Graduating senior feeling hopeless

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>Hello everyone!</p>

<p>I'm a senior graduating in about 2 months. I'm getting pretty down about the job search and my lack of offers and could use some advice.</p>

<p>I'm a Finance major. I'm ranked in the top 10 of percent of my class. Solid 3.4 GPA and 3.7 in major. I have tons of leadership and extracurricular experiences at my school and have been able to do work with high levels of administration (Board, Vice Presidents, Provost, and met once with the President). My accomplishments and references are all great and I have a very unique resume.</p>

<p>For this past summer, 2012, I interviewed for several internship positions but didn't get any offers until late Spring. I ended up interning at a nonprofit organization that dealt with voting and the elections. I primarily worked on budgeting, operations, and data/research. Not really in my field, but I got a really different experience and did a lot of networking. They don't extend full time offers to interns (it was a small stipend internship anyway, so it made sense to me that they don't give offers).</p>

<p>I have been applying to jobs since the start of my senior year - consulting, financial planning, operations analysts, etc. Almost anything business related. I've gotten interviews with plenty of well known firms and companies and have made it to the final round of interviews for 6 companies. I even interviewed for retail management/leadership development programs that recruit at my school. But NO OFFERS.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Even talking to recruiters about my interview after being turned down, it seems that there's always someone more qualified. I'm stuck and don't know what else to do. I can't change my past experience and my interview skills seem fine (according to companies I've talked to). I've lowered my standards and am fine with anything remotely related to my field.</p>

<p>If I don't get a job, I really don't know what to do. I've been on full scholarship for school for the past 4 years and my parents have already expressed severe disappointment in not having secured a job. My only alternative is to take the next year and take any kind of work I can (hopefully something slightly related), then reapply to jobs next year. However, I've been warned that my chances will be even slimmer since there will be another class of seniors to compete against.</p>

<p>Any advice or tips? I'm really at a loss for what to do.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Have you talked to your career center about an alumni network? Maybe another graduate would be willing to help. You do sound qualified.</p>

<p>Have you registered with some temp agencies? Some specialize in high-level office work, which could give you a foot in a door. Some of those jobs become permanent, too. And some agencies specialize in accounting or finance or computer jobs. There are big national agencies and small local ones; I’d try both. Sometimes the big ones just throw bodies at jobs, but sometimes they have great contacts and make very careful matches. Just be sure you aren’t paying any fees to an agency; the employer should pay the fees.</p>

3

<p>I feel that we’re much alike. Not top students by any means but ones with a decent background and the ability to talk a good interview. It just seems that, at this point in time, it’s awful tough out there.</p>

<p>I’ve been to at least three interviews where I left their offices thinking I nailed it! Only to get rejected a week down the line. I even got turned away by the company I did my co-op with, despite having glowing recs from my advisors as well as a manager on the inside. I had some success getting colleagues to circulate my resume, but applying for jobs online felt like talking to a brick wall.</p>

<p>I recently decided to target jobs outside my field (engineering) and received an enormous response from marketing/account executive positions. In fact, most of the entry level positions I applied for immediately called me back requesting an interview. I’m not sure how relevant these positions are to you, but it certainly seems “hot” right now.</p>

<p>I’ve tried temp agencies as well. I don’t feel that entry level work is their strong suit; YMMV. Though one thing I would suggest against is signing up for multiple agencies. Most agencies WILL contact your references regardless of whether they land you a job or not. You don’t want to tire out your references, because they will be less enthusiastic about you with each repeat reccomendation.</p>

4

<p>You might try alumni networks from both your HS AND your college. Sometimes they will give a slight edge to an alum over a random other applicant. Perhaps you can ask the places where you have interned if they have any suggestions of places you might apply. Don’t get discouraged–keep looking!</p>

5

<p>Five years outta college, done temp jobs and permanent jobs, pretty knowledgeable about all this.</p>

<p>First off, congrats on all your hard work and motivation. In the long-run of life, you’ll be great. Getting that first “real job” is one of the hardest things that you’ll ever do in life, especially in an economy with this high of an unemployment rate. I’m sorry that your parents are expressing disappointment in you, they shouldn’t be doing that. It’s tough out there, and your biggest problem is the crappy economy and lack of full-time work experience. </p>

<p>Here are my thoughts on this thread, in particular the original post:</p>

<p>1) Connect with AS MANY recruiters as possible, in particular recruiters at staffing agencies (Robert Half/Accounttemps, Michael Page, Accounting Principals, among others). I know lots of people that got their first ‘real job’ after college from temp agencies. Nothing wrong with spending the first few months after college being a temp ‘office worker’, gaining valuable skills and references and beefing up your resume and showing that you can handle a full-time Mon-Fri gig. And many temp jobs can turn into permanent jobs … Message me privately and connect with me on LinkedIn, and you’ll see that I’m connected to hundreds of recruiters on LinkedIn in a variety of cities. I get calls from them all the time asking me if I want to interview for a new job. They have access to tons of jobs that never get posted online. … And I highly disagree with the person saying “Don’t connect with too many recruiters.” The more that you connect with, the more people that’ll have your resume and will give you a call when they see an opening that’s a good fit for you. Remember, these people WANT to find you a job. They get paid money when they place you on a job. So they are highly motivated to get you working. And yes, as others said, don’t pay any of them. If they try to intimidate you into not working with other agencies, ignore them. … </p>

<p>Here’s a thing about recruiters though: tons of them are only a year or two out of college, and don’t have any particularly strong relationships with companies. Their job is to bring in as many bodies as possible to a firm, so that they can have as many quality candidates as possible to send to a company when a job opening is available. Tons of these recruiters will love to tell you things like “We should be able to get you staffed right away.” That’s often not true. It’s just part of the jig. </p>

<p>You really should be spending hours a day using LinkedIn and connecting with recruiters internally at company & at staffing agencies. And LinkedIn should be your best friend. </p>

<p>2) Talk to all of your parents’ friends, your friends’ parents, etc. This is a HIGHLY effective way to job search. </p>

<p>3) Applying to ‘online posted job openings’ has pretty low odds of success. I’d still spend some time doing it, and learn how to master smart search indeed.com, but yea, don’t expect much from it. Any decent posting will get at least 500 applications. </p>

<p>4) The whole “reapply to jobs next year”. Rid yourself of that mindset. You basically get one year of “on-campus recruiting”. Once you’ve passed that and graduated, you’re fully into the real world, and employers view you that way. Jobs are posted year-round, there’s no way or reason to wait until next year. And yep, you’re right, companies that target ‘on campus recruiting’ won’t give much consideration at all when they’re targeting graduating seniors.</p>

<p>5) I graduated college in May 2008, when the economy was FAR worse than it is now. There were insane amounts of layoffs that year, compared to the past month (February), which saw a phenomenal amount of hiring and the fewest layoffs in 12 years. I didn’t have a job upon graduation. That summer was super-stressful to me, and I hated it. But I kept interviewing, kept grinding, and finally landed an AWESOME job in September, five months after graduating. The point is, even when things seem impossible, you never know what’s around the corner. </p>

<p>6) Be careful before taking your first ‘permanent job’ (i.e. non-temp job). You absolutely want to stay at your first job multiple years. It looks bad on your resume to constantly be bouncing around from ‘permanent job’ to ‘permanent job’. Employers will be less likely to hire you in the future if they think that you won’t stay too long. … So before you take your first ‘permanent job’, be sure that it’s something that you’ll be happy enough doing for at least a couple years. I know that it’s definitely hard to pass up an opportunity when you’re unemployed or working at McDonald’s, but be cautious. … I’ll also say this: try your hardest to have your first job be a great job, and/or at a great company. If you take a mediocre job at a mediocre company, it could signal to future employers that you’re not elite, that you didn’t get a job with an elite company as a college senior. … If I’m looking to hire someone with two years experience, all else equal, I’d generally prefer to hire someone who had spent the prior two years at a ‘top’ company, versus a company that I had never heard of before. My first job after college was at a pretty elite company, and every interview that I do nowadays, years later, interviewers look at my resume and say “I love hiring people from XYZ company” or “That’s really impressive that you worked at XYZ company”. </p>

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<p>Anyways, that’s it. </p>

<p>tl/dr: Connect with as many recruiters as possible. That should be focus #1 of your job search.</p>

6

<p>I can’t speak for your qualifications and resume since I do not know anything about them. However - did you know that most jobs are filled before they are ever even posted? Networking effectively and building lasting professional relationships is crucial, but also difficult to do fresh out of college when you don’t have a lot of professional experience.</p>

<p>Take the advice listed above and also join LinkedIn. You may want to consider contacting someone in a position you’re interested in and seeing if they’ll have lunch or coffee with you one day to talk about current hiring trends in the field, and other information you might find useful for an interview or to further educate yourself on the type of work.</p>

<p>Despite qualifications, likability also has quite a bit of influence on decisions. There may be several equally qualified candidates, but the hiring manager may also be looking for someone they personally get along with to ensure smooth interactions and workflow. They will be looking for the right personality for the company’s culture.</p>

<p>Make sure to do your homework on the companies you interview for. Make sure you are friendly and likeable, not just good at responding to interview questions. Getting feedback from recruiters is great, but networking and having referrals could overcome fewer qualifications. Maybe seek out more internships that are directly related to the work you’re trying to find. Some places offer internships to recent grads, not just current students, although they are more difficult to find and don’t pay as well as a “real” job in the field. </p>

<p>I agree with the above post about being picky with your first job. Chances are, you’re only applying to places you’re interested in - but if you get desperate, do not continue lowering your standards until you are applying anywhere that’s hiring. You will want a company that you will be happy (or at least content) working for, and if they offer advancement opportunities you’re interested in, even better.</p>

7

<p>Thank you everyone for the tips. I have my next round of on-site interviews at the end of March and am hoping for the best. In the meantime, I will certainly be taking this advice and also trying to connect to alumni at the companies I’m going in to interview for.</p>

<p>Thank you again, appreciate it!</p>

8

<p>Most jobs come from connections rather than from recruiters. I’d reach out to alumni, family and family friends, friends’ family, etc. I’d also start looking at smaller firms in your target area, those that don’t rely on recruiters.</p>

<p>In my profession, it’s not uncommon to have unpaid internships, contract employee situations, and multiple positions even within a single year for a recent grad. There’s also now a stringent licensing component that requires practical experience in several different categories of practice under direct supervision of a licensed professional, which is sometimes difficult to obtain. I’d view first several post-grad years as “opportunity searchs”, and be always on the lookout for a “new/better/different” opportunity.</p>