they're real strict when it comes to pulls. People wore headphones and streamed pandora and they had a radio playing, so it wasn't too bad.

On top of that, they didn't give me many hours. I'm better off finding something else.
 
Wow, and I thought my Target experience was bad. I had a part-time job at Target while in college. I lasted one day of actual work. I show up for orientation and I'm there with a high school kid, and it turns out he knows the HR guy. This is the kid's first job. We watch a training video and then the HR guy leaves us to fill out employment paperwork. The kid is having a lot of trouble with it and asks me to help. I feel bad because since this is his first job he's probably just not familiar with even filling out a w-4. Going through it with him, it becomes obvious he is barely literate, so I basically have to read everything for him. While doing this, I saw that he was going to make $1/hour more than the minimum wage I was offered. Guess it's good to know management! It's not like I'm going to bring this up to the HR guy, because for all I know I shouldn't even be looking at this guy's stuff and might get fired for it. So I bite my tongue, and pretend I'm only positive how to fill out the rest of the paperwork for myself, not someone else, and tell him he should ask the HR guy for help.

The next day, I show up for my first shift. It starts out well enough, I'm a cashier for about an hour and someone is there to help me the whole time. I get my break. Then I'm supposed to work with someone (assistant manager maybe?) to learn about a specific department. Instead, she leaves me straightening shelves. She comes back about two hours later and asks if I'm ok. I say yes, but I'm almost finished with the area she left me in, so what does she want me to do next? She tells me she's almost done with what she is working on, so if I finish here, move to this other area and continue straightening shelves. Fine. Another two hours later I'm still straightening shelves. Meanwhile, during this time I see the high school kid a couple times while he's being taken to different areas of the store and actually being shown how to do his job. The store closes and I helped put merchandise back on the shelves, never to return

The next day I called up the HR guy and told him I wasn't coming back in. When asked why, I told him it was because I didn't sign up to be ignored for hours during "training" time while a kid who can barely read is making more money than me and is actually being trained to do his job, and that I'd rather go make minimum wage somewhere else. And that was that.
 
Man, I thought my last job was slow sometimes, I'm bored as hell right now. At least I'm getting paid better anyway.
 
I would love to work big box retail if there was less micro-management over what you do and less control over what you say. Helping people find the right computer or whatever is something I already enjoy doing, but I'm not willing to push warranties or products the customer does not need. I believe in right-sizing electronics to one's personal needs. The idea of talking with customers and helping them is otherwise very appealing to me. I think if you show the customer you are willing to sell less to them, you may sell more in general if it were company policy. I think what Amazon has over, say, Best Buy, is less pressure. They think winning the sales tax battle will end showrooming, but it was never just about that.

As far as first jobs go, I loved working at Disneyland in various roles. It was high energy and the time went by quickly. Lunch rush was bad but it lasted an hour or two. I worked near the back of the park where Splash Mountain is, and the best time to work was noon-8PM. You get there in the middle of the lunch rush when you have the most energy, and around 2PM-3PM the rush dies down. There is a slight rush for dinner, but my location was never big on dinner. The best was when they would extend you until 10PM-11PM for closing, and it was mostly people just getting hot chocolate and shit. I dabbled in every role there, from cashier to counter to kitchen to busser to greeter. I was quick on my feet, smiled and made small talk with people.

There was one metric they wanted you to hit, add-ons for various food items, but I never did it and no one ever brought it up. They also gave you some leeway to handle customer issues and supervisors were quick to sign off on various things to help make a guest happier.

Their training is much better than what I read in the Target example above. There was one day of general orientation and then three days of on-site training. Eventually I became a trainer and helped new hires get acclimated. They were hawks about breaks and made you go you backstage to take your break even if you were feeling fine. At the time there was overtime but I don't know what they do now.

I think that kind of dead-end job is preferable to a dead-end office job. I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have at the time.
 
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[quote name='kodave']

I'm okay with companies not acknowledging your application or not telling you they filled the position. What grinds my gears is when a company takes your application to the next level - phone interview, in person interview, multiple interviews - then no one can be assed to tell you that you didn't get the position. Not HR, not any of the people you interviewed with. All it takes is a automated email or letter that says "Thanks, but no thanks." Not getting that is a huge "fuck You" and maybe you don't want to work at a company that can't take the time to do that once they've drastically narrowed down that candidate pool from a few hundred applicants to maybe a couple dozen interviewees.[/QUOTE]

I had this happen to me last year. Applied for a job, had 2 great phone interviews and a pretty good in-person interview for an analyst position. Was told I'd hear back the beginning of the following week and to call one of the interviewers directly if I hadn't heard anything. Beginning of the week comes, nothing. So I give it a couple days and on that Thursday I call one of the interviewers politely asking if theres been any decisions made on the position and she very annoyingly tells me "we'll get to you when we get to you, HR will be in touch contact them in the future". I contacted HR after another week, never got a response. Very frustrating experience.


Anyway, I want to get some CAG's opinions on this. I graduated a year ago with a degree in finance and have fortunately been able to get a full-time job with benefits that is entry-level in my field (accounting), but also somewhat dead-end. Now that I've been there about 6 months I'm thinking of looking elsewhere. The pay isnt great (below the entry-level average in accounting), I dont seem to be getting any sort of recognition for my work or increase in responsibilities, and the workload that I do have gets very, VERY slow mid-week. I know that I should stay where I am, build experience, and take advantage of internal opportunities, but I work at a big company where management in the various finance departments clearly have people they prefer, so I dont think I'd have much shot at an internal promotion.

Anyway, I'm thinking of applying to some accounting positions that have recently opened up at other companies in town. Theyre entry-level but come with a good-sized pay increase and similar benefits packages. Feeling kinda torn on this one.
 
Random suggestion/tip...

...I have found that the jobs who have really long multiple step HR procedures such as having you come back for 2 and 3rd interviews are the jobs you really dont want

I have heard some real bad horror stories about a certain car rental place named after a starship for example and they have you come back and forth for 1 phone interview + 3 in person ones.
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']I had this happen to me last year. Applied for a job, had 2 great phone interviews and a pretty good in-person interview for an analyst position. Was told I'd hear back the beginning of the following week and to call one of the interviewers directly if I hadn't heard anything. Beginning of the week comes, nothing. So I give it a couple days and on that Thursday I call one of the interviewers politely asking if theres been any decisions made on the position and she very annoyingly tells me "we'll get to you when we get to you, HR will be in touch contact them in the future". I contacted HR after another week, never got a response. Very frustrating experience.


Anyway, I want to get some CAG's opinions on this. I graduated a year ago with a degree in finance and have fortunately been able to get a full-time job with benefits that is entry-level in my field (accounting), but also somewhat dead-end. Now that I've been there about 6 months I'm thinking of looking elsewhere. The pay isnt great (below the entry-level average in accounting), I dont seem to be getting any sort of recognition for my work or increase in responsibilities, and the workload that I do have gets very, VERY slow mid-week. I know that I should stay where I am, build experience, and take advantage of internal opportunities, but I work at a big company where management in the various finance departments clearly have people they prefer, so I dont think I'd have much shot at an internal promotion.

Anyway, I'm thinking of applying to some accounting positions that have recently opened up at other companies in town. Theyre entry-level but come with a good-sized pay increase and similar benefits packages. Feeling kinda torn on this one.[/QUOTE]

It really comes down to what you deem most important for you. Is it family? Is it money? Is it feeling empowered at work? Is it advancing steadily in a career path? Is it socialization of a work place, or flexibility of working remotely? There's tons of variants that can come into play in your decision.

For example, I have worked as a contractor for the last 3 years and make really great pay for my 3 years of experience. I also am currently working as a head of a department. I am very empowered by my job. HOWEVER, because I am a contractor, I don't get benefits, I work remotely from home, and I always dread what happens once my contract expires. For me, I would love to have a full-time salaried position in the office. I miss the socialization of going into work, and would probably take a lower paying job to get the basic benefits and ability to actually be with the people I work with. All and all, it's all subjective based on what you think is best. Some people would love to be in my shoes, others would hate it. The same with your position. There is ups and downs to every jobs. Which ups are more important?


If you think a promotion and increased pay is what you really think is best, and getting in with a new company is the way to do that, then that may be the best bet. Plus, it's never going to hurt to apply to jobs and interview. You don't have to accept an offer if you get one.
 
Accepted the job offer and gave my notice at the current place. They weren't happy about that, but you gotta do what is best for number 1. They often times walk people out when they give their notice, but there was no such luck with me (could've used the extra time off hah).

All in all there was no realistic way I could look at not accepting. Closer to my friends and family (I'm about 90 minutes away from the girlfriend and family now), better hours (no more nights, weekends, or holiday coverage) and a big bump in pay.

Spend some time there and then keep on moving up.
 
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