[Thomas the Rhymer]

For the employees: I'm interested to know how you got your current job.

Did you go traditional by sending a resume or did you go through a 'back door'?

Both my current jobs I got more because I was the right guy at the right time and I was contacting the right people. My resume was more of a hindrance, due to my foreign sounding name (first question people would ask ''As a foreigner, do you have a work permit?" I'm not a foreigner but that's what people think when they see my resume).

I'm interested to hear everyone's stories. What was more important -your resume or your network?

[Architekt]

A friend from uni worked with a guy that had 2 jobs. At his other job, he was in charge of organising clients for the company and realised that he'd need a few guys to go out and do some work. He asked my friend to gather up a couple mates and sent us out. The original guy has worked with him maybe twice since then, but I've been working there on a permanent casual basis ever since. Honestly, I don't think I've ever got a job through traditional methods.

[NuMbEr7]

edit

[WestCoast]

(07-11-2012 04:48 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

For the employees: I'm interested to know how you got your current job.

Did you go traditional by sending a resume or did you go through a 'back door'?

Both my current jobs I got more because I was the right guy at the right time and I was contacting the right people. My resume was more of a hindrance, due to my foreign sounding name (first question people would ask ''As a foreigner, do you have a work permit?" I'm not a foreigner but that's what people think when they see my resume).

I'm interested to hear everyone's stories. What was more important -your resume or your network?

Catch 22 because your work experience reflects your network. How to get a job from college:

1. The success of your friends will determine your success
2. Get jobs in your field. I worked at 5 different financial firms before a senior in college, some unpaid some paid
3. Changed my resume 25 times
4. Applied to every firm that had the type of job I wanted
5. Answer all interview questions "correctly"

Traps to avoid
1. "College is a Party"... I only Partied when it was okay to do so, spring break, beginning of year, after finals etc. People who just party
End up getting shit jobs and are "stuck" in meaningless careers for long periods of time.
2. Didnt get into the debt trap, this kills your future. Get jobs that pay a bit so you never take on debt, debt is not motivation, if is handcuffs
3. Ignore advice that you are missing the "best days ever" just go to a post college party, all those hot college girls ditch their boyfriends as they trade up(eg. Hypergamy).
4. "Irrational beliefs" - post college if you've got a go no where job, probably should think about leaving. High end jobs rarely ever, more like never, look at guys with no experience nowadays, not worth the risk. Shit moves fast now, you're going to the 1% or you're going nowhere.
5. "Fiddle around" - you get jobs by cold emailing/calling people. You have to try to get a small network going then once you are I your network grows because you will have at least 1-2 guys in the office like you. Nothing makes me more annoyed than seein someone askhow to "edit their resume" when the only job they have there is some book club unrelated to what they want to do.

Anyway, good luck out there, American Dream has become much more of a fantasy land for young guys. You have 3 solutions, get extremely lucky with no effort, work harder than everyone around you times 40x, or leave the country and live a better lifestyle than u would have here.

[cheerfulwish]

Headhunter

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(07-11-2012 09:09 AM)cheerfulwish Wrote:  

Headhunter

How did that happen? Did someone by chance see your resume or did someone you know tip off the headhunter?

[WestCoast]

There are two ways, solicited and unsolicited.

You can email people like glocap but it's always better to get an unsolicited call because they will know they have to pry you away from a job (higher pay) to get you to move.

Remember though, headhunters are not your "friends" they are going to make money off of you when you sign that dotted line.


On that note love to hear the story

(07-11-2012 10:34 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 09:09 AM)cheerfulwish Wrote:  

Headhunter

How did that happen? Did someone by chance see your resume or did someone you know tip off the headhunter?

[Laser]

Moved to London w/o a job, but a decent resume w/ good work experience. Fucked around with recruiters for 2 months. Got tired of sitting around waiting for recruiters to drop interview opportunities in my lap. Cold emailed my resume to about 100+ firms in my area of finance. Got 3 interviews and landed one them. Time wasted fucking around w/ recruiters - 2 months. Time from cold email to getting a job. Less than 3 weeks.

[cheerfulwish]

(07-11-2012 09:09 AM)cheerfulwish Wrote:  

Headhunter

I'm actually not sure. They claimed to have found me on LinkedIn but that is fairly unlikely as the company I am up now was looking to start up a unit extremely similar to what I was doing at the time but not exactly spelled out on my profile. Likely they saw me at a conference something. Still - you dont look a gift horse in the mouth

Fully agree on NOT going to a headhunter to help you find a job. Much better to have the headhunter find you.

[MikeCF]

Every job I've got was through connections.

All of these connections were ones I made, i.e., I wasn't "born into this."

I don't even have a resume, and would laugh if someone asked me in for a job interview. (Though I would meet someone for lunch to talk.)

[at350zguyy]

craigslist...believe it or not.

[Lothario]

Ran into an Old Colleague at the Grocery Store, I guess you can say Networking.....

[Cincinnatus]

Most of my jobs were simply through the people I knew.

First job - janitorial service - got through a high school teacher I knew that was well-liked by the managers of the custodial staff.

Second job - tutor - volunteered for a science-related internship during the school day, was then hired at a related program for tutoring after school.

Third job - restaurant - only job I've got cold. Walked around the neighborhood filling out applications, one of them called back the next day. The day after I started working.

Fourth job - dry cleaner - one of my relatives worked there and I was brought aboard when it got busy.

Fifth job - dry cleaner layed me off, one of the manager's daughters was the HR Director of a local fortune 500. Manager passes my name on, I fill out an application, a few strings are pulled and I had a job making $13 per hour.

Sixth job - Fortune 500 was planning layoffs, so I went back to work at dry cleaner when they got busy again. I spent two more years there, then dry cleaner #1 folded. I sat on unemployment for a while, then manager of dry cleaner #1 called me up and told me #2 needed help. I meet #2 and they hire me, a year later I'm manager.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(07-11-2012 08:24 PM)at350zguyy Wrote:  

craigslist...believe it or not.

Did you use the ad as an excuse to contact the company or did you just send in a resume and hope for the best?

[UnW]

I interned there at the end of my second year of university, got a full time gig there after I graduated.

[malc]

LinkedIn is the recruiter search engine. If your profession and experience is in demand, you'll kind of feel like a girl in online dating.

[Deluge]

(07-11-2012 08:24 PM)at350zguyy Wrote:  

craigslist...believe it or not.

Are you a rent boy?

[malc]

(07-15-2012 02:39 AM)P Dog Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 08:24 PM)at350zguyy Wrote:  

craigslist...believe it or not.

Are you a rent boy?

I got one my first software jobs from craigslist, don't bunk it. It's usually small local businesses and such.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(07-15-2012 03:25 PM)malc Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 02:39 AM)P Dog Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 08:24 PM)at350zguyy Wrote:  

craigslist...believe it or not.

Are you a rent boy?

I got one my first software jobs from craigslist, don't bunk it. It's usually small local businesses and such.

What's the strategy though? Do you just send in your resume or do you actively promote yourself to the business?

[malc]

(07-16-2012 12:06 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 03:25 PM)malc Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 02:39 AM)P Dog Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 08:24 PM)at350zguyy Wrote:  

craigslist...believe it or not.

Are you a rent boy?

I got one my first software jobs from craigslist, don't bunk it. It's usually small local businesses and such.

What's the strategy though? Do you just send in your resume or do you actively promote yourself to the business?

It really depends on the place. If they say resume, I guess you send a resume.

My story:

I just sent them an email replying to their posting, I wasn't actually looking for a job, a word in their description made their listing pop up. I asked them if they were actually located in the city, they said yes. I think I told them about my skills in my reply and we had coffee together.

We chatted for an hour about our industry and I was one of their first software developers. I had a bit of an entrepreneurial bent and I was doing other contract work for other people so I had experience and I think I showed him what I've done.

I actively promoted myself to two other businesses saying how I could help them improve their business and such and got coffee interviews with them too. I don't think they were craigslist, I just found them through web searches directly. That didn't pan out at the time. I was also in school at the same time, so my part time nature/no completed degree maybe got in the way.

This was ~3 years ago, so my memory of the details isn't that strong.

[Belize King]

The last job I had, I met my boss at Ihop. I was working nights and going to school during the day. I wasn't really interested in working but when he was leaving he was talking about how Corpus Christi people don't like to work. He said how much the job paid so I met him outside, told him I just got out of basic training and interested in the job. He said cool and give him a call. I called the next day after class and he told me to come in. I was 19 and this was in '05 so I was still hiphopped out haha. Showed up after class and we just talked for five minutes. All of a sudden I realized I was in an interview so I sat properly, spoke correctly and answered the interview questions.

After the interview, he told me to come in for a drug test and I had the job. That was my first real job, lasted five years, made 16hr in South Texas which is bread. Networking is key. You never know who you are talking to. To this day we are still cool.

[Veni Vidi Pimpi]

I wanted to work in the Supply Chain field but the career office at my school wasn't helping. I went to an industry conference and hustled my way to free admission as a student. Met my boss at a networking session. Went and interviewed and was in the job a month later. I am a big fan of being proactive and not relying on job board/want ad bullshit that never replies.

[UrbanNerd]

If you are talking professional jobs.......

1st job - Big engineering firm in Pittsburgh, PA hired me right out of college. My undergrad major was applied mathematics/computer science.

2nd job - Hiring manager from Washington DC who interviewed me in college (job I turned down) contacted me again. I took the job and moved to DC.

Over the next 4 years, learned this application software called PowerBuilder and it was in demand.

3rd job - Philadelphia I.T. consulting firm threw $20K extra at me. I bolted...but decided to live in Delaware so I could still access Baltimore and DC.

Over the next 5 years, became almost-expert with databases and data warehousing

4th job - Took a 1-year contract job as a technical project manager

5th job - Healthcare was booming, so a healthcare firm threw money at me for a healthcare data warehouse.

6th job - Defense employer doing work for that infamous federal agency in Fort Meade, MD offered me a job. Not a big raise but offered the top-secret security clearance. Left employer after 9 months because.....

7th job - Prior employer did not have a contract lined up for me so I contacted a headhunter. Headhunter found out that I had a clearance AND was underpaid as much at $50,000. Found me an employer doing top-secret defense work for a $40,000 raise.

8th job - Grew tired of previous employer...post resume...got usual 50 calls from recruiters....took job with another $15K raise.

Has switched employers 3 more times since...and now into cloud computing....and got the pay raises because of it. I probably will stay doing to top-secret work. It's basically guaranteed income and much more pay than most 9-to-5. I won't exactly quote my income, but let's just say I was getting scared about some of those proposed tax bills the Obama thought about.

[Goldin Boy]

Long story short: Got fired from my last job days after complaining about my female boss to HR, . I couldn't put I got canned on a my resume, so I lied like I said here. here.


Internet is a misused resource. I found a gem in a state-run job databse. People say online apps suck but you have to know how to work them. They were designed to streamline the screening process for HR but they can be gamed as they run on keywords like search engines. The keywords were in the job posting. I found them and put them in my resume.

Aced the 15WPM(lol) typing test. Aced the following interview and now I get full benefits, 30k per yr in a city with 10% unemployment rate.

Networking(friends) for leads isn't my style. My motto is "If you want something done right you have to do it yourself."

[Goldin Boy]

dupe.