Are you haveing problems finding a Job?

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
Jack_www: What area do you live in? Pay does change based on region of the country... But, $14K sounds extremely low for any area.

Have you used headhunters or placement agencies? There are lot of them in the DC area and I have several friends able to get jobs through these avenues.

I am in california. The pay range I am looking for is 28k to 35k a year. I am sure that I can land a job with that pay range. I do have the skills for that kind of pay. The problem with that job was it was for a insurance office. Thus since I have no experience or knowledge about insurance they would have to train me. Also it is a small office, and I got the feeling that the owner of the company is just plain cheep and does not want to spend any money on people. None of his employees even get benfits, they are all independent contractors.

As for job placement companies, well I have tried that already. This one place came to my school trying to recuit people. Then I called and since I dont have experience in customer service, like handling phones and such they did not want to even consider me. That got me really mad, what they hell are they doing going to a college were most people dont have much experience in anything, and then when people call them they tell them you have to have experience in this field. If you want experienced people you dont go to a school of any kind to find them!!! Idiots.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by loinburger
Don't tell them that you're looking for a job that will pay for school -- you have to convince them that you're going to be at their job for five or ten years or so. That was the biggest mistake I made when I went interviewing after graduation -- I'd ask about tuition reimbursement at the interview (for graduate school), and that always set off alarm bells in the interviewer's head, since they typically assumed that I'd dump their lousy job and move on to bigger and better things at my first opportunity.

I never ask about pay or benifits. I let them tell me about the benifits and pay, but I never, never ask. So that concern is already covered. I usually tell them I am looking for a job were I can stay for a least a few years, which is the truth.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Lord Merciless
What are you studying?

Computer Science.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by East Street Trader
There is a big element of luck in interviews.

Just keep trying.

If you don't do it already, try to find out a bit about the companies you apply to before you attend. See if there is anything about them on the net. Get hold of anything they put out about themselves. See how they advertise their products.

If you can get a feel for what makes them tick or what they aspire to it will often give you insight into what they are looking for in their employees.

Be confident when you apply but afterwards take no notice whatsoever of encouraging noises. No one likes to disappoint so I am afraid almost everyone interviewed gets those encouraging noises. While waiting to hear the result of one interview busy yourself with trying to land the next.

If this is your first job lower your sights. Lots of people do not make a living wage when they first start work. Getting a full year of employment under your belt - any form of employment at all - is a profit to you in itself. It shows you have what it takes just to hold a job down. And there are a bunch of skills which you can only really pick up once you start to work.

I don't know how you can make up the balance you need to live on - parents most often help out but sometimes there are supplementary state benefits which help. Otherwise just try to live as cheaply as you can.

I already did this. I have had a few jobs in the past, so I do have some experience, but not that much. Most of what I did was being a tutor last year, but they laid me off because they did not have the money to keep me on.

Right now I am living with my parents, that is how I am getting by right now with no money to speak of myself. And because I am a dependent of my parents which make pretty good money I will not qualify for any state benifits. I want to be on my own now. I am sick of living with my parents.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jack_www
I usually tell them I am looking for a job were I can stay for a least a few years, which is the truth.

That's just as bad as (if not worse than) asking about tuition benefits. Don't tell them that you're going to dump their crap job for bigger and better things after a couple years. If that involves bending the truth, then so be it -- don't volunteer information about how long you're going to stay at their job, and if asked say that you're looking for "steady, long-term employment" (which is half-true, since presumably you are looking for steady, long-term employment, you just won't be looking for it for another couple years).

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by loinburger

That's just as bad as asking about benefits. Don't tell them that you're going to dump their crap job for bigger and better things after a couple years. If that involves bending the truth, then so be it -- don't volunteer information about how long you're going to stay at their job, and if asked say that you're looking for "steady, long-term employment" (which is half-true, since presumably you are looking for steady, long-term employment, you just won't be looking for it for another couple years).

Ok, I shall be more carefull about that. I have not been ask that a lot.

[chequita guevara]

Look for internships through your CompSci department.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Look for internships through your CompSci department.

I have thought about that and looked. The problem is that right now I am going to a community college and they dont have a lot of interships. I am transfering to a better school next fall and I am sure they have such internships. But I will have to wait about 8 months for that.

[Jack_www]

chegitz guevara I know that you are looking for anther job. Have you found any yet?

I have one oppertunity that might work. There is a company near by that outfits cars with all kinds of stuff. They want to build a website so that they can sell parts to customers that have had their cars outfited by them or anyone else that wants a part they have. After it is finished they want the person to be the webmaster for the site. I hope I can land that job. It would give me a lot of experience that I am looking for.

[Garth Vader]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
The worst is being told that you've 99% got the job, but then call you back to tel you the position's been cancelled.

It's even worse if you quit your POS job because you're 99% in for a better job only to hear that there has been a hiring freeze and you're out.

[Jack_www]

With the website Job, I think they are going to give me a second interview. Any tips as to what I need to say to get the job? I am going to send a thank you letter with a couple of ideas I have for their website today.

[Ben Kenobi]

I was unemployed for 2 months last summer, and Che is right, it really helps to network. I got a job back home from a friend of mine, and picked up some extra money by helping some of my mom's friends do yardwork and the like.

It's kind of neat right now, since I'm in the position to help my girlfriend get a good intership this summer , one that I am overqualified, that I never got to go do myself.

I'm afraid I can't really help with computer science. I'm just an artsie.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I was unemployed for 2 months last summer, and Che is right, it really helps to network. I got a job back home from a friend of mine, and picked up some extra money by helping some of my mom's friends do yardwork and the like.

It's kind of neat right now, since I'm in the position to help my girlfriend get a good intership this summer , one that I am overqualified, that I never got to go do myself.

I'm afraid I can't really help with computer science. I'm just an artsie.

The only person that I could that with is my mom. But everyone else I know is a student at my school and none of them have jobs they could get me.

[Shogun Gunner]

The tough part about landing an IT job is that having IT skills only is sometimes not enough. Specific subject matter expertise is also required to round out the candidate.

Recently we hired some recent college graduates, but only because they had specific experience in business lines we work in. In one case, the young lady interned at a company where she gained specific subject matter experience relevant to my company's product line. That put her qualifications above all the other candidates - despite some of the other candidates have higher GPA or a degree from a "more impressive university". GPA and what school attended rarely matters by the way.

[MrFun]

Sometimes, it really does help to do volunteer work in which you gain experience and skills for a possible internship in the future.


For instance, last year I volunteered for about seven months at a local history museum in eastern Iowa while in undergraduate school -- without knowing exactly where this will help me in the future, but I wanted to gain experience.


And behold -- I competed against three other well-qualified applicants for the valuable internship I have now. The one thing that I gave me the edge over the others -- the other three did not have any prior work experience in archives.


So take up a volunteer opportunity -- even if you don't know at the time, how exactly it will help except that for the time being, you gain experience in your related field.

(although I plan to become a professor, this internship has helped me dramatically with my finances)