Job search depression

[T_Yamamoto]

I've been applying to jobs for the past couple of months, trying to line something up before I graduate.

When I'm at work, I tend to spend at least an hour looking for jobs and saving them to apply for later. Today, I was looking through Linkedin and Glassdoor, and I realized that I've applied to way more jobs than I have thought (only to receive a handful of first round interviews, never making it past that, and even more rejection emails).

All this is slowly making me realize that my goal of having a job straight out of college is unobtainable for me, even with my okay GPA (major GPA is 3.5), good work experience, certifications in my field, etc.

I guess the pressure that everyone is putting on others (and themselves) about having a job out of college is slowly crushing me down.

Feelsbadman

Add me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/takumi-yamamoto/)
Also if you have any openings for anything marketing related, let me know.

 

[dasherHampton]

Have you ever gone to a professional interview coach/advisor?

You might be doing something that's hurting your chances without realizing it. Outside, knowledgeable perspective is always gold.

 

[DigDog]

it gets easier when you grow older - by which time it's too late to chase your dreams.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Have you ever gone to a professional interview coach/advisor?

You might be doing something that's hurting your chances without realizing it. Outside, knowledgeable perspective is always gold.

I did some mock interviews at my college's career development center.

I only recently realized I'm supposed to send an email after an interview to thank them.

 

[pete6032]

I like to think about the job search as a process task. If you aren't getting invites for interviews then you should first look at your resume and cover letters before thinking about interviewing skills. I would heavily consider re-writing your resume from scratch given that you have applied to a number of jobs with the same result. This is a frustrating process but very much worth your time. I would also look at redesigning the layout and making sure the resume is 1 page in length.

 

[dasherHampton]

Nothing is wrong with your pic. You look like a pleasant, clean cut guy.

I would find a coach. I met a guy about 10 years ago who was fantastic. He did hiring for State Farm insurance before branching into consulting.

He was great. He would go into the smallest detail, like how to sit and eye contact. Somebody like that could really give you a leg up in the future.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I honestly think my resume isn't bad.

Here's one with my certifications: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EoMMye7fUV5UnQmo6wAZxdsATI93ABum/view?usp=sharing

Here's one without my certifications: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1l5A9RG4kEmka0fL7FGHHQgCGNSDhPv8t

They're both searchable PDFs

 

[kranky]

I agree with working with a coach. I have a friend who's son graduated from college last May. Good grades, solid resume with an internship and references. But he's abysmal in interviews. He even knows it. He's had 8 interviews, zero offers, and a couple of those jobs were for things like working in a Verizon cellphone store where the turnover is so high you'd think they'd take anyone who can walk and talk. I've told my friend to get him a coach but my friend thinks the kid will "work his way out of it." Now it's many months later and the son is growing ever less motivated.

For new grads, I think a coach is a very smart investment. How do you know what is holding you back when there's no feedback? Looking for a job is your current job and if that's not going well, look for outside help that will enable you do to better at it.

 

[zinfamous]

I think it's really tough coming straight out of school, because it's much easier to find jobs when have established contacts--I find this to be far more important than experience/education (well, experience is obviously quite important, but having someone that can vouch for you is what makes the difference).

Any of your professors, friends or family work in the sectors where you are looking and/or have contacts there? If you are close with any of your professors and are confident that you can get some good recs from them, then I'd advise you to go that route.

 

[deadlyapp]

Personally, your resume is too much for me, I don't want a picture of you or a giant red bar on the left side, which more than likely will get removed anyways when this is printed black and white or re-formatted. In addition, since most resumes are mostly pre-screened using set words, the visuals aid you not at all. I'd focus more on the content of your resume and including better words - especially as a marketing major.

In addition, I'd focus less on sending your resume to every job posting you can find online. You need an edge up, and what that usually entails is knowing someone or meeting someone face to face prior to a resume submittal. Talk to professors, go to a job fair at your school, get your name down with those people. Networking is 90% of the job search unless you have some sort of ridiculously glowing resume - and as a first time grad with a good, but not stellar education, that's going to be hard.

 

[KeithP]

IWhen I'm at work, I tend to spend at least an hour looking for jobs and saving them to apply for later.

Don't mention that during your interviews…a potential employer would probably prefer you do the work for which you are paid.

-KeithP

 

[pete6032]

Personally, your resume is too much for me, I don't want a picture of you or a giant red bar on the left side, which more than likely will get removed anyways when this is printed black and white or re-formatted. In addition, since most resumes are mostly pre-screened using set words, the visuals aid you not at all. I'd focus more on the content of your resume and including better words - especially as a marketing major.

Agreed completely.

That red space could be used to more effectively organize all of the text of your resume. People aren't going to hire you based on your picture, so it is not worth putting on there.

Also some of the text could be improved. All of the statements say what you did, but many of them do not say why you did it, nor do many of them say what value those actions brought to the organization/employer. Also some are in first person, which is just kind of weird to see on a resume.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I think it's really tough coming straight out of school, because it's much easier to find jobs when have established contacts--I find this to be far more important than experience/education (well, experience is obviously quite important, but having someone that can vouch for you is what makes the difference).

Any of your professors, friends or family work in the sectors where you are looking and/or have contacts there? If you are close with any of your professors and are confident that you can get some good recs from them, then I'd advise you to go that route.

I have friends who work in the same field as me, most don't have openings and those that do aren't something I want to do (event planning and stuff, which I would hate doing)

Personally, your resume is too much for me, I don't want a picture of you or a giant red bar on the left side, which more than likely will get removed anyways when this is printed black and white or re-formatted. In addition, since most resumes are mostly pre-screened using set words, the visuals aid you not at all. I'd focus more on the content of your resume and including better words - especially as a marketing major.

In addition, I'd focus less on sending your resume to every job posting you can find online. You need an edge up, and what that usually entails is knowing someone or meeting someone face to face prior to a resume submittal. Talk to professors, go to a job fair at your school, get your name down with those people. Networking is 90% of the job search unless you have some sort of ridiculously glowing resume - and as a first time grad with a good, but not stellar education, that's going to be hard.

So the reason I went with more of a graphical resume is because I wanted to "prove" my graphic design abilities and make it stand out. I'll look into changing my wording/content of my resume this weekend (I guess add more "action" words and statistics)

I plan on going to the next career fair (whenever that is), there was one early in the semester that I didn't go to because the list of employers that were going to be there were not in the fields that I was interested in or had even a grasp in (sciences and stuff), EXCEPT more companies showed up than originally listed so I guess I fucked myself there.

Don't mention that during your interviews…a potential employer would probably prefer you do the work for which you are paid.

-KeithP

Oh yeah, I know. Current boss likes my work so I got that going for me.

 

[Zeze]

That resume is atrocious. Yes, I get its style. It's very distracting, borderline unprofessional.

 

[Zeze]

Stick with what works.

Why do you even have a pic? It's not helping that you look very young.

Am I out of touch or his resume is ridiculous? Didn't OP visit job placement / career advisor at his college?

That scoring system makes 0 sense aside from looking pretty. How do I know if you know excel macros or do a dynamic pivot table? 2 star? 3 star? 4? Or do you consider that 5?

Can you do complex scripting that fetches a DB backend using excel as a dashboard? Is that 5 star?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Stick with what works.

Why do you even have a pic? It's not helping that you look very young.

Am I out of touch or his resume is ridiculous? Didn't OP visit job placement / career advisor at his college?

That scoring system makes 0 sense aside from looking pretty. How do I know if you know excel macros or do a dynamic pivot table? 2 star? 3 star? 4? Or do you consider that 5?

Can you do complex scripting that fetches a DB backend using excel as a dashboard? Is that 5 star?

yeah, I'm going to switch to that.

thanks y'all

 

[Zeze]

I don't sound this to be malicious. I looked at my college resume that's in my hard drive since long long ago. It's not just the design, your writing is really... bad & looks like a HS-level writing.

• Researched everything that I already didn’t know in order to aid me
in my entrepreneur endeavor

Are you serious? What is the point of this bullet? What did you accomplish for entrepreneur ship section? Clients secured? Volume? What did you research??

• Strengthened the chapter’s presence on campus

Strengthened HOW? What was done? Who/what/where/when/how/numbers? What did you do and what was the result?

I'm sorry guys, I'm a little high on sinus pills. This is not college level writing right?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

it gets easier when you grow older - by which time it's too late to chase your dreams.

Don't bet on that. I got out of my profession due to health issues. I can only find per diem gigs when I'm lucky.

When you are old enough no one wants you no matter how good you are.

Life happens.

But OP you aren't there yet. Yeah, it sucks, but you have a shot. Consider foreign positions too if applicable. With the science situation here he's considering Germany once he has his doctorates.

 

[BudAshes]

With a degree like that it's either start your own business or get a sex change into a hot chick.

 

[Zeze]

I decided to be helpful instead of being an ass.

OP, PM me if you want some resume critique, tips, writing tone, formatting, etc.

Source: Someone who makes 140K/yr as a veteran IT PM + interview others.

 

[Sonikku]

You gotta make your resume stand out from the others.

Like this;

 

[BudAshes]

I decided to be helpful instead of being an ass.

OP, PM me if you want some resume critique, tips, writing tone, formatting, etc.

Source: Someone who makes 140K/yr as a veteran IT PM + interview others.

That is a really horrifying resume. Your only hope is to do whatever ZeZe says, even if he tells you to print it out, ball it up and insert it anally.

 

[DigDog]

ok, the guy is still in college, so, he's young. anything between 20yo (genius) and 28yo(stoner).

he still, most likely, answers when posed a question.

for example: where do you see yourself in 5 years?. and he would answer: "having 5 years of career and experience in your company". this is what we old people call a wrong answer.

to do well in interviews you need to learn to speak interviewese, which is a foreign language that can only be learned through practice. you will learn that companies do not want to hire you, they want to OWN you. they will only hire people who give a specific set of answers, none of which match the question.

for example:

Q: where do you see yourself in 5 years?
A: i hope my child will be finally able to walk to the school bus alone.

see, this answer means: 1. he has family; he has duties and responsibilities and will likely not be able to leave the job. 2. he didn't mention work so he is not likely to fret for a promotion. 3. he's got other things on his mind which means he will feel less pressure at work (yes, he will be a mediocre employee, it's ok) and less likely to snap at coworkers when we pile on the hours.

you don't know these things, you still think being good at your job is what allows you to get ahead.

The reality of work isn't like this. Or, maybe it is, if you are a proper genius, your family managed to get you into a top school and you have a minimum of likeability so someone along the way gave you an internship or lab time or some other experience. But for career, the only thing that matters in 99% of cases is charisma, you are born with it or you aren't. It's VERY unlikely that you will find yourself in a situation where being good actually matters.

 

[mrblotto]

he still, most likely, answers when posed a question.

for example: where do you see yourself in 5 years?.

 

[Brainonska511]

On the resume front:

• Keep it short and simple
• Tailor the resume to the job you're applying for. Read the job ad - try to match your resume to many of the requirements in some fashion
  
• Each activity should potentially tell a story - some problem existed and you did blah to solve it which resulted in bleh
• Consider adding 2-4 sentences at the top to describe why yourself and why you'd be a good fit for the role you're applying for. Tailor that to each job you're applying to
• Ditch the picture

And on other fronts: network. Go to your school career fair, find out about local events run through business organizations in the areas you're interested in, reach out to people on LinkedIn. The last one - you can try to set up some informational interviews, so you can get an idea of what they do and potentially how they got there. This won't necessarily get you a job, since you shouldn't use the informational interview to ask for one, but it will help you make connections that may land you one or help you tailor your resume to get it on the right person's desk.

If I didn't take the time to network when I was a postdoc, I'd probably still be a postdoc instead of becoming an "alternative career" scientist.